HC asks AP govt to reconsider transfer of IO probing liquor syndicate

In an embarassment to the state government, the Andhra Pradesh High Court today asked it to reconsider the transfer of the Anti-Corruption Bureau(ACB) officer who was heading the probe into the dealings and links of the liquor syndicate. A Di

vision Bench which also included Chief Justice Madan B Lokur said this while hearing an interlocutory application moved by a petitioner in the face of growing criticism to the transfer of K Srinivas Reddy, an IPS officer, to the coastal security wing early this month.

The state government was directed to inform the court by April 27 its stand on bringing back Reddy to his post.The petitioner alleged that in order to whittle down the ongoing probe into the liquor scandal, the government had deliberately transferred Reddy, the Investigating Officer(IO) who had taken on the liquor mafia in the state. The state government is under pressure from various political quarters to somehow dilute the ongoing investigation, the application alleged.

The petitioner expressed apprehension that the change of the IO might result in benefiting such people who have gothigh political links and who are involved in the scandal neck-deep. The Chief Justice initially expressed his reluctanceto interfere with the Government’s executive powers as regards to the transfer of officers.

However, he later said the Government would have been better advised if it had not given room for any suspicions about its intention in transferring Reddy. The Chief Justice asked the Government to reconsiderthe move in view of the issues raised by the petitioner and criticism in public over the transfer issue. He directed the Government to express its view on the question of bringing back Reddy to take up further investigation into the matter. The case was posted to April 27 for further hearing.

Factbox: Main points from latest IAEA report on Iran

Following are excerpts from the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which also urged Iran to answer queries about possible military dimensions to its nuclear program.

* HIGHER-SCALE ENRICHMENT

In February Iran started producing small batches of 20 percent-enriched uranium with 164 centrifuges at its Natanz pilot plant.

By April it had installed and was preparing a second set of centrifuges to support the first, according to the IAEA report.

They are not yet connected or operational and are under IAEA surveillance.

Iran has told the agency it will continue transferring material in small amounts to the site for higher enrichment. It produced around 5.7 kg of 20 percent-enriched uranium by early April and will have another batch ready soon.

The production rate is about 100g a day according to a senior official familiar with the Iran investigation.

* SURVEILLANCE

The IAEA was able to enhance its surveillance measures at the site earlier this month, improving camera positions, putting material and equipment under seal and most importantly, carrying out inspections at short notice.

But under Iran’s safeguards agreement with the IAEA, the measures should have been in place before its enrichment work rose beyond the 3.5 percent suitable for civilian power plant fuel, to ensure there were no covert diversions into weapons.

Iran says it needs 20 percent-enriched uranium to be converted into fuel rods for a nuclear medicine reactor about to run out of its imported supply. But Iran lacks the know-how to make such fuel, raising Western suspicions about its motives.

* MAIN NATANZ PLANT

The report said Iran had slightly increased the number of centrifuges actively enriching uranium to 3,936 — the first expansion in around a year. It had marginally lowered the total number of installed machines to 8,528.

Analysts said the rise in the number of machines enriching was not very significant and that Iran appeared to be concentrating its efforts elsewhere — possibly in an undisclosed location.

Iran’s P-1 centrifuges, adapted from a smuggled 1970s European design, have been plagued by breakdowns caused by a rapid expansion of enrichment in 2007-2008, analysts say.

But Iran is testing an advanced, more durable model able to refine uranium two or three times faster, and says it intends to introduce the model for production in the near future.

The IAEA asked Iran for information last month after Tehran announced it had developed a “third generation” of centrifuges, the report said. The agency repeated requests for information on sites for manufacturing centrifuges, details on research and development in uranium enrichment, uranium mining and milling.

Iran has not provided the requested information.

* STOCKPILING OF LOW-ENRICHED URANIUM

Iran told inspectors that it had accumulated around 2.4 tons of low-enriched uranium (LEU), about 300 kg more than at the end of January.

That total is enough to fuel about two atomic bombs, if it were further enriched to 90 percent fissile purity.

* POSSIBLE MILITARY DIMENSIONS

Since 2005, the IAEA has been probing Western intelligence reports indicating Iran has coordinated efforts to process uranium, test explosives at high altitude and revamp a ballistic missile cone to make it suitable for a nuclear warhead.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano did not go into as much detail on this topic as in his previous report but kept the most important line — that the IAEA is concerned about possible current bomb research — not just work in the past.

“The agency remains concerned about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear related activities, involving military related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile. There are indications that certain of these activities may have continued beyond 2004.”

The report urged Iran to engage with the IAEA on the issues and allow it to visit relevant sites, have access to all relevant equipment and documentation, and be allowed to interview all relevant officials “without further delay.”

* SECOND ENRICHMENT SITE

Iran agreed in October to inspections at the Fordow enrichment plant, being built inside a mountain bunker, after keeping it secret from the IAEA for three years. The West was angry that Iran had broken anti-proliferation rules.

Iran aims to start the plant near Qom in 2011 but, according to the report, it has not answered all the IAEA’s questions about the site. Tehran says this would go beyond its safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

“The agency considers that the questions it has raised do not go beyond the safeguards agreement, and that the information requested is essential for the agency to verify the chronology and original purpose of (the site).”

It has asked Iran to submit complete design documentation. Iran said it would provide updates on the design “subsequently.”

“In the agency’s view, some of the required information is already available to Iran and should already have been included,” the report said.

The report said no centrifuges had been introduced at Fordow yet. Inspectors had been checking for signs of undeclared nuclear activity after finding a small amount of depleted uranium particles on site. However a recent swipes have turned up no traces.

The agency said that Iran had still not provided it with information about its selected venues for its announced new nuclear sites, even though it is obliged to do this under its safeguards agreement.

* OTHER WORK

Iran has told the agency it will start research work on producing fuel for the Tehran medical research reactor.

The senior official said details of the planned work would be only a first step in a long and complicated process if it is carried out.

Tehran also told the agency in January that it had started research work on producing uranium metal at a laboratory in Tehran. In a visit in April the agency noted that some of the equipment — an electrochemical cell — had been removed. There was no explanation.

* DRUMS

Iran has continued to prevent the IAEA from taking samples from 756 50-liter drums of what Tehran described as domestically made heavy water found by IAEA inspectors at the Isfahan uranium processing center in October. The samples would help the IAEA determine the nature and origin of the material. Iran has told inspectors such sampling is beyond their mandate, and is denying the IAEA access to its heavy water production plant.

(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Butt dismisses allegations of match-fixing, CRI

ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt has dismissed allegations of match-fixing against national team players. Butt told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday that if any of his subordinates raises the issue of match-fixing, “he is talking nonsense.

” In a leaked video recording of an inquiry committee hearing, Pakistan team coaches raised suspicions about the performance of wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal during the winless tour of Australia earlier this year. Then-coach Intikhab Alam said that he was flabbergasted after Akmal missed a run out of Shane Watson in the Sydney test and later heard suggestions of match-fixing.

Report: Akmal wants coaches to apologize, CRI

ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistan news reports say wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal wants an unconditional apology from his former coaches for accusing him of match-fixing during this year’s winless tour of Australia. Akmal was quoted by leading Urdu-language daily Jang on Sunday as saying both Intikhab Alam and Aqib Javed should apologize to him unconditionally, otherwise he will take court action against them.

Both Alam and Javed raised suspicions of match fixing in a leaked video of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s inquiry committee. Alam had said he was flabbergasted after Akmal missed a run out of Shane Watson during the Sydney test and later heard stories of match fixing.

Akmal was talking to the newspaper before leaving for commitments in England.

Akmal threatens to sue coaches over match-fixing allegations

Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has threatened to sue the team’s former coaches Intikhab Alam and Aaquib Javed if they don’t apologise for suggesting that he was involved in match-fixing during the disastrous tour of Australia.

Akmal said he wanted a public apology from Intikhab and Aaqib for raising suspicions about his performance on the tour earlier this year.

“I want an apology from them or else they should substantiate their claims that I deliberately left a run-out in the Sydney test. They must come up with evidence that I am linked with bookmakers,” Kamran said.

The wicketkeeper-batsman made it clear that he was fed up trying to explain that he was not involved in match-fixing.

“I go out everyday and they are people passing comments on me. My family is deeply disturbed with these fresh allegations,” he said.

Intikhab and Aaqib told a Pakistan Cricket Board inquiry committee that they had their suspicions about the performances of Kamran and all-rounder Rana Naved in Australia.

They specifically expressed suspicions about the performance of Kamran in the second Test in the lost Sydney during which the keeper dropped four catches and missed an easy run-out.

The video recordings of the former coaches caused an uproar and reignited the match-fixing issue and the ICC also stated it was examining Pakistan’s dismal tour of Australia this year when they were whitewashed in the Test and one-day series.

Though PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt has made it clear that the inquiry into the Australian tour is a closed chapter and they found no evidence of match-fixing, Kamran who left on Saturday for a film shoot in London said he wanted an apology.

“If they don’t apologise or don’t substantiate their allegations I will go to court. I wanted to go to court earlier also against a media outlet but the PCB persuaded me against do so,” he said.

“But this time since both Intikhab and Aaqib are PCB employees, when I return I will talk to the board Chairman about my intentions,” he added.

Kamran said that he was surprised at the statements of both the former coaches.

“They remained coaches since last year and if they had suspicions about my performance in Sydney why did they pick me for the one-day series that followed,” he stated.

Afridi wants quick and ‘decisive’ action in match fixing controversy

Karachi, May 21 (ANI): Pakistan T20 skipper Shahid Afridi believes that the uncertainty surrounding players’ involvement in match fixing during the winless Australia tour is adversely effecting the team’s focus, and has asked the concerned authorities to take ‘decisive action’ over the issue soon.

Afridi said the controversy is damaging for players keeping in view that they have to compete in some important tournaments in the coming months, including the 2011 World Cup.

“The thing is that there is too much uncertainty because of all those allegations regarding match-fixing. It’s really damaging for the players and the team and I’m really concerned because it comes at a time when we are looking forward to a very busy calendar filled with major assignments, including the all-important World Cup,” The News quoted Afridi, as saying.

“We will be playing in the World Cup just nine months from now and it’s hardly the sort of situation you need to prepare for such a huge event,” he added.

The suspicion of match fixing involving some of the key players, particularly wicket keeper Kamran Akmal spiralled after a video tape was leaked to the media, which showed players and some of the former team officials raising questions over the performance of the team during the disastrous Australia tour while testifying before an inquiry committee set up by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The leaked footage also showed Afridi raising suspicions of match fixing.

Afridi, however, refused to make any statement about the video, and urged the concerned authorities to resolve the issue as soon as possible so that players could concentrate on the game more.

“I think that for our team to move on, we need to quickly resolve all such controversies. You can’t expect the players to give their best when there are so many allegations thrown at them,” the flamboyant cricketer said. (ANI)

Pak claims of Sydney Test match fixing will be difficult to prove: Clarke

Sydney, May 21 (ANI): Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke has said that the Pakistan team management’s questioning of the legitimacy of Australia”s miraculous victory in the Sydney Test match this year is likely to go unanswered.

Coach Intikhab Alam and tour manager Aaqib Javed have both suggested the match may have been tainted by the involvement of bookmakers.

Their recorded testimony has been leaked in Pakistan, but Clarke has said that he had no suspicions about the result.

“The Sydney Test was a wonderful Test win. I can only talk from me personally, I certainly had no suspicions, I guess the one thing I know about Australian cricket is we always play positive, aggressive cricket and we always put as much pressure on opposition teams as possible,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Clarke, as saying.

“Looking back it was a wonderful Test match and a huge win for us, but I certainly had no suspicions,” he added.

Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh said he would be “devastated” if the allegations of Intikhab and Aaqib turned out to be accurate.

“I thought it was a great Test match, I would be devastated like all sports fans if there was an element of match fixing to it,” he was quoted, as saying.

“We have heard these things before and they have got to be substantiated,” he added.

Australia had ended day one of the match in all kinds of bother, and they remained well behind in the match until Pakistan lost their last nine wickets for 89 runs while chasing a target of 175. (ANI)

CA rubbishes ‘match fixing’ rumours behind Australia’s remarkable Sydney win against Pak

Melbourne, May 20 (ANI): Cricket Australia has denied reports that the Sydney Test against Pakistan was fixed, and said that Ricky Ponting-led side pulled off a remarkable victory through its own hard work.

The Pakistan team management believes that their players fixed this year’s Sydney Test as well as a Twenty20 match; an inquiry into the failed Australia tour revealed.

A Cricket Australia spokesman said he had heard nothing about match-fixing allegations. “Our view on that match has always been that we won it from behind through our own efforts,” The Australian quoted him, as saying.

Pakistan had a 206-run lead after the first innings and reached 1-50 in their last innings, chasing a victory total of 175, but Pakistan lost its last nine wickets for 89 runs and with it the match by 36 runs.

The performance of Pakistani wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal attracted most attention in the match. He dropped four catches in the third innings and missed a run out chance against Shane Watson when the opener was on 49. Watson went on to make 97.

More importantly, he dropped Mike Hussey three times as the middle-order batsman compiled 134. Hussey and tailender Peter Siddle went on to make a 123-run partnership and they were also aided by a defensive field setting.

Senior Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam and manager Aaqib Javed told a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) inquiry earlier this year they thought bookmakers might have been involved in the events that saw the game lost.

“I have reservations over the way he missed the run out. When I saw it I couldn’t believe it. How he could miss such a big run out? I can’t say 100 per cent that there is match-fixing, but I have my strong suspicions,” he said.

Intikhab said: “Kamran is a match-winner but every time we came close to a victory, he played a bad shot and got out. I was flabbergasted when Kamran missed the run out. I have serious doubts about him. I have heard stories about match-fixing.”

Aaqib also had suspicions about the performance of fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in a Twenty20 match in Australia, saying, “We have heard things about him as well.” (ANI)

‘Termite’ Shoaib Malik blamed for infighting in team during disastrous Oz tour

Lahore, May 19 (ANI): Banned Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik, who was blamed for politics and infighting in the team during the winless Australia tour, was even described as a “termite” by a member of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) inquiry commission formed to probe the disastrous tour, a leaked video of a hearing of the commission has revealed.

The video, which is said to have been deliberately leaked by some of the PCB officials, show a member of the six-member committee using the word ‘termite’ for Malik after being told by some of the fellow cricketers and coaches Intikhab Alam and Aqib Javed that the former captain was the only person to be blamed for the lack of team spirit in the team.

The video also shows Alam and Javed alleging that they suspected that wicket keeper Akmal was involved in match fixing, which was evident from his shoddy performance throughout the tour Down Under.

“I have reservations over the way he missed the run out. When I saw it I couldn’t believe it. How he could miss such a big run out? I can’t say 100 percent that there is match-fixing, but I have my strong suspicions,” The Daily Times quoted Javed, as saying in the video.

“I was flabbergasted when Kamran missed the run out. I have serious doubts about him. I have heard stories about match-fixing,” said Alam. (ANI)

Leaked tape reveals match-fixing allegations made by Pak coaches against Akmal

Lahore, May 19 (ANI): Days after the Pakistan Cricket Board’s inquiry commission’s report over the national team’s disastrous Australia tour was leaked to the media, video footage of a hearing of the commission, which shows former team coaches Intikhab Alam and Aaqib Javed suspecting wicket keeper Kamran Akmal of being involved in match-fixing, has emerged.

The video, which is said to have been deliberately leaked by some of PCB officials, shows Alam and Javed alleging that they suspected that Akmal’s shoddy performance throughout the tour was intentional, The Daily Times reports.

Kamran had dropped four catches in the Sydney Test, including three off middle order batsman Mike Hussey, after which he went on to make a century to help his team register a remarkable win in the Test match, in which the visitors were in commanding position right from the first innings.

“I have reservations over the way he missed the run out. When I saw it I couldn’t believe it. How he could miss such a big run out? I can’t say 100 percent that there is match-fixing, but I have my strong suspicions,” the video shows Javed, as saying.

“I know all about it because I was a victim of it. In 1998, I presented evidence against players but the judge who was hearing the inquiry ended the matter,” he added.

“I was flabbergasted when Kamran missed the run out. I have serious doubts about him. I have heard stories about match-fixing,” said Alam.

The video has stirred a fresh controversy in Pakistan cricket, which already has been facing myriad troubles over the past few years. (ANI)

Pakistan realises there is a cancer in their midst: Obama

Washington, May 13 (IANS) President Barack Obama believes that after years of looking at their main rival India as their only concern, Pakistan has finally come to realise that the cancer of terrorism threatens Pakistan’s sovereignty.

‘I think there has been in the past a view on the part of Pakistan that their primary rival, India, was their only concern,’ he said Wednesday at a joint press appearance with the visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai in response to a question by an Afghan journalist about Pakistan’s unhelpful attitude towards Afghanistan.

‘I think what you’ve seen over the last several months is a growing recognition that they have a cancer in their midst; that the extremist organizations that have been allowed to congregate and use as a base the frontier areas to then go into Afghanistan, that that now threatens Pakistan ‘s sovereignty.’

Obama said he and Karzai had in the past, met with Pakistan President Asif Ali ‘Zardari, as well as their intelligence officers, their military, their teams, and emphasised to Pakistan the fact that our security is intertwined.’

‘Our goal is to break down some of the old suspicions and the old bad habits and continue to work with the Pakistani government to see their interest in a stable Afghanistan which is free from foreign meddling,’ he said.

‘Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States, the international community, should all be working to reduce the influence of extremists in those regions, Obama said. ‘And I am actually encouraged by what I’ve seen from the Pakistani government over the last several months.’

‘But just as it’s going to take some time for Afghanistan’s economy, for example, to fully recover from 30 years of war, it’s going to take some time for Pakistan, even where there is a will, to find a way in order to effectively deal with these extremists in areas that are fairly loosely governed from Islamabad,’ Obama said.

Praising recent steps taken by Pakistan to take on militants, he said: ‘Part of what I’ve been encouraged by is Pakistan’s willingness to start asserting more control over some of these areas.

‘But it’s not going to happen overnight,’ he acknowledged. ‘And they have been taking enormous casualties; the Pakistani military has been going in fairly aggressively. But this will be a ongoing project.’

During a 45 minute meeting in the Oval Office, Obama said he and Karzai ‘both discussed the fact that the only way, ultimately, that Pakistan is secure is if Afghanistan is secure.

‘And the only way that Afghanistan is secure is if the sovereignty, the territorial integrity, the Afghan constitution,

the Afghan people are respected by their neighbours.

‘We think that that message is starting to get through, but it’s one that we have to continue to promote,’ Obama said.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

Pak must shun India ‘obsession’, Afghan ‘meddling’ ‘bad habits’: Obama

Washington, May 13 (ANI): Noting Pakistan’s ‘obsession’ with India, US President Barack Obama has said that Islamabad must shun the ‘bad’ custom of viewing its neighbouring nation as a primary threat and realise that it was extremists emanating from its own soil that are threatening the country’s very existence.

Speaking during a joint press conference with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Obama pointed out that his administration was working both with the Pakistani and Afghan leadership to help them do away with some of their ‘bad habits’ and old suspicions.

While describing Pakistan’s obsession with India as one of its ‘bad habits’, he acknowledged that Islamabad is now slowly overcoming the practice.

“I think there has been in the past a view on the part of Pakistan that their primary rival, India, was their only concern,” The Dawn quoted Obama, as saying.

“What you’ve seen over the last several months is a growing recognition that they have a cancer in their midst; that the extremist organisations that have been allowed to congregate and use as a base the frontier areas to then go into Afghanistan, that now threatens Pakistan’s sovereignty,” he added.

Responding to a comment of an Afghan journalist that Pakistan was the “the only reason that Afghanistan was not civilised today”, the US President said Washington was determined to help improve relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

“Our goal is to break down some of the old suspicions and the old bad habits and continue to work with the Pakistani government to see their interest in a stable Afghanistan which is free from foreign meddling,” he said.

During the briefing, Karzai was asked about reconciliation with the Taliban, to which he replied that there are “thousands of Taliban who are not against Afghanistan or against the Afghan people or their country; who are not against America either or the rest of the world”.

Karzai said there are many Afghan Taliban who wanted to come back if provided an opportunity and political means to do so.

“It’s this group of the Taliban that you’re addressing in the peace Jirga. It is this group that is our intention,” he said.

Without mentioning Pakistan, the Afghan President said that the Taliban being controlled from ‘outside’ were increasing troubles for his country. (ANI)

Iran sees Turkish, Brazil nuclear ideas as positive

Iran can work with proposals put forward by Turkey and Brazil to try to revive a stalled U.N.-backed nuclear fuel swap deal, a senior official said in remarks published on Saturday.

“New formulas have been raised about the exchange of fuel … I think we can arrive at practical agreements on these formulas,” the Iran daily quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying. He did not give details.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this week agreed “in principle” to Brazilian mediation on the proposed fuel swap exchange with world powers, aimed at allaying Western suspicions over Tehran’s atomic ambitions.

The West fears Iran is seeking to develop nuclear bombs. Iran, the world’s fifth-largest crude exporter, says it only aims to generate electricity and has repeatedly refused to bow to international demands to halt sensitive atom work.

(Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Fredrik Dahl)

Bullock ‘delays divorce to work out amicable deal with James’

Washington, April 17 (ANI): Sandra Bullock has delayed filling divorce papers as she wants to make everything clear to her estranged husband Jesse James before their split becomes legal, it has emerged.

James is facing allegations of being involved with five women. There’s said to be 15 Jesses’ mistresses in total.

While Sandra had her suspicions about Jesse during the marriage, she never imagined the extent of his cheating, the source said.

But now Bullock is delaying the divorce process, as she wants to work out and finish a deal with Jesse before filling the papers, Radar Online.com reports.

“She will definitely be filing divorce papers, but wants to make sure everything is lined up perfectly first so it doesn’t get messy,” the source told RadarOnline.com. (ANI)

Police investigate hep C infections

Victorian police are trying to find out whether a doctor deliberately infected 12 women with hepatitis C.

The women were all patients at a Melbourne abortion clinic between June 2008 and December 2009.

The state’s health department went public with its suspicions on Friday, but the department and the Victorian health minister are defending the decision to keep the matter quiet until now.

Suspicions were raised when the Victorian Department of Health noticed in December that three women diagnosed with hepatitis C had all been patients of the same clinic.

When a further nine cases were linked to the clinic early this year the department decided the police needed to be notified.

Victoria’s chief health officer, Dr John Carnie, says he cannot explain how 12 people could be infected by accident.

“I find it difficult to imagine how an accidental transmission could affect 12 patients and because of that difficulty we have tried to involve the police and the medical board in this investigation,” Dr Carnie said.

Dr Carnie would not say what sort of procedures the women had undergone, but it was confirmed today that the doctor is an anaesthetist.

He had been working at the clinic at Croydon in Melbourne’s outer-east.

The Victorian Health Department started testing the clinic’s staff in January, but at that time the doctor was overseas. He was tested on his return to Melbourne in early February.

Dr Carnie says it was confirmed the doctor had hepatitis C. Further testing, which Dr Carnie likens to testing fingerprints, showed that three of the women had the same strain of hepatitis C as the doctor.

It is known as genotype 1B and is a relatively rare form of the virus in Australia.

The Medical Practitioners Board declined to say if the doctor is from overseas.

Dr Carnie says the Victorian Health Department did a great job in identifying the hepatitis C cluster.

“We get over 2,000 cases of hepatitis C being notified to the Department. Out of those 2,000-odd cases in total, being able to find this very small number of cases that have this link to the clinic has been the result of very detailed and painstaking work on the part of the communicable disease area,” he said.

People who underwent surgery at the clinic between June 2008 and December 2009 are being contacted by the Department of Health.

But Dr Carnie will not speculate on the number of people that may have been infected.

“This whole episode is going to clearly cause distress in the community. I don’t want to add to that concern by starting to speculate on total numbers,” he said.

Of the 12 women who tested positive to hepatitis C, two have now cleared the virus from their bloodstreams, which Dr Carnie says is not unusual.

The other 10 women are at risk of developing cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer.

But Dr Carnie says that anti-viral treatment can cure some cases.

Notification process

The doctor in question was suspended in mid-February after already giving the Victorian Department of Health an undertaking not to practice while the matter was being investigated.

Dr Carnie has defended the amount of time it took to suspend the doctor.

“From the time the clinic reopened after the holidays there was no ongoing risk to anyone and this person has not worked at that clinic since his return from overseas,” he said.

The President of the Victorian Medical Practitioners Board, Robert Adler, says doctors who have Hepatitis C are allowed to practice, but only if they follow infection control procedures and don’t do what are known as “exposure prone surgical procedures” like those in internal cavities or those with a higher risk of needle stick injury.

“Normal anaesthesia that follows infection control guidelines carries an extremely low or non-existent risk of transmission of Hepatitis C provided the doctor follows infection control guidelines,” he said.

The hepatitis C cluster was revealed in Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper this morning. Dr Carnie says it was not necessary to notify the public earlier.

“We are in the process of starting to call people back, other people who may have had procedures at this clinic and we didn’t want them to be alarmed by a call from the Department,” he said.

“We we wanted them to be aware of the issue that we’re dealing with and that was the reason for making this public.”

Victorian Health Minister, Daniel Andrews, says he was notified of the initial cluster of three cases of Hepatitis C on the December 22 last year.

He does not believe the public should have been notified earlier.

“I am confident that the chief health officer and my department, more broadly, have made appropriate contacts with Victoria Police and I’m confident that my department and the chief health officer have at all times, and at all stages, acted appropriately in relation to these issues,” Mr Andrews said.

Chinese mine flood relatives fear toll cover-up

(Reuters) – Families and survivors of a flood feared to be one of China’s worst mine accidents in recent years say officials are covering up the true number of people trapped underground and failing in rescue efforts.

World | China

The local government has not published the names of the 153 miners it says were unable to escape when water surged into the pit on Sunday afternoon, prompting Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang to demand a list of potential victims, local media reported.

“Is 153 the exact number?” Zhang, sent to direct rescue efforts shortly after the accident, was quoted asking mine officials in a conference call.

“I don’t think the suspicion from the public is unreasonable,” he added, according to the Beijing News.

At the mine itself relatives waiting for news of their fathers, sons and brothers, and survivors keen to help out with rescue efforts all told Reuters the official toll was too low.

“We sent 10 tramcars down to the pit before the flooding and each car usually carries 44 miners and a driver,” a tramcar driver who was working on the day of the accident said.

“Only one car came back up the shaft, plus a few dozen miners who escaped on foot,” he said, suggesting nearly 450 people could have been underground at the time of the flood.

Officials say 261 people were working in the unfinished Wangjialing mine, in northern Shanxi province, and 108 escaped. Even those who do not question the total number underground say

there may be more than 153 still trapped.

“At least 200 people are trapped,” said a mine worker surnamed Li, unwilling to give his full name because of official pressure not to speak to foreign media.

“I was working in the checkpoint at the entry of the pit, so I’m quite sure about how many people had gone underground.”

A Shanxi government official said they had heard there were a lot of suspicions, but insisted the number was accurate.

“We have checked this many times, so it should be the exact number,” said the official from the province’s foreign affairs office, who gave only his surname, Cao, and said he did not know why names were not being released.

SURVIVAL HOPES?

Some miners were working on platforms above current water levels and may have survived, the official Xinhua agency said.

Sounds from the pit, which may have been someone pounding on the pipelines, were heard on Friday morning, CCTV news reported. One of the rescue workers told Reuters they had found a piece of wire tied onto a pipeline sent into the flooded zone.

But five days of rescue efforts have reduced water levels barely a meter, the Xinhua report added.

“The pipelines are too thin to pump water fast enough,” the daughter of a trapped miner told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

“My father will not be killed by the flooding, but by these rescuers,” she added.

China has ordered the consolidation or takeover of many private mines in order to improve oversight and safety.

It credits the shutdown of many of the most dangerous private mines with helping to reduce the death toll in the coal industry to about 2,600 last year from over 3,000 the year before.

But the deadliest accidents are not limited to private firms. The Wangjialing mine was a high-profile project belonging to a joint venture between China National Coal Group and Shanxi Coking Coal Group, two of China’s larger state-owned firms.

Relatives and some Chinese media have blamed the firms for ignoring safety requirements in their push to start operations.

Miners found water in the pit as early as three days before the accident, but the managers just said: “How can you be afraid of a little bit of water?” the worker surnamed Li said.

“They did not treat migrant workers as human beings,” he added.

(Writing by Yu Le and Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim and Jerry Norton)

Chinese mine flood relatives fear toll cover-up

(Reuters) – Families and survivors of a flood feared to be one of China’s worst mine accidents in recent years say officials are covering up the true number of people trapped underground and failing in rescue efforts.

World | China

The local government has not published the names of the 153 miners it says were unable to escape when water surged into the pit on Sunday afternoon, prompting Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang to demand a list of potential victims, local media reported.

“Is 153 the exact number?” Zhang, sent to direct rescue efforts shortly after the accident, was quoted asking mine officials in a conference call.

“I don’t think the suspicion from the public is unreasonable,” he added, according to the Beijing News.

At the mine itself relatives waiting for news of their fathers, sons and brothers, and survivors keen to help out with rescue efforts all told Reuters the official toll was too low.

“We sent 10 tramcars down to the pit before the flooding and each car usually carries 44 miners and a driver,” a tramcar driver who was working on the day of the accident said.

“Only one car came back up the shaft, plus a few dozen miners who escaped on foot,” he said, suggesting nearly 450 people could have been underground at the time of the flood.

Officials say 261 people were working in the unfinished Wangjialing mine, in northern Shanxi province, and 108 escaped. Even those who do not question the total number underground say

there may be more than 153 still trapped.

“At least 200 people are trapped,” said a mine worker surnamed Li, unwilling to give his full name because of official pressure not to speak to foreign media.

“I was working in the checkpoint at the entry of the pit, so I’m quite sure about how many people had gone underground.”

A Shanxi government official said they had heard there were a lot of suspicions, but insisted the number was accurate.

“We have checked this many times, so it should be the exact number,” said the official from the province’s foreign affairs office, who gave only his surname, Cao, and said he did not know why names were not being released.

SURVIVAL HOPES?

Some miners were working on platforms above current water levels and may have survived, the official Xinhua agency said.

Sounds from the pit, which may have been someone pounding on the pipelines, were heard on Friday morning, CCTV news reported. One of the rescue workers told Reuters they had found a piece of wire tied onto a pipeline sent into the flooded zone.

But five days of rescue efforts have reduced water levels barely a meter, the Xinhua report added.

“The pipelines are too thin to pump water fast enough,” the daughter of a trapped miner told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

“My father will not be killed by the flooding, but by these rescuers,” she added.

China has ordered the consolidation or takeover of many private mines in order to improve oversight and safety.

It credits the shutdown of many of the most dangerous private mines with helping to reduce the death toll in the coal industry to about 2,600 last year from over 3,000 the year before.

But the deadliest accidents are not limited to private firms. The Wangjialing mine was a high-profile project belonging to a joint venture between China National Coal Group and Shanxi Coking Coal Group, two of China’s larger state-owned firms.

Relatives and some Chinese media have blamed the firms for ignoring safety requirements in their push to start operations.

Miners found water in the pit as early as three days before the accident, but the managers just said: “How can you be afraid of a little bit of water?” the worker surnamed Li said.

“They did not treat migrant workers as human beings,” he added.

(Writing by Yu Le and Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim and Jerry Norton)

Brit prison monitor lands herself in jail for having ”phone sex” with inmates

London, Apr 1 (ANI): A prison monitor, who sent explicit photographs of herself and engaged in ””phone sex”” with inmates, has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Alice Belton, of Wilton Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing at Newport Crown Court on the Isle of Wight to a charge of misconduct in office.

The 23-year-old was found to have engaged in ””inappropriate”” and ””intimate”” relationships with three inmates serving at HMP Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight where she volunteered between October 2008 and April 2009.

As part of her unpaid role with the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), she had to visit prisoners to check on their well-being, reports the Telegraph.

However, she was arrested after she was found bringing a mobile phone into the prison.

Belton told police she had first made contact with one of the prisoners, named as Stuart, through a dating site called Flirtfast, but at that time she did not know he was a serving prisoner at Parkhurst.

However, she admitted carrying on the relationship after she had found out.

The court heard Stuart attempted to persuade her to bring drugs into the prison but she refused to oblige.

The prisoner also transferred 600 pounds to her bank account as a birthday present.

It was revealed that Belton later became involved with John Paul, a friend of Stuart and also a Parkhurst inmate, and exchanged explicit text messages with him.

The court heard that Belton, who was in a relationship, also engaged in an exchange of letters with a third prisoner, called Justin, but these letters did not contain sexual material.

Defence attorney Richard Germain said that Belton was ””emotionally fragile”” and ‘‘naive’’, which had been caused by her upbringing.

Germain said there were suspicions that Belton was being groomed by the prisoners as a potential drugs courier and they had informed the prison authorities of her behaviour when she refused.

Judge John Dixon sentenced Belton to a four-month prison sentence suspended for two years and said that she had been given inappropriate support and training for her role.

He criticised the Government for failing to set up a better vetting procedure for prison monitor volunteers. (ANI)

90 percent of distant galaxies have gone undiscovered, say astronomers

Washington, March 26 (ANI): Astronomers, using two of the four giant 8.2-metre telescopes that make up ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), have determined that 90 percent of galaxies whose light took 10 billion years to reach us have gone undiscovered.

Astronomers frequently use the strong, characteristic “fingerprint” of light emitted by hydrogen known as the Lyman-alpha line, to probe the amount of stars formed in the very distant Universe.

Yet there have long been suspicions that many distant galaxies go unnoticed in these surveys.

The new VLT survey demonstrates for the first time that this is exactly what is happening.

Most of the Lyman-alpha light is trapped within the galaxy that emits it, and 90 percent of galaxies do not show up in Lyman-alpha surveys.

“Astronomers always knew they were missing some fraction of the galaxies in Lyman-alpha surveys, but for the first time we now have a measurement. The number of missed galaxies is substantial,” explained Matthew Hayes, the lead author of the research paper.

To figure out how much of the total luminosity was missed, Hayes and his team used the FORS camera at the VLT and a custom-built narrowband filter to measure this Lyman-alpha light, following the methodology of standard Lyman-alpha surveys.

Then, using the new HAWK-I camera, attached to another VLT Unit Telescope, they surveyed the same area of space for light emitted at a different wavelength, also by glowing hydrogen, and known as the H-alpha line.

They specifically looked at galaxies whose light has been travelling for 10 billion years, in a well-studied area of the sky, known as the GOODS-South field.

“This is the first time we have observed a patch of the sky so deeply in light coming from hydrogen at these two very specific wavelengths, and this proved crucial,” said team member Goran Ostlin.

The survey was extremely deep, and uncovered some of the faintest galaxies known at this early epoch in the life of the Universe.

The astronomers could thereby conclude that traditional surveys done using Lyman-alpha only see a tiny part of the total light that is produced, since most of the Lyman-alpha photons are destroyed by interaction with the interstellar clouds of gas and dust.

This effect is dramatically more significant for Lyman-alpha than for H-alpha light. As a result, many galaxies, a proportion as high as 90 percent, go unseen by these surveys.

“If there are ten galaxies seen, there could be a hundred there,” Hayes said. (ANI)

‘Bumpy road ahead for US-Pak ties’

Washington, Mar.25 (ANI): The United States’ cool response to Pakistan’s demand of having a India like civil nuclear deal and unmanned Predator drones would play a determining role in future engagements between both countries, officials privy to the first ministerial level strategic dialogue between Washington and Islamabad have said.

Pakistani and US officials said that a “bumpy road lay ahead” with the United States snubbing Pakistan over its ambitious demands.

While Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi described Washington’s approach towards Pakistan as a ‘180-degree difference’, experts said that suspicions concerning Islamabad are still to vanish.

Former State Department official, Marvin Weinbaum, said there has been a change in the White House’s attitude towards Pakistan, but there still remain some areas of concern.

“I don”t think people”s suspicions about Pakistan have gone away, but I think there is a new willingness to give them the benefit of the doubt,” The News quoted Weinbaum, as saying.

Many foreign officials and analysts have been questioning Pakistan”s motivations in Afghanistan, and believe that it is more concerned about preserving its influence in the war torn country than fighting the Taliban and other extremist groups.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also clearly pointed out that there have been misunderstandings between both states in the past and that they were likely to continue in future also, but the latest talks should be seen as a positive beginning.

“The two nations have had … misunderstandings … and there are sure to be more disagreements in the future as there are between any friends or, frankly, any family members. But this is a new day,” Clinton said while speaking during a press conference after meeting Qureshi.

She said that Islamabad must realise that demanding more military and financial assistance would not resolve issues, rather the dialogue between both countries should also include methods to improve the lives of the Pakistani people. (ANI)