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The Jammu and Kashmir Bar association Wednesday filed an application before the region’s high court, seeking its dissociation from the public interest litigation (PIL) that it filed earlier seeking justice in the rape and murder of two women in India-controlled Kashmir on May 30.

“We don’t have faith in the institution like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Ever since they have taken over to probe the matter, conflicting reports are coming in media about the incident. Their aim is to mess up the whole affair, therefore we seek our disassociation from the case,” said Bar association president Mian Qayoom.

Meanwhile, the court directed the CBI, India’s premier investigation agency, not to share details of its probe into the rape and murder case with the media instead to the court only.

“The judges hearing the Shopian rape and murder case directed the CBI not to reveal information to the press about its investigations but should present status report to the court only,” said a court official.

On Monday medical experts led by the CBI exhumed the bodies of two women raped and murdered in Shopian town, 50 km south of India-controlled Kashmir.

New DNA samples were taken following the reports that previously collected ones were tampered with.

On May 30, two women aged 17 and 23 years were found dead under mysterious circumstances in Shopian town, 50 km south of Srinagar, the region’s summer capital.

The locals alleged the duo were first raped and then murdered. They suspected the hand of Indian troopers in the incident.

Cambodia will dispatch 42 peacekeeping forces to Central African Republic and Chad under the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, the local media said on Sunday.

“Our forces will depart for these countries in November after Prime Minister agreed to send our soldiers,” DAP News quoted Nhim Savat, director general for general department of politics and international relations of Ministry of National Defense, as saying.

“And in earlier mid-2010, we will send other 80 armed forces of light engineering Unit for the two countries under the U.N. peacekeeping mission,” he added.

Cambodia and the U.N. have already signed on MOU of deploying the peacekeeping armed forces in Chad and Central African Republic,” he said.

“The UN side will not send their monitors to train our armed forces for this time after they have confidence in the abilities and capacities of forces training and our experiences in previous times,” said Sem Sovanny, director general of the national center for peacekeeping forces management, mine clearance, unexploded ordnance waste of post war.

“Five senior military officials from National Defense Ministry will also accompany our Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) to these countries,” Sem said.

Cambodia is used to take part in joint military exercises in several countries, such as Indonesia, Mongolia, Bangladesh, and also Sudan’s de-mining activities under the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Cambodia will also host the military exercise which is to be supported by the United States under a program titled “Global Peace Operations Initiative or GPOI” which will take place in June or July in 2010.

Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, Friday watched an arts exhibition held to mark the 60th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

The exhibition was one of 15 major cultural and arts programs in the capital to celebrate the National Day, which falls on Oct. 1.

Friday’s exhibition featured 102 pieces of Chinese painting, oil painting and sculpture. Their subjects centered on key events and figures in China’s struggles against imperialism, feudalism, and colonialism since 1840, and its socialist reform and development.

Li urged organizers to invite more teenagers and foreign guests to visit the exhibition.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to secure a second term in the country’s general election on Sept. 27, a Berlin-based scholar has said.

The only doubt is whether the conservative Merkel would be able to form a center-right coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) or be forced back into a “grand coalition” with the leftist Social Democrats (SPD), Jan Techau, head of the European Studies Center at the German Council on Foreign Relations(DGAP), told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

“I think it is pretty clear that Ms. Merkel will stay as the chancellor of the country,” Techau said.

“There are only two realistic options for the coalition government, either the conservative-liberal coalition with Merkel as chancellor, or the continuation of the grand coalition between conservatives and the SPD where she will also be the chancellor,” Techau said.

He added that the two options are “too narrow” so far and “it is hard to say which option will prevail.”

But “in terms of who will be the next chancellor, they will make not much difference,” the scholar said.

“The grand coalition has done good work but now it is time, in the worst crisis of the last 60 years, to use everything at our disposal to assure fresh economic growth,” Merkel has told the press, explaining her preference for the FDP.

As many as 27 parties in Germany have registered to compete in Sunday’s election, among which Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), the SPD, the FDP, the Greens and the Left Party are the dominant ones.

The latest poll survey released on Wednesday showed support for Merkel’s conservative bloc (CDU/CSU) stood at 35 percent, followed by the SPD with 26 percent, the FDP with 13 percent, the Greens with 11 percent and the Left party with 10 percent.

The advantage suggests Merkel has a good chance of winning a second term in the weekend election.

The FDP has openly rejected a possible coalition with the SPD or the Greens and the Greens has opposed the idea of seeking a coalition with the FDP or the CDU/CSU.

According to Techau, if Merkel’s party and the FDP together win48 percent of the vote or above, “it will be safe” for them to form a new center-right coalition government.

But whether this could happen is far from certain, as polls show that Merkel’s conservatives, together with the FDP, hold a meagre 1-3 point lead over the other main parties in parliament –the SPD, environmentalist Greens and Left Party.

On Sept. 14, Merkel and her top rival Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the SPD’s candidate for chancellory, staged a live pre-election TV debate, which local media branded as “short of passion and personal attacks.” The Bild, Germany’s biggest-selling daily newspaper, joked that the debate was “shop talk between the chancellor and her deputy.”

As part of the “grand coalition,” the CDU/CSU and the SPD found it difficult to “attack each other fiercely” because that might “hurt themselves,” Techau said.

For the other three opposition parties, they have to rely on the two big parties to enter the government, so they, too, avoid thorny criticism, he said.

Currently, there is no major social crisis in Germany like those in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s, so the parties could not stir up a big issue in their campaigning and could merely stay “comparatively calm.”

Looking ahead, Techau predicted that there would be “no major change” in the domestic and foreign policy in the next government.

“I think there will be, by and large, a strong continuation in German politics,” he said.

Students of Central University for Nationalities attend a rehearsal for the upcoming National Day massive celebration, in Beijing, Sept. 22, 2009. A massive celebration will be held in Tian’anmen Square on Oct. 1 for the 60th anniversary of the founding of People’s Republic of China.

During a visit to northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China’s top political advisor Jia Qinglin urged local governments to improve the living standards of ethnic minorities as a key part of work on ethnic unity.

September is the “Ethnic Unity Month” in Ningxia. Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, visited a local community where Hui and Han ethnic residents live together.

“The friendliness between Hui and Han people reflects the unity of all Chinese ethnic groups. Practices prove that the (Communist)Party’s ethnic policy is successful and should be upheld steadily,” said Jia, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau.

He said improving ethnic minorities’ living quality was the groundwork for solving ethnic issues.

In addition, Jia encouraged religious people to unite together under the policies of the Party and the central government and contribute their own efforts in building a better homeland.

From Sept. 3 to 7, Jia visited local families, companies and plantations to review the local economic, ethnic and religious situations.

China is a long-standing and worthy partner in Angola’s post-war economic reconstruction program, a senior Angolan official has said during his recent inspection visit to Benguela Stadium under construction in central Benguela province.

Sun Yanhua, the general director of the Angolan Company of the Sinohydro Corporation Limited, told Xinhua on Thursday that Higino Carneiro, the minister of Public Works, spoke highly of the construction quality of the Benguela Stadium for holding the African Football Nations Cup from January 10 to 31, 2010 in Angola’s four cities.

“The quality (of the stadium) is good,” Sun quoted Higino Carneiro as saying, adding that the minister also expressed his satisfaction with the pace of the construction of the stadium which is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.

Accompanying the Angolan minister to inspect the stadium in central Benguela province, Sun said Carneiro also told him that the Chinese engineers and workers work very hard and fast with high work efficiency that no other foreign construction companies can challenge.

The Angolan minister said he believed the Chinese companies are an important and irreplaceable workforce in Angola’s post-war economic reconstruction program.

He also expressed his hope that the Chinese companies will make more contribution to Angola’s economic reconstruction program in future.

According to Sun, the Sinohydro Corporation Limited started to contract construction projects in Angola in 2004. Since then, he said, his company has contracted to build a total of 109 projects, big or small, involving a total contractual volume of about 3 billion U.S. dollars.

He added that these projects covered in the sectors of hydropower and water conservancy, sports facilities, highways and bridges, airports, schools, hospitals, free markets and housing, among others.

The 24th World Congress of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR) opened here Tuesday.

It heard a letter of congratulations from a senior Chinese leader on behalf of China’s government.

“Mankind is confronted with many challenges such as climate change, energy resources crises and terrorism. The spreading global financial crisis poses a threat to some countries’ social stability”, said Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, in the letter.

“The rule of law plays an important role in promoting harmony between man and the nature and among different countries, ” he said.

“China is stepping up its efforts to build a socialist country ruled by law and a harmonious society”, Zhou said. “And China is willing to work with people of all countries for a harmonious world of lasting peace and universal prosperity.”

The biennial congress with the theme of “Global harmony and rule of law” is being held in China for the first time since it was established in Germany in 1909. It will run in Beijing until Sept. 20, says the China Law Society (CLS), which is hosting the event.

More than 800 philosophers and legal experts from more than 50 countries and regions are gathering to exchange ideas concerning relations among nations, and between cultures and legal systems.

The 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) started its fourth plenary session Tuesday to discuss the CPC building.

A draft decision of the CPC Central Committee on major issues concerning “strengthening and improving Party building in new situation” would be deliberated at the four-day session, the schedule of which was decided by a Sept. 8 meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Before the session, the CPC central authority solicited advice from in and out of the Party in order to draft the decision, which embodies opinions and suggestion from various areas, departments and delegates to the 17th CPC National Congress.

The session would also hear the work report of the Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee.

A week-long photograph exhibition on “Women of China’s Tibet” has started in Nepali capital Kathmandu reflecting the real life of women in Tibet.

The exhibition aimed at exchanging arts and culture of women in Tibet with close neighboring country Nepal was inaugurated jointly by Purna Kumari Subedi, Vice Chairman of Nepali Constitutent Assembly and Can Muqun, president of Women’s Association of Tibet Autonomous Region Wednesday evening.

The photographs on display revealed the dynamic mood and role of Tibetan women during the process of development in Tibet. The 111 photographic works and Tibetan calligraphic master pieces of which fully exemplifies the beauty of Tibetan women of China and the essence of Tibetan culture.

Can said, “I hope after the exhibition, you will know more about women in Tibet and get beautiful memories.”

“The photographic arts have brought together Nepali and Tibetan women, I wish this cultural exchange will further promote the friendly exchanges between the two countries,” she added.

During the inaugural session, Can expressed her belief that through the exhibition, the cultural exchanges between the women of the two countries will be promoted to a new stage and bear fruitful results in future.

Meanwhile, Subedi said that the support being given by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese central government for the development of women in every aspect, including social, economic and cultural caring, is worthy of acclaim.

“The photographic stories displayed in the exhibition has encouraged even Nepali women to play our model role in the society as well as to bring the development in country,” Subedi said.

Subedi expressed her expectation of gaining support form the Chinese government and Chinese women to secure Nepalese women’s rights in new constitution.

On the very occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Qiu Guohong said that exhibited photos are the reflection of the development in Tibet. “Exhibition can become the bridge to strengthen the cultural cooperation between out two countries,” Qiu added.

However, Leela Mani Poudyal, secretary at Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers of Nepal stressed holding exchanges programs in both sides to share the information to each other.