Pashupatinath temple to appoint two Indian priests

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KATHMANDU: With the dispute over appointment of priests still "pending" in the Supreme Court, authorities of Nepal's Pashupatinath temple is planning to recruit two Indian pundits following the country's old tradition.

"We have felt the need to appoint two new priests very soon as regular worshipping has become difficult to manage due to lack of hands," Treasurer of the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), Narottam Vaidya said.

The case relating to the new regulation for appointing priests is "pending in the Supreme Court, and the current arrangement is temporary". It will be done following the old tradition of taking in Indian priests, he added.

A case was filed in the apex court challenging the decision of the previous executive board of the PADT that formulated regulation allowing non-Indian and local people to qualify as priests.

Pashupatinath temple, an important place of worship in Nepal has been facing worker-crisis ever since two Indian priests Krishna Bhatta and Ramchandra Bhatta resigned, reportedly under pressure of Maoists-led government, which appointed two Nepalese priests in their place.

TOI

Aung San Suu Kyi's trial to resume in Myanmar

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YANGON (Myanmar): Lawyers for Myanmar's jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi are scheduled to present final arguments on Friday in their Suu Kyi is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by harboring an uninvited American man. (AFP Photo)

efforts to save her from a possible five-year prison term.

Suu Kyi, 64, is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by harboring an uninvited American man who swam to her lakeside home and stayed for two days. She is being detained at Myanmar's notorious Insein Prison.

Nyan Win, one of Suu Kyi's defense lawyers, said the legal team met with her Thursday to finalize their 23-page closing argument, which will be presented when the widely criticized proceedings resume Friday afternoon.

``We are very optimistic because our arguments are based on solid legal points,'' Suu Kyi's main lawyer Kyi Win said. ``We have the law on our side, but we don't know if the judges are on our side.''

The defense has not contested the basic facts of the case but argues the relevant law has been misapplied by the authorities. They also assert that the security guards who ensure Suu Kyi remains inside her compound should also be held responsible for any intrusion on her property.

Diplomats from Britain, France, Germany and Italy who had earlier requested access will be allowed into the courtroom for Friday's session, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity citing protocol. It will be the third time during the mostly closed-door trial that such access has been granted.

The resumption of the trial came as US, European and Asian officials - including the top diplomat from Myanmar - wound up a conference Thursday in neighboring Thailand that put Myanmar's human rights record in the spotlight.

The trial has drawn condemnation from the international community and Suu Kyi's local supporters, who worry the ruling junta has found an excuse to keep her behind bars through elections planned for next year. The verdict is expected sometime next month, and Suu Kyi faces up to five years in prison.

Also on trial, and facing the same charges as Suu Kyi, are two female members of her party who were her sole companions under house arrest. The American, John Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Missouri, is charged with trespassing.

The trial started May 18. The court had approved 23 prosecution witnesses, of which 14 took the stand. Only two out of four defense witnesses were allowed to testify.

Yettaw has pleaded not guilty and explained in court that he had a dream that Suu Kyi would be assassinated and he had gone to warn her.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962.

Suu Kyi's opposition party won national elections in 1990, but Myanmar's generals refused to relinquish power. Suu Kyi, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.

Soruce:TOI

All parties equally responsible for Nepal crisis: UN

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UNITED NATIONS: All sides are to be blamed equally for the stagnation in the current peace process in Nepal, a top UN official today said and hoped the leaders of political parties will rise above their differences to resolve the crisis.

Addressing a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, Karin Landgren, the UN representative in Nepal, said no one particular party bore the blame for sluggish progress of the peace process since all parties had entered into the process and had been carried along so far through "repeated agreements, consensus and compromise".

Over the last few months, all sides had taken actions that had caused the process to slow down, she said.

However, Landgren hoped that party leaders would rise above their differences and work together pragmatically, through consensus and dialogue to advance the process, as they had done in the past.

The political leaders of the country are in active discussions about the steps and structures, which could restore significant momentum to the process. There is also a need for regular dialogue among them to improve the political environment, she said.

Welcoming the decision of the Security Council to extend the UN's mission in Nepal by another six months, Landgren said the action had come at a time when the peace process had stagnated to a degree.

In light of its unanimous support, the government and all parties would take the peace process forward in the period ahead, thereby creating the conditions for the Mission to conclude its mandated tasks in support of Nepal's nationally driven peace process, she hoped.

Landgren said the Security Council resolution passed today sent an important message of support and encouragement to the government and parties in respect of several recent decisions, as well as the ongoing work by the Constituent Assembly on preparing a new Constitution.

The Council in its resolution welcomed the recent decisions by the Government and the Unified CPN-Maoist formally to begin the discharge and rehabilitation of the 4,008 Maoist army personnel disqualified by the verification process.

It also welcomed the action plan which the government had committed to prepare for that purpose, and for beginning the integration and rehabilitation of the 19,602 verified Maoist army personnel.

Noting that the integration and rehabilitation of former combatants were crucial in any peace process, Landgren said the Security Council had also called on the government and political parties to ensure the early reconstitution of the Special Committee responsible for supervising, integrating and rehabilitating the Maoist army personnel, drawing support from its Technical Committee.

"Critical political decisions need to be taken soon on the modalities and the number of Maoist army personnel to be integrated in the security forces," she said, adding that determining the future of the Maoist personnel was critical to building a lasting peace.

Asked how trust and confidence -- two necessary ingredients for moving the peace process forward -- would be restored in view of all the actions that tended to undermine it, she said the parties themselves had put two extremely important proposals on the table.

One called for a high-level political consultative mechanism, which would involve the leaders of the main parties and be dedicated to the key issues of the peace process and moving it forward.

"What we would also encourage them to do is put the underpinnings for a mechanism like that in place to make sure that fresh commitments are then implemented and followed up," Landgren said.

She said the second proposal, which had been echoed by all the main leaders, was that a Government of national unity or consensus was not only necessary, but probably inevitable.

However, the leaders acknowledged that such a proposal would take some time to achieve, and that the question of who would lead it could be expected to require "significant further discussion". Nevertheless, it was an encouraging concept for moving the peace process forward, she said.

TOI

Nearly 65000 deserters in Sri Lankan Army

Colombo, Jul 16 (PTI) The Sri Lankan army is grappling with the problem of 'deserters' with the number swelling to around 65,000, while 2,000 are in different prison.

There are around 65,000 army deserters at large while 2,000 are in prison, Secretary to the Ministry of Justice and Law Reforms Suhada Gamlath said.

Once an army deserter is captured he is produced for a Court Martial and usually sentenced to an imprisonment not exceeding one year.

Since the Defence Ministry had stepped up arresting those who deserted the service the Prisons Department will definitely face a problem of space, Gamlath told reporters.

The young secretary, however, favours a separate cell for the deserters saying they should not be equated with the criminals.

Gamlath said there was a need for having a separate detention centre for the 2,000 army deserters who are now being held at various prisons across the country.

At least 200 stage fresh protest in China's Urumqi

URUMQI, China: At least 200 people staged a fresh protest in China's Urumqi city in front of foreign reporters on Tuesday to demand the release of
detained relatives, two days after deadly riots here.

The relatives, all Uighurs, approached the reporters in the capital of Xinjiang with their fists in the air, tears rolling down their faces, and then engaged in a tense standoff with police, a reporter said.

"I'm here to demand my husband be returned," said one woman who gave her name as Maliya, as she held the hand of her crying seven-year-old son.

She said police burst into their house on Monday and took her husband away.

Maliya insisted her husband took no part in Sunday's unrest.

"We were at home when it happened," she said.

The protesters, mostly women and children, were emboldened by the presence of six bus-loads of foreign reporters on a government-sponsored trip to Urumqi after riots on Sunday left at least 156 people dead and over 1,000 injured.

"Film this," one protester said, while others made signs to mimic the action of taking a photo.

Hundreds of police armed with machine guns, shotguns and batons surrounded the protesters, who refused to move. The demonstration started at about 11:00 am (0300 GMT) and by 11:40 the standoff was continuing.

The police had also brought in German Shepherd dogs.

The unrest on Sunday saw Muslim Uighurs, who have long complained about repression under Chinese rule, take to the streets.

Chinese authorities have accused exiled Uighur leaders of orchestrating the unrest, and state television has shown footage of Uighurs attacking people in the streets, turning over police cars and smashing shops.

But exiled Uighur leaders have said Chinese security forces overreacted to peaceful protests and fired indiscriminately.

Source:TOI

UN Security Council condemns latest missile test by NKorea

Washington, Jul 7 (PTI) The UN Security Council has condemned the ballistic missile tests conducted by North Korea over the weekend, and said by doing it Korea not only violated its resolutions but also threatened regional and international security.

The UN Security Council President for the month of July, Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda of Uganda, reading from a statement after the meeting told reporters that the 15-member body "expressed grave concerns" following the reported missile tests by North Korea on July 4.

Rugunda said Council members, which held consultations on the issue this afternoon reiterated that North Korea must comply with their obligations under all resolutions, including resolution 1874, which was adopted unanimously last month in response to a recent nuclear test by Pyongyang.

PTI

Mennonites protest church exclusion of gays

By MEGHAN BARR – 2 days ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — In a quiet act of defiance, gay and lesbian Mennonites dressed in bright pink gathered outside the church's official convention in Columbus on Thursday and criticized its leaders for trying to push them out.

About 100 ministers and church members prayed, sang religious hymns and told stories of feeling ostracized growing up in the Mennonite church, which does not recognize openly gay people as official members. The "pink Menno" protest brought the deeply divisive issue to the forefront of the Mennonite Church USA conference, a biannual, national gathering of about 8,000 delegates.

Twenty-seven-year-old Katie Hochstedler, who grew up in Kalona, Iowa, declared herself "a young queer Mennonite."

"I've had to ask myself: Can I continue to participate in a church that's soul is so damaged that it does not follow its own stated values?" Hochstedler said.

With about 110,000 members, Mennonite Church USA represents the largest and most mainstream group of Mennonites in the U.S., most of whom do not shun technology or wear traditional clothing like the more conservative branches of the church. But many progressive Mennonites have relatives who are part of the Old Order, and some women still wear head coverings.

The Mennonite religion is rooted in a 16th-century movement in Europe known as Anabaptism, which coincided with the Protestant Reformation and called for adults to be baptized before joining the church. The Mennonites took their name from Menno Simons, a Dutch Catholic priest who broke away from his church in 1536.

The gay rights movement among Mennonites, which for years lacked a visible presence within the church, gained steam several months ago when nearly 1,400 ministers signed a letter calling on the church to allow homosexual members to worship with everyone else.

The definition of what's acceptable and what's not is murky at best. In some congregations, gay Mennonites are welcome as long as they remain celibate. In others, they are shunned.

Congregations are disciplined — and, in rarer cases, kicked out altogether — for allowing non-celibate gay members to worship with them. Pastors who perform civil unions for gay couples run the risk of losing their ordination.

The issue is complicated by the various regional conferences, which are split on how to treat congregations that decide to be inclusive, said church spokeswoman Kerry Strayer.

Rev. Cynthia Lapp, pastor of a Mennonite church in Hyattsville, Md., said her congregation lost its voting rights within the denomination for welcoming gay worshippers in 2005. She declined to say whether they might face expulsion.

"I was astounded when I talked with a mother who said she was grateful that her gay son and his partner left the church," Lapp told those gathered at the protest. "It was too painful to have him stay and be rejected."

Kristin Sampson, 32, leads a youth group at the Hyattsville church with her lesbian partner, 37-year-old Becca Walawender.

"We heard there were some groups that were like, 'is it safe to bring our kids to the convention if the pink Mennos are there?'" she said. "They don't understand."

Inside the convention center in downtown Columbus, there was an unofficial moratorium on discussing homosexuality because the subject had stirred up such heated debate at previous meetings.

"I would love to talk about it without a lot of fire and sparks," said Naomi Engle, pastor of a Mennonite church in Wauseon, Ohio, who said she agrees with church doctrine that states marriage should be between a man and a woman.

While church leaders did not attend the protest, Strayer said the growing clamor over gay rights is likely to reopen the dialogue soon.

"There's still quite a bit of division across the church on this issue," Strayer said. "And I guess, with the campaign itself, there's some concern that it will only widen the division."

Hochstedler, 27, said it was a shock to her family when she came out in college, but they have since grown into advocates for gay rights. In the small Mennonite church where she grew up, there's a lingering sense of unease about her sexuality.

"I would say people are kind and warm," she said. "But nobody talks about it."

On the Net:

• http://www.mennoniteusa.org/

North Korea 'test-fires 6 missiles off east coast'

SEOUL, South Korea: North Korea fired six ballistic missiles off its eastern coast on Saturday, South Korea said, a violation of UN resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day.

The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired four short-range cruise missiles, will likely further escalate tensions in the region as the US tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the UN resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said three missiles were fired early Saturday, a fourth around noon and two more in the afternoon.

The defence ministry said that the missiles were ballistic and are believed to have flown more than 250 miles (400 km).

"Our military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations based on strong South Korea-US combined defence posture," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted military officials as saying the missiles appeared to be a type of Scud missile. North Korea's Scuds are considered short-range, the South's military said.

North Korea is not allowed to fire Scuds, medium-range missiles or long-range missiles under a resolution that bans any launch using ballistic missile technology. Thursday's launches, on the other hand, did not violate the resolution as they were cruise missiles rather than ballistic, according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry.

Ballistic missiles are guided during their ascent out of the atmosphere but fall freely when they descend. Cruise missiles are fired straight at a target.

The North has a record of timing missile tests for the US national day, which fell on Saturday.

"The missiles were seen as part of military exercises, but North Korea also appeared to have sent a message to the US through the missile launches," a senior official in South Korea's presidential said, without elaborating.

The official said that North Korea could fire more missiles in coming days, but said there was little possibility it could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, as it threatened in April.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

North Korea's state news agency carried no reports on the launches. But the North had warned ships to stay away from its east coast through July 10 for military exercises, an indication it was planning launches.

The chief of US naval operations, Adm Gary Roughead, said on Saturday the American military was ready for any North Korean missile tests.

"Our ships and forces here are prepared for the tracking of the missiles and observing the activities that are going on," Roughead said after meeting Japanese military officials in Tokyo before the news of the launches.

South Korea and Japan, which are within easy range of North Korean missiles, condemned the launches as a "provocative" act that violates the UN resolution.

South Korea "expressed deep regret over the North's continuous behaviour that escalates tensions in Northeast Asia by repeatedly defying" the resolution, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said in a statement that the launch of missiles "is a serious act of provocation against the security of neighbouring countries, including Japan, and is against the resolution of the UN Security Council."

In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesman said he had no immediate comment. China is the North's closest ally.

During the US Independence Day holiday in 2006, Pyongyang fired a barrage of missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 that broke apart and fell into the ocean less than a minute after lift-off. Those launches also came amid tensions with the US over North Korea's nuclear programme.

A long-range missile launch by North Korea toward the United States would further flout the UN sanctions resolution punishing Pyongyang for its May 25 nuclear test. The US last month said it had positioned more missile defences around Hawaii as a precaution.

But spy satellites have apparently not detected any of the preparations that would normally precede such a launch.

The North wants to show Washington that it is not yielding to pressure, and the regime is likely to save a long-range launch for later, Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University and an expert on the country, said Friday.

Soruce:TOI

Developing countries need N-tech: S Africa

Durban, Jul 4 (PTI) South Africa has underlined the need for global nuclear disarmament, even as it said that developing countries should not be denied access to advanced technology "needed for their development".

"We should be vigilant that in advancing the peaceful applications of nuclear energy this is not based on the premise of denying developing countries access to advanced technologies needed for their own development," said Abdul Minty, country's Governor to the Board of the IAEA.

Minty had contested for the position of Director General of the the IAEA as South Africa's candidate. The IAEA Board of Governors selected Yukio Amano of Japan as the Agency's next Director-General, who succeeds Mohamed ElBaradei.

Minti described the IAEA was the most valuable asset in promoting nuclear disarmament.

"We have in the past experienced the role the Agency played in relation to issues that impacted on the peaceful resolution of disputes.

G-8 for expanding invt in renewable energy field

Tokyo, Jul 3 (PTI) Leaders of the G-8 industrialised countries will unveil policies and expand investment in the renewable energy sectors to help solve both energy security and climate change issues, a draft statement shows.

The pledge will be contained in the leaders' statement on energy security to be adopted at the G-8 summit to be held in the central Italian city of L'Aquila from July 8 to 10.

"Fostering investment in energy infrastructure, energy efficiency, diversification of the energy mix and technological innovation is key to granting secure, clean and affordable energy to long-term world needs, while substantially curbing carbon emissions," says the document, a copy of which was obtained by Kyodo News.

SKorea to build up defences against nuclear-armed North

Seoul, July 3 (AFP) South Korea will spend tens of millions of USD to build up defences against any North Korean nuclear attack, the defence ministry said today.

North Korea has vowed to build more nuclear bombs in response to a UN resolution which imposed sanctions for its May 25 nuclear test, the second since 2006.

The South will spend up to 100 million won (78 million USD) over the next five years to protect key facilities against electromagnetic pulse (EMP) waves from high-altitude nuclear explosions.

Such waves used as a prelude to an all-out attack could shut down electronic equipment including weapons systems within tens or even hundreds of kilometres.

"The spending will not be higher than 100 billion won," Brigadier General Jang Gi-Yoon told journalists. He declined to give details on where such anti-EMP facilities will be built.

USD 6.6 bn committed to fight poverty in S Asia: WB

Washington, July 3 (PTI) The World Bank has committed a whopping USD 6.6 billion in fiscal year 2009 to fight poverty in South Asia, home to one of the largest concentration of people below poverty line in the world

This is an increase of USD 1.1 billion over the previous year, the World Bank said on Thursday adding that it invested USD 6.