Heads of state eligible for A1 visas, says US
Washington, May 14
The US continued to maintain silence on granting visa to BJP leader Narendra Modi but said the heads of state and government are eligible for A1 visas and no individual automatically qualifies for an American visa.

Afghanistan Prez election result today
Kabul, May 14
Afghanistan's presidential election result will be announced tomorrow, officials said, after a one-day delay over fraud investigations into the first round of voting to find a successor to Hamid Karzai. Full results from the April 5 election were released late last month, but the final declaration will factor in the outcome of weeks of deliberation over fraud allegations.

Beijing, May 14
China today reportedly sought Indonesian mediation to help calm escalating tensions with Vietnam over the South China Sea dispute as thousands of angry Vietnamese torched several Chinese projects to protest attempts by a Chinese oil rig to drill in the disputed waters.

Anti-China protests turned violent in Binh Duong province, some 1,120 km south of Vietnamese capital Hanoi with a number of foreign factories coming under attack, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported from Hanoi.

Thousands of protesters broke into foreign plants wrecking and looting the sites. Fifteen factories were burnt down while over 1,000 others were shut down, the report said.

Most of the factories belong to China's Taiwan-invested companies, the Xinhua report said.

The BBC quoted an official of the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) as saying that some of the factories were targeted after workers had left. The violence was more widespread, with several factories targeted, the report said.

The protests broke out as scores of Vietnamese and Chinese naval vessels rammed into each other over attempts by the Chinese oil rig to drill in the waters of the South China Sea, claimed by both countries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here today that Vietnamese vessels rammed into Chinese ships 169 times yesterday.

Beijing has lodged diplomatic protests over attacks on Chinese factories and initiated emergency measures to protect Chinese nationals working in Vietnam, she said.

She accused Vietnam of bringing mediapersons on ships to see Vietnamese vessels ramming into Chinese ships in order to hype up the tensions.

"This is an orchestrated campaign by Vietnamese side to hype up this issue," Hua said. "We urge the Vietnamese side to come back to senses and stop disruptions and rallies," she said reiterating claims of sovereignty over the area.

She said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi today spoke to his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa over the phone explaining China's stand on the current round of tensions with Vietnam over the dispute.

Wang spoke to Natalegawa in the back drop of the ASEAN foreign ministers just concluded meeting in Myanmar where they called for easing of tensions in the South China Sea.

Indonesia, an influential member of the ASEAN which has no maritime disputes with China has played the role of mediator in the past between China and some of the countries from the bloc and could do so again this time, China's state-run CCTV reported.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, all members of ASEAN, have disputes with China which claims almost the entire South China Sea.

China also brushed aside the Philippines' protests over Beijing's attempts to build an airstrip at a disputed reef in the disputed waters. — PTI 

London, May 14
With exit polls pointing to BJP’s victory in the general election, Britain’s opposition Labour Party that was in power when a diplomatic boycott was imposed on Narendra Modi post 2002 Gujarat riots, has expressed willingness to work with him if he comes to power.

“The big expectation from India will be for it to fulfil the democratic mandate of peace and prosperity,” Labour party chair Harriet Harman said.

John Spellar, Labour MP for Warley in the West Midlands, said: “India has chosen who their leader is and in the event that the exit polls are correct, then the world will work with Modi, and work with him for the benefit of both stability in that part of the world but also in terms of raising the standard of living of the people of India.”

An official freezing of diplomatic ties with Modi had been initiated under the Labour-led government in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots. But the party leadership has recently been making several overtures to reinstate ties with Modi, who if exit polls prove to be correct could take over as the new Prime Minister.

Labour Friends of India chairman and MP Barry Gardiner had tried to set the ball rolling with a letter inviting Narendra Modi to the House of Commons to speak on “The Future of Modern India” last August.

“The invitation is a culmination of several years of engagement between senior representatives of the Labour Party and Narendra Modi,” the Labour Memeber of Parliament for Brent North had said back then. Modi had politely declined the offer.

“Clearly the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi comes with a reputation, and the fact that he was on the banned list in the UK and the US for several years is going to present challenges for all the parties, Labour included,” said Yasmin Qureshi, Labour MP for Bolton South East. — PTI

Washington, May 14
The US continued to maintain silence on granting visa to BJP leader Narendra Modi but said the heads of state and government are eligible for A1 visas and no individual automatically qualifies for an American visa.

“Heads of state and heads of government are eligible for A1 visa classification under the INA (Immigration and Nationality Act). No individual automatically qualifies for a US visa,” State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters .

“US law exempts foreign government officials, including heads of state and heads of government from certain potential inadmissibility grounds,” Psaki said when asked about the possibility of issuing visa to Modi, whose party-led NDA is projected by exit polls to form the next government in India. Refusing to go into details, Psaki refrained from responding to direct questions on Modi visa issue, except for saying that the US looks forward to working with new Indian government.

“We don’t talk about visa applications. We are looking forward to working with the Indian Government when they are elected. But I am not going to speculate on that given, obviously, the results haven’t been announced yet,” she said. — PTI

Brussels, May 14
The centre-right is set to win the most seats in European Parliament elections next week, but its wafer-thin poll lead suggests the chances of securing the presidency of the European Commission are uncertain.

The European People's Party (EPP) will take 212 seats in the May 22-25 vote, according to an analysis of national polls on Wednesday by PollWatch 2014, only three more seats than its centre-left rivals, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

There are 751 seats in parliament, around 70 per cent of which are expected to go to Europe's four mainstream groups: the centre-right, centre-left, Liberals and Greens. Around a quarter of seats look likely to be won by anti-EU or protest parties on the far-right and far-left, almost double their standing at the last election in 2009.

That's largely because of voter frustration with high unemployment and low growth. Under EU rules introduced in 2009, the party that wins the election is best placed to have its top candidate become the president of the European Commission, one of Brussels' most powerful jobs, with far-reaching influence over legislation.

But while the EPP may just edge out the Socialists in the vote, according to Wednesday's survey, the Socialists are better placed to secure allegiances with other parties on the left, potentially helping them secure a majority in parliament.

The EPP has chosen Jean-Claude Juncker, 59, the former PM of Luxembourg and a central broker during the euro zone debt crisis, as their candidate to succeed Portugal's Jose Manuel Barroso, who has led the commission since 2004. — Reuters

Kiev, May 14 
Ukraine's embattled leaders launched round-table talks today as part of a Western-backed push to prevent the country falling apart, vowing they would not bow to "blackmail" by pro-Russian rebels waging an insurgency in the east.

The so-called national unity discussions-which crucially do not involve the insurgents-are being held barely two weeks before Ukraine holds a presidential election that the West is scrambling to keep alive.

European leaders have been working to bring Kiev and pro-Moscow separatists together under a roadmap sponsored by pan-European security body the OSCE.

But shortly before the talks started, Russia bluntly warned that the former Soviet republic was already on the brink of civil war and demanded that the insurgents be invited to the negotiating table. — AFP

Abuja, May 14
More than 200 schoolgirls today began their second month as Boko Haram hostages, with Nigeria's government indicating it was willing to talk to the militants to secure their release. Lawmakers in Abuja were also set to debate a request from President Goodluck Jonathan for a six-month extension to a state of emergency first imposed in three northeast states worst affected by insurgent violence exactly a year ago.

Boko Haram, which has waged an increasingly deadly campaign of bombings and attacks in the last five years, kidnapped 276 girls from the remote town of Chibok in Borno state on April 14.

Street protests, including in a torrential downpour in Nigeria's financial capital, Lagos, marked the one-month anniversary of the girls' abduction, calling for the 223 still being held to be returned to their families.

The United Nations expressed its "deep concern" about the fate of the teenagers. The head of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Nicole Ameline, said the mass abduction violated UN conventions and "may qualify as a crime against humanity".

"The committee urges Nigeria to employ all necessary means to obtain the release of the girls and to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous crime," she said in a statement.

On Monday, Boko Haram released a video purporting to show about 130 of them and claimed they had all converted to Islam. All of the girls were later identified as attending the school in Chibok. — AFP

London, May 14 
Britain's royal family had their phone messages hacked several times, with Kate Middleton leading the list at 155 times, a court was told during the ongoing phone-hacking trial here today.

Former 'News of the World' royal editor Clive Goodman is accused of illegally accessing voicemail messages and is also believed to have hacked Prince William 35 times and Prince Harry on nine occasions.

"Goodman denies conspiring to commit misconduct in public office and is one of seven defendants on trial at the Old Bailey who all deny charges against them. — PTI