Brazil declares dengue epidemic;
over 480,000 cases reported
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 17 (Agencies):With 481,000 cases reported in the first nine months of this year, Brazil is facing an epidemic of dengue fever, the Spanish news agency EFE quoted Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao as saying.
'It's already an epidemic really. This year 121 people have already died,' Gomes Temporao said Tuesday while launching a new national campaign to combat the disease in the city of Belo Horizonte.
'It is a disease that kills and can only be dealt with effectively through a large-scale mobilization of society,' the minister said.
The numbers up to September indicate that 2007 could be one of the country's worst years for the number of people who get sick and who die from dengue.
Until now, Brazil's highest toll from dengue fever came in 2002, with 794,000 reported cases and 150 deaths.
As of last July, when the number of cases was already 45 percent over 2006, the government refused to admit that the country was facing an epidemic.
'Dengue is a serious problem and it kills. This year 1,076 people had dengue hemorrhagic fever, which is the worst strain of the disease,' Gomes Temporao said.
'The scenario this year is negative and for that reason we are launching a campaign before the rainy season, when the mosquito carrying the virus proliferates,' he said.
'We still have time to take preventive measures, but the results depend on everyone doing their part,' he said.
The National Campaign for Mobilization against Dengue launched Tuesday plans to transmit information on radio and television, as well as through the distribution of booklets with recommendations on how to prevent it, chiefly in the southeastern and central-western regions of the country.
The chief recommendation is to avoid leaving objects outdoors in which stagnant water can collect, such as bottles, tyres and deactivated swimming pools, which serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus.

Bhutto ready for Pakistan return on Thursday
DUBAI, Oct 17 (Agencies):- Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said she would return to Pakistan on Thursday to end eight years of self-exile and lead her party into national elections despite threats of al Qaeda suicide attacks.
"Tomorrow at this time we will be on board the plane for Karachi, which is a day that I and all the people in Pakistan who love democracy and who believe in fundamental human rights have been waiting for," Bhutto said in Dubai on Wednesday.
Pakistan's biggest city was gearing up for her arrival.
Billboards bearing iconic images of Bhutto smiling beneath a trademark white scarf loomed over downtown Karachi, while youths on motorcycles zipped through suburbs with PPP pennants aloft.
Leaders of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) predicted that a million people will turn out to greet her, as supporters bearing red, black and green PPP banners streamed into Karachi from villages in the flat, arid hinterland of Sindh province.
Despite being out of power since 1996, the charismatic Bhutto, 54, remains one of the most recognisable women politicians in the world, having been prime minister twice and the first female leader of a Muslim nation.
The United States is believed to have quietly encouraged an alliance between President Pervez Musharraf and Bhutto to keep nuclear-armed Pakistan's government moderate and pro-Western.
But, the timing of Bhutto's return is awkward for General Musharraf, who sees her as both a rival and potential ally after a general election due in early January.
ALLIES AGAINST ISLAMIST MILITANCY
Bhutto has ignored Musharraf's requests to delay her return, yet on Wednesday she spoke of the need for them to overcome differences in order to work together to fight militancy.
"I think both the sides recognise that it's the future of Pakistan that is at stake," Bhutto told a news conference, flanked by her two daughters and her husband, Asif Zardari.
Bhutto said she had received threats from Pakistani and Arab militants, and warned that any suicide bomber who attacked a woman would "burn in hell" as the act violated Islamic law.
Police plan to deploy up to 8,000 officers to guard her journey from Karachi's airport to a rally near the tomb of Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah - a fitting venue for a woman whose history is entwined with the country's torrid past.
Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first popularly elected prime minister, was overthrown and hanged, while her two brothers were killed in mysterious circumstances, one gunned down in Karachi, the other found dead in a French Riviera hotel.
She first came to power after military dictator Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, the man who ousted her father, was killed in a plane crash in 1988. Both her governments were brought down amid allegations of corruption and ineptitude.
COURT KEEPS MUSHARRAF WAITING
By holding a dialogue with a general who came to power in a coup eight years ago, Bhutto could lose support at the polls.
Musharraf's popularity has plummeted this year, and the Supreme Court plans to hear challenges against the amnesty he has granted Bhutto to protect her from old corruption charges.
The Supreme Court reconvened on Wednesday a hearing on challenges to Musharraf's right to have stood for re-election while still army chief in a vote he won easily on Oct. 6.
The bench hearing the case has been enlarged to 11 judges, and proceedings are expected to drag on. Musharraf, whose current term expires on Nov. 15, has been barred from claiming five more years in power until the court decides.
Though he has said he will step down as army chief if re-elected, there is speculation that Musharraf will invoke emergency powers or martial law if the court blocks him.
Opposition lawyer Tariq Mehmood was not optimistic that the court would rule against Musharraf, although it has been regarded as hostile since the president's failed attempt to oust Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in March.
"We should not expect anything against Musharraf. It seems difficult," Mehmood told Reuters outside the court. "But if there's law, if there's a constitution in the country, as they claim, there's no option except disqualification."
'Mini Pakistan' gathers in Karachi to welcome Benazir
KARACHI, Oct 17 (Agencies):Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) cadres from across the country have gathered here to welcome their chief and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who arrives here Thursday after nine years in exile.
The gathering of large crowds who have come from all corners - ranging from Skardu in Northern Areas to a contingent of minority Hindus from Umerkot district of Sindh province - is being described as a 'mini Pakistan' by The Daily Times Wednesday.
Among the old party faithful is A. Razzaque, a ward level chief of the party's Keimari Town unit here who met the media here with his body sprinkled with petrol.
Emotions ran high with Razzaque threatening to immolate himself and his four children if even one PPP flag or festoon is removed on the orders of Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Rahim.
Benazir will move in a motorcade, and not by helicopter from the airport to Bilawal House, her home at Clifton, the party announced Tuesday as Karachi was virtually painted in the PPP colours of red, black and green.
Pro-Taliban militant leader Abdullah Mehsud has already threatened to kill the former prime minister for speaking against the Taliban in the course of her many interviews. But her party says it will protect her without a single weapon.
She will travel in a bulletproof vehicle surrounded by at least 5,000 unarmed party cadres. They will be identified by the separate uniform they will wear.
Dozens of others will be deployed on several buildings along the route with searchlights, mobile phones, wireless sets, telescopes and other security equipment. No law enforcement agency personnel will be allowed in the circle.
Covering the event will be an estimated 50 foreign media teams who have booked into large Karachi hotels.
The party said its show of numbers would be 'record-breaking'. PPP's finance secretary Babar Awan said all those aspiring to contest the forthcoming elections as PPP candidates had been tasked with showing their strength.
From the airport, Bhutto will first offer homage to Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, at his mausoleum Mazaar-e-Qaid and then address the crowd at Sharah-e-Quaideen, just as she did in 1986 after years of exile pushed by then military dictator Gen. Zia-ul Haq.
The Sindh government has assured the PPP that the security arrangements to be made for would be similar to that given to the president and prime minister, The Daily Times said.

EU to help China clean up Yellow, Yangtze rivers
BEIJING,Oct 17 (Agencies): The European Union (EU) has launched a 175 million euro ($248 million) joint campaign with China to clean up the country's two largest rivers, the China Daily reported Wednesday.
A pollution control and public awareness plan to reduce waste discharge will be drawn up for the Yellow and Yangtze rivers over five years. The EU will provide up to 25 million euros in grants and the World Bank will give up to 80 million euros in loans while China will contribute more than 70 million euros.
China's rivers suffer from heavy pollution due to the rapid industrialisation of the country.
The programme will aim at cutting industrial and human pollution in the middle regions of the Yellow river, particularly in Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.
The project will also pay people living in the southwestern provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Hubei to plant trees in an effort to improve the ecology along the Yangtze.

Afghan security forces nab Taliban commander
KABUL, Oct 17 (Agencies):Afghan security forces have nabbed a Taliban commander in the eastern Afghan province of Paktia, media reported Wednesday.
'Acting on intelligence information, the security forces fighting terrorists captured Taliban commander Mohammad Khan alias Nasrat from Paktia's provincial capital Gerdez,' the Arman-e-Millie newspaper quoted provincial administration's spokesman Deen Mohammad Darwish as saying.
Darwish, according to the newspaper, described Nasrat as a regional commander of Taliban, adding that he had organised several terrorist activities in Paktia and neighbouring provinces.
There was no comment from the insurgents.
The Taliban, who was removed from power by the US invasion in late 2001, has waged a war against the Afghan administration and the international troops currently being deployed in the war-torn country.

Nothing can keep me away from Pakistan: Benazir
DUBAI, Oct 17 (Agencies):Rejecting President Pervez Musharraf's advice to postpone her return to Pakistan, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said here Wednesday that nothing could stop her from reaching her country as scheduled at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Addressing a crowded press conference here with her two daughters on either side, Bhutto, who returns home after nine years of self exile on an Emirates flight, said: 'I will be leaving for Pakistan 24 hours from now and will reach my country tomorrow.'
'I am shedding tears of blood looking at the situation in Pakistan... My heart is crying... We can save Pakistan only through the votes of the people,' she added on an emotive note, thanking the government and people of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the hospitality they provided during her period in exile.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson faces possible arrest on her arrival as the Pakistan Supreme Court had asked the government not to grant amnesty to anyone under the Oct 5 National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
The former prime minister, who faces a plethora of criminal cases, was granted amnesty through the NRO but the apex court ruled that implementation of the ordinance be stayed until a final decision by the court.
Stating that she had dedicated her life to Pakistan, Bhutto said, 'Elections are the only way out for Pakistan and I am determined to restore democracy in my country.
'The people of Pakistan want me back and I am going... Nothing can keep me away from my country.'
She said her return would usher in a new era. 'We will start new cordial relations with the neighbouring countries based on friendship... we want to end discrimination in society, we want to end terrorism in the country.'
Referring to Musharraf's advice to delay her return to Pakistan, Bhutto said: 'It is a fact that the Pakistan government does not want me to return. But I have given my word to the people of Pakistan and I don't go back on my word.'
Reacting to reports from Pakistan about the situation there on the eve of her return, she said, 'I have heard this morning that over a million people from all over Pakistan are gathering in Karachi (her port of entry Thursday)... I pray to god to give me the strength to provide food, shelter and security to the people of Pakistan and restore democracy in my country.'
Earlier in an interview with ARY television from London, from where she flew to Dubai, she warned the government against blocking her party workers from reaching Karachi airport.
Bhutto said they were capable of dealing with 'tyrant forces' and clarified that there was no deal with the government but she was talking to the military regime for betterment of the country and for complete democracy.
According to reports from Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of PPP workers from across Pakistan have started their journey towards Karachi.
'It's going to be a million-plus gathering at the Karachi Airport,' PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf said Tuesday.
In another interview to Sky News in London Tuesday evening, Bhutto had said: 'I can feel the weight of expectations, responsibility and hope generated by my return among the people of Pakistan.'
'Before my decision to return, no one was standing up against extremists. They thought they could do anything they wanted. Now these forces see an obstacle in me. I do feel that the forthcoming elections will determine whether Pakistan will survive as a modern nation or if extremists will take over'.
Huge containers are reportedly being placed on all roads leading to Karachi airport to block them. A Sindh government spokesperson said they were just taking security measures.
'We have banned carrying any firearms and have to take security measures for passengers and citizens,' he said.
Bhutto has been in power-sharing talks with Musharraf for the last couple of months. The first confidence building measure was taken when Musharraf issued the NRO on Oct 5. Bhutto provided legitimacy to his Oct 6 re-election by not asking her PPP members to resign from parliament - like the rest of the opposition did.

US believes nuclear deal can still be operationalised
WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Agencies): Notwithstanding the current uncertainty over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Washington has asserted that the agreement is "not dead" and expressed confidence it could "still" be operationalised by the original timeframe of 2008.
The US will continue to work to meet its commitments under the agreement, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said but left it to the Indian government to "describe their interaction with the IAEA".
There were some "internal discussions" on the deal in India, he noted, adding that "in terms of the timing of those discussions and the outcomes of them, frankly, we don't want to interfere in this internal matter for the Indian government and we'll leave it to them to comment on it".
"We would hope that India would be able to move forward with this agreement and that we would be able to complete it in 2008, which was in general keeping with the original timeframe we had outlined for it," Casey said at a briefing.
"It is an issue that we have talked about with the Indians...In addition to the conversation that the President and the Prime Minister had...Under-Secretary Burns has spoken with his counterparts over the weekend and continue to do so today. We've also had conversations between Ambassador Mulford and some officials in India as well about this. So this is something I expect is going to continue to be the subject of discussion," the official said.
Asked again if the agreement can be completed by 2008, he said, "We believe it's still possible for that to happen. Obviously, a number of things would have to occur for that to be ultimately implemented. But it's a long time between now and the end of 2008 and we'll see where we are".
Earlier, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the nuclear deal is "not dead".
"India is a thriving democracy and they have work to do and they may need some additional time on their end to get their part of this deal done," he said.
"The President is willing and is very understanding that the Indians may need more time for this. But no, it's not - it's not dead," he said.
The US continues to believe that the agreement is "very important" and in the interest of both the countries, as well as in the interest of further cementing and strengthening international nonproliferation regimes, Casey said.
"And I'd also point out, too, that this is part of a much broader shift in the relations between India and the United States. We are really developing a broader strategic partnership with India.
"That's something that's unique and I think is very positive in the development of relations between the world's two largest democracies. I think it is really something that we are going to continue to work on and going to do so regardless of the timetable that gets followed for the implementation of this particular agreement," he added.

Pak Supreme Court to hear
challenges to Musharraf re-election
ISLAMABAD, Oct 17 (Agencies): Pakistan's Supreme Court will today begin hearing legal challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's re-election in uniform amidst speculation that an adverse ruling could prompt the General to impose martial law.
An 11-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Javed Iqbal will take up five petitions, including two by PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim and retired judge Wajihuddin Ahmed - who had unsuccessfully contested the October 6 presidential poll against Musharraf - challenging his eligibility to contest the election without giving up the post of army chief.
A day ahead of the presidential poll, a 10-mmember bench of the apex court declined to stay the election but said the result could not be officially notified till it decided on Musharraf's candidature.
Musharraf swept the poll that was boycotted by the opposition, thanks to the support of the ruling PML-Q in a truncated electoral college. But he could not be sworn in for another five-year term.
The possibility of the court striking down Musharraf's candidature has sparked speculation that the beleaguered military ruler, who came to power in 1999 in a bloodless coup, could impose martial law to cling on to power.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afghan Khan Niazi yesterday said the imposition of martial law could not be ruled out if the Supreme Court decides Musharraf's re-election is invalid.
Today's court hearing againg bring into sharp focus the confrontation between Musharraf and the judiciary, which was sparked by the General's failed attempt to sack Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in March.
On September 28, a nine-member bench of the Supreme Court had dismissed several petitions challenging Musharraf's candidature in the presidential poll on the ground that they were non-maintainable. That bench, headed by Justice Rana Bhagwandas, decided the matter by a 6-3 vote among the judges.
Musharraf has given an assurance to the court that he will give up his uniform by November 15 if he is re-elected. Since then, he has kept political circles on tenterhooks by saying that he would decide his future course of action after the apex court gives its ruling.
The Supreme Court will also take up today the contempt of court petition filed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N party on the issue of his deportation to Saudi Arabia after he attempted to return to Pakistan on September 10.
Sharif flew back to Pakistan in the wake of an apex court order allowing him to return to the country but was deported within four hours of arriving in Islamabad.
A seven-member bench headed by Chief Justice Chaudhry will sit after normal court timings from this afternoon to take up the contempt petition. At the last hearing of the matter before the four-day Eid holidays, the court had sought reports from the Pakistan International Airlines chairman, the director general of the Civil Aviation Authority and the chief of the Federal Investigation Agency.
Nithari killer wants TV set in his cell
GHAZIABAD, Oct 17 (Agencies): Moninder Singh Pandher, main accused in Nithari serial killings, today demanded a colour television at his cell in Dasna district jail here, Jail authorities said.
"Pandher met me seeking permission for providing a television set in his cell," Jail Superintendent V K Singh said.
Both Pandher and co-accused Surender Kohli are lodged in the same cell of the jail.
Talking to newsmen, Singh said that the colour television were provided to all the prisoners in their barracks but not to those lodged in solitary cells.
Decision on providing television to Pandher is yet to be made, added Singh.

Australia puts uranium deal with India on back burner
MELBOURNE, Oct 17 (Agencies): With India virtually putting on hold its civilian nuclear deal with US, Australia has decided to review its plans to sell uranium to New Delhi.
Efforts for a US-India nuclear pact, which would open India to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, paved the way for Australia's uranium deal with India.
Following reports that the negotiations for operationalisation of the US-India pact appeared to have been stalled, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia would need to consult the Indian Government on the uranium deal with Delhi, 'The age' reported today.
Lowy Institute international security director Rory Medcalf said there was "no way" he could see Australia selling uranium to India "unless the US-India deal is finalised".
The Opposition Labour party too reiterated its objection to the Federal Government's plan to sell uranium to India when its environment spokesman Peter Garrett said: "Deal or no deal between India and the US, Labour won't support the sale of uranium to a non-NPT signatory."
Medcalf said the US decision to work with India on nuclear issues triggered the Howard Government's policy change to also engage with India. "It was really only when the US turned around to accepting India's nuclear status, that most of the rest of the world could contemplate having a civilian nuclear relationship with India," he said.
Medcalf said that if Labour won the federal election, the impasse in talks regarding the Indo-US nuclear pact could "forestall any possible rift in Australian-India relationship" over Labour's pledge to abandon uranium sales.

India, Brazil, SAfrica seek 'balanced'
outcome from Doha talks
PRETORIA, Oct 17 (Agencies): India, Brazil and South Africa, key players representing developing nations' interest in WTO, today "committed" themselves to achieving "balanced and successful" results from the Doha Round of global trade talks.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, South African President Thabo Mbeki and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reviewed the state-of-play in the Doha Round which is stalled on the contentious issues of heavy agricultural subsidies by the rich nations that are asking developing countries to open their markets for industrial goods.
"We had a constructive discussion on the Doha Round of trade talks. This has emerged as an important issue facing the international community, in which each of our countries has an important stake. We committed ourselves to working towards securing a balanced and successful outcome of the talks," Singh said in his closing remarks at the IBSA (India-Brazil- South Africa) Summit here.
The three countries are at the centre of G-20 which has emerged as a formidable alliance of developing countries and is engaged in tough bargains with the developed countries for achieving "balanced" outcome.
With trade ministers from the 150-nation World Trade Organisation unable to reach a breakthrough in the talks, heads of important states like US President George Bush, Prime Minister Singh and President Lula of Brazil have discussed the need for successfully completing the Doha Round.
While Singh spoke to Bush on Monday, Lula met the US President in New York in September and discussed ways to build consensus between the rich and the developing countries.
The Doha Development Agenda, as it was called, was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 and has missed several deadlines for concluding trade negotiations paving the way for the countries and blocs to initiate regional free trade agreements.