US cooperating, not dictating Islamabad: Holbrooke

WASHINGTON : Pakistan’s anti-militancy actions have improved its image in the United States and the Obama administration is pursuing a cooperative relationship with the regional ally and not dictating Islamabad, US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke said Tuesday.

“We are out of the business of telling your country what you should do. Now we are listening to Pakistan,” Holbrooke remarked. He said the US-Pakistan relationship is getting “stronger and stronger.”

At a joint press briefing with Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, the American envoy said “Pakistan’s (anti-militant) actions last year have had a deep effect on American public opinion. I think, you will see it Mr Secretary if you talk to ordinary Americans, you go to the (Capitol) Hill today, I think you will see much more appreciation for Pakistan than in previous trips.”

Holbrooke cited several examples of how the Obama Administration has been receptive to Islamabad’s ideas and has accordingly changed the policies it inherited.

Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on the occasion said both Pakistan and the United States are working hard towards a stronger relationship.

“We want to establish long-term full-spectrum relationship with the United States.”

The top Pakistani career diplomat said Pakistan-US engagement is very important but “it is not about numbers” in terms of economic assistance.

“It is the relationship which is important.”

At the same time, he said, “there is the reality of interdependence” between Pakistan and the United States.

“It is not a donor-recipient relationship we are looking for, but a long long-term engagement.”

Pukhtunkhwa(NWFP)virtually turned into cultural wasteland

PESHAWAR: The North-West Frontier Province with its rich cultural heritage has been turned into a cultural wasteland for the last few years.

The most trumpeted cultural directorate is yet to become functional at the historic Gor Gathri complex, while artistes and singers are still under threat and yet to restart their career. Private cultural and literary functions are being held at their own risk.

“The government has made tall claims to establish cultural directorate and work for the benefits of the poets and artistes but no such promise has been fulfilled. The state-run television station in Peshawar too has no plan to air quality cultural or literary programmes for the last many months. The artistes and writers are demoralized with the Philistine attitude of the government. On the contrary whatever the government says is no more than hollow slogans,” deplored Prof Abaseen Yousafzai, a Pashto poet and chairman of the Pashto Department at the Islamia College University.

Providing protection and security to the artistes is another important issue. A year ago many singers and performing artistes were threatened with dire consequences if they did not give up their profession while some were even kidnapped for ransom and released on the condition of quitting the profession. Some started reciting na’ats.

Kafayat Shah Bacha who was a popular folk singer began sporting a beard and started reciting religious hymns. Many artistes left NWFP and moved to other cities in the country or abroad to escape the wrath of the militants. Haroon Bacha, another noted singer, sought political asylum in 2009 in the US.

“If there is no cultural activity, how can the singers and artistes survive? It is now the question of the survival of the artistes themselves, let alone the arts and culture in the NWFP,” observed a young singer, Bakhtiar Khattak.

“There are eight audio recording studios in the city, a few amateur singers turn up for singing as there is no academy or government sponsorship. It is at their own risk that they invest in a music chart and take it to private TV channel for airing without caring for its quality,” he said.

Prof Dr Rajwali Shah Khattak, director Centre of Pashto Language and Literature, University of Peshawar, told The News that it was unfortunate that owing to recent wave of militancy, Frontier cultural heritage was affected in several ways.

He felt bombing mausoleum of great Sufi poet Rahman Baba was a tragic incident not only for Pashtuns but for all human beings. “In Peshawar’s Dabgari Bazaar there were 30 to 50 shops where musical instruments used to be hand-made and put on sale but now only two rabab making shops are left there which I believe is a great cultural loss. We must try to revive our rich cultural heritage by organizing cultural and literary events otherwise posterity will not forgive us,” Dr Rajwali Shah Khattak said.

UK expels Israeli diplomat over Dubai slaying case

Britain has expelled an Israeli diplomat over the alleged use of forged U.K. passports in the assassination of a Hamas operative in a suspected Mossad hit.

Israel said it was disappointed but vowed to strengthen its relationship with Britain.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband told lawmakers on Tuesday that the Israeli diplomat, who has not been named, was removed from London following an investigation into the use of 12 fake U.K. passports in the Jan 20 slaying in Dubai.

He says a British investigation found “compelling reasons to believe that Israel was responsible” for the forged passports.

Israel's ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, said Israel was “disappointed by the decision of the British government” but affirmed his commitment to a relationship ``of mutual importance.''

Karzai holds peace talks with Hekmatyar group

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has met delegates from Afghanistan’s second-biggest militant group and is studying their peace proposals, his spokesman said on Monday.

Hezb-e-Islami is headed by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is black-listed as a terrorist by the United Nations and the United States. The latter accuses him of taking part in and supporting attacks by al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Karzai has been pursuing peace talks in the hope of ending the crippling insurgency led by the Taliban, while the United States implements a troop surge designed to weaken the militants.

Hezb-e-Islami had said it would only hold peace talks with Karzai’s government once all foreign forces had quit Afghan soil. The latest move could thus be seen as an early success in the president’s reconciliation efforts.

“I confirm that a meeting between the Hezb-e-Islami delegation and the president took place a couple of days back,” presidential spokesman Waheed Omar told AFP.

“They brought with them a peace plan, a proposal, and the president is studying it,” he said, confirming that the president had yet to respond to the plan.

The US State Department designated Hekmatyar, a former prime minister, as a terrorist in 2003, accusing him of taking part in and supporting al Qaeda and Taliban attacks.

Hezb-e-Islami’s spokesman Haroon Zarghon told AFP that the delegation of senior members handed Karzai a 15-point document they hoped would form the basis of peace talks.

Of the 15 points, “one of them is to set a clear timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces and another the formation of an interim administration”, Zarghon said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The delegation currently in Kabul is headed by Qutbuddin Helal, Hekmatyar’s deputy and also a former prime minister, Qaribul Rehman Sayeed, Ghairat Baheer and other prominent figures who formed Hezb-e-Islami, Zarghon said.

Talks: He said Hezb-e-Islami would “for Afghanistan’s well-being and prosperity” also encourage the Taliban to pursue peace negotiations. afp

Afghanistan Signs Understanding With UN to Fight Illegal Chemical Trade

Senior Afghanistan officials and the U.N. Environment Program have agreed to work together to fight the illegal trade in banned chemicals.

In a memorandum of understanding signed in Bangkok, the United Nations and Afghanistan took aim at chemicals that scientists say harm the ozone layer and contribute to climate change.

Afghanistan Ministry of Finance Deputy Minister For Customs And Revenue Sa'id Mubin Shah says the United Nations will help train Afghan customs officials to identify the dangerous chemicals.

"Especially in the current time in need of building our capacity for the customs officials; without capacity the official cannot do many things so that is why it is very important, and identification especially of the chemical which is destroying the ozone layer," he said.

The agreement sets up a framework for helping Afghan customs officers implement the Montreal Protocol.

The 1989 protocol calls for phasing out the use of chlorofluorocarbons and hydro-chlorofluorocarbons, which scientists say damage the ozone layer. The ozone layer blocks harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun.

Scientists also say that CFCs act as greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change.

UNEP Regional Director Young Woo Park says the agreement will help reduce illegal trade in the banned chemicals in South Asia. "The country, as the world knows, has the internal war, but they still show the importance of the environment and they willingly sign this MOU to make to deal with one of the environmental issues - ozone layer destruction; also at the same time how to deal with the illegal traffic of chemical substances," he said.

Park says the trade is difficult to curb as the chemicals are cheap and there is easy access to supplies outside Afghanistan. But he says the Afghan government has pledge to halt the trade within its borders despite the country's war.

The UNEP estimates that local and international crime syndicates earn up to $30 billion annually from the illegal trade in environmentally sensitive commodities such as ozone-depleting substances, toxic chemicals, hazardous waste and endangered species.

Pakistan Day celebrated with renewed commitment

In the face of manifold internal and external challenges, the nation celebrated Pakistan Day on Tuesday with a pledge to make the country a strong, progressive and prosperous Islamic welfare state in accordance with the vision of the Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The day is celebrated every year in commemoration of 'The Pakistan Resolution' adopted on March 23, 1940.

The day was dawn with a 31-gun salute in the federal capital, and 21-gun salutes in provincial capitals. After Fajr prayers, special prayers were also offered for the country's progress, strength and solidarity.

Seminars and special functions were organised across the country to pay homage to the Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

Speakers highlighted sacrifices rendered by the people for the creation of a separate homeland for Muslims of India.

It may be noted that The All India Muslim League held its annual session at Minto Park, Lahore, from March 22 to 24, 1940. On March 23, 1940, "The Pakistan Resolution" was adopted through which the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent pledged to create an independent homeland, where they could live in accordance with their religious and cultural values.

On this occasion, President Asif Ali Zardari conferred awards on outstanding civil and military personalities in recognition of their meritorious services at an investiture ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadar. Similar functions were held at Governor Houses in the provincial capitals ie Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.

Newspapers brought out supplements to highlight the importance of the day and the ideals of Quaid-i-Azam, under whose leadership Muslims passed Pakistan Resolution in Lahore on March 23, 1940, a momentous milestone in the history of Pakistan movement.

The public and private radio and TV channels also telecasted special programmes. Thanksgiving prayers were offered in places of worship.

Pakistan Rangers held a musical show to commemorate the Pakistan Day festivities at Wagha border on Tuesday. Singers flock at the Wagha border sang national songs to mark the occasion.

Power stays away in Peshawar on Pak Day

Residents of Peshawar didn’t get a respite from long hours of load shedding even on Pakistan Day (Tuesday) and several areas of the city don’t have power supply for last many hours.

In different areas of Peshawar, unannounced load shedding for long hours has been going on. In the important trade centre of the city, Sikandra Pura, load shedding for 4 hours at a time has affected domestic shoppers as well as the business class people.

In Jahangirabad on University Road, power supply is suspended since 8:00 am whereas in suburban and rural areas of the city load shedding continues for 12 hours.

According to PASCO authorities, the province’s power short fall is 600 MW and long hours of load shedding are meant to cover the difference between the demand and supply of electricity.

Obama Signs Landmark Health Care Bill

NEWYORKTIMES.COM
WASHINGTON — With the stroke of President Obama’s pen, his health care overhaul — the most sweeping social legislation enacted in decades — became law on Tuesday.

Mr. Obama affixed his curlicue signature, almost letter by letter, to the measure, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, surrounded by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and a raft of other lawmakers who spent the past year on a legislative roller-coaster ride trying to pass it. Aides said he would pass out the 20 pens he used as mementoes.

The ceremony included two special guests: Vicki Kennedy, the widow of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who had been a driving force for health care legislation before his death last year, and Connie Anderson, the sister of Natoma Canfield, the Ohio cancer survivor whose struggle to pay skyrocketing health insurance premiums became a touchstone of Mr. Obama’s campaign to overhaul the system.

Mr. Kennedy’s son, Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, was also there, carrying a gift for the president: a copy of a bill his father introduced in 1970 to provide national health insurance. On it, the younger Mr. Kennedy had written a personal message to Mr. Obama.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. began the ceremony with remarks lauding the president’s “perseverence” and “clarity of purpose.”

The White House took on a festive air for the occasion, as senators mingled in the grand foyer of the Executive Mansion before the signing ceremony. A Marine pianist was playing as lawmakers and other guests, including patients and their advocates, chatted in anticipation of Mr. Obama’s arrival. As they filtered into the East Room, many lawmakers took out cameras to photograph one another and record the moment.

The landmark bill, passed by the House on Sunday night by a vote of 219-212, will provide coverage to an estimated 30 million people who currently lack it. Its passage assures Mr. Obama a place in history as the American president who succeeded at revamping the nation’s health care system where others, notably Bill Clinton, tried mightily and failed.

The measure will require most Americans to have health insurance coverage; would add 16 million people to the Medicaid rolls; and would subsidize private coverage for low- and middle-income people. It will cost the government about $938 billion over 10 years, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which has also estimated that the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion over a decade.

Despite the president’s signature, the legislative work on the measure is not over, nor is the intense partisan fight over it. Republicans are already vowing to repeal the bill. And the legislative battle will flare anew in the Senate on Tuesday, where lawmakers are set to take up a package of changes to the measure under the parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation.

Congress clears historic health care bill

WASHINGTON – Summoned to success by President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled Congress approved historic legislation Sunday night extending health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and cracking down on insurance company abuses, a climactic chapter in the century-long quest for near universal coverage.

Widely viewed as dead two months ago, the Senate-passed bill cleared the House on a 219-212 vote. Republicans were unanimous in opposition, joined by 34 dissident Democrats.

Obama watched the vote in the White House's Roosevelt Room with Vice President Joe Biden and about 40 staff aides. When the long sought 216th vote came in — the magic number needed for passage — the room burst into applause and hugs. An exultant president exchanged a high-five with his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

A second, smaller measure — making changes in the first — was lined up for passage later in the evening. It would then go to the Senate, where Democratic leaders said they had the votes to pass it.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the legislation awaiting the president's approval would extend coverage to 32 million Americans who lack it, ban insurers from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions and cut deficits by an estimated $138 billion over a decade. If realized, the expansion of coverage would include 95 percent of all eligible individuals under age 65.

For the first time, most Americans would be required to purchase insurance, and face penalties if they refused. Much of the money in the bill would be devoted to subsidies to help families at incomes of up to $88,000 a year pay their premiums.

Far beyond the political ramifications — a concern the president repeatedly insisted he paid no mind — were the sweeping changes the bill held in store for millions of individuals, the insurance companies that would come under tougher control and the health care providers, many of whom would face higher taxes.

Crowds of protesters outside the Capitol shouted "just vote no" in a futile attempt to stop the inevitable taking place inside a House packed with lawmakers and ringed with spectators in the galleries above.

Across hours of debate, House Democrats predicted the larger of the two bills, costing $940 billion over a decade, would rank with other great social legislation of recent decades.

"We will be joining those who established Social Security, Medicare and now, tonight, health care for all Americans, said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, partner to Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in the grueling campaign to pass the legislation.

"This is the civil rights act of the 21st century," added Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the top-ranking black member of the House.

Republicans readily agreed the bill would affect everyone in America, but warned repeatedly of the burden imposed by more than $900 billion in tax increases and Medicare cuts combined.

"We have failed to listen to America," said Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, leader of a party that has vowed to carry the fight into the fall's midterm elections for control of Congress.

The measure would also usher in a significant expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor. Coverage would be required for incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, $29,327 a year for a family of four. Childless adults would be covered for the first time, starting in 2014.

The insurance industry, which spent millions on advertising trying to block the bill, would come under new federal regulation. They would be forbidden from placing lifetime dollar limits on policies, from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions and from canceling policies when a policyholder becomes ill.

Parents would be able to keep children up to age 26 on their family insurance plans, three years longer than is now the case.

A new high-risk pool would offer coverage to uninsured people with medical problems until 2014, when the coverage expansion would go into high gear.

The final obstacle to passage was cleared a few hours before the vote, when Obama and Democratic leaders reached a compromise with anti-abortion lawmakers whose rebellion had left the outcome in doubt. The president issued an executive order pledging that no federal funds would be used for elective abortion, satisfying Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan and a handful of like-minded lawmakers.

A spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed skepticism that the presidential order would satisfy the church's objections.

For the president, the events capped an 18-day stretch in which he traveled to four states and lobbied more than 60 wavering lawmakers in person or by phone to secure passage of his signature domestic issue. According to some who met with him, he warned that the bill's demise could cripple his still-young presidency.

After more than a year of political combat, Democrats piled superlative upon superlative across several hours of House debate.

Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York read a message President Franklin Roosevelt sent Congress in 1939 urging lawmakers to address the needs of those without health care, and said Democrat Harry Truman and Republican Richard Nixon had also sought to broaden insurance coverage.

Republicans attacked the bill without let-up, warning it would harm the economy while mandating a government takeover of the health care system.

"The American people know you can't reduce health care costs by spending $1 trillion or raising taxes by more than one-half trillion dollars. The American people know that you cannot cut Medicare by over one-half trillion dollars without hurting seniors," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich.

"And, the American people know that you can't create an entirely new government entitlement program without exploding spending and the deficit."

Obama has said often that presidents of both parties have tried without success to achieve national health insurance, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt early in the 20th century.

The 44th president's quest to succeed where others have failed seemed at a dead end two months ago, when Republicans won a special election for a Massachusetts Senate seat, and with it, the votes to prevent a final vote.

But the White House, Pelosi and Reid soon came up with a rescue plan that required the House to approve the Senate-passed measure despite opposition to many of its provisions, then have both houses pass a fix-it measure incorporating numerous changes.

To pay for the changes, the legislation includes more than $400 billion in higher taxes over a decade, roughly half of it from a new Medicare payroll tax on individuals with incomes over $200,000 and couples over $250,000. A new excise tax on high-cost insurance policies was significantly scaled back in deference to complaints from organized labor.

In addition, the bills cut more than $500 billion from planned payments to hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and other providers that treat Medicare patients. An estimated $200 billion would reduce planned subsidies to insurance companies that offer a private alternative to traditional Medicare.

The insurance industry warned that seniors would face sharply higher premiums as a result, and the Congressional Budget Office said many would return to traditional Medicare as a result.

The subsidies are higher than those for seniors on traditional Medicare, a difference that critics complain is wasteful, but insurance industry officials argue goes into expanded benefits.

IDPs from Upper Kurram not being registered: UN

PESHAWAR: Two hundred families are migrating from Upper Kurram to Kohat every day but they are not being registered, said a report of a UN agency.According to the report, a new camp has been set up for the IDPs at Thog Siraj.It said 51 per cent affectees pouring in Hangu do not have computerized national identity cards.

Democrats predict historic House vote on health care

House Democrats are predicting that a rare Sunday session will produce one of the most significant legislative triumphs in decades: passage of a historic bill to overhaul the nation's health care system to provide coverage to millions of people who currently lack it.

Republicans resolutely opposed to the bill didn't concede defeat Saturday, but warned they will make Democrats pay dearly in the fall elections if the fiercely debated measure becomes law.

With President Barack Obama's emotional appeal from Saturday ringing in their ears, House Democratic leaders prepared for three showdown votes Sunday: on a "rule" to establish debate guidelines; on a package of changes to a Senate-passed bill, including deletion of special Medicaid benefits for Nebraska; and on the Senate bill itself, the focus of intense national debate for months.

Democrats need 216 votes to pass each one. With all 178 Republicans and at least two dozen Democrats vowing to vote no, the legislation's fate lies in the hands of about 20 Democrats who remained uncommitted late Saturday.

Party leaders appeared confident that most would break in favor of the bills. They pointed to Obama's emotional speech to the caucus at the Capitol, and they cited a sense of momentum from the handful of rank-and-file Democrats who have announced their support over the past several days.

Obama told House Democrats they have arrived at "one of those moments" when they can realize their highest aspirations in public life.

"This is one of those times where you can honestly say to yourself, 'Doggone it, this is exactly why I came here,'" he said. "'Because I believe so deeply in this country and I believe so deeply in this democracy and I'm willing to stand up even when it's hard.'"

If Democratic leaders prevail on all three House votes, Obama could sign the Senate version of the bill into law. The bill of "fixes" would go to the Senate under fast-track debate rules that would enable Democrats to pass it without facing a Republican filibuster.

Democrats control 59 of the Senate's 100 seats, one vote shy of the number needed to overcome bill-killing filibusters from a united GOP.

House Democrats have long insisted that senators agree to change the bill that the Senate passed on Christmas Eve. Since then, it became deeply unpopular with many Americans, because of the special deal for Nebraska, a new tax on generous employer-provided health plans and other aspects.

In a sign of increasing Democratic confidence Saturday, House leaders dropped plans for a controversial parliamentary tactic. They agreed to allow a simple yes-or-no vote on the Senate bill. By planning to pass the package of fixes on the same day, Democrats hope they can persuade constituents they did not support the Senate measure as a stand-alone bill.

The legislation, affecting virtually every American and more than a year in the making, would extend coverage to an estimated 32 million uninsured, bar insurers from denying coverage on the basis of existing medical conditions and cut federal deficits by an estimated $138 billion over a decade.

Congressional analysts estimate the cost of the two bills combined would be $940 billion over a decade.

House leaders continued to negotiate late Saturday with a handful of anti-abortion Democrats who threatened to switch from "yes" to "no" on the legislation without greater assurances that no federal money under the new laws would be used for elective abortions.

It was unclear whether Obama would agree to issue an executive order along those lines. Long-standing federal policy bars U.S. aid for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life is in danger.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats who joined Obama on Saturday spoke of the health legislation in historic terms, citing the many presidents who tried and failed to rewrite the nation's laws. Several cited tales of ordinary Americans struggling to pay bills when insurance companies denied or cut off coverage.

Republicans who vow to do all they can to stop the legislation in either congressional chamber "are not just delaying the inevitable, they are delaying the imperative," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Pakistan tribal council: Army must destroy Taliban

Pakistani tribesmen participate in traditional dance, after a tribal jirga or meeting in Peshawar,



ISLAMABAD – Hundreds of tribesmen from Pakistan's semiautonomous regions near the Afghan border ended a rare tribal council meeting Saturday with a declaration calling for the army to crush the Taliban.

The meeting, held in the northwestern city of Peshawar, was called by an umbrella group of aid organizations and political parties in an effort to bring together people from the violence-battered region.

Participants called for the army to escalate its attack against the network of Islamist militants across the tribal regions, dismissing Pakistan's earlier offensives as "military dramas."

"It should be a genuine military operation like the Sri Lankans did against the Tamil Tigers," said Sayd Alam Mehsud, a powerful tribal leader, referring to the brutal military campaign that destroyed the separatist Tamil army in Sri Lanka.

They also called for more power for traditional councils.

"If we strengthen these councils and make them more functional, I believe it will win us half of the war," said one participant, Salar Amjad Ali, 34. "We, the Pashtuns, live for our culture and tradition and we die for it."

Tribal councils — or "jirgas" — play a central role in the Pashtun culture that dominates the region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. These often-lawless regions, havens for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, have been the scene of bloody fighting and regular attacks by American drone aircraft as the Pakistani and U.S. governments try to defeat the Islamist militants. Smaller council meetings are used in tribal areas to decide matters ranging from local administration to criminal cases.

While Saturday's meeting was not a formal jirga, it is rare to have so many tribal leaders gather together.

A declaration at the end of the meeting called democracy vital to rooting out terrorism, arguing that Pakistan's powerful military — which many see as the true power behind the country's elected government — should keep out of politics.

"A sapling of terrorism cannot grow in democracy. Any attempt to derail democracy is like letting the terrorists walk all over us," the declaration said.

One organizer, Syed Alam Mehsud, said the meeting was a way to bring together people from the area that is suffering most in Islamabad's war against the militants.

"We have just tried to unite people for the sake of peace," he said.

Participants said they had little faith in the U.S.-Pakistan alliance, and that Washington and Islamabad were more worried about internal political issues than dealing with the deepset social issues at the root of much of the violence.

"If we do not address the mindset of the terrorists, we will not be able to eliminate terrorists," said Sayd Alam Mehsud.

The tribal leaders urged the government in Pakistan to reach out to the militants — but also to crush those unwilling to negotiate.

"We tribesmen are more patriotic than anybody else," said one participant, Din Mohammad Khan, who had come South Waziristan, where a government offensive that began last fall is thought to have killed hundreds of people — militants and civilians.

"Pakistan is ours. We are for Pakistan," he said.

Meanwhile, in the southern city of Karachi, police arrested three Taliban militants Saturday and seized a bomb-making factory, a counterterrorism official said.

Police raided a house in the city's industrial area and forced the militants to surrender after a gunbattle, said Raja Omar Khatab. No one was injured.

After their arrest, the suspects led police elsewhere to the bomb factory, and a large number of explosives, detonators and other bomb-making material was seized, he said.

Violence has surged in Pakistan in recent days as militants — thought to be part of a loose network of Islamist insurgents fighting the U.S.-allied Islamabad government — launched a wave of suicide bombings.

___

Dems face historic House vote on health care

WASHINGTON – House Democrats predict that a rare Sunday session will produce one of the most significant legislative triumphs in decades. Passage of a historic bill to overhaul the nation's health care system would provide coverage to millions of people who currently don't have it.

Republicans are firmly opposed to the bill and haven't conceded defeat. But they warn they will make Democrats pay dearly in the fall elections if the fiercely debated measure becomes law.

With President Barack Obama's emotional appeal ringing in their ears, House Democratic leaders prepared for a series of votes Sunday. Democrats need 216 votes to pass each one.

Clinton pokes fun at Dems, GOP and himself

Former President Bill Clinton poked fun at Republicans, Democrats, his own health and his audience of reporters Saturday night, telling the Gridiron Club's annual dinner he was there because "I really didn't have anything much better to do tonight."

Clinton, who stood in for President Barack Obama, said Democrats are going to pass health care.

"It may not happen in my lifetime, or Dick Cheney's, but hopefully by Easter," he said referring to his and the former to vice president's heart ailments.

Obama, who's preparing for Sunday's probable House vote on health care reform, spoke to the dinner via videotape, saying that when he called Clinton to stand in for him, the former president said, "Let me clear my schedule for the next three years."

The dinner marked the 125th annual gathering of the Gridiron Club, whose members include Washington based reporters.

In another reference to his health, Clinton said his favorite cocktail now was "Lipitor on the rocks," referring to the widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering medicine.

He said that when Obama appeared recently on Fox News the president was "keeping his word about meeting with hostile leaders without preconditions."

In a poke at Obama's combative chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, the former president said, "I found Rahm. I created him. I made him what he is today. I am so sorry."

In the 1990s, Emanuel worked in Clinton's White House.

China Says Western-Style Democracy Won’t Take Root There

NYT.COM
BEIJING — A Chinese legislative official has said that China will not adopt Western-style democracy, marking a rare instance in which a member of the government here openly rejects Western-style liberal political reforms.

The official, Li Fei, said in an interview published Saturday on the Web site of China Daily that “different countries have different election rules and a socialist China won’t follow Western election campaigns.”

Mr. Li is deputy director of the legislative affairs commission of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, a rubber-stamp Parliament whose annual two-week work session ended on March 14.

Mr. Li told China Daily, an official English-language newspaper, that while some people wanted to expand direct elections, he believed that the priority was to improve on the so-called election system now in place. The Chinese system generally reinforces the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, which has governed the country in an authoritarian manner since 1949, when it won the civil war. Many Western scholars have said elections at local levels have not given voters true alternatives to the Communist Party.

Despite that, Chinese officials often say in public and in the Chinese news media that the country is moving toward democracy, implying that some form of a Western-style political system could take root here.

But there are times when an official states outright that people should not expect Western-style reforms in China. In March 2009, Wu Bangguo, chairman of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, said China would never “copy” the systems of Western nations by adopting multiparty democracy.

Mr. Li’s interview with China Daily was the latest instance of such blunt talk, and it comes at a time of heightened tensions between China and the West. In particular, relations between China and the United States have hit a rough patch, with no sign that conflicts between the two will be resolved anytime soon. In recent weeks, Chinese leaders have vocally rejected demands by President Obama for China to revalue its currency, which White House officials and some economists say is undervalued, giving China an unfair advantage in world trade.

In criticizing Western democracy, Mr. Li asserted that the Western system of elections simply benefited the wealthy and was warped by capitalism.

“Western-style elections, however, are a game for the rich,” he said. “They are affected by the resources and funding that a candidate can utilize. Those who manage to win elections are easily in the shoes of their parties or sponsors and become spokespersons for the minority.”

Mr. Li added, “As a socialist country, we cannot simply take the Western approach.”

He made his remarks after the National People’s Congress adopted an amendment to the main electoral law on March 14. The amendment reportedly gives rural residents the same rights in selecting representatives to the National People’s Congress as residents in cities.

U.S. Turns a Blind Eye to Opium in Afghan Town

By ROD NORDLAND
New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — The effort to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marja has put American and NATO commanders in the unusual position of arguing against opium eradication, pitting them against some Afghan officials who are pushing to destroy the harvest.

From Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal on down, the military’s position is clear: “U.S. forces no longer eradicate,” as one NATO official put it. Opium is the main livelihood of 60 to 70 percent of the farmers in Marja, which was seized from Taliban rebels in a major offensive last month. American Marines occupying the area are under orders to leave the farmers’ fields alone.

“Marja is a special case right now,” said Cmdr. Jeffrey Eggers, a member of the general’s Strategic Advisory Group, his top advisory body. “We don’t trample the livelihood of those we’re trying to win over.”

United Nations drug officials agree with the Americans, though they acknowledge the conundrum. Pictures of NATO and other allied soldiers “walking next to the opium fields won’t go well with domestic audiences, but the approach of postponing eradicating in this particular case is a sensible one,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who is in charge of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime here.

Afghan officials, however, are divided. Though some support the American position, others, citing a constitutional ban on opium cultivation, want to plow the fields under before the harvest, which has already begun in parts of Helmand Province.

“How can we allow the world to see lawful forces in charge of Marja next to fields full of opium, which one way or another will be harvested and turned into a poison that kills people all over the world?” said Zulmai Afzali, the spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Counternarcotics.

“The Taliban are the ones who profit from opium, so you are letting your enemy get financed by this so he can turn around and kill you back,” he added, referring to how the Taliban squeeze farmers for money to run their operations.

The argument may strike some as a jarring reversal; in the years right after the 2001 invasion, tensions rose as some Afghan officials vehemently resisted all-out American pressure to stop opium production.

Though the United States government’s official position is still to support opium crop eradication in general, some American civilian officials say that the internal debate over Marja is far from over within parts of the State Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A spokesman for the United States Embassy in Kabul, Brendan J. O’Brien, said officials would decline to comment while the matter was under review.

At the heart of the debate with Afghan officials is an important question of cause-and-effect: is poor security in Marja the reason there is so much opium, or is so much opium the reason there has been poor security?

“Every province in Afghanistan where you find opium cultivation, you have insecurity as a result,” Mr. Afzali said.

American military officials and United Nations drug officials see it the other way around. Opium cultivation has been largely wiped out in 20 provinces where security has been improved, and in the seven most insecure provinces, poppy is still farmed.

“Nothing can compete with opium in an insecure environment,” Mr. Lemahieu said. “A secure environment is the precondition for governance and a long-term solution.”

Although the International Security Assistance Force, the NATO force that General McChrystal commands, no longer carries out eradication programs itself, its official position is that it supports the Afghan government’s efforts to eradicate, and lends backup and protection to the provincial officials, who are responsible for carrying out the eradication program.

The ardently anti-opium governor of Helmand Province, Gulab Mangal, has a record of success, cutting back cultivation by 33 percent last year. But he, too, is willing to make an exception for the current harvest in Marja — for the moment.

“In general I’ve been told by my higher-ups that this year you will not eradicate there, because people have suffered a lot of hardships because of the fighting,” Mr. Mangal said. “We may do it next year.”

Mr. Afzali, however, said the Counternarcotics Ministry still hoped to prevail in time to eradicate the current crop in Marja.

Mr. Mangal said, “If they order me, I will start the destruction of Marja’s opium the same day.”

The problem of Marja’s opium harvest is being discussed intensely by General McChrystal’s advisers, but none of the proposed solutions have proved satisfactory. One idea was to buy up and destroy the opium harvest, but opponents of that proposal feared that it would only encourage more opium cultivation — and might be illegal under United States law, turning American troops into de facto drug financiers.

Another idea was to give incentives to farmers to change to legal crops next year, while this year concentrating on interdiction of smugglers and the laboratories they use to make opium or heroin from the poppy paste. That would institute a sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward the cultivators and would present a thorny question: where would troops interdict the opium — just outside the farm gate, on the lane leading from the farm, on the road to town?

“How do you support the rule of law while providing a proper penalty and disincentive so they switch crops next year?” Commander Eggers said. “We are in a real dilemma.”

There is little time left to find an answer: two-thirds of Marja’s fields are now blooming with tall red poppies, and the forthcoming harvest would provide work for thousands of Afghans from outside the area because it is so labor intensive.

Helmand produces more than half of Afghanistan’s opium harvest, with 22 percent of its arable land devoted to poppies, even after Governor Mangal’s forces eradicated a third of the crop last year. His province was awarded a $10 million Good Performer’s Initiative grant by the American Embassy for that effort.

Afghanistan now produces 90 percent of the world’s opium. And one way or another the opium trade supports an estimated 1.4 million households in the country, which has a population of 25 million to 30 million. It also provides enormous amounts of money to the Taliban, with a recent United Nations study estimating the insurgents had earned as much as $600 million in taxes from farmers and traffickers just from 2005 to 2008.

The farmers themselves do not get rich on the harvest.

Hajji Said Gul, a 51-year-old farmer with nine acres of poppies in Marja, said that after he paid back loans to buy seeds, and gave the Taliban their 10 percent of the profits, he earned $500 an acre with each harvest. He is not worried about eradication. “The Taliban have already promised us that they will keep fighting the government and foreign forces until we collect our harvest from the fields,” he said. “All my hopes are related to the poppy harvest.”

Muhammad Nabi, 52, a tribal elder, said: “It’s better if they don’t destroy the crops this year. Next year, if they provide better security, reconstruction and work programs, then we guarantee they will not grow poppy.”

Opium prices now are at historic lows, after years of over-production in Afghanistan. A few years ago, farmers could earn 37 times as much from opium as from wheat, the favored substitution crop recently; now it is more like two or three times as much, United Nations officials say.

Mr. Lemahieu said he thought that provided an opportunity to persuade the farmers that if they changed to legal crops, the government would provide them with services like schools and clinics, and then they might be willing to accept lower profits.

“Between yesterday’s opium income and tomorrow’s legal income, today requires an increase in quality of life for the farmer and his family,” he said. Destroy his crop this year, Western officials say, and he won’t see anything but red.

Pakistan's Load shedding touches 20 hours

Pakistan’s power crisis worsened on Saturday as the shortfall exceeded 4,600 megawatts – according to sources – and unannounced outages spiralled to 20 hours in certain areas of the country.

While unannounced load shedding in suburbs of the country has gone up to 18 hours a day, villages are going as many as 20 hours without power. For rural areas, PEPCO has announced a load shedding schedule of four to six hours a day, but outages every day add up to eight or 10 hours.

The sources said 9,000 megawatts of power were being generated against a demand of 13,600 megawatts – translating into a deficit of 4,600 megawatts.

According to figures released by PEPCO on Saturday, hydel power generation stands at 1,462 megawatts and thermal power generation at 2,525 megawatts, while independent power producers (IPP) are contributing 5,235 megawatts to the total production. PEPCO’s latest export to KESC amounted to 690 megawatts.

Meanwhile, PEPCO spokesman Muhammad Khalid told Daily Times that 360 megawatts from three IPP units would be “added to the national grid tonight (Saturday)”.

He said the situation was likely to “improve in June, because melting glaciers would raise the level of water in Mangla Dam.

“We will add 640 megawatts of power to the national grid by March 31 from IPPs ... there are no other sources available for power generation.”

However, PEPCO sources said the supply-demand gap could rise further because of a shortage of water in reservoirs, and “it will affect power consumers more severely in June”.

The power shortfall, in turn, has sparked a potable water crisis in rural areas across the country, especially Sindh and South Punjab.

Water and Power Ministry sources told Daily Times that hydel power generation had gone down by 5,000 megawatts. The ministry is finding it hard to cope with the crisis, with most oil and gas fired power stations already operating at optimum levels. Currently, hydel power generation stands at 1,462 megawatts.

Nowruz without illusions

Obama's Nowruz message comes, he says, with "no illusions," and lacks the conspicuous respect for Iran's leaders he included last year, replacing it with an extended rebuke for putting down last summer's protests.


"Our offer of comprehensive diplomatic contacts and dialogue stands," he says in conclusion. "It is the Iranian government that has chosen to isolate itself.

Iranians celebrate Persian New Year, Nowruz

Iranians around the globe celebrate the Persian New Year, Nowruz, marking the first day of spring, as a time of renewal, hope and change.

For Iranians, Nowruz is a celebration of new beginnings, a time to visit relatives and friends, and pay respect to senior family members.

Preparation for Nowruz begins with spring cleaning, buying new clothes and setting the Haft Seen, a table containing seven items starting with the letter 'S' — Sabzeh (freshly grown greens), Samanu (sweet wheat paste), Senjed (jujube), Seeb (apple), Seer (garlic), Somagh (sumac) and Serkeh (vinegar).

Senior family members give presents to their juniors and people renew their friendships and start the New Year with kindness and amity.

Meaning 'new day,' Nowruz is celebrated by over 300 million people worldwide on March 21st, the day of the vernal equinox.

The ancient tradition of Nowruz and the rebirth of nature is observed in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East.

The United Nations General Assembly recognized March 21st as the International Day of Nowruz during its sixty-fourth session on Feb. 23, 2010.

The Assembly called on its Nowruz-celebrating member states to study the ancient festival's "history and traditions with a view to disseminating that knowledge among the international community and organizing annual commemoration events."

Nowruz was also registered on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on September 30, 2009.

Afghans celebrate new year with hopes for peace

Afghans have travelled from across their war-ravaged country to the northern city of Mazar-I-Sharif united behind one wish: that the advent of the new year will bring them peace.
Up to half a million people are in the city, police said, to mark the spring equinox and the first day of the traditional Persian new year, called Nowruz and celebrated across Central Asia and Iran.Mazar is at the heart of one of the most peaceful regions of the country, but security is tight amid an escalation of Taliban activity in the north.City police chief Abdul Rauf Taj said 4,000 security personnel had been deployed against insurgent attacks and all visitors were being screened at seven check points around the city outskirts.
"Every person and every vehicle entering the city is being searched, we're in full control of security," he said, adding that 10,000 cars, each carrying between five and ten people, had entered the city in recent days.Insurgent activity has escalated in northern Afghanistan over the past year as US-led military efforts to eradicate the Taliban from their southern strongholds have intensified, driving the war north.
The Taliban have established shadow administrations across a swathe of northern provinces, including Kunduz, Balkh and Faryab, and military bases run by NATO allies such as Germany and Norway are being reinforced by US troops in an effort to reverse the trend, military and security officials have said.The US and NATO have more than 120,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the insurgents, with another 30,000 arriving in coming months, mostly for deployment in southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces, Taliban hotbeds.After recent deadly and coordinated attacks in Kabul and Kandahar cities, tensions across the country have been running high ahead of Nowruz amid expectations of Taliban attacks on major population centres.For many people converging on Mazar-I-Sharif's breathtaking Blue Mosque, believed to be the grave of Islam's fourth caliph Hazrat Ali, peace was at the heart of their new year wishes.
The Taliban outlawed this celebration during their brutal rule of Afghanistan -- when Mazar-I-Sharif was never fully under their control-- from 1996 until the US-led invasion in late 2001.Since the Taliban's downfall, Mazar-I-Sharif has reclaimed its place as the centre of Afghanistan's Nowruz festivities, a blend of ancient Zoroastrian rites and Afghan traditions dating back thousands of years.
"One of my biggest wishes has been to participate in Nowruz celebrations here and I have finally made it," said Murtaza Rezayee, a student from the central province of Daikundi.Getting here wasn't easy, he said, as the road traverses the often treacherous Salang Pass, scene in February of one of Afghanistan's worst natural disasters when avalanches buried cars and buses, killing 170 people.
ut he said he had been saving up for five years, and his family sold a goat to help cover his travel expenses so he could bring in the year 1389 at Ali's shrine.
"I will make a wish," he said, adding: "My biggest wish is for peace for Afghanistan. Just peace."
Shopkeeper Besmiullah Abdul Saleem was more pragmatic, hoping the economy improves and business picks up -- as it has after previous Nowruz visits to the Blue Mosque.
"I come every year and thanks to Hazrat Ali my business has been very, very good. I owe everything to this," he said, as a sweep of his arm took in the turquoise tiles of the mosque and the white doves flying over it.But peace was also on his mind, he said, adding: "I think every Afghan will wish for peace before anything else."
For some Afghans, the shrine brings more than just luck and fortune; some believe it also has the power to cure the ill and infirm.
Shepherd Abdul Saleem said he had brought his "insane" daughter in the hope of a miraculous cure from the spirit of Ali."I took her to the clinic in our village but nothing happened, she's as she was before," he said, pointing to his eight-year-old daughter as she sat cross-legged beside him, her wrists bound with a scarf."I have heard from lots of people that when doctors can't do any thing, Ali can."So I have brought her here to Ali's court -- this is my last hope," he said.

Peshawar jirga criticizes Shahbaz’s statement

PESHAWAR: National peace jirga in Peshawar Saturday alleged that the statement of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is an evidence of his association with the terrorists.

The national peace jirga was held under the banner of Aman Tehreek, which was attended by leaders of various political parties and representatives of civil society.

The jirga condemned the statement of Shahbaz Sharif regarding Taliban, saying that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is a supporter of those terrorists who are working to destabilize the country.

The jirga demanded all the institutions to work according to the constitution for the stability of the democracy.

“Foreign aid given to eleminate terrorism should be used in terror-hit tribal areas and NWFP,” it added

In Pakistan millions of children forgo classrooms for hard labor

L.A.TIMES
ISLAMABAD— Abbas Sajeet is 11 years old, but he doesn't go to school. Instead, he earns 2,500 rupees ($30) a month as an auto mechanic in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The money goes straight into the meager coffers of his seven-member family.

"Every day from the car garage, I see children walking to their schools," he says. "I wish I could go to school with them, finish high school and study engineering. After that, I would have a good job with a lot of money, and give it to my mother."

At least 10 million children are believed to be working in Pakistan at a variety of jobs, including some of the hardest and most poorly-paid.

Some clean upper-class homes and help baby-sit. Others craft bricks, weave carpets or work in mines. In some cases, families give their children as employees to landlords to pay off debts. That system, known as bonded labor, is likened by human rights activists to slavery.

The children who work often lose their chance to attend school and are vulnerable to abusive employers. Still, those are considered acceptable risks for the many poor families who need every member to pitch in for food, shelter and clothing.

The South Asian nation has come under international pressure to reduce child labor, but there is little regulation of the practice, despite laws protecting children from exploitation in the workplace.

Afghan boy travels to Pakistani border town daily to study

LANDIKOTAL: Wajid Khan, a 13-year-old boy from Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, has to cross the Pak-Afghan border on daily basis to attend his school located in a border village of Pakistan.

“I have realised my dream to get quality education and want to pursue higher education in an international university,” Wajid Khan, who is an orphan and hails from Pekhay Khwar area in Nangarhar province, told The News.

Like hundreds of other Afghan students, Wajid Khan has an ambition to become an engineer. He said it was his desire to study in a foreign country for quality education. For the purpose, he added, his family members brought him to Bacha Mina area near Torkham in Khyber Agency for quality education.

Wajid Khan’s father died when he was an infant. He was only five-year-old when his mother brought him to Bacha Mina and left him with his maternal uncle. He got admission in the Oxford Public High School in Landikotal in Kids Group (KG) class. And now, “by the grace of Almighty Allah, I am in 7th class,” he said. Wajid, who has been a position-holder throughout his educational career, said he would continue to work hard in future to win better position.

Wajid Khan said students of his area faced several problems like unavailability of public transport, power outages and payment of school dues. But now he is not only paying his school dues but also earning money for his family.

Wajid nowadays works as a porter at the Torkham border, and earns about Rs200 per day. He said he struggled and convinced his mother and uncle to support him to get education and they backed him despite their poverty.

Wajid Khan has four younger siblings, including a sister and three brothers. He said he also desired to admit them in his school in Pakistan. He said along with other hurdles, the border security personnel questioned him whenever he did not have his school identity card. “Now I make it a point to carry my card and I hang it around my neck to facilitate my movement across the border,” he explained.

To a question, he said there was no standard syllabus in Afghanistan and this prompted him and many other Afghans to seek admission in a Pakistani school. “English and computer education taught to us in our school in Pakistan are the requirements of the modern age and those who learn it can contribute to the welfare and prosperity of the war-hit Afghan nation,” Wajid Khan said.

The facts behind hangover remedies

CNN.COM
The morning after St. Patrick's Day, the D4 Irish Pub & Café in Chicago, Illinois, gets flooded with requests for Bloody Marys, a concoction of tomato juice, celery, vodka and hot sauce.

"People order Bloody Marys in the morning to get them back on the horse so they can start drinking again," said Patrick Macellaio, who manages and bartends at the D4. "That's the most popular hangover drink."

To refresh your memory, a hangover includes symptoms of headache, fatigue, nausea and dizziness several hours after an episode of heavy drinking.

A hangover is really the symptoms of acute withdrawal, in which your body reacts to not having a drug in its system anymore, said Krista Medina, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati.

Contrary to popular belief, drinking more while hung over is not going to make you feel better, doctors say. In fact, the other home remedies you may turn to, such as greasy food, probably won't work, either.

Part of the reason there's no good hangover remedy is that, although the phenomenon has probably been around since humans discovered alcohol, there's no single scientifically proven reason for a hangover, although there are correlations with the various symptoms of the "Irish flu."

"There probably won't be a known effective treatment until we understand the physiology better," said Dr. Sharon Horesh Bergquist, assistant professor in the department of medicine at Emory University.

What is a hangover?

One theory blames chemicals in some alcoholic drinks called congeners, said Dr. Samir Zakhari, director of the division of metabolism and health effects at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

These congeners, which could be toxic, contribute to alcohol's unique taste, but they can also interfere with cell function and leave some lasting physical marks. A 2009 study from Brown University found that the darker the liquor, the more congeners it has, which could exacerbate headaches and other hangover symptoms.

A different theory contends that drinking causes dehydration because alcohol increases urine output. Alcohol inhibits the release of an antidiuretic hormone, meaning the kidneys don't conserve water as well, and you urinate more, Bergquist said.

After a long night of drinking, you may feel like taking a snooze, but alcohol may actually disrupt sleep patterns, Zakhari said. You will not have as much rapid eye movement sleep, the state in which you dream, and you will have more time in deep sleep, research shows. A shorter, poorer quality sleep may await you after a lot of drinking, adding to the hangover symptoms.

Alcohol may also irritate your stomach, prompting a condition called gastritis in which the stomach lining gets inflamed. The related symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea also make you lose fluids and electrolytes, according to psychiatry professors Robert Swift and Dena Davidson, writing in the journal Alcohol Health and Research World.

There is also evidence that a hangover is a marker that you may be damaging your brain with alcohol, Medina said. Research suggests that hangover symptoms are related to abnormalities in the brain's white matter, which may occur in binge drinkers. A lot of withdrawal from substances is related to poor cognitive and brain outcomes, she said.

Can food cure a hangover?

Some people swear by a large meal after a night of drinking to digest that alcohol. Different cultures have different hangover foods, from hearty, greasy diner fare to giant burritos and ethnic soups. Jeanette Casey, bartender at the Playwright Celtic Pub in New York, recommends a "good Irish breakfast," which involves bacon or sausage.

But eating greasy foods after a night of drinking probably won't make you feel better, Zakhari said.

"If a person wants to eat, that's fine," he said. "They should do that during drinking or before drinking, not after. Because if people eat after drinking, it might be too late."

By the time you have a hangover, eating greasy fare won't have much of an effect in alleviating the symptoms, he said.

Bland foods, on the other hand, elevate your blood sugar and settle your stomach, according to the Mayo Clinic. Stick to toast and crackers.

Why shouldn't you drink more alcohol?

Bartenders such as Casey swear by the Bloody Mary as a hangover cure; she's not sure why it works, but it does in her experience. A beer works, as it's also, as the adage goes, "the hair of the dog that bit you," she said.

This belief that drinking more alcohol will alleviate the symptoms of too much drinking "doesn't make sense," Zakhari said.

"You already probably have done enough damage to the different parts of the body like the liver and heart," he said. "You don't want to go back and put more alcohol on top of that."

People believe that drinking is the right remedy because one of the symptoms of hangover is overstimulation of the brain, which makes you feel sensitive to light and sound, said Swift, psychiatrist at Brown University and the Providence VA Hospital. More alcohol will sedate the brain again but can actually be harmful because it increases other negative symptoms such as dehydration.

Can supplements help?

Small studies have shown that, if taken in very large amounts, vitamin B6 may reduce the symptoms of a hangover, Bergquist said. Still, this research did not include many participants and is not definitive.

"There are anecdotes about these things without any evidence," said Dr. James C. Garbutt, a professor of psychiatry in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, who specializes in alcoholism treatment and research. "Medical science doesn't spend a lot of time treating hangovers. We want to try to prevent them."

Other supposed remedies include activated charcoal, which is supposed to absorb alcohol from the stomach but actually wouldn't work because the hangover occurs hours after drinking, Swift said.

"The most outlandish thing is that people who feel badly obviously want to feel better, so they're willing to try untested remedies," he said.

There, however, are some natural remedies that some doctors think merit further research, including prickly pear cactus extract and yeast-based preparations, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some also believe that the borage plant yields a supplement that may help with headache, laziness and tiredness.

Bottom line: Drink water

Doctors do agree that water will help somewhat with hangover symptoms because, as noted above, dehydration is often a symptom.

Zakhari also recommends getting rest. Medina noted that ibuprofen may help with headaches, and caffeine may help boost energy, but no treatments get at the underlying condition of hangover; they only ease symptoms, she said.

Before you go out, aim to drink in moderation or not at all, experts say.

Clinton to attend Mideast session amid crisis

WASHINGTON – With the Mideast peace process stalled and U.S.-Israeli relations in crisis, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton headed Wednesday to a Mideast strategy meeting of top international diplomats.

As originally conceived, the meeting in Moscow of the so-called Quartet group of peacemakers — the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — was intended to lend support for the start this week of indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. But those talks fell apart before they began — a casualty of Israel's provocative approval of new housing in east Jerusalem.

The diplomatic crisis erupted last Tuesday when Israel announced during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden that it would build 1,600 apartments for Jews in disputed east Jerusalem, the sector of the holy city that the Palestinians claim for a future capital. Clinton called the announcement an insult and "a deeply negative signal" for the peace process; she even questioned Israel's commitment to its relationship with the U.S.

Clinton also will use her Moscow visit to discuss another high foreign policy priority of the Obama administration: arms control. The U.S. and Russia are said to be close to concluding a follow to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December, but the final bargaining has been rocky.

William Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, told reporters traveling with Clinton that her visit to Moscow was an important opportunity to advance the arms talks, but does not necessarily mean an agreement is imminent.

"We are getting closer," Burns said, but he added he could not estimate how much longer it would take to settle the remaining issues. He declined to identify the specific sticking points.

The agreement is expected to reduce each side's long-range nuclear weapons by about one-quarter from levels set in a 2002 treaty that superseded the earlier START pact. The newer treaty did not include an extension of agreed measures to verify each side's compliance. The current negotiations include verification measures that would replace those in the 1991 deal, which expired last December.

The Quartet group is to meet over dinner Thursday, followed by formal talks on Friday. Joining Clinton will be Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and the Quartet's special representative, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The group is meant to represent an international consensus on the importance of pressing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and a commitment to establishing a Palestinian state as part of that process.

Michele D. Dunne, a Mideast expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Tuesday that the Quartet might back U.S.-initiated demands of Israel, including that it reverse the east Jerusalem housing decision and make a gesture to the Palestinians. But she saw little chance of it working.

"To say that you have to rescind approval for this construction in east Jerusalem is very unusual — very unusual for the United States to go that far," she said. "And I don't think Netanyahu will do it." She was referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to visit Washington next week.

In an op-ed published Thursday in The New York Times, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren reasserted his country's opposition to any restrictions on building in east Jerusalem. But he denied that U.S.-Israel relations were "at a historic low point" because of the disagreement.

"Because we share fundamental values — democracy, respect for individual rights and the rule of law — our friendship can sustain occasional disagreements, and remain unassailably solid," Oren wrote.

In remarks at the State Department on Tuesday, Clinton spoke hopefully of getting the peace talks back on track.

"There is just too much at stake for both the Palestinians and the Israelis," for them not to resume bargaining, she said. Negotiations broke off in late 2008 with Israel's incursion into Hamas-ruled Gaza.

George Mitchell, the Obama administration's special envoy for Mideast peace, was supposed to have been shuttling between the Israelis and Palestinians this week, prior to joining Clinton in Moscow on Thursday. But he canceled his Mideast visit as the administration awaited word from Netanyahu on whether he would reverse last week's housing decision and take other steps to reassure Washington and the Palestinians

Bajaur schools reopen

PESHAWAR: Though the political administration in Bajaur Agency has announced reopening of educational institutions in the restive parts of the tribal region after 16-month pause, no steps are in sight for the reconstruction of the destroyed education infrastructure and return of the displaced teachers and students to their native towns.

Almost all schools and colleges in four out of the seven tehsils of Bajaur including Mamond, Salarzai, Nawagai and Chamarkand had been closed since August 2008 when the first military operation was launched.

Educational institutions in the rest of the tehsils namely Khar, Utmankhel and Barang also remained closed intermittently. There were some schools even in the Khar tehsil where educational activities remained suspended since the day one of the operation launched by the security forces.

According to a senior officer in Bajaur education office, the study of some 90,000 students was affected because of the militancy and counter-militancy activities in Bajaur tribal region.

He said almost all of the students and teachers of the agency were displaced during the first phase of the operation in August 2008, but those belonging to Utmankhel, Khar and Barang tehsil returned to their hometowns and educational activities resumed there.

But in the restive parts of the agency like Mamond, Charmang, Nawagai and others, the displaced families could not return home because of the volatile situation, the officials said. Several school and college buildings had been destroyed because of the excessive bombardment by the jetfighters and gunship helicopters, while the militants started blowing up government buildings including schools and colleges in mid-2009.

Some reports suggested that 74 school and college buildings along with some basic health units and veterinary centres were destroyed till January 2010.

An official in the political administration of Bajaur told The News on the condition of anonymity that the militants had blown up all the buildings of educational institutions in Mamond and Nawagai tehsils. “Reconstruction of the demolished buildings is a big challenge before the political administration for smooth resumption of the educational activities in the agency,” he said.

Another hurdle, according to tribesmen, in the resumption of the educational activities was the rehabilitation of the displaced tribal people. Only two to 10 per cent people have so far returned to their villages in most of the areas of Mamond, Charmang and Nawagai, said Abdul Wahab, a resident of Inamkwaro Chinagai, told this correspondent during a visit to the area.

The tribesmen face a lot of problems in the rehabilitation, he said. The returning families had to make registration with the security forces, which was a lengthy process, he said. Because of the registration process and closure of roads leading to Damadola and other parts of Wara Mamond and other areas, the people cannot go back to their homes, he added.

A lecturer at the Government College Khar, wishing not to be named, said a lot of time of the students had been wasted. “It will be difficult to bring back the students to schools after a long break in their education,” he added.

He was of the opinion that many a students had got admissions in other schools in the settled areas or other parts of Bajaur, while many were unable to continue their education.

He said the political administration should make proper arrangement for the rehabilitation of the displaced families and focus attention on resumption of educational activities. Relief should also be given to the students whose time had been wasted due to the closure of their schools, he added.

Peace returns to Bajaur

KHAR: There was a state of euphoria in most of Bajaur Agency as all the educational institutions, government departments, bazaars and markets opened on Monday.

A hustle and bustle could be seen in Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur region, and other big and small towns. All main and link roads were opened to facilitate the returnees to their hometowns while cellular phone service and World Food Programme centres also started functioning after a long time.

Reports said that tribesmen, dislocated due to the clashes between the security forces and militants, have started returning to their homes and villages. The joy could be seen on the faces of tribesmen who were seen exchanging greetings over restoration of peace in Bajaur. Those coming to their native villages hoisted national flags on the vehicles and were chanting slogans ‘long live Pakistan’ and ‘salute to Pakistan Army.’

The government departments including educational institutions were closed after launching of military operation against the militants in August 2008, and the subsequent volatile situation in Bajaur tribal region.

Thousands of families left their hearths and homes and shifted to safer places in the settled districts of NWFP. Some tribesmen also migrated to Punjab and Sindh provinces. Meanwhile, 38 militants including a commander surrendered to the security forces in Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur Agency, on Tuesday. Sources said the militants belonging to Mamond subdivision in the presence of a tribal jirga handed their weapons to the security forces. Commander Khalifa was also among them.

The militants promised not to indulge in militant activities or allow others to carry out subversive acts in Bajaur Agency. The security forces carried out search and cleanup operation in Sewai, Shinkot, Damadola and adjoining areas and recovered weapons and explosives from the abandoned hideouts of militants.

Ban Calls on Reintegrated Afghan Insurgents to Respect Will of Majority

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said low- and mid-level insurgents who want to be reintegrated in the political process in Afghanistan must lay down their arms and respect the will of the majority of Afghans. “Those who choose to reconcile must respect the achievements made since 2002 (fall of Taliban) and accept the aspirations of the majority of Afghans to a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan,” Ban wrote in a report to the Security Council on Afghanistan. Another challenge facing Afghanistan, he noted, is to make Afghan sovereignty real. The only way to do so is to make the Government and all Afghans responsible. This process, he warned, could be undermined if the international community were to bypass the Government. “It is therefore essential that we promote a new mindset that shows greater respect for Afghans’ own understanding of their country,” he said. In a veiled criticism of the Obama Administration, Ban said achieving the transition to sovereignty in Afghanistan will also require a balance between military and civilian efforts. “While I have welcomed the additional international military forces, I must at the same time caution against a militarization of the overall effort in Afghanistan. As many civilian tasks as possible must be handed over to Afghan civilian institutions,” he urged. “The temptation to achieve short-term results from unsustainable projects aimed at meeting political deadlines in troop-contributing countries must be resisted. And the tendency to allocate the distribution of aid according to where donors’ troops are most heavily focused - must begin to give way to a more coherent, nationally based assistance strategy,” he said. He criticized the fact that “too little information about donor activities still reaches the Government,” whether those activities are performed by military or civilian actors. “There is a prevailing tendency to implement projects without sufficiently consulting Afghans or working through their institutions. In doing so, we miss opportunities to obtain their full support for projects carried out in their name and to gain the benefits of their own knowledge of their country,” he added

Angelina Jolie funded Afghanistan school to welcome 800 girls

The primary school for girls, which Angelina Jolie funded in Tangi, Afghanistan, is all set to open its doors to 800 students, according to a UNHCR statement.
Jolie, the UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, visited a refugee settlement in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province and donated a whopping 75,000 dollars toward the school's construction.

The facility features eight classrooms, a well and eight latrines, and is set to begin classes next Monday, when their school year begins.

Although UNICEF built classrooms in the area accommodating 1300 students two years ago, many parents hesitated, for cultural reasons, to send their daughters to a school also used by boys.

"I always had hopes and dreams of going to school. The hope to become a qualified teacher has revived in me,” Us magazine quoted a 14-year-old girl named Laila, as expressing her excitement about the new school.

Igbal Azizi, head of the region's provincial education, stressed the importance of Jolie's gift, saying that Tangi girls, "otherwise would have been deprived of education."

However, Jolie, filming ‘The Tourist’ in Venice, Italy, failed to make it for the new school's celebration.

Shahbaz Sharif and the Taliban

Dawn.com
Even by the wretched standards of the cesspit of lies and cravenness that can be the Pakistani political establishment, the comments made on Sunday by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif are extraordinary and demand the most vigorous condemnation possible.

Essentially, Mr Sharif has argued that his party, the PML-N, shares a common cause with the Taliban —that of opposing Gen Musharraf and his policies and rejecting ‘dictation’ from abroad — and therefore the Taliban should ‘spare’ Punjab. The very thought that any mainstream politician, let alone one as high-profile and powerful as the serving Punjab chief minister, could find anything in common with the Taliban ideology is despicable.

But Mr Sharif has gone so much further than that. By asking the Taliban to ‘spare’ Punjab, what does the Punjab CM mean? Does he mean that the Taliban should launch their attacks elsewhere, in Sindh, Balochistan, the NWFP, Fata, Pata or other places? And what does the CM mean when he says that his party is fighting foreign ‘dictation’ just like the Taliban are? Does he mean that Pakistan should not fight the threat of militancy? What does Mr Sharif want to do instead — accommodate the Taliban like they were accommodated in Swat last year? Or should ‘peace deals’ be struck with the Taliban like they were in South Waziristan for years? The chief minister’s half-hearted ‘clarification’ issued later will not suffice; he must apologise to Punjab and the nation.

That Mr Sharif could possibly be ignorant of the threat posed by the Taliban is impossible. As chief minister of Punjab he has sat at the apex of that province’s administration for over a year and a half now. Countless secret and not-so-secret memos will have arrived on his desk detailing the atrocities and crimes committed and planned by the Taliban. The secret interrogation cell that was attacked in Model Town, Lahore, only a few days ago was run by provincial authorities. The Punjab chief minister is mocking the sacrifices made by the very people who serve his administration by finding common cause with the enemy.

Why is it so difficult for the PML-N to condemn terrorism outright, with no ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’? It surely cannot be a question of the reluctance to use violence against ‘fellow Pakistanis’. Like Mr Sharif’s first tenure as chief minister in the late 1990s, Punjab is once again witnessing a spike in ‘encounter’ killings of alleged dacoits, kidnappers and sundry criminals. The men who have been killed in dubious circumstances are also ‘fellow Pakistanis’. But Mr Sharif has no sympathy for these men; in fact, he has on many occasions announced rewards for the policemen for ‘cleaning up’ the province of criminal elements. There has been no talk of an amnesty for such criminals, no appeals to their better sides, no exhortations to recognise that they have much in common with the largest party in Punjab. The ordinary criminals must be wondering what they must do to get on Mr Sharif’s good side. Perhaps a statement against Mr Musharraf will do the trick.

The Punjab government has long been in denial over the presence of militants in Southern Punjab. It needs to wake up before it is too late. The news of the TTP offering to stop these attacks if the Punjab government assures that it would stop the crackdown against the militants further highlights the implicit nexus between the terrorists and the PML-N. It would not be far from the truth if we were to say that the PML-N is proving itself to be the greatest existentialist threat to the remaining part of Jinnah’s Pakistan. Spare this country, Mr Chief Minister — we lost half of it in 1971, do not pave the way for another disaster by supporting the terrorists.
The PML-N needs to come clean with the people of Pakistan. On which side of the divide does it stand? Is it against militancy in all shapes and forms or is it ideologically sympathetic to the ‘justness’ of some facets of the militants’ cause? This is not about political expediency but about the very worst form of moral corruption. Pakistan’s leaders have a sacred duty to protect the people and the sovereignty of the state. There is absolutely nothing in the Taliban’s agenda that is any way even remotely compatible with that sacred duty. In fact, finding common cause with the Taliban is to take the country one step closer to the abyss. Ordinary Pakistanis have shown remarkable courage in resolutely backing the fight against the militants for a year now. Shahbaz Sharif and the PML-N need to accept who the enemy is. Otherwise, they have no business being involved in the affairs of the state.

Pakistan postpones national games

The Pakistan Olympic Association has postponed the country's annual national games for security reasons.

The games were to be held in the city of Peshawar this month, but have been provisionally rescheduled for December.

They are Pakistan's biggest domestic sporting event - more than 3,000 athletes were due to take part.

The postponement is the latest in a series of sporting setbacks for Pakistan which has suffered scores of militant attacks in recent months.

National Olympic Committee president Arif Hasan told a news conference in Lahore that the security situation in Peshawar had prompted the postponement.

"Teams are already not willing to come to Pakistan because of the security issues and we don't want a situation where a domestic event is also affected by some incident," Mr Hasan said.

He said new dates in December would be subject to security clearance.

Earlier, the International Tennis Federation said it had moved a Davis Cup match between Pakistan and New Zealand this July from Lahore to New Zealand following a request from the visiting team.

Several international sporting events have been cancelled in recent years after sports organisations and players refused to travel to Pakistan citing security concerns.

In March 2009 six policemen and a driver were killed when gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricketers in Lahore.

Russia hopes for 'more effective' Afghan drugs fight

Russia hopes Afghanistan, with international help, will wage a "more effective" fight against opium poppy cultivation, the head of Russia's federal narcotics control service said Tuesday.

"Of course we would like the results to be more effective, especially as far as the eradication of drug crops in the southern part of Afghanistan is concerned," Viktor Ivanov told a news conference in Kabul.

"The drug trafficking begins at the place where the drugs are cultivated," he said, estimating that opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was worth 65 billion dollars a year.

However, "the Afghan government needs the international support because it lacks finance, resources and force," he said, after an international meeting on the problem.

Organised by Russia, the meeting Tuesday brought together 30 officials from 15 countries, including representatives from the NATO force in Afghanistan, the UN and the Afghan administration.

Drawing up a list of land owners implicated in the drug trade was among the items under consideration at the meeting.

"We would like to exchange information about them and to have the names in one list," said Ivanov.

"Because in accordance with the law signed by President (Hamid) Karzai such people should be held responsible for cultivation of opium poppy on their lands," he said.

Ivanov however said he believed that military action was not an option.

Of the 65 billion dollars from the annual trade, "the peasants get 500 million ... the Taliban get from 150 to 300 million" but "the most part of the money goes to the drug mafia which organises the process of the drug production," the Russian said.

"From this we can make the conclusion that there is no military solution to this problem."

The United States has expressed doubts over the campaigns to eradicate opium production, estimating that they harm the poorest section of the Afghan population which grows the poppies used to produce opium and heroin.

But this attitude worries Moscow, which says 30,000 Russians died in 2009 from using heroin which came from Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama's administration has largely avoided crop eradication in favor of seeking to convince farmers to abandon poppy cultivation in favor of other agriculture.

The strategy allows police to target traffickers over producers of narcotics.

2 US missile attacks kill 9 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD – Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at vehicles and hit a militant hide-out in a tribal region of northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least nine insurgents, two officials said.

In the first attack, the drones fired four missiles at a vehicle and flattened a nearby house near Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal region, killing six militants, an army and an intelligence official said.

About 50 minutes later, drones fired three more missiles at a vehicle in the Madakhel town, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Miran Shah, killing three insurgents, said the officials on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Other militants were also wounded in the two strikes, they said.

The CIA has stepped up attacks in Pakistan's tribal regions since December, when a suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees in neighboring Afghanistan.

The latest attack came a day after the U.S. missile attack destroyed a militant facility in the same region, killing nine suspects.

Officials say some of the men slain in Tuesday's attack in Datta Khel were believed to be foreigners who were present in the stronghold of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a warlord whose fighters are battling U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Although Pakistan publicly opposes the attacks, saying they violate its sovereignty and fuel anti-Americanism among the population, it is believed that it was sharing intelligence with the Americans about the insurgents and their hide-outs.

Washington also refuses to publicly discuss the program, which uses unmanned drones, but Pakistani officials say privately the attacks have killed several senior al-Qaida and Taliban commanders in recent years.