A goal is a dream with a deadline.

THE HINDU Imp. News Feb.14th 2012 Page 1 Blast rips through Israeli Embassy car in Delhi: Monday's attempted assassination of an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi and Tel Aviv's reflexive indictment of Tehran for the incident threatens to put India bang in the middle of escalating tensions in West Asia and raises new fears about its vulnerability to international terrorism. The diplomat, who was travelling on the back seat, sustained serious injuries as the blast ripped through the vehicle's metal body. Her driver, Manoj Sharma, lost control of the car after the explosion, and was injured when it crashed into a road divider. Delhi residents Manjeet Singh and Arun Sharma, who were driving behind the van, were also hurt. Gilani charged with contempt: Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Monday was formally charged with contempt of court by the Supreme Court for refusing to follow its order to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. It appointed Attorney-General Anwar-ul Haq as the prosecutor, thus creating a curious situation in which the government's main legal adviser will be pitted against the Prime Minister. Bench, said the Prime Minister had violated Article 204 of the Constitution by not writing to the Swiss authorities to reopen money-laundering cases against Mr. Zardari as ordered by the court. He had also violated Paragraph 178 of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case. Cardiac stem cells can restore heart muscles, says study: Infusion of cardiac stem cells into persons who suffered heart attack recently can help to regenerate their heart muscles, says a study published today, February 14, in The Lancet. Phase I of the study was conducted on 17 patients, who received stems cells, and eight, who received standard care (control group), at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. All of them had had heart attacks about a month before the study began in May 2009. The stem cells were created from the patients' heart tissues. Scar size Visible improvements were seen in those who received infusion of stem cells, compared with the control group at the end of six months and a year. While no change in the scar size was
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seen in the control group, there was more than 12 per cent reduction in the size at the end of six months in the treatment group. The study thus challenges the conventional wisdom that once established, cardiac scarring is permanent, and that, once lost, healthy heart muscle cannot be restored. EDITORIAL Lessons from the Durban Conference: India had gone to Durban with three predominant objectives. First, to secure the continuance of the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period' is scheduled to end in 2012. Second, to ensure that its particular concerns on equity, intellectual property rights and unilateral trade measures, And third, to preserve the notion of differentiation' between developed and developing countries, recognised through the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities' (CBDR) in both the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. India also failed in its bid to gain substantive recognition for the issues of intellectual property rights and unilateral trade measures. Even on equity', the issue closest to its heart, all that it managed to secure in the end is a workshop' on equitable access to sustainable development', itself an ambiguous formulation, under a mandate that is now scheduled to expire. The outcome of the Durban conference and India's failure to attain most of its stated objectives should now raise serious questions about the wisdom of its negotiating strategy, and especially its alliance management. It should also raise questions about the capacity that it has brought to bear in these negotiations to date. At Durban, India fielded a delegation of 34 members, as opposed to 96 from the U.S., 101 from the EU, 228 from Brazil, 167 from China, and even 102 from Bangladesh. And insiders well know what the teeth-to-tail ratio even within this small group is. In a few months' time, in June 2012, the international community will reconvene in Brazil to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the historic Rio Earth Summit. The developed world will then no doubt try to use the precedent set at Durban to press for a more general erasure of the principle of differentiation' within international environmental law itself. If this is an outcome that India wishes to avoid, it needs to rapidly get its act together on this issue. Durban is a wake-up call that it must not ignore. Regulating hospitals is healthy: The proposed enhancement of public health expenditure in India as a percentage of GDP during the Twelfth Plan will deploy massive tax funds in a sector that is poorly regulated. If the government accepts the recommendation of the High Level Expert Group of the Planning Commission on Universal Health Coverage to increase government expenditure on health to 2.5 per cent of GDP from 1.2 per cent today, there will be an estimated five-fold increase in per capita public spending. It is inevitable that private health infrastructure is tapped to provide
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UHC, at least in the short term, while the government-run system is improved qualitatively and quantitatively. The Clinical Establishment Act, 2010 makes a beginning in this regard but it has a long way to go as it requires ratification by States to be applicable, except in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim and Union Territories which are already covered. Benchmarking care is a standard requirement for hospitals and clinical facilities in the developed world. India's efforts in this regard remain fragmented, with the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers, the Indian Public Health Standards, and the Clinical Establishment Act attempting to define standards. What the country needs is one integrated standards and regulatory system, requiring compulsory registration and regulation. The decision of the NABH to make surprise visits to hospitals to verify uniform adherence to its standards is certainly welcome, but incremental approaches will not do. A single empowered national standards body is needed, and the Planning Commission group has a worthwhile recommendation on forming a national regulatory body. Rally in Somalia for merger of al-Qaeda and al-Shabab: Thousands of Somalis are gathering at a militant-organised demonstration in support of the merger of the Somali militant group al-Shabab with al-Qaeda. Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told those gathered at Monday's rally that the al-Shabab is happy with its unification with al-Qaeda, a merger announced last week by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. Several hundred people gathered at the rally, including veiled women and armed, masked men. Rage also said that an upcoming international conference in London on Somalia is being organised to colonise Somalia. Giving BRICS a non-western vision: India is all set to host the Fourth BRICS Summit in March this year. The journey from Yekaterinburg to New Delhi has demonstrated that the political will amongst member nations to sustain this contemporary multilateral process is strong. It is amusing to be offered solutions to poverty and inequality, bottom of the pyramid health models, low cost housing options, education delivery, energy and water provision, et al by the wise men from organisations and institutions of the Atlantic countries. BRICS must create its own research and policy secretariat (for want of a better term) for addressing specific issues such as trade and market reforms, urbanisation challenges, regional crises responses, universal healthcare, food security and sustainable development (many of these issues are being discussed year at the BRICS Academic Forum in March). The OECD's stated mission is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Although the BRICS nations account for a fourth of global GDP and represent over 40 per cent of the total global population, none of them are OECD members as yet; instead what they have is enhanced engagement with the OECD. The BRICS nations have already created a viable platform for enhanced engagement with each
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other through the institutionalisation of the annual Leader's summit, preceded by an Academic Forum of BRICS research institutions and a Financial Forum of development banks (and this year, a newly instituted Economic Research Group will focus on specific economic issues). The dominant discourses within each of the BRICS nations today are centred on non-traditional security, which can be efficiently addressed through collective market based response mechanisms. BRICS must now move on from being a grouping of individual nations, discussing agendas, to becoming a go-to institution for setting regional and global agendas. The essence and ethos of such an institution must in turn, flow from the inorganic prism of stability, security and growth for all. Stability from business cycles and financial governance failures, security from traditional and non-traditional threats posed to humans and the environment, and unbiased growth and prosperity are common aspirations for all BRICS nations, and they must be achieved and delivered from within. The Fourth BRICS Academic Forum will attempt to address these imperatives. INTERNATIONAL U.S. delivers strongest message yet to Sri Lanka: The United States has despatched two senior officials to convey to Sri Lanka that it has to deliver on its promise of conducting an inquiry into war crimes, or face international sanction. The United States will support a very straightforward resolution that the government of Sri Lanka has not yet done enough to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee, and comprehensively address the question of accountability, said the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert O'Blake when asked if the U.S. will support a resolution in the forthcoming session of the UNHRC. U.S. to step up Maldives watch: The United States is stepping up its watch of the Maldives since it was caught off-guard after the change of guard in the archipelago-nation. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert O'Blake whose initial South Asia tour programme last week had only slotted Colombo, squeezed in a Male visit to ascertain the situation. Xi ready for tough dialogue with Washington: Washington and Beijing prepared to reengage in a week-long bilateral tango on a tightrope as Chinese Vice-President and presumptive leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping left for the United States on Monday. Mr. Xi's visit will be closely followed for insights into the man expected to lead China for the next decade, as well as guide its relations with Washington amid growing tensions. In a pre-visit
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call with media, White House officials clearly indicated their appreciation of Mr. Xi's position. Daniel Russel, Senior Director for Asian Affairs, said, Building a relationship with the official in China who seems likely destined to be a central figure in the Chinese political system for years to come obviously is important.... Greeks riot against austerity vote: The rioting began on Sunday afternoon ahead of a landmark vote in Parliament on yet more austerity measures. The drastic cuts debated in Parliament include axing one in five civil service jobs over the next three years and slashing the minimum wage by more than a fifth. Call for U.N. mission in Syria: The European Union backed on Monday an Arab League call for a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Syria and urged the U.N. Security Council to act in order to stop the violence there. As Syrian troops pounded the protest hub of Homs again on Monday, Britain called for urgent international talks on the Arab League proposal but cautioned that Western nations are unlikely to contribute to the force. The EU's first goal is an immediate cessation of killings and therefore we are very supportive of any initiative that can help achieve this objective, including a stronger Arab presence on the ground in cooperation with the U.N. to achieve a ceasefire and the end of violence, he said in a statement. BUSINESS India, Pakistan aim to double trade in 3 years: Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Monday undertook a historic visit to Pakistan through the Wagah border with the commitment to double bilateral trade in the next three years and remove trade barriers to share economic prosperity with its neighbour and facilitate people to people exchange. India is committed to taking the economic and trade relationship with Pakistan to a new level. I have come to Pakistan with an open mind and to achieve substantial progress in our talks. We are working hard on opening the second gate and an integrated customers' post (ICP) at the Wagah-Attari border and hope to finish the task by April 30. The talks will help us in taking forward the process of peace and trade and we will work towards deepening and diversifying the relationship,'' he told journalists at the Pakistan side of the border. Vodafone weighing options to bid for Cable & Wireless: Global mobile communications major Vodafone Plc is evaluating the merits of a potential acquisition of Cable & Wireless Worldwide, a more than 150-year-old telecom entity that was primarily set up to cater to the needs of the erstwhile British Empire. Both U.K. majors have a good presence in India, where Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) first made its entry in 1872 as an under-sea cable firm by the name of Eastern Telegraph Company. In a statement,
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Vodafone on Monday said it was weighing the possibility of making an offer for CWW, though it cautioned there was no certainty an offer would be made. An acquisition of CWW would help in boosting Vodafone's bandwidth capacity for customers using internet. WTO ruling unfair', says ChinaNiu Qingbao, China's Consul-General in Mumbai, has defended his country's restrictions on export of several industrial raw materials and termed the decision of the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body against it unfair'. The U.S and several other countries, including India, Mexico and Brazil, recently won their battle against China at the WTO on export of raw materials. In a ruling, the WTO Appellate Body found China's restraints on export of industrial raw materials, used as key components in steel, aluminium and chemicals industries, to be inconsistent with China's WTO obligations. Ecology is a big problem for developing countries such as China may not be a big problem for western countries. For them (western countries) density of population is lower compared to China and India. Damage to our environment will adversely affect future generations, he said. India is one of the largest trading partners of China, and the country imports from India chemicals, iron ore and cotton, while China exports to India home appliances, machinery and electronics, he said. He said around 2,000 Chinese students were studying in Indian universities against nearly 10,000 Indian students studying in universities of China. Many Chinese students are interested in courses in information technology and medical sciences in India. I think many more Chinese students want to study here (India), he said. Page 04 Dutiful to daughters: The German government is extending grant support to the project Meri Shakti, Meri Beti (My Strength, My Daughter) being implemented by Delhi-based Centre for Social Research (CSR). The project aims at curbing incidents of pre-natal sex selection in South West Delhi. The financing agreement was signed by Germany's acting Ambassador to India, Cord MeierKlodt and Ranjana Kumari, Director of CSR. Germany has allocated Rs. 52.8 lakh (approximately 80,000 euros) to the project for the period from February 1 to December 31. Commenting on the support of the German Government, Dr. Kumari said CSR has been working on the issue of sex selective abortions since 1987 through a range of direct action programmes, education initiatives with local authoritative bodies and the community at large and advocacy and lobbying campaigns at national and international levels. The goal of the project is to generate understanding and awareness regarding the implementation and impact of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act
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1994 and prepare local stakeholders and community members for deeper engagement in efforts to end pre-natal sex selection. The sensitisation of the community members and general public will be done through walks against female foeticide, silent demonstrations, signature campaigns and media workshops. A medical and social audit will also be conducted; its findings will be submitted to the departments of Union Government dealing with the issue of decreasing sex ratio. Page 20 A triumphant comeback: British soul diva Adele made a triumphant return to the stage at the Grammys on Sunday, winning a clean sweep of six awards and a standing ovation in a show clouded by the death of R&B artist Whitney Houston. The 23-year-old Londoner, who has been out of action since October to undergo throat surgery, wowed a star-studded audience with a storming rendition of her worldwide hit Rolling in the Deep. The tune won best song Grammy, to add to Adele's haul of awards for best record, best album for her breakthrough 21, best short video, best pop album and best pop artist she won in all six categories in which she was nominated. A three-song tribute started with a close-harmony version of Surfer Girl by Maroon 5, and then the falsetto strains of Wouldn't It Be Nice by Foster the People, against a backdrop of multicolour surf boards. After a standing ovation, the Beach Boys themselves, all now in their 60s, took to the stage to play Good Vibrations, with the famously glum-looking Brian Wilson almost smiling as he hit the high notes with his old bandmates. The audience then watched a clip of Houston singing one of her greatest hits I Will Always Love You, (a smash hit from her film The Bodyguard ) and gave her a standing ovation. Later in the show, singer Jennifer Hudson gripped the audience in silence with a classy rendition of the song.Houston's family issued a statement before the show, saying: We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Whitney. This is an unimaginable tragedy and we will miss her terribly.

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