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Briefly World
- MOSCOW: Russian customs have foiled an attempt to smuggle 18 pieces of radioactive metals to Iran found in the baggage of a passenger on a Moscow-Tehran flight. The metal pieces contained Sodium-22, a radioactive isotope of sodium that can only be produced at a nuclear reactor.
- LONDON: Indian-origin Labour candidate Seema Malhotra Friday won a by-election to the House of Commons
- ISLAMABAD: Air Marshal (retd) Malik Nur Khan, the former Pakistan Air Force chief who led his forces during the 1965 war with India has died after a long illness at the age of 88.
- WASHINGTON: The US Congress has passed with an overwhelming majority the Defence Authorisation Act 2012, that freezes some $700 million military aid to Pakistan until it shows progress in stemming the flow of IEDs into Afghanistan.
India, Russia against unilateral sanctions on Iran
- India and Russia Friday warned against unilateral sanctions on Iran, in an apparent reference to actions taken by US and other Western nations, and advocated the use of political and diplomatic means to resolve the tensions arising out of Tehran's nuclear programme.
- While recognising the inherent right of states to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, India and Russia stressed the need for all states to comply with their respective obligations on non-proliferation.
- The two countries while recognising Iran's right to develop research, produce and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in conformity with international obligations urged that country to comply with the provisions of the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and extend full cooperation to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
ICC seeks Interpol help to prevent match fixing, corruption
- The International Cricket Council has sought the help of the Interpol in strengthening its anti-corruption mechanism and prevent organised crime from entering into the game through spot-fixing and illegal betting
- Young players are easy targets for unscrupulous organised criminals and illegal gamblers.
- Interpol is coming up with a dedicated centre in Singapore for promoting integrity in sports with the help of FIFA for a 10-year period in an effort to help tackle the global betting and organised criminals.
- illegal betting has turned trans-national and with the advent of Internet and live coverage it is watched in countries across the globe.
Russia set to join World Trade Organisation
- Russia will finally join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Friday at a ceremony in Switzerland, after 18 years negotiating its membership.
- Georgia had tried to block Russia's WTO entry since the two countries fought a short war in 2008.
- Russia is by far the biggest economy to join the global trade body.
India Inc to help Sri Lanka set up major projects
- Enthused by the good response received from the Sri Lankan government, captains of Indian industry have agreed to do their bit to balance the bilateral trade that is loaded heavily in favour of India, promote cultural exchange between the two countries and make huge investments in energy and tourism sectors.
- they have agreed to build capacities of people in Sri Lanka in various fields including information technology, construction, automotive components and pharma to develop domestic market; train the trainers by allowing them to gain first hand experience at various CII Centres of Excellence in India.
- Ceylon Chamber of Commerce representatives urged India to review the limits imposed on tea and apparels and expressed concern about non tariff barriers.
Memo was conspiracy against army: Kayani
- Gen Kayani's response to a case regarding the Memogate scandal that was submitted to the Supreme Court said a conspiracy against the army and national security was hatched by sending the memo
- The scandal had affected Pakistan's national security and the memo was an attempt to affect the morale of soldiers who are making sacrifices for democratic freedom and national security
Indian is world's shortest living woman
- An Indian student measuring just 62.8 centimetres was on Friday confirmed as the world's shortest living woman, the Guinness World Records said.
- Jyoti Amge took the title as she celebrated her 18th birthday with family and friends
- Ms. Amge, who has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia that has restricted her height to that of an average four-month-old baby girl
- The previous holder of the title was 69.49-centimetre-tall Bridgette Jordan from Illinois
India, Russia agree on credit for Kudankulam Units 3, 4
- India and Russia have resolved their differences over the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu
- In fact, Dr. Singh was confident of “going ahead'' with Unit I of the Russia-supplied Kudankulam plant in a “couple of weeks.'' The second one should follow after six months, he said at a joint press conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
- the two sides had sorted out their differences over the setting up of the next two units, and “maybe, more.” The sources claimed that the nuclear liability legislation, the bone of contention between the two sides, would not apply to these units as well.
- The Russian sources made it clear that Moscow's proposal to New Delhi to set up a joint facility for production of nuclear fuel on the Russian soil would not lead to transfer of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies to India.
- Nuclear Suppliers Group's ban on sale of sensitive nuclear technologies to countries that have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
- On Russian insistence, India agreed to place an order for 42 Sukhois that will include replacements for the two crashed fighters.
- India and Russia also concluded negotiations on obtaining military and strategic communications from the Glonass constellation of satellites being put into orbit by Moscow as an alternative to the West-controlled GPS system.
India, Russia set sights on doubling trade in four years
- The 12th consecutive annual India-Russia summit saw the two sides taking more initiatives to boost economic ties, which have been an area of concern compared to the thriving cooperation in the nuclear, defence, science and space fields and international issues, both economic and political.
- Although trade has doubled in a few years due to concerted efforts by both governments to involve the private and public sectors, the absolute volume remains low — around $10 billion annually.
- In order to double this figure in four years, business delegations from both countries met
- In addition, with “90 per cent of the issues resolved” in hammering out a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Russia, India has set its sights on fitting this concept with the customs union Russia has struck with Kazakhstan, the largest Central Asian country, and Belarus located in the penumbra of Europe.
- Already, the National Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC) and Russian metallurgical giant Severstal are setting up a large joint venture in Orissa to produce steel, Indian companies are discussing long-term agreements for supply of diamonds from Russia, and the Steel Authority of India and NMDC are interested in procuring coking and thermal coal from Russia. Indian firms are keen on importing copper and nickel, and there have been Russian investments in the telecommunications sector in India, and Indian investments in Russia's oil and gas sector.
- But, as Dr. Singh put it, “there are vast unexplored areas that await exploitation. I refer in particular to the areas of pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, financial services, power, health, chemicals and aviation.”
Indian envoy terms competition with China “exaggerated”
- Indian Ambassador to China S. Jaishankar
- Boosting communication and exchanges was the “only solution” to addressing persisting political distrust, in particular that stemming from the long-running boundary dispute
- “Competition between ‘the dragon and the elephant' is what the strong powers like to say and that is what they would like to see. Ask yourself: Is it in our interests to play this game? I think it is not.”
- Over the past decade, during which more than 60 per cent of all agreements between both nations had been signed, the neighbours had seen the benefits of working together on international fora like the United Nations Security Council, the World Trade Organisation and the U.N. climate change conference
- “In the past, people would ridicule BRICS [the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa grouping], saying it was unreal and could not accomplish anything. But you can see how BRICS has developed in recent years.”
- While Mr. Jaishankar was confident that trade would reach $100 billion by 2015, he was “worried” about India's large trade deficit with China, on track to surpass last year's record $20-billion figure.
- “This is very significant because if young Indians can learn Chinese early on and understand China, then their interest [in] and understanding of China will be very different,” he said. “So, this is not about only teaching a language, but it will also sow the seeds of cultural understanding in their minds.”
