Today, the Housing Authority isnot only building houses butalso building communities. As

such, it is proud to announce theWaila city project. The HousingAuthority of Fiji was set up in 1958to provide Fijian citizens with afford-able, decent and quality land andhousing packages. Over 50 yearslater, it has developed numeroussubdivisions around Fiji and provid-ed thousands of families with achance to own a home under itsmortgage home loans.The Housing Authority has vari-

ous subdivisions and developmentsin both rural and urban Fiji and itcontinues to encounter and meetthe challenges to becoming thedynamic leader of housing for Fiji.Chief Executive Officer, HousingAuthority of Fiji, AlipateNaiorosui, inhis recent address at a press con-ference held at GovernmentBuildings in Suva on January 4,2011, said the Waila city project willbe the first development for Fiji and

potentially the region, where the cityis planned, systematically devel-oped and expanded as per its over-all master plan to ensure our citi-zens enjoy a standard of living andwell being that is on par with hous-ing in the 21st century. While theplans for this city also take intoaccount places of worship, recre-ational facilities such as water park

areas and a sports stadium, he saidthe key emphasis of this develop-ment is its housing componentwhich will provide approximately5,000 families with different housingoptions for all categories of low,middle and high income buyers.As the Waila city development

project is a huge undertaking, thecity will be developed in phases

over 10 years. "We are currentlyworking with our development part-ner - Top Symphony of Malaysia tofinalize the technical issues withregards to this project and antici-pate the construction to begin bythe 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2011,"MrNaiorosui said.He further stated that in accor-

dance with the Peoples Charter forChange, Peace and Progress, thisdevelopment project reaffirmedHA's commitment to meeting thechallenge laid out by Governmentto address Fiji's housing needs anddeals with 3 key areas of nationalinterest;* Creating housing for approxi-

mately 5,000 Fijian families to live,work and continually grow* Further strengthening Fiji's

economy by developing a city thatwill provide greater expansionopportunities for Fiji businessthrough its commercial and industri-al areas

Continue on page 6

Fiji Hosing Authority applauded as community builderInside

Iva photos ...P- 13

Fiji Rugby ...P- 26

P-12

P- 18

Imam Nasir trendsetter...

P- 05Ms. ShaaminiBabu, Esq. to...

Imran Khan’s wedding...

� Vol-20 � Issue-01 � February-2011 � 510-677-4488� www.fijisun-usa.com

18Bollywood

USA

KKaarreeeennaaoovveerrttaakkeessPPrriiyyaannkkaa

Fiji Labour Party leaderMahendraChaudhry has

been given the green light bythe High Court to attend aconference in Honolulu,Hawaii later this month. JudgeJustice Daniel Goundarordered that the court releaseall his travel documents toallow him to make the all nec-essary travel arrangements.Chaudhry was invited by thePacific Islands DevelopmentProgramme in Australia toattend the conference. He hasjust returned from Australiawhere he underwent a medi-cal examination. JusticeGoundar has adjourned thecase to February 18th.Chaudhry is charged with 12counts of tax evasion.

Chaudhry releasedto attend confer-ence in Honolulu

Fijian Methodists active in Bay Area

FFiijjii bbeeaauuttiieess ““ggaanngg uupp””ffoorr ssnnaapp sshhoottss

WASHINGTON: The US has let go of Hosni Mubarak, but heis not leaving. Hours after sending a special envoy to Cairoto work out modalities of his departure, Obama went publicwith the US decision to sign off on an American minion oflong-standing, saying a transformational moment hadarrived in Egypt. "Now, it is not the role of any other countryto determine Egypt's leaders. Only the Egyptian people cando that. What is clear — and what I indicated tonight toPresident Mubarak — is my belief that an orderly transitionmust be meaningful, and it must begin now," Obama said ina televised address, after a phone conversation withMubarak. It isn't immediately clear whether US would acceptMubarak's timeline for an honourable exit, or whether it hasorchestrated it in the first place. What's clear is the endgamein Egypt isn't here yet. Special Coverage on page-21

It's time to leave:Obama to Mubarak

Egypt Issue

EDITORIAL2 �� February, 2011

M H Koya (PhD) Editor-Publisher

PO Box 265, Mt. Eden, CA 94557 Email: fijisun@gmail.comwww.fijisun-usa.comPHONE : 510-677-4488 FAX : 510-781-4884

� Why Using Your PowerDistinguishes Between The SuperAchievers And The AveragePerson

� The two sources of Power prob-lems and how to correctthem…forever.

� How To Stop Being Ruled ByYour Past

� How To Identify Your Own Path toSuccess

� How to Eliminate the Fears thatDrain Your Power.

� How to Effortlessly Embrace Your

Strengths, Anytime You Need To� Breaking Out of Your Rut! Finding

the Strengths to Do SomethingDifferent

� Simple Steps To ImmediatelyReplace Your Limiting Beliefs WithEmpowering Beliefs

� How Power Can Enhance YourIntimate Relationships

� How Successful People HandleMistakes Differently Than Others

� How to Insure Your ChildrenGrow Up With a Healthy Sense ofPower

� Learning to Trust Yourself andRespect Your Decisions

� How to Approach Others With aBenevolent Spirit

� How to Feel that You Can Make aDifference

� Having High Expectations forSuccess.

AIM to host Fiji Awards Night This long promised awards night is slated for June 2011 and this time will be hosted by AIM American Institute of Manage-ment the professional organization that admits, evaluates and accredits members in the professional categories as Associ-

ates (AAIM) Members (MAIM) and Fellows (FAIM) as honorary doctorates of the AIM.

Although employers may recognize the USP Degrees and certificates but most universities do not accept USP de-grees for further education. They would refer you to a privately operated internet-based company to evaluate yourdegrees and then they will pick and choose the units they can cross-credit them for you. This may also be true in

cases of degrees from other countries including Australia and New Zealand.

In this division prominentFiji Americans raging frombest house wife to best

student and best businessoperators to best profession-al will be awarded. In addi-tion to the Fiji Sun and AIMacademic teams, any mem-ber of the community cansubmit nominations for anydeserving awards.

� Best House wife� Best farmer� Best Shop� Best Student� Best writer� Best Customer Service� Best Engineer� Best Public Speaker� Best Hospital Employee� Best Attorney� Best Entertainer� Best Hotel Employee� Best Wholesaler� Best Musician� Best Supervisor� Best Retailer� Best Public Employee

� Best New Business� Best artist� Best Police Officer� Best Web designer � Best performer� Best Security Officer� Best Doctor� Best dancer� Best Community Worker� Best Dentist� Best Videographer� Best Citizen� Best Realtor� Best Photographer� Best Senior Citizen � Best Air Travel Agent� Best Media Services

Life time AchievementAward.

� Best Poet � Best in any other cate-

gory that we can think ofwill be included by thefinal updates. All comments, inquiries,

suggestions and nomina-tions must either be mailedto the FIJI SUN or emailed atfijisun@gmail.com

Fiji Sun Awards UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff SSoouutthhPPaacciiffiicc iiss uunnaaccccrreeddiitteedd

WHAT YOU DISCOVER HERE WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER

BIOGRAPHY

Shaamini Babu is an ERISA litigator atSaltzman & Johnson Law Corporation, a bou-

tique law firm in San Francisco that representsemployee benefit plans. Prior to joining her cur-rent firm, she was an associate at constructiondefect litigation and asbestos litigation firms. Shereceived her law degree from the PepperdineUniversity School of Law, and her bachelor of artsdegree from the University of California, Davis.She currently serves on the Board of Directors for

the Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach (APILO), a legal agency thatassists domestic violence and human trafficking survivors, immigrants,youth and the elderly. She assists with fundraising, grant and volunteerrecruitment efforts. In 2010, Ms. Babu recently helped organize afundraiser for the Pakistan flood survivors raising more than $25,000.She was formerly the Co-Chair of the Pro Bono Committee of the SouthAsian Bar Association of Northern California (SABA-NC). In her role asthe Co-Chair, she staffed legal clinics, formed alliances with communityorganizations and legal agencies, provided legal referrals to communitymembers, assisted non-profit organizations, organized legal trainings,and sought grant opportunities. In the past, she has volunteered at theAlameda County Bar Association’s legal clinic and served as a volun-teer-judge for the McCullum Youth Court in Oakland. As a law student,Ms. Babu received a fellowship to clerk at Public Advocates, Inc. whereshe assisted with cases and campaigns to promote educational equity.While in college, she volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate(CASA) and worked with abused children.

Attorney Ms. ShaaminiBabu

ATTEND AIM MEETING FORMORE INFROMATION ATWEEKS LIBRARY, HAYARD.

3�� February, 2011

4 �� February, 2011

COMMUNIT/BUSINESS NEWS 5�� February, 2011

Former Imam of Fiji MaunatulIslam, Abdul RahmanFaizih,famiur as Alim sahib is featured

among some of the top MuslimImams to address first Grand MilaadUn Nabi celebration to be heldSunday February 20 at the SanghaHall, Alvarado Nine Road in UnionCity. Led by superior court officerSahif Mohammed, the event is tomark the birthday of Muhammad,the Holy Prophet of Islam (peaceand the blessings of God be uponhim). Maulavi Abdul RhmanFaizihserved as an Imam for more than 10years for Fiji Maunatul Islam before

immigrating to US to take over asImam of the “Fiji Masjid” in SouthSan Francisco. After being ousted,

the Alim Sahib formed his ownIslamic academy to provide Islamiceducation to Muslim based in SouthSan Francisco assisted by his wife.Over the 15 some years, the AlimSahib successfully organized aMaunatul Islam community in theBay Area and Sacramento. Heserves between Sacramento andBay Point. Slowly growing number ofFiji Malayalam Muslim communityhas begun rallying behind the AlimSahib. His services are well appreci-ated and have earned him a greatrespect among the larger Muslimcommunities in California.

It has been our sad experience thatthose “seasonal palm readers” whosneak into California having tried theirtricks elsewhere to make quick bucksturned out to be liars. In the beginningthey bag us to place an AD becausethey are new in the area and struggling.So we give a break in price. Somewould advertise and suddenly moveaway without notifying and paying thebill. In this particular case a Russ Street-based palm reader in Hayward obtainsponsorship four color full page at a giveaway rate. Then he pleaded for furtherdiscount that he was facing problems asFiji people were asking a lot of ques-

tions and was not willing to pay rightamount of money that ranges from $500to $1,500 per client dependent on whatkind of problems they faced. We boughthis sympathetic story and gave a furtherdiscount. We made it clear in writing thatif the agreed amount is not upfront wewill revert to our original regular rate andthe discounted rate will not be applica-ble anymore. Despite this clear notification this

Ruus Street-based Pandit delayed pay-ment and suddenly moved back to Indiadelegating his business operations to anewcomer. When approached, the new-comer gave several excuses and got

smart with us. However, we did manageto get part of the payment. There weretwo other cases in which a palm readeroperating from Sacramento and anotherfrom San Jose disappeared quietly with-out making payments for the Ads. Ourexperience is that these people cannotbe trusted and we are reliably told that90% of what they do are all guess workas there is no evidence what they prac-tice is an exact science. They generallypropose several mantras and rituals toheal your problems based on what youtell them and not what they supposedlyread from your palm. Besides palmreading for money is also a crime.

Islamic library inHayward An exploratory committee decid-

ed at its Feb meeting that there is apressing need for an IslamicLibrary in City of Hayward. Such alibrary, the committee felt, needs tobe away from a mosque setting sothat it could be open during busi-ness hours for all not juts Muslims.In addition to providing access tolibrary recourses, there will bebooks on sale that people couldbuy and own. It will have a frontdesk service, library and readingand meeting room for small meet-ings and conference. The project isplanned to commence in at leastmonths beginning with small cen-ter. The committee is inviting allMuslims send in their ideas, sug-gestions and objections to IslamicLibrary, PO Box 265, Mt. Eden, CA94557.

Another nice complex byNaeem’sWaraich

Construction that gave youwhat was first known asPrasad’s Supermarket rightacross the road from hereon West Tennyson Road.Conceived and built to fitthe business and residen-tial needs of operators andclients, this new complexbecame a sought afterspot as there is no vacantspot is left.

MUBASHIR AHMAD NEW POET IN TOWN

Amrita Jewelers manager threatens editorAn angry Amrita Jewelers owner made a

block call to FIJI SUN and demanded toknow some personal information about the

editor. She was told not to make phone calls butinstead express her concerns and disagreementabout the article and the response will be publishedin the FIJI SUN. Any debate or phone confrontationis absolutely unwelcome. The caller not being theactual owner left a voice mail that she will reportthe editor to the City of Hayward. The Fiji Sunwould be glad to publish the validity or otherwise ofits report that could help generate more businessfor the store if the story sounds credible in refuta-tion of the FIJI SUN report. There is always public-ity in adversity provided if one knows how to turn itaround. All great business operators use their pro-fessional skills in turning such situations into a“positive cash flow”.

Best lamb pulau at Joyti SupermarketLooking for Saturday morning treat, then stop by Joyti

Supermarket for a delicious serve of mouth-watering lambpulau. It’s a gooddeal to grab if youare on a run and orhave unexpectedweekend visitorsand do not want tocook, stop byJoyti’s or call themin advance toplace your orderfor later pick up. This is a great service for those of us sleepin till late morning and not in the mood to eat out or cook alate lunch and enjoy some free time. Next time when youin town on Saturday check out Joyti Supermarket for theirgreat tasting lamb pulau. And don’t forget to grab a serve ifyou just shopping for groceries only. You cannot resist thenice and spicy smell of the freshly cooked lamb pulau.

New National Marketingtipped to make a comeback:Robin Singh

Areliable and close business alley of NationalMarketing that Robin Singh is planning a

comeback with a huge wholesale outlet soon.The alley made no secrets that it will be inHayward and will relay heavily on the only majorFiji distributor in the Bay Area. The move isannounced as mystery and controversy overrecent relocation of National Marketing contin-ues. While it is never our intention to bad mouthany business or do them any harm, we do havea social responsibility to keep our readersinformed with what is happening on the businessfront in the Fiji Community. A congenial Ms.Anita, who seemed to have been given a wrongtake on our first article on the relocation, called toquestion us about the report. She promised a fit-ting reply but so far we have not received anyresponse from you her. Anita is most welcome toemail us any response and we will gladly publishit in the FIJI SUN. In the meantime we wish herthe very best in her endeavors (Editor).

Maunatul Islam leader “Alim Sahib” to addressgrand Milaad-un-Nabi celebration Feb 20

ShaaminiBabu isan ERISA litigator atSaltzman & JohnsonLaw Corporation, aboutique law firm inSan Francisco thatrepresents employeebenefit plans. Prior tojoining her currentfirm, she was an asso-ciate at constructiondefect litigation andasbestos litigation firms. Shereceived her law degree from thePepperdine University School ofLaw, and her bachelorof artsdegree from the University ofCalifornia, Davis. She currentlyserves on the Board of Directorsfor the Asian Pacific IslanderLegal Outreach (APILO), a legalagency that assists domestic vio-lence and human trafficking sur-vivors, immigrants, youth and theelderly. She assists with fundrais-ing, grant and volunteer recruit-ment efforts. In 2010, Ms. Babuhelped organize a fundraiser forthe Pakistan flood survivors rais-ing more than $25,000. She wasformerly the Co-Chair of the ProBono Committee of the SouthAsian Bar Association of NorthernCalifornia (SABA-NC). In her role

as the Co-Chair, shestaffed legal clinics,formed alliances withcommunity organiza-tions and legal agen-cies, provided legalreferrals to communitymembers, assistednon-profit organiza-tions, organized legaltrainings, and soughtgrant opportunities. In

the past, she has volunteered atthe Alameda County BarAssociation’s legal clinic andserved as a volunteer-judge forthe McCullum Youth Court inOakland. As a law student, Ms.Babu received a fellowship toclerk at Public Advocates, Inc.where she assisted with casesand campaigns to promote edu-cational equity. While in college,she volunteered as a CourtAppointed Special Advocate(CASA) and worked with abusedchildren. Ms.ShaaminiBabu willbe guest speaker at the Fiji LegalForum hosted by AmericanInstituted of Management onMarch 14, 2011 at HaywardWeeks Library from 1 pm to 4 pmand speak on opportunities in thelegal profession.

Ms. ShaaminiBabu, Esq. toaddress Fiji Legal Forum

Waraich Construction addsnew beauty to Hayward City

Featured in the complex (facing the road the very firststore) is super beauty salon by Rupy

Palm readers untrustworthy and smart mouth!

MUBASHIR NEW POET IN TOWN AT KHAN KOBAB RESTAURANTFREMONT- At a revival UIC – Urdu Institute of California Mushirahnight last month held at Khan Kabob Restaurant about a dozenlocal poets and singers met to honor new poet Mubashir Ahmadwho entertained the listeners reading from his unpublished DIWAN– collection of his own poems. As usual, ghazal singers Karan

Khanna and Nina entertained the audience with a selection ofghazals. Mubashir Ahmad is a former associate professor ofPeshawar University of Pakistan. A qualified attorney, Mubashirrecently relocated to Bay Area to serve the Muslim community asmissionary. He will be a regular in the future UIC programs.

FFIIJJII NNEEWWSS6 �� February, 2011

Representatives of the mainbuyer of Fiji sugar -Tate and Lyleof London – met last Friday withFiji Sugar Corporation executivechairman-ABDUL KHAN at theFSC Headquarters in Lautoka.No comments could be

obtained but FBC News under-stands that one of the issues dis-cussed was the current priceTate and Lyle is paying for apound of sugar sold to them bythe Corporation. The FSC has acontract to sell a maximum of300,000 tonnes of sugar annual-ly to Tate and Lyle.The contract expires in 2015.

FBC News has established thatthe FSC is currently selling

sugar to Tate and Lyle at a rateof US19 cents per pound.However sources suggest that ifsugar is sold in the world openmarket FSC could sell the sugarat a rate of around US30 centsper pound. Last week aJapanese delegation met withthe FSC to assess whethersugar from Fiji can be sold to theJapanese market at the currentopen market rate.Sources say the FSC may

ask Tate and Lyle if they couldincrease the price to a sufficientlevel from the current US19cents per pound. Tate and Lylecurrently provides technicalassistance to the FSC.

Prisons Commissioner BrigadierGeneral IoaneNaivalurua with theChinese Ambassador to Fiji Dr HanZhiqiang during the ambassador'svisit to Korovou Prison in Suva.Picture: IVAMERE RASABASABA.PRISONS Commissioner

Brigadier General IoaneNaivalurua,who's also president of BasketballFiji, hosted Chinese AmbassadorDr Han Zhiqiang to a handover cer-emony at the Naboro Prison com-plex yesterday.DrZhiqiang and his first secre-

tary handed over basketball equip-ments to Brigadier Naivalurua andsenior officials of Basketball Fiji.Brig Naivalurua said the equip-

ment would assist the Fiji men'sand women's basketball teams inretaining their championship status

and trophies at the upcoming SouthPacific Games. Brig Naivaluruaalso highlighted the important role

sports such as basketball played inhelping shape the character ofyoung people and curbing crime inFiji. He thanked the ambassadorand his staff for taking the time outto attend the ceremony.DrZhiqiang reiterated his gov-

ernment's message of cooperationand support for Fiji's efforts towardssocial and economic developmentand pledged the embassy's supporttowards future initiatives byBasketball Fiji. He echoed the sen-timents of Brig Naivalurua, saying:"I agree with Basketball Fiji's mottowhich is, 'More than just basketball'."Your national development pro-

gram has taught young peopleabout teamwork and unity and hasproduced many sports people whoare now ambassadors of your count

Boost for Basketball Fiji

Equipment for Fiji'srural infrastructurearrives from ChinaFiji's Prime Minister Commodore

Voreqe Bainimarama Monday official-ly accepted civil and constructionmachines and equipment from China,which will help develop rural areas inthe island nation. Bainimaramasigned a certificate of acceptance withChinese Ambassador to Fiji HanZhiqiang. The equipment, valued at4.1 million Fiji dollars (2.2 million U.S.dollars), includes excavators, dumptruck, bulldozers, vibratory rollers,pneumatic roller, motor grade, wheelloader, loader digger, water truck anda truck with crane. ElikiBomani,deputy secretary in Fijian PrimeMinister's office, said the donation waspart of China's direct grant assistanceto the government of Fiji. The Bainimarama government"is

really keen on expanding rural devel-opment and on quickening the pace ofrural development for the rural popu-lation, so this is really part of the assis-tance", Bomani said. "The equipmentis subject to deployment throughoutFiji wherever the need is identified,wherever development projects arebeing carried out in the rural areas,"he added. The Bainimarama govern-ment's aim in 2011 is to improve ruralinfrastructure throughout Fiji and thishas been made possible through thetimely facilitation by china, stressedthe Fijian official.

Government is reviewing theFiji Islands Maritime SafetyAdministration (FIMSA) laws inline with standards set by theInternational MaritimeOrganisation. The Minister forPublic Utilities, Works andTransport, Colonel Timoci Natuvasays the review will also result in therestoration of all lighthouses and beaconsby the Fiji Navy.

Natuva says neglect by previous gov-ernments in not renewing or replacing light-houses and beacons saw many foreign ves-sels and liners discouraged from visiting ourshores. “We are also reviewing the FIMSA

Law on Maritime that will coincidewith the International MaritimeOrganisation – We are renewingall the light houses and beaconsso that we encourage liners andsuper yacht to come to Fiji – oneof the areas that the previousgovernment did not do was for

the safe navigation of the foreign vesselsthat most of the time the lights are out or thebeacons are never replaced – so that part ofthe area is given to the Navy in consultationwith FIMSA and government shipping ser-vices.” Natuva says the new FIMSA lawswill address the various loopholes in the cur-rent system.

Fiji to review maritime laws

Top sugar poststill vacantThe Chief Executive Officer position at the FijiSugar Corporation remains vacant as governmentcontinues to look for a suitable candidate.Permanent Secretary for Sugar Col ManasaVaniqi says they are nowlooking overseas as they could find one locally. Vaniqi says they arelooking for a specialist in the industry and they have gone as far asMauritius and have also advertised the position in England, India,USA, Australia and New Zealand. He says they want someone, whohas a vast knowledge of managing the sugar industry with a proventrack experience to match. Price Waterhouse has now joined govern-ment to look for the suitable per-son to take up the post. Vaniqisays this will be an expensiveexercise - but it will be for thebenefit of the ailing sugar industry.

Foreign Affairs MinisterRatuInoke Kubuabola ison a fact finding mission inSouth Africa to open Fiji’sdiplomatic mission in thecapital, Pretoria.Government says this is inaccordance with therecent Cabinet decisionfor the opening of residentdiplomatic missions inIndonesia, Brazil andSouth Africa.RatuInoke arrived in

Pretoria on Sunday andmet with Australasia andPacific Islands director atthe South African Ministryof International Relationsand Cooperation HorstBrammer. RatuInoke high-

lighted the reasons behindthe decision to expandFiji’s foreign relations andthe opening of the threenew resident diplomaticmissions. He says the

objective of the currentmission is to discuss therelevant requirements onthe acquiring of office andresidential accommoda-tion. Fiji hopes to officially

open the Embassy inPretoria by June this year.South Africa had

endorsed the establish-ment of the resident diplo-matic mission in October –last year. Brammer saysthe opening of the FijiEmbassy will contribute tomore coherent communi-cation on matters relatingto the ACP and ACP-EUrelations. Meanwhile - Fijihas also decided to jointhe Non AlignmentMovement (NAM). Thiswas approved by the NAMbureau and a decision willbe taken by the Councilwhen it meets in Indonesiain May this year.

Fiji looks to open mission in South Africa

PM to launchroad projectsPrime Minister Commodore

Voreqe Bainimarama will officiatethe ground break-ing ceremony oftwo road projects atWainibuka inTailevu this after-noon. Ministry ofWorks spokesper-son IliesaSokiasays- the project isone of the major capital works ofthe Ministry - this year. ‘Theground-breaking celebration is forthe commencement of the con-struction of the Naqia –Balekinagabridges and also the commence-ment for the construction of the9km road from Wailotua to Nayavu.’ China-based company, ChinaRailway First Group has beenawarded the contract to upgradethe road and also build the twobridges. The entire project is fund-ed by the Asian Development Bankat a cost of more than $22million.

A native man facesmurder charge of

a womanA 22 year-old man

appeared in court this after-noon – for the alleged murderof a woman over the weekend.Niumaia RavuloSemanaqoliqoli appeared atthe Lautoka Magistrate Court– charged with robbery andmurder. No plea was taken.Semanaqoliqoli is alleged

to have stabbed 43 year-oldPushpaKanta three times inthe neck and chest resulting inher death. The case has beentransferred to the LautokaHigh Court. Semanaqoliqoliwill re-appear in court on 28ththis month.

FSC meets UK sugar buyer

CONTINUE FROM PAGE 1

* And lastly to provide an opportunity forour citizens to compete as equals and tohave a tangible legacy to pass on to futuregenerations of Fijians

Finally, the Waila city project is aboutensuring that we continue to meet thegrowing need for housing, it is also aboutensuring that we migrate those of our citi-zens who live in rental housing into homeownership and about ensuring that wecater for those that live on the margins like;

* Single parent families* Young couples just starting out

* And Informal Settlers"Ladies and Gentlemen, This is a huge

project, that as I have stated will take atleast 10 years to develop.

"And while we may encounter chal-lenges along the way in order to make thiscity a reality, the Housing Authority ispoised to rise up and meet our commitmentand that of Governments to ensure that wedeliver to Fiji a city that we can all be proudof. We seek your patience and support aswe embark on this development,"MrNaiorosui said.

Fiji Hosing Authority...

FFIIJJII NNEEWWSS 7�� February, 2011

By Anna Leask :New Zealanddetectives have arrived in Fiji tospeak to the husband of anAuckland woman burnt to death lastweek, but police here are refusing toreveal whether the man has beeninterviewed. They have alsorevealed that the couple's 4-year-old son may not return, despitebeing a New Zealand citizen.Twenty-eight-year-old RanjeetaSharma was found on fire near thetownship of Rotowaro, 10km west ofHuntly last Thursday. On Tuesday, police confirmed

they had tracked down her husbandDiwesh Kumar Sharma at a home inthe Rakiraki District, west of theFijian capital, Suva. He had left NewZealand with their son on Friday -one day after Mrs Sharma was killed- and arrived at a house owned byhis family on Monday night. A neigh-

bour told Campbell Live that MrSharma turned up on his doorstepon Monday night. "He is a very niceboy, he seemed relaxed, happy," hesaid. Mr Sharma sat and drank kavawith the man's son until policeturned up about midnight. Theyasked why he was there and to seehis passport before taking him to the

Rakiraki police station. It is under-stood Mr Sharma has since beenmoved to Suva. "I am veryshocked," the neighbor said, addingthat Mr Sharma's demeanor did notchange when police showed up.At a press conference yesterday,

Detective Senior Sergeant NigelKeall said that one of the tasks for

officers in Fiji was to "assess" thechild's situation. When asked if hewould be brought back to Aucklandor stay with relatives in Fiji, MrKeallsaid: "What we will be endeavoringto do is establish what is in the bestinterests of the child, both immedi-ately and his ongoing care and pro-tection." Relatives of Mrs Sharma in

Nadi told Campbell Live they weretrying to get custody of the boy, butdid not know where he was. Theywere also preparing for MrsSharma's funeral and said shewould be cremated tomorrow.MrKeall confirmed detectives fromWaikato had arrived in Fiji, but herefused to give any details of howmany officers had been sent or theiractivities. Fijian newspapers havereported that Mr Sharma was "underarrest". However, MrKeall said noarrest had been made, nor had anycharges been laid in relation to MrsSharma's death. The FijianAttorney-General and Minister forJustice MrAiyazSayed-Khaiyumsaid authorities would expedite anyextradition application requested byNew Zealand police.

Ranjeeta Sharma. Photo / Supplied.

Alicia Wood: SHE was their onlychild, and they will always rememberAustralia Day as the day she died.Keya Shyla Sharma was accidental-ly run over in the driveway of herfamily's home in Ashcroft onWednesday as her father reversedhis car. It was the second such inci-dent in NSW this month. A 17-month-old boy was stable at SydneyChildren's Hospital after a stationwagon reversed over him inUnanderra last Tuesday.Advertisement: Story continuesbelow Keya, who was 17 months old,died in Liverpool Hospital. She hadbeen walking for just seven months.Family and friends from Fiji gatheredat the parents' home yesterday insupport. The father's eldest sister,Renu Kumar, arrived from Fiji onFriday. ''[Keya] was very active, andshe was a very pretty girl,'' MrsKumar said. ''She started doing

things very early. She was walking at10 months old and talking very early.For her age she even talked toomuch. ''She had never left the houselike that before, it was the first time -nobody noticed.'' Mrs Kumar saidKeya's parents were struggling withthe tragedy: ''We are all very muchbroken. It is very hard to cope.'' InDecember an 18-month-old died inEuroa, Victoria, when her fatherreversed over her in the driveway,and a two-year old boy died in adriveway on the Eyre Peninsula inSouth Australia. The accidents haveprompted campaigns for reversingcameras or sensors to be fitted to allcars, particularly four-wheel-drives.An NRMA spokesman said fittingcameras or sensors should be achoice, not compulsory. ''Any tech-nology that benefits driver andpedestrian safety is certainly wel-come by the NRMA,'' he said.

NEW YORK, - CheapOair isplaying cupid and giving away afree trip to Fiji to the couple whosubmits the most creative videodemonstrating how "Crazy in Love"they are. All lovebirds are asked tosend in a 30 second video thatanswers the question "What makesyou and your significant otherunique?" It could be a hobby or aspecial talent or anything thatshows how the couple is excitingand distinctive. Five Steps toWinning a Free Trip to Fiji in 30Seconds and Instant Fame:

1. Upload your comical and cre-ative video to CheapOair'sCrazy in Love travel contestpage. It's extremely easy andonce uploaded, the video isautomatically entered into thecontest and showcased onCheapOair's YouTube

Channel.2. Videos need to be appropriate

for all ages to be consideredand must be 30 seconds orless

3. Contest entry dates are fromJanuary 17 through February11.

4. The winner will be announcedon Valentine's Day, February

14, on the CheapOair blog5. The winning video will also be

featured on CheapOair'sFacebook and Twitter pages

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Youth Fellowshipgets year off togreat start

The Pacific Islanders Youth fellow-ship kicked off the year with whatturned out to be spiritual awakening forthe majority of youth and adults alike.Tongans, Fijians, Samoans, and otherPacific Islanders were well representedat Laurel UMC in Oakland. The themeof the two-day event was the relation-ship of the "Moana" (the sea or ocean)to the Pacific islanders. Organized bythe Revs.SiosifaHingano andMaileKoloto, the fellowship saw youthstraveling there from Sacramento,Escalon, Sanger, Palo Alto, SanFrancisco, and Hayward, as well asOakland. Gifted musicians, inspira-tional speakers, testimonials, dances,skits, and keynote speakers filled theprogram. And as usual, what would aPacific Island gathering be without afeast? A scrumptious feast honoringGod's gift to humankind of the "Moana"was prepared by the Laurel UMC hoststo top off the event.

In preparation for AnnualConference Session this year, theRev. Linda Wiberg (left), Cal-Nevada's Director of ConnectionalMinistry, was the guest speaker atthe first Pacific Island Caucus pre-conference orientation at LaurelUMC. The event was attended bymore than 50 community youth andchurch leaders from around theAnnual Conference. The discus-sions and testimonials inspiredmany of them to attend ACS, feelingat ease in terms of understandingconference procedures.

The involvement of PacificIsland Caucus members was evi-dent at ACS this year, when a boothwas provided to showcase ourgrowing ministry and highlight theneeds we face both here and athome. Annual Conference Sessionthis year sadly coincided with dis-turbing events in Fiji. After the 2006coup the military regime had

declared that no permits would beissued for the Fiji Methodist Churchto hold its annual conference unlessa couple of clergy were removed forpolitical reasons - and the 2009 con-

ference had to be cancelled. Here inSacramento a resolution waspassed to bring forth the struggleour Christian brothers and sisters inFiji were facing, and stating that wein the California-Nevada AnnualConference stand in solidarity withthem in their time of trial. In keepingBishop Warner Brown regularlyupdated on the events in Fiji, thePacific Island Caucus also providedmaterials and firsthand knowledgethat prompted his moving speech tothe conference and the postpone-ment of his travels to Fiji. The LaurelUMC youth band led praise andprayer on the first day of the confer-ence. A touching moment camewhen Bishop Brown, along with theRev. SiosifaHingano, Chair of theBoard of Ordained Ministry, officiat-ed in the ordination and commis-sioning of new clergy, including oneof our very own in the Rev.TevitaVaikona.

Fijian CaucusThe Pacific Island Caucus in our

Annual Conference truly is experienc-ing a revival. The Fijian Caucus isslowly but surely learning and imple-menting the knowledge passed on bythe more established Tongan Caucus,which will celebrate its 20 yearanniversary in Hawaii next year (whileTongan Methodists themselves cele-brate 40 years of fellowship here in theUnited States). The national FijianCaucus in its first year includeschurches in Seattle, Los Angeles, andWashington, D.C. October 18 will seeall Fijian United Methodist ministries inour California-Nevada AnnualConference come together for a com-bined service after four years. AnotherYouth Fellowship is scheduled for thefirst Saturday in December, along witha combined church service for PacificIslander United Methodists the nextday. The Pacific Island Caucus isdoing its best to play its part in "MakingDisciples of Jesus Christ for theTransformation of the World.

Annual Conference SessionINTERFAITH NEWS

INDIA NEWS8 �� February, 2011

Anger sweeps Soporeafter local militantskill two girls

SOPORE/SRINAGAR: Angerswept through Sopore on Tuesdayat the killing of two girls by localmilitants and one suspectedLashkar-e-Taiba terrorist late onMonday. Sopore superintendent ofpolice Altaf Khan identified them asMuzaffar Naiko and Wasim Gania— students of a madrassa inMuslim Peer locality in Sopore —and described the third as aLashkar-e-Taiba terrorist.Twenty-year-old Akhtara was

pumped with four bullets from anAK-47 held inches from her headwhile her younger sister Arifa (17)was shot in the chest — at around8pm. They were dragged out ofsight of their parents and a brotherby the terrorists at gunpoint whilethe girls' aunts followed them,pleading for their lives.

New Delhi. An RSS functionary,who had sought FIR registrationagainst CBI and Tehelka magazinefor making public SwamiAseemanand's confessional state-ment in Ajmer blast case, onTuesday moved a fresh plea in aDelhi court seeking dropping of theprovisions of Prevention ofCorruption Act against the probeagency and the periodical. In theapplication filed before additionalchief metropolitan magistrate SanjayBansal, RSS functionary DevenderGupta sought exclusion of the provi-sions of the P C Act and pleaded forregistration of a criminal caseinstead. The court fixed Wednesdayfor pronouncing the order on theplea. Gupta is currently lodged in

Ajmer Central Jail in the dargahblast case. "It is appropriate in theinterest of justice to direct the policeto register a criminal case and inves-tigate the same immediately, exclud-ing the provisions of the PC Act," theapplication filed by Gupta's counselAnupam S Sharma said. Gupta,against whom a charge sheet wasfiled by Rajasthan Anti-TerroristSquad in Ajmer blast case, hadsought FIR registration against CBI'sAdditional SP T R Balaji and owner,publisher and editor of Tehelka mag-azine Tarun Tejpal. It was allegedthat Aseemanand's confessionalstatement recorded by a magistrateunder section 164 of the CrPC wasleaked by CBI to the magazine inviolation of the law.

DHARAMSALA: The raid at thepremises of the Gyutso monasteryof the 17th Karmapa OgyeneTrinley Dorjee by the police onFriday in connection with theBenami land deal.The police have so far recovered

6 crores of foreign currency includ-ing 11000 Yuans, US and Australiandollar, Japanese, Singapore curren-cy and on. The raids which startedin the morning continued tillevening. Confirming this, HimachalPradesh DGP DS Minhas said thatinvestigations were progressing inright direction. He said that all theaspects of the case were beinginvestigated. Funding of money for Tibetan

Benami deals sends alarm bellsringing the huge seizure of moneyincluding foreign currency duringthe raids at monastery of Karmapahas sent the alarm bells ringingamong the security agenciesincluding state police as there werelarge number of Benami deals per-tain to Tibetan settlements wereunder scanner of the intelligenceagencies including IB. The UnionHome Ministry had withdrawn theZ-plus security to karmapa and wasalso keeping close eyes on hisactivities. The Indian governmenthad refused permission to the

Karmapa to travel to the Europeancountries last year. There werearound 300 benami land deals con-ceding Tibetan settlements. Highlyplaced sources in intelligence agen-cies said that they were apprehen-sive about the possible funding byBeijing in the Benami land dealswhich was a very sensitive issuefrom India's security perspective.The state revenue and forestdepartment were also reportedlycurrently carrying out joint investi-gation of these deals struck in ille-gal manner. The Benami land dealshas brought to the fore that how the

permission given to the non-Himachalis under 118 act. The per-mission is glen in very selectivecases by the state governmenteven in the cases of those compa-nies wishing to set-up industrialunits in teh state. The Tibetans whohave a refugee status are not enti-tled to buy the land in the state asper standard rules and regulations.Himachal Pradesh director-generalof police, D.S. Minhas said thatpolice would investigate the otherBenami deals pertaining to theTibetan settlements and monaster-ies in case it was needed as part of

the investigations into the currentmatter. About the authenticationand system of the management ofthe money and offerings made atvarious Tibetan institutions includ-ing monasteries was also beinginvestigated. Meanwhile, the exiledTibetan community is shell shockedwith the developments in theKarmapa related monastery case.They said that it was an eye-openerfor the Tibetan institutions basedand functioning in various parts ofIndia including here (Dharamsala)to keep proper record of theamount.

Karmapa findshimself in contro-versy againGAYA: This is not the firsttime that Karmapa, chief of animportant sect of the TibetanBuddhists, finds himself incontroversy following raidsconducted at his monastery inDharamshala (HimachalPradesh) and recovery of ahuge amount of foreign cur-rency, including ChineseYuan. In fact, Karmapa madehis debut on the Buddhistscene on a highly controver-sial note and controversy hasfollowed him ever since. Theday Ogyen Trinle Dorje, oneof the two claimants for thereligious position of the 17thKarmapa crossed over toIndia in 1999, doubts wereopenly raised on at least twocounts. Besides questioninghis age, critics did not takeOgyen's claim of being a fugi-tive opposed to the Chineseoccupation of Tibet and thevandalism of its naturalresources, at face value

SIDHBARI (DHARAMSALA): Undercloud for his associates' money dealings,the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorjereportedly clarified to the investigatingagencies on Saturday that he has gotnothing to do with the money that wasrecovered from his monastery. An officialcommunique from Karmapa's office saidhe had made himself available for investi-gation. Sources in police said while talk-ing to the investigating agencies, theKarmapa had said he does not handledonations and does not keep the cash. He

reportedly added that the money is keptby a cashier and his secretary. Denyingany Chinese links, the Karmapa's officeexplained that the recovery of currency isnothing unusual as most of their followersare Tibetans and use Chinese currencywhile making offerings. The Karmapa alsohas followers from Vietnam and Taiwanand Chinese currency is acceptable inthese countries, official letter said. The let-ter also tried to explain recovery of cur-rencies from different countries sayingthat monasteries and followers are spread

across the globe. Meanwhile, the Unapolice recovered 4,500 US and Canadiandollars from Karmapa's secretary GompaTsering, who arrived from Dehradun onSaturday. Tsering also said the monasteryhad massive following in the US andCanada. About the land deal, the lettersaid Indian authorities were informedabout requirement of land for Karmapa ashe is living in a temporary accommoda-tion. The potential site has been evaluat-ed and cleared by authorities, the noticesaid.

NEW DELHI: Around 5pm onFebruary 18, 1911, French pilot HenriPequet loaded a sack of 6,500 cardsand letters on a two-seater bi-planestationed at a polo field in Allahabadand soared into the evening sky. Theflight to Naini lasted barely 13 min-utes; the plane flew a mere fivemiles. But history had been made.This was the world's first official air-mail. Among the letters was one writ-ten by Motilal Nehru to his sonJawahar; some were addressed toEngland's King George V. Now, tocommemorate the occasion 100years later, India Post will re-enactthat historic moment through a spe-cial flight between Allahabad andNaini on Feb 12, which will also markthe beginning of Indipex 2011, the

world philatelic exhibition in theCapital. "India Post will also issue aset of special stamps on the occa-sion," says S C Barmma, generalmanager, Indipex 2011. On Feb 18,La Poste in France will issue a stampof Pequet, who was only 23 years oldwhen he made the flight. He hadsigned a contract with British compa-ny Humber for demonstration flights.The first airmail flight was part of alarge industrial exhibition being heldat Allahabad that year. The ideacame from a British commander(later knighted) named Walter GWindham, says Patna-basedaerophilatelist Pradip Jain, who haswritten extensively on the subject.According to Jain, the chaplain ofAllahabad's Holy Trinity Church, also

a hostel's warden, approachedWindham to help him raise funds fora new hostel. Windham felt that anairmail flight could do the trick. "Hefelt it could be advertisement for theexhibition as well as a demonstrationof rapid and safe transportation ofmails. Thus the idea of the world's

first official airplane mail was born,"says Jain.Once official sanction wasobtained, those interested in availingthe service were asked to send theirmail addressed and stamped to thechaplain of the Holy Trinity Church."A nominal sum of six annas wasasked for as donation for the newhostel building. Only cards or lettersweighing under one ounce in weightwere accepted," says Jain, who alsoauthor of Indian Airmail. Since theoccasion was ceremonial, these let-ters were addressed to people allover the globe. Thousands viewedthe take-off, including those who hadcome for the Kumbh mela. The safelanding, which took place near Nainijunction, happened on a ground thathad been cleared specially for the

occasion by convicts from the centraljail. "When Pequet descended, therewas no crowd to greet him. He mere-ly handed over the mail bag to theonly post office official present thereand returned to Allahabad," saysJain. In a magazine interview later,Pequet said he flew on a Sommer bi-plane with a rotary Gnome engine of50 horsepower at the speed of 60miles per hour. The pilot, who died in1974 at the age of 86, said he flew ata height of 120-150 feet. TheFrenchman also said that he had nospecial recollection of the flight. Heremembered only the buffalos."Before landing I flew over the Gangaand I was not quite sure that I wouldmake it," said Pequet in an interviewto a French air force magazine.

Cover flown on the world's first airmailin India in 1911

NNEEWW DDEELLHHII:: A Raja, who astelecom minister had allegedlymanipulated procedures in alloca-tion of 2G spectrum that has dentedUPA government's image, wasarrested along with two officials byCBI, a week before it has to file itsfinal investigation report in theSupreme Court.Retired bureaucrat,Siddartha Behura, who was telecomsecretary in 2008 when the contro-versial decision to give licenses wastaken, and Raja's personal secretaryR K Chandolia were also arrestedwith the former minister, all of whomwere called to the CBI headquarterson Wednesday morning. "Based onthe facts disclosed so far during theinvestigations regarding their role inallocation of letter of intent and resul-

tant unified access services licensesand spectrum to certain companiesahead of others, the CBI has todayarrested the then telecom minister,the then telecom secretary, the thenprivate secretary to the minister," abrief statement issued by the CBIsaid. It recalled that it had earlier reg-istered a case under various sec-tions of IPC and Prevention ofCorruption Act against unknown offi-cials of DoT, persons and compa-nies on the allegation of conspiracyand abuse of official position in orderto give pecuniary advantage orfavour to the applicant companies inthe processing and allocation of let-ters of intent for UAS licences andresultant spectrum allocation tolaunch telecom services.

6 crore of foreign currency seized in raid on Karmapa monasteryDorje denies handling cash in monastery

Ajmer blast accused files freshplea against CBI, Tehelka

2G spectrum scam: Former tele-com minister A Raja arrested

100 years on, India Post to re-enact world’s first airmail flight

PAKISTAN NEWS 9�� February, 2011

ISLAMABAD: Facing deaththreats from extremist elements,senior Pakistan People's Party lead-er Sherry Rehman has withdrawnfrom Parliament a bill aimed atamending the controversial blas-phemy law through elimination ofthe mandatory capital punishmentunder it. Rehman has withdrawn theprivate member's bill, which she hadsubmitted in the National Assemblyor Parliament's lower house foramending the blasphemy law lastyear. Her decision came afterPremier Yousuf Raza Gilani made itclear that his government has noplans to amend the law. Gilani, dur-ing a meeting with a delegation ofparliamentarians, announced thatRehman, also former informationminister, had "agreed to withdrawher bill" in keeping with the PPP'spolicy. Rehman said she wouldabide by decisions made by thePrime Minister and the PPP on theissue. In a statement, she said that"had it (the bill) appeared on the(Parliament's) agenda, perhapssome of our colleagues would haveunderstood that it was not suggest-

ing repeal of the law, but protectingour Holy Prophet's name againstinjustices done via procedures intro-duced by (late military dictator) Zia-ul-Haq." "No Muslim would expectnot to protect the Holy Prophet'sname, and no Pakistani would eversuggest anything other than that,"she said. Rehman said the changesshe had suggested in the blasphe-my law "were simple: that people begiven a chance to prove their inno-cence like in all laws, and that cases

be tried at the higher courts, thatpenalties be given according to theQuran, and that no one who makesfalse charges in the name of theHoly Prophet... goes unpunished."Gilani, earlier at the meeting, madeit clear that his government "has nointention to amend the law." He alsoasked religious parties to helpauthorities in framing policies tocheck the law's misuse. After a courtin Punjab sentenced a Christianwoman to death last year forallegedly insulting the ProphetMohammed, President Asif AliZardari asked Minority AffairsMinister Shahbaz Bhatti to head acommittee of religious scholars andclerics to find ways to prevent mis-use of the blasphemy law. At aboutthe same time, Rehman, who hasreceived death threats from extrem-ist groups, had submitted the privatemember's bill in National Assemblyto amend the law by removing themandatory death sentence.Rehman, whose relations with topPPP leadership are strained, did notreceive much support for the movefrom the party.

22,000 Pakistanisflee fighting nearAfghan border

KHAR,PAKISTAN: About 22,000Pakistani villagers have fled military opera-tions against Islamist militants in a tribalregion near the Afghan border, a govern-ment administrator and the army saidFriday. The offensive, involving aerialbombing, artillery and ground troops,began Jan. 27 in Mohmand, said RoshanKhan Mehsud, the region's governmentrepresentative. He said nearly 100 insur-gents had been killed so far, and there hadbeen "some casualties'' on the army side.He did not mention any civilian casualties.Pakistan's military has carried out severalmilitary operation in the country's remotetribal regions bordering Afghanistan overthe last three years. It has claimed to havemade decisive gains against the insur-gents, though many hundreds of thou-sands of residents have yet to return.Accounts of civilian casualties are numer-ous and militant attacks in Pakistan remainroutine. Reporting independently inMohmand and other border areas is notallowed by the army and highly dangerous.Mehsud said an estimated 22,000 peoplehad been displaced by the Mohmand oper-ations. They were living in a governmentbuilding, schools and three camps awayfrom the fighting. He said the UnitedNations was providing food, water andmedical assistance to the people.

Islamabad. The rulingPakistan People's Party has con-demned an internet rumour that itschief, President Asif Ali Zardari,has secretly remarried three yearsafter the assassination of his wifeBenazir Bhutto, describing it as a"vicious and unethical tirade". Therumour, floated on several hithertounheard of blogs and websiteslate on Wednesday, claimedZardari had married TanveerZamani, a New York-based physician and PPPloyalist. The rumour was laced with innuen-does, including a claim that the so-called wed-ding was solemnised according to Shia cus-toms. Presidential spokesman FarhatullahBabar said: "The Pakistan People's Partydeplores and condemns the launch of a viciousand unethical tirade on the net against PPP co-chairman, President Asif Ali Zardari, insinuat-ing that the President had recently re-married

secretly." "Such personal attacksfrom anonymous sources can onlybe launched by those sufferingfrom diseased minds and sicklysouls," he said in a statement."The latest tirade based on liesand showing how low the detrac-tors of President Zardari can stoopand how much they are consumedby their hatred is condemned inthe strongest possible terms,"Babar said. All the websites and

blogs that featured the rumour about the "mar-riage" carried an identical post which claimedno public ceremony was held to mark the wed-ding. It described Zamani as "a Mediterraneandescent American resident" who lives inGramercy Park, Manhattan, New York. Thepost claimed Zamani had earned a PhDdegree in International Politics from Britain andowns estates in London, Dubai, Islamabad andManhattan.

Islamabad. A Pakistani anti-terror-ism court on Friday adjourned the trialof LeT's Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and sixothers charged with involvement in theMumbai attacks till February 17 afterprosecutors sought more time for theLahore high court to decide on a relat-ed petition. The prosecution team toldanti-terrorism court Judge Rana NisarAhmed that more time was needed forthe High Court to decide on its plea todeclare lone surviving Mumbai attackerAjmal Kasab and terror suspect FahimAnsari as "proclaimed offenders" orfugitives. The Federal InvestigationAgency's plea was listed for hearing bythe High Court yesterday but could notbe taken up as the bench handling the

petition was dissolved following theretirement of a judge. The High Court isexpected to notify a new bench to takeup the matter. Judge Ahmed expressedconcern at the delay caused by theFIA's petition in the High court andobserved that there should not be anyfurther delays, sources told PTI. Thejudge then adjourned proceedings inthe anti-terrorism court till February 17.Pakistani national Kasab was sen-tenced to death by a court in Mumbaifor his role in the attacks on India'sfinancial hub that killed 166 people inNovember 2008. Ansari, an Indiannational, was acquitted by the samecourt but he continues to be in custodyin connection with other cases.

Islamabad. The Pakistani capitalwas today abuzz with reports thatPrime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilaniwould dissolve the federal cabinet inthe next few days though there was

no official word onsuch a possibility.The PakistanPeople's Party-ledgovernment wasreported to beweighing twooptions – whetherto dissolve theentire cabinet or to

reduce its size to half in line with alandmark constitutional reformspackage passed by parliament lastyear. Reports also said that severalkey ministers could be dropped dur-ing the exercise. President Asif AliZardari and Gilani are expected tochair a crucial meeting of the PPP's

central executive committee later inthe day to decide the matter, TVnews channels reported. Geo Newschannel reported that Gilani mightdissolve the cabinet and announcethe names of 10 to 12 ministers. Theexisting cabinet comprises 62 mem-bers. Under the 18th constitutionalamendment, the size of the cabinetshould not be more than 11 per centof the total strength of parliament.The reported move to downsize thecabinet is also aimed at improvingthe image of the PPP, which hasbeen battered by charges of corrup-tion and inefficiency. Amidst specula-tion about changes in the cabinet,the powerful "troika" of PresidentZardari, Prime Minister Gilani andarmy chief Gen Ashfaq ParvezKayani met at the presidency yester-day, The News daily quoted itssources as saying. Though the meet-

ing was held ostensibly to discussthe security situation in the country,"that was not necessarily the agendatopper item", the report said. Therewas no official word on the meeting.The top civil and military leadershipalso discussed Pakistan's cripplingfinancial situation. Finance MinisterAbdul Hafeez Sheikh and DefenceMinister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtartoo attended the meeting. Sheikhbriefed the meeting on the proposedReformed General Sales Tax regimeand other conditions set by theInternational Monetary Fund as wellas the consequences of not imple-menting these conditions, the reportsaid. The daily reported that themeeting also took up the sensitiveissue of the killing of three Pakistanicitizens in an incident in Lahoreinvolving US consulate employeeRaymond Davis.

Islamabad. Investigators probing the assassination of formerPakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto said they have foundtwo BlackBerry mobile phones belonging to the slain leader.Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has recoveredthe phones from a servant at Bhutto's family residence inKarachi, the Dawn reported on Friday. The phones were usedby Abdul Razzaq, a servant of Benazir's husband and PakistaniPresident Asif Ali Zardari, the FIA sources said, adding that thedevices will help investigators get some credible clues in the2007 murder case. Benazir was killed Dec 27, 2007 after beingshot at an election rally in Rawalpindi. The sets may also helpthe investigators to know if Bhutto received a call after leavingthe rally while her vehicle was surrounded by supporters and ifthe caller asked her to come out of the sunroof and wave to thefans, the investigators said. A close aide of Bhutto, who waswith her in her vehicle during her last moments, said that peo-ple accompanying Bhutto had advised her against looking outof the vehicle but she came out of the sunroof and was shot bya terrorist. The aide, however, said the slain leader had onlyone BlackBerry at the time of her assassination.

PPP leader Sherry Rehman with-draws bill to amend blasphemy law

Gilani may dissolve Cabinet soon26/11 case: Pak courtadjourns trial till Feb 17

PPP condemns Zardari marriage rumoursBenazir Bhutto'sBlackBerry phones found

Brief NewsThousands in Pakistan rally againstAmerican officialLAHORE: In a massive protest,hard-line Islamic leaders havewarned the Pakistani governmentagainst caving to US pressure andreleasing an American officialarrested in the shooting deaths oftwo Pakistanis.The party chiefs ofJamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat UlemaIslam spoke alongside other hard-liners on Sunday at a rally of atleast 15,000 people in the easterncity of Lahore, where the shootingstook place.

US asks Pakistan to meetinternational obligationand release diplomatWASHINGTON: US has askedPakistan to meet its "internationalobligations" and release theAmerican diplomat, who is accusedof double murder, as he has "diplo-matic immunity". The US diplomat,identified as Raymond Davis, isaccused of shooting two Pakistanimen to death last week. A Pakistanicourt has extended his detention byeight days. "We continue to encour-age the government of Pakistan torelease our diplomat. He has diplo-matic immunity, and Pakistan needsto meet its international obliga-tions," state department spokesmanP J Crowley told reporters.

Musharraf's judges to face actionKarachi, Pakistan's Supreme Courton Wednesday said it would moveagainst those judges who hadtaken oath under the controversialProvisional Constitutional Order(PCO) in the Musharraf govern-ment. Popularly referred to as the"PCO judges", the court in its ver-dict on a set of appeals filed by anumber ofdysfunctional and retiredjudges of superior judiciary saidthat it would proceed against them.The verdict which was announcedby a four-member bench said thatthe case would be fixed onFebruary 21.

LIFE STYLE10 �� February, 2011

It’s another time of the yearto celebrate the Birth of ourProphet Muhammad (peace

and blessings of Allah be uponhim) and where else to con-gregate other than in the SanFrancisco Bay Area's GrandMilaad–Un-Nabi Celebrations.Sunni muslim community ofSan Francisco Bay Area, incollaboration with AlamedaMuslim League in Hayward, AlMadinah Academy in SanBruno, Bayview Islamic UnityCenter Anjuman FadayaaneRasul in San Francisco andMaunatul Islam Association ofCalifornia in Sacramento, areorganizing a grand event tocelebrate Milaad-Un-Nabi, thebirth of Prophet Muhammad(peace and blessings of Allahbe upon him) on Sunday the20th of February 2011 and thiswould be the most grand andhappening event of the year. The event will include the

recitation of the Holy Qur’anby Huffaaz and Qurra,

speeches on the life andteachings of ProphetMuhammad (peace and bless-ings of Allah be upon him) inthe light of Quran and Hadithand Naats, poems in praise ofProphet Muhammad ((peaceand blessings of Allah be uponhim). Many famous personali-ties would be honoring theevent under the guardianshipof Chief guest and ScholarHazrat Allama MaulanaMohammed Shakir Ali Noorie,the Ameer/Leader of SunniDawat e Islami a worldwideorganization, Qari MohammedIbrahim Razvi from Al NoorSociety of Greater Houston,Texas and many other promi-nent Ulema’s from around theCountry as well as localUlemas Maulana HafizYazdani, Alim Abdul RahmanFaizhi and Maulana AbdulHannan Khan. The month ofimmeasurable blessings andmercy has started. The monthof Light, Rabi Al-Awwal (third

month of Islamic calendar) isthe month, which marks thebirth of the most perfect andbeloved of all Allah’s cre-ations, the mercy to theworlds, the greatest of allProphet Muhammad (peaceand blessings of Allah be uponhim). To express happiness,demonstrate joy and delight atthe blessed birth of Rasulullah(peace and blessings of Allahbe upon him), Muslims of theSan Francisco Bay Area, asalways, will be holding a num-ber of Eid Milaad-Un-Nabievents at various masjid in theBay Area.The main event or the

Grand Milaad-Un-NabiCelebrations 2011 will be heldat Sangha Hall, 39275Alavarado Niles Road, UnionCity, California on Sunday20th February from 2 pm to 6pm to celebrate the birth, lifeand legacy of the HolyProphet (peace and blessingsof Allah be upon him). The

chief guest Hazrat AllamaMaulana Mohammed Shakir,who is a world-renownedscholar and internationalspeaker who presents a visionof love, peace and harmony; itis upon these foundations thathe has taken the bold step ofstarting Sunni Dawat e Islami(SDI)- a worldwide organisa-tion engaged in accommodat-ing and educating, orphanedand deprived children and itsuniqueness is that this organi-sation is not focusing on just afew key aspects becauseIslam is a complete way of lifeas well as being a completereligion and that is why SunniDawat e Islami is striving in allareas from education andpropagation of Islam to DarulUlooms, Madarasahs andEnglish schools for both boysand girls. All brothers and sis-ters are warmly invited to thisspiritually uplifting and blessedgathering. As always, sepa-rate arrangements will be pro-

vided for sisters.Refreshments, Dinner, andDesserts will also be provided.Admission is Free.

For further Information,please contact Shahif

Mohammed, Chairman ofthe Organizing Committeeat (510) 331-4650 or E-mail

him at aaataxcen-ter@yahoo.com

Invitations and Flyerscan also be obtained fromfollowing supporting orga-nizations, Alameda Muslim

League, Al MadinahAcademy, Bayview IslamicUnity Center (3rd St SanFrancisco) AnjumanFadayaane Rasul and

Maunatul Islam Associationof California.

Na Ye Falak Na Ye Taare Na Ye Raat HotiQayenaat Na Hoti Gar

Muhammad Ki Zaat Na Hoti

Celebrating the Blessed Birth of Leader of Prophet’s Muhammad (S.A.W)

HEALTH/WELLNESS 11�� February, 2011

AA ssmmaallll mmiirrrroorrEvery girl needs to havethis essential commodity.Whether it's for applyingyour eyeliner, lipstick orkajal, a small mirror isthe thing that you can'tdo without. And most ofus often face situationswhere you are left hunt-ing for a mirror.

FFoouunnddaattiioonnWithout it you can neverget your make up right.So you need to get theone that suits your skincolour. Don't go for afoundation that's 10shades lighter than yourskin tone, it'll make youappear pale and verynon-appealing.

MMooiissttuurriisseerrIf you are out in the sunall day long and yourfriends suddenly ask youto join them for a drink,your skin is bound tolook dry. So make surethat you have some foun-dation handy, that youcan dab on your facebefore you meet yourfriends.

CCoonncceeaalleerrWho doesn't have a bad-skin day? Well that'sexactly why a concealercomes handy. It hidesthose small blemishesand the pimples that tendto crop up without awarning.

AA lliipp lliinneerrA lip liner can make a lotof difference to yourappearance. It makesyour make-up seemmore polished and com-plete. It defines your lipsand gives it a definiteshape.

LLiippgglloossssLipgloss is perfect to addlittle shine to your lips. Itimmediately sets thenote for a night out.

AAnn eeyyeesshhaaddooww ppaall--lleett wwiitthh aa bbrruusshh

Preferably your eyeshad-ow pallet should havetwo or more than twocolours. It gives you anoption to blend colours.Also if there's a lightershade and a darker one,you can opt for thecolour as per the time of

the day.

YYoouurr ffaavvoouurriittee sshhaaddeeooff eeyyeelliinneerr

If you like any particularcolour then do carry it, butalso carry the basic blackeyeliner which can be per-fect for any occasion.

MMaassccaarraaLike you can do withouta lipstick, but not withouta lipgloss, similarly youcan do without an eyelin-er, but not without a mas-cara. Mascara is one ofthe things you shouldnever leave your homewithout. 10. Blush orbronzer: Make sure thatyou have a brush alongwith a blush and bronzer.You don't want to be running around lookingfor something to apply it with.

MMaakkee--uupp kkiitt EEsssseennttiiaallss

YYoouu mmaayy hhaavvee ttoooo mmaannyy ccoossmmeettiiccss iinn yyoouurr ppuurrssee,,bbuutt nnoott tthhee oonnee tthhaatt yyoouu aarree bboouunndd ttoo nneeeedd iiffyyoouu aarree ffaacceedd wwiitthh aann iimmpprroommppttuu oouuttiinngg.. HHeerree''ss

wwhhaatt sshhoouulldd bbee oonn yyoouurr cchheecckk lliisstt......

Chewed nails look ugly and disgraceful.But you can't help sharing Kareena'shabit of chewing on her nails? Acrylic

nails could be your only saving grace. Theadvantage of using acrylic nails could verywell be that they don't peel, chip or crack andone can keep our preferred length withouthaving to worry about filing them or waiting forweeks for nails to grow to the desired length.When done properly acrylic nails can lookvery elegant and although they don't have anymajor side-effects, one does run some risksby often turning to this quick-fix for chewed,hideous looking nails.Ensure that you get your nails done from acertified nail bar. We often use nails as tools

to open lids of containers or to pry off some-thing. If you put your nails through such gru-elling tasks, the acrylic will rise creating aspace between itself and the natural nail.This space is the perfect breeding groundfor fungal infections. So use your nails withtender, loving care. Chemical residues inacrylic nails can trigger allergies, redness,swelling and pain in nails in some people.Using acrylic nails continuously for over two-three weeks can be harsh on your naturalnails. Natural nails might peel because alayer of the natural nail is removed when theacrylic nail is removed. This can leave thenatural nail brittle as well as form ridges onthe surface.

Acrylic nailsnot a good idea!

look gorgeousLife is such a rushfor women. Men have it so easy.They don't have to worry about

getting stared at, or doing the dishesor girl gossip. But Women? Womenhave to worry about it all. While itisn't a good idea to worry aboutthese things, women do worry aboutthe impressions they make. Fromthe early morning rush to get thehouse in order to getting ready to getto work to evading the rush hourtraffic to looking good throughoutthe day, women have to face it all.We're always conscious about whois looking at us and if what we'rewearing makes us look pudgy. Weget up early so we don't compromiseon looking good while going to workand we get less sleep. Bags underyour eyes and wrinkles at 35. Lifeisn't easy. To top it all up, you haveto cover up all your imperfectionswith make up every morning. Makeup is such a social pressure that itgets to you. Every woman's makeup routine takes anywhere between20-45 minutes! Look at the time youwaste getting your make up done.So , what if you could get all yourmake up, and hair, done in just 10minutes? Sounds impossible, does-n't it? It would be but I have a littlesecret technique up my sleeve!Well, I'll tell you how to look dropdead gorgeous in just ten minutes.

MMaakkee uupp iinn 1100 mmiinnuutteess::� Apply a oil free face cream

evenly over your face …..... 30 Seconds

� Use a quick dry liquid foun-dation and spread it evenlyover your face............

1 Minute

� Use a thick natural kohl and line the inners of youreyes, both the lower andupper lid........... 1 minute

� Use a natural shade of eye-shadow, like brown, or peachand dust your entire lid withit..................... 30 seconds

� Use a thick black liquid eye-liner and line your eyes justabove the lash line.........

1 minute

� Use a volumising clear mas-cara to give your eyelashesvolume…..... 30 seconds

� Dust on some bronze pow-der on to the cheek-bones........ 15 seconds

� Use a clear volumising lipgloss for your lips..........

15 seconds

Take a minute to doublecheck what you have done

and make corrections if anyNNOOWW FFOORR TTHHEE HHAAIIRR..

Bend forward and flip your hairover your head. Use a flat stylingbrush with a large surface area, tobrush through and remove knots.Brush thoroughly, flip your hairback and tie into a ponytail or gath-er some hair behind and clip it orlet it free................ 4 minutes

You are now ready for the day.Now let me explain what I just didin the last ten minutes� The cream- It helps moistur-

ize your face and spreadyour foundation evenly

� The Foundation – It createsan even tone for your faceand makes you look bright

� Kohl – It defines your eyesand makes your eyes lookbrighter

� The eyeshadow – a naturaltone of eyeshadow won;tlook bad even if you mess itup. Natural shades go withall kinds of clothing and theymake your eyes stand out

� The eyeliner –Again for defi-nition, plusthey go withall clothing

� Mascara – Tocomplete thelook of youreyes

� Bronze powder– This highlightsyour cheekbonesdrawing moreattention to youreyes

� A clear lip gloss addshine to your face anddoesn't distract the attentionfrom your eyes.

WWIITTHH YYOOUURR HHAAIIRR--When you flip it forward and

brush it down and flip it back, itgives volume to your hair, andcreates a smooth completeeffect. Thus in 10 minutes youhave a complete perfect look,ready to go to work!

1100TToo LLooookk GGoorrggeeoouuss

MMiinnuutteess

INTERFAITH12 �� February, 2011

by Imam Shamshad A. Nasir

This topic has been taken from the ser-mons and speeches of our belovedImam Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih V

(aba). When we study the history of worldreligions, whenever a Messenger, Prophet orReformer from God came for the guidance ofmankind, he was always opposed.

This is well documented in SuraYa Sin,where Allah (ta‘ala) says,

And then in SuraAsSaff Allah (ta ‘ala)says,

Therefore, the more opponentstry to extinguish the light of Allah, thegreater the divine support from Allah.He provides proof of His divineassistance by granting grand suc-cesses to a small community ofbelievers. Who is not aware of thegreat opposition faced by ProphetAbraham at the hands of Nimrod?He threw Abraham in a pit of fire.Was Prophet Abraham burnedalive? On the contrary, the fire didnot burn him at all. The Islamic com-munity throughout history has beeninvoking blessings on him as perGod’s command.

Did not Pharaoh relentlessly per-secute Prophet Moses (as) and hisnation? Did Pharaoh succeed inwiping out the name of Moses? Didthose who beat Prophet Jesus,made him wear a crown of thornsand put him on the cross succeed inwiping out his name? And above all,did Abu Jahal, Abu Lahab, Uttba,Sheeba and other Meccan leaderswho persecuted our belovedProphet Muhammad (saw) succeedin humiliating him or did they earnthe reward of Hell instead? Historybears witness to the fact thatProphet Muhammad (saw) was theone who succeeded in his mission.At the time of the Treaty ofHudaibiya, when the Quraish lead-ers thought they had succeeded inhumiliating our Holy ProphetMuhammad (saw), it was this verytreaty that resulted in the blessingswhereby the Holy Prophet (saw) andhis companions later conqueredMecca. All the persecution and diffi-culties that Prophet Muhammad(saw) and his companions faced sosteadfastly could not stop this com-munity, and it was in our belovedProphet’s lifetime that Islam startedto spread outside Arabia. Al-Hamdulillah!

Therefore, this too is decreed forthe Community of Ahmadi Muslims.

Jama’at Ahmadiyya presents anaccurate picture of true Islam. Allthose situations that the ProphetMuhammad (saw) and his compan-ions faced in the early era of Islam, itwas destined that Hadhrat Masih-e-Maud (as) and his community wouldalso go through similar challenges.When Hadhrat Masih-e-Maud (as)claimed he was from Allah (sub-hanata‘ala), circumstances immedi-ately took a turn for the worse forhim. Some of those who supportedhim and were his friends prior to hisclaim became his enemies andturned against him, like MuhammadHussainBatalvi, who traveled allacross India and to some Islamiccountries to meet 200 ulema and gettheir verdicts against the PromisedMessiah (as). His opponentsindulged in prayer duels with him. Intheir zeal to humiliate him, the oppo-nents sought every opportunity andexcuse to attack him. They evenaccused him of murder and draggedhim into court. But God Almightyrepeatedly assured him and gavehim the grand revelation of:

InniMoheen of Mun …. And at another time: Mein territablighko… And then in English, Allah gave

him the glad tiding that: “I shall giveyou a large party of Islam.” Alongwith these promises from Allah theAlmighty, the opponents increased intheir persecution of Masih-e-Maud(as) even more. His opponentswould go to great lengths to keeppeople from going to Qadian. Theywould lie in wait at the local railwaystation to prevent those who wishedto visit the Promised Messiah (as).But this small seedling ofAhmadiyyat that was planted andnourished by God Almighty contin-ued to grow. HadhratMaulvi AbdulLatifShaheed sahib heard about thePromised Messiah (as) and when hecame to visit him, he realized he wastrue and accepted Hadhrat Masih-e-Maud (as). When Abdul Latifreturned to his home in Kabul,Afghanistan as a follower of theImam Mahdi, the opponents raised ahuge clamor and proclaimed that bytaking Bai’at at the hand of Masih-e-Maud (as), he had renounced Islam.The King of Afghanistan, at the urg-ing of the clergy, ordered him put todeath. He was dragged with a ropetied to his nose and then stoned todeath. Upon hearing of this news,Hadhrat Masih-e-Maud (as) said, “OAbdul Latif, thousands of blessingsbe upon you because you haveshown in my lifetime a great exam-ple of steadfastness for truth.”(Tazkirah, pg.60) AbdulLatifShaheed sahib gave his life indefense of the truth of the PromisedMessiah and Imam Mahdi.

Hadhrat Masih Maud (as) bore allmanner of persecutions withpatience against the tsunami ofopposition with the assistance ofGod. And during his lifetime, hun-dres of thousands of people accept-ed him. This is the victory of Islamthat the Promised Messiah waspromised.

It is appropriate at this point tomention an opponent’s statement in

1908 after the passing of MasihMaud (as) and the election ofHadhrat Khalifa Awwal (ra). He said,“What is left of Mirzais now that theirhead is cut off? The person who isnow their Imam won’t be able to domuch except recite the Quran insome mosque.” Hadhrat KhalifaAwwal, upon hearing that said,“SubhanAllah! that is exactly thetask. May Allah give us the opportu-nity.”

The Ahmadiyya Communityfaced another terrible trial in 1914immediately after the demise ofHadhratMaulviNooruddin, KhalifatulMasih Awwal (ra). At that time, aninfluential group which includedsome prominent companions ofHadhrat Masih-e-Maud (as) separat-ed from the Community because oftheir insistence that Khilafat was notnecessary. This was only a vainattempt to hide their displeasure atthe election of the 25-year-old 2ndKhalifa, Mirza Bashiruddin MahmudAhmad. This group of defectors, ledby Maulana Muhammad Ali, leftQadian and settled in Lahore. Attheir departure they said “Qadian willbecome like an abandoned housenow.” At the time the Jama’at inQadian went through a terrible trial,but the mocking prediction by theLahori Ahmadis was visited upontheir own house. Allah the Almightyplaced His mighty Hand on theCommunity in Qadian, strengtheningit and uniting it on the foundation ofKhilafat. And the person whobecame a Khalifa at a tender age of25 remained at that station for 52long years and the world saw howthat young man guided the ship ofAhmadiyyat through stormy watersand steered it to safe harbors. Andaside from the threat from internaldissent, the opponents ofAhmadiyyat were hardly sleeping.They were busy at work trying todestroy the Jama’at.

Slowly but surely, these efforts ofthe enemies converged into bigcampaigns, and in 1934, the Ahrargroup announced that: “We willdestroy the Ahmadis in Qadian andnobody will be able to recognize thegrave of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Andnobody will remember whatAhmadiyyat is.” Hadhrat Mirza

Bashiruddin, Khalifatul Masih Thani(ra) at that point advised the Jama’atto show patience and forbearance.HadhratMusleh Maud then initiatedthe program of Tehrik-e-Jadid. Heasked members to incline towardsAllah with supplications and bringabout remarkable changes in them-selves that will divert the storms ofopposition against the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community. HadhratMuslehMaud said, “The Ahrar began tooppose us. At that time I announcedin one of my Friday sermons:

“. . .that you should not be wor-ried by the Ahrar’s campaign. Godwill make me and my Communityvictorious… I see the Earth movingfrom under the opponents’ feet and Ican see their approaching destruc-tion. No matter how many moreplans they make or however muchsuccess they proclaim, the moreclear their death appears to me.”Brothers and Sisters, in this state-ment there is a prophecy as well.Whenever an opponent will try toattack and destroy Ahmadiyyat, thatopponent will lose ground and willalways be defeated. Insha’Allah.Allah (ta’ala) did not fulfill the desireof our enemies that they will destroyQadian; rather, He raised the flag ofIslam Ahmadiyyat in 198 countries.They tried to rob the peace of mindof the weak and instead their ownarrogance and pride got wiped away.What is this plan of Tehrik-e-Jadid?In reality it was a plan for the revivalof Islam in which HadhratMuslehMaud made 27 demands of theJama’at. As far as the originaldemand of 27,000 rupees in oneyear made by HadhratMusleh Maudwas concerned, Jama’at, even in theface of severe opposition, contribut-ed 127,000 rupees and within threeyears offered a sacrifice of 400,000rupees. Hadhrat Khalifatul MasihKhamis referring to the condition ofthe Jama’at in that time, said in hisFriday Sermon of November 5th,2004 that the overall condition of theJama’at was not good -- there werepeople who offered dimes, quartersor just a rupee or two; and mostly itwas these people who starved andtheir children who ate stale breadand many times they went to bedhungry. They did so gladly in theirconviction that God’s appointedKhalifa had called them to be hishelper because the enemy haddeclared they would crushAhmadiyyat and dishonor the placesof honor in Qadian. But al-Hamdulillah, all the evil plots of theopponents failed as was predictedby Khalifatul Masih II.

One well-known political person-ality of the Ahrar group, Mr. MasoodKhaddar Posh acknowledged thisfact later when he made this state-ment: “In 1934, after the AhrarConvention where we announcedour plans to destroy Ahmadiyyat,when Mirza Bashiruddin gave hisanswer that he saw the earth slip-ping out from under the feet of theAhrar, we all had a big laughbecause it seemed so unreal. Butafter some time the Ahrar groupcommitted a political mistake and inreality the earth DID move from

under our feet, and we could notrealize any success in our affairs.And secondly their Khalifa took out amagic wand and defeated the Ahrargroup with it. This magic wand wasTehrik-e-Jadid. HadhratMuslehMaud gave this weak and poor com-munity of Ahmadis a comprehensiveprogram and action plan in which heimplored his community to adoptsimple ways of living. All theAhmadiyya households adopted anaustere lifestyle. Even those mem-bers who could not meet theirexpenses because of lack of incomecut down on their expenses furtherand started saving and offeringthese sacrifices for Jama’at. Withthese efforts, within a couple ofyears the Jama’at had enough fundsthat Mirza sahib spread a lot of liter-ature against us and weakened us.Along with this simple life, a greatprogram for scholarly, moral andorganizational training was imple-mented, so that within a few years,he turned a poor and weak commu-nity into a well-trained and strongforce, and it was this force whichdefeated us on every front. Heextended this magic wand and thegreat benefit gained was that theyestablished their mission houses inmany countries, and became aninternational community.” In 1953another wave of riots and persecu-tion arose -- there were agitations allacross Pakistan against the Jama’at.The government of Pakistan wasbehind this turmoil. Politicians andgovernment officials openly declaredthat they would crush Ahmadiyyat.They promised that this wave of per-secution would be even more severethan anything the Jama’at hadknown before.Two high-level members of Jama’at,Hadhrat Mirza Sharif Ahmad andHadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad, wereboth arrested and given jail terms of1-5 years and fined 500 rupees, butal-Hamdulillah, by the Grace ofAllah, they were released after onlytwo months. After the start of theNew Year in 1954, HadhratMuslehMaud was brought in front of JudgeMunir’s Court of Inquiry and interro-gated from January 12th untilFebruary 17th. Listening to theresponses of HadhratMusleh Maud,one communist remarked about histestimony, that if that was the trueteaching of Islam then this Islam willcertainly be accepted in the future.One respected person said thatMirza sahib was the only true schol-ar in Pakistan. Another lawyer com-mented that he was afraid thatJustice Munir would become Mirzai.

Persecution of Ahmadis was notonly directed at the rank-and-file.One of the greatest statesmenPakistan ever knew was the well-known Ahmadi ChaudharyMuhammad Zafrullah Khan. Rightfrom the beginning, Zafrullah Khansahib was a right-hand man of thefounder of Pakistan, Qaid-e-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah. ZafrullahKhan was the first foreign minister ofPakistan in 1947.

Continu in Next Issue

Progress of the Ahmadiyya Muslim CommunityIN THE WAKE OF TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

INTERFAITH IN GALLERY 13�� February, 2011

By InokeQarauFlorin UMC, Sacramento In keeping with

our United Methodist mission statement,"Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for theTransformation of the World," the Pacific IslandCaucus of the California-Nevada AnnualConference is experiencing a revival in the com-munity it serves and beyond. The Pacific IslandNational Caucus of United Methodists (PIN-CUM) petitioned the General Conference in2008 to establish the Pacific Island UnitedMethodist Church study, to research the needsin Pacific Island communities and develop rec-ommendations to address those needs. Just lastmonth the General Board of Global Ministriesconfirmed the hiring of Dr. SelaPanapasa ofMichigan State University to head the studygroup, to be comprised largely of PacificIslanders. The group will establish priorities forthe funding of programs to develop ministries inthe communities that would reach PacificIslanders. Findings are to be presented as rec-ommendations to the 2012 General Conference.

The Tongan National Caucus on the30th of July commissioned its new presi-dent at the First Tongan UMC in SaltLake City, Utah. The new president is ourretired chairman of Pacific IslandersCaucus, the Rev. MaileKoloto of LaurelUMC. Bishop Elaine Stanovsky of theRocky Mountain Annual Conference offi-ciated at the ceremony (see photo atright). Hundreds attended the four-dayconference, all blessed to have beeninvited to witness the special occasion.We appreciated the common bond of thePacific and the rich heritage that weinherited from our forefathers, which isshowcased through our service to ourchurch and community. A couple ofweeks later Rev. Koloto was appointedthe Chaplain Designate of the TongaConsulate General in a service he alsopreached, attended by His Majesty KingGeorge V. The service, held at the

Falehufunga UMC, paid tribute to the vic-tims of the sunken Princess Ashika ferry,which had 128 passengers on board.Only 54 were rescued, two bodies wererecovered, and 72 are missing and pre-sumed trapped in the ship, which lies inwaters some 110 feet deep.

Fijian Methodist Church San Rafael, CA deliberate 10th Year Photo by courtesy of Ms.Iva Codrokadroka

Pacific Island Caucus Experiences Revival

Cal-Nevada's Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr. washes the feet of the Rev.TevitaVaikona at Rev. Vaikona's ordination in June.

Tongan National Caucus

14 �� February, 2011

15�� February, 2011

16 �� February, 2011 17�� February, 2011

A once upon trio-good looks !

Horses and mennever grow old,says

Dharmendra, still youngat 75 and getting readyto entertain his legionof fans in the upcom-ing comedy YamlaPagla Deewana."There is a sayinghorses and men nevergrow old and I'm oneof those men whowas tagged as the 'HeMan'. So can a 'HeMan' afford to becomeold? This tag keeps meyoung at heart and Idon't let age overpower

me," Dharmendra told IANSin an exclusive interview."My soul is still very inno-

cent, like that of a mischievouskid. Since I feel young inside, itreflects on my face," he added.DharmendraThe senior

actor, who has completed 50years in the industry, has enter-tained audience with movies ofall genres -- from the intenseBandini and Satyakaam to out-right potboilers like Raja Janiand Pratigya, and, of course, as

the comic artist with perfect tim-ing in Sholay and ChupkeChupke. His laugh riot YamlaPagla Deewana will hit screensJan 14 and will see him team-ing up with his actor sons -Sunny and Bobby - after the2007 hit family drama Apne.The veteran actor said when

asked what took him so long tocome back to movies: "AfterApne I wanted to do more films,but we were not getting a verygood script. Otherwise whowants to sit at home? Someonewho loves acting, why would hewant to stay at home? I'malways in search of good roles.""Finally, we decided to do

this film and things worked out,"added the senior actor, who willalso feature in his wife Hema'sdirectorial venture Tell Me OhKhuda. Director Samir Karnikhas taken the responsibility ofbringing the father-sons comboon screen again with the funflick, which originally starredonly Sunny and Bobby."First we had planned to

make the film only with Sunnyand Bobby and that time thename of the film was Double

Trouble. But we couldn't get thetitle because it was already reg-istered with someone else."So I just joked that why not

you make it Triple Double andI'll also act in the film. Sunnyliked the idea and we changedthe story a little bit to incorpo-rate my character too," said thestill very garam Dharam.The story revolves around a

Sikh guy living in Canada, wholearns that his father and broth-er are alive and live in Benares.He embarks on a journey tobring the family together.In the film, Bobby has very

friendly relationship with his on-and off-screen father, so muchso that he even calls him by hisfirst name. "Everyone knowswe live according to the cultureof Indian society where there isrespect for parents and certainrules are followed. But whenthe camera rolls, then you for-get who is who.Then you become the char-

acters of the film. "In this filmBobby and I share a very differ-ent rapport as compared to inreal life. We are more of friendsthere. The relationship andchemistry is very open. It wasquite a nice experience and funto do that," said the veteranactor.How does he feel after com-

pleting 50 years in Bollywood?"It seems that these 50

years just passed by in a jiffy.When you think of it, 50 yearsseems like a long time, but Istill feel I came to Bombay yes-terday. "I want to live that life allover again and want to make iteven more beautiful. I'll throwall the mistakes I made andmake it a much better life."

I don' t let age overpower me

TThhee ssttoorryy rreevvoollvveess aarroouunndd aa SSiikkhh gguuyy lliivviinngg iinn CCaannaaddaa,, wwhhoo lleeaarrnnss tthhaatt hhiiss ffaatthheerr aanndd bbrrootthheerr aarree aalliivvee aanndd lliivvee iinn

BBeennaarreess.. HHee eemmbbaarrkkss oonn aa jjoouurrnneeyy ttoo bbrriinngg tthhee ffaammiillyy ttooggeetthheerr..

DHARMENDRA

18 �� February, 2011 BOLLYWOOD

KKaarreeeennaa oovveerrttaakkeess PPrriiyyaannkkaaThey might be constantly con-

tending each other in theBollywood rat race to seek the

number one position but this timeKareena Kapoor has overtaken

Priyanka Choprain bagging aninternationalendorsement.Seems like

the foreignbrand was ini-tially keen ongetting PriyankaChopra onboard as thebrand ambas-sador but theircompany surveyshowed thatKareena is amore popularname and brandglobally whichpeople couldeasily identifywith. So theendorsement

landed in Kareena's kitty. PresentlyKareena Kapoor has the maximumnumber of endorsements with asmany as 14 brands.InterestinglyKareena Kapoor and PriyankaChopra who are arch rivals cametogether for a stage performance ina recent event. Hope this endorse-ment race doesn't spark off anotheranimosity between the two.

Hottest B-town couple, sexyJohn Abraham and Bongbeauty Bipasha Basu, are

speculated to be drifting apart. Theduo, who have shared a sizzlingonscreen chemistry right from Jism,have dated each other for morethan eight years now. So what'scausing trouble between themnow?

The couple have not been seentogether for a very long time. WhileBips has been maintaining a lowprofile of late, John has been mak-ing public appearances only forevents he endorses. "They haveknown each other for over eight

years now. But their differencesseem to be increasing over time.There seems to be signs of bore-dom and things are heading for adead end.

Buzz doing the B-Town roundsis that the two don't seem interest-ed in each other," a source toldMid Day. John BipashaThe sourceadded, "Bipasha attended HrithikRoshan's recent birthday bashsolo. She was keen that Johnaccompanies her but he preferredto skip it. The duo has also beendoing solo endorsements of latewhile other B-Town couples arebeing offered joint deals." What

does sexy siren Bipasha has tosay about these rumours? "I amused to this now. Both of us havebeen busy so we have not beenseen in public. I was travelling forwork and he's been shooting forVipul Shah's film. All going good,"the actor told the tabloid. Gossipsabout their break-up have been innews earlier too. Bipasha waslinked to football icon ChristianoRonaldo and her Race co-star SaifAli Khan. John was also linked toVidya Balan who starred oppositehim in Salaam-e-Ishq. Will thiscouple have a happy ending?Time will tell!

JOHN-BIPS RELATIONSHIP

hitting dead end?

JJOOHHNN BBIIPPAASSHHAATTHHEE SSOOUURRCCEE AADDDDEEDD,,""BBIIPPAASSHHAA AATTTTEENNDDEEDD HHRRIITTHHIIKK RROOSSHHAANN''SS

RREECCEENNTT BBIIRRTTHHDDAAYY BBAASSHH SSOOLLOO.. SSHHEEWWAASS KKEEEENN TTHHAATT JJOOHHNN AACCCCOOMMPPAANNIIEESS

HHEERR BBUUTT HHEE PPRREEFFEERRRREEDD TTOO SSKKIIPP IITT..

At Feb 5Imran Khan’sweddinguncle AmirKhan hadinvited bothSalmanKhan andShah RukhKhan and apatch wasanticipation.

Nobody tells

Ash what to do

Certainly! If you boast of a Miss World crown,spate of award winning Indian films andacknowledgment at international level. But

when the event sees all A-listers in attendance,throwing your weight can infuriate all and sundry.Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is the global face ofIndia, couldn't keep in check the curt side of her ata recently held award function in Singapore. Apartfrom keeping the organisers on their toes all thetime, Aishwarya disrupted the rehearsals of othercelebrities by choosing to rehearse her act at herown sweet time without caring if it would clash withothers. "Despite repeated requests, Ash refused tocome on stage and remained backstage. Shemade it clear that if she is receiving an award, ithas to be handed over by the likes of Shah RukhKhan and Hrithik Roshan. We were forced to makethe last minute changes to please the lady. Shewould come for rehearsals at her own sweet timeand many a times, it would clash with others whowere rehearsing too.

Bobby Deol standswith an arm candy ona parapet as daddy

Dharmendra, and his sonnyDeol, are locked in variousduels. Why don’t you gofight, asks someone in thisclimax sequence. Whybother when there isDharmendra and Sunny,says the Bobby boy, chuck-ing for good any intentionsof playing a character in afilm. He’d rather engage insome “romaance,” he adds.Music from Barsaat playsfor background score. Thisis after Sunny paaji hadwalked in with a tube-well inhis hand for a gun: a nod tothe actor’s biggest com-mercial success, a certainpost-Kargil delirium calledGadar. Dharmendra’s dar-ling Bobby had also justimitated his dad’s infamous“chakki peesing” line atop awater tank from Sholay.Yamla pagla deewana is ofcourse an old Dharmendrasong popular for its musicparodies - one of themdone by the old man’sdaughter (Esha Deol) her-self in a little known moviecalled Na Tum Jaane NaHum. Self-indulgence, letalone self-importance,doesn’t stop here. It justgoes on and on. Sholay forone, while still being'Sholay', is a 35-year-oldblockbuster for a nationwhose median age current-ly is 25. Barsaat is a forgot-

ten movie for anyone’sdebut, and Gadar remainsfor most a dated, loudnightmare. The said scenesmake for a fine trailer. It did,and probably brought inaudiences for the firstshow. Here’s what they gotto watch for a feature lengthfilm: one half Dabanng, vis-iting dust of eastern UttarPradesh; the other half anextended DDLJ (DilwaleDilwale Le Jayenge) set ina pind in Punjab -- eventu-ally a deadening whole thatappears at best an arith-metically sound, colossalbore. The heroes here playthree idiots of their ownkind. The film opens into

Varanasi, where neither ofthe father-son, old residentduo (Dharam, Bobby) couldbother with replicating abasic accent. They conve-niently con people for a liv-ing -- unsuspecting banks,jewelers, real estate buy-ers, and as it turns out, amember of their own family(Dharam paaji’s long lostson Sunny, back from‘Caneda’!). They become ateam of three. This capercould be fun. They head offinstead to Punjab, lookingfor an audience in Toronto-Vancouver, and for Bobby,a bride. Dullness creeps in.Drunken scenes getrepeated. Men get moroni-cally pasted on a wall with‘Dharamcol’, an adhesivethat can join the earth to thesky. Jokes lose impact.Songs screw up the flow.The trio bounces around a

family mess. And then,Sunny paaji lands morethan a few of those two andhalf kilogram punches, yellsout aloud, breaks bones,buys more screen time,hopes for Chuck Norris /Rajnikanth SMS jokesaround him. It’s a little toolate. The two leading menare already in the last leg oftheir career. Age is no acci-dent. It gradually seeps intoyour life. A problem with liv-ing in the past is it doesn'tpay your present rents.Nostalgia is cheap, andanyway an exaggeration.Dharmendra is 75. Givenno surgical help, he looks it.Sunny Deol is 54. He does-n’t act it. Their audiencesmoved on a while ago.Evidently, they never did:Apne, Right Ya Wrong, Fox,Kis Kiski Kismet… And this.Tsk. Sad. But true.

BOLLYWOOD 19�� February, 2011

DEBANGGWON

SIX AWARDS29th January at Yash Raj

Films Studios, inMumbai, India was the settingfor the 56th Filmfare awards.The show hosted by RanbirKapoor and Imran Khan was aglitzy affair with some of thebiggest names from Bollywoodall under the same roof.

The two big films going headto head for the awards this yearwere SRK’s My Name Is Khanand Salman Khan’s Dabangg.

Sonu Nigam started off thenight of the awards by perform-ing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ fromTitanic live on stage. For thisincredible singer the day repre-sents a special time – 20 yearsin the industry. A highlight forthe 56th Filmfare Awards wasShahrukh Khan and MadhuriDixit’s sizzling performance onstage. Debangg won top film anand six awards in total on thenight. Sonakshi Sinha pickedup the award for ‘Best DebutActor (Female)’ giving herinstant recognition in her firstreal role in a Bollywood movie.Abhinav Kashyap the directorof Dabangg when asked abouta sequel said: “Most definitely, Iwill be directing the Dabanggsequel.” However, the night foracting and directing talent wentto My Name is Khan with SRK,Kajol and Karan Johar all win-ning their respective and keyawards of the ceremony.

The women in Bollywood areconstantly short-changed.Filmmakers don't bat an eyelid

whilst replacing Katrina Kaif withKareena Kapoor or PriyankaChopra with Deepika Padukone.

Of course, everyone knows thatthe B-town heroine is the necessaryevil in a film. "You can't do withoutthem and yet you can't makemovies just on them,'' says a tradesource. In what is typically a male-dominated scenario, few Bollywoodfilmmakers actually stick their necksout to write good scripts for thefemale protagonist.

Madhur Bhandarkar, who hasbeen successful with his womencentric cinema (Chandni Bar, 2001;Page 3, 2005; and, Fashion, 2008)is considered the torch-bearer byactresses who occasionally feel theneed to prove their mettle. Yet thelast 55 years of Hindi cinema, youwill only come up with a dozen filmswith women at the center of the plotthat have actually made money.Mehboob Khan's (1957) andKamal Amrohi's Pakeezah (1972)are the best examples of femaleprotagonists who have attained pos-terity.

However, in the years that havefollowed, few such films haveworked. Trade consultant AmodMehra says, "Hema Malini had a hitin the dacoit drama Ramkali (1985)and Rekha's charisma worked in thevendetta flicks Khoon Bhari Maang(1988) and Phool Bane Angaarey(1991). And the Madhuri magic iswhat saved Indra Kumar's Raja(1995). But despite it all, films withfemale protagonists have onlyworked if they have been backed bysolid makers, i.e. HrishikeshMukerjee's Khoobsoorat.'' It isargued that though Hema Malini

had a double role in Seeta AurGeeta and Sridevi had a double rolein Chaalbaaz, these movies wouldnot have had the super box officerun without the presence of rocksolid heroes like Dharmendra,Sanjeev Kumar, Rajnikant andSunny Deol respectively. In otherwords women have had to be pack-aged with big heroes to becomemajor draws. Even as women fightfor their 33 per cent reservation inParliament, B-town beauties are

also trying to break loose. One ofthe top girls argues, "How long can Ibe some Khans' arm-candy or aKapoors' love interest? I need meatin the role.'' "The success of RajKumar Gupta's No One KilledJessica has changed that,'' saystrade analyst Taran Adarsh.

"Now more filmmakers will defi-nitely write even stronger scripts forthe heroines.'' NOKJ is the first cer-tified hit of 2011; Rani Mukerji andVidya Balan have proven to be a

formidable twosome. Amod alsofeels that there is a strong buzzabout Vishal Bharadwaj's SaatKhoon Maaf because Priyanka is anactress of substance and postKaminey, Vishal is a maker worthwatching out for.

Since nothing succeeds like suc-cess, Bollywood filmmakers arequickly planning rehashes of ErinBrockovich and Mamma Mia;movies that revolved around JuliaRoberts and Meryl Streep.

Will women finallybe on top in B-town?

OOff ccoouurrssee,, eevveerryyoonnee kknnoowwss tthhaatt tthhee

BB--ttoowwnn hheerrooiinnee iiss tthheenneecceessssaarryy eevviill iinn aa ffiillmm..""YYoouu ccaann''tt ddoo wwiitthhoouutttthheemm aanndd yyeett yyoouu ccaann''ttmmaakkee mmoovviieess jjuusstt oonntthheemm,,'''' ssaayyss aa ttrraaddeessoouurrccee.. IInn wwhhaatt iiss ttyyppii--ccaallllyy aa mmaallee--ddoommiinnaatteeddsscceennaarriioo,, ffeeww BBoollllyywwooooddffiillmmmmaakkeerrss aaccttuuaallllyy ssttiicckktthheeiirr nneecckkss oouutt ttoo wwrriitteeggoooodd ssccrriippttss ffoorr tthheeffeemmaallee pprroottaaggoonniisstt..

Nostalgia is cheap, and anyway an exaggeration. Dharmendra is 75. Given no surgical help, he looks it. Sun-ny Deol is 54. He doesn’t act it. Their audiences moved on awhile ago. Evidently, they never did: Apne, Right Ya Wrong,Fox, Kis Kiski Kismet… And this. Tsk. Sad. But true.

Yamla PaglaDeewana

Director: Samir KarnikActors: Dharmendra,Sunny Deol, Bobby

Movie Review

Bollywood Superstar Amitabh Bachchanwith his daughter SwetaBachchan

Nanda at a “Coffee with Karan Show”

20 �� February, 2011

WORLD NEWS 21�� February, 2011

Egypt on boil

KATHMANDU: Plagued by a"sleepless night" and fears that "law-makers would not beable to venture out onthe streets due to peo-ple throwing shoes atthem", Nepal's Maoistchief Pushpa KamalDahal Prachandadecided to make a"sacrifice" and bow outof the 17th round ofprime ministerial elec-tion Thursday. The sur-prise exit paved theway for the Maoists'last-minute poll ally, theruling communists, to sail to a facilevictory with their chairman JhalanathKhanal pipping his remaining twocontenders, Ram Chandra Poudelof the Nepali Congress, and thiselection's surprise contender, BijayKumar Gachhedar, who was backedby an alliance of regional partiesfrom the Terai plains of southernNepal. The election, that startedalmost three hours behind scheduleand continued for nearly five morehours, protracted by long speechesby the contestants, recriminationsand counter-recriminations, saw the61-year-old Khanal, a former infor-mation and communications minis-

ter, poll 368 votes, more than thesimple majority needed. Poudel,

who had fought 16 earli-er rounds of fruitlesselections for the lastseven months, polled122 votes whileGacchedar, the sittingdeputy prime minister,got 67 votes. However,it was more a defeat forIndia than the two losingpoliticians. Indian for-eign secretaryNirupama Rao's recentvisit to Nepal had notenvisioned the possibili-

ty of such an opportunistic pollalliance between the Maoists andthe communists and as Prachandaindicated in his exit speech, it wasan act of defiance against "Indianinterference". The Maoist supremoblamed India for the fall of his gov-ernment in 2009, saying foreignforces had been trying to force himinto agreements that would havecompromised Nepal's sovereignty."We want good relations with ourneighbours but we won't brook inter-ference," Prachanda warned. "Mystepping down is meant to provethat we (Nepalis) can decide ourown fate."

Pak govt to withdrawbill for blasphemylaw amendmentISLAMABAD: Pakistan's governmentgave in to pressure from the religiousforces, pledging to withdraw the billseeking changes in the country's con-troversial blasphemy law. The blasphe-my law, according to Human RightsWatch, has been misused againstmembers of the minority faiths.Speaking to parliamentarians, PrimeMinister Yusuf Raza Gilan said that theformer information minister, SherryRehman, who introduced the bill forchanges in the controversial law, hasagreed to withdraw her proposed bill.Rehman submitted a bill to the nationalassembly last year, proposing someprocedural changes to the law includingelimination of death penalty. However,she never succeeded in winning sup-port from her party members.Contradicting PM's claim that she hadbeen consulted on issue of withdrawalof the bill, Sherry Rehman said in astatement that she would abide by theparty policy and directives of PM andwould not pursue her private memberbill, seeking changes to the blasphemylaw. "But since the prime minister hasapparently decided that there cannot bediscussion on procedural amendments,and the committee announced by theparty to amend laws has been disband-ed, then as a PPP MNA I have to abideby the party leader's decision after hehas spoken so definitively," the state-ment said.

DHAKA: A 14-year-old girl waswhipped to death by clerics forallegedly having an illicit relation-ship with a married man triggeringmassive protests acrossBangladesh. The clerics ordered14-year-old Mosammet Hena to bewhipped by 100 lashes in a Fatwahor a religious court at a village in theoutskirts of the capital on Tuesdayfor allegedly carrying on with a mar-ried man. The girl collapsed mid-way after being lashed 70 timespublicly with a bamboo cane andhad to be rushed to hospital whereshe died hours later. The 40-year-old man with whom Hena was hav-ing an affair was also sentenced to100 lashes. But the man fled toescape the punishment.The street fury prompted the

high court to demand an explana-tion from the government for failureto save the girl, despite a court rul-ing banning religious courts fromtaking action in such cases.A two-member high court bench

took a "suo-motu" notice of the pun-ishment meted out by the religiouscourt and asked the district policechief and two other administrativeofficials to explain within 15 dayswhy they "failed" to protect the girl.The bench comprising justices

Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik andSheikh Md Zakir Hossain alsoasked them what action had beentaken against the culprits whoordered the lashings. Another highcourt bench comprising justiceSyed Mahmud Hossain and justiceNazrul Islam Talukder in a nearlyidentical suo motto order onWednesday asked law enforce-ment agencies to submit a reportwithin three weeks explaining whatsteps were taken to comply with itsearlier order to stop "extra judicialkillings" in the name of fatwa.Fatwas are illegal in Bangladesh, aMuslim majority nation. The benchalso ordered the information min-istry to run a media campaign tocreate awareness among peopleagainst extra-judicial punishmentsby religious courts. Media reportsand officials, however, suggestedthat the girl was a rape victim butthe influential village leaders andclerics instead of taking actionsagainst the rapist ordered Hena tobe lashed 100 times for "illicit rela-tions". This was the second suchincident of Islamic courts handingout extra-judicial penalties sinceOctober last year. Following thecourt intervention, police claimedthey had arrested four clerics.

Egypt: Mubarak refuses to go asUS brokers exit deal CairoUnbowedby a week of mob violence and offi-cial entreaties, tens of thousands ofEgyptians turned out for anotherFriday of protest. Defying militaryorders to “go home,” the anti-gov-ernment protestors streamed intoTahrir (Liberation) Square afterprayers all through the day. Theirsingle demand remained the same:the immediate exit of PresidentHosni Mubarak. The square wasringed by soldiers and armouredvehicles who searched forweapons. Many demonstratorsbrought water and food for thosewho had spent the night securingthe area. There were reports the USgovernment was trying to broker adeal with Egypt’s newly-appointed

vice-president Omar Suleiman tobring in an interim reformist govern-ment and ease Mubarak out andend the 11-day-old people’s revolt.

Nobel Peace laureate MohamedElBaradei, one of the leaders of theprotest movement, lay out his sce-nario on Friday: a transitional gov-

ernment headed by a presidentialcouncil of two or three, including amilitary representative. He saidSuleiman — a military man who wasearlier intelligence chief — was anacceptable figure to sit on a presi-dential council. State televisiondeclared it a “day of allegiance” forMubarak. The protestors called itthe “day of departure” for Mubarak.Egyptian defence minister HusseinTantawi visited the square alongwith top army officials to assess thesituation. And in his first televisioninterview since the revolt began,Mubarak said he was “fed up” andwanted to quit but feared the nationwould “sink into chaos” if he did so.In an earlier speech, he had vowedto remain president “as long as hisheart is beating”. Questions

remained about the military. US offi-cials said they’d received assur-ances from the top brass that theywould not fire on demonstrators.Some analysts argued that the armywas hoping to tire out the demon-strators. Others said it was hedgingits bets, waiting to see who wouldwin the political struggle. Televisionimages of the protests dried up fol-lowing harassment and detention ofcamera crews by pro-Mubarakgangs and the military.

Mubarak ready to go, butfears chaos: ABC interviewWASHINGTON: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Thursday in an interview

with ABC television that he wants to leave office, but fears there will be chaos if heresigns. The beleaguered Egyptian leader said he was "fed-up with being presidentand would like to leave office now, but cannot, he says, for fear that the country wouldsink into chaos," ABC's Christiane Amanpour reported after their 20-minute interviewin Cairo. "I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country,I care about Egypt," Mubarak said, as violent protests against his rule stretched into a10th day. The veteran leader added: "I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do notwant to see Egyptians fighting each other."

Egyptian armystarts roundingup journalistsCAIRO: The Egyptian militarystarted rounding up journal-ists, possibly for their ownprotection, on Thursday afterthey came under attack fromsupporters of President HosniMubarak who have beenassaulting anti-governmentprotesters. The US statedepartment condemned what itcalled a "concerted campaignto intimidate" foreign journal-ists in Egypt. The New York-based Committee to ProtectJournalists said Wednesdaythat violence against journal-ists was part of a series ofdeliberate attacks and calledon the Egyptian military to pro-vide protection for reporters.

Girl whipped to death by clericsfor illicit affair in Bangladesh

Jhalanath Khanalelected PM of Nepal

WORLD NEWS22 �� February, 2011

Australia reelsfrom once-in-a-century cycloneTULLY, Australia: Australia'sbiggest cyclone in a century shat-tered entire towns, pummelling thecoast and churning across thecountry Thursday, terrifying localsbut remarkably causing no knownfatalities. Shaken residentsemerged to check the damage afterSevere Tropical Cyclone Yasi hitland at around midnight, packingwinds of up to 290 kilometres (180miles) per hour in a region still reel-ing from record floods. Officials andlocals said 90 percent of the mainstreet in the small Queenslandtown of Tully, south of Cairns, had"extensive damage", while thecoastal community of Cardwell alsosuffered "significant devastation".

"There are people now thathave lost their homes, they losttheir farms, they have lost theircrops and they have lost their liveli-hoods," Queensland state premierAnna Bligh said. Regional hubCairns, a centre for foreign touristsvisiting the Great Barrier Reef, wasspared Yasi's worst with problemslargely restricted to fallen trees andminor damage to buildings.Nodeaths or serious injuries werereported, although police said sev-ered mobile phone networks werehampering efforts to check on twomen who may be missing in theCardwell area.

ROME: World food pricesreached their highest level everrecorded in January and are set tokeep rising for months, the UN foodagency said on Thursday, warningthat the hardest-hit countries couldface turmoil.

Rising food prices have beencited among the driving forcesbehind recent popular revolts innorth Africa, including the uprisingin Egypt and the toppling ofTunisia's long-time president ZineEl Abidine Ben Ali. And in its latestsurvey, the Food and AgricultureOrganisation said its index whichmonitors monthly price changes fora variety of staples averaged 231points in January -- the highestlevel since records began in 1990."The new figures clearly show thatthe upward pressure on world foodprices is not abating. These highprices are likely to persist in themonths to come," FAO economistand grains expert AbdolrezaAbbassian said in a statement. TheIndex rose by 3.4 percent fromDecember -- with big increases inparticular for dairy, cereal and oilprices. The rises were most signifi-cant in China, India, Indonesia andRussia, data from FAO's monthlyreport showed. "There are a lot offactors that could spark turmoil incountries and food is one of them,"Abbassian said, pointing out how-

ever that several countries havebecome better at managing pricesafter a series of riots in 2007 and2008. "They have learnt from previ-ous episodes," he said, addinghowever: "These are obviously notvery easy times. There is now nohope that prices will return to any-thing we can consider normal, atleast until the summer." The datafrom the Rome-based FAO showedthat prices for dairy products roseby 6.2 percent from December, oilsand fats gained 5.6 percent, while

cereals went up by 3.0 percentbecause of lower global supply ofwheat and maize. "The increase inprices follows stronger exportdemand during the last month andconcerns about tightening suppliesof high quality wheat. The marketwas also supported by higher oilprices and a weaker US dollar,"FAO said. Meat prices remainedbroadly stable due to a fall in pricesin Europe caused by last month'sscare over dioxin poisoning in eggsand pork in Germany, compensated

by a slight increase in export pricesfrom Brazil and the US. "High foodprices are of major concern espe-cially for low-income food deficitcountries that may face problems infinancing food imports and for poorhouseholds which spend a largeshare of their income on food,"Abbassian said. Global aid agencyOxfam said: "Millions of people'slives are at risk."

"Poor people in developingcountries spend between 50 and 80percent of their income on food,making higher prices, as well asunpredictable prices, a seriousthreat to their ability to eat," Oxfamsaid in a statement. Oxfam blamedthe price rises on reduced produc-tion due to bad weather, increasedoil prices making fertilizer andtransport more expensive,increased demand for biofuels,export restrictions and financialspeculation. It called on govern-ments to implement social protec-tion programmes for the peoplehardest hit by the price rises and tohelp control prices "by increasingsupport and investments in smallscale agriculture." The FAO datashowed the Food Price Index hit200 points over the whole of 2008at the height of the 2007/2008 foodcrisis. It breached that level for thefirst time in October 2010 with 205points.

OSLO: Anti-secrecy websiteWikiLeaks has been nominated forthe 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, theNorwegian politician behind theproposal said on Wednesday, a dayafter the deadline for nominationsexpired. The Norwegian NobelCommittee accepts nominations forwhat many consider as the world'stop accolade until Feb 1, althoughthe five panel members have untilthe end of the month to make theirown proposals. Norwegian parlia-mentarian Snorre Valen saidWikiLeaks was "one of the mostimportant contributors to freedom ofspeech and transparency" in the21st century. "By disclosing infor-mation about corruption, humanrights abuses and war crimes,WikiLeaks is a natural contender forthe Nobel Peace Prize," Valen said.

Members of all national parlia-ments, professors of law or politicalscience and previous winners areamong those allowed to make nom-inations. The committee declined tocomment on the WikiLeaks propos-al or any other nominations.

Washington is furious atWikiLeaks and its founder JulianAssange for releasing tens of thou-sands of secret documents anddiplomatic cables which it sayshave harmed US interests abroad,including peace efforts.

Assange, An Australian, facesextradition to Sweden from Britainfor questioning in a sex case whichhe and his supporters say is asmear campaign designed to closedown WikiLeaks, a non-profitorganisation funded by the publicand rights groups.

LONDON: China's failure toenforce export controls on arms toIran has led to the Chinese-madeweapons falling into the hands ofinsurgents fighting coalition forcesin Iraq and Afghanistan, secret UScables leaked by WikiLeaks haverevealed. US diplomats also fearedthat Chinese companies were sell-ing materials to Iran that could beused to build nuclear missiles andother weapons of mass destruction,the Daily Telegraph reportedThursday, citing the leaked docu-ments. Chinese-made guns, as wellas rocket-propelled grenades andsurface-to-air missiles containingChinese-made components, haveall been used against coalitionforces or civilian targets in Iraq, theUS claims, while other weaponshave been obtained by militants in

Afghanistan. The US was so con-cerned about Chinese arms andcomponents being sold to Iran thatin September 2008 the statedepartment launched a major diplo-matic offensive to put pressure onBeijing. It decided to share intelli-gence with eight "key allies" includ-ing Spain and Italy to "persuadeChina to enforce its export controllaws more effectively" and to"aggressively implement" UNSecurity Council resolutions on thesale of arms and weapons materi-als. According to the cables,ambassadors were told to encour-age the foreign governments topoint out to the Chinese that armssales to Iran "could ultimately dam-age China's reputation and its bilat-eral relationship with" each of thecountries.

BEIJING: China on Mondaydenied that Karmapa, the head ofthe Tibetan Karma Kagyu sect, wasits spy, and claimed that allegationsagainst the country in this regardshowed India's "mistrustful attitude"towards Beijing.

"The speculation by India'smedia, regarding the matter of theKarmapa as a Chinese agent or spy,shows that India is keeping its mis-trustful attitude toward China," saidXu Zhitao, an official at the UnitedFront Work Department of the rulingCommunist party Central

Committee. In the first reaction toreports of raids on the offices of atrust backed by Karmapa, the officialsaid, "the 17th Karmapa livingBuddha (Monks in Tibet are calledliving Buddhas) is the first reincar-nated living Buddha confirmed andapproved by the CentralGovernment of the People'sRepublic of China after the peacefulliberation of Tibet in 1951." "The rein-carnation of holy men is a uniqueform of succession in TibetanBuddhism, which has long been rec-ognized and respected," Xu told

state-run Global Times. Karmapa,heading the Karmapa sect, is infor-mally ranked number 3 in TibetanBuddhist spiritual religious milieu. Heis endorsed by both the Dalai Lama,the highest spiritual head as well asby the Chinese Government. Whereas Panchen Lama ranked secondwas appointed by China and but wasnot backed by Dalai Lama, the high-est Tibetan spiritual leaderdenounced by China. "Karmapa leftChina in 1999 for the purpose of reli-gious behaviors, just as he claimed,"Xu said, apparently referring to the

explanation provided by Karmapa'sadvisor, Karma Topden inDharmashala yesterday that onereason why the monk went to Indiawas to complete spiritual learningprocess as all top teachers of hissect were based in India.

Xu, however, made no mentionof Karmapa's assertions the mainreason why Karmapa fled to Indiawas to escape from the pressureexhorted by the Chinese authoritieson him to denounce Dalai Lama andsupport the Panchen Lama selectedby the Chinese authorities.

Karmapa whose original name isUgyen Trinley Dorjee said one rea-son why he went to India was toseek the blessings of Dalai Lama,who is denounced by China. TheGlobal Times news report also citedreports in the Indian media aboutprotests by Karmapa supportersdenying the allegations. "This is notthe first time that India's media haslinked 'spies' with China. Earlier thismonth, three Chinese citizens werearrested in India on suspicion ofmoney laundering and spying onborder security.

World food prices hit record high: UN agency

WikiLeaks among nomi-nees for Nobel Peace Prize

Chinese weapons fall intohands of militants : US cables

China denies Karmapa links, says India shows 'mistrust attitude'

Somali attacker of Danishcartoonist found guilty

COPENHAGEN: A Danish court onThursday found a Somali man guilty ofattempted terrorism for trying to kill acartoonist whose 2005 drawing of theProphet Mohammad stirred Muslimoutrage around the globe. The 29-year-old Somali, who broke into thehome of cartoonist Kurt Westergaardwith an axe on New Year's Day lastyear, was also convicted of attemptedmanslaughter, a police official said.The man was acquitted on anotherattempted manslaughter charge,brought because he threw his axe at apolice officer who arrived to arrest him,but was convicted of violence againstthe officer, police said. The court inAarhus was expected to sentence theman later on Thursday or on Friday.Westergaard's caricature of theProphet was one of a dozen cartoonslampooning Islam published by theDanish daily Jyllands-Posten, whichled to violent protests in 2006 andthreats to cartoonists, other journalistsand the newspaper.

LETTERS& OPINIONS 23�� February, 2011

The hedge-fund billionaire sayswe need more innovation —and less herd-thinking — to

open a new frontier. Peter Thiel maybe most famous for his role (por-trayed by Wallace Langham in TheSocial Network) as the venture cap-italist who gave “The Facebook” theangel investment it needed to reallylaunch. Before that, Thiel wasknown in Silicon Valley circles as the“Don of the PayPal mafia,” (his offi-cial role at the e-commerce site wasfounder and CEO), and more gener-ally for his centrality as an investorin tech startups. Now, Thiel servesas the president of Clarium Capital,a hedge fund that (though it has suf-fered recently) made extravagantgains by betting against the housingmarket in 2007.Though he’s primarily a busi-

nessman, Thiel has dabbled in liber-tarian activism. Most recently, hecaused a stir by establishing theThiel Fellowship, which will select20 college students under the age of20 and pay them $100,000 each todrop out of college and embark onentrepreneurial careers. Thiel isalso an intellectual of astonishingbreadth and depth who finds time,while running a major hedge fund, toproduce thought pieces that surveythe Western Canon, the geopoliticallandscape, and financial economicsat a gallop (such as this one for theHoover Digest).NRO’s Matthew Shaffer spoke

with the philosopher-CEO in a wide-ranging conversation about net neu-trality, the higher-education bubble,the future of seasteading, incomeinequality, why the wealthy havegone blue, Leo Strauss, and more.Thiel wants to take us back to thefuture, to once again, like in the1950s, imagine how innovation —technological and otherwise — canradically improve our lives.

MATTHEW SHAFFER: As amajor investor in a number of onlinestartups, what are your thoughts onthe recent push for net neutrality?

PETER THIEL: There’s some-thing very odd about it. It does seemlike an attempt to use the politicalsystem to reapportion propertyrights. Along those lines, one shouldbe extremely skeptical of it. We’vebeen having this debate for 15years. The arguments have notchanged very much during thattime. Net neutrality has not beennecessary to date. I don’t see anyreason why it’s suddenly becomeimportant, when the Internet hasfunctioned quite well for the past 15years without it.

SHAFFER: So far, it’s been asolution without a problem. But isthere a future in which big Internetproviders have a realistic incentiveto abuse their property rights inbroadband?

THIEL: The model whereInternet companies have enormouspower that they abuse in variousways depends on a view of theInternet as a fundamentally staticthing where nothing changes much.That might become an issue at a

point where it’s an extremely matureindustry, but that’s not the way mostpeople think of it now. Until it is amature industry, we have no ideawhere real abuses would be. As apolicy matter, from a governmentperspective, not only would youhave to decide that it’s mature, youalso would have to decide that youknew exactly how to reallocatethese property rights.Government attempts to regulate

technology have been extraordinari-ly counterproductive in the past. Theantitrust lawsuits against AT&T andIBM in the ’70s, Microsoft in the ’90s— it turned out that all these com-panies eventually saw tremendouscompetition within the technologicalspace. Technology, to the extentthat it is changing a lot, is an areathat is extremely difficult to regulate,because it’s not like you have someincredibly entrenched interests thatare somehow systematically distort-ing the field. (Even if there wereinterests distorting the field, I’m notsure you should regulate it.) That’salmost by definition impossible,because technology involves areasof tremendous change.

SHAFFER: Thanks to The SocialNetwork, you may now be bestknown as a pivotal player in the cre-ation of Facebook. Do you thinksomeday the history books — or, Iguess, history websites — will writeyou up as effecting a millennial tran-sition to people living their livesonline?

THIEL: People are still living pri-marily in the real world.Cyberspace’s status as an alterna-tive to the real world has beensomewhat overstated. There are lib-ertarian perspectives from whichcyberspace is appealing because itis relatively free of state regulationand intervention. But the basic prob-lem, or basic fact, is that people arebiological, physical entities that livein the real world. So the Internetreally cannot be a substitute for real-ity. One of the main factors behindFacebook’s success, relative to anumber of earlier attempts, is that itwas focused on real identities. Itwas looking at real people; it wasnot people pretending to be a cat ora dog on the Internet, or somethinglike that — which might have beenthe way people would have envi-sioned it in the 1990s.

SHAFFER: Speaking of majorchanges in the way we live, you’realso interested in “seasteading.”Can you talk about your interest inand advocacy for it?

THIEL: Seasteading wasthought up by acolytes of MiltonFriedman. The idea is that we needto create competition between gov-ernments. If it’s very hard to reformexisting ones, we need to createnew sovereign states — in theoceans or elsewhere. There’s atechnological question about howfar away we are from these kinds ofthings. It’s probably not around thecorner. But these technological pro-jects are worth pursuing. It’s one ofthe ways in which I see things in the

U.S. as having declined from the1950s, when people had a realsense of the future, and the futurewas an important subject for publicdiscussion. We thought about beingon the moon, or living underwater,and what we were going to do aboutfarmlands and forests and so on.Different ideas about how technolo-gy would change in the futureplayed an important role in our soci-ety. That sort of collapsed witheverything else in the late ’60s andinto the ’70s. I want to go back to thefuture and back to a time when peo-ple were thinking about how to usetechnology to make the world a dra-matically better place — not like thepresent, where technology is largelyseen as irrelevant and specificallyas bad.Now, the broader issue with

seasteading is that a lot of peopleare quite sympathetic to the ideathat we need more competition ingovernment, though you can debatewhether seasteading is the best way— or a possible way — to bring itabout. If there weren’t some compe-tition between governments, theoverreach would be dramaticallyworse than what we’ve seen. A lot ofstate governments would like to dra-matically increase taxes andincrease regulations on businesses,rather than reform their bad ways.But they’re under extraordinarypressure because people may justchoose to leave. The U.S. govern-ment is under somewhat less pres-sure, because it is a lot more difficultto leave the U.S. But it’s under moreconstraints today, because the U.S.is now living in a much more com-petitive world than it was in the1970s. It’s hard to simply devaluethe dollar, or simply inflate, or tax ina confiscatory way. So competitionamong governments is an extreme-ly valuable and very good thing. Theseasteading netroots are best seenagainst that larger background.

SHAFFER: I understand youthink we’re in a big higher-educationbubble.

THIEL: Yes. Education is a bub-ble in a classic sense. To call some-thing a bubble, it must be overpricedand there must be an intense beliefin it. Housing was a classic bubble,as were tech stocks in the ’90s,because they were both very over-valued, but there was an incrediblywidespread belief that almost couldnot be questioned — you had toown a house in 2005, and you hadto be in an equity-market index fundin 1999. Probably the only candi-date left for a bubble — at least inthe developed world (maybe emerg-ing markets are a bubble) — is edu-cation. It’s basically extremely over-priced. People are not getting theirmoney’s worth, objectively, whenyou do the math. And at the sametime it is something that is incrediblyintensively believed; there’s this sortof psycho-social component to peo-ple taking on these enormous debtswhen they go to college simplybecause that’s what everybody’sdoing.

It is, to my mind, in some waysworse than the housing bubble.There are a few things that make itworse. One is that when peoplemake a mistake in taking on an edu-cation loan, they’re legally muchmore difficult to get out of than hous-ing loans. With housing, typicallythey’re non-recourse — you can justwalk out of the house. With educa-tion, they’re recourse, and they typi-cally survive bankruptcy. If you bor-rowed money and went to a collegewhere the education didn’t createany value, that is potentially a reallybig mistake.There have been a lot of critiques

of the finance industry’s having pos-sibly foisted subprime mortgages onunknowing buyers, and a lot ofthose kinds of arguments are evenmore powerful when used againstcollege administrators who areprobably in some ways engaged inequally misleading advertising. Likehousing was, college is advertisedas an investment for the future. Butin most cases it’s really just con-sumption, where college is just afour-year party, in the same way thatbuying a large house with a reallybig swimming pool, etc., is probablynot an investment decision but aconsumption decision. It was some-thing about combining the invest-ment decision and the consumptiondecision that made the housingthing so tricky to get a handle on —and I think that’s also true of the col-lege bubble. One important differ-ence between the housing bubbleand the education bubble is thatthere was sort of a class aspect tothe housing bubble: upper-middle-class people in the U.S. tend to beinvested in equities, and middle-class people tend to be invested inhousing, so there was a way inwhich the housing bubble was away of making fun of the middleclass for various sophisticated elitesthat ran all the way through thehousing bubble. It was sort of like,“Look at those dumb people andbeatniks in suburban America whoare doing this crazy housing thing.”So even though it was a crazy bub-ble, there was at least a kind ofcounter-narrative; you had a bit of adissenting narrative. Education is anupper-middle-class thing, and sosomething that is not questioned byelites at all, and that’s why the edu-cation market is more likely to bedistorted. You know, we’ve looked atthe math on this, and I estimate that70 to 80 percent of the colleges inthe U.S. are not generating a posi-tive return on investment. Even atthe top universities, it may be posi-tive in some sense — but the coun-terfactual question is, how wellwould their students have done hadthey not gone to college? Are theyreally just selecting for talented peo-ple who would have done well any-way? Or are you actually educatingthem? That’s the kind of questionthat isn’t analyzed very carefully. Mysuspicion is that they’re just good atidentifying talented people ratherthan adding value. So there are a lot

of things about it that are verystrange.The Great Recession of 2008 to

the present is helping to bring theeducation bubble to a head. Whenparents have invested enormousamounts of money in their kids’ edu-cation, to find their kids coming backto live with them — well, that wasnot what they bargained for. So thecrazy bubble in education is at apoint where it is very close to unrav-eling. In early 2009, there was aquestion of why the stimulus moneywas not going to infrastructure, anda very large amount was going tosubsidizing college loans andencouraging people to go back toschool. The argument was that weget a higher return on human capitalthan on infrastructure. While that’scertainly possible, and I agree thathuman capital is extremely impor-tant, I think we’re not actually mea-suring the return we’re getting onthe human capital. It is, in fact, con-sidered in some ways inappropriateto even ask the question of what thereturn is. We are given bromides tothe effect of, “Well, you know col-lege education is good, but it’s goodprecisely because it doesn’t teachyou anything specific; you become amore well-rounded person, a bettercitizen, you learn how to learn.”There tends to be an evasion ofspecificity of what exactly it is that islearned. And so these human-capi-tal intuitions may be very far off in alot of colleges.

SHAFFER: But people are freelychoosing all this education in a freemarket, despite those extravagantcosts, presumably because it’s theonly way to signal things like self-discipline and intelligence. So themarket does seem to demand thosesignals. Are there any alternatives?

THIEL: Yes, college is a signal-ing mechanism. It is possible thatthe universities were too cheap inthe ’70s and ’80s, and they are sortof these somewhat parasitic entitiesthat could capture way more of theshare of the gains from providingthis signaling mechanism. And sothey were providing this signalingservice, and they now are capturingmost or all of the value. But one partof it that I do not think is market-driv-en is that the government sector isone in which your pay grade is verymechanically driven by your univer-sity or your degree. So I tend tothink we shouldn’t say that it’s amarket that’s demanding educationwhen probably the most dogmaticpart of the market involves govern-ment workers. Do teachers need toget an education degree to becometeachers? Do you pay people moreif they’ve had a master’s degreethan if they haven’t? I tend to thinkthat if you shifted the requirementsfor government workers to a puremerit thing, that would help resolvea lot of the market distortions. And itmight also set a very good prece-dent for large corporations in the pri-vate sector that sometimes functionlike government bureaucracies

Continue in next issue

Is education cost the next bubble? I am the biggest believer of free education or professional education central to entrepreneurial skills and professionalism. That’s why I launched

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT. Please read the article below. Editor, Dr. H Koya.

Back to the Future with Peter Thiel

US UPDATES24 �� February, 2011

WASHINGTON: More than adozen Indian students from amonghundreds who have been scammedby a dodgy university in Californiahave been radio-tagged with track-ing devices in an action New Delhidescribed as "unwarranted," andasked to be removed even as angrycommunity activists said it is a viola-tion of their rights and dignity.

Authorities from the Immigrationand Customs Enforcement (ICE)who interrogated scores of Indianstudents who were evidentlyconned by the sham Tri-ValleyUniversity in Pleasanton, California,left radio-tracking devices on theankles of several victims. The stu-dents said officials told them thedevices, fitted with GPS technology,were meant to keep track of theirmovements while the administrationexamined their cases.

Scores of Indian students, most-ly from Andhra Pradesh, are caughtup in a scam in which the dubiousuniversity allegedly helped foreignnationals illegally acquire immigra-tion status. Investigations by USauthorities found that while students

were admitted to residential and on-line courses of the university and onpaper lived in California, in realitythey worked illegally in various partsof the country as far as Maryland,Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Texas.The students say they wereunaware of the dodgy nature of theuniversity and they were conned. Ina petition to the secretary of home-land security and the director of ICE,the affected students said they reg-istered in the university believing itis a "bonafide and legitimate univer-sity that had been registered withthe Student and Exchange VisitorInformation System (SEVIS)database." SEVIS is a web-basedtechnology maintained by the US totrack and monitor schools and pro-grams, students, exchange visitorsand their dependents, while they arelegally enrolled in the US educationsystem. Indeed, Tri-ValleyUniversity is among the SEVISApproved Schools listed on the USICE website. Authorities have sinceshut down the university. But USofficials say some of the studentsobtained their visa fraudulently and

others are in violation of their visaand immigration status. Such stu-dents have been placed under ISAP(Intense Supervision andAppearance Program) by ICE andput in removal proceedings, neces-sitating radio-tagging. Not all stu-dents have been tagged.

Foreign students typically cometo US under the F-1 visa and aregenerally not permitted to workexcept for 20 hours a week or lessof on-campus employment. "USImmigration and CustomsEnforcement (ICE) is responsiblefor enforcing the nation's immigra-tion and customs laws. If ICEencounters individuals during thecourse of an investigation who arefound to be in violation of their immi-gration status, the agency will takefollow-up action consistent with theagency's enforcement priorities,"ICE spokesperson Lari Haley said."Those priorities include personswho've overstayed or violated theterms of their visas, and those whohave exploited the nation's legalimmigration system by gaining theirstatus through fraud."

WASHINGTON: Like any otherfather of a growing daughter,Barack Obama too has to some-times summon the help of God. Infact, he says being president "hasa funny way of making a personfeel the need to pray." At theNational Prayer BreakfastThursday, Obama departed froman otherwise serious talk aboutprayer to poke a bit of fun at hiselder daughter, Malia and wifeMichelle. First it was the turn of theFirst Lady. "...Like all of us, myfaith journey has had its twists andturns. It hasn't always been astraight line. I have thanked Godfor the joys of parenthood andMichelle's willingness to put upwith me," said Obama. " In thewake of failures and disappoint-ments I've questioned what Godhad in store for me and beenreminded that God's plans for usmay not always match our ownshort-sighted desires. "And let metell you, these past two years, theyhave deepened my faith. Thepresidency has a funny way of

making a person feel the need topray," he said amid laughter. "AbeLincoln said, as many of youknow, 'I have been driven to myknees many times by the over-whelming conviction that I had noplace else to go'." Then came theturn of Malia. "As I travel acrossthe country folks often ask mewhat is it that I pray for. And likemost of you, my prayers some-times are general: Lord, give methe strength to meet the chal-lenges of my office," he said."Sometimes they're specific: Lord,give me patience as I watch Maliago to her first dance-where therewill be boys. Lord, have that skirtget longer as she travels to thatdance," Obama said.

US agency suedover drug used inexecutionsATLANTA: A federal lawsuit filed againstthe Food and Drug Administration urges ajudge to block overseas shipments of a keydrug used in the nation's executions thathas been in short supply since the sole USmaker decided to stop producing it. Thelawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court inWashington, DC, claims the FDA hasknowingly allowed state corrections officialsto import sodium thiopental, the sedativeused in a three-drug execution cocktail, thathas not been approved by the agency. "Itjust seems wrong to allow these suspectgoods into the country in violation of feder-al law just because they're used on prison-ers rather than law-abiding citizens,'' saidBrad Berenson, the Sidley Austin attorneywho filed the lawsuit on behalf of death rowinmates in California, Arizona andTennessee.

US court orders formerUkrainian Nazi police-man out of country

WASHINGTON: An immigration judgeordered a former Ukrainian Nazi policeman'sremoval from United States for his participa-tion in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecutionduring World War II. John (Ivan) Kalymon ofMichigan served as an armed member ofthe Ukrainian Auxiliary Police (UAP) in Nazi-occupied Lvov, Ukraine. The removal orderswere issued by US Immigration JudgeElizabeth Hacker in Detroit, AssistantAttorney General Lanny A Breuer of thecriminal division, the department of justicesaid on Wednesday. Kalymon, 89, immigrat-ed to the United States from Germany in1949 and became a US citizen in 1955. In2004, the department of justice filed a law-suit seeking revocation of Kalymon's US cit-izenship. Following trial, a federal judgegranted that request in 2007, finding thatKalymon had participated in the rounding upand shooting of Jews.

WASHINGTON: US Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton offered supportfor Jordan Thursday in "difficult times"and said she looked forward to work-ing with its new government when shespoke to King Abdullah II, herspokesman said. The king onTuesday named as prime ministerMaruf Bakhit, a career soldier and for-mer premier, after sacking the govern-ment of Samir Rifai, following weeks of proteststo demand political and economic reforms.Clinton made a 15-minute call to Abdullah indi-cating the United States is looking "forward toworking with Prime Minister Bakhit and mem-bers of the new Jordanian cabinet," Clintonspokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. Thechief US diplomat stressed "the importance thatwe place on the continued excellent relation-

ship with Jordan. We are eager to con-tinue to support Jordan during these dif-ficult times." The protests in Jordan arepart of a wave of anti-governmentunrest sweeping Tunisia, Egypt, andYemen. Bakhit began consultationsWednesday on forming a governmentcharged with passing reforms andmeeting the demands of the popularprotests, despite objections from the

Islamist opposition. "We're going to supportJordan's efforts to undertake political and eco-nomic reform," Crowley said, noting pressreports that King Abdullah conceded theseefforts at reform have been too slow. Herecalled that Clinton underlined the importanceof US economic assistance when she met inWashington last month with Jordanian ForeignMinister Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

WASHINGTON: The UnitedStates' drive to create jobs at homeunder economic pressure hastrumped its sanctions regime. In aclear sign that the technology denialstrategy towards India is drawing to aclose, US commerce secretary GaryLocke will visit Indian SpaceResearch Organization ( ISRO), theDepartment of Atomic Energy, andthe Nuclear Power Corporation ofIndia during his visit to India nextweek in an effort to drive up Americanexports and signal closer strategicties with India.

Locke will also hold a town hallstyle event with students focused oninnovation and the knowledge econo-my at the Indian Institute of Science(IISc) and visit the HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL) facilities in

Bangalore "to see firsthand how USpartnerships with HAL are contribut-ing to India's aviation industry andgenerating high value jobs in bothcountries," the US commerce depart-ment and The White Houseannounced in a statement detailinghis schedule in India. All these entitieshad suffered in some way under a UStechnology denial regime thatstretched back decades, but it wasparticularly severe in the immediatemonths after India's nuclear tests in1998, when the so-called "non-prolif-eration ayatollahs" ( a term coined bythe late K.Subrahmanyam) wererampant in Washington DC.

Some Indian nuclear establish-ment subsidiaries remain on the enti-ties list, but senior administration offi-cials said they were mainly weapons

related facilities or those which werenot safeguarded; the US initiative togenerate nuclear energy trade wouldnot be affected by these residualissues. In fact, a large number ofcompany executives in Locke's busi-ness delegation are from the USnuclear industry. Locke's five-day visitbegins February 6 with a raft of bilat-eral meetings in New Delhi, includingtalks with his Indian counterpartAnand Sharma, civil aviation ministerVayalar Ravi, and deputy chairman ofthe Planning Commission MontekSingh Ahluwalia. He will then go toBangalore to attend the Aero Indiashow where the US pavilion will haveits largest presence to date and willbe the largest foreign presence at theshow. Locke will be joined by USambassador to India Timothy

Roemer, Vice Admiral Bill Landay III,director of the defense security coop-eration agency, and Andrew Shapiro,assistant secretary of political-militaryaffairs at the US state department.The commerce secretary, the first UScabinet official to visit India afterPresident Obama's trip lastNovember, will be accompanied by24 US businesses based in 13 statesacross America. The Obama admin-istration has made no secret of thefact that the primary mission is to gen-erate employment in the UnitedStates by ramping up exports."Exports represent a critical part ofthe economy and are a key compo-nent of the Obama administration'sefforts to spur new job creation. Oneyear ago, President Obama outlinedhis National Export Initiative (NEI),

which seeks to double exports by2015, in support of several millionnew US jobs," a statement releasedahead of the visit noted. The NEIenhances the US government's tradepromotion efforts, increases credit tobusinesses - especially small- andmedium-sized businesses - looking toexport, and continues to improveefforts to remove trade barriers for UScompanies in foreign markets. ButLocke, speaking to journalists onThursday, said US initiatives createdjobs in both countries and was a "win-win" situation. He linked the trademission to growing strategic close-ness between US and India, sayingthe steps taken by Washington are"just the beginning " on a route where"India will be treated like some of ourclosest allies."

Indian students in US radio-tagged;angry govt says remove it

Obama's prayer: 'Lord, havethat skirt get longer'

Clinton offers Jordan support in 'difficult times'

US commerce secretary to visit ISRO, DAE; meet with tiffinwallahs

25�� February, 2011STAR AGEARIES

March-21to

April-20

TAURUS

April-21to

May-20

People may be demanding a lot ofyou today, so watch you don’t endup feeling resentful. Hav¬ing tofit in all the time with other people’splans can be a bore. Do whatmakes you feel vir¬tuous, butdon’t let others push you too much.You have a lot of energy for improv-ing your surroundings or life situa-tions.

GEMINI

May-21to

June-21

CANCER

June-22to

July-23

This is a good day to be self-protectiveand retreat into a private place, prefer-ably at home. So much the better if youcan manage to take the day off, putyour feet up and wrap yourself arounda warm teddy bear. But even if you’reat work, you need some kind of protec-tive niche where you can avoid awk-ward people, hassles and hustle.

LEO

July-24to

August-23

Your mood today is a bit fickle andemotional, so you may be sayingthings to others in a way that theydon’t entirely understand. You don’tcome to any conclusions before youstart talking. The words all just flow outlike a flood. If you could be a bit morereflective it would help enormously. Trynot to get railroaded into over-hastyaction.

VIRGO

August-24to

September-23

LIBRA

September-24to

October-22

With the Moon in your own sign todayyou may be more restless than usual.Action will be your first emotionalresponse to any situation. At home you’llbe flying around at high speed. Try not tooverreact to people’s comments.Sometimes you can get yourself workedup about things that are not as importantas you make them out to be.

SCORPIO

October-23to

November-22

If you are around other people todayyou’ll end up being subjected to theirdemands, so you might as do whatyou want to do for yourself. You won’tmanage it entirely of course, but forsome of the day give yourself achance for reflection and mull over oldmemories. You will be surprised howsuddenly things that seemed to haveno answer have one.

SAGITTARIUS

November-23to

December-22

CAPRICON

December-23to

Januar-20

The Moon sitting at your mid heaven isnudging you into being more protectiveof those around you at work or out inthe community. And the more you give,the more everyone will think you areabsolutely marvellous. With the Moonat odds with Jupiter at the moment youwill expect everything at home and inlife to be totally wonderful.

AQUARIES

January-21to

February-19

This is a day when you will want to com-municate on a much broader scale.There may be messages coming in fromabroad. You are thinkng about loftiersubjects, whether it’s philosophy, religionor politics. You can communicate harmo-niously with almost everyone at a sociallevel and will be even more popular thanusual.

PISCES

February-20to

March-20

Try not to get unsettled if things arenot going precisely as you wanttoday. You will tend to react over-quickly to things. Balance is whatyou are aiming for, though you mayswing to extremes in the effort tofind it. Having a close partner is vitalto your confidence now. You may beexpecting others do to your work foryou. Keep hoping!

Today you want to be flamboyant andbask in the limelight. Clearly not a dayto keep your feelings to yourself. So goflirt, have fun, play games with lovedones. Forget routine chores and duck ifyou feel an order coming your way. Youhave been coping well with extraordi-nary situations, but you have been mak-ing normal situations more difficult.

You will try to keep companions atarms length today, since you are play-ing your cards close to your chest anddon’t want to be manipulated. But inturn you may come across as too con-trolling. Money and security are themain things on your mind so it’s worthwhile pushing yourself to do the boringpaperwork.

You may be dashing around differentpeople trying to sort out what theythink, and just getting confused as aresult. But when the moment comesyou’ll know what is going to work forthe future, and where to commit yourenergy. With Mars in flowing aspect tothe Moon you will find yourself in high-er gear at home.

Your emotional responses will bemuch more intense today. You will tendto get pulled into tricky situations andmay end up feeling a touch frustrated.At work influential people will be drawninto your orbit, but you need to treadsoftly and not say everything you think.Try to control your feelings and put upa calm exterior.

UIC & URDU ADAB PRESENT

MUSHAIRAH

4812 Thornton Ave., Fremont, CA 94536Call: Dr. Koya 510-677-4488 Email: drhkoya@hotmail.com

Friday Jan 7, 2011 | 7 PM to 11PM

Mughal Restaurant

INTRODUCING NEW SHAYER IN TOWN

MubahsirAhmad (MA LLB)

Why do we dream? What is the existence ofdreams? No one has its accurate answer.Science says that the dream is a stream of

thoughts and images appearing during one's sleep.According to Freudian theory, dreams are the result ofsub-conscious thoughts and desires.According toSigmund Freud's book 'The Interpretation of Dreams',dreams are all forms of 'wish-fulfillment'— attempts by theunconscious to resolve a conflict of some sort, whethersomething recent or something from the past. InAstrology, dreams have profound and deeper meanings.They alert us about future happenings and indicate thepossibilities too. Dreams unfold one’s subjugated andsuppressed feelings, desires and thoughts. They are a sortof window to the subconscious mind. That is why oneshould pay attention to dreams, interpret them andunderstand the message, they convey. Dreaming and theirinterpretation is a sort of understanding oneself.

WWhhaatt ddoo yyoouurr dreams mean?

FFIIJJII SSPPOORRTTSS26 �� February, 2011

New Zealand can expect some-thing of a backlash when they playFiji in tomorrow's early game at theOceania Under-17 Championshipat North Harbour Stadium.Seen as the team most likely to

challenge the Young All Whites forgroup Ahonours, the Fijians werestung 2-1 by Papua New Guinea inthe early round two game yester-day. It was a game that threatenedto boil over when a player fromeach side was sent off following amelee late in the first half after PNGhad fought back to 1-1 in the 35thminute with a goal fromcaptainAlwinKomolong. Al-TaafSahib had earlier landed a spectac-ular long-range effort to give Fijitheir 22nd minute lead. JacobSabua, one of the two playersbooked, grabbed the winner sevenminutes into the second half withanother stunning long-range effortbefore he was stretchered off in the

72nd minute. There was no suchdrama in the late game as the homeside clinically raced to a 4-0 halftimelead before going on to beatVanuatu 5-1. Comfortably in controlat the break, New Zealand conced-ed a sloppy goal three minutes intothe second half but soon settled andwere under little pressure. Given adream start when Ken Yamamotoscored in the opening two minutesand 2-0 ahead in the 15th whenBilly Tuiloma scored, the home sidecontinued to dominate. Tim Payneadded a third midway through the

spell and Jordan Vale completedthe first-half blitz. After concedingthat early second-half goal, thehome team had the last say whenCameron Howieson started and fin-ished the move involving substituteRyan Howlett and Yamamoto. "Thehard part when you have such alead is maintaining the consisten-cy," said New Zealand coach SteveCain. "It is always disappointing togive up goals especially a sloppyone but we came back from thatvery well. "The players now realisehow dangerous teams like this canbe." Four of the five teams in thegroup are locked on three pointswith New Zealand having a game inhand. If PNG beat American Samoain tomorrow's late game, they couldbecome New Zealand's biggestthreat. In today's group B actionTahiti play the Solomon Islands(1.30pm) and New Caledonia meetthe Cook Islands (4pm).

The Rewa soccer is not takingthe Champions League seriouslyand will treat it as bonus if theymanage to win the title. The DeltaTigers are hungrier for theVodafone Fiji Fact and Nationalsoccer league title which theyhave not touched till today. Rewasoccer coach, MarikaRodu saidthe team won Inkk Mobile BOGand Courts IDC last year and thefocus now is on two other majortitles. Rodu who also is a NationalKarate Champion stated thatRewa will go as underdogs in theChampions league. There is anaudio file attached to this story.Please loginto listen. The firstround of Champions leaguematches kick this afternoon atGovind Park. Rewa takes onLautoka at 2pm and Ba plays

Navua at 4pm. You can hear thecommentary of both matches onour sister station, Radio Sargam.

Fiji RugbyUnion boardasked to resignThe interim government in Fiji

has asked the board and execu-tives of the Fiji Rugby Union toresign amidst controversy about itssale of lottery tickets. The Ministerfor Sports Filipe Bole says the gov-ernment will only allocate 1.6 mil-lion US dollars for Rugby WorldCup preparations this year, if therugby union has a new administra-tion. Fiji Village news director VijayNarayan says it follows anannouncement by the CommerceCommission that it will take theunion to court over the issue. “TheCommerce Commission has comeout with findings that allege that thelottery ticket funds were misusedby some members of the Fiji RugbyUnion, and also that there are anumber of tickets that are unac-counted for, only 52 percent of thetickets are accounted for. And theCommission is also alleging thatthe Fiji Rugby Union has not pro-vided all the information and theyhad to conduct a search and seizea number of documents.”

MELBOURNE Rebels coachRod Macqueen said he expectedthe physicality and unpredictabilitythat Tonga and Fiji would provide inthe club's trial games would helpsort out who would make up thefirst-choice line-up for the newSuper Rugby team.The Rebels will play their first

game this Saturday night againstTonga at Olympic Park. They playanother trial against Tonga inMorwell next week before taking onFiji in Ballarat on January 29 andSuper 15 powerhouse, theCrusaders, at AAMI Park onFebruary 5. Macqueen said thegames against the Pacific Islanderswould aid in moulding his rawsquad before the Super Rugbyopener against the New SouthWales Waratahs on February 18 as

he examined how players and com-binations performed under pres-sure. Advertisement: Story contin-ues below ''They'll be a very goodstandard being a World Cup year.That's why they're starting so earlythemselves,'' Macqueen said.''They're needing to develop playersand make decisions on their World

Cup representatives so it's going tobe an extra incentive for them.''We want to be able to play with

discipline against them. I thinkthey're sides that can be disruptiveand because of that it's going to bea big test for us. ''We really are nowat the stage were we need to beputting all the things that we've

been practising together. It's amaz-ing the difference it makes whenyou're under pressure. That's goingto be our big test.'' Macqueen said he would mix

and match the team for the twogames against Tonga before mov-ing towards a settled line-up in thelater trials.

Nothing surprises Wayne Pivacwhen it comes to Fiji rugby. It prob-ably should, given recent events.But during his three years as Fijiancoach he saw it all and, like the restof Fiji, become impervious to theprocession of ugly headlines, whichif nothing else make for a colourfulread. The latest batch chronicledthe Fiji Rugby Union board's deci-sion to quit en masse on Thursdayin response to the military regime'sthreat to withhold the state funding($2 million) needed to prepare andattend the Rugby World Cup.Their collective decision came

hard on the heels of a controversialinvestigation into Fiji rugby, stillongoing, which was instigated afterfunds from a FRU lottery to fundFiji's cup campaign seemed to havebeen used for other purposes.Whether the two matters are con-nected is not known. But the massresignation is now being viewed asa device to sweep the entireunseemly matter under the carpet.The motivation of the government isalso a matter subject to much spec-

ulation as it had been widely antici-pated influential members of themilitary, including coup leaderFrank Bainimarama, would at somestage seize control of the organiza-tion to shore up a passage to theworld cup. The commodore is amassive rugby fan, although he isless enamored with New Zealand.His former presidency of the FRUoverlapped Pivac's time in itsemploy and it's thought he expelled

the New Zealand high commission-er in 2007 after he was given a bet-ter seat at a Fiji v Junior All Blacksmatch in Suva. Bainimaramadenied the incident and the expul-sion were related but said the FRUofficials had done "the people ofthis nation a disservice. Out of800,000 people in the country, theywent and nominated the enemy ofthe day, in a Kiwi, to be chief guest".Pivac is a big fan of Bainimaramabut less so several of Fiji rugby'srecent administration. "Nothing sur-prises me after my time there[which ended with his abrupt resig-nation in 2007]. There's politics inrugby everywhere. "But it's rife inFiji. Life will go on there. The aver-age rugby fan in the street will beunperturbed by it all. "But it is sucha shame they can't seem to gettheir act together." With no leader-ship and the FRU's executive undercriminal investigation, the pertinentquestion to ask is: will Fiji make it tothe world cup here in a few months’time, and if they do, will they beable to mount a credible campaign?

Rewa not serious aboutChampions League

Soccer: Smarting Fiji likelyto carry extra passion

'Disruptive' Tonga and Fiji to provide serious examinations for Rebels

Fiji rugby, basketcase of the Pacific

UEFA warned against buyingtickets for Euro 2012 from any-where but its own website, say-ing fans risked being ripped offand unable to get into games.With only weeks until tickets

go on sale for next year'sEuropean championships inPoland and Ukraine, football'scontinental governing bodyunderscored that uefa.com wasthe only authorised channel."You can only apply for tick-

ets on the official website,"UEFA's championships' chiefMartin Kallen told reporters inthe Polish capital Warsaw."There are no other sources.

All other sources are in principleillegal," he said.From March 1-31, fans can

sign up for a chance to buy upto four of more than 550,000tickets available to the generalpublic at Euro 2012.Demand traditionally far out-

strips supply -- 10.4 million peo-ple applied for 300,000 ticketsat Euro 2008 in Switzerland inAustria -- and UEFA will choosethe lucky fans by lottery in April."We handle the ticketing

from beginning to end," notedPedro Correia, head of UEFA'sticket operations.

"You'll see a lot of black mar-ket websites already. Wealways try to try take legalaction against them. But in theend, people need to understandthat they shouldn't go to them,because most likely the sitesdon't even have tickets, so thecustomers will buy somethingthat doesn't exist," he added.

Euro 2012 marks UEFA'sfirst major foray behind the for-mer Iron Curtain, where salarieslag far behind those in much ofWestern Europe, let aloneSwitzerland and Austria.

UEFA warnsover Euro 2012

ticket scams

FOOD 27�� February, 2011

Recipes for a grand partyWWiitthh tthhee wweeeekkeenndd jjuusstt rroouunndd tthhee ccoorrnneerr,, wwhhaatt ccoouulldd bbee aa bbeetttteerr tthhaannccooookkiinngg uupp aa ssuummppttuuoouuss ttrreeaatt ffoorr yyoouurrlloovveedd oonneess.. SSoo,, hheerree''ss yyoouurr cchhaannccee ttoobbrruusshh uupp oonn yyoouurr ccuulliinnaarryy sskkiillllss......

FFoorr tthhee PPaassttrryy::--� 175 gms plain flour� 37 1/2 gms lard� 37 1/2 gms margarine or but-

ter� 1/2 pinch salt� Cold water

FFoorr tthhee ffiilllliinngg::--� 225 gms apples, chopped

small and unpeeled� 112 1/2 gms suet, shredded� 175 gms raisins� 112 1/2 gms sultanas� 112 1/2 gms currants� 112 1/2 gms mixed candied

peel, finely chopped� 175 gms soft dark brown sugar� 1 each orange, grated zest and

juice� 1 each lemon, grated zest and

juice� 25 gms almonds cut in slivers� 2 teaspoons mixed ground

spice, grated� 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon� Nutmeg, grated� 3 tablespoons brandy

FFoorr tthhee ppaassttrryy::--� To make the mince pies, you will need small

muffin pans with not much depth. Prepare thepastry by working the cold butter and the flourso that the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Add the cold water and knead themixture into dough. Cover it with cling wrapand let rest for ½ an hour.

� First, butter the muffin pans with softened but-ter. Roll out the dough and line the pans. Puta tablespoon of mince filling in the doughcups. With the help of a pastry brush andbeaten egg, paint the sides of the cup. Cut outroundels of rolled dough and cover the fill-ing.(Like a small pie). Press the edges andmake sure they stick together. With the tinesof a fork, make a few holes on the top, to letthe steam escape.

� Bake in a pre heated oven (190 degrees C) for10-12 minutes. Serve at room temperaturewith a dusting of icing sugar.

MMiinnccee PPiieessFFoorr tthhee ffiilllliinngg::--� Combine the above

ingredients, exceptthe brandy, in a largemixing bowl, stirringthem well and mixingthem thoroughly.Cover the bowl andleave them overnightfor 12 hours, so thatthe flavours mingle.

� Preheat the oven to120 degrees C,cover the mixtureloosely with alu-minum foil and cookfor 3 hours.

� Take the mixture outof the oven and themixture will look as ifit is swimming in fat.As the mixture cools,all the ingredients willbe enclosed in fat.When the mixture isquite cold, stir in thebrandy and store itaway for a day.

RRooaasstt ttuurrkkeeyy wwiitthh ssaaggee,, oonniioonnaanndd ppoorrkk ssttuuffffiinngg

IInnggrreeddiieennttss::--� Whole turkey, dressed-6 kgs� Softened butter-175 gms� Very streaky bacon-200 gms� Salt and freshly milled pepper-to taste

FFoorr tthhee ssttuuffffiinngg::--� Good quality pork mincemeat� Dried sage-1 tablespoon� Chopped onion-1 large onion� White breadcrumbs-4 tablespoon� Whole egg (optional)-1� Salt and pepper –to taste

FFoorr tthhee ggiibblleett ggrraavvyy::--� Fresh giblets and neck of turkey-� Roughly cut celery-1/2 cup� Roughly cut leeks-1/2 cup� Diced onion-1 large� Diced carrots-1� Whole black peppercorns- a few� Parsley stalks- a small bunch� Bay leaf-1� Flour-2 tablespoons to thicken sauce

MMeetthhoodd::--To make the stuffing, combine the

breadcrumbs with the onion and sage in a large mixingbowl, then stir in a little boiling water and mix thoroughly.Next work the minced pork and egg, if using, into this mix-ture and season with salt and pepper. Leave the stuffingcovered in a cool place. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degreesC. While the oven is heating, stuff the turkey. Loosen theskin off the neck and stuff the neck and the body cavity ofthe bird. Do not press too hard on the neck as the skinmight rupture. Next, smear the softened butter all over thebird and season with salt and pepper. Cover with baconrashers and lay it on a roasting tray, along with some cutonions, celery, leeks and carrots. Cover the bird looselywith aluminum foil and cook for 40 minutes at the initialtemperature. Lower down the temperature to 170 degreesC and cook for another 3 to 3 ½ hours. Next remove thefoil and the bacon rashers and let the skin brown and getcrisper. Baste the skin with the drippings from time to time,so that the skin gets a lovely glaze and a crisper finish. Tocheck for doneness, prick the thickest part of the bird (thethigh or the breast).The juices that run should be clear andnot pink or have any signs of blood. To avoid food poison-ing, check the temperature of the stuffing. It should bebetween 70 degrees C to 77 degrees C temperature. Afterthe turkey is cooked, remove it to a warm place and keepcovered. To make the gravy, drain off all the fat except onetablespoon. Scrape off all the brown bits and the vegeta-bles from the roasting pan .Put the pan on the stove, addthe flour and cook till it gets a little brown. You may addsome fresh leeks, celery, onions, carrots and fresh parsleystalks. Add a litre of hot water to the pan. Next add thegiblets and the neck and simmer for 1 to 2 hours, skim-ming from time to time. Check till the flavours are concen-trated. Adjust the seasoning and add some chopped upcooked giblets and add it to the sauce. Serve with cran-berry sauce, mashed potatoes, buttered Brussels sproutsand honey roasted parsnips.

TThhee mmoosstt ddeelliicciioouuss aassppeecctt aabboouutt aa ssiimmppllee cchhooccoollaattee ccooookkiieeiiss iittss ttaassttee aanndd aappppeeaarraannccee.. AAss iitt bbaakkeess,, ccrraacckkss ffoorrmm iinn tthhee

ttoopp ooff tthhee ccooookkiiee eexxppoossiinngg ddaarrkk cchhooccoollaattee ccrraacckkss aaccrroossss tthheessuurrffaaccee ooff tthhee ccooookkiiee.. SSoouunnddss yyuumm??

Quick chocolate

Cookies!

IInnggrreeddiieennttss::� 2 cups white

table sugar� 4 eggs, scram-

bled� Melt these two

ingredients gen-tly on very lowheat so that theydon't scald

� ¼ cup butter� 4 ounces (4

squares) bakingchocolate

� 2 cups sifted flour� 2 teaspoons bak-

ing powder� ½ teaspoon salt� ½ cup chopped

nuts (you canuse almonds)

� ½ cup confectionsugar for thedecoration.

PPrroocceedduurree::� Mix the eggs and the white sugar

and mix them well.� Then add the melted butter and

chocolate after they cool down a lit-tle. Later add the flour, baking pow-der, nuts and salt and stir to com-bine.

� Chill the batter for a few hours orovernight, so that it will be easy tohandle for the next step.

� Roll the dough into small balls of 1 to2 tablespoons of batter each. Thenroll each ball of batter across a platedusted with the confection sugar tocover the entire ball.

� Place each ball on a greased cookiesheet and bake in a slow oven (300degrees) for 18-20 minutes.

� You need to be careful about dis-colouration of the confection sugarcoating. Check out how the cookiesexpand and crack to give that prettychocolate design! Serve warm.

LEGAL AFFAIRS /PACIFIC NEWS28 �� February, 2011

The Asian American BarAssociation, South AsianAmerican Bar Association,

and Asian Pacific American LawStudent Association will be host-ing a conference at UC HastingsSchool of Law to encourage col-lege students to pursue a lawdegree and become involvedwith community service OnFebruary 19, 2011, from 9:00 amto 4:00 pm. The panels will covercareers in the public sector andprivate sector as well as non-tra-ditional positions in order todemonstrate the variety of waysa law degree can be utilized. Thepanelists will consist of non-prof-it attorneys, judges, professors,private practice attorneys, in-house counsel, politicians, andothers. Distinguished panelistswill include Zahra Billoo -Executive Director of Council ofAmerican-Islamic Relations,David Chiu - San FranciscoBoard of Supervisors President,Judge Stuart Hing, Ash Kalra -San Jose City Councilmember,Nayantara Mehta - Staff AttorneyAlliance for Justice, SangeethaRaghunathan - VISA In-houseCounsel, Emi Gusukuma -Adjunct Professor, Steve Ngo -Member of Board of Trustees of

San Francisco CommunityCollege District, Monali Sheth -Staff Attorney at Equal RightsAdvocate, David Tsai -Intellectual Property Litigator.

A panel of law students willdiscuss the reason they chose toattend law school, their experi-ence applying to law school,scope of each year of lawschool, teaching methods uti-lized by law professors, tips onclasswork management, andhow they intend to use their lawdegree. All attendees will be pro-vided with a packet that willinclude tips on the admissionsprocess (i.e. LSAT, PersonalStatement, Financial Aid, etc.).We will also arrange for personalstatements to be reviewed at afuture date for those studentswho are interested in receivingfeedback.

Attendees will also gain expo-sure to relevant/current issuesthat are affecting the AsianCommunity (employment dis-crimination, immigration issues,voting rights, culture/languageand the law), importance ofminorities being represented inthe legal field, the role race playsin the enforcement and applica-tion of law, and historical accom-

plishments of Asians in the legalfield. Attached is a flyer detailingthe schedule for the programalong with a scholarship applica-tion. The conference is free andlunch will be provided. We wouldvery much appreciate your assis-tance with widely publicizing thisprogram to all college students tomaximize attendance. Highschool and law school studentsare welcome to attend as well.Please share this email withattachments with students, stu-dent organiza-tions/associations/clubs, coun-selors/advisors, youth programcoordinators, sports teams, etc.All attendees are encouraged toRSVP so we can plan according-ly. You may direct any questionsto Audrey Au at (559) 589-5728or aua@uchastings.edu.

Thank you for helping usmake this program a success.

Sincerely,

Shaamini Babu

US Hastings School of Law Building 198

( Rooms J and K)200 McAllister Street, San

Francisco, CA, 94102.

Law School Conference 2/19/11

A protester grabbed New Zealand's prime ministerThursday, shaking but not injuring the leader as he arrived at aceremony marking the signing of the treaty between indigenousMaori and European settlers. The motive for the attack onPrime Minister John Key was not clear, though Waitangi Day _a national holiday named for the treaty _ has become a flash-point for grievances among Maori, many of whom still considerthat the country was stolen from them. The day marks the 1840treaty _ modern New Zealand's founding document, whichguaranteed Maori land rights after the arrival of British settlers."When I got out of the car a couple of young guys tried to thumpme," Key said, adding that Waitangi Day was about "dialogueand understanding each others' points of view, not thumpingeach other." Key currently has one arm in a cast after breakingit in a fall last month while attending Chinese New Year cele-brations. Bodyguards for the prime minister pulled the menaway, as they shouted about Maori rights. Another man nearbycarried a flag representing the movement for Maori sovereign-ty. One of the men yelled, "Don't believe you are coming inhere, mate," as he grabbed Key, the New Zealand Heraldreported on its Web site. Maori are among New Zealand's poor-est citizens, with low education and income levels, poor healthand housing standards and higher numbers of unemployed.They make up more than half the country's prison population.Key's predecessor, Helen Clark, was also the target of angryprotests on Waitangi Day and was jostled while entering thesame venue, known as a Marae, in 2004. Key looked shakenby the incident but said he was not deterred from attending theceremonies. "If they think it is going to stop me coming backnext year and again and again, they can think again because Iam a lot of things but I am not a quitter," he said. "They wereout of step with what the majority of people think."

Nuku'alofa, Tonga: THE four men and threewomen jurors selected for the one month longAshika trial were discharged this morningbecause one of the male jurors had a criminalrecord. Justice Robert Shuster told the court, thatit was brought to his attention that one member ofthe jurors had a previous conviction and after dis-cussing with counsels, he decided to dischargethe whole jury. He said this was to ensure a fairtrial and also to eliminate the possibility ofwhether discussion or friendship had taken placeamong them. The registrar was then ordered tocall another panel of jury for selection on themorning of Friday February 11 with opening argu-ments by counsel on Monday, February 14.

Conviction : The one male juror fromVeitongo had a previous conviction in relation tooffences during the November 16 riots. It isunderstood he received a suspended imprison-ment sentence at the Supreme Court.

The jury selection held on February 7 did notask whether the potential jurors had a criminalrecord and they were asked only whether theyhad any affiliation with any of the defendants andpresiding counsels. After a local reporterinformed the Crown Prosecutor of the jury mem-ber having a criminal record, it was then con-firmed yesterday by the court. The jurors selectedyesterday were from various communities inTongatapu.

New CJ NauruNauru has appointed a new Chief Justice,

Australian Geoffrey Eames. Chief Justice Eamesjoins Justice John von Doussa, who was appointedto the Supreme Court in September. Mr Eames haspreviously served as a judge on the Supreme Courtsin Victoria and the Northern Territory. A Queen’sCounsel, he has also been involved in the profes-sional development of lawyers in Papua NewGuinea and Solomon Isla

Nuku'alofa, Tonga: ThePrincess Regent, Princess Pilolevuofficially opened the $7 million facil-ity A NEW Agro Building Complexand a renovated Tu'imatamoanaFish Market should be a booster forthe enthusiasm of Tongan growersand fishermen to export more oftheir produces overseas, the

Minister of Agriculture andFisheries, Lord Vaea said at theopening of the complex on theseafront in Nuku'alofa on January27. The Princess Regent, PrincessPilolevu officially opened the $7 mil-lion facility that was funded by theEuropean Union under its StabexProgram.

The Jury goes home on Day 2 of the Ashika trial. (Left) The first selection of seven jurors were dismissed

Ashika jury discharged

September 10 marked anothermilestone in the Caucus's tirelessdesire to better serve its community.The Bay Area Immigration TaskForce, a church ministry organizedwith the assistance of Justice forOur Neighbors (a project of UnitedMethodist Committee on Relief, orUMCOR), opened its first immigra-tion law clinic at Temple UMC in SanFrancisco. Included in the service:counsel on immigration status andpossible remedies, assistance withpreparation of various immigrantpetitions and application for natural-ization for eligible clients, an educa-tional "know your rights" workshopfor immigrants, and outside referralsto other legal services and attorneysspecializing in a client's specialneeds, among other services. Thenational program attorney forJustice for Our Neighbors (JFON)will travel from Alabama once amonth to meet with clients at theSan Francisco clinic.

Immigration lawclinic opens inSan Francisco

Protestors grab NZ PM

Princess opens new $7m complex for export produce

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31�� February, 2011PACIFIC NEWS

URI Regional Director Sandy Westin last monthmet with editor the chair of the INTERFAITH

AMERICA and agreed on a plan to incorporateINTERFAITH AMERICA as a San FranciscoEastbay Circle. Going forward it will IA will be

known as INTERFAITH AMERICA SFO EASTBAYCIRCLE. This move opens the door wide enough toinclude any member of faith groups to be part ofINTERFAITH AMERICA. URI, United RegionsInitiative is an international interfaith group.

Interfaith America now an URI Circle Mahendra Chaudhry says he

was not the only Fijian whose rightswere abused by unfair laws.A former Fiji prime minister,

MahendraChaudhry, has describedhis arrest and detention last year asan abuse of power.Charges against the Fiji Labour

Party leader were dropped thisweek by the Director of PublicProsecutions because of insuffi-cient evidence.MrChaudhry had been accused

of breaching regulations aboutunlawful assembly.But he said he was just doing his

job when he met sugar cane farm-ers to discuss a drought.When he was arrested last

October, MrChaudry was charged

under the Public EmergencyRegulations, which he said must berepealed. He said the regulations give the

military and police arbitrary powersof arrest and detention.His case is just one where those

powers were abused, the country'sformer elected head said.

Charges dropped against former FijiPM Chaudhry : repeal law he says

New pricingformula forroot crops

A new pricing formula forroot crop export is needed forthe survival of the industrysays the Fiji Agro ProcessorsAssociation. Chairman andFood Processors Fiji Ltd CEOBrijLal says the new formulawill provide a stable price forroot crops for overseas mar-kets.Lal says a price war

amongst stakeholders is forc-ing prices to fluctuate andnosedive on many occasions.He says they want a pricing

model that appeals to both thelocal farmer - and processorsand retailers in New Zealandand Australia.“ We will make sure that

when our dalo and cassavasits on the shelves in Aucklandand Sydney or Melbourne –it’s at an affordable price. So –there are a lot of discussionsand debates. But – at the endof the day – we should makesure the industry survives andthe farmer survives and all ofus survive."At the moment root crops

are sold according to demandwith no pricing system inplace."Under the model being

developed a farmer must notmake less than 30 or 40 percent of his cost of production.A meeting on the 15th of

this month will finalize the newpricing formula.

Fiji will get an early taste ofTauranga Domain ahead of theRugby World Cup when they play agame there in the new-look PacificRugby Cup next month.Development teams from the

Chiefs, Hurricanes and theCrusaders will face the international"A" sides of Fiji, Samoa and Tongain the Cup. Fiji A take on the Chiefsdevelopment on Wednesday,March 9, at 5pm.

Both the Chiefs' other games arein Pukekohe on March 4 and 14.

The sides will face each otherover three rounds in New Zealandfrom March 4 following a similarseries in Australia against develop-ment sides from the Waratahs,Reds and Brumbies next month.

The tournament culminates witha Pacific Island Series where FijiWarriors, Samoa A and Tonga A willplay each other over three matchdays in late March. Bay of PlentyRugby's operations manager MikeRogers said they were handed thefixture only recently by the Chiefs."It was basically 'here's a game,

you decide the venue', and usingthe Domain made sense for severalreasons," Rogers said. "There's a[greater] cost with playing the game

at Baypark, and with speedway stillthere there's issues around prepa-ration. "Fiji are also using theDomain as their training base [fromSeptember 5-8 and again from

September 26-30] during the WorldCup so it will give them a chance toutilise the facilities before then."The Pacific Cup tournament

kicks off on February 19 with three

rounds of matches in Australia,where the Queensland RedsAcademy, the Junior Waratahs andthe Brumby Runners will face eachof the Pacific Island teams.

Rewa defeats BaThe Rewa

Soccer team is leading the Pillays g a r m e n t sChamp i o n sLeague pointstable afterdefeating Ba,two nil in theonly matchplayed thisafternoon.Rewa who

were playing most of the second half withonly ten men after RatuVeresaToma wasred carded, stood tall and denied Ba anyscoring opportunity.Rewa's goals werescored by Archie Watkins and KelepiQaqa.Meanwhile, Navua will face Lautoka nextWednesday at TFL stadium.The match willkickoff at 5pm.

Tonga’s Prime Minister,Lord Tu’ivakano, has named acabinet of 11 which includessix people’s representatives,three nobles and two common-ers from outside the legisla-ture. The deputy prime minis-ter is a long-time parliamentar-ian, SamiuVaipulu, who haspreviously served as justiceminister. He will again take thejustice portfolio along withinfrastructure and transport.The leader of the Friendly

Islands Democratic Party,’AkilisiPohiva, who unsuccess-fully sought the prime minister-ship, is also in the cabinet,along with his colleague,IsileliPulu. Appointed from out-side the parliament is a formerpolice minister, Clive Edwards,who lost his seat in the

November general election toDrSitiveniHalapua.He becomes the minister of

public enterprise and revenueservices. Dr ’AnaTaufe’ulungaki, who has a PhDin education, is anotherappointee from outside andwill take the education portfo-lio. As required by law, a nobleis the minister of Lands, withLord Ma’afu taking the post,while the Agriculture minister isLord Vaea. Lord Tu’ivakanosays he wanted a cabinet ofability and experience that alsogave representation across thecountry. “I think they should behappy about that. At the end ofthe day I have to look [for] agood calibre of people who willsupport what I am trying to doand I can work comfortably

with.” Lord Tu’ivakano hasindicated he also plans to cre-ate associate ministerial postswith the aim of preparing newMPs for cabinet roles.Meanwhile, one of the newlyelected people’s representa-tives, SemisiSika, says theprime minister is wrong toinclude non-elected people inhis cabinet.MrSika says it’s inappropri-

ate given the country’s movetowards greater democracy.“I really believe that he

should have picked his cabinetfrom the people elected, fromthe 26 members that we cur-rently have, and so to bringpeople from outside it’s not fairand it’s not politically correct inthe eyes of our people at thispoint in time.”

Tonga has a new cabinet

Rugby World Cup: Pacific A teams to test venues

Crusaders Development XV v Fiji A,Christchurch; Chiefs DevelopmentXV v Tonga A, Pukekohe;Hurricanes Development XV vSamoa A, Porirua.

Crusaders Development XV vSamoa A, Lincoln; ChiefsDevelopment XV v Fiji A, Tauranga;Hurricanes Development XV vTonga A, Lower Hutt.

Crusaders Development XV vTonga A, Lincoln; ChiefsDevelopment XV v Samoa A,Pukekohe; HurricanesDevelopment XV v Fiji A, Porirua.

Pacific Rugby CupNew Zealand games

March 4

March 9

March 14

32 �� February, 2011