Alzheimer’s patients prone to violent behaviour

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Islamabad, Jan 24 : Many elderly people in nursing facilities have Alzheimer’s disease. This disease causes the short term potion of the brain to shut down.

Elderly people who have the disease may forget their children’s names, but will remember events and people from their childhood.

This disease can be very painful to those who have the disease and painful for loved ones who have to witness their parents or other relatives live with Alzheimer’s.

The best way to cope with this disease is to accept it and work around it. There will be days when the disease will not be as bad. Unfortunately, those who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease are prone to violent behaviour, verbal abuse, and other uncharacteristic behaviour. Waiting until the person calms down is the best way to handle the situation.

Otherwise, they could become more violent and uncontrollable. There are medications available that can curb violent behaviour.

Visiting a person with Alzheimer’s disease in a nursing facility can be frightening at first. But after a few visits, it will become easier.

Having patience and a willingness to forgive are great qualities to bring to the nursing facility. Even though the person has changed, they are still the same person filled with emotions and feelings.

They may not always remember things they should, but this does not mean that they do not care.

Sometimes one memory can trigger another which will cause them to remember recent events. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but much research is being conducted to help fight the effects of it.

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Frequent headache can raise blood pressure

Islamabad, Jan 24 : Shooting pain in the head can be a certain turn off situation in life. They drive us crazy and zap the happiness from our life.

In fact, headache is one of the most common problems experienced by record number of people across the world.

If you have been plagued by this condition very often, then you might want to know that frequent headache has a relation with high blood pressure. You guessed it right, frequent arrival of throbbing headache in your life can raise your blood pressure level.

That being said let us uncover some more facts about headaches that might be of your interest. Curing the cause of sinus, migraine and chronic headaches can be achieved, if you identify the cause of these conditions.

In other words, you need to fight or curb the cause, to prevent the onset of headache. Let’s take a look at the major causes for the repeated assault of headaches.

Allergic conditions might have a huge role to play with your headache. While this subject is bordering the lines of controversy, real life experiences cannot be undermined.

There are truckloads of individuals out there who experience the problem of sinus or migraine upon performing a particular activity. When we talk about allergies responsible for headaches, anything under the sky can be termed as an allergic substance, if that substance results into repeated onslaught of headaches in an individual’s life.

Plenty of individuals suffering from migraine headaches have attributed certain foods for their condition. Also, there are individuals who are allergic to artificial sweeteners and other food flavours.


For some individuals, their digestive tract could be a reason for their headache. When digestion problem occurs in our body, it results into formation of toxic substances in our body and leads to the problem of constipation.

Experts reckon that not having 2 bowel movements on daily basis are a potential sign of constipation. When the foods that we consume rest on our digestive tract for too long, it leads to the arrival of several health issues.

Candida overgrowth can result into mental and emotional instability, leading to conditions such as brain fog and depression. Headache is also one of the major complaints associated with candida overgrowth. Today, individuals often cleanse their colon and body from candida to get relief from this condition.

Headaches can be painful, disturbing and in some cases difficult to cure. One needs to stay away from foods and substances that have an allergic root for headaches.

In this manner, one will be able to stay immune from this bothersome ailment to a great extent. Prolonged use of pills to kill headache is not recommended by health experts as they can invite more troubles into your life. Seek help from a professional and work on an effective treatment plan.

After all, you don’t want this ailment to rule your life, and rob the cheerful smile from your face with its frequent uninvited assault.

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Low pH can cause cancer

Islamabad, Jan 24 : Many causes of cancer have been suggested over the years. Some are more common than others, such as the nicotine in cigarettes contributing to the development of lung cancer, and alcohol causing liver and mouth cancer.

Others are not as commonly referred to or considered, such as certain medications including aspirin.

A low pH is one of these factors, one which is not commonly known, but one which certain scientists believe should be considered. pH, or Potential Hydrogen, refers to hydrogen-ion concentration.

Ideally this should be balanced in the middle of the scale, where it is considered to be neutral. A high pH means that the ion concentrate is alkaline, while a low pH denotes an acidic concentration. The body, being roughly 60% water, is usually a pH of 7.3, which is neutral verging on alkaline.

An acidic pH means that the blood and other fluids in the body become more acidic. This at first is thought to cause moderate symptoms, such as tiredness, headaches and chest pains.

However, as this acidity grows the acid is deposited around the body, depriving these areas of the oxygen levels they need.

These deposits are thought to occur in various places around the body, and as a result cause a number of side effects. These can include deactivating enzymes which digest food, decrease the energy produced by the body cells, and leave you more prone to catching illnesses. As this process continues, the cells in these areas start to die.

However, there is a theory that these cells can survive, but through becoming abnormal, and it is these abnormal cells which are thought to spark the development of tumours in the body, and thus cause cancer.

Cancer cells are also cells which will only survive with a lack of oxygen reaching them. An acidic pH of the body will cause these cells to be deprived of oxygen, while an alkaline pH will be much richer in oxygen, meaning that cancer cells will be unable to develop.

Therefore, it is important to live a lifestyle which encourages a balanced pH rather than acidic. This can be done in a number of ways. A diet rich in potassium and magnesium is a good way to do this.

These minerals can be found in many sources, including fruit, vegetables, wholegrain food, nuts and seeds. To gain the most benefits from these foods try eating them raw, as cooking can strip the benefits away. Drinking lots of water too is thought to help to balance your body’s pH.

Avoid eating foods such as dairy products, meat and processed foods which are rich in sodium. Other foods that may be dangerous to eat include those rich in salt and sugar, animal products such as saturated fats, and alcohol.

Supplements to your food can also help to raise your body’s pH. Sport and other forms of exercise will help more oxygen to reach your cells, helping to prevent them from becoming oxygen starved. Stress too can cause your body to naturally become more acidic, so taking steps to relax yourself and distract yourself from this stress can be beneficial.

Of course the extent to which this acidity effects and causes cancer is open to debate and research is still examining precisely how much our pH level could impact the development of cancer.

For this reason, ‘cures’ and countermeasures that focus entirely on the pH level in the body as the cause for cancer are premature and short sighted and need to consider the complex tapestry of things that can cause cancer such as those listed at the start of this article.

At the same time you cannot be constantly avoiding foods and drinks that might alter your pH or potentially cause difficulties in other ways (though living so cautiously might be more advisable for those with a history of cancer in their families).

In conclusion then, though there is a sound theory behind the role of acidity in the development of cancerous cells, it is only one of many factors and has not been fully studied or understood. Simply living a healthy and balanced lifestyle and eating well is the best precaution to take against all forms of illness.

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Military uniform company near collapse

Kabul, Jan 23 : An Afghan private company which produces military uniforms and boots is close to collapse after it failed to win the army's military uniform contract, owners said.

The factory had employed more than 1,000 personnel – mostly women – before the Afghan Ministry of Defense was authorised to allocate the contract for military uniforms, but now the company has less than 500 employees.

"Since the Afghan Ministries of Defence and Interior asked us to provide 105,000 uniforms [with boots] in two months. We quit the contract because we couldn't even import the necessary raw materials during that period," Nasrat Rahmati, head of the Afghan-owned Tarsian and Blinkley, told TOLOnews.

The Afghan Chamber of Commerce (ACCI) and Industries blamed the government for not providing necessary facilities to the factories to prevent their collapse and bankruptcy.

"We have several other factories in the same situation but the government is not able to support them and solve their issues," Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the ACCI, Khanjan Alokozay told TOLOnews.

Most of the factory workers in Tarsian and Blinkley are women on an average wage of 7,000 Afs ($140) per month plus food coupons, who are now concerned they will lose their jobs.

The Ministry of Defense has struggled in the past with lack of professional personnel and transparency in handling military contracts.

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Special IG for Afghan reconstruction cites rampant fraud, waste

Washington, Jan 23 : Much of the $28 million the United States spends daily to build up Afghanistan is thrown at projects without planning, and little attention is paid to whether the work ever gets done right, the U.S. official in charge of oversight of Afghan reconstruction said.

Meanwhile, security is so bad in many areas that keeping watch over projects is nearly impossible, while bribes and corruption continue to flourish, said John Sopko, who in July took over the job of Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, or SIGAR.

In his first public speech since his appointment, he painted a grim picture of the state of the U.S. campaign to remake Afghanistan, an effort that has cost thousands of U.S. lives and hundreds of billions of dollars.

The quarterly reports that Sopko, a longtime prosecutor and congressional counsel, has since issued form a counterpoint to more optimistic assessments coming from the Pentagon and other parts of the U.S. government.

In order to wisely use U.S. taxpayer money to reconstruct Afghanistan, U.S. military and civilian officials need to start asking tough but simple questions, Sopko told an audience at the Stimson Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on global security issues.

“Are these programs and buildings needed? Have you asked the Afghans if they want them?” he said. “Have we designed them to meet any specific needs that the Afghans have? And have we designed them in such a way that they can be sustainable in the future?”

Frequently the answer is no, Sopko said. He gave the example of an Afghan army garrison constructed in Kunduz province on unstable ground, a mistake which led to buildings cracking and falling apart. When asked to explain why the base was built there, or how it was decided it needed to be built at all, U.S. officials could offer no explanation.

“We got blank stares,” he said.

Although the $70 million base is unusable, the Department of Defense paid the contractor who built it, an action Sopko called “inexplicable.”

In another case that received attention last fall, SIGAR investigators discovered that anti-IED grates required on culverts to keep bombs from being planted under roads were never installed — negligence that may have cost American lives, he said.

Sopko said his office has 60 of its investigators on the ground in Afghanistan, out of a total staff of 200, making it the largest U.S. oversight agency in country. They are assisted by U.S. military units they frequently embed with, and Sopko praised U.S. commanding general in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, for facilitating SIGAR investigations.

Sopko said he’s driven by the knowledge that with the war winding down and U.S. troop levels dropping, he needs to act fast to give Afghanistan a chance to benefit from the massive but shaky reconstruction effort the United States has mounted.

“If we don’t get it right, then those lives and that treasure that we have spent over the last 11 years will have been wasted, will have been spent in vain,” he said.

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The new war for Afghanistan's untapped oil

Kabul, Jan 23 : I am looking out the window as men in grey turbans run from my building out onto the highway, their AK 47s at the ready. "There's been an accident," my Afghan guide, Danish calmly tells me. "Someone was just killed in the plaza here."

I am in Faryab province in northwest Afghanistan, which had been considered among the more peaceful areas. "Was someone hit by a car?" I ask. Danish pauses. The "Oh yes, she's American" look passes quickly over his face before he replies, "Somebody was shot."

Within a few minutes we get a report from the secretary of Abdullah Masoumi, the governor of Khoja Sabz Posh District, in whose office we've been waiting for some time. It was the Taliban, he tells us, and the victim was Commander Czhulam, a leading member of the governor's security team and a former commander under General Abdul Rashid Dostum, one of the country's most powerful warlords.

With the close of 2012, the Pentagon has revealed a disturbing trend in Afghanistan: Taliban attacks remained steady, or in some cases increased, over 2011 levels. I experienced the Taliban surge firsthand this past November, and can offer a cause not cited in the Pentagon's report: oil and gas.

I was there as part of a three week investigation into the growing efforts of both the US and Afghan governments to develop Afghanistan's oil and gas sector. I prepared my itinerary to include what are supposed to be among the safest regions, and was traveling alone with just a local guide and driver, my only "safety-gear" the local clothing and black head covering I wore. As long as I kept my mouth shut, with my dark hair and Middle-European heritage, I regularly passed for a local. I was tracking an oil and gas trail across Western and Northern Afghanistan. But so too, it became increasingly apparent, are the Taliban.

I was to interview Governor Masoumi because his district sits atop fields of natural gas in one of the most energy-rich provinces. As in virtually all of Afghanistan, none of the fields are marked because almost no natural gas or oil operations are taking place. I know the fields are there because I am following a map of Afghanistan's oil and natural gas riches produced by the United States' Government's US Geological Survey (USGS).

My journey has uncovered a largely hidden battle being waged for control of Afghanistan's fossil fuel resources. The Afghan and US governments hope these resources will attract international oil companies and raise badly needed income. The Taliban appear increasingly bent on denying the fruits of the sector to their rivals, be they local, national, or international.

As we leave Faryab, Danish warns, "If the Taliban catch us, throw your camera out the window and pretend to be my deaf mute mother."

Two days later I'm in Jowzan province to the north of Faryab, waiting at the gates of the Khoja Gogardak natural gas treatment plant, a few miles from Sheberghan city. A lone guard sits nearby. Old, thin, and short with a small grey turban and stark white beard, his AK-47 is casually slung across his shoulder while two small "guard puppy" dogs relax at his feet, enjoying the calm afternoon sun in the heart of General Dostum's territory. His lackadaisical attitude is both quaint and oddly reassuring.

Suddenly, Mir Hasan, head engineer of the facility, appears and ushers us quickly inside. "There is a recent security situation which is not good and the military will be here in a few minutes," Danish translates.

Hasan had received word a few minutes earlier that his employees working at a natural gas field behind the facility and just in the distance (he points, we look) were attacked by the Taliban. "Right here?!" I ask. "Yes," Danish confirms. Hasan politely reassures me that he is happy to give me the tour of the facility, 90 percent of which is outdoors and in full view of the just-attacked field, but we'll have to be quick about it as the Afghan military is on its way. "This just happened?!" I ask. "Yes, exactly," Hasan responds. "Has this happened before?" I ask. "Mostly their attacks take place during the night," he explains. "This is the first time that they have attacked during the day."

I quickly recall that on the road out of Mazar-i-Sharif, the city General Dostum calls home, Danish had been shocked to see a man on a motorbike brazenly wearing the telltale-black turban of a Taliban and brandishing his weapon in the middle of the day. It was the first time either Danish or our driver had seen such a display in over ten years.

"I think we better go," Danish tells me. I try to stall, hoping to be there when the Afghan military arrive, but the men are anxious. Engineer Hasan cannot yet report any details other than that when the Taliban began shooting, his men got into their vehicles and fled the area without apparent injury. "You are not very lucky," Hasan tells me, as we say goodbye to him at the gate.

How right he was. I am standing in the middle of the street in Sheberghan City waiting for Mohammad Chaari, commander of security for the Amu Darya oil contract area awarded in 2011 to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in partnership with Afghanistan's Watan Group. With two facilities operating in Sari Pul Province south of Jowzan and east of Faryab, theirs is the only oil production in Afghanistan -- although they currently ship their entire product to Turkmenistan. Almost a week earlier, I had been given a secret tour. (The Chinese no longer allow press onto the facility, so I was snuck in.)

While we wait for Chaari, we overhear a conversation between him and two CNPC engineers from Sari Pul. There has been a Taliban attack near the facility, "large enough to call in air support." No one would say more when asked, but Commander Chaari does tell me that his security detail are about to be significantly increased.

We begin crossing oil and gas fields off my itinerary, deeming them too "insecure" to visit, including oil fields very near to the city of Mazar-i-Sharif and the entire province of Kunduz. "Insecure," I have quickly learned, is code for "Taliban." As the director general of the Afghan Oil and Gas Survey tells me, "There is nothing else causing insecurity."

The US Pentagon is the de-facto lead US agency pushing the development of Afghanistan's oil and gas sector. Jim Bowen, a Houston oilman hired by the Pentagon to guide a November 15 international oil and gas contract tender process, confirmed for me that these attacks are in fact on the rise. "Certainly, as the [oil and gas] sector develops, the sector is creating targets, there is no doubt about that," Bowen tells me. "But exactly how one defines 'Taliban' is open to interpretation."

Sitting in Kabul shortly before my departure, I speak with Javed Noorani, extractive industries monitor for the Afghan NGO Integrity Watch. He confirms Bowen's analysis: As the oil and gas sector draws increasing public attention, so too have Taliban attacks grown. But identifying who is supporting those Taliban, "be they Pakistani, Iranian, or homegrown, is not so simple."

The result is clear, and far from unique to Afghanistan: As development of the oil and gas sector has risen, so too has violence and insecurity.

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Demi Lovato renting room at sober living house

London, Jan 23 : Demi Lovato has been courageously open about her personal struggles in an effort to help those who may be fighting the same demons -- and also to keep herself on the straight and narrow.

The young star is so committed to maintaining her hard-earned health that she's been living in a sober house for over a year, according to People.


"She's very smart," a source told the mag of Demi's decision to rent a room in the sober house, instead of residing in her Los Angeles home. "She takes whatever steps she needs to make sure she stays healthy."

Demi - who went to rehab for eating disorders and cutting in late 2010 - even stayed at the sober house during her stint as a judge on "The X Factor's" second season, the mag reported.

In addition to her living situation, the "Give Your Heart A Break" singer continues to speak out about the blessing of recovery.

On New Year's Eve, Demi took to Twitter to reflect on her painful -- but worthwhile -- journey to health.

"Two years ago, I watched the ball drop on TV in rehab and cried my eyes out. Tonight I'm on the beach with my closest, most loyal friends sipping coffee and sharing how beautiful life is and how far we've come," she shared with her 11.4 million followers. "Recovery is a beautiful thing friends.. Life is good, God is great!"

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Lawyer: Mom of abducted Ind. boy wasn't homeless

Browerville, Jan 23 : An Indiana mother whose former in-laws allegedly abducted her son nearly 20 years ago was not homeless at the time, the woman's lawyer said, refuting claims that the grandparents needed to step in because she was unable to care for the boy.

Authorities searched for the then-5-year-old Richard Wayne Landers Jr. for years, but the case went cold. They eventually found him living with his paternal grandparents in the small central Minnesota town of Browerville. He had changed his name in 2006 to Michael Jeff Landers.

Lisa Harter and the boy's father, Richard Wayne Landers Sr., did live in a car for three days at one point, but at the time of the boy's disappearance in 1994, Harter had moved into an apartment, attorney Richard Muntz said.

Muntz said that when Harter and Landers Sr. divorced, Harter — who has mild developmental disabilities— temporarily moved into a group home that wasn't equipped for children. The grandparents obtained custody and filed for guardianship, he said. After Harter moved into an apartment and gained custody of her son on weekends, she filed a petition to expand her custody rights when she remarried.

"The judge gave her custody on a trial basis, and before she could get him, that's when they left," Muntz said.

Todd County Sheriff Peter Mikkelson has said the investigation was ongoing and the case will be forwarded to federal authorities for possible charges, perhaps related to non-custodial kidnapping.

Michael Landers seems to have understood his circumstances and lived willingly with his grandparents.

Neither he nor his wife immediately responded to telephone or Facebook messages. But postings from each of their Facebook accounts appeared on the Facebook page of KARE-TV in Minneapolis, suggesting that the grandparents did what was necessary.

A posting from Michael Landers said: "For you people who jump to conclusions you should find out the whole story I was where I needed to be. My 'grandparents' were in the the right I dont care what anyone else thinks."

One of several posts from his wife, Bobbie Landers, said, "His 'grandparents' didn't follow the law, but they did what was right. .... He was 5. He remembers his birth parents and what they were like. ... He was where he WANTED and NEEDED to be to be safe and become the man he is today. My husband & my best friend."

Neither person immediately responded to follow-up messages from media seeking confirmation it was their statement.

Both of Landers' parents have said they're eager to see him again. Bobbie Landers wrote on Facebook that it wasn't clear what the next steps were.

"Mike does understand that it must have been hard for his mom. He doesn't discount that at all. He doesn't know how he feels about her and his parents (grandparents) have never said or told him anything negative about her," she wrote. " ... We're trying to keep our privacy and figure things out on our own."

Landers' grandparents took him during a custody dispute with Landers' mother in July 1994 from Wolcottville, Ind., about 50 miles southeast of South Bend. They withdrew $5,000 out of a home equity line, went out for breakfast and left town.

Investigators searched in vain for Landers, but declared the case cold. It was reopened in September after a conversation between Richard W. Landers Sr. and an Indiana State Police detective prompted another search of the Social Security number for Richard W. Landers Jr.

That turned up a Minnesota man with the same number and birthday as Landers.

Minnesota officials say the grandparents — now living in Browerville under the assumed names Raymond Michael Iddings and Susan Kay Iddings — verified Landers' identity. They were known as Richard E. and Ruth A. Landers at the time of the abduction.

A telephone message left for the Iddingses was not immediately returned. A couple who answered the door at their home declined to identify themselves and also refused an interview.

Muntz said he's trying to establish a way for Harter and her son to get reacquainted.

Richard W. Landers Sr. told the News-Sun in Kendalville, Ind., that he has forgiven his parents.

"I'm just thankful my boy is still alive, and I'll still get a chance to see him," he said.

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Californians brace for nights of freezing temps

San Diego, Jan 23 : Californians are bundling up with sweaters and gloves and stocking up on firewood as they brace for several nights of very unseasonable freezing temperatures.

The National Weather Service is forecasting morning frost on San Diego beaches. Big Sur, on the central coast, prepared for daytime highs almost 20 degrees below Boston's. Even the snowbird haven of Palm Springs faced the possibility of freezing temperatures at night.

In addition, San Diego zookeepers turned up the heat for chimpanzees, tourists covered their hands on Hollywood walking tours, and some farmers broke out wind machines and took other steps to protect crops from freezing.

Freeze warnings were in effect in San Diego County valleys and deserts with lows in the 20s and 30s, the weather service said.

In Sonoma County, homeless shelters started handing out extra warm clothes to protect people from freezing overnight temperatures.

Morning temps fell into the 20s and 30s in many areas, and much lower in the mountains. A low of 12 degrees was recorded in the Big Bear mountain resort east of Los Angeles.

Some customers drove more than an hour to buy firewood.

"It's crazy busy here," said Renea Teasdale, office manager at The Woodshed in Orange, south of Los Angeles.

Still, it was business as usual as much of the state contended with temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s.

"It's still sunny Southern California, and I'm going to work on my legs all year long," said Linda Zweig, a spokeswoman for the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which is hosting a 5-kilometer run north of San Diego. The lifelong San Diego-area resident is prone to wearing two sweatshirts when the temperature drops but refuses to give up on shorts.

In the San Joaquin Valley, the heart of California's citrus production, growers prepared for another round of freezing temperatures after seeing little crop damage.

They run wind machines and water to protect their fruit, which can raise the temperature in a grove by up to 4 degrees, said Paul Story, director of grower service at California Citrus Mutual. Existing moisture, sporadic rain and cloud cover can also help keep in heat.

Snow shut a 40-mile stretch of a major highway north of Los Angeles, forcing hundreds of truckers to spend the cold night in their rigs and severing a key link between the Central Valley and Los Angeles.

The California Highway Patrol reopened the Grapevine segment of Interstate 5 some 17 hours later.


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Hostess makes deal for Wonderbread

New York, Jan 23: The iconic Wonderbread, once in jeopardy after Hostess declared bankruptcy, seems likely to return to store shelves under a new brand.

A $390 million bid from Flower Foods Inc., for six of the Twinkie maker's bread brands, was the leading bid.

Flower Foods, which is based in Thomasville, Ga., is best known for making Tastykakes, which are cream filled chocolate cupcakes. The company also makes breads, including Nature's Own and Cobblestone Mill.

Higher competing bids can still be made before the final deal is approved in bankruptcy court.

Flower Foods made a $360 million bid for Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride, Butternut, Home Pride and Merita, along with 20 bakeries and 38 depots. Another $30 million bid was made for the Beefsteak brand.

Hostess is expected to announce buyers for Twinkies, Devil Dogs and its other popular snack cakes in the coming weeks.

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Officer shoots suspect in San Diego movie theater

San Diego, Jan 23: Police shot and critically wounded a man suspected of chasing his girlfriend with a handgun across a shopping mall parking lot before ducking into a movie theater where officers confronted him.

The shooting occurred inside the Reading Cinemas theater in northern San Diego around 3:50 p.m., and no moviegoers or officers were hurt, officer David Stafford said.

He said officers went to an outdoor shopping center, where the theater is located, in response to a domestic violence call. Police did not immediately release other details.

A San Diego Fire-Rescue Department dispatcher said the suspect was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The owner of a business next to the theater said officers told him the armed man chased his girlfriend across a parking lot. Steve Krongard, the owner of the Nickel City arcade, said police shut down the lot, checked every car leaving the mall and went from businesses to business to look for the suspect until they found him in the theater.

"There were 20 police cars blocking the entrance, then the fire truck and the ambulance rushed in," Krongard said. "Then we saw seven cops with what looked like rifles, then paramedics went into the theater."

The theater's manager told Krongard the shooting occurred during a screening of "Les Miserables."

Adrian Amante, the owner of the Home Trends store, told U-T San Diego people started running out of the theater and hiding behind cars.

A moviegoer told KGTV the lights suddenly went on during the film and two officers came into the theater with their guns. Another witness told the station that everyone got on the floor and started heading for the exit doors.

It was the second shooting at a San Diego County movie theater in as many days.

A concession worker suffered an arm injury when a shot fired outside a San Marcos movie theater went through the lobby window and struck her, sheriff's officials said.

The shooting occurred during a fight in the parking lot at Edwards San Marcos Stadium 18 and triggered a large police response because authorities were initially not sure whether there was a shooter inside the Cineplex.

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Mexico dog mutilated by drug traffickers recovers

Mexico City, Jan 23 : A dog reportedly mutilated by Mexican drug traffickers is recovering at a sanctuary for abused and abandoned dogs.

Sanctuary owner Patricia Ruiz says Pay de Limon, or Lemon Pie, was fitted with prosthetic front legs last year. The Belgian shepherd mix now walks, jumps and runs.

Ruiz says the dog was left in a trash can to die after his two fronts legs were cut off. She says people who asked her to help Pay de Limon told her that drug traffickers used the dog to practice for mutilating humans.

Pay de Limon is one of 128 abused dogs living at the Milagros Caninos sanctuary. Dogs on wheelchairs, blind, deaf or ill frolic and run around the huge sanctuary in the southern part of Mexico City.

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Mexico dog mutilated by drug traffickers recovers

Mexico City, Jan 23 : A dog reportedly mutilated by Mexican drug traffickers is recovering at a sanctuary for abused and abandoned dogs.

Sanctuary owner Patricia Ruiz says Pay de Limon, or Lemon Pie, was fitted with prosthetic front legs last year. The Belgian shepherd mix now walks, jumps and runs.

Ruiz says the dog was left in a trash can to die after his two fronts legs were cut off. She says people who asked her to help Pay de Limon told her that drug traffickers used the dog to practice for mutilating humans.

Pay de Limon is one of 128 abused dogs living at the Milagros Caninos sanctuary. Dogs on wheelchairs, blind, deaf or ill frolic and run around the huge sanctuary in the southern part of Mexico City.

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FBI takes probe into Universal payments to Manila

Manila, Jan 23: The FBI has sent agents to Manila in a widening of its investigation into millions of dollars of payments made by Japan's Universal Entertainment Corp to a politically connected consultant in relation to its casino project in the Philippines, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Agents from the Las Vegas office of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation have been in Manila over the past week working with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the local agency tasked with looking into the payments as a potential bribery case, the sources said.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino had ordered an official investigation in November to see if the payments were made in relation to the $2 billion casino resort being developed by Universal on Manila Bay.

The investigation has focused on $40 million transferred to Rodolfo Soriano, a close confidante to the former head of the Philippine gaming authority, during the same time Universal sought and won key concessions for its project in 2010.

The FBI had previously questioned people about the payments in the United States. Its involvement in the Philippines marks a widening of its investigation. The NBI's own probe has been slow-moving, according to one of the sources.

Universal, majority owned by founder Kazuo Okada and his son through a family trust, has said it carried out its business in the Philippines lawfully. It has also announced the filing of a defamation suit in Tokyo for its reporting on the matter.

Universal spokesman Nobuyuki Horiuchi declined to comment on the FBI's involvement in the case.

Officials at the Las Vegas FBI office declined to comment. No one at the NBI could be immediately reached for comment.

The NBI plans to submit an interim progress report next week and ask for more time to complete its investigation, one of the sources said.

All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still ongoing.

The payments to Soriano have also been the subject of two congressional hearings in the Philippines and are being probed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which regulates Universal operations in the United States.

NBI agents have escorted their FBI counterparts to various locations including the properties of Soriano and Efraim Genuino, the former head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), one of the sources said.

Soriano and Genuino could not be reached for comment.

Universal broke ground on the project in January 2012, but PAGCOR under its new chairman has threatened to strip the Japanese company of its license if evidence of bribery is found.

Universal has filed suit in Tokyo against three former employees, claiming they sent $15 million of the total $40 million in transfers without authorization. In rebuttals filed with the court, the employees have either refuted the company's allegations or asked for the disclosure of more information.

Earlier this week Universal announced that it had set up a panel of experts without ties to the company to independently investigate the matter.

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FBI takes probe into Universal payments to Manila

Manila, Jan 23: The FBI has sent agents to Manila in a widening of its investigation into millions of dollars of payments made by Japan's Universal Entertainment Corp to a politically connected consultant in relation to its casino project in the Philippines, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Agents from the Las Vegas office of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation have been in Manila over the past week working with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the local agency tasked with looking into the payments as a potential bribery case, the sources said.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino had ordered an official investigation in November to see if the payments were made in relation to the $2 billion casino resort being developed by Universal on Manila Bay.

The investigation has focused on $40 million transferred to Rodolfo Soriano, a close confidante to the former head of the Philippine gaming authority, during the same time Universal sought and won key concessions for its project in 2010.

The FBI had previously questioned people about the payments in the United States. Its involvement in the Philippines marks a widening of its investigation. The NBI's own probe has been slow-moving, according to one of the sources.

Universal, majority owned by founder Kazuo Okada and his son through a family trust, has said it carried out its business in the Philippines lawfully. It has also announced the filing of a defamation suit in Tokyo for its reporting on the matter.

Universal spokesman Nobuyuki Horiuchi declined to comment on the FBI's involvement in the case.

Officials at the Las Vegas FBI office declined to comment. No one at the NBI could be immediately reached for comment.

The NBI plans to submit an interim progress report next week and ask for more time to complete its investigation, one of the sources said.

All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still ongoing.

The payments to Soriano have also been the subject of two congressional hearings in the Philippines and are being probed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which regulates Universal operations in the United States.

NBI agents have escorted their FBI counterparts to various locations including the properties of Soriano and Efraim Genuino, the former head of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), one of the sources said.

Soriano and Genuino could not be reached for comment.

Universal broke ground on the project in January 2012, but PAGCOR under its new chairman has threatened to strip the Japanese company of its license if evidence of bribery is found.

Universal has filed suit in Tokyo against three former employees, claiming they sent $15 million of the total $40 million in transfers without authorization. In rebuttals filed with the court, the employees have either refuted the company's allegations or asked for the disclosure of more information.

Earlier this week Universal announced that it had set up a panel of experts without ties to the company to independently investigate the matter.

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US launches safety review of 787 after recent issues

Washington, Jan 23  : The U.S. government ordered a wide-ranging review of Boeing's latest passenger jet, the 787 Dreamliner, citing concern over a fire and other recent problems but insisting the plane was still safe to fly.

It was unclear how long the review will take or how much it will ultimately cost Boeing, but the company was concerned enough that it sent a top executive to a Washington press conference on the problem. Boeing shares (BA) fell 3 percent.

The 787 represented a leap in the way planes are designed and built, but the project was plagued by cost overruns and years of delays. Some have suggested Boeing's rush to get planes built after those delays resulted in the recent problems, a charge the company strenuously denies.

Either way, regulators said a thorough examination was needed to identify the root cause of the problems, including a fire on a parked 787.

"There are concerns about recent events involving the Boeing 787. That is why today we are conducting a comprehensive review," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a news conference followed by more than 100 reporters around the world.

Those concerns notwithstanding, though, LaHood also maintained the plane was still airworthy.

"I believe this plane is safe and I would have absolutely no reservations about boarding one of these planes and taking a flight," he said.

While the FAA launched its review, Boeing customer All Nippon Airways had a launch of its own, initiating Dreamliner service between Tokyo and the Silicon Valley hub of San Jose. Passengers preparing to board shook off any suggestion they might be worried.

"Whenever there's a new plane there's some breaking in that comes with it. If the pilot's willing to get behind the stick and ride the plane, I have a great deal of confidence in the worthiness of the plane," said Marc Casto, 37, who runs a San Jose-based travel company.

Boeing shares fell 2.7 percent to $75 in late trading. Since December 4, when the first of the recent incidents took place, the stock is up 1.5 percent, underperforming a 4.3 percent gain in the S&P 500.

Much like the company's customers, who have generally stood behind it, analysts give the company good marks for its early response to the crisis.

"Boeing is doing a good job getting in front (as much as a company can) of the FAA situation. My view is that if the FAA deems this as a non-design issue, Boeing will be fine. If this is a design issue, it will be more troublesome because we need to pause the production to fix the design and then proceed," said Morningstar analyst Neal Dihora.

The review will focus on the 787's advanced electrical systems and cover their design, manufacture and assembly, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The move comes on top of a separate probe by U.S. safety investigators into a battery fire that caused "serious damage" to an empty Japan Airlines 787 jet at Boston airport. Early findings of that probe are due next week.

The 787, the world's first mainly carbon-composite airliner, is Boeing's boldest effort to revolutionize commercial aviation by using new technology to cut fuel costs by 20 percent. Each lightweight jet has a list price of $207 million.

Airlines are pleased with the savings, and have so far given the plane their approval, both by ordering more than 800 jets and mostly sticking by it through the current spate of troubles.

After roughly 10 incidents on 787s in six weeks, one jet suffered a cracked cockpit window, while another had an oil leak.

"We also stand 100 percent behind the integrity of the 787 and the rigorous process that led to its successful certification and entry into service," Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said in a statement.

The review is a significant test for the recently appointed chief executive of Boeing's commercial airplanes division, Ray Conner, who attended the news conference.

"The redundancies that we have put into this machine are phenomenal and the airplane performed perfectly in that respect. Now, we'd like to make sure that none of these happen again, and that's what we're going to try to do," Conner said.

Those complex systems that Conner referred to are among the advantages of the 787, but also complicate finding and solving problems, according to the director of MIT's Aeronautical Systems Laboratory.

"You now have the interdependencies that you didn't have before. The systems are much better when they work but they're harder to guarantee that they will work all the time and it's harder to predict what will happen when something fails," said R. John Hansman in an interview.

As Boeing's 787 comes under review, the company is involved in difficult labor contract negotiations with its engineering union, which represents the workers who would be called upon to solve any problems with the Dreamliner.

Boeing made a revised offer that it said would increase the pool of money available for raises.

Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), declined to comment on the FAA review. He said Boeing's latest offer still included drastic cuts from the contract that expired in November.

The media storm about the 787 glitches echoes global publicity a year ago over wing cracks on the A380 superjumbo, built by Boeing's European rival Airbus (EAD.PA).

The A380 has also been deemed safe to fly and few airlines have reported a dip in bookings, but the problems are expected to end up costing Airbus up to 500 million euros in repairs.

The 787 Dreamliner made its first commercial flight in late 2011 after a series of production delays put deliveries more than three years behind schedule. By the end of last year, Boeing had sold 848 Dreamliners. It now has 50 in service.


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HP's Meg Whitman made $15.4 million in fiscal 2012

Chicago, Jan 23  : Chief executive Meg Whitman received compensation worth about $15.4 million in 2012 as Hewlett-Packard Co. posted a net loss in her first full fiscal year in charge, according to a federal proxy filing.

Whitman's base salary was just $1. Her bonus was $1.7 million, while the remainder of her compensation was granted in the form of Hewlett-Packard stock options, stock awards and other income, according to the proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Her compensation was about 70 percent of previous targets, as the company posted a net loss.

Whitman - the former EBay executive and one-time Republican candidate for California governor - took over as HP's chief executive in the fall of 2011, at a time when the hardware manufacturer had been rocked by a decade of troubled deals, corporate espionage and allegations of sexual harassment in the executive suite.

Since taking over the reins, Whitman has tried various strategies to turn around the Silicon Valley titan, including plans to cut an estimated 29,000 jobs over the next two years and reverse a previous corporate decision to spin off HP's PC division.

But years of corporate tumult, and the company's shares dropping by nearly 39 percent in the past year, has had investors putting the company's board under intense scrutiny.

Whitman is ranked 285th on the Forbes list of the top 400 richest people in America, and 18th on the Forbes list of the World's 100 most powerful women.

That drop in stock price, too, has cut some of HP's executive pay in the form of restricted stock awards from earlier years, according to the proxy filing. The payment of these awards were tied to the firm's per-share performance against the Standard & Poor's 500 Index over a period of time.

HP changed its compensation program last year, and is now giving stock options that vest if the company's stock price meets or exceeds specific goals or thresholds.

Also, according to the proxy filed, HP said it will offer up a new policy proposal that will allow large shareholders to have the ability to nominate directors - rather than just voting for a panel of directors nominated by the company.

The measure will be voted on at the company's annual shareholder meeting held on March 20, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Sales of personal computers fell for the first time in more than five years in the Christmas holiday season, as Microsoft Corp's Windows 8 operating system failed to excite buyers and many consumers instead opted for tablet devices and smartphones, according to a recent study by tech industry tracker IDC.

The slump capped a year of waning sales for Hewlett-Packard and rival PC makers such as Dell Inc with no immediate signs of relief.


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BofA director settlement over Merrill triples to $62.5 million

New York, Jan 23 : Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) directors have reached a $62.5 million settlement to resolve investor claims over the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co, a person familiar with the matter said, after a federal judge expressed reservations about an earlier version of the accord.

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan agreed to increase the size of the settlement from $20 million, the person said.

This came after Castel had indicated in a January 4 order that he had yet to be persuaded of the fairness of the settlement, which also includes governance reforms.

Castel also suggested in that order that "some, most or all" of the $20 million cash payout would have been consumed by attorney's fees for the plaintiffs.

The accord is separate from a $2.4 billion settlement that the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender reached in September to resolve securities fraud litigation over the Merrill takeover.

Bank of America said in a statement about the developments: "We support the terms of the settlement, and are gratified that the matter has been resolved."

The case was led by two pension funds, the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System and the Hollywood Police Officers' Retirement System in Florida.

Albert Myers and Joseph White, who represent the pension funds, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The settlement resolved claims that Bank of America directors including former Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis misled shareholders about Merrill's losses, which peaked at $15.84 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, and that Merrill was paying $3.6 billion of bonuses at the time.

Payouts would go to the bank, not to shareholders. Directors of publicly-traded companies typically have liability insurance to cover a variety of payouts in derivative lawsuits.


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Americans feel austerity's bite as payroll taxes rise

Washington, Jan 23 : Americans are beginning to feel the pinch from Washington's decision to embrace austerity measures aimed at bringing down the nation's budget deficit.

Paychecks across the country have shrunk over the last week due to higher federal tax rates, and workers are already cutting back on spending, which will drag on the economy this year.

In Warren, Rhode Island, Ben DeCastro got his first paycheck in which taxes on his wages rose by 2 percentage points. That works out to about $30 a week.

"You sit back and do the calculation, and that's $30 I'm not going to spend at a restaurant," said DeCastro.

He said he worries that people hit by higher taxes will spend less at the chain of furniture stores where he works as a marketing manager.

Politicians in Washington made much hubbub last week about a bipartisan deal to soften or postpone some $600 billion in scheduled tax hikes and government spending cuts. President Barack Obama said the deal would shield 98 percent of Americans from a middle-class tax hike.

Nevertheless, for most workers, rich and poor alike, taxes went up on December 31 as a temporary payroll tax cut expired. That cut - a 2 percentage point reduction in a levy that funds Social Security - was put in place two years ago to help the economy, which was still smarting from the 2007-09 recession.

About 160 million workers pay this tax, and the increase will cost the average worker about $700 a year, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

"It stinks," said Beverly Renfroe, an accountant for a realty firm in Jackson, Mississippi. "I definitely noticed a decrease."

The pain will trickle through the economy over the next few weeks. Already, the new rate of 6.2 percent has trimmed paychecks for about half of the 200,000 employees whose paychecks are processed by Advantage Payroll Services, a payroll firm based in Auburn, Maine.

Economists estimate the payroll tax hike will reduce household incomes by a collective $125 billion this year. Some households could reduce contributions to retirement accounts or other savings, but most are also expected to cut back on spending.

That alone could reduce economic growth this year by about 0.6 percentage point, said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan in New York City.

"The headwind to growth should be noticeable," he said.

Most mainstream economists say the government should still be trying to stimulate the economy by lowering taxes or raising spending to help bring down the 7.8 percent jobless rate.

Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said Congress could consider short-term stimulus measures if they can be coupled with a plan to tame the deficit over the long run.

But a consensus has emerged between Congress and the White House that the federal government should step up the pace at which it cuts the deficit, which ballooned during the recession.

That decision is having repercussions across the country.

In Bergenfield, New Jersey, Evelyn Weiss Francisco has put off plans to upgrade her cell phone and thinks she might go to fewer music concerts. A director at a public relations firm, she thinks the higher payroll taxes will cost her about $1,000 this year.

Some Americans will also pay higher income taxes this year. Congress and Obama let income tax rates rise for households making more than $450,000 a year, a partial repeal of tax cuts put in place under President George W. Bush. The wealthy will also pay a new tax to help fund a health insurance reform passed in 2010.

These will have a smaller impact on the wider economy because they affect fewer people. But taken together, this year's tax hikes could subtract a full percentage point from growth, Feroli said.

Most economists see economic growth of roughly 2 percent this year, a lackluster pace held back by the government's austerity measures that is likely to do little to reduce unemployment.

Failure to postpone government spending cuts due to begin around March would slow growth more, further frustrating the economic recovery.

The blow to the economy from the tax hikes will hurt the most during the first half of the year as people adapt to their smaller paychecks.

Consumer spending, which drives more than two thirds of the economy, will likely grow at a mere 1 percent annual rate in the first quarter, and 1.5 percent in the second, said Sven Jari Stehn, an economist at Goldman Sachs in New York.

Nicki Hagen, who received her first reduced paycheck on January 4 and then another, estimates the higher taxes will shrink her paychecks by about $10 a week.

She has already started holding back from coffee-and-bagel runs made by coworkers at the home improvement company where she works as an office administrator in New York City.

She expects a much bigger hit to her family's income when her husband gets his first paycheck for 2013.

The two will then sit down and figure out how to budget their money. They might cut cable channels, or take vacation days when their daughter is out of school to save on babysitter expenses.

"This is going to affect our lives," she said.

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Ford takes next step of Lincoln overhaul with luxury crossover

Detroit, Jan 23: Ford Motor Co will unveil this week a luxury crossover designed to help the company gain a foothold in a fast-growing and profitable segment of the U.S. luxury automotive market.

At the Detroit auto show, the No. 2 U.S. automaker is unveiling a concept version of its Lincoln MKC, an entry-level luxury compact crossover that shares its underpinnings with the Ford Escape.

Ford is betting that a strong showing in this burgeoning segment will reverse a two-decade sales decline for Lincoln, a brand better known for the Town Car and presidential limos.

The premium crossover segment has more than tripled in the last four years, Ford said.

"It's not a segment that's been around a long time with entrants that have been there for 10-plus years," said Kate Pearce, marketing manager for the Lincoln brand.

"This is still evolving, which really provides us an opportunity to come in and create something unique and differentiated and really grow our position," she said.

Last year, Lincoln sold a little more than 82,000 vehicles in the United States, slightly less than sales of the Ford Mustang, a retro muscle car last redesigned in 2005.

Many analysts said that while Lincoln's lineup has improved in quality and design, the brand's lackluster image remains an obstacle. The company is hoping to shed that image and take advantage of the momentum in the U.S. luxury auto market, which Ford predicts will outpace the broader industry this year.

Ford expects a 7.5 percent growth in the U.S. luxury auto market, compared to 4.5 percent growth among mass-market brands.

"This is a huge opportunity to introduce all-new vehicles and reinvent the brand in a really prosperous time for the luxury automotive industry," Pearce said.

Ford is hoping to revive the Lincoln brand through a combination of new models and an aggressive marketing strategy that includes the brand's first ever Super Bowl ad this year. The company also rechristened the brand the Lincoln Motor Co in a nod to the nameplate's heritage.

The MKC is the second of four core models that Lincoln will pitch to a growing group of buyers who appreciate warmth and "discreet luxury" and avoid overt symbols of wealth.

About half the buyers are expected to be new to the U.S. luxury market, Ford said. The other half will be existing luxury buyers who are looking to buy a smaller vehicle.

Its competition in the luxury compact market comes from BMW AG's X3, Honda Motor Co's Acura RDX and others. Another challenge for Lincoln is setting itself apart from the "Blue Oval" Ford brand.

To that end, Lincoln designers eschewed the "boxy" look of its competitors in favor of a sleeker, more elegant approach. This look also distinguishes it from the sportier Ford Escape.

Inside, the MKC concept will feature the same push-button transmission sold in the MKZ sedan. Ford has opted to show a four-seat version of the MKC concept that features a dual heater and cooler in the backseat.

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'IHK imported Rs 29,000 cr goods in 2011-12'

Lakhanpur, Jan 23 : Check post Lakhanpur has realized Rs 306.23 crore revenue on account of toll in 2011-12 marking an increase of 22.59 per cent from Rs. 249.82 crore registered a year earlier.

The import and export of taxable goods during last fiscal has been Rs 28,924 crore and Rs 12,369 crore respectively.

The figures were given out to Minister for Finance Abdul Rahim Rather today who gave final touches to the grand inaugural function of the Rs 42.5 crore new Toll Plaza at Lakhapur.

 The minister was accompanied by Commissioner Commercial Taxes, Kifayat Rizvi, Excise Commissioner, Vineeta Gupta and District Development Commissioner, Kathua, Zahida Khan.

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Rise and fall of The Bund

Srinagar, Jan 23 : Dotted with towering mighty Chinars and overlooking gushing river Jhelum, The Bund in the heart of Srinagar till a few decades ago was a favorite haunt of nature lovers and British. However, ill-planning and haphazard concrete constructions along the once famous walkway have vandalized this stretch.

 Raised nearly a century ago primarily to protect Srinagar from flood waters of Jhelum, The Bund was developed during the Dogra regime as a nature trail cum walkway by British tourists and officers who used to stay mostly in houseboats anchored along the walkway.

 With heavy inflow of British tourists, gradually handicraft, carpet, jewellery and fishing equipment shops came up along The Bund and it became a favorite shopping hub for British.

 The Emporium building along The Bund was originally British Residency in Srinagar. The Bund comprised of over two kilometer stretch from Amira Kadal bridge to Ram Munshi Bagh. The stretch from The Bund to Shivpora was known as European Quarters as it used to bustle with British.

 The shops were constructed in colonial style and decorated with chiseled stones and wood carvings. All the shops had small sprawling lawns infront with neatly paneled wood fencing. Its remnants are still visible.

 Decorated with fragrant flowers, ornamental trees and clay tiles, the British were so mesmerized by The Bund’s beauty and solace that many of them selected a chunk of land along it as their last abode in shape of a graveyard at Sheikh Bagh.

 “The Bund was mostly thronged by British officers posted in Pakistan before partition. Due to immense publicity by British, this place became famous world over and gradually emerged as most preferred shopping hub for foreigners,” recounted Muhammad Shafi Qureshi, an octogenarian owner of Munawar Shah and Sons—an exclusive shop of fishing equipment near The Bund.

 “The British were so fascinated by The Bund that they used to clean garbage from it. Walking through The Bund was considered to be a privilege. It was a royal route. There was so much admiration for The Bund that locals used to wear new clothes before walking through it,” Qureshi said with animated eyes.

 In his famous book, occupied Valley of Kashmir, Sir Walter Lawrence settlement commissioner of Kashmir writes Srinagar suffered massive devastation due to flood in the 18th century.

 “In 1841, there was a serious flood which caused much damage to the life and property. Some marks shown to me suggest that the flood of 1841 rose some nine feet higher on the Dal lake than it rose in 1893. But thanks to the strong embankments around Dal, the flood level in 1893 never rose on the lane to the level of the flood on the Jhelum,” Lawrence writes while referring to The Bund.

 However, noted historian Fida Hasnain said The Bund was fully developed by Maharaja Pratap Singh in early 1920s.

 “At that time, there was high concentration of British around The Bund. Even the Srinagar Club was located at the present site of General Post Office. The Club was thronged by British who visited Kashmir,” Prof Hasnain said.

 The Bund was strictly restricted for walking. When Prof Ghulam Ali Wani, 85, of Jawahar Nagar locality as a youth traveled on his new cycle through the Bund in 1947 he attracted angry looks of British tourists.

 “I was abruptly stopped by some officers and fined Rs 15. I realized my mistake. Even Maharaja Hari Singh used to occasionally walk through The Bund,” Prof Wani said.
 Till 1990, The Bund was thronged by British and domestic tourists. “Our shop used to be thronged by British and other foreign tourists. Besides natural trail, The Bund offered them quality items at economical rates,” said Mushtaq Ahmad partner of Mahad Joo and Sons—one of the oldest handicraft shops on The Bund.

 The stretch of river Jhelum along The Bund is believed to the first site of houseboats in Srinagar.

 “The Bund provided them easy access to the houseboats most of which were anchored on its banks. A British Colonel Bedool living in a houseboat near the Bund introduced water sports in the river. He used to organize water skating from The Bund and it attracted many foreigners,” said Chairman Houseboat Owners Association, Muhammad Azim Tuman.

 “The British felt at home while walking through The Bund. Architecture of the buildings and landscape reminded them of their homeland. Till 1990, I organized many water sports activities for foreigners along The Bund,” said president of Travel Agents Association of Kashmir Rauf Tramboo. “Government should restore The Bund to its glory to boost tourism sector,” Rauf added.

 Convener Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Kashmir Chapter Muhammad Saleem Beg said The Bund was repository of colonial architecture.

 “There were many landmarks including The British Residency, Ahdoos Hotel, Lyods Bank, and many exquisite handcraft shops. The Bund has been listed as an urban site by INTACH,” Beg said.
 Beg said then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who used to stay at state guest house was a regular visitor to The Bund in ‘70s. “It was a must visit place for dignitaries who used to visit Kashmir,” Beg said.

 Fida Iqbal a noted architect of Kashmir says one of the most fascinating shopping zones of Srinagar, The Bund was shaped during Dogra period under the influence of British.

 “This charming mall served the dual purpose of a clean walkway in serene and cool ambiance along with a well stuffed shopping centre of selected Kashmiri handicrafts and other traditional material,” he says.

 Few decades ago many monstrous ugly concrete structures came up along The Bund from Abiguzar to Abdullah Bridge breaking its colonial architecture pattern.

 With the onset of political unrest in Kashmir, The Bund became free for all. It was dug up to lay water pipes, macadamized extensively and motorized with all sorts of vehicles trampling its heritage character.

 Gradually, The Bund’s green slopes abutting Jhelum banks were dotted with illegal hutments. In 2005, authorities launched demolition drive and cleaned up the encroachments. The slopes were turned into numerous parks laced with fountains regained some respectability.

 But it became victim of ill-planning earlier this year when government started work on a Skewed Bridge from Rajbagh to The Bund side near the General Post Office.

 Notwithstanding massive outcry by concerned environmentalists, engineers and civil society groups, Government has expedited work on the controversial bridge which has marred beauty The Bund.

 The Bund is presently littered with construction material. And ever-growing movement of excavators have disturbed its serene environs.

 “The Bund became victim of our materialistic urge to swallow every inch of land in this city of wealth, rich traditions, culture and heritage. Today’s Bund gives a different look, bruised and defaced place, victim of peoples' greed and official apathy,” says Fida Iqbal who has been vocal through his newspaper columns against vandalisation of The Bund.

 “Vast patches of green land between famous Lambert lane and Khidmat building got defaced with erection of huge multi-storied structures almost extending into the river Jhelum. The historic Khidmat building a marvelous piece of architecture covered with fragrant climbers of Honeysuckle and other ornamental climbers got replaced with ill planned horrible structures of cement concrete,” he said.

 Iqbal said the planners did not end their “operation onslaught Bund’ here only. “Once well paved Bund with an atmosphere of fragrance and colour was macadamized. This act of defacement seems prelude to a probable converted operation of exploring The Bund for vehicular traffic,” he says.

 Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din who works at a photo shop along The Bund said the construction of concrete bridge has taken heavy toll on The Bund.

 “Vandalisation of The Bund has shocked many people including locals who used to walk and enjoy nature here,” he said.

 Noted poet and chairman Valley Citizens Council Zarief Ahmad Zarief who had resented construction of a bridge near The Bund in ‘80s, termed the Skewed bridge as an eyesore on The Bund.

 Zarief said in ‘80s, the then government led by GM Shah has proposed to set up a colony for his ministers near the Institute of Hotel Management. Zarief said due to public outcry, the proposal was shelved and Raj Bagh and its adjoining areas were declared as green belt.

 “Few years later Dr Farooq Abdullah took over as CM and started construction of a bridge near The Bund. We fought against it tooth and nail. After spending nearly Rs 16 lakhs on construction of pillars, Government was forced to shelve the project,” Zarief said.
 “We as a collective society must join hands to save The Bund from further vandalisation. Our next generation should not curse us for failing to save this Heritage spot from becoming history,” Zarief added. 

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Fresh unmarked graves found in held Kashmir: Report

Srinagar, Jan 23 : Two years after more than 2000 corpses buried in several unmarked graves were found in held Kashmir, a report by non-governmental organisation has claimed discovery of fresh unmarked graves from Chadoora tehsil of district Budgam.

 The report by ‘Voice of Victims’ claimed that more than 60 unmarked graves have been identified in the held Kashmir areas and peripheries of city including Nowgam, Wanabal, Shankerpora, Kenihama Chokpora, Kanipora Chokpora, Wagoora, Humhama and Pahroo.

 “Also areas where graves have been found include some close locales of Srinagar including Barzulla and Channapora,” said the report by NGO, which claimed to have undertaken a survey in December last.

 “As of now we have identified 50-60 unmarked graves in central Kashmir and peripheral areas of Srinagar,” said Abdul Rouf, coordinator of ‘Voice of Victims’.

 “We have started identifying the unmarked graves in the area having proper proof and after meeting people who have seen all this happen,” he added.

 “Although it is difficult to tell who are buried in these unmarked graves but one thing is certain—they were not air dropped. They are Kashmiris,” the coordinator said.

 “We need support of all those people who have lost their dear ones. We believe that many of the forced disappeared persons have been killed by forces here,” he said.

 Two years ago, the State Human Rights Commission found more than 2,000 corpses buried in several unmarked graves in held Kashmir.

The graves were found in dozens of villages near the Line of Control. “Almost 2,156 unidentified dead bodies are buried in unmarked graves at 38 places in north Kashmir," the inquiry report by the J&K State Human Rights Commission had revealed.


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Study reveals origins of esophageal cancer

Islamabad, Jan 23 : Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have identified the critical early cellular and molecular events that give rise to a type of esophageal cancer called esophageal adenocarcinoma, the fastest-rising solid tumor in the United States.

The findings, recently published in Cancer Cell, challenge conventional wisdom regarding the origin and development of this deadly cancer and its precursor lesion, Barrett's esophagus, and highlight possible targets for new clinical therapies.

Lacking a good animal model of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), researchers have been hard pressed to explain exactly where and how this cancer arises. What is known is that EAC is usually triggered by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), in which bile acid and other stomach contents leak backwards from the stomach to the esophagus, the muscular tube that moves food from the mouth to the stomach. Over time, acid reflux can irritate and inflame the esophagus, leading to Barrett's esophagus, an asymptomatic precancerous condition in which the tissue lining the esophagus is replaced by tissue similar to the lining of the intestine. A small number of people with Barrett's esophagus eventually go on to develop EAC.

Using a new genetically engineered mouse model of esophagitis, the CUMC researchers have clarified critical cellular and molecular changes that occur during the development of Barrett's esophagus and EAC. In human patients, acid reflux often leads to overexpression of a molecule called interleukin-1 beta, an important mediator of the inflammatory response, reported study leader Timothy C. Wang, MD, the Dorothy L. and Daniel H. Silberberg Professor of Medicine at CUMC. Thus, Wang and his colleagues created a transgenic mouse in which interleukin-1 beta was overexpressed in the esophagus.

Overexpression of interleukin-1 beta in the mouse esophagus resulted in chronic esophageal inflammation (esophagitis) and expansion of progenitor cells that were sustained by the notch signaling pathway. Notch is a fundamental signaling system used by neighboring cells to communicate with each other in order to assume their proper developmental role. "When we inhibited notch signaling, that blocked proliferation and survival of the pre-malignant cells, so that's a new possible clinical strategy to use in Barrett's patients at high risk for cancer development," noted Dr. Wang.

For decades, investigators thought that the physiological changes associated with Barrett's esophagus originate in the lower esophagus. "However, our study shows that Barrett's esophagus actually arises in the gastric cardia, a small region between the lower part of the esophagus and the upper, acid-secreting portion of the stomach," said Dr. Wang. "What happens is that the bile acid and inflammatory cytokines activate stem cells at this transition zone, and they begin migrating up toward the esophagus, where they take on this intestinal-like appearance."

The researchers also demonstrated that these changes occur primarily in columnar-like epithelial cells, rather than in goblet cells, as was previously thought.

"All told, the findings present a new model for the pathogenesis of Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma," said Dr. Wang.

Barrett's esophagus affects about 1 percent of adults in the United States. Men are affected by Barrett's esophagus twice as frequently as women, and Caucasian men are affected more frequently than men of other races. The average age at diagnosis is 50. At present, there is no way to determine which patients with the condition will develop EAC. EAC is increasing in incidence about 7 to 8 percent a year, making it the most rapidly rising solid tumor in the U.S.

Treatment with acid-reducing drugs can lessen symptoms of GERD and lower the chances of developing Barrett's esophagus and EAC. Low-grade EAC is highly treatable with endoscopic radiofrequency ablation, photodynamic therapy, or surgical resection. Patients with severe disease may require open surgery, in which most of the esophagus is removed. The overall five-year survival rate with advanced disease is about 25 percent.

Dr. Wang's paper is entitled, "Bile acid and inflammation activate gastric cardia stem cells in a mouse model of Barrett's-like metaplasia." The lead author is Michael Quante of CUMC and Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany. The other contributors are Govind Bhagat, Julian Abrams, Frederic Marache, Pamela Good, Michele D. Lee, Yoomi Lee, Richard Friedman, Samuel Asfaha, MD, PhD, Zinaida Dubeykovskaya, Carrie Shawber, and Charles Lightdale, all of CUMC; Umar Mahmood and Jose-Luiz Figueiredo, of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Jan Kitajewski of Technische Universität München; and Anil K Rustgi of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

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Inflammation may link obesity and adverse pregnancy outcomes

Islamabad, Jan 23: A number of different immunological mechanisms ensure the successful establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Imbalance in these mechanisms is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes.

In a review published in Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, researchers from the Institute of Life Science, College of Medicine at Swansea University in the UK examine the impact of maternal obesity on the inflammatory responses in tissues of both the mother and the child.

"While great progress has been made in elucidating the immunological mechanisms that ensure reproductive success, we now need to understand the impact of a very modern epidemic on immune response at the materno-fetal interface, as well on the mother and the child," said lead investigator Catherine A. Thornton, PhD. "Inflammation may have a key role in many of the detrimental effects of obesity in non-pregnant individuals, and emerging data suggest that inflammation also links obesity and adverse pregnancy outcomes."

Evidence of altered inflammatory status with obesity in the circulation of both the mother and child in pregnancy is emerging. For example, obese pregnant women have elevated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6). IL-6 is also increased in the cord plasma of offspring of obese mothers, and is associated with increased fetal adiposity and, in a rat model, to hypertension and increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in adulthood. Altered inflammatory status of the placenta in association with maternal obesity may have a critical role in the short term programming of health and disease in the offspring, the researchers commented. Maternal obesity is associated with an inflammatory response by the placenta including elevated pro-inflammatory cytokine gene expression.

The negative impact of maternal obesity on the immune function of mother and child includes an increased risk for preeclampsia, likely mediated via inflammation and triglycerides. Increased maternal body mass index is associated with an increased risk of neonatal early onset group B streptococcal disease, and an increased risk of respiratory tract infections. The inflammatory response and immune function of the newborn might relate to later health outcomes. Hyper-responsiveness of inflammatory function at birth is linked to the development of allergic disease in infancy.

Maternal metabolic status during pregnancy and weaning is particularly relevant to healthy development of hypothalamic neurons that regulate weight and feeding in offspring, the researchers report. One study demonstrated that a high-fat diet during pregnancy can induce the expression of hypothalamic peptides involved in the regulation of food intake and body composition in weanling rats. More recently, female offspring of fathers fed a chronic high fat diet had impaired glucose tolerance and insulin secretion. "These findings lead to the suggestion that such programmed expression has a role to play in adult physiology, including increased food intake, preference for a fat-rich diet, weight gain, and metabolic dysfunction," says Dr. Thornton.

"Diseases once found only in adults are increasing in the paediatric population. The focus has been on diseases with a clear metabolic component and it remains relatively unknown what risk maternal obesity during pregnancy imposes for the development of autoimmune diseases, allergy and asthma, and neurodevelopment and cognitive behavior," stated Dr. Thornton. "Animal models indicate that the provision of a normal diet to the offspring once weaned does not overcome the effects of maternal overnutrition, so simple dietary changes may prove ineffective. Targeted maternal immunomodulation might be needed to curtail this potential pandemic."

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Treatment for diabetes and depression improves both

Islamabad, Jan 23 : Patients simultaneously treated for both Type 2 diabetes and depression improve medication compliance and significantly improve blood sugar and depression levels compared to patients receiving usual care, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Of patients receiving integrated care combined with a brief period of intervention to assist with adherence to prescribed medication regimens, more than 60 percent had improved blood sugar test results and 58 percent had reduced depression symptoms, compared to only 36 percent and 31 percent, respectively, of patients receiving usual care.

There is a link between depression and diabetes - as depression is a risk factor for diabetes, diabetes also increases the risk for the onset of depression. Not only is depression common in patients with diabetes, but it also contributes to poor adherence to medication regimens, which often results in worsening diabetes management.

"Though research demonstrates the link between depression and diabetes, few integrated programs are being implemented in practice," said lead author Hillary Bogner, MD, MSCE, an assistant professor of Family Medicine and Community Health in the Perelman School of Medicine, and a senior scholar at the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, both at the University of Pennsylvania. "Our results demonstrate that integrated treatment for both conditions, combined with a brief program focused on adherence for primary care patients with Type 2 diabetes and depression can result in a significant improvement in clinical outcomes. We hope the findings will encourage the adoption of adherence programs aimed at improving outcomes."

Researchers randomly assigned participants to integrated care or usual care groups. Treatment for the integrated care group combined typical primary care with a brief medication adherence program. Primary care physicians and patients worked with integrated care managers to identify and address potential barriers to maintaining the prescribed medication regimen, such as the cost of medications, or a lack of social support. Integrated care managers developed individualized programs aimed at improving adherence to antidepressants and diabetes medication. Through the use of electronic monitors affixed to pill bottles, researchers were able track the precise date and time participants took their prescribed medications over the course of a 12-week period.

After 12 weeks of monitoring for medication adherence, 60.9 percent of patients who received the integrated approach were found to achieve improved blood sugar test results, compared to only 35.7 percent patients who received only the usual primary care. Additionally, patients in the integrated care group were also more likely to show signs of remission of depression in comparison with patients in the usual care group (58.7 percent vs. 30.7 percent, respectively).

"Our study calls for a greater emphasis within healthcare systems on the development and promotion of clinical programs to enhance medication adherence, particularly among patients with chronic medical conditions and depression," said Dr. Bogner. "An integrated approach to depression and type 2 diabetes treatment may facilitate adoption in practices with competing demands for limited resources."

Additional authors include Knashawn H. Morales, ScD, and Heather F. de Vries, MSPH, and Anne R. Cappola, MD, ScM, from Penn.

The current study was supported by an American Diabetes Association Clinical Research Award (1-09-CR-07). Dr. Bogner was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health grant (MH082799). Dr. Morales was supported by a National Institute of Mental Health mentored Career Development Award (MH073903). The research is based on a pilot study supported by the Penn Institute on Aging, where Drs. Bogner and Cappola are both fellows of the Institute.

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The poppy palaces

Kabul, Jan 22 : ‘Just look at this view,” said my guide, as he waved his arm expansively from right to left. We had just emerged onto the sun-drenched roof terrace of a so-called narco-villa in Kabul’s Sherpur neighborhood. Sherpur is the epicenter of an eye-catching architectural style in a district where the gusher of money from drugs and corruption has found full expression.

From the rooftop I look out on a jumble of grotesque, garish, candy-colored, multi-storied mansions sitting almost on top of one another. They resemble a mad baker’s window display of bad wedding cakes. These are the fortified castles of Afghanistan’s peculiar new elite. “Narco-tecture” takes classic design elements from ancient Greece and then goes psychedelic with them, adding touches from Mexico and Pakistan. Bad money has met bad taste in this former military installation in the suburbs of Kabul. If there were a Narco-tecture Digest, Sherpur could make up a special issue.

Sherpur had been army land, the site of an old fort surrounded by modest homes. In 2003, the government evicted many of the local families and distributed the land to cabinet ministers, the mayor, militia commanders, and various warlords. Here in a city where most people live in slums with no running water or heat, the government commandeered a new suburb for high rollers, an enclave borrowing more from Scarface than Scarsdale. According to some, there are about 75 narco-villas now in Sherpur. I had heard that their neighborhood association, so to speak, petitioned the U.N. to pave the streets, but the U.N. wisely refused. Still, the international community, ever the enabler in Afghanistan, has managed to rent quite a few of these monstrosities over the years as homes for news organizations, diplomatic residences, and guesthouses. For the owners, it’s a perfect scheme.

I’ve been intrigued by these structures ever since I returned to Afghanistan, in 2007. They just seemed so wrong, so blatant, so out of place. I’d read about the narco-tombs in Mexico—multi-story, pastel-colored, air-conditioned mausoleums built by drug lords there. I’d heard about their narco-wives, too. So I was eager to see these narco-villas. For my first visit to a real-estate office there, five years ago, I posed as a big-shot ex-pat renter and said I wanted to see some “very large homes.” These homes, also known as “Poppy Palaces,” can encompass 50 or 60 rooms. Rents were $25,000 to $100,000 a month back then. One, it was said, had “room for 50 cars.” I inspected four or five narco-villas, each bigger than the one before.

Narco-villas feature grand entrances, byzantine floor plans, and huge, cavernous hallways. Everything inside is concrete and marble. No Sheetrock defiles the space. There is very little wood trim, and the chandeliers and fixtures could be right out of Medellin. They say you can tell a lot about a home by the way it smells. These smelled unhealthy: cold and moldy. The upstairs floors are warrens of bedrooms with no attached baths. The real action, the un-Islamic action, if you will, is hidden away in the basements. Some have elevated swimming pools (in odd colors), large bars, and full gyms. I saw a room with hooks on the ceiling. I was told it had been a gym. A convenient place to hang someone with their arms behind their back, I thought. The most striking thing about these buildings is the vulgar detailing: the painted Greek columns, the mirrored fireplaces, the Bavarian Alpine murals.

I watched Sherpur boom over the years and then sadly began to notice narco-villas popping up everywhere in town, supplanting the far more sensible indigenous Afghan architecture. In Kabul’s hothouse real-estate market, every time you saw a teardown, you could bet another narco-villa was likely on the way.

The news that foreign-troop withdrawals would be completed by 2014 initially hit the real-estate market in Kabul very hard. Many wondered what will happen when nato forces leave and much of the foreign aid dries up. This October, five years after my initial visit, I headed back to see if the narco-villa market could be a leading economic indicator of the future.

There were “For Rent” signs all over Sherpur. “Many organizations have finished their jobs and left,” my guide told me. He added that about 30 percent of the homes are now empty. Prices are down by 25 to 50 percent. Of course, location still rules. From a rooftop my guide pointed out a villa on a corner lot. It used to go for $18,000 a month, but now you can get it for only $8,000. It’s on a corner, so it’s a bigger security risk, and after all, security is worse now. The narco-villa to its left, with the nice garden, has held its price, I’m told, because it’s next door to a big cheese from the Afghan Intelligence Directorate who has a huge security detail. It has 50 rooms, and the owner is holding to his $50,000-per-month rent. With so many people leaving, who might be moving in? “Blackwater’s coming; that’s about it,” said my guide, referring to the security firm now called Academi.

Architectural eras can provide a capsule history of a city. The rise of the narco-villa in one of the world’s poorest countries speaks volumes about what has gone wrong in Kabul. Architecture here was traditionally low-key and adaptive to the environment: cool in summer, warm in winter. These villas are just the reverse. And their design influences are quite foreign, drawing not from tradition but from movies that glamorize excess. But the impulses that built these homes are universal. If you suddenly come into some free land and some easy money, and if you’re without much refinement, then big and garish seems to be a good way to go. We sure have our own versions of that in the United States.

Looking down on these odd-looking mansions, it occurred to me that Afghanistan is a bit like Hollywood, a place where I have also spent time. Both have plenty of charming, outsize characters; there is an ever-changing and rapacious elite; business dealings can involve something a bit illegal and dangerous; money is rarely spent rationally; and there’s an endless line of outsiders ready to come in, caught up by the romance and the sense of possibility. Just like Hollywood, Afghanistan is a bit of an insider’s game. Most people eventually go home defeated and poorer. You’ll notice, though, that Hollywood has not disappeared. Neither will Afghanistan. It will do what it has always done: hunker down, sort out its own problems, and wait for new arrivals to devour.

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Displaced Afghans feel strangers at home

Kabul, Jan 22 : After spending 10 years as a refugee in Pakistan, Nafas Gol never thought she would be living in a tent in a camp for the internally displaced in Kabul.

"[Afghan President Hamid] Karzai was everywhere saying 'come, your country is ready', so I did," she said.

More than five million refugees have returned to the country since the US-led invasion in 2001. Nafas Gol is one of about 30,000 returnees who are living in camps for internally displaced people in the Afghan capital.

As the winter sets in, the dirt roads in the camp Nafas Gol lives in, in Kabul's Deh-e-Sabz neighbourhood, have turned to mud and ice. The tents and tarps that line the now-slippery paths provide little shelter from the elements.

"This tarpaulin is three years old. What can it do for us?" asked another camp resident, Atiqullah, who returned to Kabul eight months ago.

"Everyone is dying of hunger. There is no flour, no oil, no wood," he said, fearing a repeat of the harsh winter of 2012, which led to the deaths of more than 100 Afghans.

But the bitter winter climate isn't the only problem facing those living in the camps.

'People look at us like dogs'

Leaving behind the uncertain life of a refugee, many internally displaced Afghans thought their days of being taken advantage of by opportunists were behind them. But life in the camps can be just as predatory as in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.

Area residents often stalk the camps at night, says Shir Ali, a 26-year-old camp resident. He described some of these people as vandals and podaris, or heroin addicts.

"People come with guns to steal from the poor. They strong-arm people," said Mohammad Aslan, a malek, or leader, of the camp.

In such living circumstances, everyone - men, women and children - have to contribute. Many women and children beg or sell simple items on the streets. This breaking of cultural norms has led some to believe they can approach the community's women, said Shir Ali. "They think they can come here and take advantage of us ... They think this area is a brothel, that our women are prostitutes."

"People look at us like dogs here," Atiqullah noted.

Nor does the available work, such as driving carriages or going from house-to-house collecting old clothes to repair and sell, alleviate their poverty. Shir Ali said people need at least 500 afghanis ($10) per day to survive, but that those in the camps often make between 100-150 afghanis ($2-3). Meanwhile, he said, "one kilo of flour is 170 afghanis ($3.30); the oil to cook it with is another 100 afghanis ($2)".

The high cost of living has forced camp residents to find alternative means of survival. These can often prove dangerous. Children sometimes climb trees to shake down branches, Shir Ali said, while another waits at the base with a basket to catch the falling wood - a valuable commodity during the freezing-cold winter. But children have been injured when they slip and fall.

In conversations with Al Jazeera, many residents quietly stated that fellow camp members often contribute to their woes.

Nafas Gol said the camp maleks, or leaders, many of whom came from her own tribe, often hoarded money and firewood provided by aid groups.

"They take it. I've seen them. They collect the money and the supplies and they keep it for themselves. But I won't stay quiet any longer," she said, as she pointed at the malek and his compatriots, who were guiding journalists around the Deh-e-Sabz camp.

Researchers and journalists have also reported cases of opportunism within the camps. Nassim Majidi, director at Samuel Hall Consulting, a research and consulting company based in Kabul, said "maleks [camp leaders] are recurrently blamed for not handing out the assistance evenly, for keeping some for themselves, selling the rest ... Those who have power abuse it, and these sites are not an exception."

Fouzia Monawer, who researches migration, said that during a visit to a primarily Pashtun camp in a rural area outside of Kabul, a local malek guiding her and her team were "closely controlling who we did and did not speak to. On our way out, however, we came across a Tajik woman who explained that the malek had not only stolen her family's UNHCR-distributed tent but, each time an aid worker would come to distribute assistance to the IDPs, the malek would prevent her family - and other Tajik families - from receiving aid."

Monawer said that when the malek saw her speaking to this woman, he "quickly interrupted, making the woman so uncomfortable that she soon left with her two small children".

Though many of the repatriates in the Deh-e-Sabz camp describe an equally bleak existence in Iran and Pakistan, some said there were more economic opportunities in those countries.

Atiqullah, who lived in the border city of Peshawar for over 25 years, said that unlike in Kabul, his family did not live in a tent in Pakistan.

"We rented," he said, a fact Atiqullah proudly credits to his 18,000 rupee-a-month salary as a supervisor at Wall's, a local ice cream producer.

For years, Atiqullah's salary also helped him avert authorities asking for proof of his refugee status. "I used to give them reshwat [bribes]," he said, at a cost of 500 to 1,000 rupees ($5-10) each time. But when he lost his job last year, that quickly came to an end. "I couldn't keep bribing the police. They finally kicked us out."

When he did return to Afghanistan, Atiqullah thought he could return to his home, the volatile eastern province of Laghman. But he and his family were heart-broken when they returned, realising they had neither a home nor land to call their own. Like many repatriates, they soon found themselves in Kabul.

Life is harder here than in Pakistan: Atiqullah had trouble paying a doctor when his child became sick, something he said would not have happened in Peshawar. He is now considering a return to Pakistan.

Mohammed Aslan, a leader in the Deh-e-Sabz camp, cited Atiqullah's willingness to leave for Pakistan as evidence of how vulnerable repatriates are in Kabul. "If he had land here," Aslan explained, "of course he wouldn't return to Pakistan".

Pakistan has declared a June 2013 deadline for Afghan refugees to return to their homeland, but meanwhile Atiqullah is working to gather the 5,000 afghanis ($100) needed to smuggle himself back. But given that he makes just 100 afghanis ($2) a day, he would have to go into debt to do this.

Atiqullah is not alone in his thinking: a recent report by the Population Profiling, Verification and Response Survey on Afghan refugees in Pakistan found that 84 percent have no intention of leaving.

The report, produced in part by the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, also found that 20 per cent of Afghans have invested a total of about 18bn rupees ($180m) in businesses in Pakistan.

Meanwhile Roh Gol, who is referred to as the khaleh, or aunt, of the camp for her leadership role, blamed the government of Hamid Karzai for convincing some Afghans that it was safe to return.

"Karzai keeps talking, but what has come of his words?"

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