US submits list of defence items for tech transfer to India
Washington, October 2
The US has submitted a list of 10 defence technologies for transfer to India, bringing it into a small group of closest allies with which America shares such sensitive details without export control. Informed Indian sources confirmed to the PTI that the Pentagon has submitted a list of 10 sensitive technologies for transfer from US to India.

Washington, October 2
The bitter budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans pushed the US Government's shutdown into the second day today with President Barack Obama postponing his visits to Malaysia and the Philippines in the wake of the crisis that can cost the ailing economy billions.

The two parties failed to strike a deal before the October 1 deadline on spending and budget due to differences over 'Obamacare', the signature healthcare programme of President Obama.

Obama lambasted the Republicans for being "reckless" in their apparent willingness to take on the government in order to strike down the law overhauling major aspects of health care coverage. He championed the landmark law, signed in 2010, then saw it upheld by the Supreme Court last year.

"We know that the longer this shutdown continues, the worse the effects will be. More families will be hurt. More businesses will be harmed," he said yesterday, the first time the government shut down in nearly 18 years.

Obama urged the Congress to pass the budget and end the shutdown. "Pay your bills, prevent an economic shutdown. Don't wait, don't delay, don't put our economy or our people through this any longer," he said.

"I will not negotiate over Congress' responsibility to pay bills. It's already racked up. I'm not going to allow anybody to drag the good name of the USA through the mud just to re-fight a settled election or extract ideological demands. Nobody gets to hurt our economy and millions of hardworking families over a law you don't like," Obama said.

In the wake of the crisis at home, the US President has postponed his first visit to Malaysia and the Philippines next week.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said that "logistically, it was not possible to go ahead with these trips in the face of a government shutdown." About 8,00,000 federal workers in the US were told to stay at home while national parks, museums, government buildings and services shutdown as a result of the deadlock over Obamacare.

The law's actual name is 'The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act' and it requires all Americans to have health insurance.

Meanwhile, the White House has said the Congress ought to open the government, return people to work, and "without drama and delay fulfil its responsibility" to make sure the United States pays its bills.

But the Republican party leaders, were not willing to make any changes in their approach, as a result of which the Congress has not been able to pass the budget. The crisis could cost the US economy billions. — PTI

Washington, October 2
The US has submitted a list of 10 defence technologies for transfer to India, bringing it into a small group of closest allies with which America shares such sensitive details without export control.

Informed Indian sources confirmed to the PTI that the Pentagon has submitted a list of 10 sensitive technologies for transfer from US to India.

New Delhi is “reviewing” these offers and would get back to the United States soon, with its response, they said.

Meanwhile, the US has sought opinion from its strong defence industry to identify next set of technologies which could be shared and transferred to India.

According to US sources, the number of such defence technology transfers could cross 90.

Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter, who is leading unleashing of the defence ties between India and the US through the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative, said the US has submitted a white paper explaining where India falls within US export control system.

“The paper we sent them covered several key areas from export controls rules themselves to end use monitoring and the need to identify proposals for co-production and co-development,” he said at the Center for American Progress.

“We have demonstrated repeatedly that we can release sensitive technology to India. We’ve adapted our system in ways that will speed our release process for India, especially in the Department of Defence, recognising that for, of course, all partners, this process is subject to case-by-case review and there will always be some technologies that we will keep to ourselves,” Carter said.

“We changed our mindset around technology transfer to India in the Department of Defence from a culture of presumptive no to one of presumptive yes,” he said.

Asserting that India has been brought at part with closet of its allies, Carter said the Obama Administration has now included India in the list of “so called Group of Eight” that receives the best of the technologies without export control. — PTI 

London, October 2
Winston Churchill wanted chemical weapons to be used against “troublesome” tribes in north India during British colonial rule to suppress them, a noted historian has claimed citing an official memo.

Giles Milton, who has written a number of non-fiction historical books, has illustrated Churchill’s commitment to the use of chemical weapons, explaining that he had supported their use against rebellious Indian tribes in early 20th century when he was not the Prime Minister.

“What I found really shocking was when he (Churchill) wrote this internal memo to the India Office, along the lines of ‘we should use it against the tribes on the North West front. They’re really troublesome, let’s gas them,” Giles was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.

“There’s a line in the memo that says, ‘I really don’t understand this squeamishness about poison gas’. Today that reads pretty badly,” Milton said.

The British historian made the remarks following his appearance at the Wigtown Book Festival to promote his new book ‘Russian Roulette’, the paper said.

Milton also claimed that Churchill sanctioned the “most devastating chemical weapon ever devised” against the Russian Bolsheviks.

“Churchill, who was secretary of state for war at the time, wanted to really go hard against the Bolsheviks in Russia. He wanted to support the White Army in their fight against the Red Army but the government simply refused to countenance that,” Milton was quoted as saying.

“The British had developed this highly secret chemical weapon called the M Device, which is like a shell with a canister of gas on the end. It was developed at Porton laboratories in Wiltshire and described by the head of munitions as the most devastating chemical weapon ever devised. It had been invented but not used,” Milton said.

“Churchill’s idea was to use the M Device against the Russian Bolsheviks. 50,000 of them were taken up in planes and then dropped on the Bolshevik Red Army positions and Bolshevik controlled villages in Northern Russia between August and September 1918,” he said.

Milton explained that he had been researching his new book when he discovered a little known document in the National Archives compiled by British scientists who had been sent to Russia to record the effects of the M Device on the Bolsheviks.

Asked what impact this revelation could have on the image of Churchill as one of Britain’s greatest historical figures, Milton said: “He’s a great Briton but there are other sides to his character. He was advocating the mass use of chemical weapons.” — PTI 

Rome, October 2
Italy's Silvio Berlusconi today abandoned his bid to topple Prime Minister Enrico Letta, saying he would vote to support the government in a humiliating climbdown after key allies rebelled.

“We have decided to vote for confidence, not without internal disputes,” Berlusconi said ahead of a confidence vote in Parliament called after he launched his challenge to the leadership on Saturday.

Berlusconi said he had changed his mind on Wednesday after hearing Letta’s promise to lower taxes and “the need for a government that can carry out institutional reforms in Italy”.

The surprise about-turn made victory for Letta’s coalition a certainty and was immediately cheered by the markets, with shares in Milan jumping 1.45 per cent higher after the shock announcement.

The difference between rates on Italian 10-year government bonds and benchmark German ones - a measure of investor confidence - also narrowed to 253 basis points from 260 points on Tuesday.

Letta shook his head as Berlusconi was speaking and the address was followed by stunned silence.

Lawmakers were still set to vote despite the change of heart by a man who has dominated Italian political life for much of the past two decades. — AFP

Moscow, October 2
President Vladimir Putin has been nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize by a Russian advocacy group for his key role in preventing a US missile strike on Syria and initiatives to dismantle Damascus' chemical weapons.

The International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation Among the Nations of the World has nominated President Putin as a candidate for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

Underling Putin's active participation in the search for a political and diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis, group's vice-president Beslan Kobajia said those efforts made him deserving of the Nobel Prize, media reports said.

An official letter containing the request was sent to the Nobel Prize Committee on September 16 and was received on September 20.

US President Barack Obama had received the Nobel Peace Prize in his first year in office in 2009 or his "extraordinary efforts" to strengthen international diplomacy.

Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told the Itar-Tass news agency that the administration did not discuss his nomination with the Academy.

Putin has already been proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize by the president of the All-Russian Education Fund.

The Nobel Peace Prize, awarded by a special committee in accordance with the wishes of Alfred Nobel, is given annually to persons or organisations for the most notable input into the unity of nations, reduction of armies and assistance rendered to peace processes.

In 1990, the then President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize. — PTI

Dubai, October 2
Iran's parliament strongly endorsed President Hassan Rouhani's diplomatic bid to dispel mistrust at the United Nations last week during a visit which ended with an historic phone call with President Barack Obama, Iranian media said.

The backing from the assembly, controlled by political factions deeply loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a further sign that Rouhani has the support of the Iranian establishment, though there are some rumblings from hardliners. Khamenei, the most powerful figure in Iran, has yet to comment publicly on Rouhani's trip.

Rouhani briefed parliamentarians on his trip, including discussions on Iran's nuclear dispute with the West and regional relations, the student news agency ISNA said.

A group of 230 parliamentarians, out of the total of 290, signed a statement expressing their support of Rouhani for presenting the image of a "powerful and peace-seeking Iran which seeks talks and interaction for the settlement of regional and international issues", Fars news agency said.

While Rouhani's visit to New York boosted hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough in talks to resolve the 10-year-old dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed it on Tuesday as a ruse concocted by a "wolf in sheep's clothing".

The United States, Israel and other countries accuse Iran of using its nuclear programme as a veil for efforts to try to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says the programme is for peaceful energy purposes only. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Netanyahu and "the Zionist lobby" were trying to hinder negotiations.

"We will not let Netanyahu determine the future of our talks," Zarif wrote on his Facebook page. The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers is to take place in Geneva on October 15-16.

Such is the mistrust between Iran and the West that a big sticking point of negotiations over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme has been who should make the first move.

Iran has insisted the United States and the European Union should ease sanctions before it makes any concessions over enriching uranium, while Western powers have argued the reverse. Western powers are however considering easing their long-standing demand that Iran suspend all enrichment as part of a possible deal to resolve the dispute that Rouhani says he wants to reach within months, a senior EU diplomat said.

"I believe part of the game is that if the Iranians prove that whatever they are doing is peaceful, it will, as I understand, be possible for them to conduct it," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said. — Reuters

Thandwe (Myanmar), Oct 2
Terrified women and children hid in forests and security forces patrolled tense villages in western Myanmar today, residents said, after sectarian clashes which left five Muslims dead.

President Thein Sein was expected to visit the violence-racked area as part of his first official visit to Rakhine state since a wave of religious bloodshed erupted there last year.

Sectarian bloodshed has overshadowed internationally praised political reforms and piled pressure on the former junta general, who took power in 2011.

The US said it was "deeply concerned" about the latest unrest and urged authorities to respond "decisively", in a statement issued by its embassy in Yangon.

Around 800 Buddhist rioters torched homes and attacked local Muslims in a village in the area of Thandwe on Tuesday, according to the authorities.

"The death toll rose to five -- four men and a woman," a Rakhine police official who did not want to be named told AFP, adding that the victims were all killed during Tuesday's violence.

A 94-year-old Muslim woman, who suffered stab wounds, was among the dead.

Four Rakhine Buddhists were injured in clashes and a fifth was missing, while 59 houses and a mosque have been torched since tensions flared on Saturday, police said.

Around 250 people have been killed and more than 140,000 left homeless in several outbreaks of inter-religious violence around the country since June 2012, mostly in Rakhine.

A local Muslim official told AFP that police had fired warning shots but could not control the mob.

"We are disappointed that we have a government that is unable to provide security for us," the official, Myint Aung, said. — AFP

Dhaka, October 2
Bangladeshi authorities have stripped BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury of his privileged status in jail after a special tribunal sentenced him to death for crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation war.

"He has been shifted to a cell (earmarked for death penalty convicts) at the (suburban) Kashimpur Central Jail," a prison official told reporters, a day after the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Chowdhury to death.

Jailer Mojibur Rahman said Chowdhury was transferred to Kashimpur under heavy security from Dhaka Central Jail last night to be kept in isolation in a small room called the "condemned cell" to await execution, which is expected after a few legal procedures. Chowdhury was brought to Dhaka Central Jail from Kashimpur two days ago before the judgement. He earlier enjoyed "division status" in jail in view of his status as a lawmaker and former minister. — PTI

At least six persons were reported killed and several injured in an explosion near the Customs House in southwestern Pakistan's Chaman town on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Dawn News quoted security sources as saying that the Pakistan-Afghanistan border had been closed following the explosion which sources said was a suicide bombing.

Chaman is a small town in the southwestern province of Balochistan and is one of the two main crossing points for supplies for American and NATO troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, suffers from a local separatist insurgency.

Apart from a long-running nationalist movement, there has also been an alarming rise in sectarian terrorism in the province recently, with ethnic and religious minorities often targeted by militants.

Lahore, October 2
Eighteen members of a Hindu family in Khanpur area of Pakistan's central Punjab province have converted to Islam, local residents said today.

Seven men and 11 women of the family adopted Islam during a ceremony conducted yesterday evening by Mian Ghaus Mohammad, custodian of the Khwaja Ghulam Fareed shrine at Jhok Farid.

They recited the Kalima Tayabba, the Islamic confession of faith, and converted to Islam, local residents were quoted as saying by state-run APP news agency.

Samaram, the head of the family, chose Mohammad Sharif as his new name. Prominent people of the area were present on the occasion.

There have been several reports of forcible conversion of members of the minority Hindu community in the southern Sindh province. Community leaders have also alleged that several women were abducted and forced into marriage with Muslim youths.

Members of the Hindu community, especially traders and professionals like doctors, have been the target of kidnapping for ransom and extortion demands in the restive southwestern Balochistan province. — PTI