Israeli authorities say they have recovered a papyrus document which appears to be nearly 2,000 years old.
The document measures 15cm by 15cm (6in by 6in), and contains 15 lines of ancient Hebrew script.
It appears to be a legal instruction, transferring a widow's property to her late husband's brother.
It was seized from two Palestinian men in a sting operation at a Jerusalem hotel, police said. The two could face several years in jail.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said on Wednesday that the scroll was an "exceptional archeological document, of the like but a few exist," reported Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
It said similar scrolls had been sold worldwide for sums as high as $5-10m (£3.3-6.6m).
Precise dates
According to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the document is written in a style of ancient Hebrew primarily associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls.
These are scriptures and apocalyptic treatises thought to have been collected by an ascetic Jewish community which lived in the desert near the Dead Sea, and preserved by the dry climate.
But it remains unclear exactly where this document was obtained, said police and archaeologists.
Unusually, the first line of the document indicates a precise date, the IAA said - "Year 4 [AD] to the destruction of Israel", which could indicate either AD74, when Jerusalem's Second Temple was destroyed, or AD139, the date of a Jewish revolt violently put down by Rome.
The document appears to concern the transfer of property belonging to a widow called Miriam.
State property
The IAA's Amir Ganor cautioned that the document would have to undergo laboratory analysis to authenticate it.
Under Israeli law, all archaeological artefacts are state property
But he expressed excitement about the discovery, suggesting that the "very important" document could "shed light on how the people of the period managed their affairs and supplement our knowledge about their way of life".
The two suspects were reportedly apprehended while trying to sell the document, by police and Israeli intelligence officers who had planned the operation for weeks.
According to Israeli antiquities law all archaeological artefacts are state property.
The arrested men could be charged with illegally possessing and trafficking the artefacts, and could face years in jail if convicted
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Officials debate production of H1N1 vaccine
As U.S. health authorities told Congress that they were prepared to mass produce a vaccine against the new H1N1 influenza virus, World Health Organization officials said they would convene an expert committee next week to determine if such production was necessary -- or desirable.
Production of a vaccine against the virus in anticipation of its return next fall might sound like an obvious step, but doing so will sharply limit the amount of seasonal flu vaccine that will be available.
And seasonal flu is a known killer, experts said, leading to an average of 36,000 deaths in the United States each year and tens of thousands more globally.
"We would not want to have no seasonal influenza vaccine," said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research.
The 20 vaccine manufacturers worldwide have an annual production capacity of about 900 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine, she said, and that might be stretched to as many as 2 billion doses of H1N1 vaccine. But that would mean abandoning production of seasonal vaccines in plants that switch to the new vaccine.
She also noted that many questions remain about production of an H1N1 vaccine, including how fast the virus will grow in the eggs that are used as a production medium, what size dose will be required, and whether one dose will suffice.
Because the new virus is so different from circulating strains, and the general public has had no previous exposure to it, many experts believe a booster shot will be necessary in additional to the normal vaccination. If that proves to be the case, it will sharply reduce the number of people who can be immunized.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Congress that researchers have carried out the preliminary phase of vaccine production more rapidly than expected and, "Should we need to manufacture a vaccine, we can work towards that goal very quickly."
Globally, more than 2,000 cases of H1N1 infection have now been confirmed, with Sweden and Poland becoming the most recent countries reporting a case, bringing the tally to 24 countries.
In the United States, 30 new cases in Arizona, 40 in Illinois and scattered cases elsewhere brought the total to 680 confirmed cases.
More details, meanwhile, began to emerge about the death of a Texas woman, the first U.S. citizen whose death has been linked to the new virus. She has been identified as 33-year-old Judy Trunnell, a teacher in Harlingen, Texas, just over the border from Mexico.
She died early Tuesday after being hospitalized April 19, according to Leonel Lopez, the Cameron County epidemiologist. Trunnell was pregnant when she entered the hospital, and the baby was delivered by cesarean section after she fell into a coma.
Health officials said she had "chronic underlying health conditions," but would not give further details and would not say whether her death was a direct result of the flu.
The only other U.S. fatality was a Mexican toddler who died in a Houston hospital last week.
Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said that at least 35 people in the United States have been hospitalized with H1N1 flu. The median age was 15, with a range of 8 months to 53 years. Seasonal flu normally strikes the elderly and the very young especially heavily, and officials are at a loss to explain this virus' different age distribution -- one that has been observed in Mexico as well.
One much-bruited possibility is that the elderly retain some vestige of immunity from contact with swine flu viruses that circulated two to four decades ago.
As 136 Mexican nationals who had been quarantined in China returned home on an Aeromexico airliner, Chinese officials said they would also release 28 students and a professor from the University of Montreal who had been held in quarantine in Changchun since Saturday. None of them displayed any symptoms of infection.
Also today, the government of Haiti turned away a Mexican aid ship carrying 77 tons of rice, fertilizer and emergency food kits. Mexican officials said the navy ship's crew had been screened and showed no signs of infection, but the Haitian government requested that it come "on another occasion."
The World Health Organization issued new cautions about pigs Wednesday, seemingly contradicting earlier statements that it is safe to consume pork from infected animals.
"Meat from sick pigs or pigs found dead should not be processed or used for human consumption under any circumstances," Jorgen Schlundt, director of WHO's Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, told Reuters.
He also warned that humans could possibly become infected from contact with blood from diseased pigs and that workers processing the animals should wear appropriate protective clothing.
But he also conceded that there is no data available about the survival of the virus on meat or on the infectious dose for humans.
Paul Sundberg, vice president of science and technology for the National Pork Board in the U.S., said that Schlundt is technically correct, but added that current rules already prevent meat from sick pigs or those found dead from entering the food system.
He and others also pointed out that the virus has so far not been found in any pigs other than a herd of about 200 animals in Canada who were infected by their farmer and have subsequently recovered.
Production of a vaccine against the virus in anticipation of its return next fall might sound like an obvious step, but doing so will sharply limit the amount of seasonal flu vaccine that will be available.
And seasonal flu is a known killer, experts said, leading to an average of 36,000 deaths in the United States each year and tens of thousands more globally.
"We would not want to have no seasonal influenza vaccine," said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research.
The 20 vaccine manufacturers worldwide have an annual production capacity of about 900 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine, she said, and that might be stretched to as many as 2 billion doses of H1N1 vaccine. But that would mean abandoning production of seasonal vaccines in plants that switch to the new vaccine.
She also noted that many questions remain about production of an H1N1 vaccine, including how fast the virus will grow in the eggs that are used as a production medium, what size dose will be required, and whether one dose will suffice.
Because the new virus is so different from circulating strains, and the general public has had no previous exposure to it, many experts believe a booster shot will be necessary in additional to the normal vaccination. If that proves to be the case, it will sharply reduce the number of people who can be immunized.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Congress that researchers have carried out the preliminary phase of vaccine production more rapidly than expected and, "Should we need to manufacture a vaccine, we can work towards that goal very quickly."
Globally, more than 2,000 cases of H1N1 infection have now been confirmed, with Sweden and Poland becoming the most recent countries reporting a case, bringing the tally to 24 countries.
In the United States, 30 new cases in Arizona, 40 in Illinois and scattered cases elsewhere brought the total to 680 confirmed cases.
More details, meanwhile, began to emerge about the death of a Texas woman, the first U.S. citizen whose death has been linked to the new virus. She has been identified as 33-year-old Judy Trunnell, a teacher in Harlingen, Texas, just over the border from Mexico.
She died early Tuesday after being hospitalized April 19, according to Leonel Lopez, the Cameron County epidemiologist. Trunnell was pregnant when she entered the hospital, and the baby was delivered by cesarean section after she fell into a coma.
Health officials said she had "chronic underlying health conditions," but would not give further details and would not say whether her death was a direct result of the flu.
The only other U.S. fatality was a Mexican toddler who died in a Houston hospital last week.
Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said that at least 35 people in the United States have been hospitalized with H1N1 flu. The median age was 15, with a range of 8 months to 53 years. Seasonal flu normally strikes the elderly and the very young especially heavily, and officials are at a loss to explain this virus' different age distribution -- one that has been observed in Mexico as well.
One much-bruited possibility is that the elderly retain some vestige of immunity from contact with swine flu viruses that circulated two to four decades ago.
As 136 Mexican nationals who had been quarantined in China returned home on an Aeromexico airliner, Chinese officials said they would also release 28 students and a professor from the University of Montreal who had been held in quarantine in Changchun since Saturday. None of them displayed any symptoms of infection.
Also today, the government of Haiti turned away a Mexican aid ship carrying 77 tons of rice, fertilizer and emergency food kits. Mexican officials said the navy ship's crew had been screened and showed no signs of infection, but the Haitian government requested that it come "on another occasion."
The World Health Organization issued new cautions about pigs Wednesday, seemingly contradicting earlier statements that it is safe to consume pork from infected animals.
"Meat from sick pigs or pigs found dead should not be processed or used for human consumption under any circumstances," Jorgen Schlundt, director of WHO's Department of Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases, told Reuters.
He also warned that humans could possibly become infected from contact with blood from diseased pigs and that workers processing the animals should wear appropriate protective clothing.
But he also conceded that there is no data available about the survival of the virus on meat or on the infectious dose for humans.
Paul Sundberg, vice president of science and technology for the National Pork Board in the U.S., said that Schlundt is technically correct, but added that current rules already prevent meat from sick pigs or those found dead from entering the food system.
He and others also pointed out that the virus has so far not been found in any pigs other than a herd of about 200 animals in Canada who were infected by their farmer and have subsequently recovered.
NASA's program for future spaceflight to be reviewed
In a major turnaround, the Obama administration intends this week to order a review of the spacecraft program that NASA had hoped would replace the space shuttle, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.
According to administration officials and industry insiders, the review would examine whether the Ares 1 rocket and Orion capsule are the best option to send astronauts into orbit by 2015. The review of the so-called Constellation program could be finished by fall.
The decision follows months of critical reports that have questioned whether Ares and Orion can overcome major financial and technical hurdles that threaten to delay a scheduled 2015 launch to the International Space Station and a return to the moon by 2020.
The outcome is crucial for Kennedy Space Center, which could lose as many as 10,000 jobs if the shuttle is retired in 2010 as scheduled. That would leave a five-year gap before the first Ares launch. Proponents of alternative rocket designs say they could be launched sooner and save many jobs.
"I don't think they [White House officials] are completely convinced that the Constellation program, as designed, is the best way to go," said Vincent G. Sabathier, a space expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
Sabathier said that the White House had wanted to name a new administrator before announcing the study, but that the difficulty in finding a leader and the shuttle's looming retirement forced the administration's hand.
"They want to mitigate the gap," between programs, Sabathier said.
The announcement is planned for Thursday to coincide with the release of President Obama's $18.7-billion spending plan for NASA.
Obama has said little about NASA since taking office, other than noting this spring that the agency was afflicted by a "sense of drift." NASA has not had a permanent administrator since January, when former chief Michael Griffin resigned.
Obama's budget summary released in February backed President George W. Bush's plan to retire the shuttle in 2010. But it did not specifically support Constellation.
Ares' woes are well known. It requires re-engineering to deal with violent shaking caused by vibrations in its solid-rocket first stage. In addition, engineers are concerned that the rocket could drift into its launch tower on takeoff. And Ares' estimated costs through 2015 have risen from $28 billion in 2006 to more than $40 billion today.
Recently, NASA announced that it would cut the Orion capsule's passenger capacity from six astronauts to four. Originally, Orion was to fly six astronauts to the space station and four to the moon. But because Ares I is less powerful and more expensive than originally planned, NASA has had to cut weight and costs from Orion.
The study that set NASA on its current course was ordered by Griffin in 2005. But many contractors and rocket companies complained that the study was not fairly conducted.
"I think the people who are going to oversee this want to take another hard look at this," said Roger Launius, a curator at the National Air and Space Museum. "And there are people in some quarters, not all, who say that the study done in 2005 might have been shaded in such a way to lead you to the current architecture" and the administration now wants to take a look at whether Constellation is the right answer.
According to administration officials and industry insiders, the review would examine whether the Ares 1 rocket and Orion capsule are the best option to send astronauts into orbit by 2015. The review of the so-called Constellation program could be finished by fall.
The decision follows months of critical reports that have questioned whether Ares and Orion can overcome major financial and technical hurdles that threaten to delay a scheduled 2015 launch to the International Space Station and a return to the moon by 2020.
The outcome is crucial for Kennedy Space Center, which could lose as many as 10,000 jobs if the shuttle is retired in 2010 as scheduled. That would leave a five-year gap before the first Ares launch. Proponents of alternative rocket designs say they could be launched sooner and save many jobs.
"I don't think they [White House officials] are completely convinced that the Constellation program, as designed, is the best way to go," said Vincent G. Sabathier, a space expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
Sabathier said that the White House had wanted to name a new administrator before announcing the study, but that the difficulty in finding a leader and the shuttle's looming retirement forced the administration's hand.
"They want to mitigate the gap," between programs, Sabathier said.
The announcement is planned for Thursday to coincide with the release of President Obama's $18.7-billion spending plan for NASA.
Obama has said little about NASA since taking office, other than noting this spring that the agency was afflicted by a "sense of drift." NASA has not had a permanent administrator since January, when former chief Michael Griffin resigned.
Obama's budget summary released in February backed President George W. Bush's plan to retire the shuttle in 2010. But it did not specifically support Constellation.
Ares' woes are well known. It requires re-engineering to deal with violent shaking caused by vibrations in its solid-rocket first stage. In addition, engineers are concerned that the rocket could drift into its launch tower on takeoff. And Ares' estimated costs through 2015 have risen from $28 billion in 2006 to more than $40 billion today.
Recently, NASA announced that it would cut the Orion capsule's passenger capacity from six astronauts to four. Originally, Orion was to fly six astronauts to the space station and four to the moon. But because Ares I is less powerful and more expensive than originally planned, NASA has had to cut weight and costs from Orion.
The study that set NASA on its current course was ordered by Griffin in 2005. But many contractors and rocket companies complained that the study was not fairly conducted.
"I think the people who are going to oversee this want to take another hard look at this," said Roger Launius, a curator at the National Air and Space Museum. "And there are people in some quarters, not all, who say that the study done in 2005 might have been shaded in such a way to lead you to the current architecture" and the administration now wants to take a look at whether Constellation is the right answer.
Drugs Hollow Out Afghan Lives in Cultural Center
The men, hollow-eyed and matted, start coming at dawn, shuffling into the remains of the old Soviet Cultural Center, which in its day staged films celebrating the glories of a new era.
In Kabul, Aziza smoked opium at home as her children watched. More Photos »
These days, the shell of the abandoned building serves as perhaps the world’s largest gathering spot for men looking to satisfy their lust for heroin and opium. Stooping in the darkened caverns of the place, amid the waste and exhalations of hundreds of others, the men partake of the drug that has begun to wreak its deathly magic in the very country where it is produced.
One such man, who called himself Mohammed Ofzal, struck a match beneath a piece of foil and sucked in the blue smoke that rose from the liquefying little mass. Then he sat back in a crouch, legs shaking a little. His eyes, glazed and half-shut, stared blankly at the floor.
“My parents are fed up with me; they are telling me to quit,” Mr. Ofzal said. He said he was 18. His clothes, unlike nearly everyone else’s in the gathering post, were pressed and clean. He said he would go home soon; he would not be spending the night. “If you don’t take care of yourself, you could die here.”
Around him were a hundred other men, some crouching, some collapsed, some unconscious; some, perhaps, were dead. The visitors, though not the denizens, covered their faces from the smell. Mr. Ofzal lit another match and bent down to drink in the smoke.
Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer of opium, is drowning in a sea of its own making. While the country’s narco-traffickers ship vast quantities of the stuff to Europe and the United States, enough of it stays behind to offer a cheap and easy temptation to the people at home. A United Nations survey taken four years ago revealed 200,000 opium and heroin addicts in a population of about 35 million; a new study, to be completed in the summer, is expected to show even more.
Addiction in Afghanistan is rising along with the country’s opium production, which is cranking at something close to fever pitch. With much of its society and many of its institutions ruined by 30 years of fighting, Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world’s opium. The money earned from narcotics accounts for more than half of the country’s gross domestic product. It feeds the Taliban insurgency.
The Soviet Culture Center is the most public of arenas in which to view the trade’s depredations on ordinary people. (For the men, that is; the center, like virtually every other public place in Afghanistan, is strictly segregated by sex.) The building sits in the Dehamatzang neighborhood of western Kabul, the scene of ferocious and prolonged fighting during the civil war that engulfed the country in the 1990s. The exterior walls are crumbled and pockmarked with bullet holes.
Inside is a landscape of extraordinary human wreckage. The rooms resemble catacombs; lightless and fetid and crammed with dozens, even hundreds, of bodies, each one clinging to his bit of space, his bit of elixir. Clouds of blue smoke rise, linger and dissolve. Almost no one speaks. In a corner, a man, seated on the floor, offers candy and cigarettes. In an ordinary day, 2,000 men pass through here. That’s on top of the nearly 600 who never leave. “Did you bring any money?” one of the men asked, as hunched and withered as a gargoyle.
“No,” said another, slipping his friend a tiny packet.
Next to them a body slumped in an improbable pose — curled, stiff, yet balanced, delicately, as if on the head of a pin. After a time the body fell over, as frozen as before. No one looked up.
Men and boys are not the only people who have fallen prey to the drug; women and girls are merely harder to find. Typically, females, prohibited from wandering the streets, stay indoors, which mitigates their helplessness but shields them from help.
A woman named Aziza, for instance, lives at home with her six children, who range in age from 18 months to 21. Aziza, who like many Afghans has only one name, is a gaunt and reduced figure, possibly beautiful once, but now a woman of papery skin and sunken cheeks and eyes sunk deep in her skull. For Aziza, as for many here, smoking opium is a way to escape a life without hope.
Two years ago, Aziza’s husband died in a car accident, and with no way of supporting her family on her own — women in this deeply conservative society do not generally work outside the home — she fell into despair. One day, a friend offered her a pipe and opium. She took it. Since then, Aziza has been smoking two or three times a day, sometimes in front of her children.
“Opium has been a good friend to me; it has taken away my sorrows,” Aziza said, seated in the corner of her one-room house, with her children looking on.
Kabul contains a tiny handful of clinics that treat drug abuse, but they have nowhere near the capacity to treat the number of people in need. About six months ago, the counselors from one clinic, alerted by the neighbors, found Aziza in her home and invited her to the clinic. Aziza stayed for 24 hours.
“When I need it, it is a kind of an attack,” she said afterward. “I can’t resist the opium; it is stronger than I am.”
With her children standing by, Aziza reached into a cloth bag and produced a filthy spoon, a bit of powder and a straw. Her 6-year-old son, Mirwais, stood to his mother’s left, 10-year-old Sonia stood to her right. Aziza, eyes glazed, struck a match but could produce no spark. She tried again and failed. Finally, Sonia took the box from her mother’s hands, struck a flame and handed the match to her mother.
Aziza bent over and breathed in the blue smoke.
In Kabul, Aziza smoked opium at home as her children watched. More Photos »
These days, the shell of the abandoned building serves as perhaps the world’s largest gathering spot for men looking to satisfy their lust for heroin and opium. Stooping in the darkened caverns of the place, amid the waste and exhalations of hundreds of others, the men partake of the drug that has begun to wreak its deathly magic in the very country where it is produced.
One such man, who called himself Mohammed Ofzal, struck a match beneath a piece of foil and sucked in the blue smoke that rose from the liquefying little mass. Then he sat back in a crouch, legs shaking a little. His eyes, glazed and half-shut, stared blankly at the floor.
“My parents are fed up with me; they are telling me to quit,” Mr. Ofzal said. He said he was 18. His clothes, unlike nearly everyone else’s in the gathering post, were pressed and clean. He said he would go home soon; he would not be spending the night. “If you don’t take care of yourself, you could die here.”
Around him were a hundred other men, some crouching, some collapsed, some unconscious; some, perhaps, were dead. The visitors, though not the denizens, covered their faces from the smell. Mr. Ofzal lit another match and bent down to drink in the smoke.
Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer of opium, is drowning in a sea of its own making. While the country’s narco-traffickers ship vast quantities of the stuff to Europe and the United States, enough of it stays behind to offer a cheap and easy temptation to the people at home. A United Nations survey taken four years ago revealed 200,000 opium and heroin addicts in a population of about 35 million; a new study, to be completed in the summer, is expected to show even more.
Addiction in Afghanistan is rising along with the country’s opium production, which is cranking at something close to fever pitch. With much of its society and many of its institutions ruined by 30 years of fighting, Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world’s opium. The money earned from narcotics accounts for more than half of the country’s gross domestic product. It feeds the Taliban insurgency.
The Soviet Culture Center is the most public of arenas in which to view the trade’s depredations on ordinary people. (For the men, that is; the center, like virtually every other public place in Afghanistan, is strictly segregated by sex.) The building sits in the Dehamatzang neighborhood of western Kabul, the scene of ferocious and prolonged fighting during the civil war that engulfed the country in the 1990s. The exterior walls are crumbled and pockmarked with bullet holes.
Inside is a landscape of extraordinary human wreckage. The rooms resemble catacombs; lightless and fetid and crammed with dozens, even hundreds, of bodies, each one clinging to his bit of space, his bit of elixir. Clouds of blue smoke rise, linger and dissolve. Almost no one speaks. In a corner, a man, seated on the floor, offers candy and cigarettes. In an ordinary day, 2,000 men pass through here. That’s on top of the nearly 600 who never leave. “Did you bring any money?” one of the men asked, as hunched and withered as a gargoyle.
“No,” said another, slipping his friend a tiny packet.
Next to them a body slumped in an improbable pose — curled, stiff, yet balanced, delicately, as if on the head of a pin. After a time the body fell over, as frozen as before. No one looked up.
Men and boys are not the only people who have fallen prey to the drug; women and girls are merely harder to find. Typically, females, prohibited from wandering the streets, stay indoors, which mitigates their helplessness but shields them from help.
A woman named Aziza, for instance, lives at home with her six children, who range in age from 18 months to 21. Aziza, who like many Afghans has only one name, is a gaunt and reduced figure, possibly beautiful once, but now a woman of papery skin and sunken cheeks and eyes sunk deep in her skull. For Aziza, as for many here, smoking opium is a way to escape a life without hope.
Two years ago, Aziza’s husband died in a car accident, and with no way of supporting her family on her own — women in this deeply conservative society do not generally work outside the home — she fell into despair. One day, a friend offered her a pipe and opium. She took it. Since then, Aziza has been smoking two or three times a day, sometimes in front of her children.
“Opium has been a good friend to me; it has taken away my sorrows,” Aziza said, seated in the corner of her one-room house, with her children looking on.
Kabul contains a tiny handful of clinics that treat drug abuse, but they have nowhere near the capacity to treat the number of people in need. About six months ago, the counselors from one clinic, alerted by the neighbors, found Aziza in her home and invited her to the clinic. Aziza stayed for 24 hours.
“When I need it, it is a kind of an attack,” she said afterward. “I can’t resist the opium; it is stronger than I am.”
With her children standing by, Aziza reached into a cloth bag and produced a filthy spoon, a bit of powder and a straw. Her 6-year-old son, Mirwais, stood to his mother’s left, 10-year-old Sonia stood to her right. Aziza, eyes glazed, struck a match but could produce no spark. She tried again and failed. Finally, Sonia took the box from her mother’s hands, struck a flame and handed the match to her mother.
Aziza bent over and breathed in the blue smoke.
With Taliban Threat Rising, Obama Presses Visiting Allies
President Obama said on Wednesday that the United States is deeply committed to helping Afghanistan and Pakistan defeat Al Qaeda and its extremist partners and in helping democracy endure and flourish in those countries.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about her meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday in Washington.
The president said America’s “lasting commitment” to the stability of the two countries must not, and would not, waver even though there will surely be more violence and setbacks before the forces of terrorism are subdued.
“We meet today as three sovereign nations joined by a common goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda and its extremist allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to prevent their ability to operate in either country in the future,” the president said.
Mr. Obama spoke after meeting with Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan amid a day of conferences that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said was producing “some very promising early signs.”
The challenges for the United States in the region were underscored Wednesday by reports of dozens of civilian deaths from American airstrikes in western Afghanistan. Mr. Obama, who was flanked by the two presidents as he spoke late in the afternoon, said that the United States would “make every effort to avoid civilian casualties as we help the Afghan government combat our common enemy.”
The focus was on ways that Afghanistan and Pakistan, both unstable and strategically vital, could work with one another, and with the United States, to fight the militants who plague both countries. The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on Pakistan, in particular, to crack down on the Taliban in the western part of the country, near its porous border with Afghanistan.
“Our strategy reflects a fundamental truth,” President Obama said. “The security of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States are linked.”
Mrs. Clinton made much the same point at an earlier briefing, suggesting that it would not be incorrect to think of Pakistan and Afghanistan as “conjoined twins” that cannot be dealt with separately as the United States tries to help each tame the forces that spawn terrorism and violence.
“The confidence-building that is necessary for this relationship to turn into tangible cooperation is moving forward,” Mrs. Clinton said. . “And I think today’s series of meetings is another step along that road.”
President Obama and Secretary Clinton described the three-way talks as focusing not just on military and diplomatic moves, but on attempts to shore up the pillars of society in Afghanistan and Pakistan — by “developing alternatives to the drug trade” in Afghanistan, as Mr. Obama put it in alluding to the traditional poppy-and-opium trade, and fostering grass-roots democracy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mrs. Clinton’s comments, while general and cautious, reflected her own meeting in the morning with Presidents Karzai and Zardari. Based on that session, she said, “the level of cooperation between the governments of the two countries is increasing.”
While Mrs. Clinton said she could not be too specific until after the two days of talks are concluded, she tried to dispel any notion that the conferences would produce little concrete progress. “I told each that coming out of this trilateral meeting, we will basically have work plans,” she said. “We’re going to be very specific. We don’t want any misunderstanding. We don’t want any mixed signals.”
The secretary also said she was “quite impressed” by the Pakistani government’s renewed efforts against the Taliban, efforts that followed harsh criticism by Washington of the leaders in Islamabad. She credited Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders for changing their perspective “in order to be able to see this threat as those of us on the outside perceived it.”
Congressional leaders and administration officials have expressed increased concern over the deteriorating situation in Pakistan, where insurgents have taken over territory just 60 miles from the capital.
Earlier, Mrs. Clinton expressed deep regret for the loss of innocent life at a news conference with Mr. Karzai and Mr. Zardari held at the State Department.
Mrs. Clinton and the administration’s top envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, held an unscheduled meeting early Wednesday with Mr. Zardari. The three huddled for an hour at Mr. Zardari’s hotel, the Willard, where they discussed steps which the administration wants the government to take to deal with the Taliban insurgency, according to officials from both countries with knowledge of the meeting.
Offering her perspective, Mrs. Clinton said she had reaffirmed with Mr. Zardari “our government’s strong support for him, as the democratically elected president.”
“Being able to say ‘democratically elected president of Pakistan’ is not a common phrase,” said Mrs. Clinton, who put in a surprise appearance at the White House news room. “And I think it’s imperative that we support President Zardari and work with him, as he extends the reach of the government, not only on security, as essential as that is, but also on the range of needs of the Pakistani people.”
With President Karzai, it was a very future-oriented conversation,” Mrs. Clinton went on. “We talked about the necessity to take real, concrete actions to make the kind of progress that Afghanistan desperately needs to see, to really deliver for the people of the country. In both meetings, I thought, each president was very forthcoming.”
Speaking at the earlier State Department news conference, Mr. Zardari said that his government would act. “My democracy will deliver,” he said. “We are up to the challenge.” He alluded to the United States’ own lengthy efforts to stabilize countries in the region. “Just as the United States is making progress after seven years of engagement in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we too will make progress,” Mr. Zardari said.
In his remarks, Mr. Zardari alluded to the assassination of his wife, the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, who was shot and killed after a rally in Rawalpindi in 2007. “Democracy will avenge the death of my wife, and the thousands of Pakistani citizens around the world,” he said.
The Willard Hotel session — held in advance of more formal meetings at the State Department and the White House — underscored the concern that has gripped the Obama administration as Taliban insurgents battle government troops closer and closer to Islamabad.
Administration officials are worried that the Zardari government will make promises in Washington to do more to contain the insurgents, but may not follow through once officials are back in Islamabad. Senior members of the Obama administration have been forthright in the last week about their concern that the Pakistani Army is overly pre-occupied with its traditional foe to the east, India, when the Taliban is taking over the western part of the country.
Mrs. Clinton also used her public remarks to announce a trade and transit accord to improve commerce between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which the leaders of the two countries agreed to conclude by the end of the year. Mrs. Clinton called the accord “an important milestone in their efforts to generate foreign investment, stronger economic growth and trade opportunities.”
The deadline of the end of this year to conclude the pact is notable because the two countries have been in talks on this agreement for more than four decades.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about her meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday in Washington.
The president said America’s “lasting commitment” to the stability of the two countries must not, and would not, waver even though there will surely be more violence and setbacks before the forces of terrorism are subdued.
“We meet today as three sovereign nations joined by a common goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda and its extremist allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to prevent their ability to operate in either country in the future,” the president said.
Mr. Obama spoke after meeting with Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan amid a day of conferences that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said was producing “some very promising early signs.”
The challenges for the United States in the region were underscored Wednesday by reports of dozens of civilian deaths from American airstrikes in western Afghanistan. Mr. Obama, who was flanked by the two presidents as he spoke late in the afternoon, said that the United States would “make every effort to avoid civilian casualties as we help the Afghan government combat our common enemy.”
The focus was on ways that Afghanistan and Pakistan, both unstable and strategically vital, could work with one another, and with the United States, to fight the militants who plague both countries. The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on Pakistan, in particular, to crack down on the Taliban in the western part of the country, near its porous border with Afghanistan.
“Our strategy reflects a fundamental truth,” President Obama said. “The security of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States are linked.”
Mrs. Clinton made much the same point at an earlier briefing, suggesting that it would not be incorrect to think of Pakistan and Afghanistan as “conjoined twins” that cannot be dealt with separately as the United States tries to help each tame the forces that spawn terrorism and violence.
“The confidence-building that is necessary for this relationship to turn into tangible cooperation is moving forward,” Mrs. Clinton said. . “And I think today’s series of meetings is another step along that road.”
President Obama and Secretary Clinton described the three-way talks as focusing not just on military and diplomatic moves, but on attempts to shore up the pillars of society in Afghanistan and Pakistan — by “developing alternatives to the drug trade” in Afghanistan, as Mr. Obama put it in alluding to the traditional poppy-and-opium trade, and fostering grass-roots democracy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mrs. Clinton’s comments, while general and cautious, reflected her own meeting in the morning with Presidents Karzai and Zardari. Based on that session, she said, “the level of cooperation between the governments of the two countries is increasing.”
While Mrs. Clinton said she could not be too specific until after the two days of talks are concluded, she tried to dispel any notion that the conferences would produce little concrete progress. “I told each that coming out of this trilateral meeting, we will basically have work plans,” she said. “We’re going to be very specific. We don’t want any misunderstanding. We don’t want any mixed signals.”
The secretary also said she was “quite impressed” by the Pakistani government’s renewed efforts against the Taliban, efforts that followed harsh criticism by Washington of the leaders in Islamabad. She credited Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders for changing their perspective “in order to be able to see this threat as those of us on the outside perceived it.”
Congressional leaders and administration officials have expressed increased concern over the deteriorating situation in Pakistan, where insurgents have taken over territory just 60 miles from the capital.
Earlier, Mrs. Clinton expressed deep regret for the loss of innocent life at a news conference with Mr. Karzai and Mr. Zardari held at the State Department.
Mrs. Clinton and the administration’s top envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, held an unscheduled meeting early Wednesday with Mr. Zardari. The three huddled for an hour at Mr. Zardari’s hotel, the Willard, where they discussed steps which the administration wants the government to take to deal with the Taliban insurgency, according to officials from both countries with knowledge of the meeting.
Offering her perspective, Mrs. Clinton said she had reaffirmed with Mr. Zardari “our government’s strong support for him, as the democratically elected president.”
“Being able to say ‘democratically elected president of Pakistan’ is not a common phrase,” said Mrs. Clinton, who put in a surprise appearance at the White House news room. “And I think it’s imperative that we support President Zardari and work with him, as he extends the reach of the government, not only on security, as essential as that is, but also on the range of needs of the Pakistani people.”
With President Karzai, it was a very future-oriented conversation,” Mrs. Clinton went on. “We talked about the necessity to take real, concrete actions to make the kind of progress that Afghanistan desperately needs to see, to really deliver for the people of the country. In both meetings, I thought, each president was very forthcoming.”
Speaking at the earlier State Department news conference, Mr. Zardari said that his government would act. “My democracy will deliver,” he said. “We are up to the challenge.” He alluded to the United States’ own lengthy efforts to stabilize countries in the region. “Just as the United States is making progress after seven years of engagement in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we too will make progress,” Mr. Zardari said.
In his remarks, Mr. Zardari alluded to the assassination of his wife, the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, who was shot and killed after a rally in Rawalpindi in 2007. “Democracy will avenge the death of my wife, and the thousands of Pakistani citizens around the world,” he said.
The Willard Hotel session — held in advance of more formal meetings at the State Department and the White House — underscored the concern that has gripped the Obama administration as Taliban insurgents battle government troops closer and closer to Islamabad.
Administration officials are worried that the Zardari government will make promises in Washington to do more to contain the insurgents, but may not follow through once officials are back in Islamabad. Senior members of the Obama administration have been forthright in the last week about their concern that the Pakistani Army is overly pre-occupied with its traditional foe to the east, India, when the Taliban is taking over the western part of the country.
Mrs. Clinton also used her public remarks to announce a trade and transit accord to improve commerce between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which the leaders of the two countries agreed to conclude by the end of the year. Mrs. Clinton called the accord “an important milestone in their efforts to generate foreign investment, stronger economic growth and trade opportunities.”
The deadline of the end of this year to conclude the pact is notable because the two countries have been in talks on this agreement for more than four decades.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Will Nandigram haunt the Left in polls?
Two years ago, on March 14, 2007, police firing killed 14 people in West Bengal's Nandigram village. That was when villagers were protesting acquisition of farmland for a chemical hub. Today, the Left is trying to live down the past. But will the people forget and vote?
However, Lakshman Seth -- the CPM candidate for Tamluk which includes Nandigram -- believes Nandigram is not a central electoral issue.
"Nandigram is not the central issue of the election campaign. Central issues are price hike, nuclear deal with America and unemployment," he said.
Lakshman is the man who triggered the trouble at Nandigram by issuing a land acquisition notice apparently without the government's nod.
But Trinamool's Subhendu Adhikari says that is simply wishful thinking.
Nandigram is a big issue in this election because of the atrocity of CPM and barbarism of the state government, which is exposed," he says.
When Nandigram goes to vote, it will certainly remember those victims. Now, the big question is -- how many other voters in Tamluk and the rest of Bengal will remember them when their fingers are hovering over the EVM button
However, Lakshman Seth -- the CPM candidate for Tamluk which includes Nandigram -- believes Nandigram is not a central electoral issue.
"Nandigram is not the central issue of the election campaign. Central issues are price hike, nuclear deal with America and unemployment," he said.
Lakshman is the man who triggered the trouble at Nandigram by issuing a land acquisition notice apparently without the government's nod.
But Trinamool's Subhendu Adhikari says that is simply wishful thinking.
Nandigram is a big issue in this election because of the atrocity of CPM and barbarism of the state government, which is exposed," he says.
When Nandigram goes to vote, it will certainly remember those victims. Now, the big question is -- how many other voters in Tamluk and the rest of Bengal will remember them when their fingers are hovering over the EVM button
US to pressurise Pak to shift troops to Western border
The US is expected to mount "intense pressure" on Pakistan to "shift its strategic focus" from its eastern border with India by redeploying "much of over 2,50,000 troops" to the frontier with Afghanistan to carry out counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and Al-Qaida.
At the trilateral meeting between Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington, Barack Obama is also expected to ask Islamabad to grant "major concessions to India", including a trade corridor to Afghanistan through the Wagah land border, according to a media report on Tuesday.
"The US, which is eying a dominant role for India in the region, wants Pakistan to provide an overland trade route for Indian exports to Afghanistan," a diplomatic source told the Dawn newspaper on the eve of trilateral summit involving Obama, and his Afghan and Pakistan counterpart Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari respectively.
The Obama administration will also reiterate its demand that Pakistani institutions end their "alleged hobnobbing" with jehadis, who have long been seen by Islamabad as "strategic assets", the report said.
However, the Pakistani leadership has been opposing any concession for India, saying it would not be possible without a quid pro quo, particularly on the Kashmir issue.
"It is very significant for Pakistan. Traditionally it was our bargaining chip for the Indians to move on Kashmir.
Now they want us to do something without any movement, and are browbeating us," an official was quoted as saying.
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The US is expected to mount "intense pressure" on Pakistan to "shift its strategic focus" from its eastern border with India by redeploying "much of over 2,50,000 troops" to the frontier with Afghanistan to carry out counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and Al-Qaida.
At the trilateral meeting between Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington, Barack Obama is also expected to ask Islamabad to grant "major concessions to India", including a trade corridor to Afghanistan through the Wagah land border, according to a media report on Tuesday.
"The US, which is eying a dominant role for India in the region, wants Pakistan to provide an overland trade route for Indian exports to Afghanistan," a diplomatic source told the Dawn newspaper on the eve of trilateral summit involving Obama, and his Afghan and Pakistan counterpart Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari respectively.
The Obama administration will also reiterate its demand that Pakistani institutions end their "alleged hobnobbing" with jehadis, who have long been seen by Islamabad as "strategic assets", the report said.
However, the Pakistani leadership has been opposing any concession for India, saying it would not be possible without a quid pro quo, particularly on the Kashmir issue.
"It is very significant for Pakistan. Traditionally it was our bargaining chip for the Indians to move on Kashmir.
Now they want us to do something without any movement, and are browbeating us," an official was quoted as saying.
Comments Post your comments
Post Your Comments Fields marked with * are mandatory
*Name:
E-mail:
*Comments:
Limit 4000 characters - 4000 characters remaining
*Secure Code:
Problem viewing this image. Click to refresh
Kindly do not post any defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful material or information. NDTV Convergence Ltd reserves the right to remove without notice any content received from users.
The US is expected to mount "intense pressure" on Pakistan to "shift its strategic focus" from its eastern border with India by redeploying "much of over 2,50,000 troops" to the frontier with Afghanistan to carry out counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and Al-Qaida.
At the trilateral meeting between Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington, Barack Obama is also expected to ask Islamabad to grant "major concessions to India", including a trade corridor to Afghanistan through the Wagah land border, according to a media report on Tuesday.
"The US, which is eying a dominant role for India in the region, wants Pakistan to provide an overland trade route for Indian exports to Afghanistan," a diplomatic source told the Dawn newspaper on the eve of trilateral summit involving Obama, and his Afghan and Pakistan counterpart Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari respectively.
The Obama administration will also reiterate its demand that Pakistani institutions end their "alleged hobnobbing" with jehadis, who have long been seen by Islamabad as "strategic assets", the report said.
However, the Pakistani leadership has been opposing any concession for India, saying it would not be possible without a quid pro quo, particularly on the Kashmir issue.
"It is very significant for Pakistan. Traditionally it was our bargaining chip for the Indians to move on Kashmir.
Now they want us to do something without any movement, and are browbeating us," an official was quoted as saying.
Comments Post your comments
Post Your Comments Fields marked with * are mandatory
*Name:
E-mail:
*Comments:
Limit 4000 characters - 4000 characters remaining
*Secure Code:
Problem viewing this image. Click to refresh
Kindly do not post any defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful material or information. NDTV Convergence Ltd reserves the right to remove without notice any content received from users.
The US is expected to mount "intense pressure" on Pakistan to "shift its strategic focus" from its eastern border with India by redeploying "much of over 2,50,000 troops" to the frontier with Afghanistan to carry out counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and Al-Qaida.
At the trilateral meeting between Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington, Barack Obama is also expected to ask Islamabad to grant "major concessions to India", including a trade corridor to Afghanistan through the Wagah land border, according to a media report on Tuesday.
"The US, which is eying a dominant role for India in the region, wants Pakistan to provide an overland trade route for Indian exports to Afghanistan," a diplomatic source told the Dawn newspaper on the eve of trilateral summit involving Obama, and his Afghan and Pakistan counterpart Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari respectively.
The Obama administration will also reiterate its demand that Pakistani institutions end their "alleged hobnobbing" with jehadis, who have long been seen by Islamabad as "strategic assets", the report said.
However, the Pakistani leadership has been opposing any concession for India, saying it would not be possible without a quid pro quo, particularly on the Kashmir issue.
"It is very significant for Pakistan. Traditionally it was our bargaining chip for the Indians to move on Kashmir.
Now they want us to do something without any movement, and are browbeating us," an official was quoted as saying.
At the trilateral meeting between Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington, Barack Obama is also expected to ask Islamabad to grant "major concessions to India", including a trade corridor to Afghanistan through the Wagah land border, according to a media report on Tuesday.
"The US, which is eying a dominant role for India in the region, wants Pakistan to provide an overland trade route for Indian exports to Afghanistan," a diplomatic source told the Dawn newspaper on the eve of trilateral summit involving Obama, and his Afghan and Pakistan counterpart Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari respectively.
The Obama administration will also reiterate its demand that Pakistani institutions end their "alleged hobnobbing" with jehadis, who have long been seen by Islamabad as "strategic assets", the report said.
However, the Pakistani leadership has been opposing any concession for India, saying it would not be possible without a quid pro quo, particularly on the Kashmir issue.
"It is very significant for Pakistan. Traditionally it was our bargaining chip for the Indians to move on Kashmir.
Now they want us to do something without any movement, and are browbeating us," an official was quoted as saying.
Comments Post your comments
Post Your Comments Fields marked with * are mandatory
*Name:
E-mail:
*Comments:
Limit 4000 characters - 4000 characters remaining
*Secure Code:
Problem viewing this image. Click to refresh
Kindly do not post any defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful material or information. NDTV Convergence Ltd reserves the right to remove without notice any content received from users.
The US is expected to mount "intense pressure" on Pakistan to "shift its strategic focus" from its eastern border with India by redeploying "much of over 2,50,000 troops" to the frontier with Afghanistan to carry out counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and Al-Qaida.
At the trilateral meeting between Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington, Barack Obama is also expected to ask Islamabad to grant "major concessions to India", including a trade corridor to Afghanistan through the Wagah land border, according to a media report on Tuesday.
"The US, which is eying a dominant role for India in the region, wants Pakistan to provide an overland trade route for Indian exports to Afghanistan," a diplomatic source told the Dawn newspaper on the eve of trilateral summit involving Obama, and his Afghan and Pakistan counterpart Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari respectively.
The Obama administration will also reiterate its demand that Pakistani institutions end their "alleged hobnobbing" with jehadis, who have long been seen by Islamabad as "strategic assets", the report said.
However, the Pakistani leadership has been opposing any concession for India, saying it would not be possible without a quid pro quo, particularly on the Kashmir issue.
"It is very significant for Pakistan. Traditionally it was our bargaining chip for the Indians to move on Kashmir.
Now they want us to do something without any movement, and are browbeating us," an official was quoted as saying.
Comments Post your comments
Post Your Comments Fields marked with * are mandatory
*Name:
E-mail:
*Comments:
Limit 4000 characters - 4000 characters remaining
*Secure Code:
Problem viewing this image. Click to refresh
Kindly do not post any defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful material or information. NDTV Convergence Ltd reserves the right to remove without notice any content received from users.
The US is expected to mount "intense pressure" on Pakistan to "shift its strategic focus" from its eastern border with India by redeploying "much of over 2,50,000 troops" to the frontier with Afghanistan to carry out counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and Al-Qaida.
At the trilateral meeting between Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington, Barack Obama is also expected to ask Islamabad to grant "major concessions to India", including a trade corridor to Afghanistan through the Wagah land border, according to a media report on Tuesday.
"The US, which is eying a dominant role for India in the region, wants Pakistan to provide an overland trade route for Indian exports to Afghanistan," a diplomatic source told the Dawn newspaper on the eve of trilateral summit involving Obama, and his Afghan and Pakistan counterpart Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari respectively.
The Obama administration will also reiterate its demand that Pakistani institutions end their "alleged hobnobbing" with jehadis, who have long been seen by Islamabad as "strategic assets", the report said.
However, the Pakistani leadership has been opposing any concession for India, saying it would not be possible without a quid pro quo, particularly on the Kashmir issue.
"It is very significant for Pakistan. Traditionally it was our bargaining chip for the Indians to move on Kashmir.
Now they want us to do something without any movement, and are browbeating us," an official was quoted as saying.
Comments Post your comments
Post Your Comments Fields marked with * are mandatory
*Name:
E-mail:
*Comments:
Limit 4000 characters - 4000 characters remaining
*Secure Code:
Problem viewing this image. Click to refresh
Kindly do not post any defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful material or information. NDTV Convergence Ltd reserves the right to remove without notice any content received from users.
The US is expected to mount "intense pressure" on Pakistan to "shift its strategic focus" from its eastern border with India by redeploying "much of over 2,50,000 troops" to the frontier with Afghanistan to carry out counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and Al-Qaida.
At the trilateral meeting between Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington, Barack Obama is also expected to ask Islamabad to grant "major concessions to India", including a trade corridor to Afghanistan through the Wagah land border, according to a media report on Tuesday.
"The US, which is eying a dominant role for India in the region, wants Pakistan to provide an overland trade route for Indian exports to Afghanistan," a diplomatic source told the Dawn newspaper on the eve of trilateral summit involving Obama, and his Afghan and Pakistan counterpart Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari respectively.
The Obama administration will also reiterate its demand that Pakistani institutions end their "alleged hobnobbing" with jehadis, who have long been seen by Islamabad as "strategic assets", the report said.
However, the Pakistani leadership has been opposing any concession for India, saying it would not be possible without a quid pro quo, particularly on the Kashmir issue.
"It is very significant for Pakistan. Traditionally it was our bargaining chip for the Indians to move on Kashmir.
Now they want us to do something without any movement, and are browbeating us," an official was quoted as saying.
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