W O R L D

Senator in fix over remark on Indian accent
Barely a week after he endorsed a civilian nuclear deal with India, Senator Joseph Biden was fighting charges from some in the Indian American community that he is "insensitive."

USA increases visas for Pak students
Islamabad, July 8
Visas for Pakistani students interested in studying in the USA have increased by 20 per cent this year compared to the same period last year. “The issuance of student visas to Pakistanis are up by almost 20 per cent over the same period last year,” US Ambassador to Pakistan Royan C. Crocker said.

Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Mani Shankar Aiyar with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the historic Trafalgar Square marking the first anniversary of London winning its bid to host the 2012 Olympics, on Friday.

Indian scribe celebrates birthday with Bush
Washington, July 8
An Indian journalist, popular at the White House, edged out visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a photo op with President George W. Bush on his July 6 birthday.

US-Russia civilian N-deal likely: report
Washington, July 8
Reversing decades of US policy, President George W. Bush has decided to permit extensive civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia for the first time, a move that could mean billions of dollars for Moscow but is likely to face opposition from Congress.

A.Q. Khan had run private N-network: Pak army
Islamabad, July 8
Assert that disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan had run his own “private” proliferation network, the Pakistani military has said he did not name any “state functionary” during his interrogation but only two ex- aides of former Premier Benazir Bhutto in this connection.

Astronauts begin spacewalk
Houston, July 8
Two Discovery astronauts stepped out of the International Space Station today for a spacewalk in which they hope to make shuttle flights safer by bouncing around on the end of a 100-foot boom.

Senator in fix over remark on Indian accent
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

Barely a week after he endorsed a civilian nuclear deal with India, Senator Joseph Biden was fighting charges from some in the Indian American community that he is "insensitive."

On Friday, the Delaware Democrat, who is the co-chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said his remark that "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent" was taken out of context.

On a recent edition of the C-SPAN series "Road to the White House," Mr. Biden was shown in New Hampshire boasting about his "great relationship" with Indian-Americans.

"In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking," he said.

Some Indian American groups were quick to pounce on his remarks. Dr. Raghavendra Vijayanagar, chairman of the Indian American Republican Council, said the senator "has a history of making insensitive and inappropriate remarks."

"But even for him, this recent gaffe is clearly over the top," he added.

Mr. Biden was asked about his comment during an interview on CNN on Friday. "I was making the point that up until now in my state, we've had a strong Indian community made up of leading scientists and researchers and engineers," he said. Lately, he said, "We're having middle-class people move to Delaware, take over Dunkin' Donuts, take over businesses, just like other immigrant groups have, and I was saying that ... they're growing, it's moving."

The U.S. India Political Action Committee, a Washington lobbying group, agreed with Mr. Biden that his comments had been taken out of context. Supriya Christopher, executive director of USINPAC, said the senator was a "good friend of our community." She cited the Democrat's lead role crafting legislation on the civil nuclear agreement in the Senate which passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 16-2 on June 29.

Dr. Vijayanagar noted that in 2004, Senator John Kerry referred to Sikhs as terrorists and Senator Hillary Clinton jokingly referred to Mahatma Gandhi as a gas station owner. Both senators, like Mr. Biden, are Democrats. But Democrats are not solely guilty of transgression.

In 2001, soon after the September 11 attacks in the U.S., Louisiana Republican Congressman John Cooksey said, "If I see someone (who) comes in that's got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over." Mr. Cooksey, who is no longer a member of Congress, later apologised for his comments which were widely criticized as an insult to the Sikh community.

USA increases visas for Pak students

Islamabad, July 8
Visas for Pakistani students interested in studying in the USA have increased by 20 per cent this year compared to the same period last year. “The issuance of student visas to Pakistanis are up by almost 20 per cent over the same period last year,” US Ambassador to Pakistan Royan C. Crocker said.

The increase was due to steps taken by the US Embassy, which included removal of the necessity for making appointments, issuance of visas within six weeks and promotional activities like education fairs, Mr Crocker said in a letter addressed to the Pakistani students, which was published in the media here today.

“The bottom line is that serious students, who have done their homework on selecting a US university, and who follow the visa application procedures set out on our Embassy website, have every reason to expect that they will receive a visa,” he said.

In order to support Pakistanis studying in the US, both Pakistan and the USA increase funding for the Pakistan-US Student Fulbright Programme, giving it a budget of over $ 30 million per year.

“I want to reiterate that America's doors are open to Pakistani students,” he said refuting perception that student visas were being restricted in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. —PTI

Indian scribe celebrates birthday with Bush
Arun Kumar

Washington, July 8
An Indian journalist, popular at the White House, edged out visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a photo op with President George W. Bush on his July 6 birthday.

As the premier stretched out his hand for the traditional handshake picture after a press conference on Thursday, journalist Raghubir Goyal of India Globe newspaper piped in a cheery "Happy Birthday!" from the press corps.

"We share the same date!" Goyal called out to Bush, who was celebrating his 60th.

"Today's your birthday, too?" asked a delighted Bush, dropping Harper's hand. "Well, come on up - let's have a birthday picture. Come on, come on, come on. Come on, come on, get up here! Anybody else have their birthday today?" Within moments, USA Today's Richard Benedetto took the stage, too. "If we start to get any more, I'm going to start to question it," said a befuddled Harper, who stood off to the side, rubbing his nose.

The cameras zoomed in on the four birthday boys, cutting the Canadian premier out of the picture.

Goyal has been a White House pressperson for many years and is often ridiculed for his softball questions that deal exclusively with India and for which he has been labelled the "Goyal foil" — or a way out for White House spokesman Scott McClellan when he is in a tight spot. — IANS

US-Russia civilian N-deal likely: report

Washington, July 8
Reversing decades of US policy, President George W. Bush has decided to permit extensive civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia for the first time, a move that could mean billions of dollars for Moscow but is likely to face opposition from Congress.

The USA and Russia will be elaborating this agreement just before the start of the G-8 summit in the Russian city of St. Petersburg next week, The Washington Post said in a report.

It said the deal comes as US officials concluded that President Vladimir Putin had become a more constructive partner in trying to pressure Iran to give up any aspirations for nuclear weapons.

US officials said both sides would gain from the deal, which would enable Russia to import and store thousands of tons of spent fuel from US-supplied reactors around the world, a lucrative business so far blocked by Washington, it added.

Since the proposed deal will be conforming to the Atomic Energy Act as Russia is already a nuclear state, it will not require formal Congressional approval. — PTI

A.Q. Khan had run private N-network: Pak army

Islamabad, July 8
Assert that disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan had run his own “private” proliferation network, the Pakistani military has said he did not name any “state functionary” during his interrogation but only two ex- aides of former Premier Benazir Bhutto in this connection.

At the first-ever briefing of Pakistan parliamentarians about the country's nuclear programme yesterday, an official of the Pakistan's Strategic Plans Division (SPD) said, Khan had not named any “state-functionaries” in the 10 “de-briefing” sessions that were conducted after his arrest in 2004.

Khan, currently under house detention, ran his own private nuclear proliferation network from 1987 to 1998 during different governments and it was a “sole act of an individual,” Director-General of the Strategic Planning Division, Lt-Gen Khalid Kidwai, said in his three-hour briefing to over 50 odd parliamentarians of the country. The briefing was attended among others by some MPs of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). — PTI

Astronauts begin spacewalk

Houston, July 8
Two Discovery astronauts stepped out of the International Space Station today for a spacewalk in which they hope to make shuttle flights safer by bouncing around on the end of a 100-foot boom.

NASA wants to see if the boom, which is a combination of the space shuttle Discovery’s 50-foot robot arm and a 50-foot extension, will hold astronauts steady enough to repair parts of the spacecraft unreachable with just the robot arm.— Reuters