Nissan turns over new ‘Leaf’

YOKOHAMA: Nissan unveiled Sunday its first all electric car, the Leaf, vowing to open a new chapter for the troubled auto industry and take a lead over its bigger rivals in zero emission vehicles.

The mid-sized hatchback, which will go on sale in late 2010 in Japan, the United States, and Europe, represents a bold bet by Nissan that hybrids are merely a passing fad on the road to pure electric vehicles.

The Leaf, described by Nissan as ‘the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car,’ can travel more than 160 kilometres (100 miles) on a single charge, at a top speed of 140 kilometres per hour, the company said.

It will ‘lead the way to a zero emission future, opening a new era in the automotive industry,’ chief executive Carlos Ghosn said, unveiling the car at the group’s new headquarters in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo.

‘The Leaf is totally neutral to the environment: there is no exhaust pipe, no gasoline-burning engine. There is only the quiet, efficient power provided by our own lithium-ion battery packs,’ he added.

The price was not announced but Ghosn said it would be ‘very competitive.’ Nissan plans to sell the car at a similar price to a comparable model with a petrol-powered engine. The battery, which will be stored under the seat and floor, will be leased separately.

‘The monthly cost of the battery, plus the electric charge, will be less than the cost of gasoline,’ Ghosn said.

Owners will be able to recharge the battery at home through the domestic power supply in about eight hours, or top it up to 80 per cent capacity in around 30 minutes at planned electric recharging stations, it said.

Among other features, users will be able to use their mobile telephones to turn on the air conditioning and set the battery charging functions.

If they need help finding the nearest charging station, the navigation system will point the way.

Nissan, Japan’s third largest automaker, was slower than Toyota and Honda to embrace fuel-sipping petrol-electric hybrids, but it is determined to steal a march on its larger competitors in zero-emission cars.

The dream of an electric car, which has been around since the time of Thomas Edison, has so far failed to break into the mainstream because of limited battery life and high costs.

But after technological breakthroughs in the development of long-lasting lithium-ion batteries, soon it may not just be Hollywood stars who are zipping around in zero-emission automobiles.

Nissan sees a mass — not niche — market for electric cars, said Ghosn.

‘Hybrids are not mass market. They represent two per cent of the global market after many years,’ he said.

The stakes are high for Nissan, which lost about 2.5 billion dollars in the year to March and is slashing 20,000 jobs.

‘We need to invest a lot of money to build the car plants and the battery plants at a moment where all the auto companies are saving investments,’ said Ghosn. ‘But there is such a high potential that we (will) go ahead with it.’ The Japanese maker, which is 44-per cent owned by France’s Renault, plans to produce the Leaf in Japan and the United States and manufacture some of the batteries at plants in Britain and Portugal.

The carmaker has signed agreements with various governments including Israel, Portugaland Singapore as well as local communities in Japan and the US to set up electric recharging stations.

But the Leaf will not be the first electric car on the market. Mitsubishi Motors recently rolled out its ‘i-MiEV’ minicar while Fuji Heavy Industries launched the Subaru Plug-in STELLA. — AFP

Red wine may help fight inflammation: study

LONDON: Drinking red wine may help fight inflammation in the body, according to research published on Sunday by scientists at the University of Glasgow.

Researchers found that resveratrol, an anti-oxidant found in red wine, protected mice when they were exposed to a strong inflammatory agent.

Mice that were not pre-treated with resveratrol developed a serious reaction similar to the inflammatory disorder sepsis.

The study found that it blocks two major proteins in the body that trigger inflammation.

‘Strong acute inflammatory diseases such as sepsis are very difficult to treat and many die every day due to lack of treatment,’ said Alirio Melendez of the University of Glasgow.

‘Moreover, many survivors of sepsis develop a very low quality of life due to the damage that inflammation causes to several internal organs,’ he said.

‘The ultimate goal of our study was to identify a potential novel therapy to help in the treatment of strong acute inflammatory diseases.’

Resveratrol has been widely associated with health benefits ranging from anti-aging to boosting anti-viral treatments. Previous studies have found that resveratrol can help prevent blood clots and combat cancer.

The anti-oxidant is found in the skin of grapes but it occurs in greater quantities in red rather than white wine.

The study was outlined in the FASEB Journal — published by the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology.

‘The therapeutic potential of red wine has been bottled up for thousands of years,’ said Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of the FASEB Journal.

‘Now that scientists have uncorked its secrets, they find that studies of how resveratrol works can lead to new treatments for life-threatening inflammation.’ — AFP

Kabul rejects claims of anti-Pakistan camps

KABUL: Afghanistan firmly rejected Sunday reported claims by a Pakistani minister that President Hamid Karzai had admitted that ‘terrorist’ training camps in this country were operating against Pakistan.

‘This is absolutely not true. This is baseless,’ Interior Minister Hanif Atmar said at a press conference, also denying that Karzai had further told his ministry to take action against these training grounds.

Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik reportedly told Pakistan’s GEO TV station that Karzai had made the admission during a meeting in Kabul last month.

Malik was also quoted as saying: ‘Karzai directed his security adviser and interior minister to destroy and close down all training camps working against Pakistan.’

Rejecting this claim, Atmar said the president had rather pledged ‘firm action’ against threats to Pakistan from Afghanistan should he receive evidence.

Atmar also disagreed with the Pakistan minister’s reported claim that 90 per cent of militants arrested in Pakistan were of Afghan origin.

Kabul had ‘strong evidence’ that Afghan as well as Pakistani, Central Asian and Al-Qaeda-linked militants of various nationalities were operating from safe havens across the border, the minister said.

‘It doesn’t really matter which country is the origin of a terrorist,’ he added.

‘What really matters that we must stop the sanctuaries and destroy the training facilities, the financial support network and the system whereby the terrorists are provided with weapons and the (border) crossing points for the terrorists.’

The row threatens to open old wounds between the neighbours about extremist gains in both nations despite international consensus that a joint effort is needed to fight the growing threat.

Afghanistan’s nearly eight-year insurgency is at its deadliest and there are allegations that Pakistan has turned a blind eye to the Islamist militants behind the violence who take shelter across the border.

Islamists in Pakistan have meanwhile made gains over the past year, carrying out major attacks and capturing territory, forcing the government into action. — AFP

Police file multiple charges against Sufi Mohammad

ISLAMABAD: Police lodged criminal charges against TNSM chief Sufi Mohammad, a cleric who helped negotiate a peace deal with the Swat valley Taliban, accusing Sunday him of aiding terrorism, sedition and conspiring against the government, police said.

‘We have registered a case of treason, rebellion and terrorism against Sufi Mohammad,’ Swat police chief Sajid Khan Mohmand said by telephone.

He has been charged on the basis of a speech he delivered on April 19, declaring that he does not believe in democracy, the constitution of Pakistan or its judicial and parliamentary system, Mohmand said.

‘A case of waging war and conspiracy against the country has also been registered,’ he said.

Sajid Mohmand, the Swat police chief, said the case against Sufi Mohammad was lodged in a police station in the valley,

Information minister for North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Mian Iftikhar Hussain, earlier said the cleric had killed a lot of people and was planning violence again.

‘His actions so far indicate that he still has close ties to the Taliban of Swat,’ Hussain said last week.

Sajid Mohmand, the Swat police chief, said the case against Sufi Mohammad was lodged in a police station in the valley, where troops still skirmish with militants even though they are winding down an offensive launched three months ago.

Mohammad is to be formally charged by a court, a move expected in the coming days.

The peace deal the cleric helped negotiate imposed Islamic law in the valley, but the pact collapsed in mid-April after Taliban militants infiltrated a district south of Swat, and the military moved back in.

Mohammad, who is also the father-in-law of Swat’s notorious Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah, was detained last Sunday near Peshawar.

The case against him could indicate Pakistan is moving away from its past willingness to negotiate with militants, but it also could be a way to pressure Mohammad to reveal any information he has about the location of the Swat Valley Taliban’s leaders, who have evaded capture despite the military offensive.

During an April speech the radical cleric had condemned democracy and elections and said Pakistan’s constitution was un-Islamic.

The speech sparked controversy in Pakistan and was considered to be an important factor in shifting public opinion against the Taliban.

The government had relied heavily on Mohammad’s contacts with the Taliban in the Swat area to try to achieve a peace agreement earlier this year.

Mohammad, himself, does not control the armed militants in Swat, and its unclear how much impact his detention will have on the insurgents fighting in the scenic valley.

But he mobilized thousands of volunteers to fight in Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in 2001. He was jailed in 2002 but was freed last year after renouncing violence.

The Swat Taliban’s ability to re-emerge will depend more on their leaders, including Fazlullah. The army says Fazlullah has been wounded, although the Taliban reportedly deny it. None of the commanders is definitively known to have been captured or killed.

Some two million people fled the region in the early weeks of the offensive, and although hundreds of thousands have returned in the past two weeks as the military operation winds down, sporadic fighting continues. — Agencies

Meeting fails to melt PPP-MQM deadlock

KARACHI: Meeting of the core committee of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) ended here on Sunday without breaking the deadlock between the two.

However, both the parties agreed to continue holding negotiations. It was decided to carry on talks on the problems of city government.

The meeting resolved that the coalition parties will serve the people for development and stability of the country.

According to sources, the deadlock between PPP and MQM was the result of statements that came from both sides after issuance of notification by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah banning sale and purchase of land. The notification was later challenged by the City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal in a court.

On PPP side Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Ayaz Soomro and Agha Siraj Durrani are participating in the meeting while Dr. Farooq Sattar, Raza Haroon, Nasreen Jalil, Syed Sardar Ahmed, Syed Mustafa Kamal and Dr. Saghir are representing MQM.