Situation in Kandhamal out of control: Archbishop

Simply out of control,” is how Raphael Cheenath, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, described the situation in Kandhamal, the district in central Orissa that has seen sustained violence against Christians by Sangh Parivar groups since December 2007.
“I see an attempt to appease the majority, because of the coming elections, in the statement given by the Chief Minister, Mr. Naveen Patnaik, when he went to Phulbani [the district headquarters of Kandhamal] yesterday [on Saturday],” he told The Hindu in an interview in Bhubaneswar at the Archbishop’s House. “There was not one word in his statement about the 40,000 persons displaced and in relief camps, not one word about the 4,200 homes destroyed, and not one word about the 45 persons — including a pastor who was cut to pieces just a few days ago in front of his wife — who have been murdered. Why did he go?”
A tired and anguished Archbishop severely indicted the State and Central governments of insensitivity and inaction in respect of the violence and injustice perpetrated against the Dalit Christians of Kandhamal.
“My impression is that the State government is trying its best to cover up the violence by giving the impression that the normalcy has been restored, and that there is no need for further action.” The Supreme Court, he said, in response to a petition filed before it on September 8 seeking protection from the relentless violence against Christians, had given the State government four weeks to respond. The Archbishop said the Sangh Parivar had used this period to “systematically destroy one village after another.” “Excuse unacceptable”
The excuse of the State government that marauding mobs often outnumbered the police force present at the spot, he said, was unacceptable. “Why did they allow the numbers to swell in the first place?” “We know that in cases of attack and even rape the police just stood by and took no action. What is left to destroy now?”
The Archbishop said he had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh three times, President Pratibha Patel twice, Home Minister Shivraj Patil twice and Congress president Sonia Gandhi once over the situation in Kandhamal. The Prime Minister, he said, called it a “national shame” and promised help, but there had not been any real change in the situation as Dalits continue to live in relief camps and were too frightened to return to their villages.
According to the Archbishop, the Sangh Parivar has “issued a fatwa” that by September 30, residents must return to their villages to be re-converted to Hinduism. “I am issuing a letter that will be distributed to Christians telling them not to worry and to be firm. No conversion is valid unless it is free. A document signed under duress is not valid under law.”
He is also planning to call a meeting of Bishops and heads of religious groups to organise a rally in Bhubaneswar protesting the grave violence and injustice against Christians in Kandhamal

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said it is the Chinese people’s persistent aspiration to develop the manned spaceflight technologies for the peaceful explo

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said it is the Chinese people’s persistent aspiration to develop the manned spaceflight technologies for the peaceful exploration and use of the outer space.
“The successful mission marked a milestone and great leap forward of China’s space technology development as China became the third country capable of spacewalk,” said Mr. Wen after the landing of the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft. Mr. Wen congratulated the taikonauts and the staff, saying: “It is a new important success in our nation’s space technology field, and the country and the people will always treasure up your historical achievements.”
The success would also play a significant role for the development of the economy, technology and national defence, as well as for the promotion of national solidarity in the modernisation drive, he added. Mission ends
Earlier, the Shenzhou-7 space module carrying the three taikonauts landed safely on Sunday afternoon in China’s northern grassland. Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming, and Jing Haipeng came back from a 68-hour flight, which included a 25-minute spacewalk on Saturday. “It was a glorious mission, full of challenges with a perfect result. I’m proud of my country,” said Mr. Zhai, sitting on a chair after emerging from the module. Mr. Liu said: “Before I took off, I told you the Chinese taikonauts are the best. Thank the motherland and the people.” Mr. Jing said: “We could felt the care of the country and people while in the abysmal space. Now we have safely returned.”
Mr. Wen, who was at the Beijing ground control centre to watch the landing, said the mission was “a victory of the Chinese space and technological field and a monumental achievement in the Socialist causes.”
“Your historical feat will be remembered by the country and the people,” said Mr. Wen, delivering a congratulatory note from the central authorities.
The space capsule was suspended down by a 1,000-square-metre parachute and landed on its flank at Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia, where 300 search and rescue staff waited.Taikonauts safe
The taikonauts were examined by doctors and adapted themselves to the gravitation on the Earth before exiting the module. They were taken to a hospital in the Inner Mongolian capital of Hohhot for medical examination and are scheduled to fly back to Beijing on Monday for a two-week quarantine.
During the spacewalk on Saturday, Mr. Zhai wore a hulking $4-million homemade Feitian space suit and spent 25 minutes outside the spacecraft. Tethered to the craft with two safety wires and a long electric cord providing oxygen and communications, he moved slowly along a set of handrails around the orbiter. “Shenzhou-7 is now outside the spacecraft. I feel well. I am here greeting the Chinese people and people of the whole world,” he said. He waved a Chinese flag handed over by Mr. Liu

‘Genetically-engineered humans by 2028’

Noted molecular geneticist, Charles Cantor, has predicted that there would be genetically-engineered humans on the planet by 2028 with an “entirely new biology”.
In another 20 years, individuals would be routinely sequenced either prenatally or neonatally. He said that gene expression data would be used routinely for diagnosis.
The whole genome sequencing would cost less than $100! However, he cautioned that many aspects of complex diseases would not be fully understood even then.
He disclosed this while delivering the Hugo 20th anniversary lecture on “Genomics: 20 years ago and 20 years from now” at the 13th International Human Genome Meeting which was earlier inaugurated by Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal.
Earlier, Jay D. Keasling, Division Director, Physical Biosciences Division of the Laboratory, told reporters after making a presentation at the first plenary session that a low-cost genetically-engineered, anti-malarial drug would hit the market by late 2010. The Atreminisin–based drug has been produced through microbial synthesis by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA.Inexpensive drug
Dr. Keasling said the technology had been transferred to Sanofi Aventis company by the University of California which held the patent for the drug.
It had given the licence free to the company with a request that it be priced inexpensively. Initially, the price would be fixed to meet the cost of the plant-derived version and reduced gradually. “The goal is to make the drug as inexpensive as possible,” he added.
Pointing out that malaria affected 300-500 million people worldwide, he said that one to three million succumbed to the disease every year.
He said that quinine-based drug treatment was now “largely ineffective”.
He said his laboratory had also inked an MoU with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for producing an anti-cancer drug. It would be a “great project” and started soon. The Berkeley-based laboratory had also begun work on cloning genes for anti-HIV drugs. The clinical trials would be started shortly.

China spacewalks into history

Taikonaut Zhai Zhigang slipped out of the orbital module of Shenzhou-7 on Saturday afternoon, starting China’s first spacewalk — or extravehicular activity (EVA) — in outer space.
“Shenzhou-7 is now outside the spacecraft. I feel well. I am here greeting the Chinese people and people of the whole world,” he told ground control in Beijing, where President Hu Jintao watched the proceedings with top space scientists. Donning a $4-million homemade Feitian space suit, Mr. Zhai waved to the camera mounted on the service module after pulling himself out of the capsule in a head-out-first position, video monitor at the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre (BACC) showed.
Mr. Zhai, who will be 42 next month, was an Air Force pilot before enrolling in the space programme. Minutes after he was outside the capsule, teammate Liu Boming also emerged from the orbital module hatch and handed Mr. Zhai a Chinese national flag which he waved. Their third crew member Jing Haipeng monitored the ship from inside the re-entry module.
Video monitor at BACC showed Mr. Zhai then slowly leaning towards a test sample of solid lubricant placed outside the module. He took the sample and handed it over to Mr. Liu.
Solid lubricant is widely used in spacecraft. The test samples carried by Shenzhou-7 include 11 types of solid lubricants. Scientists hoped to improve the property and lifetime of the materials by studying the samples. After the handover, Mr. Zhai started the core part of the space adventure, the spacewalk. Tethered to the spacecraft with two safety wires and a long electric cord providing oxygen and communications, Mr. Zhai moved slowly along a set of handrails around the orbital module.Televised event
He “walked step by step” by shifting the wire hooks connecting him and the spacecraft, in a televised event watched by millions of Chinese and met with applauses and cheers by crowds before downtown outdoor screens and office TV sets. Twenty-five minutes after the spacewalk, he returned to the module, marking a complete success of China’s first attempt at spacewalk.
The historical moment was witnessed by tens of millions of Chinese with bated breath. The success makes China the third to master the EVA technology following the U.S. and Russia. Performing a successful spacewalk is a key step in mastering docking techniques, technology that is needed for the establishment of a space station.
After leak check by ground control, Mr. Zhai and Mr. Liu turned off the depressurising valve and started re-pressurising the module. They also adjusted their spacesuits to the intra-capsule condition.
The Shenzhou-7 spacecraft took off from northwest China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on Thursday and is scheduled to land on the Inner Mongolia steppe on Sunday. — Xinhua

West Bengal doing everything to solve Singur issue: Karat

The West Bengal government is “doing everything” to settle the Singur problem, Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said here on Thursday.
On the protests being planned by the Left parties and some other parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party, against the Parliament session not being convened by the United Progressive Alliance government and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the United States on September 25 to finalise the nuclear deal, Mr. Karat said the matter would be taken up at a meeting in New Delhi on Friday. He also blamed the Centre for failing to control terrorism.
Mr. Karat called on veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu at his Salt Lake residence here.
Mr. Basu was discharged from a city hospital on Tuesday after he was admitted there on September 7, three days after suffering a fall in his home.

Pakistan: banned groups reappearing

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi acknowledged on Thursday that banned militant groups had reappeared in the country under “different cloaks” but said a democratic government had to walk “a fine balance” in dealing with them.
Mr. Qureshi said it was difficult for the government to stop “peaceful” public meetings and rallies by such groups as it could bring into question its democratic credentials.
In recent weeks and months, banned organisations such as the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Taiba have resurfaced. As recently as last week, LeT founder Hafiz Saeed addressed in Karachi a public rally of the Jamat-ud-dawa, the still-legal front organisation of the LeT, advising the government that “this was not the time for friendship with India, but the time to take revenge for the Kashmir people.”Plea turned down
The News reported on Thursday that Mr. Saeed had even applied to the government for permission to import a bullet-proof vehicle. The application has been turned down.
The Foreign Minister, responding to questions at a press conference why the government was allowing these groups to operate freely, said Pakistan had “no sympathy” for them, and they were “destroying the image” of the country world-wide.
“At times these organisations, they wear a different cloak while making political statements and holding political processions, and if you check those processions, your democratic credentials are questioned [as to] why under a democratic set up, under a democratic dispensation, people are not allowed to make a peaceful protest. It is a very difficult balance we have to keep.” India’s concern
India has expressed concern at the resurgence of banned organisations in Pakistan, and wants an assurance that the new government in Islamabad will rein them in. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while underlining the involvement of home-grown terrorists in last week’s Delhi blasts, also spoke about a continuing role by Pakistan-based militant groups.
Mr. Qureshi appealed to India to avoid making such allegations.
“We have to be very careful and we have to avoid the blame game. Pakistan has shown utmost restraint, and our reactions have been very measured. It is easy to up the ante with statements and counter-statements. That’s what we have been doing for years. It’s the easiest thing to do, and it vitiates the atmosphere. But we now want to move in a positive direction,” he said. “We have to give up the concept of one-upmanship.”
Resolving the Siachen and Sir Creek disagreements, and increasing trade and people-to-people contacts, he said, would present a “win-win” situation for both countries.Zardari-Manmohan meeting
The Minister said he was expecting a “productive meeting” between President Asif Ali Zardari and Dr. Singh on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.
Angry over the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, New Delhi has yet to agree on a calendar of meetings for the fifth round of the composite dialogue, the Secretary-level talks on eight subjects.
“The meeting in New York, I agree is important because we have to continue to pursue the peace process,” he said, adding that there would be “hiccups” but both sides had to remain “steadfast”.Focus on trade
Dismissing suggestions that the peace process had come to a standstill, he pointed to scheduled talks next Monday between India and Pakistan on Kashmir-related confidence building measures, with focus on launching the cross-Line of Control trade between the two sides of Kashmir.
“That I would not call a stalling of the peace process,” he said