The 14th Summit of the world’s more than 100 developing countries got underway here with a focus on terrorism, a defence of Iran’s controversial nuclear programme and an affirmation that the NAM movement was needed more than ever before in an “unjust world.” Cuban Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Abelardo Moreno, who led the first top officials meeting here yesterday, said anti-terrorism fight cannot be dictated by dates, but by attitude, policies and actions, adding the final declaration of the movement will reject any type of terrorism.

The six-day gathering of NAM nations brings together almost 116 leaders from developing countries, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has defied UN demands that he halt uranium enrichment is also slated to attend the meeting.

Heads of state and government will start their talks on Friday, four days after the preparatory meetings.

Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis joined the movement yesterday, increasing the members of the grouping to 118.

In his opening speech at the NAM Summit yesterday, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said “we believe it is indispensable for us to close ranks in defending our rights. The risks, threats and difficulties that we are facing are similar and with a common origin,” a veiled reference to the US.

“We must show our strength to the world, our ability to collectively cope with the enormous challenges imposed on us by a world governed by the most powerful,” he said at the meeting of high-ranking officials who are undertaking final preparatory work on the documents for the Summit. PTI

The Prime Minister’s Office has asked Power Ministry not to go ahead with the sale of five per cent government shares in Power Finance Corporation and come up with a fresh proposal for the company’s maiden public offer.

“The PMO has told Power Ministry that the government would not like to sell its shares in PFC but the company should be allowed to go ahead with its IPO plans,” senior officials said.

The Power Ministry would now have to draft a fresh Cabinet note for the IPO to raise its equity base by 10 per cent, which amounts to 10.3 crore shares.

When contacted Power Ministry sources said the process has already been initiated for getting fresh cabinet approval.

Before the disinvestment process was halted due to opposition from supporting Left parties and DMK, the UPA government had decided to piggy ride on the PFC public offer and sell its five per cent shares in the market as part of disinvestment.

The company had even filed the Draft prospectus with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India. The SEBI approval came on July 16 and it had three months to hit the market. PTI

Whenever there is a fight among two members of opposite sex a vital aspect of personality comes into scene. Some call it “ego” while others term the same as “self respect”. There is a slight difference in both terms that is when someone stands for what is correct despite of the opposition it is called as “self respect” but if someone stands for his view point irrespective of right or wrong it becomes “Ego”. Self respect is good while ego is bad. We may also say too much of self respect turns out to be ego.

It is very important to have a self respect especially in intimate relationships. One must never let someone else disrespect ones identity for if that happens one looses his/her respect forever in other persons eyes and is never able to convince the other person to stand for what one feels is correct. People who have low self respect are usually taken for granted by others and eventually they feel neglected and become depressed. The biggest problem is that in order to be nice they become similar to a carpet on which people can clean their feet and move on.

Women usually are not demanding when it comes to standing for their view points. They easily let their object of affection take the lead and later regret when they are taken for granted or rejected. Men always prefer women who have self respect yet they are polite and respect others. When your object of affection avoids you play safe by reacting the same way. If you would go over to them again and again it would make them more irritated and eventually they would loose their interest in you. So to all those women who have been polite to men and let them take advantage of themselves now is the time to take a stand. Just rebel against the male ego I assure you a victory of your dreams provided you are not snatching anyone else committed partner.