The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 253.52 as against 253.80 registered in the previous week, according to provisional figures of Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS).

The weekly SPI has been computed with base 2000-2001=100 covering 17 urban centers and 53 essential items for all income groups and combined.

SPI for the combined group registered positive growth of 0.36 per cent as it went up from 241.14 in the previous week to 242.02 in the week under review.

As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for combined group in the week under review witnessed increase of 18.18 percent.

As compared to the last week, the SPI for the income groups ranging from Rs.3001-5000 and Rs.5001-12000 decreased by 0.12 percent and 0.02 percent respectively whereas SPI for the income group above Rs.12000 increased by 00.78 percent.

During the week under review average prices of 11 items registered decrease, while that of 20 items increase with the remaining 22 items’ prices unchanged.

The items which recorded decrease in their average prices during the week under review included egg hen (farm), tomatoes, potatoes, onions, LPG( 11 kg cylender), garlic, sugar, vegetable ghee (loose), shirting, wheat flour (average quality) and red chillies.

The items which registered increase in their prices included, petrol, chicken (farm), diesel, kerosene, gur, washing soap, moong pulse (washed), mutton, rice basmati (broken), gram pulse (washed), bananas, coarse latha, mustard oil, mash pulse (washed), beef, masoor pulse (washed), curd, wheat (average quality), milk (fresh) and firewood.

The items with no change in their average prices during the week under review included, rice (irri-6), bread plain (mid size), milk (powdered), vegetable ghee (tin), cooking oil (tin), salt (powdered), tea (packet), tea (prepared), cooked beef, cooked dal, cigarettes, lawn, voil (printed), sandal (gents), sandal (ladies), chappal, electricity bulb (60wats), match box, bath soap, gas charges (up to 3.3719 MMBTU), electricity charges (1-100 unit) and telephone local call.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the reforms, which follow a sudden rise in Australia’s Indian population and an embarrassing rash of attacks on students from the country, would give priority to migrants with higher skills. Evans said about 20,000 overseas applicants would have their fees refunded at a cost of 14 million dollars (12 million US), while new rules would require better English skills and target the “best and brightest”.

“The current points test puts an overseas student with a short-term vocational qualification gained in Australia ahead of a Harvard-educated environmental scientist,” Evans said in a statement.

The new measures are likely to weigh on Australia’s large overseas education sector, which successfully targeted Asian students to become the country’s fourth largest earner of foreign money.

The sector has been hit by widespread allegations of shoddy practice and visa scams by migration agents, with several institutions forced to close last year.

Evans said the current Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) had prompted a massive influx in foreign students attending courses that put them in line for permanent residency.

“We had tens of thousands of students studying cookery and accounting and hairdressing because that was on the list, those subjects were on the list and that got them through to permanent residency,” he told ABC radio.

Australia attracted some 117,000 Indian students in the year to October, about 19 percent of foreign enrolments. Other major source countries include China, South Korea, Nepal, Thailand and Brazil.

Hundreds of Indians have been robbed and assaulted in Australia over the past 18 months, prompting allegations of racism and media outrage in the South Asian country.

Britain last week said it would slash its number of foreign visa students and raise English requirements to stop people coming to the country to work illegally.

A strike force of 15,000 US, British and Afghan troops will participate in this offensive in the Helmand province, aided by the biggest air assault since the first Gulf War of 1991.

US officials, while reluctant to endorse the media’s ‘exaggeration’, did acknowledge that it would be the largest offensive in the eight-year Afghan war.

The offensive, which includes a series of raids into the most dangerous areas of central Helmand, may begin within a week, although US and Nato officials are refusing to give a date.

“That’s as specific as I’d want to be. But it’s going to be relatively soon,” says Gen Stanley McChrystal, who commands US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.

A transcript released by the Pentagon this weekend, also quoted Secretary Gates as saying that they want to degrade the militants’ “capabilities to the point where a larger and better-trained Afghan national security force can manage the Taliban threat on a domestic basis and so that the security presence (of the international forces) can begin to diminish”.

In Britain, military officials have warned the public to “steel itself” for large numbers of casualties in this offensive named ‘Operation Moshtarak’.

Meanwhile, media reports from Afghanistan say that hundreds of civilians have begun fleeing the area before the anticipated Nato offensive.

Nato helicopters have dropped leaflets in and around Marja, warning people of the impending assault.

“We’re trying to signal to the Afghan people that we are expanding security where they live. We are trying also to signal to the insurgents, the Taliban primarily in this area and the narco-traffickers, that it’s about to change,” said Gen McChrystal.

“If they want to fight, then obviously that will have to be an outcome. But if they don’t want to fight, that’s fine too. If they want to reintegrate into the government … we’re not interested in how many Taliban we kill.”

Army spokesman Jagmohan Brar said the avalanche hit a party of 70 soldiers in the Khelenmarg mountains, close to Gulmarg, the region’s main ski tourist destination.

“One officer and 10 soldiers were killed and three are still missing, while the rest have been accounted for by rescue teams,” Brar said.

The soldiers were from the Indian army’s High Altitude Warfare School, which houses around 450 soldiers. The facility was not struck by the avalanche.

The military said rescue operations were under way to find the missing.

“The details emerging from the area are very sketchy,” Brar said.

Heavy snowfall was hampering rescue efforts and making communications difficult.

“We are struggling to reach the area, the snow and high winds are making rescue operations very tough,” Kashmir tourism official Ghulam Mohammed Dar, who was part of the rescue operation, told AFP.

Gulmarg lies 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Srinagar, the Kashmiri summer capital.

With most of the votes from Sunday’s election counted, Laura Chinchilla held a 22-point lead over her closest rival. Her 47 percent share of the vote was well beyond the 40 percent needed to avoid a run-off.

The 50-year-old protege of the current president, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias, promised to pursue the same economic policies that recently brought the country into a trade pact with the U.S. and opened commerce with China.

“Today we are making history,” said Chinchilla, who will be the fifth Latin American woman to serve as president when she takes office in May. “The Costa Rican people have given me their confidence, and I will not betray it.”

The closest contender, Otton Solis of the Citizens Action Party, got 25 percent of the votes. He and the other main rival, Libertarian Otto Guevara, quickly conceded defeat.

It was unclear, however, whether Chinchilla’s National Liberation Party would gain a majority in congress.

Analyst Heather Berkman of the Eurasia Group said coalition building without a majority would likely delay or derail controversial fiscal reforms to shore up government finances and energy deregulation.

The third-place candidate, Guevara, congratulated Chinchilla as “our president,” but he also pointed out the new political muscle of his tax-bashing Libertarian Movement Party. He won 21 percent of the vote.

Arias’ economic policies helped insulate Costa Rica from the world economic crisis as he kept a high profile on the world stage as a negotiator in Honduras’ political crisis after a coup deposed President Manuel Zelaya in June.

Critics of the Arias government, in which Chinchilla served as vice president, contended its policies catered to big developers to boost the economy at the cost of the nation’s fragile ecosystems.

But most Costa Ricans were reluctant to shake up the status quo in a country with relatively high salaries, the longest life expectancy in Latin America, a thriving ecotourism industry and near-universal literacy.

Chinchilla, the mother of a teenage son, is a social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage. She appealed both to Costa Ricans seeking a fresh face and those reluctant to risk the unknown.

As a female president, she would follow an increasingly common trend in many Latin American countries: Nicaragua, Panama, Chile and Argentina have all elected women as presidents.

Alfredo Fernandez, 77, said he has always voted for the National Liberation Party, but this time his ballot was special.

“It is an honor to be able to have a woman president,” he said.

Even Costa Ricans on the margins of society backed Chinchilla.

Heizel Arias, a 24-year-old single mother voted at a prison where she is serving an eight-year drug smuggling sentence.

“I voted for Laura Chinchilla because she has promised to fight for women,” Arias said. “She was the only one who visited us and told us her plans and I believe in her.”

Only close family members of Adnan were present at this nikaah. Says a source close to Adnan, “The wedding in Munich had to be cancelled because the courts did not allow Adnan to leave the country. There are serious charges of domestic violence against him.” Rather than cancel the wedding, Adnan decided to have a flash ceremony in Mumbai. All the arrangements were made by Adnan’s son Azaan.

At first Adnan was reluctant to confirm the development, but finally said, “Yes, we got married last Friday in a secret nikaah. And we’re loving it.”

Adnan now intends to host a wedding reception in Munich at Roya’s place and then another reception in Mumbai for all his friends. But as things stand now, Roya and Adnan are man and wife.

Speaking from Munich, Adnan’s third wife Roya Faryadi says, “Adnan is the perfect man for me. I love not just the man but also his mother and son. In fact, Adnan’s son Azaan and I get along like a house on fire. We often gang up together and tease the hell out of Adnan.”

Roya says she is not the least perturbed by Adnan’s past record of broken marriages. “What happened in the past is the past. What I see is a man I’d like to spend my life with. Adnan is kind, caring and gentle. I hope we can make our marriage last forever. Like any good wife, I plan to shift to Mumbai to be with Adnan and his family. But I’ll keep visiting Germany. That’s where my parents stay.” Roya’s parents are from Afghanistan. They moved to Germany 30 years ago and hold German passports.

People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.

Sugar may be to blame but people who drink sweetened sodas regularly often have other poor health habits, said Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota, who led the study.

“The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth,” Pereira said in a statement.

Insulin, which helps the body metabolize sugar, is made in the pancreas.

Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Pereira and colleagues said they followed 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study for 14 years.

Over that time, 140 of the volunteers developed pancreatic cancer. Those who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87 percent higher risk of being among those who got pancreatic cancer.

Pereira said he believed the findings would apply elsewhere.

“Singapore is a wealthy country with excellent healthcare. Favorite pastimes are eating and shopping, so the findings should apply to other western countries,” he said.

But Susan Mayne of the Yale Cancer Center at Yale University in Connecticut was cautious.

“Although this study found a risk, the finding was based on a relatively small number of cases and it remains unclear whether it is a causal association or not,” said Mayne, who serves on the board of the journal, which is published by the American Association for Cancer Research.

“Soft drink consumption in Singapore was associated with several other adverse health behaviors such as smoking and red meat intake, which we can’t accurately control for.”

Other studies have linked pancreatic cancer to red meat, especially burned or charred meat.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with 230,000 cases globally. In the United States, 37,680 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in a year and 34,290 die of it.

The American Cancer Society says the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients is about 5 percent.

Some researchers believe high sugar intake may fuel some forms of cancer, although the evidence has been contradictory. Tumor cells use more glucose than other cells.

One 12-ounce (355 ml) can of non-diet soda contains about 130 calories, almost all of them from sugar.

Dubai had hoped the 2,717-foot (828-meter) skyscraper would be a major tourist draw. The Middle East city-state has promoted itself worldwide by wowing visitors with over-the-top attractions such as the Burj, which juts like a silvery needle out of the desert and can be seen from miles around.

In recent weeks, thousands of tourists have lined up for the chance to buy advance tickets for viewing times often days later that cost more than $27 apiece. Now many of those would-be visitors, such as Wayne Boyes, a tourist from near Manchester, England, must get back in line for refunds.

“It’s just very disappointing,” said Boyes, 40, who showed up at the Burj’s entrance Monday with a ticket for an afternoon time slot only to be told the viewing platform was closed.

“The tower was one of my main reasons for coming here,” said Boyes.

The precise cause of the $1.5 billion Dubai skyscraper’s closure remained unclear.

In a brief statement responding to questions, building owner Emaar Properties blamed the closure on “unexpected high traffic,” but then suggested that electrical problems were also at fault.

“Technical issues with the power supply are being worked on by the main and subcontractors and the public will be informed upon completion,” the company said, adding that it is “committed to the highest quality standards at Burj Khalifa.”

A spokeswoman for Emaar was unable to provide further details.

Emaar did not say when the observation deck would reopen following Sunday’s closure. Ticket sales agents were accepting bookings starting on Valentine’s Day this Sunday, though one reached by The Associated Press could not confirm the building would reopen then.

Tourists affected by the closure are being offered the chance to rebook or receive refunds.

The shutdown comes at a sensitive time for Dubai. The city-state is facing a slump in tourism — which is responsible for nearly a fifth of the local economy — while fending off negative publicity caused by more than $80 billion in debt it is struggling to repay.

Ervin Hladnik-Milharcic, 55, a Slovenian writer planning to visit the city for the first time this month, said he hoped the Burj would reopen soon.

“It was the one thing I really wanted to see,” he said. “The tower was projected as a metaphor for Dubai. So the metaphor should work. There are no excuses.”

Dubai opened the tower on January 4 in a blaze of fireworks televised around the world. The building had been known as the Burj Dubai during more than half a decade of construction, but the name was suddenly changed on opening night to honor the ruler of neighboring Abu Dhabi.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are two of seven small sheikdoms that comprise the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi hosts the federation’s capital and holds most of the country’s vast oil reserves. It has provided Dubai with $20 billion in emergency cash to help cover its debts.

Questions were raised about the building’s readiness in the months leading up to the January opening.

The opening date had originally been expected in September, but was then pushed back until sometime before the end of 2009. The eventual opening date just after New Year’s was meant to coincide with the anniversary of the Dubai ruler’s ascent to power.

There were signs even that target was ambitious. The final metal and glass panels cladding the building’s exterior were installed only in late September. Early visitors to the observation deck had to peer through floor-to-ceiling windows caked with dust — a sign that cleaning crews had not yet had a chance to scrub them clean.

Work is still ongoing on many of the building’s other floors, including those that will house the first hotel designed by Giorgio Armani that is due to open in March.

It was unclear if the rest of the building was affected by the observation deck’s shutdown. The first of some 12,000 residential tenants and office workers are supposed to move in this month.

The Burj Khalifa boasts more than 160 stories. The exact number is not known.

The observation deck is located on the 124th floor. Adult tickets bought in advance cost 100 dirhams ($27.25). Visitors wanting to enter immediately can jump to the front of the line by paying 400 dirhams ($109) apiece.

He pointed out that the dollar demand in the interbank and kerb markets have further suppressed the Pak Rupee as the exporters are busy in hedging their positions against upcoming inflationary pressure.The dollar has been appreciated by Rs 2 in the open market during last one month, raising eyebrows of different stakeholders specially the importers.

The 27-year-old Asif was deported from the United Arab Emirates after being detained at Dubai airport in June 2008 when a small quantity of opium was found in his possession.

The fast bowler was detained for 19 days before the authorities deported him, saying the quantity of the banned drug was insignificant to make a court case.

Asif was on his way from India after featuring in the first edition of the Indian Premier League, where he tested positive for a banned drug. That earned him a one-year ban from all cricket, which ended in September last year.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating officer Wasim Bari confirmed a request was made to clear Asif.

Pakistan will be playing England in two Twenty20 matches later this month and some other series are also lined up, “so we made a request with the UAE authorities but they turned it down as it’s not possible under their laws,” Bari said.

A similar request was also made last year and was also refused, said Bari.

Pakistan has also invited South Africa for a Test and one-day series later in the year in the UAE, after South Africa refused to tour the troubled country in October-November this year due to security concerns.

Asif has been Pakistan’s most successful bowler since his return. He took 19 wickets in the three-Test series in New Zealand and another 13 in as many Tests against Australia on the tour which ended on Friday.

Bari said Asif would not be considered for the selection of the two Twenty20 matches, for which the team will be announced on Monday.