Beijing, February 28
The official Chinese media today took note of India's hike in military spending, a day after Beijing scolded Japan for alleging 'China threat' due to its growing military might.

While there was no official reaction, the state-run Xinhua news Agency reported that India had increased its defence expenditure for fiscal 2007-08 by 11.63 per cent to US$ 21.33 billion.

It quoted finance minister P. Chidambaram as telling the Indian media that "a little over half of the allocation will be earmarked for the acquisition of hardware by the armed forces." The report noted that the Indian Army will receive US$ 7.57 billion while the Navy gets US$1.55 billion and the Air Force gets US$ 2.27 billion.

"Any additional requirement for the security of the nation will be provided," it quoted Chidambaram as saying.

Meanwhile, Chinese finance minister Jin Renqing is expected to present the national budget next week when the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament meets for its annual session.

In 2006, the Chinese defence budget had gone up by 14.7 per cent to 280.729 billion yuan (US$35.09 billion), which was 36.025 billion yuan more than the corresponding figure in 2005.

Asked to comment on the growth in India's Defence Budget, Chinese analysts declined to comment and said every sovereign country had the right to spend money on its defence so as to maintain sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Yesterday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang had also told the media on these lines strongly reacting to Japanese Prime Minister's policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa's adverse remarks on China' s military spending and defence modernisation.

Refuting Nakagawa's remarks, Qin said it was "natural" for China to spend on defence and went on to question the size of the Japanese military budget even though the country was much smaller than China.

"It is natural for China to maintain a certain amount of defence power, as it is a sovereign state with long borders on land and in sea, and it gives no cause for criticism," he said.

He said China's military spending is for maintaining the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Qin said China's military expenditure is 67 per cent of Japan's and its per capita is seven per cent.

"It is very strange that Japan, with only one-twenty-fifth of the size of China's land and one-tenth of the population of China, possesses such a huge military expenditure," the spokesman said. — PTI

Caracas, February 28
In his first live broadcast since falling ill last July, Cuban leader Fidel Castro called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's daily radio talk show to say he was feeling "more energetic”.

Castro,80,who first took power in 1959, had handed power to his brother Raul Castro ,75, in July as he recovered from gastrointestinal surgery. The Cuban leader was, since then, only seen in official Cuban television and newspaper images, though he has met some visitors in Havana.

In yesterday's phone call, Castro came across as energetic and enthusiastic as he commented on the day's news.

"I am making progress, I feel more energetic, with more strength and more time to study," Castro said. The Cuban leader encouraged those concerned about his recovery to be patient.

"I urge everyone to be patient, calm, and to be happy, if everyone is calm, the country keeps moving forward, which is the most important thing... I also ask for tranquility for myself to be able to get my new duties done," he said.”But I cannot be talking every day and get into the habit of making news every day." — AFP

Islamabad, February 28
Pakistan has said that it will deploy additional forces along its border with Afghanistan to crack down on the Al-Qaida and the Taliban, two days after US Vice President Dick Cheney's surprise visit to the country to press for more action against the militant outfits.

Governor of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, who coordinates Pakistan's policy to crack down on the Al-Qaida and Taliban, has said that Islamabad is deploying additional forces along its border in the Waziristan tribal region with Afghanistan to re-inforce the present 80,000 troops deployed in the 2400 km border between the 
two countries.

Aurakzai made the announcement, after meeting with British foreign secretary Margaret Beckett in Peshawar yesterday. He said he was hopeful that Afghanistan would undertake similar measures on its side of the border, local daily 'Dawn' reported.

Cheney paid a surprise visit to Islamabad to hold talks with Musharraf two days ago and held that Islamabad would take whatever action necessary to prevent the Taliban from using its territory to fight against Afghanistan and curb "talibanisation" in the tribal areas.

Aurakzai, however, defended the North Waziristan agreement with the Taliban, which was criticised by the US and said it had helped scale down cross-border movement considerably.

He briefed Beckett on the prevailing law and order situation in the tribal areas with particular reference to the restive Waziristan region.

Later Becket while delivering a speech on "UK and Pakistan: partners in diplomacy" at the Foreign Service Academy, said talks were possible with peaceful elements in the Taliban but not with the people who were hurling threats of more attacks against foreign forces in Afghanistan.

Britain would not link aid to Pakistan with its counter-terrorism related performance. — PTI 

Islamabad, February 28
Having faced problems in identification of victims of the Samjhauta Express blasts, Pakistan and India have now jointly drafted a new procedure for maintaining passenger records on the peace train.

Railway authorities of both the countries have decided to maintain proper records of all the passengers of the train, 'The Daily Times' quoted an official statement as saying.

The step came in the wake of the February 19 Samjhauta Express blasts, in which about 68 passengers, most of them Pakistanis, lost their lives.

The two countries faced great problems in identification of the deceased passengers. Authorities in both the countries have decided that the Pakistani ticketing authority would issue tickets only from the Lahore railway station to Attari railway station, while the Indian authorities would maintain records from there-on.

Similarly, Indian authorities will issue tickets from Delhi to Wagah railway station, from where the Pakistani authorities will take over.

In the past, the railways of both the countries issued tickets for eight cities but without proper records. However, after the February 19 incident, the authorities of both the countries have decided to maintain a passenger record which would include the names, addresses, contact numbers and other particulars of those travelling. — PTI