A father (CL) and his son mourn at the coffin of his son, who was killed in an attack by gunmen on a police academy, during a funeral ceremony in Lahore yesterday.

Qatar: Arab and South American business people identified Monday joint mechanisms to counter the global financial crisis and boost investment, before the 2nd Summit of heads of State from both regional blocs.

Amid great expectations originated by the arrival in Doha of South American heads of State like Venezuelan Hugo Chavez and Bolivian Evo Morales, delegations from both regions continued their meetings to foster cooperation in multiple spheres.

According to the Doha Declaration rough draft, which was accessed by Prensa Latina, Arabs and South Americans are seeking to dynamize trade relations and agree the means to identify new partners and markets, despite their geographic distance.

A Brazilian diplomat in Qatar told Prensa Latina that exchange between both groups of nations exceeds $21 billion and was confident that it would be increased, with incursions into non-traditional markets.

A regional analyst told the Gulf Times daily that due to the political situation of the countries in the southern region of the New World, increasingly free from US tutelage, “they think it is strategic to find partners in the Middle East.” In an interview during the business meeting, Qatari Trade and Business Minister, Sheik Fahd Bin Jassim al-Thani said that trade volume was relatively low, considering the vast human and natural resources on both sides.

Jassim Al-Thani said that undoubtedly there has been a significant increase in the last three years, in relation to 2005, when trade reached $14 billion.

Other sources are talking about barely $7 billion at that time.

The Meeting in Doha will continue the first forum of its kind, held in Brazil in 2005, and should approve the document prepared by experts and foreign ministers from both regions at the Arab League (AL) headquarters in Cairo.

According to the agenda, Qatari Emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, as the host, and Chilean President Michele Bachelet, as acting Chairwoman of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), will give the opening speeches.

Bolivia: Bolivia lives as of Monday a decisive week for the implementation of a new electoral plan aimed at guaranteeing the December 6 general and April 2010 regional elections.

According to the first transitory dispositions of the current Constitution, the Congress had only two months to approve a rule about this issue, and only eight days are left.

The Deputy Chamber, controlled by the governing Movement towards Socialism (MAS), approved the project demanded by the Constitution, an initiative subject to the Senate plenary session as of today.

According to experts, debates promise to be intense, considering the announced position of those contrary to the executive to carry out important changes in the governing proposal.

“We should modify aspects linked to the voting of residents abroad and the access of indigenous people to the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (name of the Bolivian Parliament as of 2010),” Luis Vasquez of the opposition stated.

For MAS, the project must be unchanged unless the Senate acts quickly to approve an electoral plan within the limit established in the February 7 text.

The aim of MAS enemies is to block the initiative and hinder the elections, parliamentarians Antonio Peredo and Felix Rojas said.

Israel: Israeli Prime Minister- designate Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the new government will make every effort to reach “a durable peace with all of Israel’s Arab neighbors.”

“Whenever Israel stands before peace-seeking an Arab leader, it follows and answers the call,” the Likud leader told the Knesset (parliament) in Jerusalem during a special session marking the 30th anniversary of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. Netanyahu praised late Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for “their wisdom in making the impossible possible.”

Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty on March 26, 1979, normalizing relations between the two countries. Earlier on Monday, Netanyahu officially informed acting Knesset Speaker Michael Eitan that he has succeeded in forming the cabinet, which would comprise 30 ministers and seven deputy ministers.

Likud lawmaker Reuven Rivlin was appointed Knesset Speaker. A swearing-in ceremony for Netanyahu’s government would be held at 5:00 p.m.(1400 GMT) Tuesday.

The Security Forces engaged in the last leg of the final battle against the LTTE outside the No Fire Zone reached yet another victory yesterday with the destruction of 130 mm heavy artillery gun located in the North East of Puthukudiyiruppu following a combined operation by the ground troops and the Sri Lanka Air Force, military sources said yesterday.

The ground troops of the 58 Division under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva located this heavy artillery gun mounted on a tractor firing barrages of artillery.

It was directed at the ground troops operating in the Puthukudiyiruppu battlefront from a location as close as 200 meters, military officials told the Daily News.

Initially, the Tiger artillery gun was targeted by the heavy artillery guns compelling the Tiger cadres to move it further interior into their area. ”The support of the Air Force was called in to destroy this gun as it created a major obstacle for the ground troops”, sources added.

Kfir fighter jets airborne from Katunayake took this precise target completely destroying the heavy artillery gun as Tiger cadres were making desperate attempts to hide the gun in a safer place in the North East of Puthukudiyiruppu.

The 130 mm artillery gun was destroyed in a huge fire ball creating explosions subsequent to the destruction of the artillery gun”, Air Force Spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said.

According to the military sources the destroyed 130mm artillery gun was among the few heavy artillery guns available with the LTTE and the balance artillery guns are located inside the No Fire Zone to direct fire on the advancing troops and also towards the fleeing civilians.

Another two suspects in the abduction and killing of Varsha Jude were killed in a crossfire yesterday afternoon in Sardarpuram, Kanniya. A Sub Inspector and a Police constable were injured in the incident.

A team from Uppuweli Police accompanying the two suspects had come under terrorist attack. “The incident had occurred when the two suspects were taken to obtain some information regarding the murder case near the Magavaththu jungle area in Kanniya around 1.50pm”, Police spokesman SSP Ranjith Gunaskera said.

The police jeep had come under terrorist fire. “A group of terrorists fired at the police jeep carrying the two suspects. Police retaliated. During the cross fire the two suspects were killed and an SI and a PC sustained injuries”, he added.

Terrorists fled the area. The injured police personnel were treated at the Trincomalee Hospital. Varsha Jude Reggie(6), a student of St. Mary’s College Trincomalee was abducted on March 11 and demanded Rs. One million ransom for her release. Two days later she was found in a fertilizer bag dumped in a drain, in the heart of the Trincomalee town.

Four suspects were arrested the next day. Key suspect Oprin Mervin Renousan was killed by police when he attempted to escape from police custody on March 15. The second suspect Varatharajan Janarathan alias Jana Kumaran committed suicide on March 19 while he was in police custody.

A ceasefire would only help the terrorists to recover and drag this war for another twenty five years, said Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona at the inauguration of the Sri Lankan Diaspora Dialogue in Colombo last Saturday (March 28 ).

“President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Government have on many occasions called on the LTTE leadership to let these people go and have been consistently ignored demonstrating again and again the utter and callous disregard paid by LTTE to the very people they claim to represent,” he added.

The Government is rightly calling on the Tamils living overseas to return to the warm embrace of mother Lanka and seek a common future with all her other children as the wish of the Government is to build a partnership with the Diaspora, he emphasized.

Efforts of the Pro-LTTE lobby to make an adverse move against Sri Lanka at the 10th session of UN Human Rights Council(concluded recently) were proved futile, amidst the proactive representations made by the local delegation, head of the Lankan team, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said yesterday.

Thus a desperate attempt to throw a lifeline to the few remaining LTTE leaders, hiding behind a forcibly kept human shield in the remaining uncleared pockets in Mullaitivu, had been defeated, with the majority support of the Council, the Minister added.

Addressing media after his successful visit to Geneva, the Minister said that during the month long sessions of the Council, the Lankan delegation had to work on a daily basis to counter the malicious propaganda machinery of the Pro-LTTE lobby.

They first tried to obtain support of the Council, for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay to issue a statement on the Sri Lankan situation, and after failing in the effort they tried to persuade the President of the Council to issue a statement.

Both were not approved by the majority of the 47 member Council, the Minister added.

The Minister said the Lankan delegation had taken steps to brief regional groups and cross sections regarding the true situation on Sri Lanka, and was very open to constructive criticism during deliberations.

Sri Lanka’s open and candid point of view was widely accepted, which was portrayed in the final result with an overwhelming majority supporting to negate any move against Sri Lanka, the Minister added.

The Minister identifying the countries which tried to make a move against Sri Lanka as long standing friends, said that they were misinformed with regards to the situation in the country.

The efforts of the Lankan delegation, which engaged in constructive dialogue with most countries, had helped to build bridges in removing these misconceptions to a great extent, he added.

The Minister also paid tribute to local envoy in Geneva Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke who laid the groundwork, and the visiting local team for their untiring efforts in presenting Sri Lanka’s case to the Council.

These students of Punchi Borella Sanghamitta Vidyalaya are a picture of innocence as they admire the prizes and awards they received at the annual prize giving held at the school hall yesterday. Picture by Samansri Wedage