India News

Pranab, Rice seal landmark nuclear deal
Washington: After three years of tough negotiations, India and the US on Saturday sealed the landmark civil nuclear deal, with New Delhi insisting that fuel supply assurances are "legally-binding" on both the countries which have "responsibilities and obligations" to implement it.

The 123 agreement, which operationalises the nuclear deal, was signed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice here, paving the way for American companies to have a share in the multi-billion dollar Indian nuclear pie.

The nuclear deal, envisioned by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W Bush on July 18, 2005, marks an end to over three-decade-old US restrictive policy towards India in the nuclear field.

Speaking on the occasion, Rice said the nuclear deal demonstrates that "now there is nothing we cannot do."

Mukherjee said "we will implement this agreement in good faith. That clearly implies we trust each other."

Noting that the agreement reflects a "careful balance of rights and obligations", he said "its (agreement's) provisions are now legally-binding on both sides once the agreement enters into force."

"We are bound by the agreed text of the 123 agreement, which was negotiated by the negotiators of the two countries... The text of the agreement, if you go through, has entrusted responsibilities and obligations on both sides," he said.

Under Article 5.6 of the 123 Agreement, the US has given an assurance to ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies to India for the lifetime of a reactor under IAEA safeguards.

The agreement also clearly spells out that if either country wants to cease civil nuclear cooperation, it will give a one-year notice to the other, during which talks will be held to ascertain whether there were any compelling justified reasons to provoke such an action.

Indicating how difficult the process of concluding the deal was, Mukherjee said that there had been moments when doubts had arisen as to whether the accord would materialise.

"Of course, in these long three years, there had been many moments of suspicion," he said. (PTI)
20 killed in Pak road accident
ISLAMABAD: At least 20 people, including eleven children, were killed and 25 others injured when a bus collided with a truck in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, police and rescue agencies said.

Police said 11 children were among the dead. Among those injured in the early morning mishap were several school children.

The accident occurred near the city of Lodhran. Some of the injured told reporters at the main hospital in Lodhran that the bus was travelling at a high speed when the driver lost control. The driver escaped after the accident.

Police said around 100 people, including children on their way to school, were in the bus. Witnesses said the bus was completely destroyed.

Doctors said several of the injured were in a critical condition and death toll could rise.

Most road accidents in Pakistan occur due to ignorance of traffic laws, speeding and the poor condition of roads in rural areas.

9 killed in US missile attack in Pakistan
At least nine people, including six foreigners, were killed and several others injured in a missile strike by a suspected US drone in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region on Thursday night.

The foreigners, killed in the attack, were believed to be Arabs, TV channels reported.

According to the reports, the drone fired several missiles at a house in Tappi village in the area and four explosions were heard.

The house of a tribesman named Sahar Gul was targeted in the attack.

Pakistan has in recent past strongly opposed violation of its air space by US planes.

President Asif Ali Zardari has vowed zero tolerance against violations of Pakistan's sovereignty after US missile strikes into militant safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Relations have also been strained between the two countries after a reported raid by US special operations forces into Pakistan last month.

Car bomber blows up Pak anti-terror squad building

A suicide car bomber blew up an anti-terrorist squad building at Islamabad's police headquarters on Thursday, partly demolishing the structure and wounding at least seven people, officials said.

The blast was so powerful that it ripped off the facade of the three-storey building in the Pakistani capital, exposing a collapsed staircase inside and leaving a pile of rubble and bricks, a correspondent said.

The attack happened despite a massive security deployment in Islamabad for a rare parliamentary intelligence briefing on Pakistan's bloody campaign against al-Qaida and Taliban militants near the Afghan border.

"A team of police commandos left the building minutes before and that led to confusion over the casualty toll, but now all of them are accounted for and we have seven injured," police inspector Ehsan Khan said.

Islamabad police chief Asghar Gardezi also confirmed that initial reports of eight dead were incorrect, and added: "We believe it was a suicide car bomber."

Emergency workers in orange jackets clambered over the debris to check for any people trapped inside, while dozens of police guarded the area. The blast left a large crater outside the building.

"The blast was so powerful that it broke the windows and doors of our house," said a resident who lives in the area, adding that people rushed to the police complex after the attack. (Agencies)

For McCain, Obama is ‘that one’
WASHINGTON: What a difference a word makes. Republican John McCain's presidential campaign has nicknamed rival Barack Obama ‘That One’ to ridicule what they see as the Democratic candidate's messianic tendencies.

For McCain himself, Obama is simply ‘that one’. Referring to an energy bill during the debate, McCain said: "You know who voted for it? You might never know."

‘That one,’ he said, pointing to Obama. McCain was criticized after the first presidential debate on September 26 for refusing to look at Obama. The Obama campaign seized on the remark as further evidence of McCain's contempt for his opponent in the November 4 election.

"Last time he couldn't look at Senator Obama, this time he couldn't say his name," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said after the debate. McCain did refer to his opponent as Senator Obama at other times in the debate. (Reuters)

Thai protest leaders surrender
BANGKOK: Leaders of a long-running protest in Thailand surrendered to police on Friday on charges of inciting unrest, but are expected to win bail immediately and continue their five-month campaign to unseat the government.

The Court of Appeals quashed treason charges against the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leaders on Thursday and freed two already in custody on bail for the lesser offence of inciting unrest, which still carries up to seven years in jail.

The original arrest orders for treason were issued on August 27, the day after PAD protesters armed with golf clubs, stakes and machetes stormed a state television station, broke into ministries and overran the prime minister's official compound.

They have been at Government House ever since, making it the heart of a long-running anti-government campaign that spilled over into running battles with riot police this week in which two people died and 400 were injured.

Several police officers were shot, one was skewered with a flag pole and another was run over by a truck.

The unrest has hit investor confidence and distracted policymakers from focusing on slowing economic growth and the fallout from the global credit crisis, analysts say. Consumer confidence hit a 10-month low in September.

Police have denied PAD claims that they fired explosives into the crowd this week, insisting they only used teargas.

Several doctors at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok's top medical school, have launched a campaign to deny medical services to police or politicians involved in Tuesday's clashes, the worst street violence in Thailand in 16 years.

Queen Sirikit has donated 1 million baht ($29,200) to help treat the injured, including the police, and sent a wreath to the funeral of a 28-year-old woman killed in Tuesday's running battles with police.

The PAD leaders trumpeted the latter action as explicit support for their cause from the palace, which wields enormous moral clout in a country where the king is held in semi-divine regard.

Thailand's political crisis dates back to late 2005, when the PAD first started its street protests against then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It has meandered through a military coup to elections and back to street protests.

It is not clear how it will end, although pressure is mounting on army chief Anupong Paochinda to launch another military coup, even though he has stressed repeatedly that it would do nothing to defuse the underlying political tensions. (Reuters)

Blow to Serbia as Montenegro, Macedonia recognise Kosovo
SKOPJE: Serbia's neighbors Montenegro and Macedonia recognized Kosovo on Thursday in a blow to Belgrade's efforts to counter the secession of its former province.

On Wednesday, the U.N. General Assembly supported Serbia's initiative to seek an International Court of Justice opinion on the legality of the independence declaration made by Kosovo in February and recognized by more than 40, mostly Western states.

Serbia had hoped that it would stop the further recognition of its former province.

Montenegro and Macedonia, the only two former Yugoslav republics that ended their union with Serbia peacefully, recognized Kosovo on Thursday and issued a joint statement.

"The decision to recognize Kosovo ... is the result of thorough political assessment," said the statement issued in Skopje following a government session.

"We hope it will be understood by Belgrade," Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told journalists after the Macedonian government formally announced the decision.

"We hope that our relations with Serbia will remain friendly," Montenegro Foreign Minister Milan Rocen said in Montenegro's capital, Podgorica.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said that in response to the move, his government would ask Montenegro's ambassador to leave the country. "We consider this to be an adequate response," he told the state news agency Tanjug.

Pro-Serb parties in Montenegro have threatened to protest if the government made what Jeremic said would be "a knife stabbed in Serbia's back."

"They (Montenegro and Macedonia) are being blackmailed by certain states which threaten to make problems for their European integration," Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Konuzin told Reuters.

The U.S. State Department welcomed the decision by Montenegro and Macedonia and said it looked forward to "additional recognitions in the coming months."

"The growing number of recognitions is an affirmation of Kosovo's progress in establishing a stable, multiethnic, democratic society that seeks normal political and trade relations with its neighbors and the greater international community," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.

The Macedonian government has been under pressure for months from its ethnic Albanian minority, which makes up a third of its 2 million residents, to recognize its northern neighbor.

Serbia lost control of Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombed the country to stop the killing of civilians in a two-year counter-insurgency war. (Reuters)

Charles Sobhraj ties the knot with fiancee Nihita Biswas
KATHMANDU: Once known as the serpent and bikini killer, Charles Sobhraj acquired a new moniker on Thursday: newlywed, tying the knot Nepali-style with his 20-year-old Nepali fiancee Nihita Biswas.

On Thursday, Nepal celebrated Bada Dashami, the 10th day of its biggest Hindu festival Dashain, traditionally regarded as an auspicious day for weddings. While pairs headed for temples to say "I do", for 64-year-old Sobhraj, it was a more sombre ceremony in Kathmandu’s Central Jail where he has been serving a life sentence for murder.

The bride wore a pink T-shirt and trousers while Sobhraj kept his trademark cap as they exchanged vows and tikas, the red vermilion mark. He was allowed to come out of his cell and in the presence of curious prison guards and other inmates, the short ceremony was conducted to make them husband and wife.

The "marriage" comes after their engagement in July following Nihita's visit to the prison to offer to interpret for Sobhraj's visiting French lawyer, a visit which both say resulted in love at first sight.

However, like the whirlwind romance that was marked by controversy, the wedding is also going to be controversial. There was no priest though the bride’s brother and mother Shakuntala Thapa turned up to show their support. Thapa, a leading lawyer, is also fighting Sobhraj’s case in Supreme Court, challenging a lower court decision that declared him guilty of the murder of an American backpacker, Connie Jo Bronzich, in 1975.

Sobhraj’s appeal will be heard on October 19, after Nepal’s courts reopen after the long holiday break. If he is set free by the apex court, as Nihita claims it will, the couple plan to proceed to France and get married in accordance with French laws.

The wedding is Sobhraj’s second one, though in between he had several girlfriends and a common law wife of Chinese origin with whom he has a daughter. The newlyweds have decided that the daughter, now six, will live with them.

Sobhraj’s only recorded and official wedding was to a French woman who divorced him during his imprisonment in India and later married an American.

If the apex court rejects Sobhraj’s appeal, the couple has decided that Nihita will go to the International Court of Justice to fight for his release. Sobhraj claims he was framed by police and not given a fair trial. (Agencies)

Making math uncool is hurting US
WASHINGTON: Americans may like to make fun of girls who are good at math, but this attitude is robbing the country of some of its best talent, researchers reported on Friday.

They found that while girls can be just as talented as boys at mathematics, some are driven from the field because they are teased, ostracized or simply neglected.

"The US culture that is discouraging girls is also discouraging boys," Janet Mertz, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who led the study said in a statement.

"The situation is becoming urgent. The data show that a majority of the top young mathematicians in this country were not born here."

Writing in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Mertz and colleagues described their analysis of data from international math competitions going back to 1974. They also looked at surveys of US students.

"It is deemed uncool within the social context of USA middle and high schools to do mathematics for fun; doing so can lead to social ostracism. Consequently, gifted girls, even more so than boys, usually camouflage their mathematical talent to fit in well with their peers," they wrote. They also challenged the widespread belief that females lack exceptional math aptitude.

"Innate math aptitude is probably fairly evenly distributed throughout the world, regardless of race or gender," said Titu Andreescu of the University of Texas at Dallas, who worked on the study.

"The huge differences observed in achievement levels are most likely due to socio-cultural attributes specific to each country."

The study looked at how many women faculty members there are in five top US research university mathematics departments.

It found 20 percent of them were born in the United States. "We are wasting this valuable resource," Mertz said. "Girls can excel in math at the very highest level. There are some truly phenomenal women mathematicians out there."

The study also looked at test scores that show that in elementary school girls do as well or better in math than boys. These begin to lag in the middle school years and the gap widens greatly between girls and boys in high school.

Many of the women who become math or engineering professionals come from other countries, notably in eastern Europe and Asia, where mathematics is promoted more, the study found. (Agencies)

World Conservation Conference draws attention to climate change
From Patricia Mukhim
BARCELONA: The biggest-ever World Conservation Conference, which got under way at Barcelona on October 5, came to an end on October 10.

An 8000 strong delegation representing heads of government, NGOs, media- persons, international conservation bodies and representatives from every country in the globe gathered at the Centre Convencions Internationale De Barcelona (CCIB) to reiterate their commitment to save planet Earth from the disastrous effects of climate change and reverse the effects of global warming.

The conference venue overlooked the serene Mediterranean sea.

Hosted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and partnered by a host of other organizations, the pow-wow draws attention to best conservation practices from across the world for replication by others. Frightening statistics showing that one bird out of eight, one mammal out of four etc being under threat, glared at the participants from the giant screen at the impressive auditorium that hosted over three thousand people while the rest had to make do with listening in from the outside.

Also flashed on the giant screen was the stark reality that over 350 million people suffer severe water scarcity. The question waiting to be answered is, "How much more stress can the earth withstand and how far will human beings go to destroy every bit of the environment through injudicious exploitation of its resources?" In fact the message that was clearly sent out is that developing countries are equally responsible for over-exploitation of natural resources as are the developed nations.

Valli Moosa, the outgoing President of the IUCN speaking at the inaugural session said, "Barcelona was chosen as the venue for this Congress because it is a city that nurtured the great artist Pablo Picasso to give birth to indigenous art forms."A crisis is a terrible thing to waste", Moosa said adding that it was time to turn the crisis into a global action programme to save planet Earth.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand made a remarkable statement, "There will never be enough foresters to look after forests. All of us have equal responsibility for stewardship". This statement is appropriate to state like Meghalaya where large chunks of forest lands still belong to people and communities.

Father of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, Mohammed Yunus's speech was perhaps the most direct. Addressing what was the creme de la crème of the western world, Yunus said, "We work with the poor but our bank is not up for sale. Our average loan is under 200 $ and we have an annual turnover of a billion dollars but each penny is owned by the poor. Sixty seven per cent of the money lent comes from the borrowers themselves. It is easy to blame the poor for exploiting resources but who creates the poverty?" Answering the question, Yunus said poverty is imposed by the institutions we create. The human brain is not designed only to make money but the business models we have created cry out, 'everything for me'. "This is not a sustainable framework". he added

Yunus proposed a model for social business. Citing the example of a yoghurt producing company in France he said this company is now based in Bangladesh and provides nutrition to millions of young children in my country Bangladesh. Bangladesh is currently developing 1,60,000 solar panels for lighting up. This will go up to a million by 2012 and the cost per panel will be reduced from 1 $ tgo 50 cents, Yunus informed. He called upon the world to stop and think. "We have become plunderers as if from another planet. Let us make an adult decision to leave behind something for our children and grandchildren", said Yunus to a thundering applause from the audience.

Earlier, the Spanish acrobats performed some of the most outstanding, yet dangerous feats to draw attention to the slogans at the conference - Awareness, Environment, Biodiversity and Equity. It was an unusual sight and shows the great preparation that has gone underway to make the Conference meaningful.
source: the shillong times