http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1920074,00.html
The Sunday Times December 11, 2005
Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, Washington
ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.
The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.
Iran’s stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern.
The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was “losing patience” with Iran.
A senior White House source said the threat of a nuclear Iran was moving to the top of the international agenda and the issue now was: “What next?” That question would have to be answered in the next few months, he said.
Defence sources in Israel believe the end of March to be the “point of no return” after which Iran will have the technical expertise to enrich uranium in sufficient quantities to build a nuclear warhead in two to four years.
“Israel — and not only Israel — cannot accept a nuclear Iran,” Sharon warned recently. “We have the ability to deal with this and we’re making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation.”
The order to prepare for a possible attack went through the Israeli defence ministry to the chief of staff. Sources inside special forces command confirmed that “G” readiness — the highest stage — for an operation was announced last week.
Gholamreza Aghazadeah, head of the Atomic Organisation of Iran, warned yesterday that his country would produce nuclear fuel. “There is no doubt that we have to carry out uranium enrichment,” he said.
He promised it would not be done during forthcoming talks with European negotiators. But although Iran insists it wants only nuclear energy, Israeli intelligence has concluded it is deceiving the world and has no intention of giving up what it believes is its right to develop nuclear weapons.
A “massive” Israeli intelligence operation has been underway since Iran was designated the “top priority for 2005”, according to security sources.
Cross-border operations and signal intelligence from a base established by the Israelis in northern Iraq are said to have identified a number of Iranian uranium enrichment sites unknown to the the IAEA.
Since Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981, “it has been understood that the lesson is, don’t have one site, have 50 sites”, a White House source said.
If a military operation is approved, Israel will use air and ground forces against several nuclear targets in the hope of stalling Tehran’s nuclear programme for years, according to Israeli military sources.
It is believed Israel would call on its top special forces brigade, Unit 262 — the equivalent of the SAS — and the F-15I strategic 69 Squadron, which can strike Iran and return to Israel without refuelling.
“If we opt for the military strike,” said a source, “it must be not less than 100% successful. It will resemble the destruction of the Egyptian air force in three hours in June 1967.”
Aharon Zeevi Farkash, the Israeli military intelligence chief, stepped up the pressure on Iran this month when he warned Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, that “if by the end of March the international community is unable to refer the Iranian issue to the United Nations security council, then we can say the international effort has run its course”.
The March deadline set for military readiness also stems from fears that Iran is improving its own intelligence-gathering capability. In October it launched its first satellite, the Sinah-1, which was carried by a Russian space launcher.
“The Iranians’ space programme is a matter of deep concern to us,” said an Israeli defence source. “If and when we launch an attack on several Iranian targets, the last thing we need is Iranian early warning received by satellite.”
Russia last week signed an estimated $1 billion contract — its largest since 2000 — to sell Iran advanced Tor-M1 systems capable of destroying guided missiles and laser-guided bombs from aircraft.
“Once the Iranians get the Tor-M1, it will make our life much more difficult,” said an Israeli air force source. “The installation of this system can be relatively quick and we can’t waste time on this one.”
The date set for possible Israeli strikes on Iran also coincides with Israel’s general election on March 28, prompting speculation that Sharon may be sabre-rattling for votes.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the frontrunner to lead Likud into the elections, said that if Sharon did not act against Iran, “then when I form the new Israeli government, we’ll do what we did in the past against Saddam’s reactor, which gave us 20 years of tranquillity”.
TEHRAN MINISTER MET MILITANTS BEFORE NEW OFFENSIVE
Iran’s foreign minister met leading figures from three Islamic militant groups to co-ordinate a united front against Israel days before a recent escalation of attacks against Israeli targets shattered fragile ceasefires with Lebanon and the Palestinians, writes Hugh Macleod in Damascus.
The minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, held talks with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah in Damascus on November 15.
Among those who attended the meeting were Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader, and a deputy leader of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for last Monday’s suicide bombing of a shopping mall in Netanya that killed five Israeli citizens.
Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command, was also present. “We all confirmed that what is going on in occupied Palestine is organically connected to what is going on in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Lebanon,” said Jibril.
Seven days after the talks, Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets and mortars at Israeli targets, sparking the fiercest fighting between the two sides since Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon five years ago.
Full Version: International News and Commentary
Common Ground Common Sense > National & International News > Daily National and International News > International News Archive
EU concealed deal with US to allow 'rendition' flights
By Justin Stares in Brussels and Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 11/12/2005)
The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.
The EU agreed to give America access to facilities - presumably airports - in confidential talks in Athens during which the war on terror was discussed, the original minutes show. But all references to the agreement were deleted from the record before it was published.
The issue of "rendition" flights - in which terror suspects are flown to secret bases and third countries for interrogation - overshadowed last week's fence-mending visit to Europe by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.
Asked in Parliament last week about reports of 400 suspect flights passing through British airports, Tony Blair said: "In respect of airports, I don't know what you are referring to."
The minutes of the Athens meeting on January 22, 2003, were written by the then Greek presidency of the EU after the talks with a US delegation headed by a justice department official. EU officials confirmed that a full account was circulated to all member governments, and would have been sent to the Home Office.
The document, entitled New Transatlantic Agenda, EU-US meeting on Justice and Home Affairs, details the subjects discussed by the 31 people present. The agenda included the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and extradition agreements.
According to the full version, "Both sides agreed on areas where co-operation could be improved [inter alia] the exchange of data between border management services, increased use of European transit facilities to support the return of criminal/ inadmissible aliens, co-ordination with regard to false documents training and improving the co-operation in removals."
But this section, and others referring to US policy, were deleted - as a "courtesy" to Washington, according to a spokesman for the EU Council of Ministers.
Tony Bunyan, of the Statewatch civil liberties group which obtained the original document, said: "What kind of facilities are these and how many people work there? That phrase suggests the US is being allowed to use airports in Europe to transport criminals from third countries."
Washington has been angered by EU protests about the movement and alleged abuse of terror suspects. Yesterday, John Bellinger, senior legal adviser to the US State Department, said the convention against torture, which the US has signed, "would generally apply" to prisoners held by the US.
He said on BBC radio: "Some of the allegations more broadly about all sorts of things are ludicrous. These allegations that we have these activities going on in the hundreds over Europe, and that we are going to take people off to be mistreated, are simply untrue."
By Justin Stares in Brussels and Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 11/12/2005)
The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.
The EU agreed to give America access to facilities - presumably airports - in confidential talks in Athens during which the war on terror was discussed, the original minutes show. But all references to the agreement were deleted from the record before it was published.
The issue of "rendition" flights - in which terror suspects are flown to secret bases and third countries for interrogation - overshadowed last week's fence-mending visit to Europe by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.
Asked in Parliament last week about reports of 400 suspect flights passing through British airports, Tony Blair said: "In respect of airports, I don't know what you are referring to."
The minutes of the Athens meeting on January 22, 2003, were written by the then Greek presidency of the EU after the talks with a US delegation headed by a justice department official. EU officials confirmed that a full account was circulated to all member governments, and would have been sent to the Home Office.
The document, entitled New Transatlantic Agenda, EU-US meeting on Justice and Home Affairs, details the subjects discussed by the 31 people present. The agenda included the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and extradition agreements.
According to the full version, "Both sides agreed on areas where co-operation could be improved [inter alia] the exchange of data between border management services, increased use of European transit facilities to support the return of criminal/ inadmissible aliens, co-ordination with regard to false documents training and improving the co-operation in removals."
But this section, and others referring to US policy, were deleted - as a "courtesy" to Washington, according to a spokesman for the EU Council of Ministers.
Tony Bunyan, of the Statewatch civil liberties group which obtained the original document, said: "What kind of facilities are these and how many people work there? That phrase suggests the US is being allowed to use airports in Europe to transport criminals from third countries."
Washington has been angered by EU protests about the movement and alleged abuse of terror suspects. Yesterday, John Bellinger, senior legal adviser to the US State Department, said the convention against torture, which the US has signed, "would generally apply" to prisoners held by the US.
He said on BBC radio: "Some of the allegations more broadly about all sorts of things are ludicrous. These allegations that we have these activities going on in the hundreds over Europe, and that we are going to take people off to be mistreated, are simply untrue."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Police report around 36 casualties, 4 in serious condition, from at least four unexplained blasts at Buncefield oil depot and refinery, the fifth largest in UK, which sent a huge fireball shooting 200ft into the sky early Sunday.
December 11, 2005, 11:33 AM (GMT+02:00)
Thousands of people are being evacuated from the surrounding towns and suburbs outside, which is engulfed in flames and black smoke. An industrial state was badly damaged, windows blown out miles away. Nearby Hemel Hempstead, St. Albans and Leverstock Green are under a dense cloud of polluted smoke which poses a major environmental threat. The shocks of the blasts were felt across SE England. Police are trying to stop panic buying of petrol. The M1 intercity highway is closed until further notice.
The Hertfordshire police rule out external causes although many witnesses report an aircraft in the area at the time of the blasts. Defense minister John Reid said cagily: The police still believe the disaster was accidental but do not exclude alternatives. No investigation can be held until the big oil depot cools enough for access. This will take days if not weeks.
DEBKAfile adds: Main fuel installations of this size are routinely equipped with systems for shutting down sections to curb the spread of fire or blasts. The magnitude of the explosions that engulfed the entire installation indicate an unusual catastrophe of some kind. Witnesses reported heavy rumbles before the explosion, much as though an aircraft had crashed into the oil installations.
On Dec. 7, an Islamic website ran an excerpt of an earlier videotape in which bin Laden’s No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri called on “holy warriors” to concentrate their attacks on oil targets.
Police report around 36 casualties, 4 in serious condition, from at least four unexplained blasts at Buncefield oil depot and refinery, the fifth largest in UK, which sent a huge fireball shooting 200ft into the sky early Sunday.
December 11, 2005, 11:33 AM (GMT+02:00)
Thousands of people are being evacuated from the surrounding towns and suburbs outside, which is engulfed in flames and black smoke. An industrial state was badly damaged, windows blown out miles away. Nearby Hemel Hempstead, St. Albans and Leverstock Green are under a dense cloud of polluted smoke which poses a major environmental threat. The shocks of the blasts were felt across SE England. Police are trying to stop panic buying of petrol. The M1 intercity highway is closed until further notice.
The Hertfordshire police rule out external causes although many witnesses report an aircraft in the area at the time of the blasts. Defense minister John Reid said cagily: The police still believe the disaster was accidental but do not exclude alternatives. No investigation can be held until the big oil depot cools enough for access. This will take days if not weeks.
DEBKAfile adds: Main fuel installations of this size are routinely equipped with systems for shutting down sections to curb the spread of fire or blasts. The magnitude of the explosions that engulfed the entire installation indicate an unusual catastrophe of some kind. Witnesses reported heavy rumbles before the explosion, much as though an aircraft had crashed into the oil installations.
On Dec. 7, an Islamic website ran an excerpt of an earlier videotape in which bin Laden’s No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri called on “holy warriors” to concentrate their attacks on oil targets.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=94571
Gov't Officials Deny Plan to Strike Iran
10:36 Dec 11, '05 / 10 Kislev 5766
By Hillel Fendel
The Sunday Times in London reports that Prime Minister Sharon is preparing for a possible strike on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran. Israeli officials deny.
Quoting unnamed military sources, the report states that Israeli intelligence warned its government that Iran was operating small enrichment facilities concealed in civilian locations. The Times says that Sharon has ordered the military to prepare for a possible strike by the end of March.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and sources in Sharon's office deny the Times report. "Israel is dealing with the Iranian issue only with diplomatic tools," Shalom said. Sharon staffers said the paper's report is totally untrue.
It is known that Iran will be able to build a nuclear warhead 2-4 year after it receives the technical expertise to enrich sufficient quantities of uranium - known as the "point of no return." No country will be able to bomb the reactor once this point is reached, for fear that the radioactive fallout will harm an unknown number of thousands of civilians.
The question is, when will this point be reached? The Times says that Israeli defense sources believe it will be the end of March.
It has been noted that this is "coincidentally" the time when Israeli elections will be held. MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was asked about the timing on Army Radio today. He said, "I believe that in issues like this that truly are life-and-death questions for Israel, no Prime Minister, including Sharon [of the rival party Kadima - ed.] would take action out of electoral considerations. Neither him nor any other Prime Minister."
Shteinitz said, "I refuse to relate to what Israel can or should do [regarding Iran] on the military plane. Regarding other countries, like the United States, certainly there is a military option against Iran... The Iranians feel vulnerable to an air strike; they have deployed air defenses around all their nuclear sites."
"The Iranian threat is a global one," Shteinitz said, "and not only upon Israel, but against the West and entire world. It is therefore desirable that the enlightened world, led by the US, take care of this threat. The world is doing too little, too late. Iran has passed the half-way mark and is coming close to nuclear weapons. The world has sufficed up to now with diplomacy and rhetoric."
Just last week, Prime Minister Sharon said, "I think it's clear that we cannot allow a situation in which Iran becomes a nuclear power... This is an international problem, and not just ours."
Two days ago, U.S. Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph said that Iran is closing in on nuclear weapon production and that even U.N. sanctions may not deter it. He said the Iranian government is "very aggressive, very determined to develop nuclear weapons." Iran claims it is seeking only civilian nuclear power, but "we know this is not the case," Joseph said.
Mohammed El-Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Friday, "the international community is losing patience" with Iran's nuclear program. Speaking in Oslo just a day before receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, El-Baradei said he hopes that the issue will be cleared up by the time he presents his next report on Iran in March. He still feels that diplomacy must be employed to solve the problem.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz does not agree. He told members of the foreign press a week ago that he does not believe American and European diplomatic pressures on Iran regarding the nuclear enrichment efforts will bear fruit.
"If a military operation is approved," the Sunday Times reports, "Israel will use air and ground forces against several nuclear targets in the hope of stalling Tehran’s nuclear program for years, according to Israeli military sources." The paper also quotes IDF Intelligence Chief Gen. Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash as having warned the Knesset this month that “if by the end of March the international community is unable to refer the Iranian issue to the United Nations security council, then we can say the international effort has run its course.”
Gov't Officials Deny Plan to Strike Iran
10:36 Dec 11, '05 / 10 Kislev 5766
By Hillel Fendel
The Sunday Times in London reports that Prime Minister Sharon is preparing for a possible strike on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran. Israeli officials deny.
Quoting unnamed military sources, the report states that Israeli intelligence warned its government that Iran was operating small enrichment facilities concealed in civilian locations. The Times says that Sharon has ordered the military to prepare for a possible strike by the end of March.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and sources in Sharon's office deny the Times report. "Israel is dealing with the Iranian issue only with diplomatic tools," Shalom said. Sharon staffers said the paper's report is totally untrue.
It is known that Iran will be able to build a nuclear warhead 2-4 year after it receives the technical expertise to enrich sufficient quantities of uranium - known as the "point of no return." No country will be able to bomb the reactor once this point is reached, for fear that the radioactive fallout will harm an unknown number of thousands of civilians.
The question is, when will this point be reached? The Times says that Israeli defense sources believe it will be the end of March.
It has been noted that this is "coincidentally" the time when Israeli elections will be held. MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was asked about the timing on Army Radio today. He said, "I believe that in issues like this that truly are life-and-death questions for Israel, no Prime Minister, including Sharon [of the rival party Kadima - ed.] would take action out of electoral considerations. Neither him nor any other Prime Minister."
Shteinitz said, "I refuse to relate to what Israel can or should do [regarding Iran] on the military plane. Regarding other countries, like the United States, certainly there is a military option against Iran... The Iranians feel vulnerable to an air strike; they have deployed air defenses around all their nuclear sites."
"The Iranian threat is a global one," Shteinitz said, "and not only upon Israel, but against the West and entire world. It is therefore desirable that the enlightened world, led by the US, take care of this threat. The world is doing too little, too late. Iran has passed the half-way mark and is coming close to nuclear weapons. The world has sufficed up to now with diplomacy and rhetoric."
Just last week, Prime Minister Sharon said, "I think it's clear that we cannot allow a situation in which Iran becomes a nuclear power... This is an international problem, and not just ours."
Two days ago, U.S. Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph said that Iran is closing in on nuclear weapon production and that even U.N. sanctions may not deter it. He said the Iranian government is "very aggressive, very determined to develop nuclear weapons." Iran claims it is seeking only civilian nuclear power, but "we know this is not the case," Joseph said.
Mohammed El-Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Friday, "the international community is losing patience" with Iran's nuclear program. Speaking in Oslo just a day before receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, El-Baradei said he hopes that the issue will be cleared up by the time he presents his next report on Iran in March. He still feels that diplomacy must be employed to solve the problem.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz does not agree. He told members of the foreign press a week ago that he does not believe American and European diplomatic pressures on Iran regarding the nuclear enrichment efforts will bear fruit.
"If a military operation is approved," the Sunday Times reports, "Israel will use air and ground forces against several nuclear targets in the hope of stalling Tehran’s nuclear program for years, according to Israeli military sources." The paper also quotes IDF Intelligence Chief Gen. Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash as having warned the Knesset this month that “if by the end of March the international community is unable to refer the Iranian issue to the United Nations security council, then we can say the international effort has run its course.”
Last update - 12:24 11/12/2005
Tehran offers U.S. share in nuclear power plant
By The Associated Press
TEHRAN - Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday offered the United States a share in building a new nuclear power plant in an apparent effort to curb U.S. opposition to its controversial atomic program.
"America can take part in international bidding for the construction of Iran's nuclear power plant if they observe the basic standards and quality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a news conference.
Asefi was apparently talking about a 360-megawatt light water nuclear power plant in southwestern Iran, which the head of the country's top atomic organization announced plans to build on Saturday.
Tehran offers U.S. share in nuclear power plant
By The Associated Press
TEHRAN - Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday offered the United States a share in building a new nuclear power plant in an apparent effort to curb U.S. opposition to its controversial atomic program.
"America can take part in international bidding for the construction of Iran's nuclear power plant if they observe the basic standards and quality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a news conference.
Asefi was apparently talking about a 360-megawatt light water nuclear power plant in southwestern Iran, which the head of the country's top atomic organization announced plans to build on Saturday.
--------------------
Iran Invites U.S. to Bid on Nuclear Plant
--------------------
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer
December 11 2005, 7:48 AM PST
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran on Sunday offered the United States a share in building a new nuclear power plant in an apparent effort to curb U.S. opposition to its atomic program.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wi...,0,252100.story
Iran Invites U.S. to Bid on Nuclear Plant
--------------------
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer
December 11 2005, 7:48 AM PST
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran on Sunday offered the United States a share in building a new nuclear power plant in an apparent effort to curb U.S. opposition to its atomic program.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wi...,0,252100.story
--------------------
IRAN: Tehran has exploited the gap between Washington and Europe.
--------------------
By Alan Isenberg
Alan Isenberg writes for Newsweek International. He recently completed a fellowship at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation that focused on Iran's nuclear program.
December 11 2005
OVER THE last four years, and especially under radical new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran has done its best to live up to President Bush's 2002 declaration that it is part of an "axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday...-sunday-opinion
IRAN: Tehran has exploited the gap between Washington and Europe.
--------------------
By Alan Isenberg
Alan Isenberg writes for Newsweek International. He recently completed a fellowship at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation that focused on Iran's nuclear program.
December 11 2005
OVER THE last four years, and especially under radical new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran has done its best to live up to President Bush's 2002 declaration that it is part of an "axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday...-sunday-opinion
--------------------
Sunni Factions Plot Their Return
--------------------
After this week's vote, the minority group may seek alliances with Kurds and secular Shiites to try to take back more power.
By John Daniszewski
Times Staff Writer
December 11 2005
BAGHDAD; At the office of the federation of Iraqi tribes, the scene is something of a throwback to the Saddam Hussein days.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...1,5797338.story
Sunni Factions Plot Their Return
--------------------
After this week's vote, the minority group may seek alliances with Kurds and secular Shiites to try to take back more power.
By John Daniszewski
Times Staff Writer
December 11 2005
BAGHDAD; At the office of the federation of Iraqi tribes, the scene is something of a throwback to the Saddam Hussein days.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...1,5797338.story
India's Tech Sector to Receive Billions of Dollars in Investment
By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
11 December 2005
India's reputation as a rapidly growing technology hub has received a boost with several global IT companies announcing plans to invest billions of dollars in the country's high-tech sector. Software giant Microsoft is also promising to focus its research in India on developing low cost computers.
Bill Gates
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled plans during a visit to New Delhi this month to strengthen his company's presence in India by investing $1.7 billion during the next four years.
The company will also increase its workforce from four thousand to seven thousand.
The announcement came days after computer chip manufacturer Intel Corporation said it would invest more than one billion dollars in India in the next five years.
Both companies will spend a substantial part of the money on research and development.
In October, communications equipment maker Cisco Systems announced it would invest more than one billion dollars and triple its staff.
A host of technology companies have been lured to India in recent years by its pool of highly skilled but low-cost software professionals, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
The Microsoft chairman told Indian businessmen that the country does offer "fantastic manpower."
But Mr. Gates said more needs to be done to bridge the digital divide in India, where many people cannot afford computers.
"Ironically in the case of the shoemaker's children not having the best shoes, if we look at the use of IT in the country, there is still far more that can be done…there will need to be increased investment in IT," Mr. Gates said.
Microsoft is promising to contribute to that effort by focusing research in India on creating low-cost products that would be within the reach of millions of poor people.
"India is the place where a number of the breakthroughs that are necessary will take place…. It is with that mind we created our fourth research center ….we said the theme of that would be low cost computing," Mr. Gates said.
Among the possibilities Mr. Gates suggested were making a mobile phone work as a computer, or developing computers that respond to speech.
Business analysts say global IT companies are also lured to India to tap the potential of its increasingly affluent 300 million middle-income consumers.
By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
11 December 2005
India's reputation as a rapidly growing technology hub has received a boost with several global IT companies announcing plans to invest billions of dollars in the country's high-tech sector. Software giant Microsoft is also promising to focus its research in India on developing low cost computers.
Bill Gates
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled plans during a visit to New Delhi this month to strengthen his company's presence in India by investing $1.7 billion during the next four years.
The company will also increase its workforce from four thousand to seven thousand.
The announcement came days after computer chip manufacturer Intel Corporation said it would invest more than one billion dollars in India in the next five years.
Both companies will spend a substantial part of the money on research and development.
In October, communications equipment maker Cisco Systems announced it would invest more than one billion dollars and triple its staff.
A host of technology companies have been lured to India in recent years by its pool of highly skilled but low-cost software professionals, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
The Microsoft chairman told Indian businessmen that the country does offer "fantastic manpower."
But Mr. Gates said more needs to be done to bridge the digital divide in India, where many people cannot afford computers.
"Ironically in the case of the shoemaker's children not having the best shoes, if we look at the use of IT in the country, there is still far more that can be done…there will need to be increased investment in IT," Mr. Gates said.
Microsoft is promising to contribute to that effort by focusing research in India on creating low-cost products that would be within the reach of millions of poor people.
"India is the place where a number of the breakthroughs that are necessary will take place…. It is with that mind we created our fourth research center ….we said the theme of that would be low cost computing," Mr. Gates said.
Among the possibilities Mr. Gates suggested were making a mobile phone work as a computer, or developing computers that respond to speech.
Business analysts say global IT companies are also lured to India to tap the potential of its increasingly affluent 300 million middle-income consumers.
Israel Threatens Trade Sanctions Against Palestinians
By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
10 December 2005
Berger report (Real Media) - Download 262k
Listen to Berger report (Real Media)
Israeli troops at border with Gaza
Israel has frozen a Gaza border security agreement with the Palestinian Authority and is warning of tougher action. Israel wants stronger measures to curb Palestinian terrorism.
Israel is threatening to impose trade sanctions on the Palestinians, if they do not tighten security immediately at the newly opened Gaza border crossing with Egypt. Israeli officials say terrorists and weapons are being smuggled across the border, in violation of a U.S.-brokered agreement.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev told VOA that terrorists from Hamas and al-Qaida have been crossing the border. "These Islamic extremists want to energize the extremists inside Gaza. It's very important that we have a security situation on the ground, a defensive system, border controls and so forth, so as not to allow these activists into the Gaza Strip," he said.
Officials say the army could tighten restrictions on the Gaza-Israel border, a move that could harm trade and cripple the already battered Palestinian economy. What we're hoping to achieve is agreements and understandings that will allow both for the maximum flow of people and goods in and out of Gaza and at the same time deal seriously with the very real security challenges," he said.
Those security challenges were reinforced by Israel's discovery of a tunnel running from Gaza, under the border fence and into Israel. The army said terrorist groups planned to smuggle gunmen across the border to carry out attacks on Israeli communities.
The tunnel was uncovered after Hamas, the biggest Palestinian militant group, threatened to pull out of the 10-month-old cease-fire and resume attacks. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas appealed for calm. "We have agreed to a truce," Mr. Abbas said. "And therefore, we should continue
with it until security prevails," he said, "so our people will not feel threatened by Israeli planes and tanks," he said.
Israel says Mr. Abbas is saying the right words, but he is not taking any action. The Israelis are urging him to keep his commitment under the internationally backed "road map" peace plan and disarm militant groups.
By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
10 December 2005
Berger report (Real Media) - Download 262k
Listen to Berger report (Real Media)
Israeli troops at border with Gaza
Israel has frozen a Gaza border security agreement with the Palestinian Authority and is warning of tougher action. Israel wants stronger measures to curb Palestinian terrorism.
Israel is threatening to impose trade sanctions on the Palestinians, if they do not tighten security immediately at the newly opened Gaza border crossing with Egypt. Israeli officials say terrorists and weapons are being smuggled across the border, in violation of a U.S.-brokered agreement.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev told VOA that terrorists from Hamas and al-Qaida have been crossing the border. "These Islamic extremists want to energize the extremists inside Gaza. It's very important that we have a security situation on the ground, a defensive system, border controls and so forth, so as not to allow these activists into the Gaza Strip," he said.
Officials say the army could tighten restrictions on the Gaza-Israel border, a move that could harm trade and cripple the already battered Palestinian economy. What we're hoping to achieve is agreements and understandings that will allow both for the maximum flow of people and goods in and out of Gaza and at the same time deal seriously with the very real security challenges," he said.
Those security challenges were reinforced by Israel's discovery of a tunnel running from Gaza, under the border fence and into Israel. The army said terrorist groups planned to smuggle gunmen across the border to carry out attacks on Israeli communities.
The tunnel was uncovered after Hamas, the biggest Palestinian militant group, threatened to pull out of the 10-month-old cease-fire and resume attacks. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas appealed for calm. "We have agreed to a truce," Mr. Abbas said. "And therefore, we should continue
with it until security prevails," he said, "so our people will not feel threatened by Israeli planes and tanks," he said.
Israel says Mr. Abbas is saying the right words, but he is not taking any action. The Israelis are urging him to keep his commitment under the internationally backed "road map" peace plan and disarm militant groups.
Travel chaos after depot blasts
Travel has been badly disrupted after explosions at an oil depot near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.
The M1 is closed southbound between Junction 12 at Toddington and Junction 6 Bricket Wood, and northbound between Junction 6 and Junction 11, Dunstable.
The M10 is also closed both ways between Junction 7 for the M1 and Junction 1 near St Albans.
Luton Airport was fully operational but Heathrow experienced flight delays, as an approach path passes over the depot.
Police are advising motorists to keep completely away from the M1 in the area to the north of where it meets the M25.
Roads affected
Drivers wanting to head north from the east side of London are advised leave the M25 and use the A1 and A14.
From the west side of London going north, motorists should come off the M1, head up to the M40 to Junction 10, join the A43 and then rejoin the M1.
People travelling from the north towards east London should take the A14 where the M1 and M6 meet, and then take the A1 southbound.
Several main roads in Hertfordshire have also been affected.
The A4147 is closed both ways between the B487 Redbourn Road junction and the A414 Breakspear Way junction in Hemel Hempstead.
Also closed is the A4146 Leighton Buzzard Road southbound around the A4147 junction in Hemel Hempstead.
Extra time
Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire, said many roads in the Hemel Hempstead area would remain shut for some time and the M1 may not reopen until Monday evening.
AA spokesman Gavin Hill-Smith said: "The M1 is one of the key arterial routes in the country and any disruption of this magnitude is going to have considerable knock-on effects."
We and the police are advising people to avoid this whole area
RAC spokesman
He urged motorists to allow extra time for their journeys.
An RAC spokesman added: "We and the police are advising people to avoid this whole area."
A British Airways spokeswoman said flights at Heathrow, already hit by thick early morning fog, were affected.
"There are four air routes into Heathrow and one has been closed because of the smoke coming from the depot site and this has led to delays," she said.
"Also, the fog meant that we had to cancel some flights today."
A Heathrow spokeswoman said: "We have been lucky in that we have not had too much disruption. We are almost exactly due south of the blast depot and the wind has been carrying the smoke in an easterly direction."
Bus travel is also disrupted. National Express services from Northampton to Gatwick and London are not serving any stops in Luton or Hemel Hempstead.
Rail links through Hemel Hempstead were unaffected.
The Buncefield depot feeds filling stations for diesel and petrol, industrial oil and domestic heating oil for North London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_n...rts/4519240.stm
Published: 2005/12/11 16:23:14 GMT
© BBC MMV
Travel has been badly disrupted after explosions at an oil depot near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.
The M1 is closed southbound between Junction 12 at Toddington and Junction 6 Bricket Wood, and northbound between Junction 6 and Junction 11, Dunstable.
The M10 is also closed both ways between Junction 7 for the M1 and Junction 1 near St Albans.
Luton Airport was fully operational but Heathrow experienced flight delays, as an approach path passes over the depot.
Police are advising motorists to keep completely away from the M1 in the area to the north of where it meets the M25.
Roads affected
Drivers wanting to head north from the east side of London are advised leave the M25 and use the A1 and A14.
From the west side of London going north, motorists should come off the M1, head up to the M40 to Junction 10, join the A43 and then rejoin the M1.
People travelling from the north towards east London should take the A14 where the M1 and M6 meet, and then take the A1 southbound.
Several main roads in Hertfordshire have also been affected.
The A4147 is closed both ways between the B487 Redbourn Road junction and the A414 Breakspear Way junction in Hemel Hempstead.
Also closed is the A4146 Leighton Buzzard Road southbound around the A4147 junction in Hemel Hempstead.
Extra time
Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire, said many roads in the Hemel Hempstead area would remain shut for some time and the M1 may not reopen until Monday evening.
AA spokesman Gavin Hill-Smith said: "The M1 is one of the key arterial routes in the country and any disruption of this magnitude is going to have considerable knock-on effects."
We and the police are advising people to avoid this whole area
RAC spokesman
He urged motorists to allow extra time for their journeys.
An RAC spokesman added: "We and the police are advising people to avoid this whole area."
A British Airways spokeswoman said flights at Heathrow, already hit by thick early morning fog, were affected.
"There are four air routes into Heathrow and one has been closed because of the smoke coming from the depot site and this has led to delays," she said.
"Also, the fog meant that we had to cancel some flights today."
A Heathrow spokeswoman said: "We have been lucky in that we have not had too much disruption. We are almost exactly due south of the blast depot and the wind has been carrying the smoke in an easterly direction."
Bus travel is also disrupted. National Express services from Northampton to Gatwick and London are not serving any stops in Luton or Hemel Hempstead.
Rail links through Hemel Hempstead were unaffected.
The Buncefield depot feeds filling stations for diesel and petrol, industrial oil and domestic heating oil for North London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_n...rts/4519240.stm
Published: 2005/12/11 16:23:14 GMT
© BBC MMV
Oil depot blast impact on supply seen limited
Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:21 PM GMT
By Mike Peacock
LONDON (Reuters) - A series of massive explosions at a fuel depot north of London on Sunday is unlikely to cause national fuel shortages, the government and industry said.
The Buncefield oil depot supplies petrol and fuel oils for a large part of southeast England. Oil is brought to the depot, near the commuter town of Hemel Hempstead, in an underground pipeline from tankers unloading on the east coast.
A government spokesman said that when full, the depot would hold five percent of the oil supply, but could not say how much it was holding before the blast.
"It's too early to say what the exact effect of the fire will be on the supply of fuel but oil companies are already making arrangements to source oil products from the many other locations," the spokesman from the Department of Trade and Industry said.
"We understand that the oil industry is meeting this afternoon to determine how the supply of petroleum products can be sourced from other distribution terminals."
Witnesses reported queues of people at petrol stations, waiting to fill up their cars, after the blast which spewed flames and a huge column of black smoke high into the sky.
Police said about half of the depot had been destroyed.
The part affected is jointly run by oil companies Total and Texaco.
Buncefield is the fifth largest storage facility in Britain.
Sheila Williams, spokeswoman for oil giant BP, said there would be no problems with fuel shortages.
"There is certainly no shortage of fuel in and around the area and we are working hard to bring fuel supplies in from other terminals to petrol sites in those areas affected," she told Sky Television.
Police, who said they were treating the incident as an accident, also cautioned against panic buying.
"We have no indication at this stage that this explosion will cause fuel shortages," a Hertfordshire police spokeswoman said. "We strongly advise against this as recent events have shown that panic buying alone can cause fuel shortages."
Buncefield supplies fuel to major airports including nearby Luton and Heathrow. But both said they held sufficient supplies to avoid any problems.
"There is no indication that there will be a shortage in the foreseeable future," a Heathrow spokeswoman said.
Luton said flights were taking off and landing as normal although Heathrow said the pall of smoke had delayed some services.
The main transport impact came from the closure of the M1 motorway which runs close to the plant. Parts of it are expected to remain shut on Monday.
Car-loving Britons have been edgy about petrol supplies since hauliers blockaded refineries in protest at fuel tax levels five years ago, and brought the country to a virtual standstill.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:21 PM GMT
By Mike Peacock
LONDON (Reuters) - A series of massive explosions at a fuel depot north of London on Sunday is unlikely to cause national fuel shortages, the government and industry said.
The Buncefield oil depot supplies petrol and fuel oils for a large part of southeast England. Oil is brought to the depot, near the commuter town of Hemel Hempstead, in an underground pipeline from tankers unloading on the east coast.
A government spokesman said that when full, the depot would hold five percent of the oil supply, but could not say how much it was holding before the blast.
"It's too early to say what the exact effect of the fire will be on the supply of fuel but oil companies are already making arrangements to source oil products from the many other locations," the spokesman from the Department of Trade and Industry said.
"We understand that the oil industry is meeting this afternoon to determine how the supply of petroleum products can be sourced from other distribution terminals."
Witnesses reported queues of people at petrol stations, waiting to fill up their cars, after the blast which spewed flames and a huge column of black smoke high into the sky.
Police said about half of the depot had been destroyed.
The part affected is jointly run by oil companies Total and Texaco.
Buncefield is the fifth largest storage facility in Britain.
Sheila Williams, spokeswoman for oil giant BP, said there would be no problems with fuel shortages.
"There is certainly no shortage of fuel in and around the area and we are working hard to bring fuel supplies in from other terminals to petrol sites in those areas affected," she told Sky Television.
Police, who said they were treating the incident as an accident, also cautioned against panic buying.
"We have no indication at this stage that this explosion will cause fuel shortages," a Hertfordshire police spokeswoman said. "We strongly advise against this as recent events have shown that panic buying alone can cause fuel shortages."
Buncefield supplies fuel to major airports including nearby Luton and Heathrow. But both said they held sufficient supplies to avoid any problems.
"There is no indication that there will be a shortage in the foreseeable future," a Heathrow spokeswoman said.
Luton said flights were taking off and landing as normal although Heathrow said the pall of smoke had delayed some services.
The main transport impact came from the closure of the M1 motorway which runs close to the plant. Parts of it are expected to remain shut on Monday.
Car-loving Britons have been edgy about petrol supplies since hauliers blockaded refineries in protest at fuel tax levels five years ago, and brought the country to a virtual standstill.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
UK Police Say Fuel Blasts an Accident Forbes
Explosions ripped through a major fuel depot north of London on Sunday, injuring dozens of people, blowing doors off nearby homes and sending fireballs and massive clouds of black smoke into the sky. Police said the blasts appeared to be accidental, though they occurred just four days after an al-Qaida videotape appeared on the Internet calling for attacks on facilities carrying oil "stolen" from Muslims in the Middle East.
UK Police Say Oil Blasts an Accident ABC News
HUGE BLASTS IGNITE FUEL DEPOT Special Broadcasting Service
Hindu - Deepika - OilFiredUp - Stuff.co.nz - all 1,116 related »
Explosions ripped through a major fuel depot north of London on Sunday, injuring dozens of people, blowing doors off nearby homes and sending fireballs and massive clouds of black smoke into the sky. Police said the blasts appeared to be accidental, though they occurred just four days after an al-Qaida videotape appeared on the Internet calling for attacks on facilities carrying oil "stolen" from Muslims in the Middle East.
UK Police Say Oil Blasts an Accident ABC News
HUGE BLASTS IGNITE FUEL DEPOT Special Broadcasting Service
Hindu - Deepika - OilFiredUp - Stuff.co.nz - all 1,116 related »
Iran's leader drawing fire
President Ahmadinejad is proving too radical even for some Iranian
conservatives. By Scott Peterson
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p01s04-wome.html?s=hns
President Ahmadinejad is proving too radical even for some Iranian
conservatives. By Scott Peterson
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p01s04-wome.html?s=hns
AU struggles to calm Darfur
The African Union's mission in Sudan has become a test of its ability
to quell conflicts. By Daniel Pepper and Abraham McLaughlin
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p06s01-woaf.html?s=hns
The African Union's mission in Sudan has become a test of its ability
to quell conflicts. By Daniel Pepper and Abraham McLaughlin
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1212/p06s01-woaf.html?s=hns
India needs to look East: Manmohan Hindu
India does not need to look West to attract investment, but should focus on South-East Asia and East Asia as the region had the largest savings surplus in the world, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday. Dr. Singh said East Asia and South-East Asia were of the "greatest importance" to India as it sought more investment. Talking to correspondents en route to Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Singh said India had a "benign" relationship with South-East Asia and had no disputes with any country in this part of the world.
Putin Seeks Membership of Asian Business Club The Moscow Times
Southeast Asian Leaders Prepare to Open ASEAN Summit Voice of America
Reuters - Nation Multimedia - NDTV.com - Outlook (subscription) - all 249 related »
India does not need to look West to attract investment, but should focus on South-East Asia and East Asia as the region had the largest savings surplus in the world, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday. Dr. Singh said East Asia and South-East Asia were of the "greatest importance" to India as it sought more investment. Talking to correspondents en route to Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Singh said India had a "benign" relationship with South-East Asia and had no disputes with any country in this part of the world.
Putin Seeks Membership of Asian Business Club The Moscow Times
Southeast Asian Leaders Prepare to Open ASEAN Summit Voice of America
Reuters - Nation Multimedia - NDTV.com - Outlook (subscription) - all 249 related »
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GL10Df01.html
US turns the screws on deal with India
By Ramtanu Maitra
The "historic" US-India nuclear deal of July 18, on which Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to situate his legacy, is in trouble. It is evident that the US Congress is keen to extract the proverbial pound of flesh before it approves the deal. It also seems the optimism that prevailed in the Indian camp earlier is vanishing fast and what India will have to surrender to get the deal through could well be the new worry of New Delhi.
At the end of November, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran was in Washington to attend the inaugural session of the Indo-US High Technology Cooperation Group's meeting. Addressing the session, the Indian visitor said: "The nuclear agreement, as would be appreciated, has larger implications for high-technology trade as it is premised on US recognition of India's impeccable record on non-proliferation. It not only recognizes that non-proliferation is better served with India as a partner, but also sends a clear signal that India cannot be a partner and a target at the same time of technology denial regime." It is evident that the Indian foreign secretary's efforts to grease the wheels did not accomplish much.
The crunch
On November 18, a group of US nuclear non-proliferation experts [1] (some call them the American "ayatollahs of non-proliferation"), sent an open letter to the House of Representatives urging the lawmakers "to critically examine the July 18 proposal to allow for 'full' US-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation, which would require significant changes to US non-proliferation laws and long-standing international non-proliferation policy that have been supported and advanced by past Republican and Democratic administrations".
All the individuals who have put their signatures to the letter are like hallowed institutions in Washington, shoring up for years the increasingly tattered American non-proliferation policy.
In case the lawmakers missed the point, this powerful group pointed out that President George W Bush and administration officials involved with the proposed agreement had withheld the key details needed to help Congress fully understand the implications of the proposal.
"Accordingly, we urge that before any action is taken on any legislation sent up by the administration to implement the proposal, Congress should obtain detailed answers to a number of questions," they said.
The sticking point is that "so far, India has pledged only to accept voluntary safeguards over 'civilian' nuclear facilities of its choosing", they pointed out. "This could allow India to withdraw any nuclear facility from [International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA]) safeguards for national security reasons. Such an arrangement would be purely symbolic and would do nothing to prevent the continued production of fissile material for weapons by India."
They also said "the supply of nuclear fuel to India would free up its existing stockpile and capacity to produce highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons. To help ensure that US civilian nuclear cooperation is not in any way advancing India's weapons program, it would be essential to apply permanent, facility-specific safeguards on a mutually agreed and broad list of current and future Indian nuclear facilities involved in civilian activities and electricity production in combination with a cutoff of Indian fissile material production for weapons."
The group then went on to recommend that "specifically, civilian nuclear assistance should not be extended to India until it implements a cessation of the production of fissile material for weapons, which has been adopted by the five original nuclear-weapon states".
Another fear expressed by the group is that the arrangement proposed by the Bush administration could also trigger a significant erosion of the guidelines of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which are an important barrier against the transfer of nuclear material, equipment and technologies for weapons purposes.
Urging the lawmakers not to provide any civilian assistance to India without the full concurrence of the NSG and approval of India's safeguards agreement with the IAEA, the group said: "The proposed civil nuclear cooperation arrangement may also undermine our ability to win necessary international support for persuading Iran to abandon its fuel cycle plans and to make its nuclear program fully transparent to the IAEA."
Snowballing effect
It was evident from the outset that Tehran's development of a nuclear program, which New Delhi condemns as well, and Washington's difficulties in dealing with the situation in Tehran, would be linked by the opponents of the Bush-Manmohan Singh deal in their attempt to kill it.
But, perhaps, the group went even a step further, saying the deal could persuade states who "have for decades remained true to the original NPT [nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] bargain and forsworn nuclear weapons" to "make a different choice in the future if non-NPT members [such as India] receive civil nuclear assistance under less rigorous terms."
New Delhi, without giving the group's open letter any publicity, saw the red flag and sent Shyam Saran. It is evident that the Indian foreign secretary did not achieve much.
On November 30, Congressman Edward Markey and ranking member in the Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a letter to Bush along with the group's expressed concerns and a set of questions for consideration on proposed nuclear cooperation with India, "respectfully requesting" the White House to "provide responses to all of the questions that these experts have raised about various aspects of the proposal".
A copy of the letter, and the attachment, were also sent to the US secretary of defense and the secretary of state.
On December 7, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, addressing the Aspen Strategic Group, made clear his concerns, pointing out India had to first separate its civilian and military nuclear programs and place all its nuclear reactors under IAEA inspections.
Lugar said an "opaque or incomprehensible" Indian separation plan would only raise more questions, particularly in Congress, about India's intentions. "More generally, as a politician in the United States Senate charged with guiding this agreement through the legislative branch, I would urge the Indian side to think in maximalist [sic] terms and include as many facilities as possible within the scope of the civilian declaration," he said.
"Conversely, a minimalist approach will likely only delay consideration of this initiative in the US Congress and in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Or, at worst, it could result in unfavorable action by one or both bodies," Lugar said.
Although pointing out that he was issuing no threat, Lugar said, "While the Bush administration has, I think, been very clear in discussions with the Indian government about its expectations, let me emphasize that any Indian plan will have to pass muster with the United States Congress."
Lugar's position would require India to give up a major portion of its military nuclear facilities to IAEA safeguards, which would effectively cap India's deterrence, some observers claim. In other words, they say, India would be left exposed and vulnerable, self-defeating the country nuclear weapons' program and its defense.
The Nunn-Lugar Act
It is not difficult to understand why Lugar wanted the plan to be "credible, transparent and defensible from a non-proliferation standpoint". He, along with former Democratic senator from Georgia, Sam Nunn, was instrumental in getting Congress to pass the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Act in 1991.
This was after the Soviet Union disintegrated in late 1991; Soviet nuclear weapons were in the hands of four suddenly independent republics - Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus - whose leadership appeared confused and wobbly.
In response to that threatening turn of events, Nunn and Lugar persuaded Congress to pass the CTR program to provide assistance for dismantling or safely storing the weapons in the Soviet nuclear arsenal. This came to be known as the Nunn-Lugar Act.
The act, which was funded by a congressionally authorized transfer of $400 million from Department of Defense operations and maintenance accounts to Nunn-Lugar projects in fiscal year 1992, focused on weapon destruction and security.
While the act has been criticized widely, particularly the transfer of aid part of it, there are many in Washington who realize that it helped destroy large numbers of nuclear warheads and diminished threat posed by weapons of mass destruction.
In dealing with the US-India nuclear deal, it would be naive to expect that Lugar would not take an extremely hard stand on the issue of India and weapons of mass destruction.
For New Delhi, the question is: where to go from here? It is evident that Manmohan's recent three-day visit to Moscow had a civilian nuclear element. It seems that Russian President Vladimir Putin is perfectly willing to sell more of his light water reactors (LWRs)to India. Russia has sold India two 1,000 MW reactors, but could not promise any more because Russia, being a part of the NSG, cannot afford to violate the laws laid down by the NSG.
The obstacles
During Singh's discussions in Moscow, it was evident that the Russians would supply more enriched uranium-fueled LWRs if the US-India nuclear cooperation deal went through. That means, Moscow will not independently deal with the NSG vis-a-vis India, and will rely on Washington to get NSG approval.
In other words, if the US Congress in the short term does not approve the Bush-Manmohan deal, nothing much will help India in its plan to import nuclear reactors from abroad and solve some of its long-term electricity requirements. In this situation, strategic ties with Moscow will not help New Delhi one bit.
And there is nothing much India can do. However, there are some developments of which New Delhi should take note.
A great deal of the problem vis-a-vis getting the nuclear deal through Congress lies in the weakening of the Bush administration. At present, the White House is being pummeled from all sides, starting with the Iraq war. This is taking its toll on Republican lawmakers worried about elections in 2006, and they have begun to raise questions on issues they would not have previously questioned.
The Bush-Manmohan nuclear deal could be one issue where some Republicans will express their increasing independence from the White House. As for the Democrats, it is likely that most of them will not like to concede the White House even an inch.
It is also unlikely that the White House will have the energy and verve to do what is necessary to get the deal through. In addition, something else has begun to bother the Indians. Addressing the John Hopkins University on December 1, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and an apparent promoter of the deal, Nicholas Burns, alleged Indian commitments on Iran.
Burns said, "The Indians have assured us there is no [energy] plan on the table that is ready for decision by the Iranian and Indian governments, that any plans, any discussions, have been hypothetical and are years away."
While returning from Moscow with the Indian premier, minister Saran told the media that he did not remember anyone giving the Americans any such assurance.
If Saran is telling the truth, it means Washington has come to believe that New Delhi is desperate for the ratification of the July agreement and will be willing to accommodate some American demands that could help the Bush administration on the domestic scene.
Note [1] The signatories include Hal Bengelsdorf, consultant, and former director of the Office for Non-proliferation Policy at the Energy Department and former office director for nuclear affairs at the State Department; Robert J Einhorn, senior adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies and former assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation; John Holum, former under secretary of state for arms control and international security affairs and former director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; Victor Gilinsky, energy consultant and former US nuclear regulatory commissioner, among 12 others.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing .)
US turns the screws on deal with India
By Ramtanu Maitra
The "historic" US-India nuclear deal of July 18, on which Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to situate his legacy, is in trouble. It is evident that the US Congress is keen to extract the proverbial pound of flesh before it approves the deal. It also seems the optimism that prevailed in the Indian camp earlier is vanishing fast and what India will have to surrender to get the deal through could well be the new worry of New Delhi.
At the end of November, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran was in Washington to attend the inaugural session of the Indo-US High Technology Cooperation Group's meeting. Addressing the session, the Indian visitor said: "The nuclear agreement, as would be appreciated, has larger implications for high-technology trade as it is premised on US recognition of India's impeccable record on non-proliferation. It not only recognizes that non-proliferation is better served with India as a partner, but also sends a clear signal that India cannot be a partner and a target at the same time of technology denial regime." It is evident that the Indian foreign secretary's efforts to grease the wheels did not accomplish much.
The crunch
On November 18, a group of US nuclear non-proliferation experts [1] (some call them the American "ayatollahs of non-proliferation"), sent an open letter to the House of Representatives urging the lawmakers "to critically examine the July 18 proposal to allow for 'full' US-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation, which would require significant changes to US non-proliferation laws and long-standing international non-proliferation policy that have been supported and advanced by past Republican and Democratic administrations".
All the individuals who have put their signatures to the letter are like hallowed institutions in Washington, shoring up for years the increasingly tattered American non-proliferation policy.
In case the lawmakers missed the point, this powerful group pointed out that President George W Bush and administration officials involved with the proposed agreement had withheld the key details needed to help Congress fully understand the implications of the proposal.
"Accordingly, we urge that before any action is taken on any legislation sent up by the administration to implement the proposal, Congress should obtain detailed answers to a number of questions," they said.
The sticking point is that "so far, India has pledged only to accept voluntary safeguards over 'civilian' nuclear facilities of its choosing", they pointed out. "This could allow India to withdraw any nuclear facility from [International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA]) safeguards for national security reasons. Such an arrangement would be purely symbolic and would do nothing to prevent the continued production of fissile material for weapons by India."
They also said "the supply of nuclear fuel to India would free up its existing stockpile and capacity to produce highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons. To help ensure that US civilian nuclear cooperation is not in any way advancing India's weapons program, it would be essential to apply permanent, facility-specific safeguards on a mutually agreed and broad list of current and future Indian nuclear facilities involved in civilian activities and electricity production in combination with a cutoff of Indian fissile material production for weapons."
The group then went on to recommend that "specifically, civilian nuclear assistance should not be extended to India until it implements a cessation of the production of fissile material for weapons, which has been adopted by the five original nuclear-weapon states".
Another fear expressed by the group is that the arrangement proposed by the Bush administration could also trigger a significant erosion of the guidelines of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which are an important barrier against the transfer of nuclear material, equipment and technologies for weapons purposes.
Urging the lawmakers not to provide any civilian assistance to India without the full concurrence of the NSG and approval of India's safeguards agreement with the IAEA, the group said: "The proposed civil nuclear cooperation arrangement may also undermine our ability to win necessary international support for persuading Iran to abandon its fuel cycle plans and to make its nuclear program fully transparent to the IAEA."
Snowballing effect
It was evident from the outset that Tehran's development of a nuclear program, which New Delhi condemns as well, and Washington's difficulties in dealing with the situation in Tehran, would be linked by the opponents of the Bush-Manmohan Singh deal in their attempt to kill it.
But, perhaps, the group went even a step further, saying the deal could persuade states who "have for decades remained true to the original NPT [nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] bargain and forsworn nuclear weapons" to "make a different choice in the future if non-NPT members [such as India] receive civil nuclear assistance under less rigorous terms."
New Delhi, without giving the group's open letter any publicity, saw the red flag and sent Shyam Saran. It is evident that the Indian foreign secretary did not achieve much.
On November 30, Congressman Edward Markey and ranking member in the Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a letter to Bush along with the group's expressed concerns and a set of questions for consideration on proposed nuclear cooperation with India, "respectfully requesting" the White House to "provide responses to all of the questions that these experts have raised about various aspects of the proposal".
A copy of the letter, and the attachment, were also sent to the US secretary of defense and the secretary of state.
On December 7, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, addressing the Aspen Strategic Group, made clear his concerns, pointing out India had to first separate its civilian and military nuclear programs and place all its nuclear reactors under IAEA inspections.
Lugar said an "opaque or incomprehensible" Indian separation plan would only raise more questions, particularly in Congress, about India's intentions. "More generally, as a politician in the United States Senate charged with guiding this agreement through the legislative branch, I would urge the Indian side to think in maximalist [sic] terms and include as many facilities as possible within the scope of the civilian declaration," he said.
"Conversely, a minimalist approach will likely only delay consideration of this initiative in the US Congress and in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Or, at worst, it could result in unfavorable action by one or both bodies," Lugar said.
Although pointing out that he was issuing no threat, Lugar said, "While the Bush administration has, I think, been very clear in discussions with the Indian government about its expectations, let me emphasize that any Indian plan will have to pass muster with the United States Congress."
Lugar's position would require India to give up a major portion of its military nuclear facilities to IAEA safeguards, which would effectively cap India's deterrence, some observers claim. In other words, they say, India would be left exposed and vulnerable, self-defeating the country nuclear weapons' program and its defense.
The Nunn-Lugar Act
It is not difficult to understand why Lugar wanted the plan to be "credible, transparent and defensible from a non-proliferation standpoint". He, along with former Democratic senator from Georgia, Sam Nunn, was instrumental in getting Congress to pass the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Act in 1991.
This was after the Soviet Union disintegrated in late 1991; Soviet nuclear weapons were in the hands of four suddenly independent republics - Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus - whose leadership appeared confused and wobbly.
In response to that threatening turn of events, Nunn and Lugar persuaded Congress to pass the CTR program to provide assistance for dismantling or safely storing the weapons in the Soviet nuclear arsenal. This came to be known as the Nunn-Lugar Act.
The act, which was funded by a congressionally authorized transfer of $400 million from Department of Defense operations and maintenance accounts to Nunn-Lugar projects in fiscal year 1992, focused on weapon destruction and security.
While the act has been criticized widely, particularly the transfer of aid part of it, there are many in Washington who realize that it helped destroy large numbers of nuclear warheads and diminished threat posed by weapons of mass destruction.
In dealing with the US-India nuclear deal, it would be naive to expect that Lugar would not take an extremely hard stand on the issue of India and weapons of mass destruction.
For New Delhi, the question is: where to go from here? It is evident that Manmohan's recent three-day visit to Moscow had a civilian nuclear element. It seems that Russian President Vladimir Putin is perfectly willing to sell more of his light water reactors (LWRs)to India. Russia has sold India two 1,000 MW reactors, but could not promise any more because Russia, being a part of the NSG, cannot afford to violate the laws laid down by the NSG.
The obstacles
During Singh's discussions in Moscow, it was evident that the Russians would supply more enriched uranium-fueled LWRs if the US-India nuclear cooperation deal went through. That means, Moscow will not independently deal with the NSG vis-a-vis India, and will rely on Washington to get NSG approval.
In other words, if the US Congress in the short term does not approve the Bush-Manmohan deal, nothing much will help India in its plan to import nuclear reactors from abroad and solve some of its long-term electricity requirements. In this situation, strategic ties with Moscow will not help New Delhi one bit.
And there is nothing much India can do. However, there are some developments of which New Delhi should take note.
A great deal of the problem vis-a-vis getting the nuclear deal through Congress lies in the weakening of the Bush administration. At present, the White House is being pummeled from all sides, starting with the Iraq war. This is taking its toll on Republican lawmakers worried about elections in 2006, and they have begun to raise questions on issues they would not have previously questioned.
The Bush-Manmohan nuclear deal could be one issue where some Republicans will express their increasing independence from the White House. As for the Democrats, it is likely that most of them will not like to concede the White House even an inch.
It is also unlikely that the White House will have the energy and verve to do what is necessary to get the deal through. In addition, something else has begun to bother the Indians. Addressing the John Hopkins University on December 1, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and an apparent promoter of the deal, Nicholas Burns, alleged Indian commitments on Iran.
Burns said, "The Indians have assured us there is no [energy] plan on the table that is ready for decision by the Iranian and Indian governments, that any plans, any discussions, have been hypothetical and are years away."
While returning from Moscow with the Indian premier, minister Saran told the media that he did not remember anyone giving the Americans any such assurance.
If Saran is telling the truth, it means Washington has come to believe that New Delhi is desperate for the ratification of the July agreement and will be willing to accommodate some American demands that could help the Bush administration on the domestic scene.
Note [1] The signatories include Hal Bengelsdorf, consultant, and former director of the Office for Non-proliferation Policy at the Energy Department and former office director for nuclear affairs at the State Department; Robert J Einhorn, senior adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies and former assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation; John Holum, former under secretary of state for arms control and international security affairs and former director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; Victor Gilinsky, energy consultant and former US nuclear regulatory commissioner, among 12 others.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing .)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GL10Ae01.html
Why Southeast Asia is turning from US to China
By Tim Shorrock
WASHINGTON - The United States is rapidly losing its influence in the Southeast Asia region to China, thanks to an overly narrow focus on terrorism and a propensity to place bilateral ties above multilateral relationships, according to US and Chinese analysts.
"China makes a point of dealing with Southeast Asia as a region and has a very aggressive ASEAN policy," said Catharin Dalpino, an Asia specialist at Georgetown University who served in the Clinton administration. "This also helps its bilateral relationships with Southeast Asia quite a lot."
ASEAN is the acronym for the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations that includes Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei.
Against China's regional approach, the US is "notoriously bilateral, and almost gratuitously so in Southeast Asia," Dalpino said, adding that the fact that US officials won't be attending the first East Asia Summit, scheduled for December 14 in Kuala Lumpur, underscores US alienation from the region.
Besides the ASEAN bloc, China, South Korea and Japan are members of the 16-nation summit - the world's newest grouping - with India, New Zealand and Australia attending as newly accepted members.
By making Southeast Asia a "second front" in its global "war on terror", the Bush administration has signalled that "we care less about other areas of policy", Dalpino said, addressing a forum on China and Southeast Asia sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.
Minxin Pei, director of the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, agrees that the US "has ceded the region to China's initiative".
He said US military policies following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have played a significant role in the estrangement. But he dated the problem back to the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and 1998, when the Clinton administration used its influence on the International Monetary Fund to impose solutions on Asian countries that supported US economic goals in the region.
During the crisis, "the US showed to the East Asian countries it really did not care about them", he said.
Conversely, the Asian crisis was a turning point for China's ties with the broader Asian region, said Ren Xiao, director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Department at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies.
After decades of estrangement during the Cold War, China and ASEAN began mending fences by the early 1990s. Since then, their "mutual needs" for economic and military security "have been the driving force behind the relationship", said Ren.
By the mid-1990s China had become a charter member of the ASEAN Regional Forum, an influential discussion group where military officials from around the region meet to discuss missile defence, piracy and other security issues.
But the 1997 financial crisis was a watershed when China's decision not to revalue its currency "helped stabilize the regional economic order", said Ren. Shortly after that, China, Japan and South Korea began holding annual discussions with Southeast Asia under the '"SEAN-plus-three" formula. "It was here that the East Asian cooperation process started," he said.
In 1999, after the US and China reached an agreement on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, ASEAN governments began to worry about the impact of Sino-US trade relations on their region. As a result, China proposed a free trade agreement with Southeast Asia, the framework for which was signed in 2002.
Over the past three years, the SARS epidemic, the threat of piracy and the rapid increase in intra-regional trade have drawn China and Southeast Asia even closer. Those ties culminated in 2003, when China became the first nation outside the region to sign the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Russia and Japan have since followed suit, but not the US, which has refused to sign because it objects to Myanmar's full membership in ASEAN.
China is now ASEAN's second-largest trading partner, and bilateral trade could reach US$200 billion by 2010, Ren predicted. Already, that trade has grown 40% since 2002, and had hit $106 billion in 2004.
China, Ren stressed, has built its ties with Southeast Asia out of altruism. "China's foreign policy way of thinking has much to do with its geographical location," he said. "That is to say, we must have a stable and peaceful neighboring area."
But Pei, the Carnegie scholar, suggested that China wants to preserve its big-power status and minimize US influence in the region. "China is very much afraid that the US would develop strategic alliance ties that would be used to contain China," he said. With Japan's influence in the region diminished, "China is indisputably the regional power as viewed by Southeast Asian countries."
However, Pei said the ASEAN countries don't want to be seen as satellites of China and are using their ties to Beijing "to convince other big powers to come in". That's why India has been so active in the region in recent years, he said.
In that context, added Dalpino, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's decision to skip an ASEAN meeting last July "was a big mistake". Pointing to the lack of US participation in this month's summit, Ren added that the Bush administration is "not interested in participating in this process right now".
The most recent official statement of US policy on Southeast Asia was in October, when Eric John, a deputy assistant secretary of state, was asked at a congressional briefing why the US won't be represented in Kuala Lumpur.
"It's a question we get all the time: what is our policy on the East Asia summit?" he replied. "Quite frankly, we haven't determined a policy because the East Asia summit, if you really look at it, is a black box. Nobody knows what the East Asia summit is other than leaders coming together."
Once the forum "begins to take form, we will study how we can engage", John said.
(Inter Press Service)
Why Southeast Asia is turning from US to China
By Tim Shorrock
WASHINGTON - The United States is rapidly losing its influence in the Southeast Asia region to China, thanks to an overly narrow focus on terrorism and a propensity to place bilateral ties above multilateral relationships, according to US and Chinese analysts.
"China makes a point of dealing with Southeast Asia as a region and has a very aggressive ASEAN policy," said Catharin Dalpino, an Asia specialist at Georgetown University who served in the Clinton administration. "This also helps its bilateral relationships with Southeast Asia quite a lot."
ASEAN is the acronym for the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations that includes Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei.
Against China's regional approach, the US is "notoriously bilateral, and almost gratuitously so in Southeast Asia," Dalpino said, adding that the fact that US officials won't be attending the first East Asia Summit, scheduled for December 14 in Kuala Lumpur, underscores US alienation from the region.
Besides the ASEAN bloc, China, South Korea and Japan are members of the 16-nation summit - the world's newest grouping - with India, New Zealand and Australia attending as newly accepted members.
By making Southeast Asia a "second front" in its global "war on terror", the Bush administration has signalled that "we care less about other areas of policy", Dalpino said, addressing a forum on China and Southeast Asia sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.
Minxin Pei, director of the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, agrees that the US "has ceded the region to China's initiative".
He said US military policies following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have played a significant role in the estrangement. But he dated the problem back to the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and 1998, when the Clinton administration used its influence on the International Monetary Fund to impose solutions on Asian countries that supported US economic goals in the region.
During the crisis, "the US showed to the East Asian countries it really did not care about them", he said.
Conversely, the Asian crisis was a turning point for China's ties with the broader Asian region, said Ren Xiao, director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Department at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies.
After decades of estrangement during the Cold War, China and ASEAN began mending fences by the early 1990s. Since then, their "mutual needs" for economic and military security "have been the driving force behind the relationship", said Ren.
By the mid-1990s China had become a charter member of the ASEAN Regional Forum, an influential discussion group where military officials from around the region meet to discuss missile defence, piracy and other security issues.
But the 1997 financial crisis was a watershed when China's decision not to revalue its currency "helped stabilize the regional economic order", said Ren. Shortly after that, China, Japan and South Korea began holding annual discussions with Southeast Asia under the '"SEAN-plus-three" formula. "It was here that the East Asian cooperation process started," he said.
In 1999, after the US and China reached an agreement on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, ASEAN governments began to worry about the impact of Sino-US trade relations on their region. As a result, China proposed a free trade agreement with Southeast Asia, the framework for which was signed in 2002.
Over the past three years, the SARS epidemic, the threat of piracy and the rapid increase in intra-regional trade have drawn China and Southeast Asia even closer. Those ties culminated in 2003, when China became the first nation outside the region to sign the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Russia and Japan have since followed suit, but not the US, which has refused to sign because it objects to Myanmar's full membership in ASEAN.
China is now ASEAN's second-largest trading partner, and bilateral trade could reach US$200 billion by 2010, Ren predicted. Already, that trade has grown 40% since 2002, and had hit $106 billion in 2004.
China, Ren stressed, has built its ties with Southeast Asia out of altruism. "China's foreign policy way of thinking has much to do with its geographical location," he said. "That is to say, we must have a stable and peaceful neighboring area."
But Pei, the Carnegie scholar, suggested that China wants to preserve its big-power status and minimize US influence in the region. "China is very much afraid that the US would develop strategic alliance ties that would be used to contain China," he said. With Japan's influence in the region diminished, "China is indisputably the regional power as viewed by Southeast Asian countries."
However, Pei said the ASEAN countries don't want to be seen as satellites of China and are using their ties to Beijing "to convince other big powers to come in". That's why India has been so active in the region in recent years, he said.
In that context, added Dalpino, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's decision to skip an ASEAN meeting last July "was a big mistake". Pointing to the lack of US participation in this month's summit, Ren added that the Bush administration is "not interested in participating in this process right now".
The most recent official statement of US policy on Southeast Asia was in October, when Eric John, a deputy assistant secretary of state, was asked at a congressional briefing why the US won't be represented in Kuala Lumpur.
"It's a question we get all the time: what is our policy on the East Asia summit?" he replied. "Quite frankly, we haven't determined a policy because the East Asia summit, if you really look at it, is a black box. Nobody knows what the East Asia summit is other than leaders coming together."
Once the forum "begins to take form, we will study how we can engage", John said.
(Inter Press Service)
Putin Seeks Membership of Asian Business Club The Moscow Times
President Vladimir Putin flies to a summit of leaders of major Asian states this week hoping to press his case for Russia to be part of their economic and political integration. His trip to Malaysia for the Dec. 13-14 Kuala Lumpur East Asian summit ends a busy year of Asian diplomacy for Russia, which is disillusioned with its role of outsider in European integration and keen to get on board a similar process in Asia. "The process of globalization is beginning to have an Asian look about it," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in his annual foreign policy review. "This makes the fast-developing Asia-Pacific region a top priority for us." Asian countries are looking to Russia to provide much of the energy for their booming industries.
Howard woos top Asian students Australian
India needs to look East: Manmohan Hindu
Rediff - Reuters - Xinhua - Scotsman - all 249 related »
President Vladimir Putin flies to a summit of leaders of major Asian states this week hoping to press his case for Russia to be part of their economic and political integration. His trip to Malaysia for the Dec. 13-14 Kuala Lumpur East Asian summit ends a busy year of Asian diplomacy for Russia, which is disillusioned with its role of outsider in European integration and keen to get on board a similar process in Asia. "The process of globalization is beginning to have an Asian look about it," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in his annual foreign policy review. "This makes the fast-developing Asia-Pacific region a top priority for us." Asian countries are looking to Russia to provide much of the energy for their booming industries.
Howard woos top Asian students Australian
India needs to look East: Manmohan Hindu
Rediff - Reuters - Xinhua - Scotsman - all 249 related »
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 11, 2005
Commission Finds Irregularities in Iraqi Voter Registration
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 11 - With just four days to go until parliamentary elections, the Iraqi electoral commission said today that it had found irregularities in voter registration in the volatile northern oil city of Kirkuk.
The discovery was the first instance of an election irregularity announced by the commission as the country prepared for the vote on Thursday.
The commission said experts conducting an audit of voter lists found that there had been an unexpected surge in voter registration in the area. When the experts scrutinized the voter registration forms, the commission said in a written statement, they found that many had been filled out incorrectly. Some had missing signatures and others had more than one signature. In some cases, the same name appeared on several forms.
Adel al-Lami, the director general of the Iraqi electoral commission, said in an interview that in his view the voter registration irregularities were technical errors and not politically motivated. "Please stay away from political conspiracies," he said. "There's no political reason for this."
Kirkuk is considered one of the most potentially incendiary cities in Iraq, because of its diverse ethnic and religious mix and its oil resources. The area, north of Baghdad, has 10 to 20 percent of the country's oil reserves. As a result, several competing groups - Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs - claim dominance over the city.
Under the rule of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab, the government pushed Kurds and Turkmens out of Kirkuk and moved in Arabs, many of them from the south. After the American invasion, the two main Kurdish political parties began an aggressive campaign of resettling the region with Kurds.
Homes for Kurds are being built at a fevered pace in Kirkuk, further stirring the fears of Arabs and Turkmens. Unlike the situation in Mr. Hussein's time, the Kurds also control the provincial council, the police force and most of the provincial ministries.
No reliable census of the city has been taken for decades. The new constitution says Kirkuk Province will hold a referendum vote by the end of 2007 to determine whether it will be governed by the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, or by the central government. One expert on the area, Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, has recommended that Kirkuk itself be designated a special autonomous region.
The election commission said today that Kirkuk had an average 45 percent increase in voter registration across the region, compared with an average 8.19 percent increase across Iraq. That prompted experts to look at the registration forms that had been turned in recently.
The commission said it would distribute to polling places a list of names for whom forms had been rejected, and that those people would not be allowed to vote.
The Ministry of Interior laid out security plans today for the period surrounding the elections. The measures are similar to ones put in place during last January's elections and during the constitutional referendum in October. The government will shut down from Tuesday to Saturday, as a national holiday, and a nightly curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. will be in place. In addition, civilians will not be allowed to carry guns even if they have a permit.
Iraqi forces will also clamp down on movement across the country's borders and on travel between provinces.
Advance voting is to take place Monday in hospitals and prisons.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting for this article.
Copyright 2005The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top
December 11, 2005
Commission Finds Irregularities in Iraqi Voter Registration
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 11 - With just four days to go until parliamentary elections, the Iraqi electoral commission said today that it had found irregularities in voter registration in the volatile northern oil city of Kirkuk.
The discovery was the first instance of an election irregularity announced by the commission as the country prepared for the vote on Thursday.
The commission said experts conducting an audit of voter lists found that there had been an unexpected surge in voter registration in the area. When the experts scrutinized the voter registration forms, the commission said in a written statement, they found that many had been filled out incorrectly. Some had missing signatures and others had more than one signature. In some cases, the same name appeared on several forms.
Adel al-Lami, the director general of the Iraqi electoral commission, said in an interview that in his view the voter registration irregularities were technical errors and not politically motivated. "Please stay away from political conspiracies," he said. "There's no political reason for this."
Kirkuk is considered one of the most potentially incendiary cities in Iraq, because of its diverse ethnic and religious mix and its oil resources. The area, north of Baghdad, has 10 to 20 percent of the country's oil reserves. As a result, several competing groups - Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs - claim dominance over the city.
Under the rule of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab, the government pushed Kurds and Turkmens out of Kirkuk and moved in Arabs, many of them from the south. After the American invasion, the two main Kurdish political parties began an aggressive campaign of resettling the region with Kurds.
Homes for Kurds are being built at a fevered pace in Kirkuk, further stirring the fears of Arabs and Turkmens. Unlike the situation in Mr. Hussein's time, the Kurds also control the provincial council, the police force and most of the provincial ministries.
No reliable census of the city has been taken for decades. The new constitution says Kirkuk Province will hold a referendum vote by the end of 2007 to determine whether it will be governed by the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, or by the central government. One expert on the area, Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, has recommended that Kirkuk itself be designated a special autonomous region.
The election commission said today that Kirkuk had an average 45 percent increase in voter registration across the region, compared with an average 8.19 percent increase across Iraq. That prompted experts to look at the registration forms that had been turned in recently.
The commission said it would distribute to polling places a list of names for whom forms had been rejected, and that those people would not be allowed to vote.
The Ministry of Interior laid out security plans today for the period surrounding the elections. The measures are similar to ones put in place during last January's elections and during the constitutional referendum in October. The government will shut down from Tuesday to Saturday, as a national holiday, and a nightly curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. will be in place. In addition, civilians will not be allowed to carry guns even if they have a permit.
Iraqi forces will also clamp down on movement across the country's borders and on travel between provinces.
Advance voting is to take place Monday in hospitals and prisons.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting for this article.
Copyright 2005The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/14B...DA800E8BEA8.htm
Saddam loyalists urge Sunnis to vote
Sunday 11 December 2005, 23:16 Makka Time, 20:16 GMT
In a move that would have been inconceivable only months earlier, Saddam Hussein loyalists are urging Sunnis to vote in Thursday's poll and warning al-Qaida fighters not to launch attacks.
As political and security tensions rise before the parliamentary elections, fighters in the Western al-Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from those loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
These same fighters violently opposed elections held in January when many Sunnis, in rebel strongholds such as Ramadi and Falluja, either staged a boycott or were simply too scared to vote.
Ali Mahmoud, a Falluja resident and former army officer and rocket specialist under the Baath party, said: "We want to see a nationalist government that will have a balance of interests. So our Sunni brothers will be safe when they vote."
Former Baathists opposed to the US presence in Iraq, such as Falluja resident Jassim Abu Bakr, are still fiercely opposed to US-backed leaders, and say any Sunni politicians who move too close to them will lose their support.
"We are telling Sunnis that they have to vote for nationalist parties and even if they win, we will be watching very closely to keep them in line," said the Falluja fighter, 28.
In Falluja, known as Iraq's City of Mosques, Sunni Muslim spiritual leaders made it clear there would be no repeat of the boycott of January's election which left their sect marginalised.
Encouraging change
Despite the continuing hostility, this shift in attitude is encouraging for the US, which hopes to engage Sunni Arabs in a policy of peaceful politics in order to defuse the fighting. But it is far too early to suggest that any breakthroughs will ease violence that has left thousands dead.
Most election posters back two Sunni politicians, Saleh Mutlak and Adnan al-Dulaimi. Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia and former prime minister who ordered a US-led offensive that devastated Falluja last year, has some appeal, fighters said.
The influential Association of Muslim Scholars urged its large Sunni community to boycott what it saw as illegal polls in January.
Nearly one year on, the group has so far been officially neutral, but some of its members have called participation in the polls a religious duty.
Ramadi remains a trouble spot. Just a few days ago US helicopters were exchanging fire with determined fighters.
But Saddam loyalists have turned against al-Zarqawi, originally from Jordan, whose fighters travel to Iraq from across the Arab world.
"Zarqawi is an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing occupation," said a Baathist leader who would give his name only as Abu Abd Allah.
Political wrangling
Meanwhile, the election campaign geared up for its final sprint ahead of Thursday's poll, with rival candidates trading bitter accusations over mounting political violence.
Former prime minister Iyad Allawi, campaigning hard on a joint Shia-Sunni ticket to unite the country and end the armed chaos, has accused the government of leading the country to the brink of civil war.
Exacerbating the insecurity, the fate of four Western peace activists remained in limbo on Sunday after another ultimatum expired from their kidnappers who threatened to kill them unless prisoners are released.
In order to ensure that Thursday's vote takes place with a minimum of violence, Bayan Baker Solagh, the interior minister, has announced strict security measures.
The country will grind to a halt for the election, with a five-day public holiday, a ban on carrying weapons in public and night-time curfews.
Land borders will be closed and airports shut beginning on Wednesday.
Similar measures were adopted during an October vote on the constitution and a January election to elect a transitional parliament.
More than 15.5 million Iraqis are eligible to go to the polls on Thursday to elect 275 members of parliament from about 7000 candidates competing for a seat in the country's first full-term parliament since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government.
Agencies
Saddam loyalists urge Sunnis to vote
Sunday 11 December 2005, 23:16 Makka Time, 20:16 GMT
In a move that would have been inconceivable only months earlier, Saddam Hussein loyalists are urging Sunnis to vote in Thursday's poll and warning al-Qaida fighters not to launch attacks.
As political and security tensions rise before the parliamentary elections, fighters in the Western al-Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from those loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
These same fighters violently opposed elections held in January when many Sunnis, in rebel strongholds such as Ramadi and Falluja, either staged a boycott or were simply too scared to vote.
Ali Mahmoud, a Falluja resident and former army officer and rocket specialist under the Baath party, said: "We want to see a nationalist government that will have a balance of interests. So our Sunni brothers will be safe when they vote."
Former Baathists opposed to the US presence in Iraq, such as Falluja resident Jassim Abu Bakr, are still fiercely opposed to US-backed leaders, and say any Sunni politicians who move too close to them will lose their support.
"We are telling Sunnis that they have to vote for nationalist parties and even if they win, we will be watching very closely to keep them in line," said the Falluja fighter, 28.
In Falluja, known as Iraq's City of Mosques, Sunni Muslim spiritual leaders made it clear there would be no repeat of the boycott of January's election which left their sect marginalised.
Encouraging change
Despite the continuing hostility, this shift in attitude is encouraging for the US, which hopes to engage Sunni Arabs in a policy of peaceful politics in order to defuse the fighting. But it is far too early to suggest that any breakthroughs will ease violence that has left thousands dead.
Most election posters back two Sunni politicians, Saleh Mutlak and Adnan al-Dulaimi. Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia and former prime minister who ordered a US-led offensive that devastated Falluja last year, has some appeal, fighters said.
The influential Association of Muslim Scholars urged its large Sunni community to boycott what it saw as illegal polls in January.
Nearly one year on, the group has so far been officially neutral, but some of its members have called participation in the polls a religious duty.
Ramadi remains a trouble spot. Just a few days ago US helicopters were exchanging fire with determined fighters.
But Saddam loyalists have turned against al-Zarqawi, originally from Jordan, whose fighters travel to Iraq from across the Arab world.
"Zarqawi is an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing occupation," said a Baathist leader who would give his name only as Abu Abd Allah.
Political wrangling
Meanwhile, the election campaign geared up for its final sprint ahead of Thursday's poll, with rival candidates trading bitter accusations over mounting political violence.
Former prime minister Iyad Allawi, campaigning hard on a joint Shia-Sunni ticket to unite the country and end the armed chaos, has accused the government of leading the country to the brink of civil war.
Exacerbating the insecurity, the fate of four Western peace activists remained in limbo on Sunday after another ultimatum expired from their kidnappers who threatened to kill them unless prisoners are released.
In order to ensure that Thursday's vote takes place with a minimum of violence, Bayan Baker Solagh, the interior minister, has announced strict security measures.
The country will grind to a halt for the election, with a five-day public holiday, a ban on carrying weapons in public and night-time curfews.
Land borders will be closed and airports shut beginning on Wednesday.
Similar measures were adopted during an October vote on the constitution and a January election to elect a transitional parliament.
More than 15.5 million Iraqis are eligible to go to the polls on Thursday to elect 275 members of parliament from about 7000 candidates competing for a seat in the country's first full-term parliament since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government.
Agencies
Peace Laureate Elbaradei Calls For World Without Nuclear Weapons
http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-doctrine-05zzza.html
Oslo (AFP) Dec 10, 2005 - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency Mohamed ElBaradei Saturday received the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize and called for a world free of atomic weapons, saying existing nuclear states should lead by example.
http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-doctrine-05zzza.html
Oslo (AFP) Dec 10, 2005 - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency Mohamed ElBaradei Saturday received the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize and called for a world free of atomic weapons, saying existing nuclear states should lead by example.
French Spy Service Warned US About Bogus Niger Uranium Claim: Ex-Official
http://www.spacewar.com/news/terrorwar-05zzzzzk.html
http://www.spacewar.com/news/terrorwar-05zzzzzk.html
Analysis: 'Zombie' NATO springs to life
http://www.spacewar.com/news/europe-05zp.html
Brussels (UPI) Dec 09, 2005 - "A zombie organization," is how former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar described NATO in an interview with United Press International last week.
http://www.spacewar.com/news/europe-05zp.html
Brussels (UPI) Dec 09, 2005 - "A zombie organization," is how former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar described NATO in an interview with United Press International last week.
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Assad threatens the world as Mehlis submits his final report on the Hariri assassination to Kof Annan on Dec. 11. He can no longer count on Russian veto against UN sanctions or Saudi support
December 11, 2005, 11:05 PM (GMT+02:00)
In a special interview to the Russian TV station Rossiya, the Syrian president declared the Middle East and the whole world would suffer if Syria were subjected to UN sanctions.
DEBKAfile reports from its exclusive sources disclose that the US and France have jointly prepared the following plan of action to be pursued at the United Nations:
1. France has drafted a seven-point Security Council resolution voicing deep concern over Syria’s failure to fully cooperate with the UN inquiry in accordance with resolution 1636. The Hariri assassination is defined for the first time as an act of terror, a short step towards holding Damascus guilty of terrorism.
2. The US requests the inclusion in the draft of the phrase: “Syria has for the second time violated Security Council resolution 1636. Personal sanctions are proposed for the Syrian officers suspected by the UN panel of complicity in the Hariri murder plot, including a ban on travel and freeze on their overseas assets.
According to our sources, those two steps will be followed by three more:
--- International arrest warrants against Syrian suspects.
--- Subpoenas to additional Syrian officers for questioning at UN headquarters in Vienna
---Detlev Mehlis, who intends to retire as head of the UN Hariri team after submitting his report to the Security Council on Dec. 15, will first to turn over to the Beirut authorities Hussam Taher Hussam, who fled to Syria and caused a sensation last week by alleging the UN had offered him a bribe to implicate Syrian officers. Mehlis now has the testimony of his girlfriend, who remained in Lebanon. She reports that she was present with Hussam at the scene of the assassination on the day of the crime, when a phone call came through from Col. Jam’a Jam’a, right hand of Gen. Rustum Ghazaleh, a senior suspect. He asked Hussam where he was. When Hussam said he was at the murder scene, Jama told him to get out fast because his life was in danger.
This collapse of Damascus’ attempt to discredit the UN probe is behind president Assad’s threatening statement to Russian TV, in which he said the stability of the Middle East and the world would be imperiled by UN sanctions against Syria.
DEBKAfile’s sources add that the threat is a symptom of his desperation after discovering that he can no longer count on a Russian veto vote against sanctions. The Syrian leader has also been let down by the Saudis. King Abdullah not only spurned Assad’s pleas to intercede on his behalf with Washington, but invited the enemy of his clan, the Lebanese Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, for an official visit to Riyadh Saturday, Dec. 10.
Copyright 2000-2005 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.
Assad threatens the world as Mehlis submits his final report on the Hariri assassination to Kof Annan on Dec. 11. He can no longer count on Russian veto against UN sanctions or Saudi support
December 11, 2005, 11:05 PM (GMT+02:00)
In a special interview to the Russian TV station Rossiya, the Syrian president declared the Middle East and the whole world would suffer if Syria were subjected to UN sanctions.
DEBKAfile reports from its exclusive sources disclose that the US and France have jointly prepared the following plan of action to be pursued at the United Nations:
1. France has drafted a seven-point Security Council resolution voicing deep concern over Syria’s failure to fully cooperate with the UN inquiry in accordance with resolution 1636. The Hariri assassination is defined for the first time as an act of terror, a short step towards holding Damascus guilty of terrorism.
2. The US requests the inclusion in the draft of the phrase: “Syria has for the second time violated Security Council resolution 1636. Personal sanctions are proposed for the Syrian officers suspected by the UN panel of complicity in the Hariri murder plot, including a ban on travel and freeze on their overseas assets.
According to our sources, those two steps will be followed by three more:
--- International arrest warrants against Syrian suspects.
--- Subpoenas to additional Syrian officers for questioning at UN headquarters in Vienna
---Detlev Mehlis, who intends to retire as head of the UN Hariri team after submitting his report to the Security Council on Dec. 15, will first to turn over to the Beirut authorities Hussam Taher Hussam, who fled to Syria and caused a sensation last week by alleging the UN had offered him a bribe to implicate Syrian officers. Mehlis now has the testimony of his girlfriend, who remained in Lebanon. She reports that she was present with Hussam at the scene of the assassination on the day of the crime, when a phone call came through from Col. Jam’a Jam’a, right hand of Gen. Rustum Ghazaleh, a senior suspect. He asked Hussam where he was. When Hussam said he was at the murder scene, Jama told him to get out fast because his life was in danger.
This collapse of Damascus’ attempt to discredit the UN probe is behind president Assad’s threatening statement to Russian TV, in which he said the stability of the Middle East and the world would be imperiled by UN sanctions against Syria.
DEBKAfile’s sources add that the threat is a symptom of his desperation after discovering that he can no longer count on a Russian veto vote against sanctions. The Syrian leader has also been let down by the Saudis. King Abdullah not only spurned Assad’s pleas to intercede on his behalf with Washington, but invited the enemy of his clan, the Lebanese Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, for an official visit to Riyadh Saturday, Dec. 10.
Copyright 2000-2005 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.
Australia PM urges tolerance after race violence Reuters AlertNet
Australian Prime Minister John Howard called for ethnic and religious tolerance on Monday after racial violence, spurred on police say by white supremacists, erupted in parts of Sydney. Racial tension sparked violence on Cronulla Beach on Sunday when around 5,000 people, some yelling racist chants, attacked youths of Middle Eastern background, saying they were defending their beach after lifesavers were attacked there last week. Violence then spread to a second beach, Maroubra, where scores of men armed with baseball bats smashed about 100 cars. At Botany Bay, riot police confronted hundreds of youths and police said a man was stabbed in the back in a southern Sydney suburb in what media reports said appeared to be racial violence. "Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned," Howard told a news conference on Monday, by when violence had subsided. "Attacking people on the basis of race and ethnicity is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of background and politics," he said. New South Wales (NSW) police said a group of Neo-Nazis and white supremacists stirred on the drunken crowd at Cronulla. "There appears to be an element of white supremacists and they really have no place in mainstream Australian society. Those sort of characters are best placed in Berlin 1930s, not in Cronulla 2005," NSW Police Minister Carl Scully told reporters. As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore on Sunday, one man on the back of a truck shouted: "No more Lebs (Lebanese)" -- a chant picked up by the group around him. Others carried Australian flags and dressed in Australian sports shirts. Drunken youths chased and attacked Australians of Middle East appearance, sending some cowering into shops and hotels for safety, as riot police and dog squads tried to stop the violence. Police arrested 16 people in Cronulla. NSW state premier Morris Iemma said the violence reflected the "ugly face of racism in Australia". But Howard stressed the Cronulla violence was a law and order problem and did not reflect a deeper problem with Australia's multi-cultural society. "I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country," he said. "This nation of ours has been able to absorb millions of people from different parts of the world over a period of some 40 years and we have done so with remarkable success," he said. "It is important that we reaffirm our respect for freedom of religion in this country, but it is also important that we place greater emphasis on integration of people into the broader community and the avoidance of tribalism." Sydney's Islamic community blamed the violence at Cronulla Beach on "racist and irresponsible" sections of the media which turned a common youth issue into an issue of ethnicity. Australia's small Muslim community has expressed feelings of alienation since the Iraq war, reporting racist verbal abuse and occasional assaults. Australia is a staunch U.S. ally and was one of the first nations to commit troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Local Muslims have also expressed concern about recent new anti-terror laws, which they fear could target them, and warnings of home-grown terrorism by intelligence authorities. The Howard government has used security as a major issue in its last two election victories, but the prime minister dismissed any suggestion his government's warnings about home-grown terrorists had fuelled the rampage. "It is impossible to know how individuals react but everything this government's said about home-grown terrorism has been totally justified," said Howard. "It is a potential threat. To suggest that one should remain silent...is a complete failure of leadership."
Police say 28 arrested, 31 injured in Sydney riots caused by ... CBC News
Reader reaction to the riots Advertiser Adelaide
CTV.ca - NDTV.com - Sydney Morning Herald (subscription) - Melbourne Herald Sun - all 335 related »
Australian Prime Minister John Howard called for ethnic and religious tolerance on Monday after racial violence, spurred on police say by white supremacists, erupted in parts of Sydney. Racial tension sparked violence on Cronulla Beach on Sunday when around 5,000 people, some yelling racist chants, attacked youths of Middle Eastern background, saying they were defending their beach after lifesavers were attacked there last week. Violence then spread to a second beach, Maroubra, where scores of men armed with baseball bats smashed about 100 cars. At Botany Bay, riot police confronted hundreds of youths and police said a man was stabbed in the back in a southern Sydney suburb in what media reports said appeared to be racial violence. "Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned," Howard told a news conference on Monday, by when violence had subsided. "Attacking people on the basis of race and ethnicity is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of background and politics," he said. New South Wales (NSW) police said a group of Neo-Nazis and white supremacists stirred on the drunken crowd at Cronulla. "There appears to be an element of white supremacists and they really have no place in mainstream Australian society. Those sort of characters are best placed in Berlin 1930s, not in Cronulla 2005," NSW Police Minister Carl Scully told reporters. As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore on Sunday, one man on the back of a truck shouted: "No more Lebs (Lebanese)" -- a chant picked up by the group around him. Others carried Australian flags and dressed in Australian sports shirts. Drunken youths chased and attacked Australians of Middle East appearance, sending some cowering into shops and hotels for safety, as riot police and dog squads tried to stop the violence. Police arrested 16 people in Cronulla. NSW state premier Morris Iemma said the violence reflected the "ugly face of racism in Australia". But Howard stressed the Cronulla violence was a law and order problem and did not reflect a deeper problem with Australia's multi-cultural society. "I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country," he said. "This nation of ours has been able to absorb millions of people from different parts of the world over a period of some 40 years and we have done so with remarkable success," he said. "It is important that we reaffirm our respect for freedom of religion in this country, but it is also important that we place greater emphasis on integration of people into the broader community and the avoidance of tribalism." Sydney's Islamic community blamed the violence at Cronulla Beach on "racist and irresponsible" sections of the media which turned a common youth issue into an issue of ethnicity. Australia's small Muslim community has expressed feelings of alienation since the Iraq war, reporting racist verbal abuse and occasional assaults. Australia is a staunch U.S. ally and was one of the first nations to commit troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Local Muslims have also expressed concern about recent new anti-terror laws, which they fear could target them, and warnings of home-grown terrorism by intelligence authorities. The Howard government has used security as a major issue in its last two election victories, but the prime minister dismissed any suggestion his government's warnings about home-grown terrorists had fuelled the rampage. "It is impossible to know how individuals react but everything this government's said about home-grown terrorism has been totally justified," said Howard. "It is a potential threat. To suggest that one should remain silent...is a complete failure of leadership."
Police say 28 arrested, 31 injured in Sydney riots caused by ... CBC News
Reader reaction to the riots Advertiser Adelaide
CTV.ca - NDTV.com - Sydney Morning Herald (subscription) - Melbourne Herald Sun - all 335 related »
Japan's Government Lifts Ban on US, Canadian Beef Bloomberg
Japan lifted a two-year ban on US and Canadian beef imports, paving the way for meatpackers including Tyson Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc. to reclaim a share of a $1.7 billion market. The U.S. and Canada have accepted Japanese conditions for resuming the beef trade, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.
Agriculture Ministry approves easing US beef ban Mainichi Daily News
US re-entry to Japan to hit beef exporters New Zealand Herald
ABC Online - CTV.ca - CBC British Columbia (Audio) - CattleNetwork.com - all 275 related »
Japan lifted a two-year ban on US and Canadian beef imports, paving the way for meatpackers including Tyson Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc. to reclaim a share of a $1.7 billion market. The U.S. and Canada have accepted Japanese conditions for resuming the beef trade, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.
Agriculture Ministry approves easing US beef ban Mainichi Daily News
US re-entry to Japan to hit beef exporters New Zealand Herald
ABC Online - CTV.ca - CBC British Columbia (Audio) - CattleNetwork.com - all 275 related »
2 in Chile Are Headed for a Presidential Runoff New York Times
With ballots counted in the first round of voting in Chile's presidential election Sunday, a candidate who describes her rise as unlikely because she is "a woman, a Socialist, separated and agnostic" and a conservative billionaire businessman have advanced to a decisive runoff. Leading in the vote, with just over 45 percent of the ballots cast, was Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician, mother of three and former defense and health minister. Her total fell short of the majority she needed to avoid a runoff next month, but gave her a lead of about 20 percentage points over Sebastián Piñera, whose vast holdings include a television network and an airline. If she triumphs in the second round, Ms. Bachelet, 54, would become the first woman to be elected as president of a South American country. Widows of prominent political figures have been elected in Central America and women have also served as heads of government in both Argentina and Bolivia, but only as the result of political turmoil there. Mr. Piñera, 56, was a late entrant into the race, and finished slightly ahead of Joaquín Lavín, who as the sole right-wing standard-bearer in 1999 came within 30,000 votes of victory. In a concession speech tonight, Mr. Lavín called on his conservative followers to put aside their resentment of Mr. Piñera, saying "this is a time for unity" and offering himself as "one more soldier" in the struggle of the right to win power democratically here. For the first time in an election here since 1990, when Gen. Augusto Pinochet was forced to step down and democracy restored, the vote for the right, just over 48 percent, exceeded that of the governing coalition. But Jaime Mullet, a manager of the Bachelet campaign, discounted the importance of those gains, saying that votes cast for one conservative candidate "were not transferable" automatically to the other. "Citizens, I will always tell you the truth," Ms. Bachelet said in her victory speech. "I would like to have won in the first round," she added, but "perhaps our message did not get through to some people." The same polls that accurately predicted her performance on Sunday also show Ms. Bachelet winning the vote a month from now. In his speech, Mr. Piñera cast himself as the underdog despite his enormous wealth, referring to "the tremendous challenge that lies ahead of us."
Single mother poised to be Chilean President Independent
Chile expected to hold presidential runoff Xinhua
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With ballots counted in the first round of voting in Chile's presidential election Sunday, a candidate who describes her rise as unlikely because she is "a woman, a Socialist, separated and agnostic" and a conservative billionaire businessman have advanced to a decisive runoff. Leading in the vote, with just over 45 percent of the ballots cast, was Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician, mother of three and former defense and health minister. Her total fell short of the majority she needed to avoid a runoff next month, but gave her a lead of about 20 percentage points over Sebastián Piñera, whose vast holdings include a television network and an airline. If she triumphs in the second round, Ms. Bachelet, 54, would become the first woman to be elected as president of a South American country. Widows of prominent political figures have been elected in Central America and women have also served as heads of government in both Argentina and Bolivia, but only as the result of political turmoil there. Mr. Piñera, 56, was a late entrant into the race, and finished slightly ahead of Joaquín Lavín, who as the sole right-wing standard-bearer in 1999 came within 30,000 votes of victory. In a concession speech tonight, Mr. Lavín called on his conservative followers to put aside their resentment of Mr. Piñera, saying "this is a time for unity" and offering himself as "one more soldier" in the struggle of the right to win power democratically here. For the first time in an election here since 1990, when Gen. Augusto Pinochet was forced to step down and democracy restored, the vote for the right, just over 48 percent, exceeded that of the governing coalition. But Jaime Mullet, a manager of the Bachelet campaign, discounted the importance of those gains, saying that votes cast for one conservative candidate "were not transferable" automatically to the other. "Citizens, I will always tell you the truth," Ms. Bachelet said in her victory speech. "I would like to have won in the first round," she added, but "perhaps our message did not get through to some people." The same polls that accurately predicted her performance on Sunday also show Ms. Bachelet winning the vote a month from now. In his speech, Mr. Piñera cast himself as the underdog despite his enormous wealth, referring to "the tremendous challenge that lies ahead of us."
Single mother poised to be Chilean President Independent
Chile expected to hold presidential runoff Xinhua
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Big oil depot near London rocked by blasts Pakistan Dawn
A series of explosions rocked Britain’s fifth largest oil depot situated about 25 kilometres north of London early Sunday morning, injuring 40 people. Medical director of the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust said two of the people were injured seriously while others received varying categories of injuries. Though the incident at the Buncefield oil depot was initially described as an accident, the authorities did not rule out possibility of investigating terrorist links.
Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley told a news conference, “All indications at this stage are that this was an accident. However, clearly we will keep an open mind.” Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have threatened to target fuel depots. Nigeria’s Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) had specifically warned of attacks on British oil interests following the arrest in London of oil-rich Bayelsa state governor, Diepreye Alamieyesiegha, on suspicion of money-laundering. Incidentally, the explosions occurred just four days after Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera aired on December 7 a full version of a video by Al Qaeda’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahri calling on the “the holy warriors to concentrate their campaigns on the stolen oil of the Muslims, most of the revenues of which go to the enemies of Islam”. The explosions, which occurred at around 6am, sent huge flames of fire in the sky and briefly disrupted the transportation network, including flights at the busy Heathrow airport and the motorways. A spokesperson of the county council advised drivers in and around Hemel Hampstead to take alternative routes as the M1 and M10 motorways were completely closed in both directions. The ripple effects of the explosion were felt in surrounding areas of the oil depot as the blast shattered the windows of houses and hotels. County council officers had started examining schools, day centres and other services in the area for damages. Advising the residents of Hemel Hampstead not to panic, an official of the council said: “There is nothing to suggest the cloud is toxic but as a precaution we are asking residents in Hemel Hampstead and the surrounding areas towards St Albans to keep their windows and doors closed and stay in.” The official said as a result of the explosion a heavy cloud hanging over the refinery was moving slowly in an easterly direction. Advising the people against panic buying of fuel, the official said: “We have no indications at this stage that this explosion will cause fuel shortages. However, we do have early reports of people panic buying petrol. We strongly advise against this as recent events have shown that panic buying alone can cause fuel shortages.” A spokesperson of the London Heathrow Airport said the airport would continue to function normally and had enough fuel supplies and alternative sources to keep the operations running. Owned jointly by French company Total, and Texaco, part of the US Chevron Group, the Buncefield oil depot is the fifth largest fuel distribution depot in the UK. It supplies petrol and other oil products to a number of airports, including nearby Luton and Heathrow, and parts of London. British companies, BP, Shell and British Pipeline also used the facility. In addition to being an oil storage depot, Buncefield is a major hub on the UK oil pipeline network with pipelines radiating from it to Killingholme Lindsey Oil Refinery, Humberside (10 inch), Merseyside (10 and 12 inch), Coryton on the Thames Estuary (14 inch) and Heathrow (6 and 8 inch) and Gatwick airports. Officials said the oil companies were making arrangements to source oil from alternative distribution terminals. Officials anticipated further explosions at the site as some of the 26 storage tanks continued to burn. It would take a couple of days to extinguish the fire completely, said an official.
'It is like a vision of doomsday' Telegraph.co.uk
The big smoke Independent
Financial Times - Hindustan Times - Aljazeera.net - Reuters - all 1,374 related »
A series of explosions rocked Britain’s fifth largest oil depot situated about 25 kilometres north of London early Sunday morning, injuring 40 people. Medical director of the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust said two of the people were injured seriously while others received varying categories of injuries. Though the incident at the Buncefield oil depot was initially described as an accident, the authorities did not rule out possibility of investigating terrorist links.
Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley told a news conference, “All indications at this stage are that this was an accident. However, clearly we will keep an open mind.” Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have threatened to target fuel depots. Nigeria’s Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) had specifically warned of attacks on British oil interests following the arrest in London of oil-rich Bayelsa state governor, Diepreye Alamieyesiegha, on suspicion of money-laundering. Incidentally, the explosions occurred just four days after Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera aired on December 7 a full version of a video by Al Qaeda’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahri calling on the “the holy warriors to concentrate their campaigns on the stolen oil of the Muslims, most of the revenues of which go to the enemies of Islam”. The explosions, which occurred at around 6am, sent huge flames of fire in the sky and briefly disrupted the transportation network, including flights at the busy Heathrow airport and the motorways. A spokesperson of the county council advised drivers in and around Hemel Hampstead to take alternative routes as the M1 and M10 motorways were completely closed in both directions. The ripple effects of the explosion were felt in surrounding areas of the oil depot as the blast shattered the windows of houses and hotels. County council officers had started examining schools, day centres and other services in the area for damages. Advising the residents of Hemel Hampstead not to panic, an official of the council said: “There is nothing to suggest the cloud is toxic but as a precaution we are asking residents in Hemel Hampstead and the surrounding areas towards St Albans to keep their windows and doors closed and stay in.” The official said as a result of the explosion a heavy cloud hanging over the refinery was moving slowly in an easterly direction. Advising the people against panic buying of fuel, the official said: “We have no indications at this stage that this explosion will cause fuel shortages. However, we do have early reports of people panic buying petrol. We strongly advise against this as recent events have shown that panic buying alone can cause fuel shortages.” A spokesperson of the London Heathrow Airport said the airport would continue to function normally and had enough fuel supplies and alternative sources to keep the operations running. Owned jointly by French company Total, and Texaco, part of the US Chevron Group, the Buncefield oil depot is the fifth largest fuel distribution depot in the UK. It supplies petrol and other oil products to a number of airports, including nearby Luton and Heathrow, and parts of London. British companies, BP, Shell and British Pipeline also used the facility. In addition to being an oil storage depot, Buncefield is a major hub on the UK oil pipeline network with pipelines radiating from it to Killingholme Lindsey Oil Refinery, Humberside (10 inch), Merseyside (10 and 12 inch), Coryton on the Thames Estuary (14 inch) and Heathrow (6 and 8 inch) and Gatwick airports. Officials said the oil companies were making arrangements to source oil from alternative distribution terminals. Officials anticipated further explosions at the site as some of the 26 storage tanks continued to burn. It would take a couple of days to extinguish the fire completely, said an official.
'It is like a vision of doomsday' Telegraph.co.uk
The big smoke Independent
Financial Times - Hindustan Times - Aljazeera.net - Reuters - all 1,374 related »
Australian Police Pledge Extra Forces to Stem Riots Bloomberg
Australian police and politicians in Sydney have promised extra forces to ste
Australian police and politicians in Sydney have promised extra forces to ste