Chinese Foreign Minister leaves for Dhaka

            Kathmandu, Dec 27: Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, left Kathmandu for Dhaka on Saturday afternoon by wrapping up his three-day visit to Nepal.

            During his visit, the Chinese Minister, who arrived in Kathmandu on December 25, paid a courtesy call to President Ram Baran Yadav and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala as well.

            During his meeting, Minister Yi reiterated that China attaches its high priority to Nepal and pledged further co-operation to Nepal.

            In his bilateral meeting with Nepalese counterpart, Mahendra Bahadur Pandey-led Nepalese team on Friday, Yi had augmented financial aid worth 800 million RMB as against Rs 150 million RMB, which is an increment by 433 percent to the existing one.

            During his meeting with the Nepalese Counterpart, Minister Yi expressed his view that South Asia could grow more robust through the co-operation between India and China.

            Yi, during his visit, donated 26 different medical appliances worth Rs 200 million to Civil Services Hospital at Min Bhawan and laid a foundation stone for a new building of the Armed Police Force in Kathmandu.

The visit of Yi is interpreted as the landmark success and believed to have further consolidated the bilateral relationships between Nepal and China.

           

Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Shankar Bairagi, Chinese ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai and the high-ranking officials at the MoFA Nepal saw off Yi at Tribhuwan International Airport. RSS

PAPAD for leaders' honesty

Kathmandu, Dec 27:  Leaders of civil society and practitioners have urged the politicians to be honest to the country and people to bring the new constitution on slated timeframe.

At an interaction programme organized by Professional Alliance for Peace and Democracy (PAPAD) here Saturday, the speakers asked the politicians to end the ongoing political deadlock through promulgation of constitution to meet the people's expectations for lasting peace, social harmony and development.

On the occasion, Chairman of Nepal Professors' Association, Nepal, Rameshwor Upadhyay said suspicions were created for timely constitution due to political parties' contradiction at a time when the date for constitution promulgation was nearing.

"During our meetings, the leaders have pledged for timely constitution. Pressure of civil society, media persons and all is needed for bringing constitution in time as there is no environment for being confident of timely statute due to parties' past activities," he added.

            Likewise, Chairman of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Dr Mahendra Bista said that no political party can make pretension against timely constitution writing adding that constitution was for ensuring future of all people and political parties.

            Also speaking at the programme, President of Nepal Medical Association Dr Anjani Kumar Jha suggested that the political parties should be honest to the country and people by seriously considering the country's future if constitution was not drafted even from the second Constituent Assembly (CA). 

            General Secretary of Nepal Teachers' Union Jhak Bahadur Dangi, deputy general secretary of Nepal Engineers' Association Dinesh Chandra Panthi and others said that the parties should meet the commitment made before the people for constitution writing. RSS

'Govt working to rise dignity of bullion traders'

Kathmandu, Dec 27: Minister for Commerce and Supplies Sunil Bahadur Thapa has said that the government has been working to raise the dignity of the bullion traders.

            Speaking at the 12th annual general meeting of the Kathmandu Gold and Silver Entrepreneurs Association in the capital on Saturday, Minister Thapa said there was a clear business policy for the dignity of the gold and silver business by keeping costumers' interests above all.   

Minister Thapa said the state could operate any business and added, "The primary duty of entrepreneurs is to provide services to the consumers."

The Minister called for ending the trend of general strikes in the business sector and urged the entrepreneurs not to provide donation under duress.

Likewise, Commerce and Supplies Secretary Narayan Gopal Malego stressed on rising above the vested interest to provide sincere services while citing the necessity of a benchmark for facilitating the enhancing business sector.

On the occasion, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Vice President Dinesh Shrestha, Nepal Chamber of Commerce Vice Chairman Rajendra Tuladhar, Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Chairman Maniratna Shakya complained of constraints in operating gold and silver business in a relaxed environment. RSS 

Yangon votes for first time in 60 years

YANGON, Dec 27, (AFP) - Residents of Myanmar's commercial hub Yangon went to the polls Saturday for the first municipal elections in six decades, with voters hoping for change as the city booms, despite knowing little about the candidates or their policies.

The election will be closely watched as a test of the country's democratic credentials ahead of a landmark nationwide poll slated for November next year.

For many the ballot for the Yangon City Development Committee is the first chance to vote under the country's quasi-civilian government, which replaced outright military rule in 2011.

It is also a rare opportunity to have a say over the future of Myanmar's biggest city, where residents grumble about runaway construction and soaring rents, worsening traffic, poor sanitation and weak pollution control.

"It's very difficult to have big expectations as this is the first YCDC election for 60 years," Khin Maung Tun, 50, a resident in Thaketa township told AFP. "But we came here to vote and show our spirit."

But curbs on who can vote have enfranchised just 400,000 of the city's several million residents, while other clauses have strictly controlled who can stand for the YCDC.

Just under 300 candidates, among them businessmen, retired civil servants and activists, are competing for 115 positions on the committee -- although the top posts will remain largely appointed.

Campaigns were muted -- or non-existent -- in a country where politicians are unused to wooing the electorate, although election officials were on hand to help with the queries over ballot sheets available at polling stations across Yangon early Saturday.

- Turn up and vote -Despite the lack of intimacy with the candidates' politics, many residents appeared determined to vote after years of repressed democratic aspirations under junta rule.

"I do not know anything about candidates. I just found out their names while voting," Phone Maw Lynn, a resident in Sanchaung township told AFP after voting."I hope for some significant change by voting," he said without revealing who he voted for.

Polling officials said the election -- which ends before dusk -- will be free and fair, in a break from the junta years."We will count the votes in front of witnesses sent by candidates. If the voters also want to come and see, they can do so," Tin Soe, a polling monitoring official in Sanchaung township told AFP.

The polls are only the second major vote since the 2010 general elections, which were marred by widespread accusations of cheating and the absence of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party which boycotted the election.

By-elections in 2012 held in a handful of constituencies across the country were considered much freer and allowed the veteran democracy campaigner Suu Kyi to enter parliament for the first time.

But she remains barred from running for president under the current constitution, although her National League for Democracy party are pressing hard for an amendment.

The NLD is expected to sweep next year's poll, following up on its 2012 success.But critics say the Yangon poll is deeply flawed, citing the rule of just one person per household allowed to vote -- meaning only around 400,000 people can cast a ballot -- narrow age restrictions for candidates and a ban on political parties from taking part.

Appointed figures will still outnumber elected ones on the city's top council within the YCDC, which has major responsibilities over infrastructure, heritage and tax collection in Yangon.But it marks a major step by the body, which has not been chosen by popular ballot since 1949.

US plagued by doubts as it exits Afghan war

WASHINGTON, Dec 27, (AFP) - After 13 years, the United States is winding down its war in Afghanistan, plagued by doubts about what was accomplished at such a high cost.

Instead of a sense of triumph at the close of the longest conflict in America's history, there is mostly regret and fatigue over a war that claimed the lives of more than 2,300 American troops and cost more than a trillion dollars.

US commanders insist the Afghan security forces will hold the line in a stalemate with the Taliban. But some officials fear a repeat of Iraq, in which an American-trained army virtually collapsed in the face of a jihadist onslaught.

A large majority of Americans now say the war was not worth it, and only 23 percent of US soldiers believe the mission has been a success, according to recent polls.But when it began, the war enjoyed overwhelming support and victory seemed within reach.

Less than a month after Al-Qaeda's attacks of September 11, 2001, president George W. Bush captured the nation's sense of righteous anger as he announced military action in Afghanistan in a televised address in October.

The goal was to "disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations," Bush said, and to attack the Taliban regime that had hosted Al-Qaeda and refused to hand over its leaders.

- Toppling the Taliban -

US objectives were met with stunning speed. Al-Qaeda training camps were wiped out and Northern Alliance fighters -- backed by US-led air strikes and a small number of American special forces -- toppled the Taliban regime within a month.For the United States, the war seemed all but over.

But the Taliban eventually regrouped from safe havens in neighboring Pakistan, even as Washington's attention shifted to a new war in Iraq.The Taliban grew into a virulent insurgency that exploited resentment of a corrupt, ineffective government in Kabul.

The United States formed the backbone of an international force that found itself in a protracted fight with insurgents.The US-led contingent steadily expanded -- while the goals of the war became increasingly ambitious as well.

Washington and its allies embraced the lofty ideals of nation-building, vowing to fight corruption, foster economic development, and forge a "stable, democratic state" in an impoverished land mired in war for decades.

The results were often disappointing. International aid helped build roads and schools, but it also was blamed for fueling rampant corruption, with some of the money ending up with the insurgents.

Attempts to broker peace talks with the Taliban in recent years came to nothing. Critics say Washington missed a chance at cutting a deal early in the war, when the insurgents were on the retreat.

Fighting the elusive Taliban, with their homemade bombs and Pakistani sanctuaries, proved frustrating for Western troops, who struggled to grasp the language and tribal rivalries of an alien culture.

Commanders appealed for more troops. And Washington kept sending forces "in the vain hope that something might somehow improve," wrote retired general Daniel Bolger, author of "Why We Lost."

Having reached a peak of more than 100,000 US forces, the American presence is down to about 11,000 troops, now that NATO's combat mission is over.- 'Big test' -The balance sheet for the campaign is decidedly mixed.

The intervention deprived Al-Qaeda of a sanctuary, ousted the Taliban from power, eased the repression of women and created an Afghan army that could make it difficult for the insurgents to return to their once dominant role, analysts said.

But Al-Qaeda -- even after its leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US commandos -- has spawned cells elsewhere and inspired new extremists in Syria and Iraq, while women's advances are fragile and could easily unravel.

The Taliban may no longer run ministries but they are far from defeated and could yet turn the tide against the Kabul government's army, which has suffered unsustainably high casualties and desertions.

"The Taliban have nowhere near the power they did in 2001, but they are certainly not finished," said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank.

US officials hope a huge investment in the Afghan security forces will pay off, but already the insurgents have clawed back control in some areas in the south where American troops have pulled out.

The newly created security force, riddled with ethnic divisions, remains "a question mark," Felbab-Brown said."Next year is a big test for them," said Carter Malkasian, author of a book on the war who worked as a US diplomat for two years in southern Helmand province.

"If they lose ground, that's an indication that this war is going to keep going," he told AFP."If that happens, the Taliban are going to get bolder, because the Taliban are not going to see a reason to negotiate."

Sony's PlayStation offline, Microsoft's Xbox restored

  WASHINGTON, Dec 27 (AFP) - Microsoft's online network for its Xbox gaming console was restored to nearly full service Friday after an allegedly coordinated Christmas Day hack brought it and Sony's PlayStation network down.

The PlayStation network remained down, while Xbox's service returned to all except three of its applications during the day.

The disruption started Christmas Day, PlayStation and Xbox said on their Twitter feeds, adding that they were working to restore service.A message posted to the Xbox status page early Friday upgraded service to "limited" -- a sign that support teams were making inroads in fixing the problem.

And PlayStation asked its users for patience."We are working to restore full network services for all platforms -- thanks, as always, for your patience!" it said on TwitterA new Twitter user going by the name "Lizard Squad" took credit for the disruption, claiming it had the "nation on strings."

The name is the same used by a group of hackers that has targeted Sony in the past, though it was not possible to verify the Twitter account's authenticity.The account did not return requests for comment and only became active Wednesday.

Sony was hit by a sophisticated hacking attack this month that stole massive amounts of data from its serversThe US has blamed North Korea for the attack, with the reclusive state seen as furious at the release of Sony film "The Interview," which parodies leader Kim Jong-Un.

After initially canceling the film's December 25 release, Sony backtracked and brought it out to a small number of US theaters.The film was also made available online -- including through the Xbox console and, soon, the PlayStation.

On its @PlayStation Twitter account, Sony said: "We're aware that some users are having issues logging into PSN -- engineers are investigating."

A day after the difficulties began, @AskPlayStation posted: "Our engineers are continuing to work hard to resolve the network issues users have experienced today. Thanks for your continued patience!"

Analysts said a direct connection with the Sony Pictures attack was unlikely, and that the latest hack was probably the work of fame-seeking amateurs.

"The timing suggests that this is an attack that we can put in the category of adolescents who are looking for a bit of glory," said Pierre Samson of the European Circle Security and Information Systems.

"There is a very small probability that there was a direct link with the attack on Sony Pictures, you can order an attack to online services fairly easily with few resources."He said thousands of similar hacks are launched daily, although they are not always effective.- Gamers vent -Though a direct connection between "The Interview" and the service disruptions could not be confirmed, some gamers were convinced a link exists.

"I blame that darn movie 'The Interview,'" wrote a user going by as2009man on a PlayStation community forum message board."It's the gift that keeps on giving."Another poster to the same forum said he was getting fed up with the game world's vulnerability to repeated denial of service attacks.

"A DDos attack is like a semi (truck) driver intentionally jackknifing his rig on a busy interstate and shutting down traffic for a few hours," said a gamer writing under the name shadoefax.Game users also took to Twitter to vent their frustration."After this christmas, #lizardsquad is forever on the naughty list," one frustrated gamer fumed.

A major cyber attack on PlayStation in 2011 saw personal details from 77 million customers stolen, preventing customers from playing online and forcing Sony to disable the network for more than three weeks.

Doubts as giant China project's water reaches capital

DANJIANGKOU, China, Dec 27, (AFP) - A towering dam in central China holds back a vast expanse of water destined to travel over 1,000 kilometres north to Beijing, but critics say it will only temporarily quench the city's thirst.

China's capital on Saturday received its first flows from the South-North Water Diversion Project, one of the most ambitious engineering projects in Chinese history.

After decades of planning and at least $33 billion of investment, over a billion cubic metres of water is projected to flow to the capital every year, through more than 1,200 kilometres of channels and pipes -- the distance from London to Madrid.

"Beijing is now formally receiving water" from the project, the city's government said in a text message.Another 8.5 billion cubic metres -- equivalent to 3.4 million Olympic-sized swimming pools -- will reach provinces along the way, planners say.

China's government says the project, which will ultimately have three routes and an estimated $81 billion total cost, will solve a chronic shortage in China's northern cities.

Water availability per person in Beijing is on a par with Middle Eastern countries such as Israel, threatening economic growth, the key source of support for China's ruling Communist party.

"This water needs to go to the North," said a tour guide surnamed Chen, standing atop the 110-metre-high dam at the Danjiangkou reservoir in the central province of Hubei, which sits 120 meters above Beijing's sea-level to allow flow by pure gravity.

Among the engineering feats involved are a 7.2 kilometre-long tunnel beneath the Yellow river -- China's second biggest waterway -- described in official reports as "the most enormous river crossing project in human history".

To carry the flow over one river in Henan province, Chinese engineers built a 12 kilometre aqueduct -- the longest in the world.

But critics say that the scheme's success is jeopardised by declining rainfall in the south, and it will only act as a temporary stopgap in the north's insatiable demand.

- Mao Zedong -

Northern China supports nearly half the country's population and economy alongside two-thirds of its arable land, but has just a fifth its total water supply, according to the World Bank.

Looking over the Yellow river in 1952, Communist China's founding father, Mao Zedong is reported to have said: "The north of China needs water and the south has plenty. It would be fine to borrow some if possible."

At a time when a single word from Mao could launch a project, studies were swiftly begun but technical concerns and lack of capital meant the idea was shelved until a revival by then-president Jiang Zemin, whose government approved it in 2002.

Its construction has since taken on added urgency with water levels per person in Beijing falling to just 120 cubic metres -- less than Algeria and roughly on par with Yemen, both desert countries.The project's eastern route, built along the 1,400-year-old Grand Canal, began transporting water from the Yangtze to Shandong province last year but has been dogged by pollution concerns, and some fear the same fate could befall the pricier central section.

State broadcaster CCTV reported last year that the Danjiangkou reservoir had become a "cesspool" due to rampant discharge of sewage into its tributaries, with human waste and animal corpses a common sight in one of them.

Officials have reportedly closed thousands of factories upstream from Danjiangkou, and this year announced that the water was good enough to drink.

- 'Very short-sighted' -

But years of declining rainfall in southern China means it now regularly sees droughts of its own, and analysts say the project will exacerbate those strains.

"The basic trend in the South is that rainfall decreases each year," said Wu Xinmu, of the Water Research Institute at China's Wuhan University.

Flow on lower sections of the rivers which feed the Danjiangkou reservoir will decline dramatically and the project will "threaten the local supply of drinking water and influence farming irrigation and industrial production" in parts of central China, researchers at the University wrote in a report.

The central route has forced the relocation of more than 330,000 people, according to state-run media.But the 1.05 billion cubic metres it is intended to deliver to Beijing every year will be not be enough to end the city's thirst.

As China's cities become richer, water consumption by citizens has rocketed, and is set to grow further.The capital's annual water use has reached 3.6 billion cubic metres, and with supplies at only about 2.1 billion cubic metres it already faces a 1.5 billion cubic metre shortfall every year.

Environmentalists say water conservation is an urgent priority, and prices -- currently well below global averages at around 4 yuan per cubic metre -- need to rise.

A "supply-side approach" exemplified by the project "does not address the underlying causes of the region's water stress", said Britt Crow-Miller, assistant professor of geography at Portland State University, who has studied it.

"China's current development model is very short-sighted," she added. "It's about keeping things growing at all costs... and deferring the consequences as far into the future as possible."