The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

NATO sees no sign of Russian pullback from Ukraine border
Options range from exercises to permanent basing

Brussels, April 1
NATO sees no sign that Russia is withdrawing troops from the Ukraine border and will look at all options to boost the alliance's defences, its secretary-general said on Tuesday. Ministers from the 28 alliance members are meeting in Brussels for the first time since Russia's military occupation and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

They will discuss ways to boost NATO's military presence in former communist central and eastern Europe to reassure allies rattled by Russia's moves. "Unfortunately, I cannot confirm that Russia is withdrawing its troops. This is not what we are seeing," Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters at the start of the talks.

Diplomats said the ministers would consider options ranging from stepped-up military exercises and sending more forces to eastern member states to the permanent basing of alliance forces in those countries, a step Moscow would view as provocative. Asked if NATO could station forces permanently in the small former Soviet Baltic states, Rasmussen said: "We are now considering all options to enhance our collective defence."

Russia hikes gas price for Ukraine

Russia on Tuesday sharply hiked the price for natural gas to Ukraine and threatened to reclaim billions previous discounts, raising the heat on its cash-strapped government, while the Ukrainian police moved to disarm members of a radical nationalist group after a shooting spree in the capital.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters as he arrived that he would welcome "some more prominent NATO presence in Poland."

Some NATO members are cautious about taking steps that could aggravate the crisis, particularly after Moscow said on Monday it had pulled some troops back from near the Ukrainian border. But a NATO military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia still had some 35,000-40,000 troops stationed near the border and that there was no sign of any significant reduction in their numbers.

The Russian forces included mechanised infantry, armoured units, special forces, logistics units and "fairly substantial numbers" of planes and helicopters, the official said. There was also little evidence that the troops were there for training, the official said. There were some exercises but other units were moving to a location and staying put. "It's an indication of troops given orders to deploy somewhere and awaiting further orders," he said.

The Russian forces did not pose a threat to NATO countries but could pose a threat to Ukraine, the official said. The US and its allies have made clear they have no military plans to defend Ukraine, which is not a NATO member. Since the Crimea crisis erupted, the US has increased the number of US aircraft in regular NATO air patrols over the Baltic States and has beefed up a previously planned training exercise with the Polish air force. — Reuters

‘Nothing abnormal’ in missing jet transcript

Perth/Kuala Lumpur, April 1
There was “nothing abnormal” in the final communication between the pilots of crashed Malaysian jet and air traffic control, authorities said today as Australia warned the search for the wreckage of the ill-fated plane could be long and frustrating.

The full transcript of Flight MH370 released by Malaysian authorities confirmed that the final sign off was “Good Night Malaysian Three Seven Zero” not the casual “All Right Good Night” as earlier reported.

“Today we are releasing the full transcript of communications between flight MH370 and Air Traffic Control Kuala Lumpur,” Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a press statement.

“There is no indication of anything abnormal in the transcript,” the statement said. The transcript was initially held as part of the police investigation after the Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines plane went mysteriously missing on March 8 after its take-off from Kuala Lumpur, with 239 persons on board.

While there is nothing unusual about the new version of the final communication, the sudden change gives loved ones of the people aboard new suspicions that Malaysian officials are not giving them full and accurate information.

Previously, Malaysia Airlines had stated initial investigations indicated that the voice which signed off was that of the co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid and not the pilot Captain Zahari Ahmad Shah.

The police are working to confirm this belief, and forensic examination of the actual recording is ongoing, the statement said.

The international investigations team and the Malaysian authorities remain of the opinion that, up until the point at which it left military primary radar coverage, the Boeing 777-200’s movements were consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane, it said.

Meanwhile, multinational search teams were racing against time to locate the black box of the crashed airliner in southern Indian Ocean, with the frustrating search for the missing jet entering its 24th day today.

The clock was running out on plane’s black box pingers as the batteries of the flight recorders - that have a life of about 30 days - will shut down in about eight days.

Retired Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who is heading a new Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) in Perth managing the search, said it was the most challenging search and rescue operation he had ever seen and warned efforts to trace the wreckage could take time.

He said the task was “very complex”, “very demanding” because the teams had no hard information to work from. “It's not something that will necessarily be resolved in the next two weeks, for example,” Houston said.

“I say that because the starting point whenever you do a search and rescue is the last known position of the vehicle or aircraft. In this particular case, the last known position was a long, long way from where the aircraft appears to have gone,” he said.

Houston said it took over 60 years to find HMAS Sydney, that sank in the Indian Ocean in 1941. “What we really need now is to find debris, wreckage from the aircraft. This could drag on for a long time but I think at this stage that it’s very important to pursue all the leads,” he said.

Ten planes and nine ships were assisting in today's search, with weather in the search area expected to be poor and low visibility in certain portions of the total search area of about 120,000 square kilometres, west of Perth, JACC said in a statement. Australia today deployed an airborne traffic controller over the Indian Ocean to prevent a mid-air collision among the many aircraft searching for the plane. — PTI

Race against time

Multinational search teams were racing against time to locate the black box of the crashed airliner

The clock was running out on the plane's black box pingers as the batteries of the flight recorders will shut down in about eight days

The frustrating search for the missing jet entering its 24th day on Tuesday

Australia warned the search was "very complex" because the teams had no hard information to work from

Thai protester killed at anti-govt rally

Anti-government protesters blow whistles and wave national flags during a rally in Bangkok on Tuesday. AFP

Bangkok, April 1
Gunmen killed one person and wounded four others in an attack today on anti-government protesters, in the latest violence in Thailand's long political crisis, authorities said. The shots were fired at a bus and a flatbed truck carrying demonstrators to their camp in central Bangkok after they had protested at a government office complex just north of the city.

Erawan emergency services said three men and two women were shot and one of the men had died. Ramathibodi Hospital said 52-year-old Wasan Kamwong died from severe injuries to his head.

The incident underlined the continuing potential for violence in the country's ongoing political crisis. Supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, fearful that she may be forced out of office by legal manoeuvring, are threatening to take to the streets, opening up the possibility of clashes with anti-government demonstrators.

The pro-government "Red Shirts" have announced they will hold a major rally this Saturday in a province just west of Bangkok.

Since November, Yingluck's opponents have been staging aggressive protests in Bangkok, temporarily blockading and occupying government offices, interfering with registration and voting in a general election in February, and clashing fiercely with police on several occasions. — AP

Sri Lanka bans LTTE, 15 Tamil diaspora groups

Colombo, April 1
Sri Lanka today banned the LTTE and 15 other Tamil diaspora groups for their alleged terror links and involvement in reviving the Tamil rebel movement. Defence Ministry spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said Sri Lanka has banned 16 organisations, including the LTTE, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution 1373.

These organisations have been classified as "terrorist" under the new government proclamation, he said. From now on it will be illegal to have any contact with these organisations, Wanigasooriya said.

He said among the organisations proscribed are the LTTE's Trans National Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), Global Tamil Forum (GTF), which is active in Europe, and the UK-based British Tamil Forum (BTF). Wanigasooriya said all these groups are being led by four different individuals.

The announcement came as the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva last week adopted a resolution calling for an international investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lankan troops during the final battle with the LTTE .

Sri Lanka had accused the LTTE front organisations of moving the resolution against the country as means to take revenge from Colombo for militarily crushing the LTTE, which had fought for nearly 30 years for a separate Tamil homeland under Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed at the end of the separatist war, rights groups and UN experts have said.

Sri Lankan officials claim that proscription of organisations such as GTF and BTF are particularly aimed at educating the Western nations on the presence of the LTTE members among the front organisations that operate in various Western capitals, Wanigasooriya said.

The government will urge for an investigation into these organisations and their funding of terrorism, he said. Sri Lanka will also request the governments to classify LTTE front members as offenders and name them as wanted by the Interpol for terrorist activity. — PTI

What it means

These organisations have been classified as "terrorist" under the new government proclamation

From now on it will be illegal to have any contact with these organisations

Powell's resignation doesn’t indicate realignment of ties: US

Washington, April 1
Ambassador Nancy Powell's sudden resignation does not indicate any realignment of America's ties with India, the US has said, asserting there is "no big behind the scenes story" that led her to quit.

"All rumours and speculation are, quite frankly, totally false. She is retiring, after 37 years - returning home to Delaware by the end of May," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters when asked about US envoy Powell's announcement that she has sent her resignation to President Barack Obama.

"I don't have further insight into why she chose now, but it's not at all related to anything happening in the relationship. It doesn't indicate any realignment of the relationship. "It is in no way related to any tension, any recent situations. There's no big behind the scenes story here," Harf said.

When asked if Powell's resignation reflected any "realignment of diplomatic relations between India and the US seven days before the elections", she said there's "no big secret" to timing here. In an unexpected development, Powell, 66, resigned yesterday, in the midst of general elections in India. "She announced that she has submitted her resignation to President Obama, as has been planned for some time.

"This is the end of a distinguished 37-year career, she deserves to retire - that has included postings as US ambassador to Uganda, Ghana, Pakistan, Nepal and India, as well as service in a number of other locations. But I want to dispel any rumours out there that this is related in any way to anything besides her long-planned retirement," Harf said. No decision has been made about Powell's replacement. The US said the key partnership with India will continue. — PTI

More Indians denied US L-1 visa

Washington, April 1
Indians are experiencing a significantly higher denial rate of the American non-immigrant L-1 visa as compared to applicants from any other country, a US think-tank has said.

"It appears much of the increase in the denial rate has been focused on Indian nationals. US Citizenship and Immigration Services denied more new L-1B petitions for Indians in FY 2009 (1,640) than in the previous nine fiscal years combined (1,341 denials FY 2000-2008)," the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) said in its report released yesterday.

L-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows companies to send employees who have worked abroad for at least a year and possess 'specialised knowledge' to work in the US for up to five years.

In its latest report, NFAP said in fiscal 2009, the denial rate of new L-1B petitions for Indians increased to 22.5 per cent even though there was no change in regulations. In contrast, for Canada, the UK, China and other countries, the denial rate in FY 2009 ranged from 2.9 to 5.9 per cent for new L-1B petitions.

USCIS did not release country-specific data for FY 2012 and FY 2013 but interviews with employers and attorneys indicate that problems with receiving approvals for L-1B petitions involving Indian nationals have continued, it said.

"Preventing companies from transferring their own employees into the US discourages job creation, innovation and investment from taking place in America," said Stuart Anderson, NFAP executive director. — PTI

US to accept H-1B visas from today

The US has made elaborate arrangements for receiving applications for its much coveted H-1B visas to meet the expected rush. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will determine from today the allocation of visas - highly popular among IT professionals - through computerised draw of lots.

"USCIS anticipates receiving more than enough petitions to reach both caps by April 7. The agency is prepared to use a random selection process to meet the numerical limit. Non- duplicate petitions that are not selected will be rejected and returned with the filing fees," an official statement said.

Girl stabs best friend 65 times over FB dispute

London, April 1
In a horrific attack, a 16-year-old girl allegedly murdered her best friend by stabbing her in the back 65 times after she was outraged over a Facebook dispute. Erandy Elizabeth Gutierrez was furious after she came to know that her friend Anel Baez had uploaded nude pictures of the duo on the the social networking site. Gutierrez told Baez, also 16, that she would be lucky to survive until the end of the year, 'The Metro' reported.

"It may seem that I am very calm, but in my head I have killed you at least three times," Gutierrez tweeted to Baez.

Baez laughed off Gutierrez's threat and invited her friend to her home in Guamuchil, Mexico to patch things up. However, Gutierrez stabbed Baez over 60 times with a knife, according to the police. After the murder, Gutierrez tried to clean the blood from her clothes and the weapon, the police said. Gutierrez tried to hide her role in the murder after fleeing the scene, the report said. However, she was eventually arrested at her best friend's funeral. — PTI

Kerry holds fresh talks to revive peace formula

Jerusalem, April 1
US Secretary of State John Kerry today met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time in less than 12 hours in his last ditch efforts to salvage faltering Israel-Palestinian peace talks.

Kerry was expected to travel to the West Bank town of Ramallah last night to meet Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas but is said to have dropped the plan due to long intensive discussions with Netanyahu.

He is expected to be back in the region to push both sides to resolve a lingering dispute over Palestinian prisoners and continue negotiations till the end of 2014.

The top US diplomat, however, met with the Palestinian delegation, headed by Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat, and discussed the deal to extend the negotiations. — AFP

NGO: More than 150,000 killed in Syria conflict

Beirut, April 1
More than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011, a monitoring group said in a new toll released today. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 150,344 people, 51,212 of them civilians, including nearly 7,985 children.

The group said 37,781 members of the armed opposition had been killed in the fighting, including jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

A total of 58,480 regime forces, including more than 35,000 soldiers had also been killed. Among those killed fighting on the government side were 364 members of Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, the Observatory added. — AFP