Unable to Open an Account in the Elections, the RSS Mouthpiece Organiser has started a new campaign; Achuthanandan: Comrade who came up from ranks- Red has reason to hammer on sickle UPA consolidates-UAE wins membership of two UN commissions - TV channel to move to Bahrain soon -Bid to boost nursing staff VS Unanimously Elected as Kerala Chief Minister Capping intense debate within, CPI-M in Kerala today unanimously chose party veteran V S Achuthanandan as Chief Minister of Kerala but the faction led by state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan gained a clear upperhand in the choice of party nominees for the LDF ministry which will assume office on May 18.A brief party comminique issued at the end of the day-long state committee meet said the election of 82-year-old Achuthanadan to lead the ministry was unanimous, the PTI Reported.Though the party was yet to make an official announcement regarding the ministers and their portfolios, indications were that Achuthandan was unlikely to get the key Home portfolio, which was likely to go to Pinarayi loyalist Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The state committee put its stamp of approval to the list of 11 ministers submitted by Vijayan, seven of them members of the state secretariat - Paloli Muhammadkutty, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, P K Gurudasan, M A Baby, T M Thomas Isacc, A K Balan and P K Sreemathi.Others finding their way into the ministry are M Vijayakumar, Elamaram Kareem, G Sudhakaran and S Sarma, all of them members of the state committee. Former minister K Radhakrishnan would be the Speaker of the assembly.In the 19-member ministry being planned, CPI, the second largest partner in the LDF, would have four ministers while RSP, JD(S) and Kerala Congress one each.The CPI state executive is meeting here tomorrow to finalise its nominees in the ministry.The LDF state committee would meet here on May 17 to take a final decison on portfolio distribution.The swearing in ceremony would be held at the Chandrasekheran Nair staidum.The LDF has swept the polls securing 98 seats in the 140- member house. EU set to finance 200 new "girl-friendly" schools in Egypt CAIRO, 15 May (IRIN) - The European Union has pledged to fund 200 new "girl-friendly" schools countrywide, in a joint bid with the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) to work towards a greater inclusion of females in education."The schools will target girls in the most marginalised areas," said Dalia Hassan, executive director of the NCCM girls' education programme, "and encourage them to attend school in order to gain an education." The EU pledge, announced by NCCM Secretary-General Moushira Khattab on 8 May, is based on positive assessments of 500 existing girl-friendly schools established in recent years by the NCCM in seven governorates across Egypt. "We're working from an existing, successful model, tried and tested by the NCCM," said Karin Johansson, in charge of the EU delegation's social, rural and civil society programmes. Most existing girl-friendly schools are located in Upper Egypt, where school attendance rates - particularly among girls - are lowest. "We go where there aren't any schools in the vicinity," said Dalia. "There are many areas the education ministry hasn't reached, and girls in particular find it difficult to walk more than two or three kilometres to go to school." While girl-friendly schools cater both to girls and boys, their curricula and administration are specifically designed to encourage girls - often burdened with traditional household responsibilities - to attend. "Girl-friendly schools enable children both to work with their parents and attend school," said Dalia, adding that schools will be located in marginal villages, where there are no government schools. "A girl helping in the home cannot be expected to walk any more than two or three kilometres to attend school while also helping in the home during the course of her day. Instead of expecting girls to come to us, we go to them." In addition, curricula are tailored to meet the needs of rural children, Dalia said. "Curricula are also flexible enough so as to enable children to decide what they want to focus on, rather than simply imposing traditional modes of learning," she said. Timings at the girl-friendly schools are also flexible, she said, thus enabling children to attend when possible for them, rather than as imposed by a central system. Construction of the new schools is set to be complete by December 2006. "They will be up and running by February 2007," said Dalia, adding that teachers were being specifically trained to work at the schools. Funding for the schools comes within the context of a wider EU "Children at Risk" programme aimed at financing social projects for children in Egypt, to which a total of US $154 million has been earmarked, Johansson said. Other Children at Risk projects include "locally proposed projects for children, projects that work towards declaring villages Female Genital Mutilation-free and capacity building projects", Johansson added. According to the 2005 Human Development Report for Egypt, issued jointly by the United Nations Development Programme and the Ministry of Planning and Development, 35 percent of the national population cannot read or write, putting Egypt among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of illiteracy. The figure is worse for the female population, with 45 percent of girls and women over the age of 15 years old being illiterate. Doordarshan Starts SMS News Service Doordarshan launched an SMS based news service from 5th April, 2006 by which mobile phone users can get the top four news headlines and cricket score updates on match days of matches telecast live on Doordarshan. So far as All India Radio network is concerned, News on Phone Service (IVR) is already functional at Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Patna and Ahmedabad. This service is expected to be commissioned at Thiruvananthapuram and Bangalore shortly. Besides, this service is expected to be launched at Raipur, Jaipur, Shimla, Lucknow, Guwahati, Imphal & Kolkata during the 10th Plan period. SMS based news service is expected to be commissioned in Delhi during the 10th Plan period. Gondwanland Expedition Reaches Africa A 10-member scientific motoring expedition led by Mr. Akhil Bakshi has reached Addis Ababa after travelling through Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Sudan. The Expedition Team entered Ethiopia on 6 May 2006 and will cross over to Kenya on 17 May 2006. During their journey, they visited various historically and geographically important sites. During their stopover in Addis Ababa, the Expedition Team along with H.E. Mr. Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India, met H.E. Mr. Girma Wolde-Giorgis, President of Ethiopia on 15 May 2006, who felicitated them for their credible and arduous endeavour. During the meeting, the Team handed over a goodwill message from H.E. Mr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India to the President of Ethiopia. The team was flagged off by H.E. Mr. Mohamuda Ahmed Gaas, Hon’ble State Minister of Culture and Tourism after a brief meeting in his Ministry. The Team had also meetings with the scientists of Addis Ababa University and shared scientific information. In Ethiopia, the Team has been traveling through the famous East Africa Rift Valley system, observing along the way the geological and seismological conditions, flora and fauna endemic to the Rift Valley system, as well as interacting with local population. Gondwanaland Expedition is a 45000 Km. international motoring expedition from India to the tip of Africa. The 10-member expedition team, consisting of a geologist, seismologist, zoologist, botanist, anthropologist and a medical doctor under Mr. Akhil Bakshi, team leader, commenced their journey from India on 27 March 2006. The team has already covered Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Sudan before entering Ethiopia on 6 May 2006. The team is scheduled to cover Gonder, Bahir Dar, Lalibela, Addis Ababa and Awassa before crossing over to Kenya on 17th May 2006. The expedition is scheduled to arrive at Addis Ababa on 12th evening and leave on 14th morning. In Addis Ababa, the Expedition Team is scheduled to meet dignitaries and scholars for exchange knowledge and experiences. After crossing over to Kenya, the Team will further travel through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and will end the journey at the tip of South Africa. India was once part of the Gondwanaland which consisted of the whole of Africa and South America. During the Mesozoic age, India got separated from north-eastern Africa and slowly drifted towards the present location in Asia. Similarities of the rock formations in India, Africa, Iran and Turkey are testimony of the fact that all these areas were part of one huge landmass during the bygone era. The Team will study seismic activities in the Indo-African region as a result of plate tectonics that cause catastrophic disasters like earthquake and tsunami. The study can further the knowledge of predicting earthquakes on land and sea bed. The team will make exploratory study of the evolution of the East African Rift systems. In addition to the seismological study, the Team will also concentrate on the flora and fauna endemic to the regions. Further, the Team’s effort would be to develop people-to-people contact and study the important landmarks and sites from archeological point of view. The wealth of information collected during the journey of the Expedition Team will be shared with the international scientific community. Al-Arabiya TV crew of three murdered in Samarra Reporters Without Borders expressed its “outrage” over the kidnapping and murder of TV reporter Atwar Bahjat, cameraman Khaled Mahmoud Al-Falahi and sound recordist Adnane Khaïrallah, of al-Arabiya TV.The bodies of the three, who were kidnapped in Samarra, north of Baghdad on 22 February, were found the following morning.Atwar Bahjat, Khaled Mahmoud Al-Falahi and Adnane Khaïrallah had gone to the central Iraqi city to cover the bomb attack on the Shia Muslim shrine for the Arabic satellite TV. Bahjat made two live reports from the scene before leaving late in the afternoon. Police said they were kidnapped just afterwards. A fourth person who was with them managed to escape. The reasons for the kidnapping are not known.“We are horrified by this appalling act,” the press freedom organisation said. “We will never stop repeating that journalists are neutral and vital observers. They are neither combatants nor targets to be shot down. Their work must be protected and respected, whatever their nationality and regardless of which media they work for.” "Our thoughts are with the families of the three journalists as well as their employer, al-Arabiya, the foreign media that has suffered the highest losses in the war in Iraq with six staff murdered since fighting began in March 2003. We offer them our solidarity and support,” the organisation added. "The overall toll is worse than alarming,” it added. “A total of 82 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the start of the war in Iraq. Seven of them have died since 1st January 2006, making this start of the year the most deadly in three years. Atwar Bahjat is the 7th woman journalist to be killed since the war in Iraq began,” it said. Thirty-eight journalists and media assistants have been kidnapped since the March 2003 start of the war in Iraq. Five of them were killed by their kidnappers (four Iraqis and the Italian Enzo Baldoni). The others have been released safe and well. Twenty-three of the kidnappings took place in Baghdad or its suburbs.Local TV al-Iraqiya is the Iraqi media that has been worst hit during the war with ten journalists and media assistants murdered. Special Consultation for NRI Marriage Problems The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs is organising a day long National Consultation tomorrow at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi with a view to working out strategies to address the problems arising out of marriages of Indian woman to NRIs and to build necessary safeguards. The Indian Society of International Law, Deptt. of women & Child Development, National Human Rights commission, National commission for Women and number of representatives from NGOs and other concerned organisations are partners in this endeavour. By and large we in India have a rather typical fancy for the word `Foreign’. Going to foreign countries is seen as `ticket to prosperity’. In marriages also a sizeable section of our population looks forward to marrying to NRIs or going to foreign countries taking marriage as a route. But for many, this is a very deceiving affair and very often a significant number of Indian women are made to suffer, in many ways, after such marriages. Some typical instances of such frauds are: · Abandonment of woman married to an Overseas Indian even before the woman is taken to the foreign country of her husband’s residence. After a short honeymoon, the man leaves, promising to send a ticket soon. Most likely, the woman is already pregnant when he leaves. So both she and the child are abandoned. · Woman reaches the foreign country’s airport only to realize that her husband would not show up at all. · Woman goes to the foreign country but she is sent back or forced to flee. She is not allowed to take her child (ren) along. In many cases, the child (ren) is/are forcibly abducted from her. · Woman goes to the foreign country only to be brutally battered, assaulted and abused both mentally and physically, malnourished, confined and ill-treated in several other ways. · Woman learns later that her Overseas Indian husband had given false information about his job, immigration status, earning, property, marital status and other material particulars etc. · Demands for huge dowry both before and after the marriage. · The man whom the woman had married was already married in the other country to another woman and he continues to live with that woman. · Woman’s husband obtains an ex-parte decree of divorce in the foreign country behind her back without her knowledge. · Woman is abandoned in the foreign country with absolutely no support or means of sustenance or escape and without even the visa to stay on in that country. · If the woman goes to court for maintenance or divorce various legal obstacles related to jurisdiction of courts, service of notices or orders, or enforcement of orders. · Woman is coaxed to travel to the foreign country of the man’s residence and gets married there. She later discovers that Indian courts have even more limited jurisdiction there. The Ministry is working on a two-pronged strategy – preventive and curative. As a preventive measure it is planned to undertake a widely publicized awareness campaign about the need to verify the antecedents of prospective NRI bridegrooms and their parents, their employment/marital status, earlier marriage/divorce and financial position etc. The curative measures would include legal assistance, counseling through our Missions/NGOs etc. The main concern of discussion will be to work out guidelines for helping the prospective marriage alliance seekers as well to those already married to NRIs to remain internally vigilant, verification of antecedents and documents, adopting the right procedures, knowledge of the legal and matrimonial rights of the woman, maintenance rights, rights of custody of children, provisions of Dowry Prohibition Act, legal provisions pertaining to dowry deaths and last but not the least some useful information and knowledge about the passport and visa procedures. India Pakistan Joint Pipeline Project on Track H.E. Mr Amanullah Khan Jadoon, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, visited India on 17-18 February, 2006, at the invitation of Shri Murli Deora, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, in order to carry forward the dialogue between the two countries on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) Gas Pipeline Project. During his visit, H.E. Mr Amanullah Khan Jadoon called on H.E. Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. The Prime Minister conveyed the fullest support of the Indian Government to the project. Both the Prime Minister and the Pakistani Petroleum Minister agreed that the project was of vital importance to both countries as it would not only serve the economic development interests of the peoples of the three countries involved with the project, but it would also serve to bring them closer together. The Pakistani and Indian delegations had detailed discussions on the IPI Project under the co-Chairmanship of the two Ministers. The Ministers noted with satisfaction that since the initiation of dialogue between India, Pakistan and Iran, in June 2005, through the mechanism of the bilateral Joint Working Groups, there had been considerable progress in regard to the project. In this regard they welcomed the meeting of Indian, Pakistani and Iranian technical officials in New Delhi, on January 30-31, 2006, when they had participated in an international workshop on pipeline technology and then held discussions at the tripartite technical sub-working group on various aspects of the project. It was agreed that the outstanding technical issues would be pursued at the next tripartite technical sub-working group in Islamabad, in March 2006. The two Ministers agreed that the IPI project was important to both countries in respect of their energy security interests and reiterated the desire of the two countries to accelerate the process of dialogue and consultation to realise the project in the shortest possible time. The two delegations had in-depth discussions on various aspects of the project, including project structure and the price of gas. The two sides agreed that these important issues had to be resolved consensually as quickly as possible so that the Tripartite Framework Agreement could be finalized. In this context, the two sides agreed that their officials would participate in a tripartite meeting being convened by Iran, in Tehran, on 13-15 March, 2006, after which the Ministers of the three countries would meet in Tehran in April 2006, to address outstanding issues. The two Ministers noted with satisfaction that India had participated for the first time as an “Observer” at the 9th meeting the Steering Committee of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) pipeline project. The Pakistani Minister welcomed the participation of India in the project as a full member. The two sides also agreed to pursue the Gulf-South Asia Pipeline Project from Qatar. H.E. Mr. Amanullah Khan Jadoon conveyed to the Indian Petroleum Minister, Shri Murli Deora, his deep gratitude for the hospitality ad courtesy extended to him and the delegation throughout their stay in India. Mr Jadoon invited Shri Murli Deora to visit Pakistan at his earliest convenience. The Indian Minister gratefully accepted the invitation.