India extends $10m development aid to Palestine; three pacts inked

NEW DELHI, Sept 11: India extended development assistance of US $ 10 million to Palestine and extended support to its bid for a full United Nations membership, both countries also signed three pacts to enhance bilateral cooperation.

The MoUs have been signed to establish India-Palestine centre of Excellence in Information and communication technology, for providing vocational training and construction of two schools.

Under the MOU's the Jawaharlal Nehru Secondary School for Girls in Asera Al Shamalyeh and the Jawaharlal Nehru Secondary School for boys in Abu Dees will be constructed and equipped to impart education.

The pacts were signed by External Affairs Minister S.M Krishna and M S Erakat, Executive committee Member of PLO, after delegation level talks between the visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Addressing a joint press conference, after signing of MOU's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated India's support to the Palestine cause and full membership in the United Nations for Palestine.

Singh said India will continue to support the developmental needs of Palestine.

The PM said, during his talks with President Mahmoud Abbas both leaders exchanged views on developments in the Gulf region and agreed that a political solution has to be found in a peaceful manner.

Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas said, India has been shoulder to shoulder with Palestine since the problem began, and the greatness of the country is reflected in the views of New Delhi's leadership.

Abbas voiced concern on the settlement plans in Jerusalem and killing of civilians in Gaza, and briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the latest developments in the West Asia peace process.

He thanked India for its support for the Palestine cause and a peaceful and negotiated settlement. He also extended an invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Palestine at will.

Earlier, the visiting Palestine President Mohmoud Abbass was accorded a ceremonial reception at the forecourts of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday morning.

He also held talks with External Affairs Minister S.M Krishna on bilateral and regional issues.

Britain under pressure on Assange case

LONDON, Aug 20: Britain came under pressure on Monday after Ecuador's South American neighbours backed Quito's decision to grant Julian Assange asylum, but he remained a virtual prisoner in its London embassy.

The WikiLeaks founder made a defiant appearance from the balcony of the Ecuador embassy yesterday, accusing the United States of conducting a "witch hunt" against his websites and praising Ecuador's "courage".

Foreign ministers of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), meeting in Ecuador's biggest city Guayaquil, expressed "solidarity" with the decision to grant asylum to the former computer hacker whose anti-secrecy website has enraged Washington.

They also declared support for Ecuador over the "threat of violation of its diplomatic mission", a reference to Britain highlighting an obscure 1987 law under which its police could enter the embassy and extract Assange.

A joint statement at the end of the meeting did however urge Ecuador and Britain "to pursue dialogue in search of a mutually acceptable solution".

Assange yesterday called for US soldier Bradley Manning, the alleged source of the trove of secret government documents leaked by WikiLeaks, to be released from a military prison, claiming he had undergone harsh treatment in detention.

Addressing around 200 of his supporters who came to hear the speech in an upmarket district of London, Assange criticised the suggestion that Britain could revoke the embassy's diplomatic status and enter the building.

"If the UK did not throw away the Vienna Conventions the other night, that is because the world was watching," he claimed.

He also alleged that on the day before he was granted asylum he could hear "teams of police swarming up into the building through its internal fire escape".

India asks Pak to crackdown on those spreading panic

NEW DELHI, Aug 19: India on Sunday asked Pakistan to crackdown on elements based in that country who were using social media networking sites to whip up communal sentiments and create scare among people of northeastern region living across India.

During a telephonic conversation with his counterpart Rehman Malik, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde expressed concern over the issue of social media-networking sites being misused by elements based in Pakistan to circulate false pictures and stories so as to whip up communal sentiments in India.

In the first direct contact between the two Ministers, Shinde sought Pakistan's cooperation in checking and neutralising such elements.

Yesterday, Union Home Secretary R K Singh had said that bulk of the rumours that triggered panic among people of Northeastern states in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra were sourced from Pakistan.

"A total of 76 websites were identified where morphed images were uploaded and bulk of these were uploaded in Pakistan", Singh had said.

Malik, who telephoned Shinde to convey Eid greetings, briefly spoke of the pending issues between the Home and Interior Ministries of the two countries and reiterated his commitment to bring the masterminds and perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to justice, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

Both have agreed to continue the mutual cooperation and to work towards rooting out terrorism in all its form and manifestation.

Shinde thanked Malik and conveyed his Eid wishes to him and the people of Pakistan.

Shinde hoped that the occasion would herald an improvement in Indo-Pak relations.

Malik also invited Shinde to visit Pakistan to sign the revised Visa agreement which has now been agreed to by both sides.

Diplomatic row as Ecuador grants asylum to Assange

LONDON, Aug 16: Ecuador on Thursday granted political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, setting stage for an unprecedented diplomatic stand-off with the UK, which has threatened to extradite him to Sweden come what may.

Two months after he dramatically sought refuge in its embassy in London to evade extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault charges, Ecuador today said it had decided to take Assange under its wing over fears that he might eventually be sent to the US to face "military courts".

Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said at a news conference in the Ecuador capital that Sweden, Britain and the US had failed to provide guarantees that the 41-year-old Australian will not be extradited to the US from Sweden.

"The Ecuador government, loyal to its tradition to protect those who seek refuge with us at our diplomatic missions, has decided to grant diplomatic asylum to Mr Assange," he said.

Following the announcement, Britain said it was a "disappointing" decision but insisted London was under "obligation" to extradite the whistleblower to Sweden.

"We shall carry out that obligation. The Ecuadorian government's decision this afternoon does not change that," said a Foreign Office spokeswoman, making it clear that getting an asylum was not an end to Assange's woes.

Earlier, Britain said it had powers under the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act, 1987, to withdraw the embassy's diplomatic status and then enter the building to arrest Assange and extradite him to Sweden.

Ecuador had said that Britian was threatening to "assault our embassy" if Assange was not haned over.

An unprecedented diplomatic row has arisen from Ecuador's decision as Assange remains on British police's radar whose personnel are positioned right outside the embassy to arrest him as soon as he steps out.

Assange, who has ruffled many feathers by publishing classified diplomatic correspondence of the United States and other countries, expressed his delight after an angry Patino announced the decision on his asylum application.

Assange said: "It is a significant victory for myself, and my people. Things will probably get more stressful now," as supporters debated the ways in which he could leave the embassy and fly to Ecuador without being arrested by the British police.

Experts said there were virtually no precedents to such a diplomatic impasse, but cited the case of a Hungarian priest who stayed in the US embassy in Budapest for nearly 15 years following the Hungarian uprising in 1956.

The Foreign Office said: "We are disappointed by Ecuador's foreign minister. We remain committed to a negotiated solution that allows us to carry out our obligations under the Extradition Act".

"Under our law, with Mr Assange having exhausted all options of appeal UK authorities are under binding obligation to extradite him to Sweden".

The Foreign Office said it was "still committed to reaching a mutually acceptable solution", and added that throughout it had drawn Ecuador's attention to relevant provisions of British law.

Earlier, a number of Assange's supporters gathered outside the embassy this morning and shouted slogans in support of Ecuador and Assange. Three persons were arrested this morning in a scuffle between the police and Assange's supporters.

WikiLeaks condemned "in strongest possible terms the UK's resort to intimidation", and added: "Any transgression against the sanctity of the embassy is a unilateral and shameful act, and a violation of the Vienna Convention, which protects embassies worldwide".

Suicide bomber kills Syrian Defence Minister, deputy

DAMASCUS, July 18: Syria's defence minister and President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law were killed in a Damascus suicide bomb attack carried out by a bodyguard, the worst blow to Assad's high command in the country's 16-month-old rebellion.

The bomber, said by a security source to be a bodyguard assigned to Assad's inner circle, struck a meeting in central Damascus attended by ministers and senior security officials as battles raged within sight of the nearby presidential palace.

Washington, which fears a spillover into neighbouring states, said the situation seemed to be spinning out of control.

State television said Defence Minister Daoud Rajha and Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, the deputy defence minister, had been killed in a "terrorist bombing" and pledged to wipe out the "criminal gangs" responsible.

A Syrian security source confirmed Shawkat, 62, - a pillar of Assad's rule - had been killed and said General Hassan Turkmani, a former defence minister and senior military official, had died later of his wounds.

Intelligence chief Hisham Bekhtyar and Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar were also wounded, security sources said.

The men form the core of a military crisis unit led by Assad to take charge of crushing the revolt which grew out of a popular protests inspired by Arab Spring uprisings that unseated leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Assad has not appeared in public since the attack or made any statement, but security sources said he was not at the meeting where it took place.

The armed forces chief of staff, Fahad Jassim al-Freij, quickly took over as defence minister to giving avoid any impression of official paralysis.

"This cowardly terrorist act will not deter our men in the armed forces from continuing their sacred mission of pursuing the remnants of these armed terrorist criminal gangs," Freij said on state television. "They will cut off every hand that tries to hurt the security of the nation or its citizens."

The explosion appeared to be part of a coordinated assault on the fourth day of fighting in the capital which rebel fighters have called the "liberation of Damascus" after months of clashes which activists say have killed more than 17,000 people.

It began early on Wednesday with fighting around an army barracks in the district of Dummar, hundreds of meters from the presidential palace, and was followed by blasts close to the base of the elite 4th armoured division in the southwest. The unit, led by Assad's brother Maher, has been instrumental in crushing protests around Syria.

"This is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, calling for maximum global pressure on Assad to step down.

Western leaders fear the conflict could destabilise Syria's neighbours - Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan.

Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi blamed Western and Sunni Arab governments for the crisis. "They are responsible for every drop of blood. And they will be accountable," he said.

"I stress to them that this is the decisive battle in all of Syria," Zoabi said on state television.

Rebels say they have brought reinforcements from outside the city to end four decades of rule by the Assad family by attacking the power base of the ruling elite for the first time.

Syrian forces hit rebel positions across the capital after the attack on the security meeting, with activists saying government troops and pro-government militia were flooding in.

The army barracks near the "palace of the people", a huge Soviet-style complex overlooking the city from the district of Dummar, came under rebel fire around 7.30 a.m. (0430 GMT), activists and a resident said.

"I could hear the sound of small arms fire, and explosions are getting louder and louder from the direction of the barracks," Yasmine, an architect, said by telephone from Dummar.

Dummar is a secure area containing many auxiliary installations for the presidential palace and the barracks is just hundreds of meters from the palace itself.

Two rebel groups claimed the attack on the security meeting.

"This is the volcano we talked about, we have just started," said Qassim Saadedine, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, a group of army defectors and Sunni youths.

Liwa al-Islam, an Islamist rebel group whose name means "The Brigade of Islam", said it had carried out the attack after weeks of planning and gave a different version of events.

"Our men managed to plant improvised explosives in the building for the meeting. We had been planning this for over a month," a spokesman for the group, who asked to be identified as Abu Ammar, said by telephone.

State television said earlier that it was a suicide bombing.

"The terrorist explosion which targeted the national security building in Damascus occurred during a meeting of ministers and a number of heads of (security) agencies," it said.

Fighting also erupted overnight in the southern neighbourhoods of Asali and Qadam, and Hajar al-Aswad and Tadamun - mainly Sunni Muslim districts housing Damascenes and Palestinian refugees.

Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has held power in Syria since a 1963 coup.

It has endured more than a year of rebellion but recent high level defections signalled support beginning to fall away.

Two Syrian brigadier-generals were among 600 Syrians who fled from Syria to Turkey overnight, a Turkish official said on Wednesday, bringing the number of Syrian generals sheltering in Turkey to 20, including a retired general.

In Damascus, government troops used heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns against rebels moving deep in residential neighbourhoods, armed mostly with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

Rebels directed their fire overnight at a large state facility turned headquarters for pro-Assad militia, known as shabbiha, drawn mainly from Alawite enclaves in nearby hills.

Army tanks and anti-aircraft guns, used as an infantry weapon, took positions in the northern neighbourhood of Barzeh, where hundreds of families from the neighbouring district of Qaboun are seeking shelter.

"Anti-aircraft guns are firing at Qaboun from Barzeh. There are lots of families in the streets with no place to stay. They came from Qaboun and from the outskirts of Barzeh," said Bassem, one of the activists, speaking by telephone from Barzeh.

In the central neighbourhood of Midan tanks and infantry fighting vehicles known as BDMs took positions in main thoroughfares and sporadic fighting was reported.

"Armour have not been able to enter the alleyways and old streets of Midan. The neighbourhoods of old Zahra and the old area near Majed mosque are in the hands of the rebels," said Abu Mazen, an activist in the district.

Rebel fighters have called the intensified guerrilla attacks in recent days, which have targeted shabbiha buses, unmarked intelligence patrols and armoured vehicles in the capital, the battle "for the liberation of Damascus".

But senior opposition figures took a more nuanced view.

"It is going to be difficult to sustain supply lines and the rebels may have to make a tactical withdrawal at one point, like they did in other cities," veteran opposition activist Fawaz Tello said from Istanbul.

"But what is clear is that Damascus has joined the revolt," Tello, a Damascene, told Reuters. "By hitting well known Sunni districts of the city, such as Midan, the regime is exposing the sectarian nature of the crackdown."

The United Nations Security Council was scheduled to vote later on Wednesday in New York on a Western-backed resolution that threatens Assad's government with sanctions unless he stops using heavy weapons in towns and cities. Russia has declared it will block the move.

Fukushima was 'man-made' disaster: Japanese probe

TOKYO, July 7: Last year's Fukushima nuclear accident was a man-made disaster caused by Japan's culture of "reflexive obedience" and not just the tsunami that hit the plant, a damning parliamentary report said today.

Ingrained collusion between plant operator Tokyo Electric Power, the government and regulators, combined with a lack of any effective oversight led directly to the worst nuclear accident in a generation, the report said.

"They effectively betrayed the nation's right to be safe from nuclear accidents. Therefore, we conclude that the accident was clearly 'man-made'," said the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission.

"We believe that the root causes were the organisational and regulatory systems that supported faulty rationales for decisions and actions," it said.

The probe is the third of its kind in Japan since the huge tsunami of March 2011 crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. Reactors went into meltdown, sending clouds of radiation over a wide area, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes, some possibly forever.

An earlier report by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) had all but cleared the huge utility, saying the size of the earthquake and tsunami was beyond all expectations and could not reasonably have been foreseen.

But an independent group of scholars and journalists, who reported their findings in February, said TEPCO could and should have done more.

It also said that had the company had its way, its staff would have been evacuated from the crippled plant and the catastrophe could have spiralled even further out of control.

In his straight-talking preface to the more than 600-page report, panel chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa said difficult lessons that go to the heart of the national character had to be learned from the catastrophe.

"What must be admitted -very painfully is that this was a disaster 'Made in Japan'," he wrote.

Annan 'gravely concerned' over rising violence in Syria

NEW YORK, June 12: International envoy Kofi Annan says he is "gravely concerned" over rising violence in Syria and reports that civilians are trapped in cities besieged by government forces.

Annan has cited reports that Syrian government forces have used heavy weapons, including mortars, helicopters, and tanks, to attack opposition areas.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department expressed "deep alarm" over the situation and warned there were indications the Syrian government may be organizing a massacre in pro-opposition areas.

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the deaths of nearly 80 civilians and more than 20 Syrian troops on June 11.

The tally could not be independently confirmed.

Both the government and rebel sides have ignored an internationally backed cease-fire deal that was supposed to go into effect in mid-April.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has placed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime on a list of governments that recruit, kill, or torture children in armed conflicts.

A new UN report says Syrians as young as 9 have been victims of killing and maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, and sexual violence.

The report is based on interviews by UN monitors with children and former soldiers in Syria.

It says children were placed on Syrian Army tanks to be used as human shields in battles against opposition forces.

It says children with the scars of torture described being beaten, blindfolded, subjected to stress positions, whipped with heavy cables, burned with cigarettes, and subjected to electrical shocks during interrogations.

The report criticized opposition forces for using children to carry water and medical supplies in battles.

Emergency declared in western Myanmar

JUNE 11: Myanmar’s President Thein Sein has declared a state of emergency in a western state where sectarian tensions between Buddhists and Muslims have unleashed deadly violence.

He warned that if the situation spun out of control, it could jeopardize the democratic reforms he has been instituting since taking office last year.

It is the first time Thein Sein has invoked the measure since becoming president. A state of emergency effectively allows the military to take over administrative functions for Rakhine State, a coastal region that borders Bangladesh.

The move follows rioting on Friday in two Rakhine areas that state media say left at least seven people dead and 17 wounded, and saw hundreds of houses burned down.

The unrest spread on Saturday and Sunday, though order was said to have been restored in the areas shaken by Friday's violence.

Thein Sein said that the violence in Rakhine State was fanned by dissatisfaction harbored by different religious and ethnic groups, hatred and the desire for vengeance.

"If this endless anarchic vengeance and deadly acts continue, there is the danger of them spreading to other parts and being overwhelmed by subversive influences. If that happens, it can severely affect peace and tranquillity and our nascent democratic reforms and the development of the country.", he said.

The accounts in state media blamed Friday's rioting in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships on 1,000 "terrorists," but residents' accounts made clear they were Muslims.

The unrest seemed to be a reaction to the June 3 lynching of 10 Muslims by a crowd of 300 Buddhists. The lynch mob was apparently provoked by leaflets discussing the rape and murder last month of a Buddhist girl, allegedly by three Muslim men.

The violence reflects long-standing tensions in Rakhine state between Buddhist residents and Muslims, many of whom are considered to be illegal settlers from neighboring Bangladesh.

Myanmar's government does not recognize the Muslims in the area, who term themselves Rohingyas, as one of the country's national minorities.

Although the basic problem is a local one, there is fear that the trouble could spread elsewhere because the split also runs along religious lines.

"I would like to call upon the people, political parties, religious leaders and the media to join hands with the government with a sense of duty, to help restore peace and stability and to prevent further escalation of violence," Thein Sein added.

Iran, UN reach tentative Nuclear pact

AMMAN (Jordan), May 22: The head of the United Nation's nuclear watchdog said he reached a tentative agreement with Tehran that would allow international inspectors access to sites, scientists and documents the West believes to be related to an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program.

The announcement in Vienna Tuesday by Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, marks a potential breakthrough in a nearly decadelong effort to contain Iran's nuclear program, say U.S. and European officials. And it could buttress talks set to start Wednesday in Baghdad between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, which are centered on Tehran's nuclear program.

Still, the Obama administration quickly voiced skepticism toward the tentative IAEA deal, noting Tehran's history of allowing verification, and then backing out once international pressure eased.

Some U.S. officials said they worried Iran was appearing to accede to Western demands, after stonewalling the IAEA, in order to avert a European oil embargo that is set to go into effect on July 1. They also said Tehran's moves could be aimed at dividing the international diplomatic bloc that is traveling to Baghdad, in particular Russia and China, which have both have expressed opposition to sanctions on Iran.

"While we appreciate the efforts by Director General Amano to conclude a substantive agreement, we remain concerned by the urgent obligation for Iran to take concrete steps to cooperate fully with the verification," said Robert Wood, the U.S.'s No. 2 diplomat at its IAEA mission. "We urge Iran to take this opportunity to resolve all outstanding concerns about the nature of its nuclear program."

Mr. Amano made a surprise trip to Tehran this week in an attempt to put in place a work plan to address the IAEA's concerns about suspected Iranian nuclear-weapons work.

The Japanese diplomat's relations with Iran frayed after he released a report in November that outlined alleged Iranian efforts to develop the technologies used in making atomic weapons, including triggering devices and miniaturized warheads. Iran has repeatedly denied it is developing a weapons program and says the information Mr. Amano gathered was fabricated.

Since then, Mr. Amano has sought to visit facilities inside Iran believed to be involved in nuclear-weapons work, including a military site south of Tehran called Parchin. He also has sought to meet with nuclear scientists the agency and the West believes to be involved in a covert weapons program and to corroborate documents gathered by the IAEA.

Iran has regularly rebuffed the agency's requests, including two in January and February to visit Parchin. But Mr. Amano said on Tuesday that he and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, agreed on a detailed approach to resolving these issues.

"The decision was made by me and Mr. Jalili to reach agreement on the structured approach," Mr. Amano said upon landing in Vienna from Iran. "Mr. Jalili elaborated that the existing difference will not be the obstacle for agreement."

Mr. Amano's comments, however, quickly drew skepticism in Washington and Brussels as he said that "differences" still remained and that no documents have yet been signed.

"At this stage I can say it will be signed quite soon, but I cannot say how soon it will be, and in a few days it will be clarified," Mr. Amano said.

Two NRIs jailed for UK visa scam

LONDON: Two men of Indian origin, who accumulated over 800,000 pounds from an immigration scam that involved setting up three bogus companies as fronts to help people stay in the UK illegally, have been jailed for a total of 11 years.

Solicitor Srinath Aredla, 39, and Santosh Koletti, 33 who lived in Hounslow, West London, set up three bogus companies that issued payslips and wage payments to their clients, making it appear that they had well paid jobs.

This documentation was then used to support applications to stay in the UK as highly skilled migrants.

The applications were submitted by Aredla who worked as a solicitor, a Home office release said.

Aredla was sentenced at the Isleworth Crown Court to six and a half years while Koletti was jailed for four and a half years.

The two were arrested in August 2011. The scam was detected when the UK Border Agency noticed a large number of applications from employees of the same group of companies that were being dealt with by the same solicitor.

Officers recovered documentation and passports linking the men to visa applications that were in progress.

Enquiries revealed that a large amount of money had gone through their bank accounts.

Twenty-one people who are known to have been clients of Aredla and Koletti have already been removed from the UK, the release said.

Last week, an Indian citizen who arrived as a student in 2000 and went on to perpetuate a series of immigration scams to earn hundreds of thousands of pounds by helping many Indian citizens and others to stay in Britain illegally, was jailed for 10 years.

Vijay Sorthia, 35, is to be deported to India at the end of his 10-year sentence, while his wife, Bhawna Sorthia, 31, who helped him carry out the scams, was jailed for 15 months, and also faces deportation to India.

India resists US pressure to restrict energy ties with Iran

NEW DELHI, May 8: Resisting US pressure to further scale down oil imports from sanction-hit Iran, India on Tuesday made it clear that it has to look at the issue involved beyond the energy trade as it has "vital" security stakes in the Gulf region.

After talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during which she asked India to restrict its trade and energy ties with Tehran, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said, "I conveyed our vital stakes in peace and stability in the Persian Gulf and wider West Asian region, given the six million Indians who live there and the regions importance to our economy."

Clinton, who is in New Delhi on her last leg of three-nation Asia tour, has been pressing India to "do more" to scale down its oil imports from Iran to keep pressure on Tehran to meet international demands on its disputed nuclear programme.

Addressing a joint press interaction, Krishna said, "Iran is a key country for our energy needs but we have to look at the Iran issue beyond the issue of energy trade. In the first place, we have to see security and stability in the Gulf region, India has vital stakes in Gulf region....

"It is one of the critical destinations for our external trade," he said, while noting that India's exports to that region was about USD 100 billion and oil imports stood at 60 percent.

India has been asking Tehran to abide by its international obligations as non-nuclear weapons state under the Non-Proliferation Treaty but has maintained that it has a right to pursue nuclear activities for peaceful purposes.

"We also discussed the importance of peaceful settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations, based on the position that Iran has rights as a member of NPT, but it must also abide by its obligations as a non-nuclear weapons state under the NPT," Krishna said.

The minister also noted that "the issue (Iran) was not a source of discord" between the US and India.

Maintaining that only a "continued and relentless" pressure on Iran on its nuclear programme will bring it to the "negotiating" table, Clinton said both the US and India have same goal of preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

"The best way to achieve this diplomatic tool, that we all seek, is for the international community to stay united and to keep the pressure that has brought Iran back to the negotiating table... till we reach a peaceful resolution," she said while noting the efforts of P5+1 (Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States plus Germany) to engage with Iran.

She also welcomed the steps taken by the Indian refineries (companies) to reduce the import of oil from Iran while asserting that US believes that any "easing or waiver" in the international pressure will fail to bring Tehran to the negotiating table.

India's top oil importers have reduced Iranian oil imports by 15-20 percent. Crude imports from Iran fell to 18.5 million tonnes in 2010-11 from 21.2 million tonnes in 2009-10.

Last fiscal (2011-12), Iranian oil imports dropped to less than 16 million tonnes. This year they may further come down to 14 million tonnes.

India's top importers - Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and Essar Oil-- have plans to cut Iranian oil imports this fiscal.

MRPL plans to reduce Iranian oil buy to less than 100,000 barrels per day from 142,000 bpd while Essar Oil plans a 15 per cent cut to 85,000 bpd from 100,000 bpd.

Clinton said the US is also working with India to enhance alternative energy sources and in this regard US Energy Coordinator Ambassador Carlos Pascual along with an expert team will visit India next week for further discussion.

Era of wars has ended, ready to resolve issues: Gilani

ISLAMABAD, April 22: The era of wars has ended and Pakistan is prepared to resolve all outstanding issues with India, including the Kashmir dispute and terrorism, through talks, PM Yousuf Raza Gilani has said.

"The era of wars has ended. We are ready to sit and resolve all core issues whether it is Kashmir, Sir Creek, Siachen, water or terrorism at the negotiating table," Gilani said while addressing a conference on the role of NGOs in the development of Pakistan.

Instead of trying to resolve issues through force, the government has adopted a policy of progress and negotiations, he said in Islamabad on Monday.

A hand of friendship had been extended to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he added.

Noting that people had been talking of the need to withdraw troops from Siachen following an avalanche that hit a Pakistan Army camp and buried 138 people, Gilani said Islamabad is ready for talks with New Delhi on all core issues.

The premier contended that the basic causes of terrorism and extremism were illiteracy and poverty.

India and Pakistan resumed their peace process last year after a gap of over two years in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Since then, the two sides have taken several steps to normalise relations, especially in the field of trade.

President Asif Ali Zardari went to India on a day-long private visit a day after the avalanche slammed into a high-altitude Pakistan Army camp in the Siachen sector on 7th April.

He met Indian Prime Minister Singh, who called for practical and pragmatic solutions to the problems between the two countries.

Following a visit to the Siachen sector on 18th April, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani called for all issues between India and Pakistan to be resolved to ensure peaceful co-existence which would allow the two countries to focus on development.

He further said Pakistan hoped the Siachen issue is "resolved so that both the countries don't have to pay the cost".

India pitches for membership of global non-proliferation regimes

NEW DELHI, April 18: India on Wednesday made the most persuasive case for India's "full membership" of the global non-proliferation regimes. In a major policy statement, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai told a gathering of nuclear experts that "the logical conclusion of partnership with India is its full membership of the four multilateral regimes."

Mathai, unusually, gave a detailed exposition of India's own strategic export control regime, national laws governing trade in sensitive items and its enforcement mechanisms. The aim, said officials, was to be more open about India's own efforts and systems while making a more compelling case for New Delhi's membership to the non-proliferation regimes. India's efforts to join the four top non-proliferation regimes - Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Missile Technology Control regime (MTCR), Australia Group and Wassenaar Arrangement - started out in November 2010, but the campaign is yet to acquire critical mass.

While India is yet to make a formal application to join the regimes, its proposed membership has started a debate in these clubs. Over the next few months, all four clubs will be holding their plenary sessions where the Indian case will figure prominently. The government believes the top diplomat's statement today will provide an impetus to India's case and stir the debate. Another complaint has been about India's almost brahminical approach to what its doing in the non-proliferation field. Thus far, there has been little attempt by the Indian government to explain its non-proliferation objectives, systems and mechanisms to the world. With Mathai's speech, the government is also trying to clear the cobwebs about itself to the world.

In the months since November 2010, when India made a bid to join these groups, India has held several "outreach" sessions with all four. Mathai said he was in Vienna in March for the NSG outreach, while he expected to conduct an Australia Group outreach within the next few weeks. But its now being felt in the government that the Indian campaign has to move into higher gear. Today was a sort of opening salvo. Mathai clarified India has placed 12 out of 14 of its nuclear reactors under international safeguards, which puts India well within the deadline for compliance with its separation plan. He also reiterated India's commitment to ratify the additional protocol which envisages more intrusive checks into India's civilian nuclear sector.

India's membership is not an easy decision. First, there is an NPT adherence that is seen as crucial criteria. India has not signed the NPT and is not likely to do so, as a non-nuclear weapons state. So India's membership into these groups would have to take this refusal into account. Trying to transcend this hurdle, Mathai suggested they look at the bigger picture. "There are underlying objectives and principles that are common to all the regimes to which India subscribes to fully as it has demonstrated responsible non-proliferation and export control practices and has shown the ability and willingness to contribute substantially to global non-proliferation objectives." Whether this is acceptable is not yet clear. Although India wants to join with the four regimes in tandem, the NSG is believed to be the more important one. This year, India believes that with the US at the helm of NSG, its case might be easier.

Mathai said India, has the ability to produce and manufacture a large portion of the products that are controlled by these regimes. "As India's integration with the global supply chains moves forward, it would be in the interest of the four regimes that India's exports are subject to the same framework as other major supplier countries." It effectively puts the onus elsewhere - that outside the club, India can still manufacture sensitive items and they would be unregulated by the non-proliferation regimes. This should be a powerful argument for India being inside the tent. Of course, he left unsaid the fact that China's decision to supply nuclear reactors to Pakistan without the NSG waiver, has actually emasculated the global body.

Instead, Mathai interestingly placed India's actions and objectives of strong export control systems within India's development matrix. "As India's integration with global trade patterns and supply chains deepens, it would increasingly become an important hub of manufacturing and export of high technology items. Foreign investment including through offsets for governmental procurement will strengthen our global links. Our export control system would add to the reliability and credibility of Indian companies in the global market and thus increase their competitive edge."

The foreign secretary added, "India has continued with its policy of refraining from transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies (ENR) to states that do not possess them and supporting international efforts to limit their spread." While India might be fully in compliance, the NSG has adopted a guideline that prevents ENR technologies from going to non-NPT states. This would put India out of the box. The current negotiations are trying to square that circle. Mathai said India supports the IAEA's fuel-bank resolution and pitched to become a supplier state. Obviously, India cannot be a full supplier if it cannot access latest ENR technologies.

India, he said, not only had a series of legislative tools to control sensitive trade - from Atomic Energy Act, Customs Act of 1962 to the WMD Act of 2005 - to a robust enforcement mechanism. Mathai said, "DGFT is in the process of introducing by June this year an online application system that would not only further ease the application process but also facilitate implementation." He added, "We view a strong and effective national export control system as an essential link between our broader national security goals and our wider foreign policy objectives."

Syria declares halt to military operations

DAMASCUS, April 12: The Syrian defence ministry said Wednesday that it will cease military operations against rebel fighters from Thursday, the day set by peace envoy Kofi Annan as a deadline to halt hostilities, state television reported.

"After our armed forces completed successful operations in combating the criminal acts of the armed terrorist groups and enforced the state's rule over its territory, it has been decided to stop these operations from Thursday morning," the television quoted a ministry official it did not identify as saying.

The report, however, said Syria reserves the right to respond to any aggression.

In a similar announcement, Annan said he has been informed by the Syrian government that it will “cease all military fighting throughout Syrian territory” as of 6 a.m. Damascus time (8.30 a.m. IST) on Thursday.

Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement on Wednesday that the letter from Syria’s Foreign Minister said the government reserves “the right to respond proportionately to any attacks carried out by armed terrorist groups against civilians, government forces or public and private property.”

Fawzi said Annan will continue to work with the Syrian government on implementation of his six-point plan to end the more than yearlong conflict in which more than 9,000 people have been killed, according to the U.N.

Pak denial on Hafiz Saeed will not exonerate him: SM Krishna

NEW DELHI: Bilateral issues are likely to be discussed when Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari visits India on Sunday, external affairs minister SM Krishna said on Friday while asking Islamabad to probe Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed's role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

"We have been saying that the dossier the home minister of India has provided to Pakistan contains every detail of Hafiz Saeed's involvement in the planning and execution of the terror attack," Krishna said here.

The US had on Monday announced an award of $10 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed. Pakistan said it cannot take action against Saeed in the absence of "solid evidence".

But Krishna said: "The amount of denial would not exonerate them unless there is a judicial inquiry into the whole episode whereby responsibilities can be fixed. But unfortunately, the Pakistan government has not thought it proper to investigate this."

Zardari will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the latter's official residence and have lunch with him before flying to Ajmer to offer prayers at the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti on Sunday.

"All bilateral issues between the two countries are likely to be discussed. I don't know if they will have enough time to go into details, but the very fact theprime minister is hosting a lunch, they might get a chance to discuss some bilateral issues," Krishna told reporters.

Krishna said India-Pakistan bilateral relations were looking up and talks would eventually resolves issues.

"In the last three years, especially during (Pakistan) foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar's visit to India, she told me and the media that there is a mindset change in Pakistan and she brings that mindset in bilateral talks to India," he added.

Kazakhstan not to provide territory for anti-iran military attacks

ASTANA, April 5: Kazakhstan would not allow its territory to be used for military operation against Iran, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said here Wednesday.

"Irresponsible media statements and insinuations, claiming that Kazakhstan`s territory and air space could be used by foreign countries for military purposes against third countries, are absolutely unfounded," Abibullayev Altai said in a statement.

According to Altai, Kazakhstan, as a responsible entity in international relations and a leader in the field of nuclear disarmament, "has consistently supported and will act exclusively for a peaceful and diplomatic settlement of the situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear program."

Indo-Vietnam trade to reach 7 billion dollars by 2015

NEW DELHI, April 6: The two-way trade between India and Vietnam is likely to reach seven billion dollars by 2015 from four billion dollars last year, Indian ambassador Ranjit Rae said today.

Till December last year, Indian companies had invested 790 million dollars in 78 projects currently underway in Vietnam, he said at an international exposition being held in Hanoi from April 4 to 7.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has mounted a 50-member business delegation including representatives of Indian large companies involved in agro-processing, ICT, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, engineering, handicrafts and textiles to participate in the Vietnam International Expo 2012.

Mr Rae said both countries plan to open direct air routes with signing of a memorandum of understanding between Vietnam Airlines and Jet Airways. India will also open a cultural centre in Hanoi and has committed to assist Vietnam in restoration and conservation of the UNESCO world heritage site of Champa Civilisation at My Son with a grant of three million dollars.

ASSOCHAM’s initiative to promote bilateral trade and investment opportunities comes as India seeks greater economic engagement with ASEAN countries, said Mr Shantanu Srivastava, chairman of the chamber’s India-ASEAN Business Promotion Council. The country is among Vietnam’s top ten trading partners.
“India sees Vietnam as the main destination for investors in southeast Asia and has interests in agriculture, food processing, plastics, paper, minerals, oil and steel,” he added.

The country last year endorsed a scheme to extend preferential credit to Vietnamese companies for import of goods and services. The EXIM Bank of India extended credit to those executing projects in oil and gas, infrastructure and power sectors.

ASSOCHAM has a memorandum of understanding with the Vietnam Chambers of Commerce and Industry to mount business promotion activities between the two countries.

Vietnamese deputy prime minister Nguyen Thien Nhan was on official visit to India from March 25 to April 2 while minister for commerce and industry Anand Sharma visited Vietnam from March 6 to 8.

Suu Kyi wins seat in Myanmar parliament

April 3: Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won her first-ever seat in parliament, state media confirmed on Monday.

The Nobel laureate's National League for Democracy has so far won 40 of the 44 seats it contested in Sunday’s by-elections, including in Suu Kyi's constituency, according to partial official results announced on television.

Aung San Suu Kyi has claimed victory in Myanmar's historic by-election, saying she hoped it will mark the beginning of a new era for the long-repressed country.

Suu Kyi spoke to thousands of cheering supporters who gathered outside her opposition party headquarters a day after her party claimed she had won a parliamentary seat in the closely watched vote.

"The success we are having is the success of the people," Suu Kyi said.

"It is not so much our triumph as a triumph of the people who have decided that they have to be involved in the political process in this country."

"We hope this will be the beginning of a new era," she said, as supporters chanted her name and thrust their hands into the air to flash "V" for victory signs.

The election sets the stage for the former political prisoner to take public office for the first time and lead a small bloc of opposition lawmakers in Myanmar's military-dominated Parliament.

Official results are expected within the next few days.

If confirmed, the victory would mark a major milestone in the Southeast Asian nation that is emerging from a ruthless era of military rule and also an astonishing reversal of fortune for a woman who became one of the world's most prominent prisoners of conscience.

The former junta had kept Suu Kyi imprisoned in her lakeside home for the better part of two decades.

When she was finally released in late 2010, just after a general election that was deemed neither free nor fair, few could have imagined she would so quickly make the leap from democracy advocate to elected official - opening the way for a potential presidential run in 2015.

ASEAN chair Cambodia says Myanmar polls free and fair

PHNOM PENH, April 3: Cambodian observers on Monday declared weekend by-elections in Myanmar free and fair, as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi heralded the start of a "new era" for the country.

The observer mission, representing the Cambodian chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), concluded that yesterday's polls were "conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner".

It also called upon the international community to consider lifting sanctions imposed on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, over the military's long record of human rights abuses.

"The overall environment was calm, peaceful and non-violent," the mission said in a statement sent to reporters in Phnom Penh, a day after Suu Kyi appeared to have won a seat in parliament for the first time.

"Despite complaints of irregularities and intimidation, this delegation did not observe any incidents that might have affected the process or the results of the by-elections."

It said Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) were able to campaign freely, and foreign observers were not hindered.

"It was observed on the day of the by-elections that the people of Myanmar eagerly turned out to cast their votes at their respective polling stations," the observers said.

"Many voters said they strongly welcomed the by-elections and believed this would pave the way for national reconciliation and democracy in Myanmar."

It said the the by-elections were "another significant step for Myanmar in its process of its democratic reform".

"We urge the international community to consider lifting economic sanctions on Myanmar so that the people of Myanmar can enjoy better opportunities in realising their aspirations for peace, national reconciliation, democracy and national development."

Suu Kyi's election to political office, if confirmed, would mark the latest dramatic change in the country after decades of outright military rule ended last year.