Singapore, June 3
India today called upon the countries of the Asia-Pacific region to increase and strengthen regional cooperation to enhance maritime security.

Welcoming the three-nation initiative on monitoring shipping through the Compulsory Pilotage Project of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee offered India’s assistance in enhancing security of the sea lanes through coordination of individual efforts.

Addressing the Second Plenary Session of the Fifth IISS Asia Security Summit — also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue — here, Mr Mukherjee pointed to the necessity of maintaining the security of the narrow Malacca Straits — one of the most important waterways of the world through which one-third of all global trade and more than 50 per cent of India’s maritime trade passes.

India, Mr Mujkherjee said, had developed capabilities in various aspects of maritime security and would be most willing to share its expertise with countries of the region.

In this regard, India was taking steps to join the Container Security Initiative and had identified the Nhava Sheva port for purposes of executing the initiative, he said.

Besides, the Indian Navy had initiated several maritime security and capacity-building measures such as countering piracy by joint exercises (specifically with Indonesia), returned the “Allondra Rainbow” ship to the Japanese authorities from pirates and participated in Tsunami relief measures in 2004-2005 in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Maldives, Mr Mukherjee added.

Noting that the establishment of a Regional Marine Training Centre had been discussed at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) workshop and the ARF Senior Officers meeting, Mr Mukherjee said India believed that such a centre would go a long way in establishing common understanding and common procedures and would be happy to be associated with the initiative.

Besides, consistent with their global strategic partnership and the new framework for defence relationship, India and the USA had committed themselves to comprehensive cooperation in ensuring a secure maritime domain. “Similar initiatives have been taken with other maritime partners,” Mr Mukherjee said.

Summing up the tangible global trends at the beginning of the 21st century, Mr Mukherjee said barring a few exceptions, nation-states today were in “political and economic credit” environment in their relations with each other — generally a positive and mutually beneficial state of political and economic affairs. — UNI

Washington, June 2
A 13-year-old eighth grader from New Jersey Katharine "Kerry" Close swept aside the Indian American challenge to become the first "Queen Bee" since 1999 in USA’s most prestigious spelling contest that attracted over $70,000 in bets on its outcome.

Kerry was named the Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion in the 20th round after correctly spelling the word "ursprache", which is defined as "a parent language, especially one reconstructed from the evidence of later languages".

Only two Indian American students — Rajiv Tarigopula and Kavya Shivashankar -— made it to the top five in the contest once dominated by them.

Tarigopula, 13, a national finalist for the past four years finished fourth after misspelling "Heiligenschein".

Shivashankar, 10, who was contesting the Bee for the first time, was the youngest in the 13 left for the final leg. She eventually stumbled on the word "gematrial".

Anandasivam, 13, from Brownsville, Texas, who was in his fourth consecutive national finals, was eliminated after he got the spelling of "paillon" wrong.

Outside the contest venue, an Internet sports betting company was taking bets on the Bee, including whether the winner would wear glasses and the final word would have an "e" in it.

Simon Noble, chief executive officer of PinnacleSports.com, said his company had received about $70,000 in bets on seven propositions about the Bee.

This year's winner Close, who had earlier correctly spelled a Sanskrit origin word, "kundalini", won $42,000 in cash and prizes for her efforts in this fifth appearance in the contest. She tied for seventh place in the 2005 national finals.

Finishing second in this year's competition was Finola Mei Hwa Hackett, 14, of Tofield in Alberta, Canada. The third place finisher was Saryn Rebecca Hooks, 14, of Taylorsville.

Earlier, 12-year-old Samir Patel, runner-up in last year's Scripps National Spelling Bee, sailed through three rounds Wednesday but then lost his chance at the national title. — IANS

Islamabad, June 3
A Pakistani court today issued arrest warrants against former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her spouse for not responding to its summons in connection with submitting a false statement of assets, a day after she met deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif in Dubai to firm up plans to return home.

Judge Rafi-uz Zaman of the Islamabad District and Sessions Court issued arrest warrants against the self-exiled former Prime Minister and her husband Asif Ali Zardari on the grounds that they failed to respond to its summons.

The court directed the Interior Ministry to contact Interpol for the arrest of Ms Bhutto and her husband. They must be produced before it on July 3, the court ordered.

The court order came a day after Ms Bhutto met Mr Sharif, the exiled Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader, in Dubai to firm up plans to return home to put up a joint fight against the military-backed ruling alliance in next year's elections.

Under the rules, all Pakistani parliamentarians are bound to submit statements of their assets to the Election Commission.

The state-run National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a case against the couple in a local court that Ms Bhutto and her spouse, claiming that the duo had filed a false statement of assets to the Election Commission in 1996.

Ever since losing elections to Mr Sharif's PML-N in 1996, Ms Bhutto went to Dubai on self exile while her husband was released last year on bail after an eight-year imprisonment. He was currently convalescing from a heart surgery in New York.

Reacting to the arrest warrants, Ms Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) alleged that it was an attempt by the government to step up pressure on her to break her emerging alliance with Mr Sharif and wreck her plans to return.

"It is a misuse of judicial process which was stepped up after Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif signed the Charter of Democracy (COD) last month in London to fight against the military rule.