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Burns warns Congressmen against amending N-deal
French students’
protests turn violent
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Norway’s new envoy for Lanka peace talks
Jordan to repatriate illegal Indian workers
Bharti’s passport cancelled
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Burns warns Congressmen against amending N-deal
A
senior Bush administration official has cautioned members of the U.S. Congress against meddling with a civilian nuclear deal with India saying the administration was not in favour of renegotiating the agreement.
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs TR Nicholas Burns told reporters at the State Department on Thursday afternoon that the agreement, reached after nearly nine months of intense negotiations with the Indian government, was a very “complex” one. “To reopen it, we're probably at risk of never being able to achieve it again and to reassemble it,” he said. “So what we've said to members of Congress who have raised this with us is that we welcome all ideas. There may be ideas that do not require renegotiation, that may help to reinforce or strengthen this agreement. We're open to all of them. But we wish not to renegotiate.” At a March 2 briefing in New Delhi during President George W. Bush's visit to India, Mr. Burns had acknowledged the deal was not perfect. “It's not a perfect deal in the sense that we haven't captured 100 per cent of India's nuclear programme,” he told reporters at that time. Congressman Henry Hyde, the influential chairman of the House International Relations Committee, had suggested that the U.S. Congress may seek “conditions” for the approval of the deal. Mr. Hyde, along with the House committe's co-chair Tom Lantos and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar on Thursday introduced legislation in Congress to amend U.S. laws and allow the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to India. Current U.S. law prohibits the transfer of such technology to countries like India that have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. According to the draft legislation submitted in the Senate and House of Representatives on Thursday, the U.S. President should make seven determinations to Congress regarding the civilian nuclear deal: * New Delhi has provided Washington and the International Atomic Energy Agency with a credible separation plan including materials and programmes; and has filed a declaration regarding its civilian facilities with the IAEA. * An agreement has come into force between New Delhi and IAEA regarding the application of safeguards with respect to India's civilian nuclear facilities. * India and the IAEA are making progress on implementing an additional protocol that applies to India's civilian nuclear programme. * New Delhi is backing international efforts to prevent the spread of enrichment and reprocessing technology. * India is working with the United States for a successful conclusion of the multilateral Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. * Necessary steps are being taken by India to secure nuclear material and technology through a comprehensive export control legislation and regulation and through a harmonisation and adherence to Missile Technology Control Regime and NSG guidelines. * Supply to India by the US under an agreement for cooperation arrangement pursuant to section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act is consistent with American participation in NSG. Mr Burns said the Bush administration was encouraged by the number of members of the Senate and the House who have spoken out publicly in favour of the agreement. “And I think you'll see as the weeks go along, there'll be a number of cosponsors in the Senate and House side to the legislation” that was introduced in Congress, he said. A critic of the agreement, Democratic Congressman Edward Markey of Massachusetts said with the Indian nuclear deal “the credibility of the Bush White House as a messenger on the issue of fissile material control is in a nuclear meltdown.” He criticised the administration for “talking about closing loopholes for Iran, but at the same time it is opening new loopholes for India. They cannot simultaneously strengthen the rules for Iran and weaken them for India. Mr. Burns dismissed such criticism saying: “Not a single country has come to us to say — not a single one — that this India nuclear deal has had any kind of impact on their thinking on how to deal with Iran, because we look at those two countries and we see a peaceful democratic India that is inviting the International Atomic Energy Agency to come into India and to place safeguards on the majority of its nuclear facilities. We see in Iran that it is essentially saying to the IAEA, get out of our country.” |
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French students’
protests turn violent
Paris, March 17 Stone-throwing protesters clashed with the police at the end of a march by several thousand university and high school students in Paris and later outside the Sorbonne university. The police said 181 people were arrested. Protests across France gathered in momentum since hundreds of thousands of protesters turned out on March 7 against the law, which critics say reduces job protection for young people. The protests have been largely peaceful so far. Student leaders said 300,000 to 600,000 marched across France and 64 of the country's 84 universities were hit by the protests. Officials reported 247,500 protesters nationwide. ``CRS = SS!'' chanted protesters at the Sorbonne, comparing the riot police to the leading Nazi troops. The protests could hurt the conservative Villepin's hopes of running for President in 2007. He said the law would help reduce unemployment among the young, now running at 22.8 per cent, more than twice the overall national rate. Street protests can make or break governments in France. Protests in 1995 badly undermined the then conservative Prime Minister Alain Juppe, who lost snap elections two years later. Trade unions planned another action day on Saturday and hoped to top the one million protesters they estimated took part in the March 7 protests. Police estimates were half that figure. France's unemployment rate is one of the highest in Europe at 9.6 per cent and more than twice that for under 25-year-olds. It tops 40 percent in some run-down neighborhoods. Suburban riots last year were widely blamed on high youth unemployment in poor areas.— Reuters |
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Norway’s new envoy for Lanka peace talks
Oslo, March 17 Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim, who secretly began the peace effort that led to a 2002 ceasefire, would retain overall responsibility for the effort, the ministry said in a
statement. “Hanssen-Bauer’s academic and practical experience mean he is highly qualified. He has engaged in peace and reconciliation
work in many countries,” said Solheim. The announcement came a day after Solheim said he needed to reduce his daily role
in the peace process because of the workload from the government post he accepted in October.
— AP |
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Jordan to repatriate illegal Indian workers
Dubai, March 17
The two countries touched upon the situation of 42 Indian workers in Jordan’s Karak region who were laid off from their jobs last month.
“There are a lot of recruiting agencies in India that are illegal, so the problem is not just in Jordan but also in India,” the minister said. Meanwhile, some 60 workers stranded in Amman alleged that they were living in terrible living conditions. The workers, mostly Indians and Nepalese, were recruited as truck drivers for two Jordanian companies through two Indian recruitment agencies.
— PTI |
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Bharti’s passport cancelled
London, March 17 The prosecution had been trying unsuccessfully to secure her evidence, considered vital in securing conviction in the case, pending in the Patiala House district courts.
— PTI |
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