International and Bilateral Issues

India, Czech Republic agree to liberalise visa regime

set a $2-billion target for bilateral trade by 2012 to enhance their economic cooperation
During the meeting, the two ministers agreed to “take bilateral trade to $2 billion by 2012 from the current level of $1.3 billion, which in itself is an increase of 26 percent from the earlier year,”
There is a great potential to improve the width and depth of economic engagement between the two countries especially in the areas of information technology, pharmaceuticals, textiles and energy

China plans new economic zones near western border

China has unveiled new plans to speed up the construction of two economic development zones in far-western Xinjiang, pledging greater investment, fiscal subsidies and measures to accelerate connecting the border region to Pakistan through railway lines and air routes.
located near China's borders with disputed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Kazakhstan.
Knife and bomb attacks in July, blamed by the local government on terrorists with links to Pakistan-based groups, left at least 20 people dead. The region has also seen ethnic unrest between the native Uighur population and Han Chinese migrants.
Many companies have voiced fears that investment promised in plans to transform the city into a “Shenzhen of the west” have failed to materialise
Shenzhen, a sleepy southern fishing village, was China's first Special Economic Zone, transformed into a major trading hub.
The guidelines said the central government would offer subsidies every year until 2015, exempt enterprises from income-taxes, and offer loans at discounted rates.
the government would increase investment and ‘actively promote' the construction of a China-Pakistan railway line, which would run from Kashgar through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)

Indian help to schools in Sri Lanka

About 42,000 students in Sri Lanka's Northern Province will have better facilities in their schools soon, after the Indian government took up a project to repair 79 damaged ones in the three districts
The total cost of the project is LKR 187 million. It is expected to be completed in nine months from the award of contract.

Joint group to sort out India-Sri Lanka fishing issues

The India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on Fisheries will meet “as soon as possible” to sort out outstanding issues on fishing in the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Bay, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said here on Monday.
The whole issue has to be studied as a livelihood matter…The issue has to examined in terms of what is sustainable in the long run
In Jaffna, the government agent brought to his notice that fishermen in the district were aggrieved over the fact that they were not able to fish in their own waters because of encroachment from the Indian side.
In the narrow area between India and Sri Lanka, the prospects for fishing are finite. Both of us need to look at ways in which we can encourage deep sea fishing.
Mr. Mathai, who had come here for a familiarisation visit, said that he was “encouraged” by two of the projects that he saw — the Northern Railway project executed by the Indian public sector company IRCON, and the rehabilitation of the Kankasanthurai harbour.
Kankasanthurai has the potential to become the point to bring in cargo to the entire north, instead of bringing it all the way from Colombo by road
On the housing project, which envisages building/repairing 50,000 units in the war-ravaged northern province, he said that the “progress was somewhat slow than what was originally conceived.”

Rajaratnam may face 25 years in jail

Raj Rajaratnam (54), the billionaire hedge fund manager convicted in May on 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy, faces this week a range of possible jail terms
the “historic nature of his crimes,” from which they alleged Mr. Rajaratnam made in excess of $70 million.
However according to his own legal team, the Sri-Lankan born boss of the Galleon Group allegedly made “only $7.4 million” from insider trading and such illicit market activities.

Russia, China to sign pact on technological modernisation

Russia and China are set to sign a sweeping cooperation pact on technological modernisation that would suggest a shift in the Kremlin's foreign policy from the West to the East and have far-reaching implications for India's relations with Russia
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the historic Russian-Chinese friendship treaty that declared strategic relations between the two Asian giants.
However, problems in getting high-end technologies from the West and the impressive economic progress of China have made Moscow change its view.
China will benefit from Russia's leadership in nuclear energy, space and aviation, while Russia will take advantage of Chinese superiority in high-speed rail transport, ship building, power generation equipment and alternative energy production.
The Kremlin hopes to kill three birds with one stone: speed up technological renovation, promote growth in Russian regions along the 4,000-km border with China, and mitigate growing imbalances in bilateral commerce.
China has become Russia's biggest trade partner this year
the two countries' next trade targets are $100 billion by 2015 and $200 billion by 2020.
Russia however is unhappy with the structure of bilateral trade. More than 70 per cent of Russian exports to China are minerals, timber, pulp and paper.
Russia still possesses advanced technologies but cannot put them to production because of outdated equipment and high labour costs
Russia's new emphasis on technological cooperation with China creates both a challenge and opportunity for India.
their trade remains dominated by minerals and agricultural products.
It should also be a wakeup call to New Delhi that there is no time to lose if India is to profit from Russia's drive for technological modernisation.

Another burden for immigrants in U.K.

Immigrants from outside the European Union wishing to bring their spouses or relatives to Britain may have to sign a financial bond as a guarantee that they would be able to support themselves and would not be a “burden” on the state.
as part of the Conservative Party's election promise to reduce immigration from “hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands”
In remarks that prompted fears of “vigilantism'', he urged people to look out for suspected illegal immigrants and report them to police saying he wanted “everyone in the country'' to “reclaim our borders''.

Pires wins governance prize

A $5-million prize for good African governance was awarded on Monday to the former President of Cape Verde, cited for turning his small island nation into a model of democracy, stability and prosperity.
Last year and the year before, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation prize committee did not award a prize, saying no leaders met the criteria for promoting development and democracy and for handing over power peacefully.
Mr. Pires (77) retired from political life last month so he could write his memoirs, according to Lusa.

Tehreek renews offer on talks

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has sent out a second feeler sounding its willingness to accept the government's offer for talks with “militant groups” albeit with countries like Saudi Arabia playing the role of mediator.
While the narrative on the streets blames the U.S. for all the problems plaguing Pakistan, the liberal and secular groups of the country hold Saudi Arabia responsible for the radicalization/‘Arabisation' of Pakistani society through funding of madrassas and religious institutions.

Three very courageous women

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 has been won by three women, each of whom has shown sustained moral and physical courage in situations of war and state violence.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, an economist with a Harvard master's in public administration, survived imprisonment and a rape attempt during the brutal regime of Samuel Doe. She went on to win the Liberian presidency in 2004, becoming Africa's first elected woman head of state. She immediately started rebuilding a shattered country. Declaring that empowered women were essential to a civilised and safe society, she got 40 per cent of girls into free compulsory elementary schooling, and tightened the laws on rape and women's property rights
The second winner is also a Liberian; Leymah Gbowee, a social worker-turned activist, started a women's prayer for peace on a football field in 2002. This became a daily event, even though soldiers involved in the savage civil war could have fired on the women while driving past. Ms Gbowee then led her followers to surround the hall used for peace talks until the delegates signed a deal. She also advised Liberian women to deny sex to their men until they stopped war, in which mass rape was widespread.
The third winner, Tawakkul Karman of Yemen, a journalist-activist, has campaigned for women's rights in a conservative society. She became an iconic figure in her country's protests, which have resulted in the dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh announcing his departure. Ms Karman has often been jailed and has survived an assassination attempt. Earlier this year, her response to Mr. Saleh's comment that female protesters had been “mingling with men” was to lead 10,000 women in a march down a highway.
Women laureates have been a rarity in the history of Nobel prizes. Only 15 women, including these three, have won the Peace Prize in 110 years. This year's prize is also the first to go to any African since the Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai was honoured in 2004.