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Students, police clash in Dhaka
Australia rush to board 'Indian express'
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N-deal
Sonia cuts short SA itinerary
Govt, oppn to clip Musharraf’s powers
Drunk Prince William pulls out of soccer match
Rocket attack during Indian delegation’s visit
Police investigates e-mail threat to Dosanjh
Safeguards on uranium use
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Students, police clash in Dhaka
Dhaka, August 21 The army camp was set up in the campus after a state of emergency was declared on January 11 to quell student agitation. Several thousand students armed with sticks defied police barricades and damaged buses and cars at Shahbagh, Nilkhet and New Market. They also burnt an army jeep in central Dhaka. The police retaliated by bursting a barrage of tear gas shells injuring several students, policemen and press photographers. Despite assurance from acting vice-chancellor Yusuf Haider, that the army camp would be withdrawn, the students staged a demonstration outside the VC’s residence breaking the main gate and burning a university van. Meanwhile, students of Jahangirnagar University, Jagannath University and Dhaka College boycotted their classes today and staged street protests expressing solidarity with the Dhaka University students.
— UNI
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Australia rush to board 'Indian express'
Sydney, August 21 The realization dawns that Australia needs India more than vice versa. From a free trade agreement (FTA) to backing India internationally, the John Howard government doesn’t want to miss the bus in grabbing opportunities in a country that is emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing economies. As veteran foreign affairs analyst Greg Sheridan wrote in The Australian, “The Indian express is leaving the station. The only good place for us is on board.” The series of specific proposals in the submission include uranium exports to India’s civilian nuclear plants, active diplomatic support for New Delhi’s bid to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, providing importance to energy security and elevating the joint working group on minerals and energy to ministerial level, joint naval exercises, intensified cooperation in counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, all aspects of maritime security and greater engagement on border and transport security. The federal cabinet has accepted the recommendations in the submission, which also includes seeking a permanent presence of the Australian federal police in New Delhi and giving consideration to the establishment of an Australia-India forum for government, business and other leaders to promote bilateral cooperation. While news from India seldom made it to the front pages of Australian newspapers or prime time television earlier, the India story today is very different. In a historic shift in bilateral relations, Australia is planning to negotiate an FTA with India similar to the one with the US, China and Japan. This would provide enormous opportunities for Australian companies in the services sector, apart from the obvious synergy in energy trade and its dazzling success in IT. This could be worth billions of dollars to Australia, wrote Sheridan. India will this year become Australia’s fourth-largest export market, and Australian exports to India have been growing at more than 30 per cent a year throughout this decade.
— IANS
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N-deal
Washington, August 21 “It seems like politics as usual. Parties opposing it are placing their political interest over national interest. For anyone to think for a second that Prime Minster Manmohan Singh will agree to sign an agreement, which is not in the national interests of India, should be unthinkable,” said Ashok Mago, chairman of the United States India Political Forum. “Everyone knew the terms of the Hyde Act,” the chairman of the Dallas-based Indian American Forum said and wondered why political parties in India waited this long to oppose it now so strongly as to want to “kill” it. “This Bill should be looked as an energy Bill to provide India the clean energy it desperately needs to keep up with the pace of its economic growth,” he said. The US-India Political Forum was instrumental in bringing in the Texas Delegation to back the Hyde Bill in 2006 getting 16 Members in the House of Representatives and both of its Senators-Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn-as its Co-Sponsors.
— PTI
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Sonia cuts short SA itinerary
Johannesburg, August 21 Gandhi has cut short her visit, which was earlier planned for four days, by dropping Durban from her itinerary amidst ongoing stand-off with Left allies over the Indo-US nuclear deal. “Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have now arranged for the Congress president to visit only Johannesburg and Cape Town,” a spokesperson for the Indian High Commission said in Durban. Although the spokesperson did not give any reason, it is understood that she cut short her visit in the wake of continuing stalemate with Left allies over the nuclear deal. The UPA chairperson is scheduled to meet South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg tomorrow and then travel to Cape Town to hold talks with President Thabo Mbeki and Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on Thursday.
— PTI
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Govt, oppn to clip Musharraf’s powers
Islamabad, August 21 Leader of Opposition Raza Rabbani yesterday moved the 18th Amendment Bill aimed at curtailing the President’s powers to promulgate ordinances if the Senate was in session, ‘The News’ reported here today. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Senator Kamil Ali Agha did not oppose this Bill.
— PTI Presidential poll before Sept 20 Presidential election is likely to be held in the third week of September, the schedule for which will be announced in the first week of that month. Under Article 41(4) of the Constitution of Pakistan, the presidential election must be held between September 15 and October 15. But sources said it is “more likely to be held closer to September 15 than October 15,” the Daily Times quoted sources, as saying. They added that President Musharraf could be elected unopposed, as “the opposition parties have not so far agreed to field a joint candidate. But behind-the-scene efforts are underway to have the President re-elected unopposed.” Meanwhile, PML sources have expressed the hope that PPP Parliamentarians would not oppose Musharraf’s re-election as part of an “understanding” with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Aziz to stand for re-election Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has announced that he would stand for re-election in the upcoming general polls, days after Pervez Musharraf decided to run for the presidency for another five-year term. Aziz also ruled out the imposition of emergency and martial law on the Islamic nation “for now”. He clearly declined that a deal was struck between Musharraf and self-exiled former Premier Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party. Govt to produce Sharif’s ‘exile’ pact In a bid to block the homecoming of the Sharif brothers before the upcoming general elections, Pakistan is considering to produce the reported ‘exile’ deal between former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the government before the Supreme Court on August 23. President Musharraf on Monday chaired a high-level meeting of his constitutional and legal advisers to discuss the possible repercussions if the agreement was submitted in the court to prove that the Sharifs had agreed to leave the country for 10 years, the media reported on Tuesday. But in their latest petitions, the Sharif brothers have denied entering into any deal with the government, which required their family members to stay out of the country for at least 10 years.
— Agencies
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Endeavour returns home Cape Canaveral, August 21 Commander Scott Kelly gently steered the 100-tonne spaceship through breezy, blue skies before nosing Endeavour down onto a 4.8-km, canal-lined runway at 12.32 pm EDT (16.32 GMT) just a short distance from the seaside launch pad where the shuttle’s journey began on August 8. “Welcome home. You’ve given a new meaning to higher education,” said astronaut Chris Ferguson at mission control in Houston, a reference to teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, an Endeavour crew member. NASA brought the shuttle home a day earlier than planned when it appeared Hurricane Dean could force an evacuation of the Houston center that operates the shuttle during flight. But the storm took a more southerly course and hit Mexico’s Caribbean coast today. The shuttle and its seven-member crew spent nine days at the space station to deliver new components and prepare the $100 billion complex for additional laboratory modules. — Reuters
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Drunk Prince William pulls out of soccer match
London, August 21 The Prince failed to show up after necking several bottles of a potent local lager the previous night, which left his opponents speculating that he’d overdone it or couldn’t tear himself away from his lover, ‘The Sun’ reported today. William had promised that he would play footie with the staff of the resort at Desroches Island on Sunday morning while knocking back SeyBrew lager on Saturday night. “He was either too sick or didn’t want to leave lovely Kate’s arms. We suspect he was too hung-over, but either way he did not turn up for the game. The local workers were disappointed, but still found it quite amusing,” a source was quoted by the British tabloid as saying.
— PTI
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Rocket attack during Indian delegation’s visit
Sederot, August 21 “We heard a warning shot which was followed by a siren. We were immediately rushed to take shelter behind the mountains where we heard the sound of another rocket attack which hit the city,” Maulana Umair Ilyasi, leader of the delegation said. “We were just watching the Gaza Strip from the top of a mountain when the rockets were fired from the Hamas controlled territory,” Ilyasi said.
— PTI
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Police investigates e-mail threat to Dosanjh
Toronto, August 21 Dosanjh said last week that he was disturbed by the violent nature of the e-mail, which was discovered when his staff checked the in-box of a newly created Facebook page. Dosanjh had called for a police investigation for a Surrey religious parade last April where photos depicted assassins and the suspected mastermind of the Air India bombing as martyrs. The e-mail, from a person identifying himself as Jag Singh, called Dosanjh “the biggest disgrace to the Sikh panth”.
— PTI
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Safeguards on uranium use
Melbourne, August 21 “I think the decision that Australia has made in relation to selling uranium to India will come with safeguards to ensure that it’s not finding its way into weapons,” Treasurer Peter Costello said.
— PTI
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