W O R L D

Bush Admn briefs NSG
Indo-US nuclear deal
Even as two Bush Administration officials today briefed members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group in Vienna on the details of the US-India civilian nuclear agreement, a senior US official admitted that many members of the group will wait to see how the US Congress acts before they make up their minds.

Talks on Iran N-issue fruitless
Russia, China remain adamant
United Nations, March 23
Russia and China stuck to their positions on Iranian nuclear issue as the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council held another fruitless round of talks to bridge differences over the tone and content of a presidential statement.

Pak was told of N-deal: Burns
Washington, March 23
Firmly rebuffing Islamabad’s complaints on Indo-US nuclear deal, the US has said Pakistan was kept “very fully” informed as negotiations in this regard progressed and asserted the accord would cause no arms race in South Asia.

Bordeaux’s French University students demonstrate in Bordeaux, southwest France, on Thursday. The students are protesting against a youth job plan based on a new employment contract which they say will increase job insecurity for the young and will not reduce unemployment. — Reuters

Thai rescue team members attend to a patient from the Nan province who arrived at a military airport in Bangkok on Thursday. Thailand flew 17 persons infected by severe botulism to Bangkok while several more were being treated in rural hospitals after one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the muscle-paralyzing disease. — Reuters

1 killed, 13 hurt in Balochistan blast
Islamabad, March 23
At least one person was killed and 13 others, including two children, were injured when a bomb exploded in a market in troubled southwestern Pakistan today.

Indian diplomat recalled
Kuala Lumpur, March 23
An Indian diplomat has been recalled by the government barely three months into his posting here apparently because he misused his position.

Bush Admn briefs NSG
Indo-US nuclear deal
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

Even as two Bush Administration officials today briefed members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in Vienna on the details of the US-India civilian nuclear agreement, a senior US official admitted that many members of the group will wait to see how the US Congress acts before they make up their minds.

Noting that the deal has the support of Russia, Britain, France, Australia and Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns told foreign correspondents yesterday that this was "a fairly compelling group."

Mr Burns noted that a lot of members of the 45-nation NSG "are going to wait and see if the US government is able to convince the US Congress to pass the necessary legislation to allow this deal to go forward."

Once that happens, Mr Burns said, the group will then want to take action on its own. If the US Congress agrees to amend laws to allow the nuclear deal to go through, the US must get the approval of the NSG before sharing nuclear technology with India. Mr Burns was confident that the US government can convince the US Congress "to do what we are asking, I think that there'll be a very strong tide of support in the NSG in favour of this." But, he added, this was probably a few months away.

The Bush Administration has dispatched Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher and Stephen Rademaker, Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Security and Non-proliferation, to Vienna to brief the NSG about the deal.

Mr Burns said the NSG should agree by consensus to change its practice and to "allow every country in the world to trade and invest in India's nuclear power sector." He admitted that the deal was a very complicated one and Mr Boucher and Mr Rademaker would provide necessary details at a briefing later today.

Meanwhile, in Wheeling, West Virginia, President George W. Bush told an audience that there was no double standard in his administration's dealings with India and Iran, which the US and some European nations claim is developing nuclear weapons.

"The Iranians are a non-transparent society. They're certainly not a democracy. They are sponsors of terrorism. They have joined the IAEA, and yet we caught them cheating. In other words, they weren't upholding the agreements, and they started to try to enrich uranium in order to develop a weapons programme.

India is heading to the IAEA; the Iranians are ignoring the IAEA," the President said.

Talks on Iran N-issue fruitless
Russia, China remain adamant

United Nations, March 23
Russia and China stuck to their positions on Iranian nuclear issue as the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council held another fruitless round of talks to bridge differences over the tone and content of a presidential statement.

Diplomats reported no progress at yesterday’s talks but only hoped the Permanent Five would be able to ultimately reach a consensus on the tough statement drafted by the UK and France and backed by the USA, which asks Tehran to stop the enrichment of uranium and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report on its compliance within two weeks.

Having failed so far to arrive at such an agreement, the five have not scheduled any session of the full 15-member Council. They had planned closed door consultations of the entire Council on Tuesday but called it off with nothing concrete to report.

Russia, backed by China, wants only a brief political statement to support IAEA’s efforts but leave the task of persuading Iran to give up its nuclear enrichment programme to the nuclear watchdog agency (IAEA). — PTI

Pak was told of N-deal: Burns

Washington, March 23
Firmly rebuffing Islamabad’s complaints on Indo-US nuclear deal, the US has said Pakistan was kept “very fully” informed as negotiations in this regard progressed and asserted the accord would cause no arms race in South Asia.

“We did keep the Pakistani Government fully informed of what we were doing over the last year in negotiating this civil nuclear agreement with India,” Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said here yesterday. Expressing confidence that the US would continue to see improvement in Indo-Pak ties, he said: “We will not see the kind of arms race that some of the critics are now forecasting.”

He said as a friend of both neighbours, the US was in a position to assess that as a “reasonable prospect for the future.”

Mr Burns said that in January, six weeks before President George W. Bush’s visit to the region, he had briefed the Pakistani Government on the nuclear agreement.

On Monday, Pakistan had said it would not accept any “discrimination” in supply of nuclear technology and argued that Washington should have worked out a “package deal” for South Asia to ensure stability in the region.

But Mr Burns maintained that the US has had a “full” discussion with Pakistani authorities. — PTI

1 killed, 13 hurt in Balochistan blast

Islamabad, March 23
At least one person was killed and 13 others, including two children, were injured when a bomb exploded in a market in troubled southwestern Pakistan today.

The bomb was planted near a public telephone booth in Kohlu, some 300 km east of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.

No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion but the government holds renegade tribesmen responsible for such attacks.

While one person was killed, four of the 13 injured, including two boys, were in serious condition.

Pakistan security forces launched an operation in Kohlu against the renegade tribesmen, after rockets were fired near a meeting being addressed by President Pervez Musharraf in last December. — PTI

Indian diplomat recalled

Kuala Lumpur, March 23
An Indian diplomat has been recalled by the government barely three months into his posting here apparently because he misused his position. Mr R.K.T Arasu, a second secretary in the mission here, has now returned to India, but no one in the Indian High Commission is willing to talk on record.

Mr Arasu, whose job included handling labour issues, was taking retrenched Indian workers “for a ride,” according to informed sources. — PTI