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GOA, WEDNESDAY, 14 APRIL, 2010
PM conveys concern about anti-India activities in Canada PTI WASHINGTON, APRIL 13
Ahead of the 25th anniversary of Kanishka bombing, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today conveyed to his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper concerns about the activities of anti-India extremist groups operating from that country. Singh also underlined the need for monitoring such outfits. The Prime Minister conveyed the concerns during a meeting here and the Canadian leader assured that his government would do its best in this regard. Singh noted that the 25th anniversary of Kanishka bombing, carried out by Khalistani
groups, would be observed in June, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash told reporters while briefing on the meeting between the two Prime Ministers. The Indian Prime Minister remarked “there was continued concern about the activities of extremist groups” operating from Canada and hoped that their activities would be monitored by the Canadian side. Harper assured that his government would do their best and the two sides agreed that the officials would remain in touch, Prakash said. All the 329 people on board the Kanishka Air India aircraft were killed in the mid-air blast
Singh, Gilani meet briefly PTI WASHINGTON, APRIL 13
Even as they avoided a bilateral meeting here on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani today had a brief interaction at a reception organised in connection with the international meet. Sources said a bilateral meeting between them is expected on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit to be held in Bhutan from April 26. Singh and Gilani shook hands and chatted for about five minutes at a dinner hosted by US President Barack Obama for the leaders gathered for the Summit. It was Gilani who walked up to Singh at the reception, sources said. They met warmly, with smiles on their faces and holding hands momentarily. They were seen discussing something but the topic was not clear. They “shook hands and exchanged pleasantries,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash told reporters without giving details. Singh and Gilani, who are both here to attend the Summit that began today, held bilateral meetings with leaders of a number of countries but not between them. This is significant since the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries met in February for talks that were aimed at breaking the ice in Indo-Pak relations caused by the Mumbai attacks.
on June 23, 1985 during the flight from Montreal to London. Singh’s expression of concern comes amidst reports that Khalistani groups were trying to regroup again. During the 30-minute meeting, Singh and Harper also referred to the inter-governmental agreement on civil nuclear cooperation concluded in November. They expressed happiness over it and hoped that the agreement could be finalised and signed soon. The two leaders also reviewed cooperation in trade and economic area. They recalled that an MoU had been signed between the
two countries in November last year on setting up of a joint study group to explore the possibilities of concluding a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and expressed the hope that the report of the joint working group would be available by May this year. The two countries had also set in November a trade target of USD 15 billion to be achieved in five years. There was substantive exchange of views on the forthcoming G-20 Summit to be hosted by Canada in June which Singh is expected to attend, Prakash said. Harper sought Singh’s views on the agenda of the summit and its focus.
Obama-Singh meet very positive, friendly: US PTI WASHINGTON, APRIL 13
Terming the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama as “very positive and friendly”, the US today said there is no significant difference between India and Washington on Afghanistan and Headley or any other issues. “It was a very positive and friendly meeting,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told reporters here. Blake was part of the American delegation led by the Obama which held discussions with Singh yesterday. “I do not think there is any significant daylight between the United States and India on Afghanistan or Headley or any
of the other issues that we are working on. We have very close cooperation on all of those issues,” Blake said in response to a question. “I think the President and the Prime Minister had good discussions on those, as well as on the issue of terrorism,” he said when asked about the differences between India and the US on key issues like Afghanistan and giving access to Indian intelligence agencies to David Coleman Headley, 26/11 plotter. “Prime Minister’s plans to continue to try to boost economic growth in India to get it up to 8, 9 or 10 percent, to continue to reduce poverty and provide opportunities for the people of India,” Blake said and appreciated the economic growth of India under the leadership of Singh.
NASA astronauts Clayton Anderson (left) and Rick Mastracchio, both STS-131 mission specialists, attired in their Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits; along with astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson (center left), Expedition 23 flight engineer; James P. Dutton Jr., STS-131 pilot; and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, mission specialist, pose for a photo in the Quest airlock of the International Space Station prior to the start of the mission’s spacewalk.
Studies show evidence of water on moon, Mars Reuters WASHINGTON, APRIL 13
Ice deposits at least 2 metres thick can be found in some small craters on the moon, researchers reported in one of two studies showing more evidence of water on the moon and Mars. The second study suggested yesterday that ice has recently melted and re-frozen on Mars, widening some of the characteristic gullies on its surface. The two studies add to the political and scientific debate about how best to explore our solar system and the universe — with missions that include human crews, or experiments using robots and remote surveys. The administration of President Barack Obama last month said it would cancel the Constellation program to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 after a review found the $108 billion program was underfunded and already off-track to meet most of its goals. Obama’s plan is to contract with private companies to do some of the work needed to investigate Mars, as well as asteroids, using robots, remote sensors and perhaps some astronauts. In one of the two studies released yesterday, Paul Spudis of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston and colleagues analyzed measurements from India’s Chandrayaan
spacecraft to find evidence of thick ice deposits in some permanently shaded craters on the moon. “As the moon has been bombarded with waterbearing objects such as comets and meteorites and implanted with solar wind hydrogen over geological time, some of this material must have made its way into these cold, dark areas,’’ they wrote in Geophysical Research Letters. They measure something called circular polarization ratio to show either the surface there is unusually rough, or there are between 2 and 3 metres of ice there. The second study showed that 2-metre wide gully on Mars had become nearly 120 metres longer over two years. Dennis Reiss of the Institute for Planetology at Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat in Munster, Germany, and colleagues said the best explanation is the melting of small amounts of water ice. Photographs show dark patches in the gully, as well as some smaller, new channels, they reported in the same journal. It may get warm enough at the surface to melt water on Mars, they added. In September, several teams reported clear evidence of water, likely frozen, on the desert surfaces of both the moon and Mars and researchers have also seen it snow on Mars.
Labour, Tories release manifestos to woo recalcitrant voters PTI LONDON, APRIL 13
The ruling Labour party and opposition Conservatives today began their battle to woo increasingly recalcitrant British voters using ‘national renewal’ and ‘change’ as buzzwords in the May 6 elections whose outcome is becoming hard to predict. As cynicism and ennui with the political class grows in the wake of the recent expenses scandal and other misdemeanours, the Labour party in a bid to woo traditional British voters promised to save domestic industry from takeover bids by emerging nations, including India. In their manifesto, the Labour has made takeover of industries more stringent, saying if voted to power they will make it mandatory that acquisition of British companies would require buying of two-thirds shareholding. The new step would require a change of ownership to have two-third holdings of a company up from the current 50.1 per cent. It was under this rule that Indian companies like the TATA took over British blue chip company like RangeRovers, tea and steel companies. Not to be left behind, the Tory leader David Cameron, whose party has an edge over Labour in the opinion polls, promised
to hand over more power to the people and issued a manifesto titled “Invitation to join the government of Britain”. He said no government could solve all problems on its own and said he wanted “everyone to get involved”. “This is a manifesto for a new kind of politics... People power, not state power,” he said. The third major party, Liberal Democrats, is expected to release its manifesto tomorrow, even as many people admitted that they hardly, if ever, read manifestos before deciding their votes. Releasing the manifesto, Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised a ‘national renewal’, and insisted that Labour was in ‘the future business’. The party’s manifesto, however, came in for considerable criticism for being bereft of any new ideas, except the one making takeovers by foreign companies difficult. In recent years, several Indian companies such as Tata and United Breweries have taken over major British companies. H o w e v e r, t h e r e c e n t takeover of Cadbur y ’s by American chocolate major Kraf t has attracted much concern and criticism within Britain. Besides raising the percentage of shareholders required to approve takeovers by foreign companies, the party
Romeo and Juliet in Twitter twist Reuters LONDON, APRIL 13
One of Shakespeare's most famous plays gets a 21st century makeover in a new version of ''Romeo and Juliet'' which will unfold through Twitter messages and on the Youtube video website. Entitled ''Such Tweet Sorrow'', the experiment is collaboration between the Ro y a l S h a ke s p e a re C o m p a n y ( RSC ) a n d Mu d l a r k , which produces entertainment on mobile telephones. Organisers have already outlined a contemporary ''narrative arc'' loosely based on the original tragedy, and the cast will improvise the rest through Tweets which have already begun to appear on the webs i t e www.suchtweetsorrow.com. The production will take place over five weeks and allows for the characters to interact not only among themselves but also with members of the ''audience''. Each character writes their own tweets, guided by an existing storyline and diar y which outlines where they are at any moment in the adventure. And so two families named after the original adversaries the Montagues and Capulets have loathed each other for years after a fatal car crash in an unnamed English market town in 2000. Juliet, played by actress Charlotte Wakefield, is just turning 16
and wonders whether she should have a birthday party to celebrate. She posts a video on Youtube showing viewers a typical teenager's bedroom. Her Twitter name is zjulietcap16 while Romeo's entry into the messaging world comes later as ''he is too busy on his Xbox''. ''We have no real idea of what the next five weeks will bring, but we are holding onto our seatbelts,'' said Charles Hunter from Mudlark. Michael Boyd, artistic director of the RSC, added: ''Our ambition is always to connect people with Shakespeare and bring actors and audiences closer together. ''Mobile phones don't need to be the antichrist for theatre. This digital experiment ... allows our actors to use mobiles to tell their stories in real time and reach people wherever they are in a global theatre.''
also intends to extend a “public interest” test to let the government block potential takeovers of infrastructure and utility companies, which currently applies only to the media and national security.