Gaddafi’s fall from power inevitable: Obama

When Gaddafi inevitably leaves or is forced from power, decades of provocation will come to an end and the transition to a democratic Libya can proceed,’ he said, defending his decision to take military action against the Libyan leader’s government.Three months into the unrest, rebels control eastern Libya and pockets in the west but the conflict has reached a stalemate as rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli have stalled.Obama’s comments echoed NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen who said military and political pressure was weakening Gaddafi and would eventually topple him.Obama is still delusional,’ Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said. ‘He believes the lies that his own government and media spread around the world...It’s not Obama who decides whether Muammar Gaddafi leaves Libya or not. It’s the Libyan people.Tripoli however reiterated a ceasefire offer, saying forces were ready to withdraw from cities if the rebels laid down arms. But the rebels have rejected all advances so far, saying they cannot trust Gaddafi and insisting on his departure.A series of apparent high-level defections suggest Gaddafi is struggling to hold his inner circle together. Libya’s top oil official Shokri Ghanem has left and not been heard from for days although his name has appeared on a list on a flight to Vienna.Tripoli says he is on an official visit to Europe but Tunisian and rebel sources say he has defected.Senegal late on Thursday recognized Libya’s Benghazi-based rebels as the legitimate opposition and said they should be given international support to lead transition to democratic elections.Acting under a UN mandate, NATO allies including France, Britain and the United States are conducting air strikes that aim to stop Gaddafi using military force against civilians.NATO aircraft sank eight warships in overnight attacks on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, the alliance said.Libyan officials took journalists to Tripoli port where a small ship spewed smoke and flames, and cast doubt on whether boats targeted by NATO had been involved in fighting.Mohammad Ahmad Rashed, general manager of Tripoli’s port, said six boats had been hit by missiles.The boats, five belonging to the coastguard and a larger naval vessel, had been undergoing maintenance since before the start of the fighting, he told reporters, adding that the port was still functional and capable of handling commercial traffic,NATO bombs struck Tripoli, Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte and Zlitan east of the capital, state TV said late on Thursday.It also showed footage of Gaddafi meeting a Libyan politician in Tripoli. Government spokesman Ibrahim said the politician had been in a delegation that met Russian officials in Moscow to explore possibilities for a ceasefire.The footage zoomed in on a TV screen in the room that showed Thursday’s date displayed in the corner.Gaddafi was last seen on May 11 when state TV showed him meeting tribal leaders in Tripoli. NATO bombed his compound the next day, and a day later TV broadcast an audio clip in which he taunted NATO and said the alliance could not kill him.

The crimes of national pride

The language of statism has a remarkable capacity for transforming a turf war between two gangs of thugs into an all-embracing conflict between two nations. The notion that the disputed land ‘belongs’ to either state, that a government could possess rights in any legitimate sense, reveals the derisible assumption underlying the power of all ruling classes.Because the state is simply systemised aggression, it cannot so much as exist without violating rights. Any claim of right it asserts, then, is an invasion, a trespass against true freedom, and in the case of land a theft. Through confrontations like the one between Thailand and Cambodia, crimes are ennobled as matters of national pride.Politics is necessarily and inevitably divisive. Since political solutions are, perforce, coercive, they are not solutions at all, merely subjecting some to the will of others in violation of the latter group’s autonomy. The common man, the worker who goes about his life peacefully, producing and trading to fill his needs, should not at all identify his interests with those of his government. Appeals to patriotism are the gilding used by the political class to garner popular support for conflicts for power, stemming from power, with no mind to the woes of the productive class.Rather than a specific implication of the same sort of pride one feels with regard to one’s familial group or community, patriotism stands opposed to the kinds of friendly ties that bind human beings. It asks the Cambodians and the Thai to hate one another because they stand on the opposite side of a line on a map, one that has been drawn arbitrarily by members of a ruling class that have no interest but to plunder the societies that exists within their own borders.Besides its more obvious uses, war is of service to the elite in that it obscures the alignment of interestsacross all national, cultural, religious and language divides between all those who would use only nonviolent, voluntary means in their relations with others. Market anarchism, in advocating mutual respect for individuals’ rights and consensual exchange, does not prescribe a fixed or predetermined vision for society without the vulturine impositions of the state.It asks only that the ruling class be forbidden from using the artifices of the legal structure, ultimately enforced at the point of a gun, to gain from the constructive achievements of others. Renouncing the hope that the state ‘could be made an instrument in the hands of the oppressed to alleviate their sufferings,’ Lucy Parsons understood that governments are always a vehicle for ‘the machinations of the scheming few.’ And those few do not stand in for the people of Thailand or Cambodia, for the land itself, for separate individuals, or for society at large.The absurd nationalism at the heart of the Cambodia-Thailand clash, a needless waste of life for the elevation of governmentsn ot people displays the vile reality of statism. Thailand and Cambodia alike would be better off without their respective states, without a few malefactors exploiting people who could get along just fine without them.

Whitepaper: Enhancing Meetings Through Food

Food for thought" is more than just a figure of speech. It's also a scientific principle that can help meeting planners improve their meetings and events, according to The National Conference Center in Leesburg, Va., which yesterday released a new meetings industry whitepaper on the topic of food psychology.Titled "The Science of Food for Thought: Enhancing Meetings Through Food," the whitepaper is the first in a quarterly series of whitepapers from The National Conference Center. Showcasing research from Executive Chef Craig Mason, as well as Andrea Sullivan of BrainStrength Systems which specializes in education for "brain friendly" meetings  it presents tips for meeting planners on how to improve meeting productivity with food."Meeting planners everywhere are always looking for the answer to this question: How can I help my attendees gain and retain the most from their meeting experience?" reads the whitepaper. "One might answer that question by looking into conditional factors that may influence an attendee leading up to a meeting as well as during. Aside from sleep and stress levels, meals play a large role. The center of all brain focus at meetings comes down to: What are my attendees consuming and what is the timing of those meals?"Based on neuroscience research by Sullivan, and experiments conducted by Mason  who examined different food choices during lunch programs and breaks  The National Conference Center recommends: Reducing the quantity of red meat  which slows attendees down and makes them drowsy for the second half of the day  and replacing it with lighter options such as fish and chicken, which require less energy to digest.Sourcing in-season ingredients from within 150 miles of the meeting venue, as foods with the most nutritional value are always local.Serving vegetables cooked at higher temperatures for shorter periods, which maximizes nutritional content.Replenishing break stations with healthy snacks throughout the day so attendees can replenish their energy as needed. Instead of chips, cookies, candies and pastries, which result in a sugar rush and subsequent crash serve fresh fruits, nuts, yogurt and energy bars.Serving breakfasts that consist of a complex carbohydrate and a protein  for instance, a whole-grain bagel and a hard-boiled egg  in order to maximize attendee alertness.Putting spinach on the menu because it's high iron and folate, which are beneficial for thinking, learning and memory. Serving whole grains or pasta that produce tryptophan, which relaxes the brain and creates a sense of well-being, as well as items such as yogurt, bananas, beans, rice, peanuts and dark chocolate, all of which have been shown to improve cognitive functioning. Other good menu choices include water, granola, blueberries, mangos, broccoli and peanut butter.In conclusion, Mason and Sullivan say to: avoid sugar highs, keep things light and buy local.We often struggle with our body and mind, yet this science gives us insight and an understanding to apply to our daily lives," Sullivan says. "We learn to use our brain and be in charge of ourselves and become the person we want to be."To read "The Science of Food for Thought" in its entirety, download a complimentary copy at

Osama Bin Laden dead US President confirms news

terror strike, al Qaeda mastermind and world's most dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden was today killed by US forces after being hounded in a special operation in Abbottabad in Pakistan.Bin Laden, 54, is dead and his body is in US custody, President Barack Obama announced today at half past 11 Sunday US time as crowds outside White House chanted 'USA, USA'.Giving details of the operation, Obama said last week he determined that "we had enough intelligence to take action and authorised an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan". Abbottabad is about 150 kms north of Islamabad.

Thai soldier dies as ceasefire with Cambodia breached

Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire early on Friday, breaking a ceasefire agreed the day before to end a week of border clashes that have killed 16 people and wounded scores in Southeast Asia’s deadliest border dispute in years.Each side blamed the other for firing first, but both said they still wanted to give the truce a chance.Brief clashes with guns and small hand grenades broke out twice overnight, Thai regional army commander Thawatchai Samutsakorn said. The clash killed one Thai soldier and wounded four others. It was not clear if there were casualties on the Cambodian side.The ceasefire was supposed to end a week of sporadic artillery and small-rocket fire that fanned nationalist passions in both countries, threatened to overshadow elections in Thailand and reinforced doubts over Southeast Asia’s ambitions to form a European Union-style community by 2015.The guns have been silent since 3 a.m. but tension remained high with troops still stationed in close proximity around two ancient temples in the poorly demarcated Dongrak Mountain Range.Thailand blamed the latest skirmish on a misunderstanding on the ground in Cambodia.

Gunfire echoes around Syria’s Deraa

Gunfire and artillery echoed early on Tuesday around the besieged city of Deraa, the heart of Syria’s month-long uprising, as civilians sought refuge indoors from tanks and snipers on the streets, a resident said.

The president, Bashar al-Assad, facing a nationwide challenge to his 11-year autocratic rule, sent the army into Deraa and two restive suburbs of Damascus on Monday to crush protesters, killing 20 people according to a prominent Syrian rights group.Assad’s use of force, echoing his father’s suppression of Islamists in Hama in 1982, was condemned by the United States, but Western countries which launched air strikes against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi have taken no action against the Syrian leader.Western criticism of the crackdown was initially muted, partly because of fears that a collapse of his minority Alawite rule in the majority Sunni country might lead to sectarian conflict, and because Washington had hoped to loosen Syria’s alliance with Iran and move it toward a peace deal with Israel.Arab states, quick to criticise Gaddafi’s repression of Libyan rebels, have similar concerns and also remained silent as the death toll in more than five weeks of Syrian unrest rose to over 350. Some are also putting down pro-reform protests on their own soil.Syrian rights organisation Sawasiah said on Tuesday security forces had arrested 500 pro-democracy sympathisers across Syria after tanks rolled into Deraa. It said 20 people were killed in the southern city and two others in Douma, one of the Damascus suburbs stormed by security forces on Monday.Amnesty international, citing sources in Deraa, said at least 23 people were killed when tanks shelled Deraa in what it called ‘a brutal reaction to people’s demands.’Last week Assad lifted Syria’s 48-year state of emergency and abolished a hated state security court. But the next day 100 people were killed during protests across the country.Activists say Friday’s violence and the storming of Deraa on Monday showed Assad had decided on force, not reforms, to deal with the protests, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world which toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.‘The regime has chosen to use excessive violence. It worked in 1982, but there is no guarantee it will work again in the age of the Internet and phone cameras,’ said a diplomat referring to Hafez al-Assad’s Hama crackdown which killed up to 30,000.

Thai-Cambodia troops trade fire

Thai and Cambodia troops briefly clashed Tuesday near Preah Vihear temple, about 150 km away from where they have fought for the past four days, raising concern the conflict could spread to other poorly demarcated border areas.Thai army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the two sides battled with short-range rockets and guns for about 30 minutes near the 11th-century Hindu temple, which sits on a jungle-clad escarpment claimed by both Southeast Asian neighbours.We are keeping it contained to a small area,’ he said, describing the confrontation as a ‘misunderstanding.’ Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan said Thai fighter jets fired into Cambodian territory near the temple. ‘A fighter jet flew over and just started shelling,’ he said.The neighbours had been exchanging sporadic fire in another area of the border near the 12th-century Ta Moan and Ta Krabey temples, where at least 13 people have been killed since Friday and more than 50,000 evacuated.Preah Vihear, scene of intense fighting on February 4-7 that killed 11 soldiers and wounded scores, has been a source of tension for generations and the two countries have been locked in a standoff since July 2008, when Preah Vihear was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

25 killed as Syrian troops storm Daraa

Syrian troops backed by tanks stormed the flashpoint town of Daraa on Monday killing at least 25 people, witnesses said, as a leading rights activist accused Damascus of opting for a military solution to crush dissent.Troops also launched assaults on the towns of Douma and Al-Muadamiyah near Damascus witnesses said, as the head of the UN human rights agency slammed what she said was the Syrian security forces disregard for human life.Amman said Syria had Monday sealed off its border with Jordan in a statement quickly denied by a top Syrian customs official.An activist in Daraa, Abdullah Abazid, said by telephone that Syrian forces were bombarding the town near the Jordanian border with heavy artillery and that ‘at least 25 martyrs have fallen.’‘There are still bodies sprawled in the streets,’ he said as loud explosions and shooting could be heard in the background.They are pounding the town with heavy artillery and machine guns,Abazid said, adding that snipers posted on rooftops were also shooting.Rights activists said a 3,000-strong military force swarmed into Daraa in the early hours of Monday, with tanks taking up positions in the town centre and snipers deploying on rooftops.A witness reported at least five bodies in a car that had been raked by gunfire.‘We saw with our own eyes, they were in a car that was riddled with bullets the witness said, adding that he was on a rooftop and could hear intense gunfire reverberating across the town.The minarets of the mosques are appealing for help. The security forces are entering houses. There is a curfew and they fire on those who leave their homes. They even shot at water tanks on roofs to deprive people of water.’A massive crackdown was also underway Monday in Douma, 15 kilometres north of Damascus, and nearby Al-Muadamiyah, rights activists said, reached by telephone.‘Security forces have surrounded a mosque and are firing indiscriminately. Streets are cut off from each other and Douma is isolated from the outside world,’ said an activist, adding that there have been sweeping arrests in the town since Sunday.The military assaults come as Syria is engulfed in anti-regime protests that have sparked security force crackdowns in which more than 360 people have been killed, according to rights activists and witnesses Of these, more than 140 people have died since Friday alone. The crackdown comes despite the president, Bashar al-Assad, signing on Thursday decrees ending a draconian state of emergency, imposed by the Baath Party when it seized power in 1963, to placate more than a month of pro-democracy protests.He also abolished the state security court that has tried scores of regime opponents outside the normal judicial system and issued a decree ‘to regulate peaceful demonstrations.Rami Abdel Rahman, a prominent rights activist said that Monday’s assaults showed Damascus had decided to crush the protests militarily.‘It is clear that the Syrian authorities have taken a decision for a military and security solution,’ Abdel Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said by telephone. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on Syria to stop the use of violence against protesters.‘The government has an international legal obligation to protect peaceful demonstrators and the right to peaceful protest,’ Pillay said in a statement issued in Geneva. ‘The first step now is to immediately halt the use of violence,’ she added.Pillay called the Syrian government’s response to the demonstrations erratic.‘Just a few days after the announcement of sweeping and important reforms, we are seeing such disregard for human life by Syrian security forces,’ she said.

Lemon Law on Cars

Yes – if you receive an express written warranty with the vehicle. An express written warranty can be either a) the balance of a manufacturer’s warranty, b) a separate limited warranty given by the dealer, or c) an extended warranty or service contract you purchase from the dealer at the time you purchase the vehicle. If you have such a warranty, the substance of the new car lemon laws applies.In addition, some states have consumer protection statutes which prohibit deceptive acts in the sale of used cars. These laws generally require that a car dealer respond to every question honestly. To the extent that you purchased a used vehicle as a result of a false representation, you may have a claim against the dealership. Additionally, some states require that a dealership disclose certain facts about used cars, such as whether it was a rental

Dhaka-Russia JVC for Energy Sector Development

The Bangladesh state-owned company Petrobangla and Russian state agency Gazprom also agreed to install two gas compressor stations by September, 2012. At a joint press briefing in the Secretariat recently on Wednesday, Prime Minister’s Power and Energy adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said Gazprom would drill some wells, install two compressors, train up human resources and launch a regional office here. Director General of the Gazprom Ivan Guleb and senior officials from both Russian and Bangladeshi sides were present at the briefing.Director General of Gazprom Ivan Guleb said Russia wants to strengthen the 40-year-long relations with Bangladesh through working in energy sector development of the country through a joint venture company. It would be the first step by the company to form a joint venture company with another state-owned company in the sub-continent, officials of the Petrobangla said. “The JVC would promote gas sector of the country,” Ivan Guleb said, adding that the company would start operating soon.

It would procure two state-of-the-art drilling rigs within one and a half months to start drilling activities from October, the Gazprom policymaker said. About installation of compressors, he said both sides would need further negotiations about the financial terms and conditions to install the compressor stations.He hoped that the terms and conditions be chalked out by September to install the compressors.The government has a plan to install the compressors at Muchi in Sylhet and Asuganj in Brahmanbaria as soon as possible as such initiatives were deferred several times before for a failure to reach to an common point on terms and conditions of Asian Development Bank for getting financial assistance. The Russian delegation would meet prime minister’s Sheikh Hasian today to express their interest to install the compressors and launch drilling activities here.

The Petrobangla would place 10 separate projects to Gazprom for energy sector development here, Petrobangla Chairman Prof Hossain Monsur said.Under the projects, the Petrobangla will drill four wells at Bangladesh Gas Field Company Limited (BGFCL) and Sylhet Gas Field Company Limited (SGFCL), he said.In March, the government decided to drill five development and work-over wells under a fast-track energy sector development programme devised earlier. During the briefing Tawfiq-e-Elahi said the government is preparing to explore oil and gas in onshore and offshore blocks.The adviser hoped that disputes over the maritime boundaries with India and Myanmar be resolved within two to three years.

Thousands of protesters want ‘A New Morocco

Thousands took to the streets of Morocco on Sunday in peaceful demonstrations to demand sweeping reforms and an end to political detention, the third day of mass protests since they began in February. Desperate to avoid the turmoil that toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, authorities have already announced some reforms to placate demands that King Mohammed cede more powers and limit the monarchy’s extensive business influence.Some 10,000 people joined the protest in Casablanca, the largest city in one of the West’s staunchest Arab allies. Marchers in the capital Rabat also denounced corruption and torture as well as unemployment, which is very high among youths.Policing has been low key for protests by the February 20 Movement, named after the date of its first march, particularly compared to the turmoil elsewhere in North Africa.‘This is more about the young ones than it is about us,’ said Redouane Mellouk, who had brought his 8 year-old son Mohamed Amine, carrying a placard demanding ‘A New Morocco.’

‘Our parents could not talk to us about political issues. They were too afraid.This must change,’ said Mellouk.

Although levels of popular anger have risen, ratings agencies assess Morocco as the country in the region least likely to be affected by the type of unrest that toppled Tunisian and Egyptian regimes and then led to the conflict in Libya.A seventy-four year old man who gave his name only as Ahmed said Morocco’s youths were right to protest.‘Look at them. They are educated and like most young educated Moroccans they are idle,’ he said. ‘Everything in this country is done through privileges. You need an uncle or a relative somewhere to get somewhere.’Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament, but the constitution empowers the king to dissolve the legislature, impose a state of emergency and have a decisive say in government appointments.King Mohammed last month announced constitutional reforms to give up some of his sweeping powers and make the judiciary independent, but protesters demand more.There is also resentment at the royal family’s business interests through its holding company SNI.One of the banners waved by the Casablanca marchers depicted the King’s holdings as an octopus with tentacles stretching out to subsidiary companies. ‘Either money or power,’ it said.Islamists also joined in the protests, demanding the release of all political prisoners. Authorities freed 92 political prisoners, most of whom were members of the Islamist Salafist Jihad group, earlier this month.In Rabat, the wife of Islamist Bouchta Charef, who has said he was tortured in prison while accused of terrorism, called for all Islamists to be freed.‘They have made my children homeless,’ Zehour Dabdoubu told Reuters. ‘Every month I move from one house to another. I’m persecuted because people think I am the wife of a terrorist.’The banned Islamist opposition group Al Adl Wal Ihsane has maintained a low profile at the February 20 demonstrations, but said it supports them.‘It’s excellent what’s happening in Morocco. It’s a quiet revolution,’ Nadia Yassine, daughter of the movement’s founder, told Reuters by telephone. ‘We’re moving slowly but surely.’

I’ve challenged myself with ‘Dear Friend Hitler’: Neha Dhupia

Picturing Pahela Baishakh

I Love the festivals of Bangladesh. Most of all, I look forward to Pahela Baishakh, the Bengali New Year. It is a festival of pure fun, without any baggage, accompanied by a spirit of happiness that fills the air.

For this one day, Bengalis from all walks of life shake off the troubles of their everyday existence- the daily grind of earning a living, along with 160 million others, from this tiny land- and celebrate being themselves. It is as if they look in the mirror in the morning and say, “Yes! It feels really good to be Bengali.”Exploring the milieu around Shahbag, I realise that while I was growing older abroad, Pahela Baishakh grew up too. The low-key festivities, singing and small-scale functions of my school days have metamorphosed into a gigantic,world-class party with its own colour code, music, cuisine and all-round good cheer.Everyone wears beautiful clothes. Parents have gone through great lengths to dress up their children. Flowers grace the hair of every woman I see. Faces are painted and masks are worn.Taking pictures, I am drawn irresistibly to the people, their dresses, and their interactions. I wander the grounds, searching for moments that may reveal a little more than the ordinary, and click away.The camera becomes an extension of my hungry eyes. I stare intently and without embarrassment, absorbing everything voraciously. Having spent most of my life abroad, I am making up for lost time. The shutter's click becomes my way of highlighting anything or anyone that catches my eye.Most people cooperate happily with me. Some turn away. A child looks up to see my large camera pointing at her: she unexpectedly bursts into tears and I kick myself.Some moments tell stories. Under a banyan, a woman holds open her compact mirror for her husband to inspect his freshly painted face. A daughter rides high on daddy's shoulders while holding a red ektara, both wearing matching green and red. A young man tenderly wraps a jasmine garland around the khopa of his sweetheart. A tired vendor woman, her own child sleeping next to her on the traffic island, sells miniature dhols to children of the well-to-do.Other moments hold suggestions of deeper meanings. Inside the park, a young man stands alone, a few feet apart from the crowd. He is wearing a mask which, strangely, accentuates his loneliness. A graceful middle-aged couple poses among the offerings of a flower shop, the experience of their shared years compressed into their faces.Back home, I eagerly look through the photographs. Through experience I have found that just because I enjoyed myself does not mean good pictures will follow, and so I am prepared for disappointments. Sure enough, detached from their exuberant reality, most photos look banal, like hundreds I have seen before, here and there. But today I am lucky, because, in addition to the wonderful memories, I also caught a few moments worth preserving

Fighting grips Misrata after Libya regime ‘ultimatum’

We’re overwhelmed, overwhelmed. We lack everything: personnel, equipment and medicines,’ he said.
Ambulances pulled up outside the hospital every three or four minutes, also bringing in wounded soldiers loyal to Gaddafi, as paramedics frantically wiped blood off stretchers.Misrata has been the scene of deadly urban guerrilla fighting between pro-Gaddafi forces and outgunned rebels for more than six weeks.Saturday’s upsurge in the fight for the port city came after Gaddafi’s government said it had given its army an ‘ultimatum’ to stop the rebellion in the city, 200 kilometres east of the capital.The deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim said: ‘There was an ultimatum to the Libyan army: if they cannot solve the problem in Misrata, then the people from (the neighbouring towns of) Zliten, Tarhuna, Bani Walid and Tawargha will move in and they will talk to the rebels.‘If they don’t surrender, then they will engage them in a fight,’ he told journalists.
Hamed al-Hasi, a colonel coordinating rebel fighters at the western gate of the crossroads town of Ajdabiya in the east, said the decision meant the insurgents were beginning to win the war.This is the first nail in the coffin of Gaddafi. This means the Libyan army is no longer capable,’ he said.The United States carried out its first Predator drone strike in Libya in the early afternoon on Saturday, the Pentagon said, declining to give details on the targets or location.Earlier, NATO strikes hit a patch of bare ground opposite Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya residence in central Tripoli, and what looked like a bunker.Authorities who took foreign correspondents there said they were ‘a parking lot’ and ‘sewers.’Anti-aircraft fire rang out as ambulance sirens wailed.Allibya television said the capital was ‘now the target of raids by the barbaric crusader colonialist aggressor,’ a term the Gaddafi regime uses for Western forces.The official JANA news agency reported two people died in NATO raids late Friday on the Zintan region southwest of Tripoli where stepped up fighting has taken place with rebels who hold several towns.NATO warplanes continued to overfly Tripoli on Saturday.Kaim accused Washington of ‘new crimes against humanity’ after the US president, Barack Obama, authorised deployment of missile-carrying drone warplanes over Libya for what his administration called ‘humanitarian’ reasons.He also hit out at a senior US senator’s visit to Benghazi, the rebel capital in the east, saying the Transitional National Council did not represent Libyans and had ‘no authority on the ground.’
Rebels bogged down in their bid to oust Gaddafi hailed the US decision to deploy armed drones over Libya.

Rebels have complained civilians are being killed in places such as Misrata, where entire streets have been pulverised by gunfire, shelling and cluster bombs.France, Italy and Britain have said they would send military personnel to eastern Libya, but only to advise the rebels on technical, logistical and organisational matters and not to engage in combat.The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has signalled his intent to follow in US Senator McCain’s footsteps and visit Benghazi.On the humanitarian front, the Red Cross warned the situation in Misrata could ‘rapidly deteriorate further and the lack of basic services such as water, electricity, food and medical care could turn critical.’And on Saturday, an aid ship delivered 160 tonnes of food and medicine to the port city before it evacuates around 1,000 stranded refugees, mostly Nigerians.Hundreds of Libyan families lined up along the harbour front in hope of getting on board the vessel chartered by the International Organisation for Migration, which has already transported 3,100 refugees from 21 countries out of the besieged city. But Dakir Hussam, a Syrian electrician, expressed his delight at managing to get a place on the Red Star One after witnessing violent clashes.The UN refugee agency says about 15,000 people fled fighting in western Libya into Tunisia in the past two weeks and a much larger exodus was feared.Massive Libyan protests in February — inspired by the revolts that toppled long-time autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia escalated into war when Gaddafi’s troops fired on demonstrators and protesters seized several eastern towns.

After tsunami, one village vanishes

Hills on both sides channeled the wave another kilometer or so inland, depositing the broken wooden innards of Saito's homes along the road.I never thought a tsunami would come this far inland," Abe said. "I thought we were safe.Abe pointed to a battered concrete foundation amid the flattened landscape. It was his own house. I will rebuild it," he said, "but not here."Today, everything in Saito is spoken about in the past tense.That was city hall," said 48-year-old construction worker Takao Oyama, gesturing toward a two story white building that stood alone near the beach, leaning at an angle into a sheet of mud and sand.That was our elementary school," he said, pointing to a three-story building a few hundred yards away whose entire facade had been ripped off and was covered in black and yellow ocean buoys. Most everything else has disappeared.We struggled, but it is all gone," Oyama said. "Everything is lost.Behind him, a tranquil treecovered island could be seen just off the coast. That such violence could come from such a picturesque view seemed contradictory, hard to believe.One crumpled sign indicated there had once been a train station here, a fact Abe confirmed. It was hard to tell where, though. There were no tracks, no trains, no station.Crushed bulldozers had been turned upside down. The blue-tiled roof of one house lay across a bridge. The wheels of a vehicle stuck out from under the roof.A few yards away, a bloated black-spotted white cow lay on the foundation of another vanished home, streams of dried blood running from its pink nose, its eyes looking out over the destruction. Embedded in the hardened silt nearby lay a blue baby stroller, covered in what looked like hay.We can never live here again,"Oyama said as he rested with his wife on a concrete ledge of the broken tarmac road. During an interview, the ledge trembled as another aftershock hit the region.Asked how many people died, Oyama shrugged. We've only seen a few bodies here," he said. "I think everybody was swept out to sea.In the wider region of Minamisanrikucho, of which Saito is just one coastal village, Abe cited authorities as saying at least 4,500 of the 17,000 inhabitants were believed dead. Police estimated 10,000 dead among the 2.3 million people in the Miyagi prefecture, the Japanese equivalent of a state.Wearing goggles and dust masks, they carried long pickaxes, chainsaws and backpacks. They looked like spacemen The firefighters who arrived Monday came from an inland town to pick through the rubble. walking across a gigantic lunar garbage dump. As a Japanese self-defense force helicopter circled overhead, they lifted one hunched and frozen corpse from the mud of a dried canal filled with smashed cars and twisted mountains of corrugated iron sheeting. The tsunami had pulled the dead man's dark blue plaid shirt over his head. His white knuckles were visible, his hand still clenched. The firefighters covered him in a blue plastic tarp and carried him away on a stretcher. Later, they found another corpse in the rubble and carted that one away, too. The road that winds through Saito is broken apart in several spots. At one point where the tsunami wave stopped  it leads into a quiet neighborhood of another village where two-story houses stand perfectly intact, their windows not even shattered  as if nothing ever happened. There, on the pavement, in front of a small government house-turned-shelter where survivors rested on tatami mats, somebody had scrawled huge white letters in the road for air crews to see: SOS.

NASA sails to the stars

NASA is setting sail for the stars - literally. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is developing space sails technology to power a mission beyond our solar system."This will be humankind's first planned venture outside our solar system," said Les Johnson, manager of Interstellar Propulsion Research at the Marshall Center. "This is a stretch goal that is among the most audacious things we've ever undertaken. The interstellar probe will travel over 23 billion miles - 250 astronomical units - beyond the edge of the solar system. The distance from Earth to the Sun, 93 million miles, is one astronomical unit. For perspective, if the distance from Earth to the Sun equaled one foot, Earth would be a mere 6 inches from Mars, 38 feet from Pluto, 250 feet from the boundaries of the solar system, and a colossal 51 miles from the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri.This first step beyond our solar system en route to the stars has an estimated trip time of 15 years.Proposed for launch in a 2010 time frame, an interstellar probe - or precursor mission, as it's often called - will be powered by the fastest spacecraft ever flown. Zooming toward the stars at 58 miles per second, it will cover the distance from New York to Los Angeles in less than a minute. It's more than 10 times faster than the Space Shuttle's on-orbit speed of 5 miles per second.Traveling five times faster than Voyager - a spacecraft launched in 1977 to explore our solar system's outer limits - an interstellar probe launched in 2010 would pass Voyager in 2018, going as far in eight years as Voyager will have journeyed in 41 years.Johnson says transportation is quite possibly the toughest challenge with interstellar missions because they have to go so far, so fast. "The difficulty is that rockets need so much fuel that they can't push their own weight into interstellar space. The best option appears to be space sails, which require no fuel," he said.Thin, reflective sails could be propelled through space by sunlight, microwave beams or laser beams - just as the wind pushes sailboats on Earth. Rays of light from the Sun would provide tremendous momentum to the gigantic structure. The sail will be the largest spacecraft ever built, spanning 440 yards - twice the diameter of the Louisiana Superdome."Nothing this big has ever been deployed in space. We think we know how to do it, but we're in the beginning phases of turning a concept into a real design," Johnson;said.Researchers are optimistic about recent breakthroughs with strong,lightweight composite materials. A leading candidate for sails is a carbon fiber material whose density is less than one-tenth ounce per square yard - the equivalent of flattening one raisin to the point that it covers a square yard. In space the material would unfurl like a fan when it's deployed from an expendable rocket.

Workers briefly evacuate stricken nuclear plant

FUKUSHIMA, Japan Workers at a quake-damaged atomic power plant briefly suspended operations and evacuated Wednesday after a surge in radiation made it too dangerous to remain there, dealing a setback to Japan’s frantic efforts to stem a nuclear crisis. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said work on dousing the overheated reactors with water was disrupted by the need to withdraw. All the workers there have suspended their operations. We have urged them to evacuate, and they have," Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Edano said, according to a translation by NHK television.The workers were allowed back into the plant less than an hour later after the radiation levels had fallen. The surge in radiation was apparently the result of a Tuesday fire in the complex's Unit 4 reactor, according to officials with Japan's nuclear safety agency. That blast is thought to have damaged the reactor's suppression chamber, a water-filled pipe outside the nuclear core that is part of the emergency cooling system.

Arab League slates attack on civilians

Western forces pounded Libya's air defences and patrolled its skies on Sunday, but their day-old intervention hit a serious diplomatic setback as the Arab League chief condemned the "bombardment of civilians."Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi vowed to defeat the Western powers' "terrorism" and sent his troops and tanks into the rebel-held coastal city of Misrata, residents said.European and U.S. forces unleashed warplanes and cruise missiles against Gaddafi on Saturday in a United Nations-backed intervention to prevent the veteran leader from killing civilians as he fights an uprising against his 41-year rule.But Arab League chief Amr Moussa said what was happening was not what Arabs had envisaged when they called for the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya."What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians," he said.In comments carried by Egypt's official state news agency, Moussa also said he was calling for an emergency Arab League meeting.Arab backing for a no-fly zone provided crucial underpinning for the passage of the U.N. Security Council resolution last week that paved the way for the Western intervention, the biggest against an Arab country since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.Withdrawal of that support would make it much harder to pursue what some defense analysts say could in any case be a difficult, open-ended campaign with an uncertain outcome.The U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said the no-fly zone was effectively in place. But he told CBS the endgame of military action was "very uncertain" and acknowledged it could end in a stalemate with Gaddafi.Mullen said he had seen no reports of civilian casualties from the Western strikes. But Russia said there had been such casualties and called on Britain, France and the United States to halt the "non-selective use of force."The aerial assault stopped in its tracks the advance by Gaddafi's troops into the eastern city of Benghazi, and left the burned and shattered remains of his tanks and troop carriers littering the main road outside the rebel stronghold.The charred bodies of at least 14 government soldiers lay scattered in the desert.Gaddafi said the raids amounted to terrorism and vowed to fight to the death. "We will not leave our land and we will liberate it," he said on state television. "We will remain alive and you will all die."A Libyan government health official said the death toll from the Western air strikes had risen to 64 on Sunday after some of the wounded died. But it was impossible to independently verify the reports as government minders refused to take Western reporters in the capital Tripoli to the site of the bombings.Residents said forces loyal to Gaddafi entered the center of the rebel-held city of Misrata on Sunday with tanks, and several people had been killed by gunfire. "Two people were killed so far today by snipers. They (snipers) are still on the rooftops. They are backed with four tanks, which have been patrolling the town. It's getting very difficult for people to come out," one resident, called Sami, told Reuters by telephone."There are also boats encircling the port and preventing aid from reaching the town."Abdelbasset, a spokesman for the rebels in Misrata, told Reuters: "There is fighting between the rebels and Gaddafi's forces. Their tanks are in the center of Misrata ... There are so many casualties we cannot count them."French planes fired the first shots of the intervention on Saturday, destroying tanks and armored vehicles near Benghazi. The eastern city is the cradle of the anti-Gaddafi revolt that started last month, inspired by Arab uprisings that toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.France sent an aircraft carrier toward Libya and its planes were over the country again on Sunday, defense officials said. Britain said its planes had targeted Libya's air defences mainly around the capital Tripoli.U.S. and British warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles overnight against air defences around the capital Tripoli and Misrata, U.S. military officials said.They said U.S. forces and planes were working with Britain, France, Canada and Italy in operation "Odyssey Dawn." Denmark said it had four fighter planes ready to join in on Sunday and was awaiting U.S. instructions.Gaddafi said all Libyans had now been armed to defend the country and Western defeat was inevitable. Libya's state news agency said more than a million men and women would be armed.China and Russia, which abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote last week endorsing intervention, expressed regret at the military action. China's Foreign Ministry said it hoped the conflict would not lead to a greater loss of civilian life.Explosions and heavy anti-aircraft fire rattled Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday. Defiant cries of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) echoed around the city center.Libyan state television showed footage from an unidentified hospital of what it called victims of the "colonial enemy." Ten bodies were wrapped up in white and blue bed sheets, and several people were wounded, one of them badly, the television said.The mood in Tripoli turned markedly anti-Western, and crowds shouted defiant slogans and shot in the air.Tripoli residents said they had heard an explosion near the eastern Tajoura district, while in Misrata they said strikes had targeted an airbase used by Gaddafi's forces.The Western intervention, after weeks of diplomatic wrangling, was welcomed in Benghazi with a mix of apprehension and relief."We salute France, Britain, the United States and the Arab countries for standing with Libya. But we think Gaddafi will take out his anger on civilians. So the West has to hit him hard," said civil servant Khalid al-Ghurfaly, 38.Benghazi's main hospital was filled with men, women and children wounded in Saturday's assault on the city by Gaddafi's forces. There were 24 bodies, including eight government troops, visible in the morgue, and more were stored in refrigerators.French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the allies had agreed to use "all necessary means, especially military" to enforce the Security Council resolution for an end to attacks on civilians.Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention, fearing Western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite a U.S. insistence, repeated on Saturday, that it has no plans to send ground troops into Libya.

Hundreds of acres of cultivable land damaged in Bogra

Some influential people in collusion with the local political leaders and the government officials are lifting sand indiscriminately causing serious damage to hundreds of acres of cultivable land along both the sides of the river Kartoa in Bogra district, locals alleged. The unscrupulous people have been doing their illegal business by lifting enormous quantities of sand from the cultivable land of Rajapur and Shakharia unions of Sadar upazila under the nose of the local administration, local people complained.Around 300 bighas of cultivable land along the 18 kilometre stretch of the riverbanks under the unions have already turned unusable for cultivation as the illegal traders have lifted a huge quantity of sand from the adjacent farmland, they said.Affected people do not dare to protest against the influential sand lifters as the musclemen threaten them of dire consequence, they alleged.On August 02, 2008, around 400 local people formed a human chain on the upazila headquarters premises in protest against their destructive activities and submitted a memorandum to the then UNO Shafian Begum seeking immediate steps against the dishonest sand traders, they said.Vast tracts of cultivable land in Dakkhinpara Kathaltola, Baripara, Baulapara, Namabela, Tilerpara, Madartola, Mankichalk and Fulmbari Shashan Ghat area have been damaged seriously following mindless sand lifting by the vested group.Shakharia Union Council Chairman Hasan Jahid said hundreds of acres of fertile farmland have become unfit for cultivation as some influential people with supports from the local political leaders are lifting sand indiscriminately. Local administration is also playing a silent role as the vested group gives them a large amount of kickbacks, he alleged.Local people lodged complaints several times to the UNO, DC and the local officials of the environment directorate but their moves proved abortive, he said.The dishonest traders are tactfully trapping the neighbouring landowners by purchasing a piece of land which they dig out so deeply that the soil around it slides colossally making the land unfit for cultivation.Later, the helpless landowners without having any alternative sell their land to the unscrupulous traders at cheap rate.Sadar Upazila Council Chairman Ali Ashgar Hena said he had raided the area several times with the help of police but could not stop the destructive business in the areas.Deputy Commissioner Iftekharul Islam Khan said after taking lease from the authorities concerned the traders can lift sand in a planned way.But his administration will take stern action if any trader is found lifting soil illegally, he said.When contacted, Najmul Hoque, director of Rajshahi Divisional Environment Directorate office, said his administration cannot take action against the illegal sand lifters as environment court in this regard has not been provisioned.It is mentionable that rapid urbanisation and realtors’ expanding business in Bogra district has boosted the demand of sand as key construction material.

PM opens several projects in C'nawabganj

Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the installation of 50MW power plant machine at Amnura in Sadar Upazila immediately after her arrival in the district headquarters on Saturday morning. Later she unveiled the plaque of the Rajshahi-Amnura-Chapainawabganj and Amnura-Rahanpur-Rahanpur Border Railway rehabilitation projects at Amnura Railway Station around 11:15am. At noon, the prime minister set up the foundation stone of Mahananda Second Bridge at Saheber Ghat in Sadar Upazila. She is due to inaugurate the newly-constructed stadium at Rehaichar in the town. She will also attend an exchange of opinion with the district administration at 2:05pm at local Dak Bunglow. Later, Hasina will address a public meeting on the Chapainawabganj Government College premises to be organised by the local Awami League.

MV Bipasa salvaged, death toll 32

The death toll from Thursday’s launch accident in the River Meghna in Brahmanbaria rose to 32 with the recovery of five more bodies as rescue operation was called off after MV Bipasa was salvaged on Friday morning.Rescuers on Friday recovered two bodies from inside the launch while three bodies were found floating in the river near the spot of the accident. Locals, divers from Fire Service and Civil Defence and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority retrieved 27 bodies on Thursday. The rescue operation was called off Friday afternoon after BIWTA’s rescue vessel MV Rustom salvaged the ill-fated MV Bipasa at around 11:00am as the authorities thought there was little chance of recovering any more bodies from the spot.The double-decker MV Bipasa bound for Sunamganj from Bhairab with more than 200 passengers sank in Meghna at around 2:00am Thursday after it ran into a submerged trawler that had sunk in the river two weeks ago.Brahmanbaria deputy commissioner Abdul Mannan told New Age on Friday afternoon that the rescue vessel, Rustom, pulled the launch from a depth of 60 feet under water and called off their operation at around 1:00pm.He said no more people approached the authorities with claims for missing relatives.

He said that the authorities had handed over 28 bodies to relatives for burial.Brahmanbaria additional superintendent of police Faisal Mahmud said, ‘We don’t think there is anyone else missing.’Shipping minister Shahjahan Khan on Friday visited the spot and announced compensation for the victims’ families as per government rules.Families which have lost one member in the tragedy would get Tk 30,000 each while those who have lost more than one member would get Tk 45,000 each. Besides, the district administration had given Tk 2,000 to each of the families for burial of the dead. Most of the victims were from Kishoreganj and Bhairab.Sarail police officer-in-charge Zahirul Islam Khan told New Age that the launch was overloaded and many of the passengers had managed to swim ashore.Sarail upazila nirbahi officer MD Helal Uddin said that identities of four deceased could not be known. ‘If we fail to identify the four victims, the bodies would be buried by the administration in the area,’ he said.BIWTA chairman Abdul Malek Miah said that the accident had occurred due to negligence of its master.Hasan Mahmud Tareq, who heads the three-member probe committee formed by BIWTA, said that they were going to start investigation to find out the reason for the accident. The committee has been asked to submit its report in seven days.

49 ‘killed’ as Syria forces fire on protesters

Forty nine people were killed, they said, though it was not possible to immediately verify that toll.The breadth of the protests  and people’s willingness to defy security forces who deployed en masse painted a tableau of turmoil in one of the Arab world’s most repressive countries. In scenes unprecedented only weeks ago, protesters tore down pictures of President Bashar al-Assad and toppled statues of his father, Hafez, in two towns on the capital’s outskirts, according to witnesses and video footage.In the capital, a city that underlines the very prestige of the Assad family’s four decades of rule, hundreds gathered after prayers at Al Hassan mosque. Some of them chanted: “The people want the fall of the government,” a slogan made famous in Egypt and Tunisia. Security forces quickly dispersed the protests with tear gas, witnesses said. But larger protests gathered on the capital’s outskirts, drawing thousands. Other demonstrations occurred across Syria, from Qamishli in the east to Baniyas on the coast.“Freedom! Freedom!” went another chant. In Baniyas, a banner denounced Assad and his ruling Baath Party: “No Baath, No Assad, we want to free the country.”Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria’s National Organisation for Human Rights, said the death toll had reached 49. He said at least 20 people were missing.In Homs itself, where major protests erupted this week, activists said large numbers of security forces and police in plain clothes flooded the city, putting up checkpoints and preventing all but a few dozen from gathering. One resident said streets were deserted by afternoon, the silence punctuated every 15 minutes or so by gunfire.Abu Kamel al-Dimashki, an activist in Homs reached by Skype, said that 16 of those who were protesting went missing. His account could not be confirmed. “I tried to go there, but I couldn’t,” he said. “The secret police are all over Homs.”One of the bloodiest episodes occurred in Azra, about 32km from Dara’a, a poor town in southwestern Syria that helped unleash the uprising. A protester who gave his name as Abu Ahmad said about 3,000 people had marched towards the town square when they came under fire. He said he brought three of those killed to the mosque one shot in the head, one in the chest and one in the back  the oldest of whom was 20.“There is no more fear. No more fear,” Abu Ahmad said by telephone. “We either want to die or to remove him. Death has become something ordinary.”The aim of both sides is the same: to prove they have the upper hand in the biggest challenge yet to the 40-year rule of the Assad family. While organisers were reluctant to call today a decisive moment, they acknowledged that it would signal their degree of support in a country that remained divided, with the government still claiming bastions of support among minorities, loyalists of the Baath Party and wealthier segments of the population. Residents of Damascus said police officers were seen heading yesterday from a headquarters on the outskirts in Zabadani towards the capital, where military security officers had reportedly turned out in greater numbers. In the restive city of Dara’a, security forces set up checkpoints today, and other deployments were reported in suburbs of the capital like Douma, Maidamiah and Dariah.

Japan orders compensation for nuke plant evacuees

The government ordered the operator of Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant Friday to pay an initial $12,000 for each household forced to evacuate because of leaking radiation — a handout some of the displaced slammed as too little.Tens of thousands of residents unable to return to their homes near the nuclear plant are bereft of their livelihoods and possessions, unsure of when, if ever, they will be able to return home. Some have travelled hundreds of kilometers (miles) to Tokyo Electric Power Co's headquarters in Tokyo to press their demands for compensation."We have decided to pay provisional compensation to provide the slightest help for the people (who were affected)," Tepco President Masataka Shimizu told a news conference.The utility will start paying out the roughly 50 billion yen ($600 million) in compensation April 28 to those forced to evacuate, with families getting 1 million yen (about $12,000) and single adults getting 7,50,000 yen (about $9,000), the government said.Roughly 48,000 households living within about 19 miles (30 kilometers) of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant would be eligible for the payments, said Trade Ministry spokesman Hiroaki Wada. More compensation was expected later, he said."I'm not satisfied," said Kazuko Suzuki, a 49-year-old single mother of two teenagers from the town of Futuba, adjacent to the plant. She has lived at a shelter at a high school north of Tokyo for the last month.Her family has had to buy clothes, food, shampoo and other basics because they fled the area on government orders without taking time to pack. She has lost her job as a welfare worker, and a job prospect for her 18-year-old fell through because of the effects of the disaster."We've had to spend money on so many extra things and we don't know how long this could go on," she said.Akemi Osumi, a 48-year-old mother of three also from Futuba, said the money was a "small step" but that it didn't fairly compensate larger families. Her family is living at the same shelter but also must rent an apartment for her eldest son to go to a vocational school."One million yen doesn't go very far," she said. "I'm not convinced at just 1 million yen per family. If it was dependent on the size of the family I'd understand, but it's not."Tepco expects to pay 50 billion yen (about $600 million) in this initial round of government-ordered compensation. But Shimizu said 2 trillion yen ($24 billion) was needed to resolve the continuing problems with the plant and to restart conventional power stations to make up for power shortages.Shimizu said the utility would consider cutting the salaries for executives as well as a number of its employees.The company is still struggling to stabilise the nuclear plant, which saw its cooling systems fail after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11 triggered a massive tsunami that wrecked emergency backup systems as well as much of the plant's regular equipment.Radiation leaks from the crisis have contaminated crops and left fishermen in the region unable to sell their catches, a huge blow to an area heavily dependent on fishing and farming.The governor of Fukushima, Yuhei Sato, has vigorously criticised both Tepco and the government for their handling of the disaster, demanding faster action.

"This is just a beginning. The accident has not ended. We will continue to ask the government and Tepco to fully compensate evacuees."Nearly 140,000 people are still living in shelters after losing their homes or being advised to evacuate because of concerns about radiation.Japanese law calls for the government to pay up to 240 billion yen ($2.9 billion ) in compensation for nuclear accidents, and apart from Tepco's provisional payment to evacuees, billions more is likely to be paid for losses to fishermen, farmers and others suffering losses from the crisis.Nuclear operators are required to shoulder costs for compensation for failures of reactor operations and other accidents, except in cases "caused by a grave natural disaster of an exceptional character, or by an insurrection," the country's Act on Compensation for Nuclear Damage stipulates.

Politically, however, it would be untenable for Tepco to evade paying damages given the complex nature of the problems that have unfolded at the plant, and questions over its disaster preparedness, among other issues.It is unclear, however, whether Tepco is likely to face lawsuits going forward. Most Japanese prefer to avoid the cost and publicity of going to the courts for redress, and the country relies heavily on nonjudicial resolution of disputes.With the northeastern coast still a wreck, at least one poll shows public support for increasing taxes to pay for disaster recovery. Japan's national debt is already twice as big as its GDP.

According to a random telephone poll of 1,036 people by the Yomiuri Shimbun over April 1-3, some 60 percent of respondents said they would support higher taxes for recovery efforts. The paper didn't give a margin of error, but a poll of that size would have a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

Asked about the possibility of such a tax, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano was noncommittal, but didn't rule it out."The government needs to consider various measures" for funding the rebuilding, he said. "It would be up the Cabinet and parliament to make a responsible, final decision," he said.

Obama Panel to Curb Medicare Finds Foes in Both Parties

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans are joining to oppose one of the most important features of President Obama’s new deficit reduction plan, a powerful independent board that could make sweeping cuts in the growth of Medicare spending.
Mr. Obama wants to expand the power of the 15-member panel, which was created by the new health care law, to rein in Medicare costs.
But not only do Republicans and some Democrats oppose increasing the power of the board, they also want to eliminate it altogether. Opponents fear that the panel, known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board, would usurp Congressional spending power over one of the government’s most important and expensive social programs.
Under the law, spending cuts recommended by the presidentially appointed panel would take effect automatically unless Congress voted to block or change them. In general, federal courts could not review actions to carry out the board’s recommendations. The impact of the board’s decisions could be magnified because private insurers often use Medicare rates as a guide or a benchmark in paying doctors, hospitals and other providers.
Last week, in his speech on deficit reduction, Mr. Obama said he wanted to beef up the board’s cost-cutting powers in unspecified ways should the growth of Medicare spending exceed certain goals. Supporters say the board will be able to make tough decisions because it will be largely insulated from legislative politics.
Lawmakers do not agree. Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the House Budget Committee, called it “a rationing board” and said Congress should not “delegate Medicare decision-making to 15 people appointed by the president.” He said Mr. Obama’s proposal would allow the board to “impose more price controls and more limitations on providers, which will end up cutting services to seniors.”
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who introduced a bill last month to repeal the Medicare board, said the president’s proposal “punts difficult decisions on health spending to an unelected, unaccountable board of bureaucrats.”
Representative Allyson Y. Schwartz, a Pennsylvania Democrat prominent on health care issues, said: “It’s our constitutional duty, as members of Congress, to take responsibility for Medicare and not turn decisions over to a board. Abdicating this responsibility, whether to insurance companies or to an unelected commission, undermines our ability to represent our constituents, including seniors and the disabled.”
Ms. Schwartz signed up on Friday as co-sponsor of a bill to repeal the board.
The purpose of the panel, according to the health care law, is to reduce the rate of growth in Medicare spending per beneficiary. The law sets annual goals — “target growth rates” — for Medicare spending below the average of the last 15 years.
Board members will be subject to Senate confirmation — no easy feat in the current political climate. Terms are six years. Members can serve no more than two full consecutive terms. The White House has yet to submit any nominations for the board.
“Why have legislators?” asked Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health.
In some ways, Mr. Stark said, expanding the power of the board could be as bad as giving vouchers to Medicare beneficiaries to buy private insurance. “In theory at least, you could set the vouchers at an adequate level,” he said. “But, in its effort to limit the growth of Medicare spending, the board is likely to set inadequate payment rates for health care providers, which could endanger patient care.”
Representative Shelley Berkley, Democrat of Nevada, said she wanted to repeal the Medicare board. “I have great faith that this administration can put together a strong, independent and knowledgeable board,” Ms. Berkley said, but she said she had less confidence in future administrations.
Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes, said his members disliked the board because it would allow Congress and the president to “subcontract out difficult decisions.”
Still, the idea of a more potent Medicare board could be a live option if the White House insisted on it in budget negotiations with Congress.
Mr. Obama said last week that he would “reduce wasteful subsidies and erroneous payments,” cut spending on prescription drugs and take other steps to save $500 billion in Medicare and Medicaid by 2023. “But if we’re wrong and Medicare costs rise faster than we expect,” he said, the Medicare board would have “the authority to make additional savings by further improving Medicare.”
The president’s proposal would set stricter goals for Medicare spending and establish some type of automatic cost-cutting device as an “enforcement mechanism,” but Mr. Obama did not say exactly how it would work.
Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, described the board as a backstop to “ensure that health costs are reduced.” The board might not have to take action if the president’s other proposals slow the growth of Medicare spending, she said.
The board grew out of proposals by Mr. Obama and Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia.
“Medicare payment policy should be determined by experts, using evidence, not by the undue influence of special interests,” Mr. Rockefeller said.
AARP, the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association voiced concern about the president’s latest proposal.
“Relying on arbitrary spending targets is not a good way to make health policy, especially when decisions may be left to the unelected and unaccountable,” said A. Barry Rand, chief executive of AARP, the lobby for older Americans.

Under the law, the board cannot make recommendations to “ration health care,” raise revenues or increase beneficiaries’ premiums, deductibles or co-payments. This increases the likelihood that the board will try to save money by trimming Medicare payments to health care providers.