Sonia is much better: Rahul

 

President of India's ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi, who underwent surgery in the US recently for an unspecified ailment, is "much better", her son Rahul Gandhi said yesterday.
Rahul, who returned here yesterday after attending to his mother, told reporters that "she is much better".
Sonia had left earlier this month for the US where she underwent successful surgery.

we also know  that she is a wonderful lady for  indians politics.Many years ago she become prime minister of india.but she left her sit for indian.So we can say that she is much better for india.

Read More

Syria's Assad blames unrest on saboteurs, pledges reforms

 

  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday "saboteurs" were behind unrest against his rule and that political accommodation could not be reached with gunmen.

In just his third speech since the demonstrations began four months ago, Assad appeared tense as he pledged to pursue a national dialogue on reform and held out the prospect of expanding a recent amnesty.

But he said: "We have to distinguish between (protesters, and others who have legitimate demands) and saboteurs. The saboteurs are a small group that tried to exploit the kind majority of the Syrian people to carry out their many schemes."

No political solution was possible with people carrying weapons, he said.

As Syrian forces swept through the northwestern border region with Turkey, blocking refugees fleeing a military crackdown, Assad called on the 10,000 who have already crossed the frontier to come home.

"There are those who give them the impression that the state will exact revenge, I affirm that is not true. The army is there for security," he said in the speech at Damascus University.

A committee on national dialogue will meet in the next few days and invite more than 100 personalities to discuss the criteria and mechanism for constitutional reform, he said. He set a one-month target date for presenting recommendations.

Syria's military operation along the Turkish border follows the biggest protests in four months of anti-Assad unrest on Friday which a violent clampdown has failed to quash.

Security forces shot dead up to 19 protesters on Friday, rights groups said.

In addition to the more than 10,000 Syrian refugees now in Turkey, a further 10,000 are sheltering close to the border just inside Syria in the olive groves and rich farmland around the town of Jisr al-Shughour, Turkish officials said.

But Syrian human rights campaigner Ammar al-Qurabi said the army was now stopping those still inside Syria from leaving.

"The Syrian army has spread around the border area to prevent frightened residents from fleeing across the border to Turkey," he told.

Qurabi also accused pro-government forces of attacking people trying to aid the refugees as they fled.

The violence so close to its border challenges Turkey's foreign policy of "zero problems with neighbors" that has seen it befriend the Middle East's autocratic rulers while presenting itself as a champion of democracy.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey has pledged to keep his borders open to refugees and has called the Syrian government crackdown "savagery," but beyond words, it is not clear whether Ankara's rapprochement with Damascus has earned Turkey any influence with Assad to halt the violence.

REFUGEES "FEAR GETTING SHOT"

Syrian troops and gunmen loyal to Assad seized the town of Bdama, only 2 km (1.2 miles) from Turkey on Saturday, burning houses and arresting dozens, witnesses said.

"There are roadblocks everywhere in Bdama to prevent people from fleeing but villagers are finding other routes through valleys to escape to the Turkish border," said Omar, a farmer from Bdama who managed to reach the border area.

"We received no bread today. There was one bakery operating in Bdama but it has been forced to shut. The 'shabbiha' (Assad's gunmen) are shooting randomly," one refugee, a carpenter who gave his name as Hammoud, told Reuters by telephone.

"One man in Bdama was injured today and we managed to smuggle him to hospital in Turkey. But many fear getting shot if they attempt to cross the border," the refugee added.

Faced with troops firing live ammunition, Syrian protesters have taken to venting their anger against Assad at night.

Demonstrations erupted overnight in the cities of Hama, Homs, Latakia, Deir al-Zor, the town of Madaya near the Lebanese border, several suburbs of the capital Damascus and in Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, witnesses and activists said.

Authorities blame the violence on armed groups and Islamists, backed by foreign powers. Syria has barred most international journalists from entering the country, making it difficult to verify accounts from activists and officials.

Syrian rights groups say at least 1,300 civilians have been killed and 10,000 people detained since March.

The Syrian Observatory for human rights has said more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed. Other rights campaigners said dozens of security personnel had been killed by loyalist troops for refusing to shoot at unarmed civilians.

Even so, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev practically ruled out supporting a UN resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Read More

Greek PM to reshuffle government to push austerity plan

 

 

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou plans to form a new cabinet on Thursday and seek a vote of confidence from his fractious Socialist party to try to push through an austerity package and avoid default.

Papandreou must pass the new 5-year campaign of tax rises, spending cuts and sell-offs of state property to receive a new EU/IMF bailout and a 12 billion euro aid tranche that Athens needs to pay back debt that matures in August.

Papandreou may seek to replace his finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, the main architect of hugely unpopular budget cuts demanded by the EU and the IMF as part of Greece's 110 billion euro bailout last year.

The reshuffle underscores the tenuous political and popular support for the new deal, but analysts say Greece has no choice but to carry on with the austerity measures or face default.

"If Papandreou gets the vote of confidence we will not go to elections and the chances that the mid-term plan passes will increase," Theodore Couloumbis of the ELIAMEP think tank said.

Nonetheless, world stocks and the euro slumped late on Wednesday as the upheaval fed fears of a default.

Papandreou had initially offered to step down and form a unity government with opposition parties, but he abandoned the idea after the conservative New Democracy demanded Athens renegotiate its year-old international bailout.

New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said the only way out of the crisis was early elections, but analysts said that would only happen in the unlikely event that the government failed to get a vote of confidence.

Political observers also said the reshuffle could persuade rebellious backbenchers in his PASOK party to back the measures despite widespread public anger.

"It's rare that deputies of a ruling party vote in favor of getting out of parliament," Couloumbis said.

Former ECB Vice-President Lucas Papademos is most frequently cited as a candidate to replace Papaconstantinou, who local media have said may be on his way to the Foreign Ministry.

But ALCO's Panagopoulos added that the prime minister may have a hard time convincing people outside the political arena to join his embattled government, which faced mass protests on Wednesday over the prospect of yet another squeeze.

TEARGAS

The new austerity package foresees 6.5 billion euros ($9.4 billion) in tax rises and spending cuts this year, doubling the effect of measures agreed with bailout lenders that have jacked unemployment up to a record 16.2 percent and extended a deep recession into its third year.

The plan includes new luxury taxes, a crackdown on tax evasion and tax rises on soft drinks, swimming pools, restaurant bills and real estate. The euro zone member's 750,000-strong public work force would be cut by a fifth. It also aims to raise 50 billion euros by selling off state-owned firms.

Thousands of activists and unionists converged on Athens's central Syntagma square on the parliament's front steps on Wednesday to try to stop lawmakers from debating the measures in committee that they hope to pass by the end of the month.

Stun grenades boomed around the square and plumes of smoke rose from burning garbage bins as police fired teargas and fought running skirmishes with scores of youths who fought back with rocks and long clubs.

"We want them out. Obviously these measures are not going to get us out of the crisis," Antony Vatselas, a 28-year-old mechanical engineer, crying from teargas. "They want only us to pay for it. And they are doing nothing. I want the debt to be erased. If this doesn't happen, there is no exit for Greece."

One group hurled petrol bombs and clashed with police at buildings housing the Finance Ministry, also on the square. Reuters witnesses saw flames in front of an entrance to the main building and a similar clash a few buildings down.

The vast majority of the crowd -- which included union workers, political party members, pensioners, and a wide array of Greeks upset at the new austerity measures -- only shouted at the parliament building and remained peaceful.

"Thieves, traitors!" many chanted. "Where did the money go?"

About 1,500 police closed a large part of the city center and created a corridor to hold back protesters as lawmakers drove up to the building in official limousines.

The Health Ministry said 33 people were injured. Fifteen people were arrested, police said. Police officials said the crowd reached around 30,000 but they often underestimate numbers. 

 

Read More

Britain, Bill Gates boost child vaccine funding

 

 

 

Britain and Bill Gates joined forces yesterday to pledge more than half of the $3.7 billion sought to vaccinate nearly 250 million children against preventable diseases.


Prime Minister David Cameron told a donors' conference in London that Britain would contribute a further £814 million ($1.3 billion, 920 million euros) to GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation), an aid group backed by the Microsoft tycoon.


Cameron said the extra funds would help treat 80 million children against pneumonia and diarrhoea, and save 1.4 million lives.


Gates followed Cameron's pledge by saying his charitable foundation would commit an additional one billion dollars over five years.


It is expected that by the end of the one-day summit donations should exceed the $3.7 billion target.
Cameron said: "Today we come together because we have the chance to save another four million lives in four years.


"Frankly, the idea of children dying from pneumonia and diarrhoea should be absolutely unthinkable in 2011.
"But for many parents in the developing world it is a devastating reality."


The pledges have gone a long way towards making up the $3.7-billion funding shortfall as GAVI aims to immunise 243 million more children and avert four million deaths by 2015.

Read More

Former Tunisian president to face June 20 trial

 Former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia in January, will be tried in absentia on June 20, Tunisia's interim prime minister said Monday. 

"Ben Ali's trial will start on June 20," Beji Caid Sebsi said in an interview on Al Jazeera television. "He will be tried in a military and in a civilian court." 



Ben Ali fled to Jeddah after he was toppled by mass protests on January 14 after 23 years in power. Several members of his family and security and some of his closest allies were detained shortly after he was forced out. 


Tunisian authorities have been preparing several legal cases against Ben Ali, including conspiring against the state, voluntary manslaughter and drug trafficking. 


The caretaker authorities, trying to assert their authority and gain legitimacy in the eyes of protesters who forced the transition, are attacking the vestiges of his long rule. 


Saudi authorities have not responded to a request by Tunis to extradite Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi. 


Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted shortly after Ben Ali, is also due to stand trial for the killing of protesters and could face the death penalty.

Read More

Greek PM rebuffs austerity opponents, vows June vote

Protesters shout slogans and lift a Greek flag during a rally against austerity economic measures and corruption in Athens' Constitution square, June 9, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Pascal Rossignol

The Greek government defended its new austerity package from attacks in parliament on Friday, saying it was the only way to stave off bankruptcy, and made a new call for opposition parties to back the plan. Prime Minister George Papandreou's plan almost doubles the belt-tightening measures for 2011 already agreed with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, after the lenders judged that Athens had missed goals outlined under its bailout.
The ruling Socialist party has 156 deputies in the 300-seat house but growing numbers of its members are expressing unease at proposals including cutting spending and raising taxes to reduce the deficit by 6.5 billion euros more this year than first planned.
Papandreou is anxious to pass the plan for more austerity through 2015 despite strikes, mass street protests and dissident voices within his own ruling Socialist party.
"The medicine is not pleasant and the treatment requires devotion and commitment," he told parliament.
"No prime minister of any country wants to go out with a beggar's tray and collect money from other countries ... I certainly don't, but I do it for Greece."
Papandreou is fighting to get not only opposition parties but also his reluctant PASOK party behind the strategy, a condition for receiving more aid from international lenders who threw Greece a 110 billion euro ($160 billion) emergency funding lifeline last year.

PROTESTS AT PARLIAMENT

According to a weekly schedule released by parliament, lawmakers will start debating the midterm plan in the chamber's economic affairs committee on Wednesday.
That will coincide with a nationwide strike by labor unions expected to draw tens of thousands of demonstrators to Syntagma square, parliament's front stoop and the site of two weeks of nightly grassroots protests.
The square is also the convergence point of daily marches by staff in firms earmarked for privatization who oppose the government's pledge to raise 50 billion euros in the selloff of state-owned companies by 2015.
In a televised address to the nation, Papandreou invited proposals for the plan from opposition parties and called for cooperation to improve Athens' position in talks with Brussels ahead of a June 23-24 EU summit.
"I call on the leadership of all parties to cooperate," he said in a televised announcement. "There are many and important points where we converge. With a national consensus, we can negotiate jointly with our partners."
In a move aimed at reducing resistance by the main opposition New Democracy party to the measures, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said the government was considering submitting a new tax bill in September cutting VAT and corporate taxes and said he hoped parliament would approve the mid-term plan by the end of June.
The IMF and EU have demanded wider political consensus in Greece before they give the debt-ridden euro zone member more cash. But the main opposition groups have vowed to vote against the new measures, saying they are choking economic growth.
"The mid-term plan is unreliable, unjust and ineffective. It is a de facto confession of the failure of the bailout," New Democracy party spokesman Yannis Michelakis said in a statement.
European officials are still trying to work out a plan which hits private investors for some of the cost of the new funding plan, expected to be worth around an additional 120 billion euros including 30 billion from sales of Greek state assets.
Figures on Thursday showed the economy is in worse shape than initially feared, with gross domestic product tumbling 5.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

Read More

Drug makes hearts repair themselves

A drug that makes hearts repair themselves has been used in research on mice. The damage caused by a heart attack had previously been considered permanent.. But a study in the journal Nature showed the drug, thymosin beta 4, if used in advance of a heart attack, was able to "prime" the heart for repair. The British Heart Foundation described repair as the "holy grail of heart research", but said any treatment in humans was years away. Due to advances in health care the number of people dying from coronary heart disease is falling. But those living with heart failure are on the rise - more than 750,000 people have the condition in the UK alone. WAKE UP The researchers at University College London looked at a group of cells which are able to transform into different types of heart tissue in an embryo. In adults epicardium-derived progenitor cells line the heart, but have become dormant. Scientists used a chemical, thymosin beta 4, to "wake them up". Professor Paul Riley, from the University College London, said: "The adult epicardial cells which line the muscle of the heart can be activated, move inward and give rise to new heart muscle." "We saw an improvement in the ejection fraction, in the ability of the heart to pump out blood, of 25 percent." As well as pumping more blood, the scar tissue was reduced and the walls of the heart became thicker. Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said he was 'very excited' about the research but warned the scale of improvement seen in animals was rarely seen in humans. Heart Epicardium derived progenitor cells (in red) lining the heart However, he argued that even a small improvement would have a dramatic impact on people's quality of life. "A normal heart has lots of spare capacity. In patients with heart failure it is working flat out just to sit down [and] it's like running a marathon," he said. "You could turn a patient from somebody who's gasping while sitting in a chair to somebody who can sit comfortably in a chair." ADVANCE THERAPY The mice needed to take the drug in advance of a heart attack in order for it to be effective. As the researchers put it, "the priming effect is key". If a similar drug could be found to be effective in humans, then the researchers believe it would need to be prescribed in a similar way to stains. Professor Riley said "I could envisage a patient known to be at risk of a heart attack - either because of family history or warning signs spotted by their GP - taking an oral tablet, which would prime their heart so that if they had a heart attack the damage could be repaired." He said this could be available in 10 years. The British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, said repairing a damaged heart was the "holy grail" of heart research. The results strengthened the evidence that drugs could be used to prevent the onset of heart failure, it said.

Read More