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updated : MONDAY 8
SEPTEMBER 2008
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Bush administration to push
through N-deal with India
Washington,
Sept 7: In a race against time,
a buoyant Bush administration,
happy at a rare foreign policy
triumph, will try to push through
the US Congress the nuclear
deal with India after its ringing
endorsement by the 45-member
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
in Vienna.
A clear indication of the Administration’s
intent was given by Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, who
said the time was short and
she has talked to the heads
of the Committees of both the
houses of Congress for pushing
through the deal.
“I have already talked
before this NSG (meeting), several
weeks before, to relevant committee
chairs about trying to get it
done, and I will have those
conversations again, most likely
on Monday or Tuesday, as well
as trying to see whether the
leadership believes that this
can go forward,” Rice
told reporters in Algiers, the
capital of Algeria while on
a visit there.
Rice, however said, the time
is “very short,”
adding “We knew that in
the summer, when the Indians
were able finally to move this
forward in their domestic process.”
“But I think we have demonstrated
the commitment of the administration
to this agreement, because we
have worked this with the very,
very strong help of partners
through the IAEA and through
the NSG in very rapid order,”
she said.
With a formidable hurdle cleared
in the nuclear cartel NSG, eyes
are now on the US Congress,
which begins a short session
tomorrow, for ratification of
the 123 civil nuclear cooperation
agreement signed between President
George W Bush and Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh in July 2005
before the end of Bush’s
term in mid-January.
Normally 30 working days is
the mandatory period required
for a legislation to be passed
in both the houses of the Congress
but there are procedures for
short-circuiting this period,
a device that can be invoked
by President Bush so that he
is in a position to ratify the
123 agreement when Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh travels to Washington
later this month. For this,
the initiative has to come from
the Administration. Such an
initiative is widely expected
from an Administration that
is clearly short on foreign
policy achievements under Bush
other than the Indo-US nuclear
deal.
Rice has to send a “forward
note” to the Chairmen
of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee and the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee and a “confidential
report” from the CIA that
the legislation satisfies the
non-proliferation goals. Former
Indian Ambassador Lalit Mansingh,
a strong votary of the deal,
feels it is entirely possible
that the 123 agreement, is in
its last lap, and could be pushed
through the US Congress in the
limited time that is available
now. He said as part of the
quickening process a Presidential
determination on seven to eight
aspects of the deal can made
by Bush so that the Committees
need not waste much time ahead
of the ‘up down’
votes in which amendments cannot
be made to the legislation,
‘a take it or leave it’
provision. The only snag, he
feels, is the presence of maverick
Democrat Howard R Berman, Chairman
of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, a strong opponent
of the deal who made public
during the week the State Department’s
letter to his predecessor Tom
Lantos, in an apparent bid to
vitiate the chances of India
getting the waiver at the NSG.
(PTI)
Post
election Pak media highlights
Zardari’s ‘trust
deficit’
Islamabad, Sept 7: Ruling PPP
chief Asif Ali Zardari’s
triumph in the presidential
poll may have been a foregone
conclusion but the wily politician
needs to undergo an image makeover
to amend the “trust deficit”
and disassociate himself from
past charges of corruption.
Editorials in Pakistan’s
newspapers today highlighted
Zardari’s journey from
prison to presidency and questioned
whether he would be able to
rise to the “requirements
of statesmanship”.
“It’s official.
Asif Ali Zardari will be the
new president of Pakistan...
There have been more controversial
presidents in the past. Indeed,
the last occupant of the presidency,
General Musharraf, was almost
universally unpopular but none
has been as controversial as
Zardari at the time of assuming
office,” the country’s
oldest English daily Dawn wrote
in its lead editorial.
“...What Zardari needs
to do is to dispel the impression
that he is a political wheeler-dealer
who is adept at making backroom
deals but unable to rise to
the requirements of statesmanship,”
the editorial said. Zardari
was yesterday elected President
by an overwhelming majority
in an election necessitated
by the resignation last month
of former military ruler Pervez
Musharraf. The Dawn also referred
to the “trust deficit”
in Zardari and said if he failed
to honour his pledge to pare
down the powers of the President,
his credibility will again be
in tatters. “It was Zardari’s
right to become President; it
is the people’s right
to expect leadership from him
now,” it wrote.
Pointing out that it would be
“self-delusion”
to pretend that Zardari does
not have an “image problem”,
The Frontier Post said, “But
it is how he conducts himself
in his office and how he helps
the government in reviving the
sagging economy and in combating
the ravaging extremism and militancy
that will make or unmake his
public visage and even decide
his political destiny.”
The Daily Times dedicated its
editorial to Zardari’s
relationship with Article 58(2b)
of the constitution, the controversial
provision that empowers the
President to dissolve parliament.
“Zardari is the top leader
of the PPP rather than one who
might nurse ambitions to become
one. So he will not be in the
presidency to water down the
powers of Yousaf Raza Gilani
and parliament by stressing
his relationship with the army
chief as happened under the
troika system.” (PTI)
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Eat less meat to fight climate
change: UN expert
LONDON,
Sept 7: People should cut
their consumption of meat
to help combat climate change,
a top United Nations expert
told a British Sunday newspaper.
Rajendra Pachauri, chair of
the UN Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC),
told The Observer that people
should start by having one
meat-free day per week then
cut back further.
The 68-year-old Indian economist,
who is a vegetarian, said
diet change was important
in reducing greenhouse gas
emissions and environmental
problems associated with rearing
cattle and other animals.
“Give up meat for one
day (per week) initially,
and decrease it from there,”
he said.
“In terms of immediacy
of action and the feasibility
of bringing about reductions
in a short period of time,
it clearly is the most attractive
opportunity” Other small-scale
lifestyle changes would also
help to combat climate change,
he said without elaborating.
“That’s what I
want to emphasise: we really
have to bring about reductions
in every sector of the economy.”
Pachauri is due to give a
speech in London on Monday
under the title: “Global
Warning: the impact of meat
production and consumption
on climate change”.
Pachauri, who was re-elected
for a second term six-year
term as IPCC chairman last
week, has headed the organisation
since 2002 and oversaw its
seminal assessment report
in 2007 which gave graphic
forecasts of the risks posed
by global warming. The IPCC
warned then that without action
the planet's rising temperatures
could unleash potentially
catastrophic change to earth's
climate system, leading to
hunger, drought, storms and
massive species loss. The
organisation also won the
Nobel Peace Prize in 2007
along with former US vice
president Al Gore. (Agencies)
One
in 20 Americans ‘depressed’
Miami, Sept 7: It seems that
’young America’
is in depression.
Yes, despite being in one
of the richest countries in
the world, more than one in
20 Americans aged 12 and older
are depressed, according to
the latest statistics from
the Centre for Disease Control
and Prevention. And what’s
shocking is that depression
has been found to be more
common in women than men.
Of the people suffering from
depression, 80 per cent have
reported some level of functional
impairment, with 27 per cent
reporting that it’s
difficult to work, get things
done at home, or get along
with others because of the
condition.
“Reflecting this high
rate of functional impairment,
almost two-thirds of the estimated
USD 83 billion that depression
cost the US in the year 2000
resulted from lowered productivity
and workplace absenteeism,”
according to study authors
Laura A Pratt and Debra J
Brody.
In their survey, the authors
culled data from the National
Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey from year 2005 to 2006,
which comprised a nine-item
screening tool asking about
depressive symptoms during
the past two weeks.
Pointing out the connection
between poverty and depression,
the survey report said more
than one out of seven poor
Americans had depression and
that non-Hispanic black persons
had higher rates of depression
than non-Hispanic white persons.
(PTI)
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Vignettes
Man
accused of drunk driving on
a tractor
A Charleston man faces drunken
driving charges after police
spotted him riding a farm
tractor on a highway without
lights or proper warning signs.
Kanawha County sheriff's deputies
arrested 22-year-old Joshua
David Postalwait early on
Friday morning. A complaint
filed in Kanawha County Magistrate
Court said deputies were responding
to a report of an intoxicated
man on a tractor when they
saw the tractor on Casdorph
Road. Postalwait was charged
with driving under the influence
and carrying a concealed weapon.
He was being held Friday afternoon
at South Central Regional
Jail. Magistrate court officials
did not know whether he has
a lawyer. (Agencies)
Preacher
avoids jail in road rage case
A 71-year-old Cincinnati preacher
convicted of waving a gun
and threatening another driver
won’t be going to jail.
A Hamilton County judge on
Thursday sentenced Thomas
Howell to two years’
probation and 100 hours of
community service on his conviction
for aggravated menacing. Howell
can’t possess any weapons
while on probation and must
give up his concealed weapon
permit. The judge said most
gun threat cases lead to jail
but Howell would be spared
because the minister has prostate
cancer and glaucoma. Howell
was driving to First Commandment
Church of the Living God in
the East Walnut Hills neighborhood
in June when another driver
cut him off. The cars chased
each other, and the other
motorist said Howell threatened
to shoot her and called her
names. (Agencies)
Man
could lose house over parking
ticket
A Milwaukee man could lose
his house because of an unpaid
$50 parking ticket, officials
said. The city foreclosed
on Peter Tubic’s house
several weeks ago, The Milwaukee
Journal reports. Over several
years, with interest and late
fees, the amount Tubic owed
the city had grown to $2,600.
A hearing is scheduled next
week. The house, built by
Tubic’s parents in 1967,
is worth about $245,000. Mayor
Tom Barrett said in August
he would find help for Tubic.
I can’t sit by and watch
a man who is clearly suffering
from mental debilitation lose
his home because of a $50
ticket, Barrett said. My next
step is to reach out to the
mental health community to
see whether they can have
contact with him. More recently,
the mayor has said he believed
Tubic had the help he needed
because he had a lawyer. The
case began in 2004 when Tubic
parked an unlicensed van in
the driveway of what was then
his parents’ house.
They have since died. (Agencies)
Algae-dyed
polar bears puzzle zoo visitors
Green-colored polar bears
are drawing questions from
puzzled visitors at a Japanese
zoo. Three normally white
polar bears at Higashiyama
Zoo and Botanical Gardens
in central Japan changed their
color in July after swimming
in a pond with an overgrowth
of algae. The sight of green
polar bears has prompted many
questions from visitors concerned
about whether the animals
are sick or carrying mold,
zoo official Masami Kurobe
said on Sunday. “Visitors
seem to be shocked by the
color, and we are asked every
day why they are so green,”
he said. High temperatures
in July and August and less-frequent
water changes because of the
zoo’s conservation efforts
caused an algae growth in
the bear pond and safety moat,
Kurobe said.
Algae that enters hollow spaces
in the bears’ fur is
hard to rinse off, he said.
The bears are expected to
return to their natural color
when the algae growth subsides
in November, Kurobe said.
(Agencies)s)
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