W O R L D

Let’s discuss N-pact with India, Congress to Bush
The leadership of the two Congressional committees, which are crucial to the transformation of the US-India civilian nuclear agreement into a reality, has asked the Bush administration to begin consultations with the US Congress on "initiatives embodied" in the deal.

Iraqis adopt statute
Baghdad, October 25
Iraq’s landmark constitution was adopted by a majority of voters during the country’s October 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster enough support to defeat it, election officials said today.

Natwar in Moscow
Moscow, October 25
External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh arrived here today on a four-day visit. During the visit he will hold talks with the Russian leadership on bolstering cooperation in economic, cultural and other key areas.

House of Commons to celebrate Divali
London, October 25
Over 100 MPs, ministers, cabinet secretaries, diplomats, businessmen, community leaders and civil servants in Britain are expected to attend the fourth annual Divali reception at the House of Commons on Thursday.

An earthquake victim waits for treatment at a US mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) in Muzaffarabad on Tuesday. The US military started setting up a MASH on the outskirts of the quake-devastated capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on Tuesday and treated its first patients. — Reuters

Guitarist Eric Clapton performs as part of a Cream reunion concert at New York's Madison Square Garden on Monday. The band performed as part of a three-night series in New York, their first performance in the US since their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. — Reuters

	3 million quake-hit battling for survival October 25, 2005
	Man killed in racial tension in UK October 24, 2005
	Hurricane Wilma pounds Mexico’s Yucatan October 23, 2005
	Terrorism in quake-hit J&K unacceptable: Rocca October 22, 2005
	China sees red over Dalai Lama’s US visit October 21, 2005
	Burns confident of Congress support October 20, 2005
	India, US sign science and technology agreement October 19, 2005
	70 rebels shot as Iraq counts vote October 18, 2005
	Reconstruction may take five years: Pak PM October 17, 2005
	Iraqis vote on referendum October 16, 2005

Afghan drug lord extradited to USA
Islamabad, October 25
Haji Baz Mohammad, the alleged head of an international heroin trafficking organisation, became the first Afghan citizen to be extradited to the USA to stand trial for his crimes, a media report today said.

NRI physician wins Scientific Prize
London, October 25
Leading NRI physician Ajit Lalvani has won the Scientific Prize of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease for his research into the functioning of vaccines against the ailment.

Amnesty for Maoists who surrender
Kathmandu, October 25
Nepal’s royal government will grant amnesty to Maoists who surrender by January 13 next year, the Home Ministry said today. The Nepal government has decided to grant general amnesty to Maoists who surrender with or without arms by January 13, a notice from the Ministry said.

Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dead Detroit, October 25 Rosa Parks, the black seamstress whose refusal to give her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white man sparked a revolution in American race relations, died at age 92. Shirley Kaigler, Parks’ lawyer, said she died while taking a nap early last evening surrounded by a small group of friends and family members. ‘’She just fell asleep and didn’t wake up,’’ Kaigler said. — Reuters Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks at a ceremony where she was presented the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington in this June 15, 1999, file photo. — Reuters photo

Let’s discuss N-pact with India, Congress to Bush 
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

The leadership of the two Congressional committees, which are crucial to the transformation of the US-India civilian nuclear agreement into a reality, has asked the Bush administration to begin consultations with the US Congress on "initiatives embodied" in the deal.

The request was made by Senator Richard Lugar (Indiana, Republican), the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr (Delaware, Democrat), the senior-most Democrat on the committee; Congressman Henry Hyde (Illinois, Republican), the Chairman of the House International Relations Committee; and Congressman Tom Lantos (California, Democrat), the senior-most Democrat on the panel, in a joint letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

They said the joint statement signed in Washington on July 18 held the "promise of a new era of partnership between our two nations."

In the October 17 letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Tribune, the members of the Congress noted the announcement "listed a number of broad and substantive areas in which cooperation between the two countries is to be significantly increased, including a major expansion of obligations and changes to US law that we believe warrant careful consideration."

They urged Miss Rice to start the consultation process "to ensure that this process proceeds in both a timely and thorough manner".

Some members of the Congress have expressed their displeasure at not being consulted before the agreement was announced. Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns has been given the task of briefing members of the Congress on the deal.

At a House International Relations Committee hearing in September, Mr Burns told disgruntled members of the Congress that the reason they had not been kept informed of the negotiations leading up to the announcement of the agreement was that the pace of the discussions had made it impossible to do so, the committees' leaders noted in their letter.

They told Miss Rice "in order to avoid a similar situation from occurring, we ask that you begin substantive discussions with our respective committees as soon as possible before final decisions are made on any new legislative proposals".

Mr Burns, who was part of the US team that hammered out the last-minute details of the agreement, told members of the Congress at the September hearing, "We were not willing to enter into an agreement unless we had a verifiable set of commitments, which the Indian Government was willing to agree to, and they issued these just a few hours before the President sat down with the Prime Minister."

Congressman Jim Leach, Iowa Republican and chairman of the subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, faulted the Bush administration for raising Indian expectations by making sensitive security commitments it could not fulfill without legislative actions by the Congress.

Under the terms of the Atomic Energy Act, the US Congress must approve the US-India agreement for cooperation.

The administration alternatively may seek to amend certain portions of the Atomic Energy Act; in particular, it can seek to amend Sections 128 and 129, both of which include nonproliferation criteria.

In particular, Section 129 of the Atomic Energy Act requires ending exports of nuclear materials and equipment or sensitive nuclear technology to any non-nuclear-weapon state, which, after March 10, 1978, detonates a nuclear explosive device.

India first tested its nuclear device in 1974; it conducted a second round of tests in 1998.

Iraqis adopt statute

Baghdad, October 25
Iraq’s landmark constitution was adopted by a majority of voters during the country’s October 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster enough support to defeat it, election officials said today.

“Whatever the results of the referendum are ... it is a civilised step that aims to put Iraq on the path of true democracy,” Farid Ayar, an official with the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said before reading the final results at a news conference.

The results indicated that Sunni Arabs, who had sharply opposed the draft document, had failed to produce the two-thirds “no” vote they would have needed in at least three of Iraq’s 18 provinces to defeat it.

Nationwide, the vote was 78.5 per cent for ratification an 21.41 per cent against, the commission said.

The charter required a simple majority nationwide with the provision that if two-thirds of the voters in any three provinces rejected it, the constitution would be defeated.

The commission, which had been auditing the referendum results for 10 days, said that Ninevah province, had produced a “no” vote of only 55 per cent. Only two other mostly Sunni Arab provinces — Salahuddin and Anbar — had voted no by two-thirds or more.

Ninevah had been a focus of fraud allegations since preliminary results showed a large majority of voters had approved the constitution, despite a large Sunni Arab population there.

Election commission officials and UN officials, who also took part in the audit, “found no cases of fraud that could affect the results of the vote,” Ayar said. — AP

Natwar in Moscow

Moscow, October 25
External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh arrived here today on a four-day visit. During the visit he will hold talks with the Russian leadership on bolstering cooperation in economic, cultural and other key areas.

Upon his arrival, Mr Singh was received by Indian Ambassador, Mr Kanwal Sibal, Russia’s envoy to New Delhi V. Trubnikov and other senior officials at the airport here.

Mr Singh is accompanied by representatives from the External Affairs Ministry, Departments of Commerce, Economic Affairs and Science and Technology besides the ministries of IT, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Steel, Coal, public sector organisations and banks.

He will attend the meeting of the Indo-Russian inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC) on trade, economic, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries to be held tomorrow. Started in 1992, IRIGC is an important forum for discussing cooperation between the two countries in various areas.

Mr Singh will also participate in President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation leaders on October 27. He will also be representing India at the SCO Council of Heads of Government the same day.

India attained Observer status of the SCO in July this year.

During the visit, the External Affairs Minister will call on Putin and meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. — PTI

House of Commons to celebrate Divali

London, October 25
Over 100 MPs, ministers, cabinet secretaries, diplomats, businessmen, community leaders and civil servants in Britain are expected to attend the fourth annual Divali reception at the House of Commons on Thursday.

The event is being co-organised by the Hindu Forum of Britain and 11 British Parliamentarians.

In a message to the Hindu Forum of Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair said, “This festival has an important role. It gives every one of us a chance to reflect on the important contribution that your communities are making to Britain’s success. This is something for us all to celebrate.”

“This Divali reception has become one of the cultural highlights in the Parliamentary calendar with its colourful decorations, traditional motifs, Hindu costumes, prayers and food. It is inclusive, inviting and open to all to celebrate. I am delighted to support the festival,’’ Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy noted. — UNI

Afghan drug lord extradited to USA

Islamabad, October 25
Haji Baz Mohammad, the alleged head of an international heroin trafficking organisation, became the first Afghan citizen to be extradited to the USA to stand trial for his crimes, a media report today said.

The news quoted a US Embassy statement as saying that Haji Baz was one of the eight individuals designated by President Bush for sanctions pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act that targets, on a worldwide basis, significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their organisations, and operatives.

Haji Baz was indicted in November 2004 in the USA on charges stemming from his role in smuggling large quantities of heroin from Afghanistan through Pakistan into the USA and Europe from 1990 to 2004.

From his bases of operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, his organisation concocted elaborate schemes to ship heroin to the USA. — UNI

NRI physician wins Scientific Prize

London, October 25
Leading NRI physician Ajit Lalvani has won the Scientific Prize of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease for his research into the functioning of vaccines against the ailment.

Commending the outstanding research work done by Dr Lalvani, Dr Mario Raviglione, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Geneva, said his latest discovery had helped in understanding for the first time how the 60-year-old BCG vaccine functions. — PTI

Amnesty for Maoists who surrender

Kathmandu, October 25
Nepal’s royal government will grant amnesty to Maoists who surrender by January 13 next year, the Home Ministry said today. The Nepal government has decided to grant general amnesty to Maoists who surrender with or without arms by January 13, a notice from the Ministry said.

“The decision has been taken keeping in view the growing trend of those involved in terrorist activities surrendering before the local administrations to come back to normal life,” said the ministry notice. — PTI