Springsteen packs them in for Jazz Fest

30th-04-2012

NEW ORLEANS: Bruce Springsteen has closed out the first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with a 2 ½-hour show that combined crowd-pleasers such as "Born to Run" with the cover tune of his new CD, "Wrecking Ball."

Fans began staking out spots when the Fair Grounds opened at 11 a.m. Sunday, rushing from the entrance gates to spread blankets and set up chairs close to the stage. By the time Springsteen stepped on stage fans were stretched around the fairgrounds track, some standing 10 to 12 people deep.

At one point New Orleans blues legend Dr. John took the stage with Springsteen, joining him on "Something You Got."

Springsteen last played Jazz Fest in 2006.

Soul singer Al Green closed out the day on the Congo Square stage. AP:

Who is the world's biggest smartphone maker?

30th-04-2012

NEW YORK: Smartphones are the hottest gadgets in the world. But who is the biggest smartphone maker? We do not really know.

Samsung, Apple’s chief competitor, gives only vague indications of how many it makes, which means industry watchers come up with widely diverging estimates. Apple Inc reports its iPhone sales down to the thousands. In the January to March period, it shipped 35.064 million. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co may have sold 32 million, 37.5 million or 44.5 million, depending which analyst you believe. The company itself refuses to say. What is at stake are bragging rights. More accurate sales figures from Samsung would also be useful to competitors and partners like wireless carriers and retailers.

When it reported first-quarter results Friday morning, Samsung said only that overall phone shipments were down more than 10 per cent from the fourth quarter, and that smartphone sales were about the same percentage of the company’s overall sales as they have been before.

The problem is that
Samsung has not reported any hard sales figures in a long time.

Analysts and reporters have not been able to get Samsung to clarify the issue. Wayne Lam, an analyst with IHS iSuppli, likens the process of estimating Samsung sales to “using compasses instead of GPS.” His estimate for first-quarter smartphone sales is 32 million, which would put Samsung behind Apple. IDC Corp, a research firm that tracks phone sales, postponed the release of its quarterly phone sales ranking. It was originally scheduled for just after Samsung’s report, but analyst Ramon Llamas said “additional

insight” was needed.
Analysts agree that in terms of overall phone sales, Samsung outdid long-time number one Nokia Corp in the first quarter. Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC Corp also recently stopped reporting how many phones it makes, possibly because its sales are in decline.

Australian billionaire to build Titanic II

30th-04-2012

SYDNEY: One of Australia's richest men, Clive Palmer, has unveiled plans for a 21st century version of the Titanic to be built in China, with its first voyage from England to New York set for 2016.

Palmer, a self-made mining billionaire, said he has commissioned state-owned Chinese company CSC Jinling Shipyard to construct Titanic II with exactly the same dimensions as its predecessor.

"It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems," Palmer said in a statement, released on Monday.

"Titanic II will sail in the northern hemisphere and her maiden voyage from England to North America is scheduled for late 2016.

"We have invited the Chinese navy to escort Titanic II on its maiden voyage to New York."

His announcement comes just weeks after the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, which went down on April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

Palmer said the new ship would be a tribute to the spirit of the men and women who worked on the original.

"These people produced work that is still marvelled at more than 100 years later and we want that spirit to go on for another 100 years," he said.



Titanic was commissioned by White Star Line and was the largest liner in the world at the time.

Palmer said he has established his own shipping company, Blue Star Line, with the new ship having the same dimensions as its predecessor, with 840 rooms and nine decks. AFP:

New DNA testing may free convicted Colorado killer

30th-04-2012

DENVER: A man sentenced to life in prison for raping a Colorado woman and strangling her to death with a dog leash could be freed on Monday based on advanced DNA testing that is believed to exonerate him of the crime.

Robert "Rider" Dewey, 51, who has been imprisoned since his 1996 conviction, is scheduled to appear before a Colorado judge on Monday in Grand Junction for a post-conviction hearing in his case, according to the county's court docket.

The DNA testing, which was requested by Dewey's current lawyer, exonerates him and he is expected to be released from prison, a legal source who said he had seen a memo related to the case told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Local media also reported his release was likely.

Dewey was convicted and sentenced to life without parole for the rape and murder of Jacie Taylor, 19, in the western Colorado town of Palisade. Taylor's partially clothed body was found in her bathtub in June 1994. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled with the leash.

Dewey's lawyer, Danyel Joffe, would not comment on what the DNA tests may have revealed ahead of Monday's hearing.

She said she submitted the case to the Colorado Justice Review Project, a program established in 2009 with a $1.2 million federal government grant that allows convicted felons to apply for DNA testing in their cases.

The program is administered by the office of Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, who lauded it as a way for advanced DNA techniques to affirm convictions or clear the innocent.

A spokesman for Suthers referred questions about the Dewey case to the Mesa County District Attorney's Office, which couldn't be reached for comment over the weekend.

Dewey has maintained his innocence throughout the case.

Questions arose during his trial about whether blood on his shirt belonged to the victim, according to local news accounts. A defense expert disputed the prosecution's contention that the blood matched Taylor's, the reports said.

The semen found on the victim did not match Dewey at the time of his conviction, but no other suspect was ever arrested for the crimes.

Under Colorado law, a first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole.

At Dewey's sentencing, then-Mesa County District Judge Charles Buss was quoted in local media as telling the defendant that, "I am happy to impose it (a life sentence) on you."

Dewey replied: "There's still a killer out there."

The hearing on Monday is before a different judge, who is expected to rule on whether to release Dewey.

Post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated nearly 290 people in the United States since 1989, according to the Innocence Project, which works to reverse wrongful convictions. Reuters:

Obama and Bill Clinton campaign together‚ stress economy

30th-04-2012

MCLEAN: Former U.S. president Bill Clinton campaigned alongside Barack Obama for the first time in the 2012 race on Sunday, making an impassioned appeal to re-elect the White House incumbent and helping his fellow Democrat raise more than $2 million.

A white-haired and noticeably svelte Clinton, 65, pounded the podium with his fingers and palms and gestured vividly while addressing about 500 Obama supporters outside the Virginia home of his friend and Democratic advisor Terry McAuliffe.

"Barack Obama deserves to be re-elected," Clinton told the crowd in his signature raspy voice, warmly introducing the man who was the main rival to his wife Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential primaries.

"I think he's done a good job," Clinton said. "We are moving this country forward, we are going the right direction under President Obama's leadership."

When he took the outdoor podium, Obama, 50, noted Clinton's "remarkable" economic record in his two White House terms and referred frequently to the political powerhouse standing behind him, who stands to be a huge fundraising force in the final months of this year's campaign.

"I didn't run for president simply to get back to where we were in 2007. I didn't run for president simply to restore the status quo before the financial crisis. I ran for president because we had lost our way since Bill Clinton was done being president," Obama said.

The Obama campaign is keen to seize on the former Democratic president's popularity to help raise money and sell Obama's economic message to voters who may be receptive to Republican criticisms of his economic leadership, given U.S. unemployment is still relatively high and growth appears to be slowing.

Last week, the Obama campaign also released a video of the former president praising Obama for his decision to approve the raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden last year.

Neither Obama nor Clinton referred to George W. Bush, the Republican who served two presidential terms in between their tenures, nor the presumptive Republican nominee for this year's White House race, Mitt Romney, by name in their outdoor remarks.

But Clinton said Obama's White House opponent this year wanted to revert to the policies that got the United States into crisis, but "on steroids," and said that would cause far worse economic problems than those that erupted in 2007.

Clinton also applauded Obama's efforts in healthcare, clean energy promotion and student loan reform, and argued the U.S. economy was rebounding quickly from the financial and mortgage crises that took hold before Obama took office.

"The man's not Houdini, all he can do is beat the clock," he said, comparing the pace of U.S. recovery to Japan's extended weakness after its own crisis. "The last thing you want to do is to turn around and embrace the policies that got us into trouble in the first place."

Tickets to the outdoor reception cost $1,000 and up, and Obama and Clinton later addressed a more exclusive dinner at McAuliffe's home for 80 people who paid $20,000 each. The money went to a fund supporting Obama's re-election, the Democratic National Committee and several state Democratic parties. REuters.

Parliamentary fund to cooperatives

30th-04-2012

KALIKOT: Two lawmakers of Kalikot districts have handed over the parliamentary development fund to three different cooperatives to help promote locals' income through skill-oriented activities.

UCPN-Maoist lawmakers Khadag Bahadur BK and Dhirendra Upadhyay offered Rs 1.1 million to Janapragatishil Consumers' Cooperative of Phukot VDC, Uddhamshil Agriculture Cooperative of Manma and Janachetana Agriculture Cooperative of Badalkot.

Similarly, other amount will be provided to the conflict-hit children and field construction at district development committee.

The amount will be used to set up a rice mill at Raskot, a sawmill at Manma and a soap factory at Badalkot. RSS:

NOC fails to execute its directive

29th-04-2012

KATHMANDU: The government has remained silent even though consumers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) have been facing hurdles for six months.

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has been issuing Product Delivery Order (PDO) to import 800 metric tonnes of cooking gas on an average daily, said deputy director of the corporation Sushil Bhattarai. “The import is enough to meet the market demand since normal consumption of cooking gas is 16,500 to 17,000 metric tonnes per month.”

The corporation had imported a record high 17,500 metric tonnes of cooking gas in March and the import will be around the same figure this month too, said Bhattarai. However, what is missing is the government’s serious intervention to track imports and supply details. The government has failed to regulate the cooking gas business in spite of frequent promises from the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, and NOC.

On March 11, NOC had published a public notice directing bottling plants and dealers not to sell cooking gas for industrial purpose. It had warned of stringent action including stopping the issuance of Product Delivery Order to those plants who fail to follow its directive.

Bottling plants and dealers are openly supplying cooking gas to industries at present but the corporation has done nothing, according to consumer rights activists. “Some 500 printing presses and other industries are openly using cooking gas as a source of energy,” consumer rights activist Prem Lal Maharjan had recently said during an interaction organised by Nepal Oil Corporation. “But, the corporation has not been able to do anything.”

In its public notice, NOC had also directed all bottling plants to submit a detailed record of import and supply on a daily basis and introduce a system of hydrostatic test of cooking gas cylinders to ensure safety.

But, both provisions are yet to be implemented. Ministry of Industry should take the initiative to regulate bottling plants since it issues operating licence to them, the corporation claimed.

“Ministry of Industry has to take the responsibility for the rampant malpractice in the cooking gas business,” said deputy managing director of NOC Sushil Bhattarai. “Nepal Oil Corporation has no legal right to scrap the licence of bottling plants,” he lamented.

“The government often blames NOC for scarcity but it is the equal duty of the Ministry of Industry, Department of Commerce and District Administration Office to curtail black-market, cartel and hoarding according to existing laws.”Himalayan.

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon renew wedding vows

29-04-2012

A publicist for the pair says they renewed their vows Friday at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

Spokeswoman Cindi Berger said the couple celebrated with an "intimate ceremony after a romantic dinner at the beautiful Jules Verne restaurant" just after midnight local time.

Carey, 42, and Cannon, 31, married in the Bahamas in 2008 after a whirlwind romance that began just months earlier. Carey gave birth to their twins, son and daughter Moroccan and Monroe, last April.

Cannon was hospitalized in January and later diagnosed with inflammation of the kidneys. He resigned from his New York City radio show in February to help his recovery. Earlier this month, he said he'd document his return to health on his website in a show called "NCredible Health Hustle." AP:

Katie Price engaged to Leandro Penna

29th-04-2012

LONDON: Katie Price is set to wed Argentinean hunk Leandro Penna after he proposed to her on a recent skiing trip.

The 33-year-old beauty - who has been married twice before; to Peter Andre and Alex Reid and has three children Harvey, nine, Junior, six and Princess, four - is set to wed Argentinean hunk Leandro Penna after he proposed to her while they were on a recent holiday.

A spokesperson confirmed: ''It's true - they are engaged. Leandro proposed to Katie while they were away skiing recently and she said yes.

''They told her children but had intended to keep it secret for a while.

''No wedding arrangements have been made and they are both quite relaxed about that for the time being.''

Katie met Leandro at Sir Elton John's Oscar party in March last year, just weeks after she separated from Alex Reid, to who she was married for a year.

Just last month Katie claimed she was single despite being regularly seen with Leandro. Agencies;

William and Kate mark first anniversary

29th-04-2012

heir first wedding anniversary on Sunday, marking the milestone in private after two billion TV viewers watched them wed in 2011.

A spokesman for St James's Palace said they would enjoy the day "privately", having spent the weekend "with friends who have a celebration".

British newspapers lined up to praise the pair who have been credited with reviving public interest in the monarchy.

"Kate the Great wins us over," the Sunday Times said, while the Sunday Telegraph said of the royal family: "It's only been 12 months and already we wonder: how did they ever manage without her?"

Even the traditionally anti-monarchist Independent produced a "cut-out-and-weep guide" on Saturday to the couple's first 12 months.

After honeymooning in the Seychelles, William and Catherine toured Canada and California and made polished public appearances in Britain, with more ahead for Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee in June and the London Olympics.

Catherine, known to many as Kate, appears to have taken to the royal life with ease and has become a fashion trendsetter, even appearing on Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people.

William, the second in line to the throne, earlier this year spent six weeks as a search and rescue pilot in the Falkland Islands, infuriating Argentina, which claims the islands as its own.

The pair are set to tour Singapore, Malaysia, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands in September.

Speculation has been rife as to when the two will produce a royal heir, but they have made it clear they will not be bound by any timetable, and fans have so far had to make do with news of the couple's cocker spaniel puppy, Lupo. AFP:

7 killed as bus crashes on way to Tokyo Disneyland

29th-04-2012

TOKYO: A bus carrying dozens of holidaymakers has crashed on a highway while heading for Tokyo Disneyland, killing seven passengers.

Police say the other 38 passengers and the 43-year-old driver were injured, 13 of them seriously, in the accident Sunday morning on a highway in Gunma, north of Tokyo. The bus crashed into a roadside wall, with steel wall panels slicing its body in half.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

Six of the dead were women in their 20s, and the seventh was a man in his 40s or 50s. Police were having difficulty identifying the mangled bodies.

The passengers were mostly holidaymakers heading for Tokyo Disneyland as Japan headed into this week's "Golden Week" holidays.

Locals oppose Mithila division

29th-04-2012

JANAKPURDHAM: Various Janakpur-based organisations have launched protests against the UCPN-Maoist’s proposal on federalism after it left out Mithila state.

Eighteen organisations, who are part of the Mithila Struggle Committee, started their agitation yesterday by organising a two-hour-long chakkajam at Ramananda Chowk and burning the effigies of UCPN-M chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum Lokatantrik chairperson Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar.

They also submitted a memorandum to CA chairperson Subas Chandra Nembang through the Dhanusa CDO.

Lawmaker Ramchandra Jha of CPN-UML accused the leadership of major political parties of failing to address the demands

of the Madhesi people. “Even my own

party, Nepali Congress and Madhesi Morcha are apathetic towards our demands,” he reasoned, calling on all Madhesis to unite.

UCPN-M leader Roshan Janakpuri, considered to a member of the Mohan Baidhya camp, also stressed on unity among Madhesis urged people from all walks of life to join the struggle.

Parameshwor Kapadi, chairperson of Mithila State Committee, said the agitation will continue until their demands are met. He said the committee has a programme to emblazon ‘Mithila State’ on all vehicles operating from Janakpur.

The committee has said it will make public its future programmes after holding serious discussions with the local civil society and organisations.

Just two days ago, UCPN-Maoist had made public its 10-state federal model, proposing eight states in the hills and two states in the Madhes. Himal..

Foreign aid and education sector

28th-04-2012

DR GIRISH P PANT
First, a definition and some quotations are in order in relation to education. Broadly speaking, education is the vehicle through which the aspirations and proclivities of a group of people exists from one epoch to another. Conventionally, it materializes through any episode that has a pliant clout on the procedure one conceives, feels or behaves. In its confined, technical gist, education is the methodical process by which mankind intentionally communicates its cumulative wisdom, aptitudes, habits and merits from one era to another. Let us sample quotations from a couple of luminaries. According to the Late Martin Luther King Jr. : “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” Nelson Mandela underscores: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

It is pellucid that education has a vital role to play in national development and individuals’ lives-it has a high rate of return as a form of investment, and its value ramifies into health and family planning, into agriculture, industry and government. Hence, education has received a gargantuan chunk of aid resources. Annual bilateral commitments from Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have been almost US $4 billion in recent years. About 10 per cent of aggregate aid has been disbursed in the education sector.

North American-based donors such as Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have conducted the evaluation of aid in the education sector. It has been disclosed that most of the education projects met their targets in terms of physical outputs, namely, the number of schools built and the number of enrolments.

Broadly speaking, technical assistance (TA) seems to have quite a favorable impact on education. An IBRD evaluation of TA in fifty-five education projects found that (i) most borrowers observed that the projects assisted to furnish policy cohesion and discipline in enforcement; (ii) the projects were predominantly capable in their administration bolstering targets; (iii) the effect on educational planning was ambivalent; (iv) the effect on income distribution was broadly equitable and (v) project schools were more effective (for instance, lower rates of drop-out and grade repetition) than system averages. Though the TA projects attained a fair number of objectives, the IBRD study concluded that the developing countries need to revivify the management of their education systems, among others, to further boost efficiency and productivity.

Nepal has been receiving foreign assistance for development of education since the initiation of foreign aid programs. In the earlier years, aid was provided entirely in the form of grants. However, since 1977/78, aid has been received in the form of soft-term loans also. Aid to the education sector has soared from a trickle to a torrent. In Fiscal Year (FY) 1975/76, total foreign aid disbursement in the education sector was tantamount to a modest Rs 21.9 million entirely in the form of grants. It formed 4.3 per cent of total aid provided then. By FY 2008/09, the aid figure had jacked up to Rs 8.752 billion—Rs 6.309 billion in the form of

grants and Rs 2.443 billion in loans. In terms of percentage, grants and loans formed 72.1 per cent and 27.9 per cent of total aid, respectively. During this fiscal year, aid to the education sector formed 24.1 per cent of total aid.

Between FY 1975/76 to FY 2008/09, total aid furnished to the education sector stood at Rs 50.233 billion—Rs 31.780 billion in the form of grants (63.3 per cent) and Rs 18.453 billion in the form of loans (36.7 per cent). During this tenure, aid disbursed in the education sector was equivalent to 13.6 per cent of total aid. Recently, in FY 2009/10, compared to other sectors, Nepal received foreign aid in the education sector to a whopping $ 202.8 million or nearly Rs 16.9 billion.

Though there has been a copious augmentation in the amount of foreign aid extended to the education sector, major educational output indicators have invariably been poor in the country.

The primary reason for this state is corruption. Like in other foreign-aided projects in most developing countries, corruption is rife in Nepal in general and in education sector in particular. Corruption occurs at various levels such as the line ministry or the Ministry of Education, region/district level, school level and classroom/teacher level. They range from nepotism to the employment of ‘ghost’ teachers. The actual damage to a community happens when whole generations of youths are mis-educated to believe that personal success emanates not through excellence and hard work, but through favoritism, graft and deceit. Such lessons have the power to debilitate civil society well into the future. Hence, it is inordinately exigent that corruption be eradicated though it may appear to be a Sisyphean task.

Dr. Pant is a free-lance consultant :

DiCaprio's new girl puts exes to shade

28th-04-2012

LONDON: No idea what first attracted Leonardo DiCaprio to this lass.

Erin Heatherton, 23, parades her admirable physique in new shots for Victoria’s Secret, reported British daily The Sun on Friday.

The freckly blonde beauty’s latest modelling assignment sees her posing in two-pieces from the lingerie firm’s summer range.

And she does a mighty fine job, firing smoking eyes at the camera and flaunting her jaw-dropping body.

Her Hollywood boyfriend Leo, 37, must feel like the cat that got the cream after adding another model to his CV of pin-up girlfriends.

The couple began dating last December after meeting at a Victoria’s Secret show in New York.

Titanic star Leo has previously dated Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, Israeli lingerie star Bar Refaeli and Gossip Girl beauty Blake Lively. Agencies;

Thousands march on capital center in Malaysia election protest

28th-04-2012

KUALA LUMPUR: Thousands of protesters calling for fair elections converged on Kuala Lumpur's center on Saturday for a major demonstration that will test the Malaysian government's reformist credentials and may affect the timing of national polls.

Police have shut down much of the city centre and closed off the historic Merdeka (Independence) Square with barriers and barbed wire, enforcing a court order that the protesters should not enter the symbolically important site.

The Bersih (Clean) group that is leading the protest says it will obey the ban but will march as close as possible to the square, raising the possibility of a repeat of violent clashes that marred Bersih's last major protest in July 2011.

"Now it looks like we will have to fight for our right to gather at Merdeka Square as well as fight for free and fair elections," said Muhammed Hafiz, a 28-year-old store clerk who was preparing to join the protest.

The protest, which organizers hope will draw 100,000 people, presents a delicate challenge for the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, possibly affecting the timing of elections that he is preparing to call as early as June.

A violent response by police would risk alienating middle-class voters and handing the advantage to the opposition in what is shaping up as the closest election in Malaysia's history, possibly forcing Najib to delay the poll date.

But Najib must be mindful of conservatives within his own party who are wary that his moves to relax tough security laws and push limited election reforms could threaten their 55-year hold on power.

Last July's rally, more than 10,000-strong, ended in violence when police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters, drawing criticism of a heavy-handed government response and sending Najib's popularity sliding. His approval rating has since rebounded to 69 percent, according to one poll.

Government controlled newspapers printed the court order barring protesters from the square on Saturday. Police helicopters buzzed overhead but there were no signs of water cannon or riot police, suggesting the government may take a softer approach than last time.

Bersih, an independent movement whose goals are backed by the opposition, has a history of staging influential rallies as Malaysians have demanded more freedoms and democratic rights in the former British colony that has an authoritarian streak.

The July protest was a watershed moment for Najib, prompting him to promise reform of an electoral system that the opposition says favors the long-ruling National Front coalition.

The National Front is trying to recover from its worst ever election result in 2008 when it lost its two-thirds majority in parliament, giving the diverse, three-party opposition led by former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim real hope of taking power.

Najib has replaced tough security laws - ending indefinite detention without trial - relaxed some media controls, and pushed reforms to the electoral system that critics have long complained is rigged in the government's favor.

The opposition says the reforms are mostly cosmetic, aimed at winning the crucial middle ground without risking deeper changes that would threaten the coalition's grip on power.

A bipartisan parliamentary committee set up by Najib this month issued 22 proposals for electoral reform, including steps to clean up electoral rolls and equal access to media.

But the government gave no guarantee that any of the steps will be in place for the next election. Bersih says it is "wholly unsatisfied" with the proposals and has called on the country's Election Commission to resign.

It says the proposals do not meet most of its key demands, including lengthening the campaign period to at least 21 days from the current seven days. It also wants an independent audit of the electoral roll and international observers at polling stations. Bersih and opposition parties say they have unearthed multiple instances of irregularities in voter rolls, including over 50 voters registered at one address. Reuters;

N.Korea leader observes military drill amid threats

28th-04-2012

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has observed a military exercise involving tanks, planes and artillery, official media said Saturday amid continuing threats by Pyongyang against South Korea.

Kim, supreme commander of the 1.2 million-strong military, "guided" the drill staged to mark the 80th anniversary of the armed forces, the state news agency reported without giving a date for the exercise.

"He called for mercilessly wiping out the enemies with the arms of justice and revenge if they dare provoke," it said.

The North has threatened "sacred war" against the South's conservative government in retaliation for perceived insults during Pyongyang's commemoration this month of the centenary of the birth of founding leader Kim Il-Sung.

There is also widespread speculation that the North may carry out another nuclear test following international criticism of its failed rocket launch on April 13.

South Korean and US defence officials see a "very high" chance of another test, Seoul's deputy defence minister Lim Kwan-Bin was quoted as saying Friday in Washington.

"The assessment of South Korea and the US is that chances are very high that North Korea will carry out a nuclear experiment," Yonhap news agency quoted him as saying after two days of meetings with senior Pentagon officials.

"(We) can't predict the specific timing of it, but it is believed to be possible any time."

Lim said he had no firm evidence but cited Pyongyang's record of conducting nuclear tests following criticism of long-range missile launches in 2006 and 2009.

"There are many opinions that there is a high possibility that it will go ahead with a nuclear test to make up for the failed missile launch," he was quoted as saying.

South Korean and US officials reaffirmed they would stage a tough response to any additional provocations by the North, Lim said. The US bases 28,500 troops in the South. AFP:

Education basis for dev‚ says envo

28th-04-2012

Addressing a programme organised to lay the foundation stone of Ramsakhi Mohit Singh Janata Higher Secondary School in Balara Village Development Committee, Sarlahi, the Indian ambassador dwelt on the importance of education.

He said a country can march on the path of prosperity only if the society was educated.

“As the development of society is ultimately dependent on educated females in our society, let’s educate our daughters,” he added.

Saying a country can never be great or small by its size, he noted India has been providing assistance to Nepal for different development projects of health and education sectors given the two country’s long-standing friendly and cultural relations.

At the end of the programme, locals of the area felicitated the ambassador.

The school building would be built at the cost of Rs 49 million and conduct classes up to bachelor level, officials looking after the project said earlier today.Himal...

Philippines retrieves rare turtles from Hong Kong

27th-04-2012

MANILA: Turtles represent longevity and good luck, and that's certainly true for 18 rare smuggled turtles that were returned from Hong Kong to their native Philippines.

Philippine Wildlife Bureau head Mundita Lim says the pond turtles were confiscated at the Hong Kong airport in February from a Chinese student, along with 13 more common box turtles.

Pond turtles live only in forests on Palawan Island southwest of Manila. Only about 120 remain in the wild. Lim says they are prized as novelty pets or food.

Philippine officials took the unprecedented step of traveling to Hong Kong and retrieving the turtles because they are so rare. Palawan's governor received the turtles at the Manila airport Friday.

The 18 will be rehabilitated before being released in the wild.

On eve of 1st anniversary Kate caps flawless year

27th-04-2012

LONDON: With her first wedding anniversary approaching, the former Kate Middleton's transformation into a highly regarded member of the royal family is nearly complete.

She is now the Duchess of Cambridge, a striking woman who is comfortable speaking in public, going to charity events with husband Prince William or having tea with Queen Elizabeth II, her grandmother-in-law.

But the best times seem to be the quiet moments — walking in the wilds of North Wales with William and their black cocker spaniel puppy, Lupo.

"The main point is that they look as if they're enjoying themselves," said Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine. "The first year of marriage is difficult for everybody and they've adapted to their role admirably."

Seward believes the royal couple, who were college buddies before romance developed, have benefited tremendously from their long, solid friendship. The first year of their marriage has been largely free of controversy.

"They were together a long, long time and maybe this is a demonstration of how much it helped for them to be the friends that they are," she said.

Kate and William plan to celebrate their first anniversary on Sunday in private, palace officials said. On Thursday they visited the London headquarters of the MI6 intelligence agency, and also attended a reception, with Kate looking resplendent in a charcoal gray dress.

The duchess has faced considerable pressure in her first year as she has eased into her increasingly public royal role, but she has avoided any missteps, seeming to have benefited from strong family support and good advice from palace professionals.

She was reluctant at first to speak in public, although she showed an immediate skill at interacting with British citizens at casual events.

The royal wedding — a television spectacle seen throughout the world — gave William and his bride the chance to recast the image of the British monarchy as more down-to-earth.

After the wedding, they shunned the spotlight to spend what would typically have been a honeymoon period on Anglesey, a wind-swept spot off northwest Wales where William works as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot at the Royal Air Force Valley base.

Their first year of married life has been a study in balancing their dual roles: Royal and regular. The couple like to dress down when they walk Lupo, but they also wear designer duds at gala dinners and speak out in support of their chosen charities.

After they said "I do" in a gala spectacle at Westminster Abbey, the first images to emerge of the couple were of a casually dressed Kate picking up groceries.

Her later appearances on William's arm were more typically royal: Stunning red carpet walks in designer gowns while championing charitable causes.

While the royal wedding was the culmination of a long courtship, it was also Kate's coronation in the eyes of the public — as a fashion icon, a philanthropist and a possible future queen.

She has been widely praised for her fashion choices and her emphasis on British designers — many of the outfits she chooses become immediate favorites, selling out within hours.

With William by her side, she rendered celebrities such as Reese Witherspoon star-struck on a whirlwind tour of California shortly after the wedding, but also struck a chord at the less-highbrow Calgary Stampede wearing tight jeans, a cowboy hat and large belt buckle.

The duchess has also had to select charities to patronize, mindful of the causes her husband's late mother, Princess Diana, pursued.

She's been photographed hugging cancer patients and doing arts and crafts with young Britons. The charities she now supports have praised her approachability and dedication.

That dedication was put on display when William was deployed to the Falkland Islands for several weeks earlier this spring.

As William proudly served his country, the duchess delivered her first public address — noting in her brief but confident delivery that she was sorry her husband could not join her.

Kate might consider giving some advice to her younger sister on media management. While the duchess has generated some of the most positive royal press in years, Pippa Middleton made some unpleasant headlines this month when she was photographed in a car in Paris with a driver who pretended to point a gun at photographers. The gun was later said to be a toy.

Still, when the royal couple marks their anniversary on Sunday, the ever-present question that trails many newlyweds will be right there with them: When will baby make three? AP:

27 injured in 4 blasts in eastern Ukraine city

27th-04-2012

UKRAINE: Four blasts within minutes rocked the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk Friday, injuring at least 27 people, including nine children, in what prosecutors believed was a terrorist attack, officials said.

Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Yulia Yershova said the first blast occurred at a tramway stop in the center of Dnipropetrovsk, injuring 13 people. The second injured 11 people near a school, including the nine children, while the third wounded three near a railway station.

A fourth blast was also heard in the city center, Yershova said. It was unclear whether anybody was injured.

Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko and the deputy heads of the Prosecutor General's Office and the national security service were flying to Dnipropetrovsk. Prosecutors' spokesman Yuri Boichenko said investigators are treating the blasts as a terrorist attack.

President Viktor Yanukovych called the explosions "yet another challenge for the whole country," and said that Ukraine's best investigators will be working on the case, according to the Interfax news agency. "We will think of a worthy response."

In January 2011, two pre-dawn explosions outside an office of a coal mining company and then a shopping center in the eastern city of Makiyivka caused no casualties.

The authorities then received letters demanding money in exchange for an end to the blasts. The perpetrators were later detained and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. AP:

Sweat-drenched Kim Kardashian spices up Twitter

27th-04-2012

LONDON: Kim Kardashian works up a sweat as she poses in her bikini – before unabashedly posting the pic on Twitter, reported British daily The Sun on Friday.

The body-proud reality TV star fires seductive eyes at the camera as she leans against a metallic wall.

Sporting soggy locks and perspiring skin, the curvy star offers a glimpse of what possibly first attracted Kanye West to her.

In stark contrast, Kim looked ready for business as she donned sophisticated office clobber in New York yesterday.

The socialite proved she’s as eye-catching in a shirt – albeit it a largely unbuttoned one – and skirt as she is in barely anything at all.

Kim and Kanye went public with their relationship earlier this week, holding hands as they headed out for diner in the Big Apple.

The pair had stayed tight-lipped about their romance, but they didn’t hide their affection as they attended the opening of Scott Disick’s New York restaurant.

Kim, 32, started dating the 34-year-old rapper at the beginning of the month but have not officially confirmed they are an item.

Meanwhile, Kim – whose career was effectively launched by her leaked sex tape in 2007 – has lashed out at claims a nude photo doing the rounds online is her.

The saucy snap allegedly of Kim frying eggs has gone viral.

A spokesman for the star said: “It’s not her. You can totally tell. It looks nothing like her.” Agencies;

Sweet and sour

27th-04-2012

The Constituent Assembly (CA) was created on the basis of the principle that the people should get to frame their own constitution. Nepal has had several constitutions, but all of them were a result of negotiations between the important political forces, each one of which sought to exclude the others. This time, we were supposed to resolve such political conflict and write a new constitution that would be owned by the people and the political forces. However, as the deadline for the promulgation of a new constitution nears, the CA is turning into a mere rubber stamp, and there are indications that the new constitution may not have that kind of public ownership that we have all expected.

The first reason is that all significant negotiations and decision-making processes are being carried out outside the purview of the CA, mostly by forces not elected by the people. Another reason is that the political negotiations are bypassing the required democratic norms outlined in the Interim Constitution (IC). All logical discussions should be the outcome of negotiations based on a combination of political positions and policy research. This means that democratic decision-making is a slow and tedious process that slowly builds on past agreements on broader principles. This has not been the case in Nepal. Although many issues of the new constitution have been sorted out in this manner, the most politically significant decisions are being taken in a ad-hoc manner through give and take between the four major political forces in the country.

An example is the ‘understanding’ of the political parties on the number of members for the Pratinidhi Sabha (Lower House) and the Rastriyia Sabha (National Assembly) which has only served to incense the UML and Nepali Congress (NC) lawmakers. It is clear that this was reached to appease the Maoist party. The strength of the Upper House and the Lower House under the circumstances would be such that an impoverished like Nepal would be hard put to bear financially.

The negotiations are now being carried out to reach a consensus, and despite repeated assurances from the leaders of the various political parties, the negotiations have progressed in such a manner that it would be almost next to impossible to write the constitution by the stipulated deadline of May 27. Taking these into consideration, the four major political forces including the Madhes-based parties should make a last ditch effort so that consensus emerges on all the contentious issues. The people are hopeful that this will be achieved encompassing the spirit of the people’s movement. It should be a win-win situation for all.

Now, with only about a month left to write the constitution, the peace process should be taken to its logical conclusion without any further delay or dilly dallying, at the same time making most of the little time that is available to write the constitution of the country. Failure to do so would mean having to go for a fresh mandate. The last minute political parleys give some hope of a breakthrough, which can only materialise when the stakeholders come to a commpon point of agreement.


Never-ending

loadshedding seems to need a lot of brainstorming. All from laypersons to experts and political leaders have delved into this unique phenomenon that continues throughout the year for years on end. Maybe that’s the fate of the people entering the new Nepal phase, and the promulgation of an all-inclusive democratic constitution in a month’s time from now. All talk of generating 10 or 20 thousand megawatts of electricity in 5, 10 or 20 years is mere rhetoric. One is just left wondering as to why there is so much talk sans the action part. In this context, the prosperity that the country should have notched up has not materialised particularly because of inept political leadership.

If it had been division of labour, that would be welcome by all means. But here is sharing the spoils on an all-party basis. That has seen all sorts of protests against any new hydro-electricity project in the country. That leaves the citizens clamouring for power when they are subject to endless loadshedding. Promises are made, but they are never fulfilled.
Himal...

US to move 9‚000 Marines from southern Japan

27th-04-2012

TOKYO: The United States is to shift 9,000 Marines out of Japan in a move Washington hopes will ease sometimes fractious relations with its ally over a huge American military presence.

The redeployment, which will see troops moved to Guam, Hawaii and Australia, will go ahead regardless of any progress on the moving of a busy airbase on Okinawa that had originally been a key plank of a deal with the US.

In a joint statement issued in Washington and Tokyo, the two sides said they remained committed to the relocation of the Futenma base from its present urban location to a coastal spot -- a move that is heavily resisted in Okinawa.

The two governments "reconfirmed their view that (this) remains the only viable solution that has been identified to date", the statement said.

No definite timeframe was put on the redeployment, with the statement saying only that the "relocations are to be completed as soon as possible while ensuring operational capability throughout the process".

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said the agreement was necessary to reflect an evolving regional reality.

"Changes in the security environment will not wait for us. Japan and the United States have to assume our responsibility and do our part and implement the plans in a speedy manner," he told reporters in Tokyo, amid growing unease over the rise of China.

"The (base-move) problem brought everything to a halt. We must make progress where we can."

The deal comes just ahead of a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who will meet with President Barack Obama on Monday for what both sides hope will be a demonstration that the alliance is back on track.

Japan and the United States have long clashed over Okinawa, the site of sporadic tensions with US troops. Around half of the 47,000 US service personnel in Japan are based on the strategically located island, which is nearer to Taiwan than it is to Tokyo.

In the never-implemented 2006 deal, the United States agreed to shift the Futenma air base -- a longtime source of grievance as it lies in a crowded urban area -- to a quiet stretch of seashore, with 8,000 Marines leaving Okinawa for Guam.

But some activists in Okinawa pressed for the base to be removed completely. The controversy felled one Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, who failed to fulfil campaign pledges in 2009 to renegotiate the deal.

Speaking ahead of the official announcement, Kurt Campbell, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the deal would move relations forward.

"We think it breaks a very long stalemate that has plagued our politics, that has clogged both of our systems, that has made it difficult to deal with the critical and crucial issues that confront the United States and Japan," Campbell said.

The announcement comes after the two sides said they were decoupling the marine redeployment from the base-move issue, which is likely to remain mired in the sticky interface between Okinawa and Tokyo.

A senior state department official said the delinking had allowed things to move forwards.

"Previously everything was a package, until we had progress on constructing the Futenma replacement facility, we weren't doing a lot of other things," said the official, who requested anonymity, in line with usual policy.

"One of the key aspects of this agreement is that we're separating the piece of constructing a replacement facility for Futenma from the other aspects of the agreement because we're acknowledging it's taking more time than we anticipated."

The statement said the total cost of the relocation to Guam was expected to be $8.6 billion, with the US official saying more than a third would be paid by Tokyo.

"The $3.1 billion dollar Japanese cash commitment... is significant and we particularly appreciate this commitment in the context of Japan's fiscal challenges, which we fully recognise," the defence department official said.

Around 5,000 of those leaving Okinawa will be heading to Guam, with the remainder going to Hawaii and Australia where Washington is "establishing a US Marine Corps rotational presence", the statement said.

"In executing these moves, the US government reaffirmed its commitment to sustain its current military presence and enhance military capability in the Western Pacific."

The agreement is part of a wider US strategy under President Barack Obama who is pushing to re-engage with Asia and reconfigure the American military presence in the region amid concerns over China's rapid rise. AFP:

Jellyfish-Like Organisms Shut Down California Power Plant

27th-04-2012

CALIFORNIA: The workers of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant received a very slimy surprise this week when they discovered hoards of jellyfish-like creatures clinging to the structure, leading to the shutdown of the plant.

The organisms, called salp, are small sea creatures with a consistency similar to jellyfish.

The influx of salp was discovered as part of the plant's routine monitoring system, according to Tom Cuddy, the senior manager of external and nuclear communications for the plant's operator, Pacific Gas & Electric.

"We then made the conservative decision to ramp down the affected unit to 20 percent and continued to monitor the situation," Cuddy said. "When the problem continued, we made another conservative decision that it would be safest to curtail the power of the unit."

The salp were clogging the traveling screens in the intake structure, which are meant to keep marine life out and to keep the unit cool.

"Safety is the highest priority," Cuddy said. "We will not restart the unit until the salp moves on and conditions improve. No priority is more important than the safe operation of our facility."

The plant consists of two units. Unit 1 was shut down previously because of refueling and maintenance work and will not be functional for several weeks. Now that Unit 2 has been shut down because of the influx of salp, the plant has ceased all production.

Even with the Diablo Canyon plant out of commission, PG&E has pledged to continue production using other sources of power so that customers are unaffected by the closure.

"We've had salp cling to the intake structure before, but nothing to this extent," Cuddy said.

The plant's strategy? Simply wait until the salp move on and resume production once the filters are clear. Agencies;

Cheryl Cole "never‚ ever" knew Cowell had hots for her

27th-04-2012

LONDON: Cheryl Cole says she “never, ever” felt Simon Cowell had the hots for her – despite him saying he was “mesmerised” by the star.

“I never, ever felt that vibe from Simon,” she says. “Never ever.”

Last week, Cowell, 52, called her a “toy” and described working with her as “like a mouse being played with by a beautiful cat”.

She says: “I have spoken to him since and he’s just laughing.

“He called me a toy to my face. If you read it the way people read it, it sounds awful.

"It was only ever used as a term of endearment to us, joking like. Agencies;

U.S. House passes CISPA

27th-04-2012

WASHINGTON: The United States House of Representatives has voted to pass the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), talk of which has swept the Internet over the past few weeks. The House vote was moved up to Thursday night, and CISPA passed as 248 members of Congress voted for the bill and 168 voted against.

The bill is sponsored by Representatives Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Maryland), and it now faces further modifications in the Senate if it is to avoid being vetoed by the White House. President Barack Obama has indicated that he intends to veto the bill if it makes it to his desk, noting that as it is written now, the legislation would allow “broad sharing of information with governmental entities without establishing requirements for both industry and the government to minimize and protect personally identifiable information.”

The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement following the vote. “Cybersecurity does not have to mean abdication of Americans’ online privacy,” said ACLU legislative counsel Michelle Richardson. “As we’ve seen repeatedly, once the government gets expansive national security authorities, there’s no going back. We encourage the Senate to let this horrible bill fade into obscurity.” Agencies;

Dhanusha schools give parents 'book' headache

27th-04-2012

JANAKPURDHAM: Parents in Dhanusha district are facing a hell of a problem with the private schools in the district requiring them to buy school textbooks from specific book shops only.

It is said most of the institutional schools here are operating through a contractual relationship with book sellers and distributors and asking the parents to buy books from specified book stores.

Even some of the popular schools in the district are said to hand in a book list to the parents and tell them to buy these from a certain shop.

There are 118 institutional schools running legally in the district. A source said there are many more that are operating illegally.

It is said the schools get a certain percentage from the book stores on the money they make by selling school textbooks. It is this commission that is impelling the schools to force the parents to buy books from particular book stores, commented a distraught parent. RSS:

North Korea's big show visible from space

27th--04-2012

PYONGYANG: In North Korea, the choreography can be part of the geography.

The country is famous for organizing crowds of thousands of people using colored cards to spell out political slogans and images in stadiums or large squares, and the gathering last week to celebrate the 100th birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung was no different.

This time, however, the spelled out message in a central square in the capital of Pyongyang was big enough to be visible from space.

An April 15 image of a celebration taken by a satellite and distributed by DigitalGlobe shows people in red and gold clothing gathered in Kim Il Sung Square and spelling out the word "glory" in Korean.

The parade culminated with the unveiling of a new missile, although analysts who have studied photos of a half-dozen ominous new North Korean rockets say they were fakes. AP:

Add kidneys to list of things that can be recycled

CHICAGO: It turns out you can recycle just about anything these days — even kidneys and other organs donated for transplants.

Recently in Chicago, in what is believed to be the first documented case of its kind in the U.S., a transplanted kidney that was failing was removed from a patient while he was still alive and given to somebody else.

There have been other cases since the 1980s of transplant organs being used more than once, but they were rare and involved instances in which the first recipient died.

Typically when transplanted organs fail in living patients, doctors throw them away. But with more than 73,000 people awaiting transplants nationwide, some specialists say doctors should consider trying to reuse more organs to ease the severe shortage.

"The need for kidney transplantation doesn't match our capacity," said Dr. Lorenzo Gallon, a Northwestern University transplant specialist who oversaw the kidney recycling operation in Chicago. "People die on dialysis" while awaiting kidneys.

That was the possible fate awaiting two strangers. A research letter describing the unusual case was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

The donated kidney lasted just two weeks in the first patient, a 27-year-old Illinois man. The same disease that ruined his kidneys started to damage the new kidney, given to him by his sister. He was getting sicker, and doctors needed to act fast if they were going to save the organ. With permission from the man and his sister, they removed it last July and retransplanted it into a 67-year-old Indiana man.

The Illinois man is back on dialysis and will probably get another transplant eventually.

Still, reusing a transplanted organ can be tricky — and riskier — because surgeons have to deal with scar tissue that typically forms around an organ as the body heals from the operation.

Also, Wayne Shelton, a bioethicist at Albany Medical College in New York, said the practice may raise ethical questions. He said doctors need to make sure patients who are offered reused parts understand all the risks and are not made to feel coerced into accepting such organs. And because these cases are so rare, there is little data on how patients with recycled parts fare, Shelton noted.

Dr. Jonathan Bromberg, director of transplantation at the University of Maryland Medical Center, praised the Northwestern doctors but said organ recycling is unlikely to become commonplace because it would be rare for an already transplanted organ to be healthy enough to be reused.

In Boston in 2009, a man died shortly after a getting a new heart, and the organ was in good enough shape to be transplanted into someone else. A 2005 medical journal report detailed three U.S. cases involving donor livers reused after the initial recipients died, and said they were among 11 similar cases between 1987 and 2005. Medical literature also includes reports from the 1990s about a kidney retransplant in Spain and a heart retransplant in Switzerland.

In the Chicago case, Ray Fearing of Arlington Heights, Ill., received a new kidney that was later reused by Erwin Gomez of Valparaiso, Ind., a surgeon familiar with the medical complexities involved.

Joel Newman, a spokesman for the United Network for Organ Sharing, said previous retransplants in the U.S. "have occurred when the original recipient has died soon after a transplant but the organ is still able to function. To our knowledge, this is the first publicly reported instance where a kidney has been removed from a living person due to the risk of organ failure and retransplanted."

Fearing had a disease that caused scarring that prevented the kidneys from filtering waste from blood. He had to quit his industrial machinery job and went on dialysis a year ago. His sister donated a kidney last June in what was "probably the happiest moment of my life," Fearing said. The worst, he said, was a few days later, when doctors told him the kidney was damaged and had to be removed.

Gallon, medical director of Northwestern's kidney transplant program, thought the kidney could be reused in somebody else if it was removed quickly, before it became irreversibly damaged.

Gallon needed Fearing's permission, and also asked the young man's sister, Cera Fearing.

Fearing said he was heartbroken and reluctant to abandon an organ that had been his only hope for a normal life. But he decided it was the only option that made sense. His sister, too, was crushed but said she didn't hesitate when told her kidney might help someone else.

"I just assumed it's damaged, it's garbage," she said. "The fact that they were able to give it to someone that somehow was able to benefit from it was great."

Gomez was selected because he was a good match. But Gallon said doctors also thought Gomez's medical background would help him understand the complexities. Gomez said he had never heard of reusing transplant organs, and he worried about taking what seemed like damaged goods. But he agreed after the Northwestern team explained the risks and possible benefits.

The removal and retransplant operations took place July 1. Within two days, the transplanted kidney had regained function. Gallon said he is convinced the damage is reversed.

Gomez is taking anti-rejection drugs and is off dialysis. "I finally feel normal," he said. Fearing is back on dialysis and said he is doing OK.

Gallon said it is not uncommon for patients with Fearing's disease to go through more than one transplanted kidney, and he expects Fearing will eventually get another one.

Despite his own misfortune, Fearing said he is "extremely happy about being a part of this medical breakthrough" that might end up helping others.

Heidi Klum goes au naturel in body paint

26th-04-2012

LONDON: She has been the face of cosmetics brand Astor for more than two years.

And in her latest venture for the make-up brand, Heidi Klum has also become the body, reported the Daily Mail on Tuesday.

The supermodel stripped off and bared all for a sultry campaign for the company, in which she can be seen lying in a seductive pose, wearing nothing but body paint.

And with a figure like that, it was no surprise that the 38-year-old star wanted to show it off, as she proudly posted the photo to her Twitter account.

She captioned the image: ‘I had another fun photo shoot for Astor celebrating color!’

No doubt the sexy snap will also be showing the model’s estranged husband Seal what he is missing.

She certainly hasn’t been shy of showing off her body since the break up and also recently posed nude for Allure magazine.

In an accompanying interview with the publication, Heidi opened up about her split from the Kiss From A Rose singer, describing the end of her marriage as a 'curveball.'

The pair split in January after seven years of marriage and Heidi is still figuring out how to adjust to the changes in her life.

She told the magazine: 'Sometimes life throws you a curveball, and then you just figure it out and deal with it, but my dream always was that – to have the perfect family and have lots of children and a beautiful garden and trampolines and swings and things.

'I had dreams of how I wanted things to be and planned for things and, as we all know today, they don't always turn out as you dreamt them in your head.'

Heidi - who raises children Leni, seven, Henry, six, Johan, five, and two-year-old Lou with Seal - added she doesn't feel any resent about the split, which her former husband has said was caused by them growing apart.

She added: 'I don’t resent anything that ever happened. Things just turn out the way they turn out.' Agencies:

Not all in Asia are Gaga over the Lady

26th-04-2012

HONG KONG: Accused of contaminating youngsters with "satanic" dance moves and "intolerable" outfits, the cult of Lady Gaga is on a collision course with Asia's moral guardians ahead of her mammoth world tour.

In other words, the performer -- who goes by the name of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta when not clad in outfits made of raw meat or tottering on vertigo-inducing footwear -- is doing her job as a provocative pop star.

The multi-million-selling artist arrived in South Korea last week ahead of the first date of her "Born This Way Ball" at Seoul's 70,000 seat Olympic Stadium Friday, the start of a touring juggernaut encompassing 110 dates.

"I will perform the tour of your life," the performer tweeted to her 23 million Twitter followers.

The tour, featuring elaborate sets designed by in-house team Haus of Gaga, follows up on the success of her album "Born This Way", which has sold nearly six million copies worldwide since it was released in May 2011.

But amid the hype and clamour for tickets is a drum beat of protest from those who do not take the gender-bending antics of the frequently scantily-clad US performer lightly.

Gaga will in June head to Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim nation, where Islamic leaders have said her risque outfits will not be tolerated.

"I call on Lady Gaga to respect our cultural and traditional values. Most people here are Muslims and we cannot tolerate her revealing outfits and sexy performances," the Indonesia Ulema Council leader Amidhan told AFP.

He added, however, that the country's highest Islamic body has no plan to issue a fatwa against her performing.

"It's better for Lady Gaga to cancel her show in this country if she has no willingness to respect our demand. Please do not destroy our nation's morality and ruin our dignity," said Amidhan, who goes by one name.

Big Daddy, the promoters for the concert in Jakarta, said tickets began selling in early March and were sold out within two weeks.

"We have informed Lady Gaga's management (about these concerns), and they said that they will respect the country where she will perform", said Hanny Marpaung, corporate secretary for Big Daddy.

But he added "we still don't have any clue" about what she will wear.

Four of the Giorgio Armani outfits Lady Gaga will wear for her Seoul concert were unveiled Monday, including a leotard fashioned from guitars and black body suit made of hundreds of glittering vinyl tubes sewn together with metal studs.

Conservative Christian groups in South Korea have rallied against the self-styled "Mother Monster", accusing her of promoting pornography and homosexuality on malleable young minds.

South Korea has East Asia's largest Christian community after the Philippines, with about 8.6 million Protestants and 5.1 million Catholics. About 10 million South Koreans are Buddhists.

Scores of Protestant church members held a group prayer on Sunday against the concert, calling her dance moves "satanic" performances that "contaminate souls" of the country's youth.

South Koreans aged under 18 have been banned from the show, Lady Gaga's second concert in the country, after the government rated it unsuitable for younger audiences.

Internet portals and social network sites have been abuzz with intense debates, with most commentators accusing the religious groups of bigotry.

"What an international embarrassment they are! Do they really believe they can violate other people's right to enjoy her show?" said one anonymous user.

In the Philippines, a youth organisation urged people to stay away from Gaga's May 21 concert, saying it poses a threat to moral values in Asia's largest Catholic nation.

Organisers said fans have swiftly snapped up most tickets for the show, including the highest-priced 15,850-peso ($372) options.

But Laurence Pintero, head of the Manila-based Youth for Christ, criticised the government for allowing the concert to take place.

"If the government thinks she is a threat, first and foremost they should stop it," he said. "I think we should be bold. We discourage (people from) attending her concert."

Elsewhere in the region, Gaga has been embraced.

In Japan, whose Manga art and cosplay -- a phenomenon in which participants wear costumes representing a character or trend -- are clearly some of her biggest influences, she is affectionately known as "Lady Gaga-san".

Gaga won more friends after declaring "Japan is safe" when she visited three months after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that left 19,000 dead and sparked the Fukushima nuclear crisis that helped decimate tourism.

And in Australia she was crowned "Honorary Citizen of Sydney" for using her star power against "prejudice directed at gay men and women".

Then there's the tiny Pacific atoll of Niue, about 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) northeast of New Zealand, which pledged that all of its 1,600 inhabitants would attend a Lady Gaga concert in a bid to lure her to its shores.

Tickets for Lady Gaga's shows in Singapore and Hong Kong sold out within hours, with three extra dates shows added at the Chinese territory's Asia World-Expo venue as buyers queued for days for tickets.AFP:

Obama to kick off campaign rallies in Ohio‚ Va

26th-04-2012

WASHINGTON: Diving into campaign mode full-bore, President Barack Obama will headline his first re-election rallies next week, marking an important turning point in the race for the White House.

The president will hit the campaign trail in back-to-back rallies May 5 in Ohio and Virginia, the Obama campaign said Wednesday. Obama carried both battleground states in the 2008 election and will likely need to win there again in November if he wants to hold on to his job.

Michelle Obama, the popular first lady, was to join the president at the rallies, which will be held on the campuses of Ohio State University in Columbus and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

With Mitt Romney now assured of the Republican Party's nomination, Obama couldn't afford to stand off to the sidelines much longer in what is shaping up to be a close contest.

Even the White House, which has been loath to engage fully in the election as it seeks to project a focus on the day-to-day business of governing, acknowledged Wednesday that the general election was in full-swing. White House spokesman Jay Carney, referring to the GOP contest, declared that "the race is over on that side.

For Obama, the campaign rallies could serve as a way to energize his base, especially the young voters on the campuses where the events will be held. But they also break down the barrier the White House has tried to maintain between the president and the political bickering on the campaign trail.

That barrier has been thin at best. Obama has for months been wooing donors at campaign fundraisers across the country, building up a sizeable money advantage over Romney. And Obama's official events have often had a campaign vibe, with Air Force One landing in swing state after swing state and crowds breaking into chants of "four more years."

Campaign officials made clear that Obama planned to try to poke holes in what Romney sees as his greatest strength, his record as a job-creator as both a private sector business leader and governor of Massachusetts. But David Axelrod, the campaign's senior adviser, said the president's message would not differ greatly on the campaign trail from what he has been saying at official events, as he seeks to draw a contrast between his vision for the nation's economic future and that of the Republican Party.

"We're not the candidate who reinvents himself week to week," Axelrod, dinging Romney for what the Obama team says is a tendency to flip-flop between the most politically expedient position.

Yet on the campaign trail, Obama is likely to feel more unencumbered in his attacks on Romney. At the White House and in other official events, Obama has often sought to draw a contrast with his Republican opponent without uttering his name.

Romney has maintained a laser-like focus on Obama for several weeks. On Tuesday, he outlined more of his general-election pitch to voters, urging all who struggle in a shaky U.S. economy to "hold on a little longer, a better America begins tonight."

News of Obama's first campaign rallies followed word from the Republican National Committee that it had filed a formal complaint with the Government Accountability Office requesting an investigation into whether Obama was using taxpayer money to fund travel that benefitted his re-election campaign.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that Obama's campaign "has been cheating the American taxpayer by using taxpayer dollars to fund their general election efforts."

For the president, much of the difference between "official" events and "campaign" events boils down to who pays for the cost of holding the event and which staffers are in charge of overseeing them.

But those technical differences often make little difference to those in the crowd — or to Obama himself. The president looked every bit the campaigner this week during official events on college campuses in North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa, all politically important states.

While the events were officially pegged to Obama's call for Congress to freeze the interest rates on federal student loans, the policy pitch was but a platform for a larger campaign goal: courting student voters, whose enthusiasm he will need in the November election.

Before his speech, and in front of TV cameras and photographers, Obama sat down with five Iowa students to hear about their career dreams and debt burdens.

While young voters were solidly behind Obama in the 2008 election, they are being aggressively wooed by Romney. His campaign is hoping he can appeal to young voters burdened by a bleak employment picture and student loan debt.

Obama's full entry into the campaign comes about six weeks later than when his predecessor headlined his first re-election rallies. But by the time George W. Bush headlined his first rally in Florida on March 20, 2004, his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was already his party's nominee. AP:

Australian among two dead in Indonesia plane crash

26th-04-2012

JAKARTA: A small aircraft has crashed in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province killing two people, one of them an Australian, an official said.

The Susi Air plane went down near a village in the Kutai Kartanegara district, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

"An aircraft crashed killing two people today at 1:30 am (1730 GMT Wednesday) in East Kalimantan. It belonged to Susi Air, and one of the dead is an Australian," he said.

No other details, such as the number of people on board, were immediately known.

Susi Air is a small domestic airline that operates a fleet of Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft, usually configured to carry 12 passengers and two pilots. AFP:

Dalai Lama says 'Middle Way' still best for Tibet

26th-04-2012

BEIJING: The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, said Wednesday he would not alter his non-violent quest for greater Tibetan autonomy, even after Beijing blamed him for inciting a wave of unrest.

A total of 34 Tibetans, many of them Buddhist monks and nuns, are reported to have attempted to kill themselves by setting themselves on fire in China's Tibetan-inhabited areas since the start of 2011 in protest at Chinese rule.

Many of the protesters -- who criticize Beijing for what they see as repression of their culture -- have reportedly died from severe burns.

Beijing has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of inciting the self-immolations in a bid to split the vast Himalayan region from the rest of the nation, a charge he denies.

"Recently things become very, very difficult but our stand -- no change," the Dalai Lama told the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

"Independence, complete independence is unrealistic -- out of (the) question," the Dalai Lama said, saying his non-violent "Middle Way" of seeking change from Beijing still has the support of 90 percent of Tibetans.

"So we can continue," he said in a press conference at the conclusion of the summit.

Tibet's leadership-in-exile in India remains committed to "meaningful talk" with the Chinese government in order to establish "meaningful autonomy" for the Tibetan minority, he said.

The latest self-immolations by a pair of young Tibetan men occurred last week in the prefecture of Aba in a rugged area of Sichuan province, overseas Tibetan rights groups said.

China has imposed tight security to contain simmering discontent in Tibetan regions since 2008, when deadly rioting against Chinese rule broke out in Tibet's capital Lhasa and spread to neighboring Tibetan-inhabited regions.

Many Tibetans in China complain of religious repression and a gradual erosion of their culture blamed on a growing influx of majority Han Chinese to their homeland.

China denies any repression and says it has improved the lives of Tibetans with investment in infrastructure, schools and housing and by spurring economic growth.

Twelve Nobel laureates including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu have urged China's president to resume talks with the Dalai Lama, but the Buddhist monk said that up until now, negotiations had not been productive.

"Sometimes I describe totalitarian regimes as no ear, only mouth," he told the summit with a laugh.

The Chinese officials "lecture us, never really listen" and are angry that "I am not acting like 'yes minister'," he said.

"Our approach failed to bring some concrete or positive result from the government, but the Chinese public, or Chinese intellectuals, or students who study in foreign countries -- they are beginning to know the reality," he said.

"That, I think, is a positive side, a significant result."

The Dalai Lama also expressed the need for patience in the decades-long struggle.

"Sometimes people have the impression (this is) some crisis very recently happened," he said.

"I meet some Chinese. They are frustrated. Very hostile. Then I tell them long stories... 60 years of stories. Then they understand, oh -- the Tibetan issue is really a very, very complicated issue." AFP:

Mechi hospital lacks doctors‚ basic facilities

26th-04-2012

JHAPA: Jhapa headquarters Bhadrapur-based Mechi Zonal Hospital, is turning into a referral center, thanks to the dearth of manpower and shortage of resources.

Although the hospital was established 35 years ago to cater services to the residents of Taplejung, Panchthar, Ilama and Jhapa, the construction of the health facility is yet to complete. To the locals’ dismay, patients visiting the hospital are referred to other places. Small wonder then the locals are skeptical regarding hospitals’ ability in providing the much needed service.

Patients of serious illness and those related to accidents are either referred to Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences or to India.

Dr Tanka Barakoti, acting medical superintendent at the hospital, said that the dearth of medical doctors, resources and mismanagement are to blame for the deplorable condition of the hospital.

The hospital has government quotas. However, it lacks medical superintendent, dental surgeon, dermatologist, gynecologist, radiologist, among others. The zonal hospital is running without ICU and CT scan machine. Even normal equipments have gone dysfunctional.

So much so that hospital does not have the facility of running water and power. Over 150 patients visit the OPD and 40 visit emergency ward daily. Gobinda chetti,

Nepse rise continues

25th-04-2012

KATHMANDU: Continuing the bull run, Nepse today soared by 5.22 per cent before the circuit breaker pulled the brakes on trading.

The benchmark index increased by 19.22 points reaching 388.34 points –– the highest points reached in last one year. The surge in stock prices once again brought stock trading to a standstill as the circuit breaker at Nepse came into action. The index increased by five per cent at 1.30 pm, so trading was suspended for the rest of the day. Prior to that too, the trading floor had witnessed a halt for 15 minutes due to a surge in the index by three per cent.

With more and more investors vying for blue chip stocks, the sensitive index, which measures the performance of class ‘A’ companies, increased by five per cent to 100.29 points.

Lately, Bank of Kathmandu has emerged as the major puller in the market and the most number of shares traded by investors belonged to the bank. The bank saw its 23,993 shares traded in 103 transactions earning Rs 57 per unit at today’s closing of Rs 631 from the previous day’s closing price. Nabil Bank was the biggest earner of the day –– it saw its stock price appreciate by Rs 120.

Bishal Bazaar, though, lost Rs 85 per unit share becoming

the biggest loser of the day. Today, 134,880 unit shares worth Rs 53 million, belonging to 62 companies were traded in 606 transactions. The ongoing rise in stock prices has pushed

market capitalisation to more than Rs 366 billion. Himal;

Things never to say in a job interview

25th-04-2012

When you are searching for a job, landing an interview can feel like a huge success — and it is. But for most open positions, the interview is only one step in a long hiring process. For some jobs, dozens of people may be interviewed, and the competition will be fierce. Do not take yourself out of the competition by saying one of these job-interview killers:

1. What sort of perks do you offer?

Save the talk about benefits and perks for the negotiation stage — that is, after you have gotten a job offer — or until the interviewer raises the issue.

2. What does your company do?

Believe it or not, recruiters and hiring managers say they get asked this question all the time. Before you go into your job interview, research what the company does, and come up with some specific ways you can help it do whatever it does better.

3. My last boss was a real %$#*!

Complaining about your last job only reflects badly on you. Even if you are telling the truth, it makes you look like a complainer and poor sport (exactly the type of person no one wants to work with). It is great to talk about challenges you faced, but the focus should be on the positive results you achieved.

4. I love your glasses.

Never compliment interviewers on their physical appearance — doing so can come off as inappropriate or just plain creepy. Paying compliments is fine, but they should be related to the professional realm. For instance, you might want to praise a recent success the company or the interviewer has had.

5. My feet are killing me!

Complaining about physical discomfort will be perceived as negativity — or as you making excuses for not performing well in the interview. (An HR manager in Silicon Valley tells of a candidate who complained of a headache caused by partying too hard the night before. Needless to say, this candidate did not get the job.)

6. I got fired from my last position.

You never want to lie in a job interview — but there are more graceful ways to explain that you were fired: “My boss and I had very different ideas about what our department should be focusing on, and it soon became clear that I’d be happier in a new role — like this one.” Keep the focus on what you learned from the past, and bring the focus back to why the job you are interviewing for is the right one for you.

7. I just want a job — any job!

This may very well be true, but desperation is not appealing. The interviewer needs to know that you want the particular job you are interviewing for — and that you are a great fit for it.

8. I do not know.

If you really do not know the answer to an interview question about you or your background, try, “I’ll find out and get back to you by the end of the day.” But if the question is about what you would do in a hypothetical workplace situation — or is an off-the-wall or brainteaser question such as “How many golf balls would it take to fill this room?” — your response should show your thought process. Go ahead and think aloud: “First, I’d have to determine the volume of the room. Then I’d have to subtract the volume of the furniture...” And so on.

9. My biggest weakness is that I work too hard.

Your interviewer knows this answer is a bunch of malarkey. So how do you answer the “What’s your biggest weakness?” question? Choose something not directly related to the role you are applying for that you have made positive efforts to improve. For example, you could say, “I can be nervous about speaking in front of large groups — so I enrolled in Toastmasters and then volunteered to present some seminars at my former employer. So that is becoming less and less of a problem for me.” Agencies;