Qantas reports sharp rise in first-half profits

SYDNEY: Australian flag carrier Qantas on Thursday reported that first-half net profit more than doubled to A$111 million (US$114 million), also announcing an upgrade to its fleet.

The result in the six months to December 31 was up 164 percent on the same period in the previous year and in line with guidance, "despite challenging conditions in international and domestic air travel markets."

Underlying profit before tax -- the airline's preferred measure of financial performance -- was A$223 million, up 10 percent.

Qantas also announced an order for five new Boeing 737-800s and the upgrade of 20 Airbus A330-200s and 10 A330-300s.

The additional Boeing 737-800 aircraft are for the flag carrier's domestic service and for delivery during 2014, the company said in a statement, adding that leases on two existing B737-800s would be extended this year.

"The refurbished aircraft will give Qantas International a truly world-class product in global aviation's most dynamic and competitive market," chief executive Alan Joyce told a press conference.

"Growing with Asia is a major priority for the Qantas Group and this investment underpins our commitment to the region."

Joyce said: "Older narrow body Boeing 737-400s will be phased out by the end of 2013 and Boeing 767s by mid-2015.

"We are simplifying our fleet and making better use of the greater flexibility and higher frequencies that the B737-800s provide, while investing in what will be the best domestic onboard product anywhere in the world with the A330s."

The A330 reconfigurations and new orders will not affect planned capital expenditure of A$1.6 billion in 2012/13 and A$1.5 billion in 2013/14.

However, Qantas International reported an underlying before-tax loss of A$91 million in the six-month period, an improvement of A$171 million.

"Qantas International is well advanced in its turnaround plan," Joyce said.

"The 65 per cent improvement in Qantas International's underlying EBIT is testament to the steps taken to remove cost from the businesses, from closing down loss-making routes to retiring aircraft and consolidating operations."

Qantas is planning to broaden its reach in Asia as part of a strategy to turn around its struggling international arm.

The move is a consequence of its global alliance with Dubai-based Emirates, which means services to Asia will no longer be tied to onward links to Europe.

New direct destinations from Australia being considered include Beijing, Seoul, Mumbai, Delhi and Tokyo-Haneda at the same time as increasing capacity and frequency of flights to Hong Kong and Singapore.

Australia's competition watchdog last month gave Qantas and Emirates permission to launch their alliance in which the airlines will coordinate ticket prices and flight schedules.

Qantas will shift its hub for European flights to Dubai from Singapore and end a partnership with British Airways. The tie-up is seen as vital to the sustainability of Qantas, which last year posted its first annual deficit since privatisation in 1995 due to tough regional competition and high fuel costs.

- AFP/ac

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West Bengal govt plans to depoliticize students' union polls

KOLKATA: Increasing incidence of violence on campuses in West Bengal has forced the Mamata Banerjee government to explore ways to depoliticise students' union elections. The state education department has drawn up a draft guideline that proposes to delink student bodies from political parties and make college union polls a 'once-in-two-years' event.

Education minister Bratya Basu is expected to submit the draft to chief minister Mamata Banerjee early next week. "Only after the chief minister's go-ahead, a final draft will be prepared and placed before the cabinet for approval," Basu told TOI on Wednesday.

The proposal comes barely a week after a policeman was shot dead during clashes between students' groups in a city college.

Calcutta University vice-chancellor Suranjan Das, higher education council chairman Sugata Marjit and the education minister have put their heads together to draw up the draft which will be put on the higher education department website on Thursday for stakeholders to give their suggestions.

The guidelines loosely follow the model of Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) where the student union has been replaced by a senate with several associate societies or clubs. The move has gone a long way in calming the restive Besu campus.

The latest move has been welcomed by academics. "This is an excellent attempt by the education minister. All my life, I have tried to propagate the idea to delink college politics from party politics. This is a move in the right direction. Now, the question is to implement the draft proposals," said former principal of Presidency College Amal Mukhopadhyay.

According to the draft, college elections will not be fought on political symbols. The student union will be renamed student council and its president will be nominated by the senior most teacher of the college. The vice-president will be nominated by the teachers' council. In case of universities, the vice-chancellor will select the president. The two vice-presidents will be nominated by the executive council and the court - the two top bodies in university administration.

The draft provides for election to the post of general secretary, assistant general secretary and five other secretaries who would look after student activities such as culture, drama, sports, etc. All students would either vote to elect these representatives as in the case of Jawaharlal Nehru University or Jadavpur University or the general secretary would be elected from among class representatives as is done in Calcutta University.

In keeping with the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Commission, an election observer will oversee the process and complete it within a month. The observer may wind up the entire process within 15 days, if he deems it fit.

Primacy has been given to the elected representatives. The elected general secretary will represent students in the college governing body while the general secretary of the students' council will make way to the university's highest body - the executive council.

The purpose is to integrate the students' bodies in the overall academic system rather than turning them into power centres of political parties.

Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad leader Shanku Deb Panda, however, reacted cautiously to the move. "We will have to see how far the guidelines can be implemented," he said.

"I have already sent the draft of the students' senate in Besu to the committee formed by the state government and our ideas have been appreciated. We will now wait to read the draft as prepared by the higher education department," said Ajay Ray, vice-chancellor of Besu.

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The True Story of History's Only Known Meteorite Victim

The Russian meteorite, whose sonic boom damaged buildings and injured more than a thousand last week, is not the first to shatter a human life. (See pictures: "Meteorite Hits Russia.")

Take the true story of Ann Hodges, the only confirmed person in history to have been hit by a meteorite.

On a clear afternoon in Sylacauga, Alabama (see map), in late November 1954, Ann was napping on her couch, covered by quilts, when a softball-size hunk of black rock broke through the ceiling, bounced off a radio, and hit her in the thigh, leaving a pineapple-shaped bruise.

Ann's story is particularly rare because most meteorites usually fall into the ocean or strike one of Earth's vast, remote places, according to Michael Reynolds, a Florida State College astronomer and author of the book Falling Stars: A Guide to Meteors & Meteorites.

"Think of how many people have lived throughout human history," Reynolds said.

"You have a better chance of getting hit by a tornado and a bolt of lightning and a hurricane all at the same time."

Out of This World

Before the meteorite slammed into Ann's living room, people in tiny Sylacauga and across eastern Alabama had reported seeing "a bright reddish light like a Roman candle trailing smoke," according to the web publication "The Day the Meteorite Fell in Sylacauga," which was produced by the Alabama Museum of Natural History in 2010.

Others saw "a fireball, like a gigantic welding arc," accompanied by tremendous explosions and a brown cloud. (See video: "Predicting Meteorite Impacts.")

A government geologist working in a nearby quarry was called to the scene and determined the object was a meteorite, but not everyone in town was so sure, according to the museum publication. Many thought a plane had crashed—others suspected the Soviets.

So many people flocked to Hodges's house that when her husband Eugene Hodges, a utility worker, returned home from work, he had to push gawkers off the porch to get inside.

Ann was so overwhelmed by the crowd that she was transferred to a hospital. With Cold War paranoia running high, the Sylacauga police chief confiscated the black rock and turned it over to the Air Force.

After the Air Force confirmed it was a meteorite, the question then was what to do with it. The public demanded the space rock be returned to Ann, and she agreed.

"I feel like the meteorite is mine," she said, according to the museum. "I think God intended it for me. After all, it hit me!"

Simple Country People

But there was a hitch. Ann and Eugene were renters, and their landlady, a recently widowed woman named Birdie Guy, wanted the meteorite for herself.

Guy obtained a lawyer and sued, claiming the rock was hers since it had fallen on her property. The law was actually on her side, but public opinion wasn't.

Guy settled out of court, giving up her claim to the meteorite in exchange for $500. Eugene was convinced the couple could make big money off the rock and turned down a modest offer from the Smithsonian.

But no one bit, and so the Hodges donated the meteorite to the natural history museum in 1956, where it's still on display. (Related: "Meteorites: Best Places to See Them Up Close.")

Ann later suffered a nervous breakdown, and in 1964 she and Eugene separated. She died in 1972 at 52 of kidney failure at a Sylacaugan nursing home.

Eugene suspects the meteorite and frenzy that followed had taken its toll on Ann. He said "she never did recover," according to the museum.

Ann "wasn't a person who sought out the limelight," added museum director Randy Mecredy. "The Hodges were just simple country people, and I really think that all the attention was her downfall."

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Armstrong Snubs Offer From Anti-Doping Officials

Lance Armstrong has turned down what may be his last chance at reducing his lifetime sporting ban.

Armstrong has already admitted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey to a career fueled by doping and deceit. But to get a break from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, all he had to do was tell his story to those who police sports doping. The deadline was today, and Armstrong now says he won't do it.

"For several reasons, Lance will not participate in USADA's efforts to selectively conduct American prosecutions that only demonize selected individuals while failing to address the 95 percent of the sport over which USADA has no jurisdiction," said Tim Herman, Armstrong's longtime lawyer. "Lance is willing to cooperate fully and has been very clear: He will be the first man through the door, and once inside will answer every question, at an international tribunal formed to comprehensively address pro cycling."

But the "international tribunal" Armstrong is anxious to cooperate with has one major problem: It doesn't exist.

The UCI, cycling's governing body, has talked about forming a "truth and reconciliation" commission, but the World Anti-Doping Agency has resisted, citing serious concerns about the UCI and its leadership.

READ MORE: Armstrong Admits to Doping

Livestrong, Elizabeth Kreutz/AP Photo

READ MORE: Lance Armstrong May Have Lied to Winfrey: Investigators

WATCH: Armstrong's Many Denials Caught on Tape

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials seemed stunned by Armstrong's decision simply to walk away.

"Over the last few weeks, he [Armstrong] has led us to believe that he wanted to come in and assist USADA, but was worried of potential criminal and civil liability if he did so," said Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. "Today, we learned from the media that Mr. Armstrong is choosing not to come in and be truthful and that he will not take the opportunity to work toward righting his wrongs in sport."

Armstrong's ongoing saga plays out amid a backdrop of serious legal problems.

Sources believe one reason Armstrong wants to testify to an international tribunal, rather than USADA, is because perjury charges don't apply if Armstrong lies to a foreign agency, they told ABC News.

While Armstrong has admitted doping, he has not given up any details, including the people and methods required to pull off one of the greatest scandals in all of sport.

Armstrong is facing several multimillion-dollar lawsuits right now, but his biggest problems may be on the horizon. As ABC News first reported, a high-level source said a criminal investigation is ongoing. And the Department of Justice also reportedly is considering joining a whistleblower lawsuit claiming the U.S. Postal Service was defrauded out of millions of dollars paid to sponsor Armstrong's cycling team.

READ MORE: 10 Scandalous Public Confessions

PHOTOS: Olympic Doping Scandals: Past and Present

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Education panel: To close achievement gap, urgent state, federal action needed

The nation must act urgently to close the achievement gap between poor and privileged children by changing the way public schools are financed, improving teacher quality, investing in early-childhood education and demanding greater accountability down to the local school board level, according to a report issued Tuesday by an expert panel.

Created by Congress in 2010 — with legislation sponsored by Reps. Michael M. Honda (D-Calif.) and Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) — the Equity and Excellence Commission aimed to propose ways to improve public education for poor American children. The 27-member panel included, state and federal officials, civil rights activists and academics.

“This is about all levels of government,” said Christopher Edley Jr., dean of the University of California at Berkeley Law School and the commission’s co-chair. “This is a proposed agenda for everyone who’s concerned with the fate of our children and of our public education system.”

The panel released its recommendations to Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

In a telephone call with reporters, Honda said the goal is to focus the public’s attention on a national crisis. “This is not a minority issue. This is not a poverty issue. This is an American issue,” Honda said.

The achievement gap has proved to be a stubborn problem and one of growing concern among educators, policymakers and civic leaders. With enactment of the No Child Left Behind law in 2002, the federal government made closing the gap a priority and a reason for increased accountability in public education. A host of strategies has been deployed in schools across the country to attack the gap, but few have resulted in substantial progress.

Closely tied to race, the gap is creating an underclass that threatens the country’s long-term economic stability, the commission said.

A 2011 study of the country’s 21 largest urban school districts found that every city displayed a difference in performance between whites and blacks and between whites and Hispanics. That study was based on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which includes federal reading and math exams taken regularly by fourth- and eighth-graders across the country.

“While some young Americans — most of them white and affluent — are getting a truly world-class education, those who attend schools in high poverty neighborhoods are getting an education that more closely approximates school in developing nations,” the commission wrote in its report.

More than 40 percent of U.S. children attend high-poverty schools and 22 percent of children are living below the poverty line, the government said.

Public schools in poor communities have fewer resources, less-experienced teachers and worse facilities than schools in more-affluent communities — an imbalance that must be corrected by state and federal action, the commission said.

“Ten million students in America’s poorest communities . . . are having their lives unjustly and irredeemably blighted by a system that consigns them to the lowest-performing teachers, the most run-down facilities, and academic expectations and opportunities considerably lower than what we expect of other students,” the commission wrote. “These vestiges of segregation, discrimination and inequality are unfinished business for our nation.”

The country’s primary method for funding public schools — property taxes — is one reason for disparate resources, the commission wrote. Communities with elevated real estate values can generate more money for schools, at a lower tax rate, than towns and cities with lower property values.

While the federal government pays about 10 percent of the cost of public education, about half comes from states and 40 percent comes from local communities.

The commission urged states and the federal government to send more tax dollars to high-poverty schools to compensate for the imbalance in local funding. But it stopped short of recommending a new way to fund schools that does not rely so heavily on property taxes.

In 1972, a federal commission convened by President Richard M. Nixon to address school funding concluded that as long as property taxes funded schools, poor and privileged children would be condemned to different educational outcomes.

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Football: LionsXII impress Fandi in 2-2 draw with Johor

SINGAPORE: Fandi Ahmad was left shocked and impressed after his star-studded Johor Darul Takzim were forced to share the spoils at a packed Larkin Stadium, as they drew 2-2 with an impressive LionsXII side in the Malaysian Super League (MSL) on Tuesday night.

Fandi told reporters after the match that he and his players were shocked that the LionsXII had opted to go on the offensive from the start, saying that he had expected V Sundramoorthy's side to adopt "a more counterattacking strategy".

"This has been the best I've seen the LionsXII play," praised Fandi. "I'm also quite puzzled why my players couldn't rise to the occasion tonight and perform."

Indeed, there was a very different look to the LionsXII on Tuesday as they refused to sit back in the first half and often pressed forward in numbers in search of goals.

The LionsXII hardly looked in awe of Johor - who boast the likes of former Lazio player Simone Del Nero and former Spanish international Daniel Guiza - and impressed with fluid passing and hard tackling.

Their desire to draw first blood did not take long to pay dividends when Hariss Harun - who was playing his first match since he suffered a broken fibula in November - blasted the visitors into the lead after four minutes.

The Larkin Stadium was thoroughly silenced by the midfield lynchpin, but it was only for a moment.

Just six minutes later, Johor's livewire midfielder Nurul Azwan lost his marker and sent a low cross into the area which Del Nero superbly headed past goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud to score his first club goal.

Eager to reclaim the initiative, Sundram's charges continued to attack and were rewarded in the 37th minute when Baihakki Khaizan scored with a spectacular diving header following a free-kick.

The match continued to be played at a frenetic pace even after the restart and Fandi soon brought on even more firepower in Safee Sali.

With Safee, Guiza and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha now in attack, the LionsXII found themselves pegged back and digging deep to defend.

Fandi's decision to overload the attack eventually paid off as Norshahrul shrugged off tired LionsXII defenders and fired home Johor's equaliser from 20 yards out.

Despite not bagging the win, Sundram was satisfied with the result, praising his players for the tenacity they displayed.

He said: "I'm very happy the players fought for every ball tonight. The MSL is a very physical league and we've got to be able to fight hard on the field. Player to player, I'm very pleased that our boys can compete against Fandi's."

- TODAY

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No trace of 3,772 children missing from Delhi in last 5 years

NEW DELHI: Over 3,700 children, majority of whom are girls, went missing from Delhi homes in the last five years and are still untraceable yet the Delhi government says it has no evidence of organized gangs operating in the national capital indulging in kidnapping or trafficking of children.

The Delhi home department through advocate S Wasim Qadri cited a special initiative taken by Delhi Police under 'Pehchan' scheme to photograph children belonging to poorer sections of society living in slums.

"This scheme covers areas from where most children go missing and the police are unable to make any headway in tracing them as poor families seldom have photographs of their children. Delhi Police has so far photographed 64,755 children in the last last months," it said.

But the National Human Rights Commission was sceptical about the intent of state governments in protecting children from being kidnapped or trafficked. NHRC's affidavit filed through advocate Shobha said the states had confined to paper the guidelines for protection of children and went through the motion of filing periodic data before the commission.

On Tuesday, this made a bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justices A R Dave and Vikramjit Sen to observe, "We are dealing with a PIL concerning children, who constitute 42% of the population. But this does not seem to bother the states which are supposed to be their guardians. This is possibly because they do not have voice."

Though the Delhi government listed its initiatives, it was discernible that the number of missing children not being traced in the last five years had registered a steady increase. Another disturbing factor in the statistics was that majority of the untraced children were girls.

In 2008, a total of 413 missing children remained untraceable of which 222 were girls. Corresponding figures in the next four years are - 485 untraceable of which 213 were girls (2009), 854 of which 416 were girls (2010), 981 of which 559 were girls (2011) and 1,139 of which 623 were girls (2012).

The Sheila Dikshit government said it was pro-active in analyzing the trends in kidnapping or missing children. "Involvement of organized gangs in kidnapping or trafficking of children for any unlawful activity has so far not come to notice in Delhi," it said.

On the other hand, the NHRC was scathing in its affidavit. It recognized the importance of the issue of missing children raised by by NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan through senior advocate H S Phoolka and said, "This is high time the issue is given top-most priority by the central government, all state governments and all other government and non-government actors/stakeholders."

The commission said it had constituted a committee after the Nithari serial rape-cum-murders to address the issue of missing children. The committee had issued guidelines and sent it to all states.

"But what happens to most of the recommendations, guidelines and reports has happened to the guidelines sent by the commission. The status remains the same, the guidelines became part of record, some states have simply filled up the form and sent back to the commission, while rest still have to find time to complete the paper formality," the NHRC said.

Taking note of Phoolka's allegation that nearly 200 children went missing every day from various states and 100 remained untraceable, the bench said, "Still no one seems to be bothered about it." It listed the matter for detailed hearing on April 15.

On March 17 last year, the court had issued notices to the Centre and states on the NGO's PIL seeking an advanced scientific mechanism to investigate and recover missing children. "In India, in the period from January 2008 to January 2010, over 1.17 lakh children have gone missing in 392 districts in India. Out of them, 41,546 are still untraced," it had said.

The petitioner had sought a direction to the Union government to formulate a National Action Plan on the issue of missing children which should include investigation, recovery, counseling and standard operating procedures for law enforcing agencies on coordinating their efforts.

dhananjay.mahapatra@timesgroup.com

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New Study Analyzes Heavy Metal Dancing

Parents may never understand their rock 'n' roll loving children, but scientists might. A study published online in arXiv this week seeks to explain the "mosh pit"—using physics.

To most scientists, heavy metal refers to elements on the lower end of the periodic table. But to Jesse Silverberg and Matt Bierbaum, doctoral students at Cornell University's department of Condensed Matter Physics, the aggressive music—and the violent dancing that accompanies it—could be a key to understanding extreme situations such as riots and panicked responses to disasters.

For the past two years, Silverberg and Bierbaum have studied "moshing," at heavy metal concerts, using theories of collective motion and the physical properties of gasses to better understand the chaos of metal fans' dancing.

Moshing, for those who have never attended a heavy metal show, is a form of dancing in which participants bump, jostle, and slam into one another. It's a form of social ritual that anthropologists have likened to spirit possession in its uncontrolled, dynamic, and often violent nature.

Silverberg and Bierbaum say it can also be understood by applying models of gaseous particles. As these particles float in groups, they too run, bash, and slam into each other, sending the elements flying in chaotic patterns.

"We are interested in how humans behave in similar excited states," said Silverberg, "but it's not exactly ethical to start a riot for research."

Extreme Physics

Mosh pits provided the scientists with a way to observe excited collective movement without causing undue injury or death. Analyzing hours of recorded footage from concerts and making multiple field trips to music clubs, Silverberg and Bierbaum recognized the particulate physical patterns in the mosh pit.

Further, they differentiated two distinct forms of heavy metal dancing: the "mosh pit" itself, which follows the gaseous pattern, and the "circle pit" (where dancers run, smash, and dance in a circular rotation) within it, which adheres to a vortex pattern of particulate behavior.

Based on these observations, they created an interactive computer model depicting the behavior.

Animal Instincts

"Herd animals behave in very similar spirit—what physicists call 'flocking' behavior," said Bierbaum. (See "The Genius of Swarms," from the July 2007 issue of National Geographic magazine.)

As with groups of flying birds or schooling fish, simple rules can be applied to individuals in large groups—like moshers—to understand what seems to be very complex behavior. This makes modeling possible, allowing computers to re-create immense numbers of actions in a matter of seconds. These models can then be used to design spaces that would minimize trampling or injury, or to tailor responses to disasters like fires.

"The lessons we've learned in mosh pits [could be used] to build better stadiums, or movie theaters," Silverberg said.

James Sethna, one of the researchers' advising professors, hastened to add that his students' forays into heavy metal science "didn't start out for reasons of creating safer stadiums. We did it because it was cool and we wanted to know if we could explain human behavior—albeit slightly intoxicated behavior—without having to use complex [models]."

A longtime heavy metal fan himself, Silverberg shared which band produced the best results: "Killswitch Engage ... always gets the crowd nuts. Although of course everyone has their own favorites."

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Report Fingers Chinese Military Unit in US Hacks

A Virginia-based cyber security firm has released a new report alleging a specific Chinese military unit is likely behind one of the largest cyber espionage and attack campaigns aimed at American infrastructure and corporations.

In the report, released today by Mandiant, China's Unit 61398 is blamed for stealing "hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations" since 2006, including 115 targets in the U.S. Twenty different industrial sectors were targeted in the attacks, Mandiant said, from energy and aerospace to transportation and financial institutions.

Mandiant believes it has tracked Unit 61398 to a 12-story office building in Shanghai that could employ hundreds of workers.

"Once [Unit 61398] has established access [to a target network], they periodically revisit the victim's network over several months or years and steal broad categories of intellectual property, including technology blueprints, proprietary manufacturing processes, test results, business plans, pricing documents, partnership agreements, and emails and contact lists from victim organizations' leadership," the report says.

The New York Times, which first reported on the Mandiant paper Monday, said digital forensic evidence presented by Mandiant pointing to the 12-story Shangai building as the likely source of the attacks has been confirmed by American intelligence officials. Mandiant was the firm that The Times said helped them investigate and eventually repel cyber attacks on their own systems in China last month.

Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied involvement in cyber intrusions and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said today that the claims in the Mandiant report were unsupported, according to a report by The Associated Press.

"To make groundless accusations based on some rough material is neither responsible nor professional," he reportedly said.

Mandiant's report was released a week after President Obama said in his State of the Union address that America must "face the rapidly growing threat from cyber attack."

"We know hackers steal people's identities and infiltrate private e-mail. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy," he said.

Though Obama did not reference China or any country specifically, U.S. officials have previously accused the Asian nation of undertaking a widespread cyber espionage campaign.

Referring to alleged Chinese hacking in October 2011, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said in an open committee meeting that he did not believe "that there is a precedent in history for such a massive and sustained intelligence effort by a government agency to blatantly steal commercial data and intellectual property."

Rogers said that cyber intrusions into American and other Western corporations by hackers working on behalf of Beijing -- allegedly including attacks on corporate giants like Google and Lockheed Martin -- amounted to "brazen and widespread theft."

"The Chinese have proven very, very good at hacking their way into very large American companies that spend a lot of money trying to protect themselves," cyber security expert and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke said in an interview last week.

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Greater US military role in Mali likely after polls: senator

BAMAKO: The United States is likely to play a more active military role in Mali, where French-led forces are battling Islamist rebels, after the country holds elections, the chair of a key Senate sub-committee said Monday.

Washington has been providing intelligence, transport and mid-air refuelling to France, which launched its intervention last month, but cannot work directly with the Malian army until a democratically elected government replaces current leaders who came to power after a coup, said Christopher Coons, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee's Africa sub-committee.

"There is the hope that there will be additional support from the United States in these and other areas, but ... American law prohibits direct assistance to the Malian military following the coup," Coons told journalists in the Malian capital.

"After there is a full restoration of democracy, I would think it is likely that we will renew our direct support for the Malian military," added the senator, who led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mali to meet with interim president Dioncounda Traore and French and African defence officials.

US military aid to Mali before the March 2012 coup consisted largely of training and equipment such as vehicles, a State Department official said.

But military assistance "would obviously be resumed in a way commensurate with the current needs. Priorities would have shifted a bit," the official added.

"There could be other kinds of assistance that had there not been a coup we could have provided, or requests for things now that we can't provide."

Some US lawmakers criticised President Barack Obama's administration last week for not doing more to help France in Mali.

"This is a NATO ally fighting Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists -- it shouldn't be that hard," said House foreign affairs committee chairman Ed Royce.

The hint of greater US involvement after elections adds to the complicated calculus of picking a date for the polls.

Traore, the interim president, has said he wants elections by July 31.

But critics say that is too soon given the problems Mali still faces, including ongoing insurgent attacks, a deeply divided military and hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their homes.

The minister responsible for organising the elections, Territorial Administration Minister Moussa Sinko Coulibaly, said last week the timeline "can be changed if necessary".

France, which launched its intervention on January 11 as Al-Qaeda-linked groups that had occupied the north for 10 months made incursions into government territory, is keen to share the military burden in Mali, and has announced plans to start bringing its 4,000 troops home in March.

The European Union formally approved a military training mission Monday that will be tasked with getting Mali's under-funded army ready to secure reclaimed territory.

But France is the only Western country with combat troops on the ground, and would like to hand over to some 6,000 west African troops who are slowly being deployed to help.

Mali imploded after a coup by soldiers who blamed the government for the army's humiliation at the hands of separatist rebels in the north.

With the capital in disarray, Al-Qaeda-linked fighters hijacked the independence rebellion and took control of a territory larger than Texas.

-AFP/ac

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