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Iran N-scientist killed in car blast; Israel blamed
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Romney set to emerge as Obama challenger
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney shakes hands with supporters as his wife Ann waves after he spoke
at his New Hampshire primary night rally in Manchester. — Reuters
Indian bureaucracy rated worst in Asia
Syrian Prez Assad promises victory to supporters
US resumes drone campaign in Pakistan
Indian-origin man, wife
killed in UK
India reaffirms strong commitment to Palestinian cause
Foreign Minister SM Krishna (L) shakes hands with Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad in Ramallah on Wednesday. — Reuters
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Iran N-scientist killed in car blast; Israel blamed An Iranian official immediately blamed “the Zionist regime” for the explosion, saying the method, two men on a motorbike attaching a magnetic bomb to the target’s vehicle, was similar to those used in the assassinations of three other scientists over the past two years. Iran’s Parliament erupted with yells of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” during a speech by one MP who said Wednesday’s attack would not dissuade the Islamic republic from “achieving progress.” Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, died immediately in today’s blast, which occurred in front of a university campus in east Tehran. Two other occupants of the Peugeot 405, one of them his bodyguard/driver, were wounded, Iranian media reported. Ahmadi Roshan was a deputy director at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility, according to the website of the university he graduated from a decade ago, Sharif University. He was specialised in making polymeric membranes to separate gas. Iran uses a gas separation method to enrich its uranium. “The responsibility of this explosion falls on the Zionist regime,” the deputy governor of Tehran province, Safar Ali Bratloo, told Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam broadcaster, using Iran’s term for Israel. “The method of this terrorist action is similar to previous actions that targeted Iran’s nuclear scientists,” he said. Three other Iranian scientists were killed in 2010 and 2011 when their cars blew up in similar circumstances. At least two of the scientists had also been working on nuclear activities. One of the attacks occurred exactly two years earlier, on January 11, 2010, killing scientist Masoud Ali Mohammadi. The current head of Iran’s atomic organisation, Fereydoun Abbasi, escaped another such attempt in November 2010, getting out of his car with his wife just before the attached bomb exploded. Those attacks were viewed by Iranian officials as assassination operations carried out by Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, possibly with help from US counterparts. Today’s killing sharpened an international confrontation over Iran’s nuclear programme in which threats and counter-threats are being increasingly backed with militarised displays of muscle. Western nations, the United States in the fore, are steadily ratcheting up sanctions on Iran with the aim of fracturing its oil-dependent economy. Iran has responded by saying it could easily close the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for 20 percent of the world’s oil at the entrance to the Gulf, if it is attacked or the sanctions halt its petroleum exports. It has also threatened to unleash the “full force” of its navy should the United States redeploy an aircraft carrier to the Gulf, where the US Fifth Fleet is based. —
AFP
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Romney set to emerge as Obama challenger
Washington, January 11 Romney, 51, the former Massachusetts Governor, won the New Hampshire primary by a double digit margin. His victory came on the heels of his win in the Iowa caucus last week by just eight votes in a nail biting finish. The leading Republican candidate received a whopping 40 per cent of the total votes polled in the New Hampshire Republican primary. Romney immediately set his sights on South Carolina primary on January 21 and the battle in Florida on January 31 which would cement his standing as the Republican front-runner. Chances of another runway win in South Carolina have brightened with Indian-origin Governor Nikki Haley backing him. After his thumping win, Romney threw a challenge to Obama, saying that the President has run out of ideas. “Now he is running out of ideas and now we are asking people of South Carolina to join to make 2012 the year he runs out of time.” Texas Congressman Ron Paul finished second, way behind with 23 per cent and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who also served as the US Ambassador to China during first two years of the Obama Administration, was placed a poor third. Rick Santorum, who lost the Iowa caucus by just eight votes, polled less than 10 per cent of votes and so did Newt Gingrich, former Speaker US House of Representatives, making Romney the hot favourite to take on the incumbent President Barack Obama in November elections. This is for the first time that a Republican candidate has won both the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary. With two wins, Romney is ahead of others as he became the first Republican, other than a sitting President, to win both Iowa and New Hampshire. “We made history,” Romney said in his victory speech in Manchester.
— PTI
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Indian bureaucracy rated worst in Asia
Singapore, January 11 The report said India's inefficient bureaucracy was largely responsible for most of the biggest complaints that business executive have about the country. The complaints included inadequate infrastructure and corruption, where officials were willing to accept under-the-table payments and companies were tempted to pay to overcome bureaucratic inertia and gain government favours, the report claimed. The report also highlighted onerous and fickle tax, environmental and other regulations that could make business in India "so frustrating and expensive". It said dealing with court system in India was an unattractive option for companies, and would be best to avoid it. The bureaucrats were rarely held accountable for wrong decisions and it would be extremely difficult to challenge them when there were disagreements, it said. "This gives them (bureaucrats) terrific powers and could be one of the main reasons why average Indians as well as existing and would-be foreign investors perceive India’s bureaucrats as negatively as they do," said the report. But there were plus points when India was compared to countries within the economic development group. In the 2011-12 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, India ranked behind China but ahead of Russia and Brazil for the burden of government regulations as well as for the burden of customs procedures. India was also second to Brazil but well ahead of China and Russia for the quality of regulation and supervision of the securities exchange, said the report. India was also better than Brazil, Russia and China as the fastest place to set up a new business and to deal with construction permits, and was the second fastest place to deal with export and import procedures, the report said.
— PTI
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Syrian Prez Assad promises victory to supporters
Beirut, January 11 Assad, fighting 10 months of pro-democracy protests, greeted thousands of rapturous supporters in a Damascus square, only a day after breaking a six-month public silence. The crowd shouted "Shabiha forever, for your eyes, Assad", a reference to loyalist militiamen, mostly members of Assad's minority Alawite sect, who have gained a fearsome reputation for their part in suppressing protests against the President. Assad's wife Asma and their two children joined him for his surprise appearance in the capital's central Umayyad Square. "I belong to this street," Assad, 46, said, adding Syria faced foreign conspirators. "We will make this phase the end for them and their plans. We are going to win without any doubt." His remarks followed a 100-minute speech on Tuesday in which he mocked the Arab League, vowed to hit "terrorists" with an iron fist and promised reforms, but with no hint that he would relinquish the power he inherited from his father in 2000. The Arab League, which suspended Syria in November for failing to halt its crackdown on protests, sent an observer mission in December that has not stopped the bloodletting. It urged Syria this week to protect its observers. The mission hit more trouble after one monitor accused Syria of war crimes saying the mission was a "farce", and the US ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday a UN official had told the Security Council the killings had gathered pace since the monitors arrived. —
AFP
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US resumes drone campaign in Pakistan
Islamabad, January 11 The drones fired two missiles at a militant compound in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency, Geo News channel reported. The attack was the first since November last year after media reports have said that the attacks had been suspended to avoid worsening relations between Washington and Islamabad after the deadly November 26 NATO raid . The missiles set the building on fire and flames could be seen from the roof of houses in Miranshah, which lies 5 km from the targeted area. Reports said it was unclear if the attack presages a new round of strikes on Taliban and Al-Qaida-linked militants based in the remote territory bordering Afghanistan. The Los Angeles Times reported last month that the CIA had frozen drone strikes on gatherings of low ranking militants, but quoted officials as saying that the strikes would be undertaken if high value targets were spotted. But, the identity of the four persons killed in the attack could not immediately be ascertained. It was also not known if the targeted persons were Taliban or foreign militants. November strike by NATO helicopters triggered an outrage in Pakistan and aggravated tensions in an already shaky relationship with Washington, prompting Islamabad to block NATO supplies into Afghanistan and forcing the US to vacate Shamsi airbase, reportedly used by CIA-operated drones.
— PTI
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Indian-origin man, wife
killed in UK
London, January 11 The West Midlands Police named the victim as Avatar Singh Kolar, 62, and Carole Kolar, 58. The police added that their son is a police officer. The incident comes closely after 23-year-old Indian student Anuj Bidve was shot dead in Greater Manchester, in a case that make headlines in both India and Britain. Yesterday, the police also confirmed the death of another 20-year-old Indian-origin student Gurdeep Hayer being found dead in Manchester city centre, eight days after he went missing. In the killing of the couple, no suspects have been identified so far as the police launched an appeal for information in the murder case. The bodies of the two victims were discovered in their house in Handsworth Wood, just after 8 am today, but no further details about the victims were released. The police believed the couple was subjected to an assault. Both were pronounced dead at the scene and a major investigation was immediately launched. The couple had four grown up children, two sons and two daughters, including the police officer who has not been named. Detective Superintendent Richard Baker from Force CID: "Our thoughts are with the family of this couple, and the community in which they lived. We are going to do everything that we can to find those responsible as quickly as possible".
— PTI
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India reaffirms strong commitment to Palestinian cause
Ramallah (West Bank), Jan 11 External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, who arrived here today from Jerusalem held meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in what is the first visit by an Indian Foreign Minister in over a decade. He also met his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Malki. Official sources said the Palestinian leadership expressed great appreciation for India’s support to them especially in getting full membership at the UNESCO, last year. The two sides also discussed various issues of common interest as well as regional matters. The sources also said, that the two sides also discussed how to deepen the cooperation through other mechanisms. Krishna also had lunch meeting with President Abbas. Earlier, Krishna drove down to Ramallah from Jerusalem through
the Beitunya check-point. At the check point, the minister and his team had to shift to the vehicles with Palestinian number plates leaving behind Israeli cars. India was the first non-Arab country to recognise the statehood of Palestine in 1988 when it was declared. The minister’s visit comes close on the heels of Jordan playing host to Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on January 3, the first in more than a year. After spending a substantial part of the day in West Bank, Krishna drove back to Amman and left for Dubai where he will hold talks with his UAE counterpart and then fly back to India tomorrow.
— PTI
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Washington, January 11
Ramallah (West Bank), Jan 11
Tehran, January 11
Singapore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong (3.53), Thailand (5.25) Taiwan (5.57), Japan (5.77), South Korea (5.87) and Malaysia (5.89).