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India, US sign science and technology agreement
Girl found alive 9 days after quake
Relief for 200 quake-hit Sikh families
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Aid pouring slowly for Pak: Red Cross
Lack of consensus on WMD threat a disgrace, says Kofi Annan
Bush hosts Iftaar dinner
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India, US sign science and technology agreement
India and the United States have signed a “historic umbrella agreement” which, for the first time, establishes intellectual property right protocols and other provisions necessary to conduct active collaborative research.
The agreement, signed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday, is aimed at strengthening science and technology capabilities of both
countries, expanding relations between the extensive scientific and technological communities of India and the U.S. and promoting technological and scientific cooperation in areas of mutual benefit. Under the umbrella agreement, U.S. federal agencies can negotiate specific protocols, memoranda of understanding and other limited agreements with Indian Government agencies. In the past, U.S. scientists have been apprehensive about engaging with their Indian counterparts, fearing the Government of India would not protect their interests in intellectual property rights. The science and technology agreement has taken years. In 1993, efforts to finalise the deal were derailed over differences on intellectual property rights. The agreement signed on Monday advances the status of intellectual property rights. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky said the inclusion of intellectual property rights was crucial to the growing knowledge-based economies of both countries and “will also facilitate more exchanges between scientists and technology workers, enabling us to learn from one another.” “An already strong bond will even grow closer,” she predicted. Miss Rice noted that in addition to expanding the frontiers of knowledge, “the agreement will lead to collaborations that will improve the lives of our citizens and benefit both our economies.” Mr Sibal said India and the U.S. wanted to collaborate on “areas of life sciences, where a lot of diseases of the world, diseases of the poor are going to devastate large populations unless we discover new vaccines; areas of natural disasters; areas in the field of energy.” Later, speaking to a group of Indian journalists, Mr Sibal said he was keen to sign this agreement and had “something substantive” to show by the time President George W. Bush visited India . Mr Bush is expected to visit India sometime early next year. Over the weekend, Mr Sibal signed an agreement with the state of Maryland. The agreement seeks collaboration in the field of nanotechnology with the state. The minister said at his meetings with American officials he had sensed their “desire to share knowledge with India. They don’t want to withhold information, they want to share information.” |
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Girl found alive 9 days after quake
Balakot (Pakistan), October 18 Six-year-old Taj-un-Nisa was rescued yesterday, nine days after the quake struck her village near Balakot on October 8. Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said Nisa's parents had asked soldiers to search for the girl under the rubble of their house in Sakin Kunda village, without knowing if she was alive or dead. Sultan said a soldier found her under the debris. ''She survived because she was stuck under a cupboard which made some space for her,'' he said. The girl just had a minor head injury, said Dr Ijaz Nazir at the Al-Khidmat field hospital in Balakot. ''We bandaged her head. She had no fracture. When she was brought she was unconscious, but otherwise she was
alright.'' — Reuters |
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Relief for 200 quake-hit Sikh families
Islamabad, October 18 Most of the Sikhs affected by the quake hailed from Hazara division of Mansehra region in North West Frontier Province and they have been accommodated at gurdwara Panja Sahib, Hasan Abdal. Pakistan’s Minister for Religious Affairs, Ejaz ul Haq met the Sikh victims yesterday and announced Rs. 100,000 for those killed in the quake, Rs 50,000 for those who sustained serious injuries and Rs 25,000 for those with minor injuries. Mr Haq said the 200 Sikh families temporarily residing at the gurdwara would be provided with food, blankets and medicines. The Minister has been quoted by the state-run APP news agency as saying that the Ministry of Minorities and Evacuee Trust Board (ETB) was utilizing all its resources for the rehabilitation of Sikhs affected by the quake. The Minister also appealed to members of the Parliament from minorities to make contact with the Ministry of Minorities Affairs and ETB in this regard. The relief camp was set up at Hasan Abdal, about 45 kms from Rawalpindi, by the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
— PTI |
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Aid pouring slowly for Pak: Red Cross
Geneva, October 18 In a statement, the world's largest disaster relief agency said that its appeal was "less than 25 percent covered while the emerging picture of needs on the ground, as assessment results arrive from remote communities, worsens by the day". "We are worried that this trend will not allow us to fully support the Pakistan Red Crescent's ongoing relief operation to initially assist tens of thousands of families over the next four months," said Susan Johnson, Director of Operations at the Geneva-based Federation. The Federation said it usually received pledges from donors for "more funds more quickly" for disasters of this magnitude. The quake 10 days ago killed at least 41,000 persons in Pakistan and injured more than 60,000. Only 16,000 of the injured have had medical attention, according to the Federation, which said children and the elderly were at particular risk. Thousands of survivors are still living in the open in cold night temperatures, "some with open or gangrened injuries and with little access to clean water," it added. The Federation has some 36,000 winterised tents either on order or in place, according to the statement. To speed up the relief operation, the Federation said it was setting up a logistics and operations base in hard-hit Mansehra.
— Reuters |
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Lack of consensus on WMD threat
New York, October 18 Mr Annan also said it was a “disgrace” that the leaders failed to agree on tackling the threat of weapons of mass destruction, but defended the September summit, praising it for establishing a starting point for reforms on terrorism, human rights and peace-building as also economic development and management overhaul. Addressing a conference on "Reforming United Nations" at Columbia University here
yesterday, Mr Annan said he was disappointed that world leaders could not agree on reforming the UN Security Council. India, Germany, Brazil and Japan had been campaigning for permanent seats in a reformed council. Mr Annan pledged to back the “absolutely
essential" efforts to find a way forward on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and commended efforts made by some nations led by Norway. He noted that many of the summit’s results were in line with the report of the Task Force on the United Nations headed by former US Senator George Mitchell and former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich as also with his own blueprint for reform “In Larger Freedom.” He said the summit produced unqualified condemnation of “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes,” but left it to the General Assembly to conclude a comprehensive treaty on the issue within a year.
— PTI |
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Bush hosts Iftaar dinner
Washington, October 18 “I believe the time has come for all responsible Islamic leaders to denounce an ideology that exploits Islam for political ends, and defiles your noble faith,” Bush told the guests, who included Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen and diplomats from Islamic countries and those with large Muslim population. “These extremists distort the idea of ‘jihad’ into a call for terrorist murder against anyone who does not share their radical vision, including Muslims from other traditions, whom they regard as heretics,” he said addressing the gathering at the State Dining Room, last night after a prayer led by an Imam. Mr Bush said he was “grateful” to the Muslim nations that have joined “our coalition in the war on terror — including many nations that have been victims of terror themselves.”
— PTI |
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