|
|
|
|
|
special to the tribune
2014 LS poll not to slow down ties
India’s Deputy Consul General held in US for ‘visa fraud’ |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
India 5th largest exporter of illicit
money between 2002-11: Report
Thai protesters cut power to govt HQ Interpreter was ‘hallucinating’ at Mandela memorial service B’desh hangs Islamist leader; clashes erupt Tata felt confused, humiliated during early Harvard days
|
|
Urge Karzai to ink security pact, US tells India
Ashish Kumar Sen in Washington dc US President Barack Obama’s administration -- frustrated by Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s reluctance to sign a security agreement that would keep US troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 -- has asked India to lean on the Afghan President to initial the pact. The Obama administration senses an opportunity for this matter to be raised when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Karzai in New Delhi on Friday. “The United States did tell us that: President Karzai is coming. Perhaps it is a good idea to convey that it would be good to finalise this (US-Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement),” an Indian official said on the condition of anonymity. The request was conveyed to Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh who wrapped up three days of meetings in Washington on Wednesday. Sujatha met senior officials at the State Department, the Pentagon and top lawmakers on Capitol Hill. US Secretary of State John F Kerry dropped in on Sujatha’s meeting with his deputy, William Burns, at the State Department on Tuesday. US officials have sought the help of Afghanistan’s neighbours to urge Karzai to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that sets the framework for a long-term US military presence in Afghanistan, but is also key to billions of dollars in critical military and civilian aid to Afghanistan. “India has always welcomed a BSA between the United States and Afghanistan, without getting into the details as to what it is in its present form. That is something that is for Afghanistan to decide and for it to come to an understanding with the United States,” the Indian official said. “In our interactions with our foreign partners … we say it would be a good idea. We say, ‘Yes, we think it would be good for Afghanistan to sign this agreement,’” the Indian official added. A loya jirga in Kabul in November approved the BSA and asked Karzai to sign it by the end of the year. But Karzai has refused to do so, while setting new conditions for the US. James Dobbins, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as well as the leaders of Russia, China and Pakistan, have all personally urged Karzai to sign the BSA. “And there is ... overwhelming support within the population (for the BSA). And I’m hopeful that over time that will begin to have an effect along with whatever advice he gets from friendly neighbours of whom, for instance, his upcoming visit to India could, I think, be quite influential because he highly respects and has good relations with the Indian Government,” Dobbins said. The Obama administration has kept open the option of withdrawing all US troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. US officials mentioned this so-called zero option in their discussions with Sujatha Singh and her delegation in Washington. On a visit to Kabul in November, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice told Karzai that the US would have no choice but to start planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no US or NATO troops in Afghanistan. Karzai, however, appears willing to wager that the Obama administration would not make good on its threat. In 2011, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s refusal to sign a bilateral security agreement with the Obama administration led the US to pull out all its troops in December that year. While in India, Karzai is expected to follow up on a wish list he presented to New Delhi in May for military hardware, including helicopters, tanks and artillery. India has invested $2 billion in aid and reconstruction in Afghanistan. It has also trained Afghan military officers. However, New Delhi has stopped short of selling weapons to Afghanistan out of concern that such transfers would provoke Pakistan. The Indian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said a decision on Karzai’s wishlist would be made sometime this week. Ignoring most voices
India seeks access to Headley
Washington: India has sought access to LeT operative David Headley, the Mumbai terror attack convict now lodged in a US prison, as it insisted on bringing to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 assault. Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, who concluded her four- day US trip during which she met top American officials, strongly raised the issue of access to 52-year-old Headley by Indian intelligence agencies, sources said. Remaining non-committal, the US officials said that they were working on it. — PTI
|
|
|
2014 LS poll not to slow down ties
Washington, December 12 "We expect the intensity of the strategic partnership to continue to grow. This (India-US relationship) is an ongoing process. Regardless of elections, this is going to continue," sources said as Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh concluded her four-day US trip during which she met top American
officials. Sujatha's US visit was preceded by the Army Chief's tour last week. The Chief Election Commissioner arrives here later this week. A Congressional delegation is headed to India over the weekend, which would be followed by a trip by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal in January. "You can be quite assured that this (India-US ties) will continue," sources said, adding that there is an ongoing set of interaction that India has with its strategic partners like US, which would keep continuing at the government level. — PTI |
|
|
India’s Deputy Consul General held in US for ‘visa fraud’ New York, December 12 Khobragade, 39, was held on charges that she allegedly caused a materially false and fraudulent document to be presented, and materially false and fraudulent statements to be made, to the US Department of State in support of a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in New York. Khobragade is currently the Deputy Consul General for Political, Economic, Commercial and Women's Affairs at the Consulate General of India in New York. "Foreign nationals brought to the US to serve as domestic helps are entitled to the same protections against exploitation as those accorded to US citizens," Bharara said. "The false statements and fraud were designed to circumvent those protections so that a visa would issue for a domestic worker who was promised far less than a fair wage. This type of fraud and exploitation of an individual will not be tolerated," he said. Khobragade was charged with visa fraud and making false statements, which carry sentences of 1 and five years in prison, respectively. — PTI
|
|
|
India 5th largest exporter of illicit
money between 2002-11: Report
Washington, December 12 Crime, corruption and tax evasion drained $ 946.7 billion from the developing world in 2011, up more than 13.7% from 2010, when illicit financial outflows totalled $ 832.4 billion, according to the report titled 'Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2002-2011'. The findings - which peg cumulative illicit financial outflows from developing countries at $ 5.9 trillion between 2002 and 2011 - are part of a new study published yesterday by Global Financial Integrity
(GFI), a Washington-based research and advocacy organisation. India was ranked fifth largest exporter of illicit money between 2002-2011, with $343.04 billion sent abroad, and in 2011 the country was placed third when $ 84.93 billion was exported, report said. "As the world economy sputters along in the wake of the global financial crisis, the illicit underworld is thriving-siphoning more and more money from developing countries each year," said GFI president Raymond Baker. "Anonymous shell companies, tax haven secrecy, and trade- based money laundering techniques drained nearly a trillion dollars from the world's poorest in 2011, at a time when rich and poor nations alike are struggling to spur economic growth," he said. The $ 946.7 billion of illicit outflows lost in 2011 is a 13.7 per cent uptick from 2010 - which saw developing countries hemorrhage $ 832.4 billion - and a dramatic increase from 2002, when illicit outflows totaled just $ 270.3 billion. The study estimates the developing world lost $ 5.9 trillion over the decade spanning 2002 through 2011. — PTI Crime, corruption and tax evasion
|
|
|
Thai protesters cut power to govt HQ
Bangkok, December 12 Suthep Thaugsuban, the anti-government leader of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), has asked the police and military chiefs to meet him by tonight and to choose their side. However, Thai army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha said the military was yet to respond to the call for talks, stressing their political neutrality. Prayuth said he was yet to discuss with leaders of the armed forces and report to caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck. He said he was not empowered to make the decision and protesters should avoid pushing the armed forces into the middle of the current conflicts, the Nation reported. "Justice is the most significant factor in solving problems," he said. The politically powerful army has staged or attempted 18 coups in the past 80 years, including the ousting of Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, in 2006. On Monday, Yingluck was forced to dissolve the Lower House of parliament and call an early election by February 2 as 1.6 lakh protesters gathered around her office. The numbers on the street have dwindled considerably since the announcement. For the past two weeks, thousands of protesters have marched in Bangkok in a bid to replace Yingluck with an unelected "People's Council". The protesters, led by former deputy premier Suthep, accuse Yingluck of acting as a proxy for her fugitive brother Thaksin. — PTI
|
|
|
Interpreter was ‘hallucinating’ at Mandela memorial service
Johannesburg, December 12 Thamsanqa Jantjie said in a 45-minute interview with The Associated Press that his hallucinations began while he was interpreting and that he tried not to panic because there were "armed policemen around me." He added that he was once hospitalised in a mental health facility for more than a year. Jantjie, who stood gesticulating three feet from Obama and others who spoke at Tuesday's ceremony that was broadcast around the world, insisted that he was doing proper sign-language interpretation of the speeches of world leaders. But he also apologised for his performance that has been dismissed by many sign-language experts as gibberish. The statements by Jantjie raise serious security issues for Obama, other heads of state and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who made speeches at FNB Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg's black township. Asked how often he had become violent, he said "a lot". The ceremony honoured Mandela, the anti-apartheid icon and former president who died on December 5. — AP Wrong selection
|
|
B’desh hangs Islamist leader; clashes erupt Dhaka, December 12 "He was executed at 10.01 pm (9.31 pm IST)," an official told reporters. Mollah's body was kept hanging for 20 minutes before it was brought down, Dhaka's Deputy Commissioner Sheikh Yususf Mreedha said. The 65-year-old Mollah was notorious as the "Butcher of Mirpur" for atrocities like rape and the killing of women and children perpetrated in a suburb of Dhaka during the war of independence from Pakistan. Tight security was put in place around the prison complex as the execution was carried out shortly after Mollah's family saw him for the last time. Earlier, reports had suggested the execution would take place after midnight. Sources said 60-year-old prisoner Shahjahan Mian carried out the execution as chief hangman, with assistance from five other prisoners serving long sentences. Meanwhile, at least five people were killed on Thursday in clashes between opposition activists angered by the decision to execute Mollah and police near port city of Chittagong. Police fired tear gas and vehicles were torched. — PTI & Reuters
|
||||||
|
Tata felt confused, humiliated during early Harvard days New York, December 12 Tata recalled his first weeks on the Harvard campus as he attended a dedication ceremony of Tata Hall at Harvard Business School (HBS) in Boston earlier this week. Named in the honour of the iconic Indian industrialist, Tata Hall is a seven-storey, glass-and-limestone 163,000 square foot building, which will include residential and learning space for the HBS’ executive education programme. Tata was joined by HBS’ India-born dean Nitin Nohria and Harvard University president Drew Faust for the dedication ceremony during which he recounted that his first weeks on the Harvard campus were “confusing” and he felt “humiliated” by the impressive and overwhelming calibre of his fellow students, according to a report in the Harvard Gazette. "It was the only time in my life where I sat and crossed out day by day how many days were left before I could return to the normal world," Tata said. "As I look back, those 13 weeks were probably the most important 13 weeks of my life. They transformed me and my perspective," the former Chairman of Tata Sons said. — PTI
|
||||||
Pak court bars govt from deporting Indian
Plea to initiate treason case against Musharraf Robbers jailed for attacking Indian trader in UK
|
||||||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
US President Barack Obama’s administration -- frustrated by Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s reluctance to sign a security agreement that would keep US troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 -- has asked India to lean on the Afghan President to initial the pact.
Thai Opposition protesters today cut power and water supplies to the government headquarters and appealed to the powerful military to intervene to topple Premier Yingluck Shinawatra amid a raging political crisis.
