Washington, September 9
After spending most of his time over the weekend calling up and meeting lawmakers, President Barack Obama will go all out on a media publicity blitz over the next two days to convince war-weary Americans that an attack on Syria is needed for the long-term safety of the US.

Obama yesterday dropped by the dinner that Vice President Joe Biden hosted for several Republican Senators at his residence. Among those in attendance were Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Saxby Chambliss, Bob Corker, Kelly Ayotte and Deb Fischer.

The White House has said President Obama will sit for interviews with six TV networks on Tuesday as he makes his case to the nation for military intervention in Syria. These news channels include ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN and Fox News.

This is probably for the first time that Obama would be giving interviews to all these six major news channels on the same day. He is also scheduled to hold a series of meetings with top lawmakers over the next two days as part of his effort to give a final push for the attack on Syria.

Such a rare move by Obama comes as both the Chambers of Congress - House of Representatives and Senate - are expected to debate and vote on his request for a Congressional authorisation for a military strike against Syria.

Obama's Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough yesterday exuded confidence that the White House would be able to get the necessary Congressional authorisation. He also claimed that the US has necessary international support.

"I've been talking to dozens of members of Congress over the last week. Not a single one of them so far has rebutted or refused the intelligence, which is to say everybody agrees that on August 21, (President Bashar) Assad used chemical weapons against his own people," he told the ABC News.

"So the question for Congress this week is a very simple one: Should there be consequences for his having used gases, chemical weapons to kill more than a thousand of his own people, including more than 400 children?

"The answer to that question will be followed closely in Tehran...in Damascus...by members of Lebanese Hezbollah. So this is a big question and a big week for Congress to address that very fundamental national security issue," he said.

"We didn't go to Congress because we thought this was an empty exercise. We are investing a lot of time and effort in this because we think Congress should be a full partner in our national security matters, and when they are, we're stronger as a country," McDonough said.

"Now, members of Congress also need to understand that if they want to see Assad held to account for this activity, they should vote yes on the resolution," he said.

However, several lawmakers were not as confident as the White House. "I think it's an uphill slog from here," Congressman Mike Rogers told the CBS news. — PTI

London, September 9
Asserting that any US military strikes in Syria would be "unbelievably small", Secretary of State John Kerry today said the solution to the Syrian conflict must be political and not military.

"Let me be clear, the United States, President (Barack) Obama, myself, others are in full agreement that the end of the conflict in Syria requires a political solution. There is no military solution, we have no illusions about that," Kerry said after his meeting with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague.

"But a resolution to this has to come about because the parties are prepared to come and negotiate that political solution. A resolution will not be found on the battlefield, but at that negotiating table. But we have to get to that table," Kerry said.

He stressed that any military strike on Syria would be an "unbelievably small, limited kind of effort" that would not risk dragging the US into war.

"We're not talking about war. We are not going to war. We are not going to have people put at risk in that way. We are going to be able to hold Bashar al-Assad responsible without having troops on the ground," he told reporters.

Asked if there were steps the Syrian President could take to avert a US-led attack, Kerry said, "Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week, turn it over, all of it, without delay and allow the full and total accounting".

Questioned about the strength of the evidence against Assad, Kerry invoked his past as a public prosecutor in Massachusetts to say that he had sent criminals down for life on less.

"The evidence is powerful and the question is, what are we going to do about it? I don't believe that we should shy from this moment. The risk of not acting is greater than the risk of acting," he said.— PTI

The evidence is powerful and the question is, what are we going to do about it? I don't believe that we should shy from this moment. The risk of not acting is greater than the risk of acting.
— John Kerry, US Secretary of State

Beijing, September 9
A huge explosion in front of a primary school in southern China today killed at least two persons and injured 44 others, including 26 students.

The incident occurred as the students were arriving at the Balijie Primary School in Lingwu county of Guilin, a resort city in Guangxi.

A man and a woman were killed on the spot and the injured persons, including 26 students, were taken to a nearby hospital, official media reported. Eleven victims were in serious condition.

Seven other injured were adults who were accompanying students to school or passersby, according to the information department of Guilin City. Footage on the state television CCTV showed many damaged vehicles lying in front of the school.

Witnesses told Xinhua news agency that a man riding a three-wheeled motorcycle passed the entrance to the school when the blast took place. An eyewitness saw a body lying at the site, which was cordoned off by local police.

"First, the motorcycle caught fire and then exploded with a tremendous noise that could be heard from far, far away," a witness told Xinhua.

A dozen motorcycles were scattered around the blast site and the window panes of cars and stores by the school were damaged. The police are investigating the cause of the blast. — PTI

New York, September 9
In a freak accident, an 18-year-old Indian-origin girl was killed in the US when she jumped out of a closet to surprise a friend, who shot her thinking she was an intruder.

Premila Lal jumped out of a closet as a harmless joke to surprise Nerrek Galley, a 21-year-old family friend. But the noise startled the friend, who grabbed a gun and shot her, her father Praveen Lal said.

The incident happened on Friday night in Longmont, Colorado, north of Denver.

The teenager's death was "unintended and extremely tragic," the police said in a statement.

"The closet opened and I think she jumped and screamed and he thought it was an intruder inside the closet, so he pulled the trigger," Praveen Lal said.

Premila was a track star and was honoured at a weekend cross country meet at her alma mater, KVDR TV reported. Her family described her as an athlete, popular girl and strong student.

Just before 8 pm (local time) Premila Lal showed up at a house her family once called home. They had since moved, and were preparing to sell the place.

In the meantime, Galley was staying at the house.

Premila Lal and her 12-year-old cousin apparently came to visit Galley. Lal's 15-year-old brother was also at the home, hanging out with Galley.

Praveen Lal, said in interviews with local media that his daughter entered the home without Galley's knowledge.

Authorities said that the father's description of what happened next, involving the closet, and Galley's gun, is consistent with their investigation.

"All the witnesses had consistent statements," Commander Jeffrey Satur of the Longmont Police Department told CNN.

A neighbour was quoted as saying that she saw the group rush out of the home, screaming. Lal was admitted to a hospital and was pronounced dead about an hour later.

"We lost a daughter, so we don't want anybody else to lose their son, you know, especially when it was accident," Praveen Lal told Denver TV station KCNC.

Galley has been charged with reckless endangerment, child abuse and providing a gun to a juvenile because Lal's 15-year-old brother had access to the gun, police said.

So far Galley has not been charged in Lal's killing.

Police said they do not suspect the involvement of alcohol or drugs. — PTI 

London, September 9
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who once left his daughter at a pub, apparently forgot his crucial red box with top security paperwork on a train over the weekend, media reports said today.

A front-page photograph in the 'Daily Mirror' showed the worn out box on the train table with its key in the lock, clicked by a fellow passenger while Cameron was in another part of the train.

"It was just sitting there. I could probably have run off with it if I'd wanted to," the passenger told the newspaper.

However, Downing Street has since insisted there was no security breach and that the box was being watched by the Prime Minister's security at all times.

The photograph of the seemingly unattended box marked "Prime Minister" was taken on Saturday on a train from King's Cross station in London to York, where Cameron attended his sister-in-law's wedding.

Cameron has been known for his absent-mindedness ever since he left his eight-year-old daughter Nancy at a pub near his country home in Chequers after lunch last year following confusion over which car she was travelling in.

She was reunited with the family when wife Samantha went back after 15 minutes.

In 1999, Labour minister Peter Kilfoyle issued guidance that red boxes should be "effectively disguised" if it was necessary to carry them on public transport.

The boxes are used to transport official documents, speeches and letters to be signed.

Their design has changed little since the 1860s and remain conspicuous as carriers of sensitive British government data.

More discreet black boxes are now believed to be available for ministers travelling by train.

UK transport minister, Simon Burns, had caused controversy earlier this year over his use of an 80,000 pounds -a-year chauffeur-driven government car to commute daily between his Essex home and Parliament in Westminster, claiming he used it only because he was barred from working on his red box of official ministerial papers on the train for security reasons. — PTI

Bangkok, September 9
At least 14 persons were injured when a Thai Airways plane skidded off the runway in Bangkok's main international airport after its landing gear malfunctioned.

Airbus A330-300 aircraft, with 288 passengers and 14 cabin crew on board, travelling from China's Guangzhou skidded off the runway at Suvarnabhumi Airport here last night following its landing gear malfunctioned, Thai Airways International (THAI) President Sorajak Kasemsuvan said.

Passengers were evacuated using emergency slides, he said.

"Sparks were noticed from the vicinity of the right landing gear near the engine," Kasemsuvan said in a statement.

"The captain took control of the aircraft until it came to a complete stop and passengers were evacuated from the aircraft emergency exits." The crash injured 14 passengers, 12 of whom have already been released from hospital. A Chinese national and a Zimbabwean national are still being treated at Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital.

The airline has set up a panel to look into the cause of the accident, while an independent panel was formed by the Department of Civil Aviation to investigate the case.

The incident forced temporary closure of one of two runways at Suvarnabhumi airport - one of the busiest airports in Asia - causing delays for inbound and departing flights.

The crash came less than two weeks after 20 passengers were injured when a Thai Airways Airbus A380 hit severe turbulence as it was descending to Hong Kong's airport. — PTI

India-born businessman-turned politician Mamnoon Hussain on Monday took oath as Pakistan's 12th President.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry administered oath to the 63-year-old Urdu-speaking Hussain from Karachi who was born in Agra and had migrated to Karachi after independence in 1947.

Outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, federal ministers, senior civil and military officials attended the simple, but impressive brief ceremony.

It was a rare event as former President Asif Ali Zardari, who stayed in the presidency for a full five-year term and stepped down yesterday, also attended the ceremony that was beamed live on TV channels.

Zardari was the first elected President to complete his constitutional tenure and to be replaced by an elected individual in Pakistan’s 66-year history that has been haunted by numerous military coups. Hussain will be the country's 12th President.

Though Zardari's Pakistan People's Party boycotted the presidential election, Hussain was felicitated by his predecessor, who wished him well in the discharge of his responsibilities as the head of the federation.

Seventy-three-year-old Hussain emerged as a clear winner in a one-sided contest with ex-judge Wajihuddin Ahmad of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party on July 30.

Born in the historic city of Agra, Hussain, who belongs to an Urdu-speaking ethnic group that migrated from India during Partition in 1947, was the ruling PML-N's candidate.

Hussain, a textile businessman from Karachi, is an old loyalist of Sharif and remained with the PML-N even during the regime of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who exiled Sharif to Saudi Arabia and created a new party by breaking the PML-N.

Mamnoon, a PML-N loyalist, briefly acted as Governor of Sindh for a short period during June-October 1999 and was forced to quit after Musharraf led a military coup against Sharif.

In 1993, he came closer to the PML-N leadership when Sharif was contesting his removal from the Premier’s post by then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

Hussain assumed office on a day when the government convened an all-party conference to chalk out a strategy to tackle militancy and terrorism. He takes charge at a time when the country is faced with severe economic and security crisis.

He succeeds the all-powerful Asif Zardari who gave up discretionary presidential powers under the 18th amendment, but remained in full authority as head of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Hussain on the other hand will be a titular head while real power will be wielded by Sharif.

Hussain obtained a degree from the prestigious Institute of Business Administration in Karachi in the 1960s after graduating from a madrassa. He was also president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

(With PTI inputs)

Houston, September 9
A two-day long Hindi convention has been held here, aimed at preserving and promoting the language and diverse culture of India among Indian-origin people.

The 16th International International Hindi Association (IHA) convention was held here last week.

The event - 'Hindi evam yuva varg'- was inaugurated by Indian Consul General P Harish.

The convention, which witnessed over 900 attendees, included various workshops and seminars on Hindi literature along with dance, drama and musical events.

The convention concluded with a 'Hasya Kavi Sammelan' with accomplished poets like Gajendra Solanki, Archana Panda, and Abhinav Shukla entertaining the audience.

The event's organiser, IHA, is a premier Hindi institution in USA, established in 1980 at Rosalyn, Virginia, by eminent scholar late Dr Kunwar Chandra Prakash Singh. — PTI 

Dhaka, September 9
The government today ordered legal action against Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who revolutionised Bangladesh's micro-credit sector, for allegedly claiming tax exemption for income from foreign sources, misuse of power and violating foreign travel regulations.

"The cabinet took a decision that NBR (National Board of Revenue) and the Banking Division of Bangladesh Bank may file separate cases against him (Yunus)," Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He said the cabinet also thought that Yunus breached the Grameen Bank Ordinance by transferring its funds to an affiliate organisation of the micro lending agency while it was authorised only to lend it to the landless people alongside enjoying tax relief on his personal income in an improper way being a "public servant".

The top bureaucrat added the cabinet decided that if needed, the Law Ministry would provide the revenue authority and the central bank the legal assistance towards that end.

Bhuiyan, however, did not explain how Yunus was treated as a government or public servant but officials said he should be regarded as a government official for his appointment as the managing director and CEO of the Grameen, in which the government has stake.

The 73-year-old economist is on a protracted row with the government due to obscure reasons and the wrangle apparently resurfaced last month when in a surprise move he put his weight behind main opposition BNP's demands over the electoral system.

But the cabinet decision came hours after Yunus rubbished NBR allegations.

The NBR alleged Yunus brought home foreign currencies in honorariums, awards and royalties from foreign sources without "government permission" between 2005 and 2011, as the CEO of the Grameen Bank, in which the government has a minor stake.

NBR, however, did not find any evidence that Yunus obtained tax exemption facility illegally on his income from foreign sources as a wage earner though he did not have the government's consent for accepting the foreign awards and money.

But Bhuiyan said under the law, the Grameen Bank alone might enjoy tax exemption, not other associate bodies or Yunus as a person and "public servant" as Grameen's CEO and thus he was accused of tax exemptions.

The NBR report said Yunus earned Taka 50.61 crore between July 2004 and June 2011 in honorarium from 133 foreign organisations, awards from 10 organisations and royalty from 13 organisations while he got income tax exemption worth Taka 12.65 crore.

Legal experts, however, said according to Bangladesh's tax laws, if a Bangladeshi remits his personal income through formal banking channels, the income is tax-free, a fact also acknowledged by the NBR in its report to the cabinet.

Yunus, who earned the repute for Bangladesh as the home of micro credit with his experiment of poor men's banking, won the Nobel Peace Prize along with the Grameen in 2006. — PTI

Geneva, September 9
Negotiators must inject new life into global trade talks within weeks or risk seeing the world slide down the road to protectionism and regional deals, the new leader of the WTO said today.

Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, in his first address to the World Trade Organization's 159 member economies, warned that they must break the deadlock in time for a make or break summit in Bali in December.

"It is clear the system is in trouble," Azevedo told his debut session of the WTO's ruling body, the general council.

"The perception of the world is that is we have forgotten how to negotiate. The perception is paralysis. It is essential that we breathe new life into the negotiating process. That's why success at the Bali ministerial is vital," he said.

"While the benefits of success would be great, the consequences of failure would be even greater. The future of the multilateral trading system is at stake. Those who stand to lose the most are the smallest and most vulnerable."

Members of the WTO, which sets the rules of global commerce, launched their "Doha Round" negotiations at a summit in Qatar in 2001.

The aim was to craft a global accord on opening markets and removing trade barriers such as subsidies, excessive taxes and red tape, and harness international commerce to develop poorer economies.

But after early high hopes, the talks stalled amid clashes over the necessary give and take, notably between China, the European Union, India and the United States.

"The world will not wait for the WTO indefinitely. It will move on and will move on with choices that will not be as efficient or as inclusive," warned Azevedo.

"We must maintain vigilance against protectionism," he added.

The failure to break the Doha logjam has led many countries to shift focus to bilateral and regional deals, which by definition leave other WTO members out in the cold.

The EU and United States are exploring a free trade deal, as is the United States with 12 Pacific countries.

The financial crisis has meanwhile renewed calls for protectionism, which runs counter to the WTO's goal of a level trade playing field.

"The world economy is in a very difficult moment. It's in flux," Azevedo said, noting that rich nations were in particular trouble.

"While that happens, others continue to emerge. They are fundamentally shifting the landscape of the world economy," he said.

"The multilateral trading system remains by far the best defense against protectionism and the strongest force for growth, recovery and development," he added.

Seasoned trade negotiator Azevedo is a WTO insider, having served as Brazil's ambassador to the Geneva-based body since 2008.

Elected WTO director general in May, he took over on September 1 from former European Union trade chief, Frenchman Pascal Lamy, who was in charge for eight years. — AFP

Beijing, September 9
India’s plan to set up 35 new border posts along the India, China border has sparked off concerns in China, with a Chinese expert at an influential think-tank here terming the move as "provocative" that may trigger a new round of tension.

"The establishment of new border posts is a sensitive issue. China-India border war in 1962 was caused by the forward policy initiated by the Jawaharlal Nehru government," Liu Zongyi, an expert from Shanghai Institute of International Studies (SIIS), wrote in an article published on Monday in the state-run daily Global Times.

"Now the LAC between China and India is located to the north of the MacMahon Line and the new posts built by India may cross the line, triggering a tense situation in the border area and thus affecting the bilateral friendly cooperation in other fields," said the article titled 'Provocative border posts add to tension'.

Last month, Indo-Tibetan Border Police outgoing director general Ajay Chadha had said that 35 new border posts will be created and additional ITBP personnel deployed in a phased manner to bolster security on China, India frontier, which has seen a spate of incursions from the Chinese recently.

At present, India has over 150 posts along the border and the paramilitary personnel guard 3,488 kms of the LAC.

Referring to the proposed posts besides periodic reports about incursions by the Chinese troops and speculation about the uncertainty over Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne's visit to China, Liu said the Indian government and the media are over reacting to the "border issues". — PTI

The establishment of new border posts is a sensitive issue. The China-India border war in 1962 was caused by the forward policy initiated by the Jawaharlal Nehru government.
— Liu Zongyi, an expert from Shanghai Institute of International Studies

Washington, September 9
Reflecting low level of awareness about the Sikhs in the US, a new research today said an overwhelming majority of Americans associate turban-wearers with slain Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

The study ‘Turban Myths’, conducted jointly by the SALDEF (Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund) and Stanford University, revealed that 49 per cent of Americans believe “Sikh” is a sect of Islam; while 70 per cent cannot identify a Sikh man in a picture as a Sikh.

As if this was not enough, 79 per cent cannot identify India as the geographic origin of Sikhism, said the report released today in Palo Alto California.

It found that 70 per cent of Americans misidentify turban-wearers as Muslim (48 per cent), Hindu, Buddhist or Shinto. This is contrary to the fact that almost all men in the US who wear turbans are Sikh-Americans, whose faith originated in India.

“This research is critical to our community and confirms our real, lived experiences,” said Jasjit Singh, executive director of SALDEF. — PTI