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Top Stories
Mandatory federal registration of Arabs, Muslims ends today (South
Florida
Sun-Sentinel) (Los Angeles Times - Registration required) (Washington
Times)
The Department of Homeland Security today will suspend a
controversial
program that required tens of thousands of Arab and Muslim men
to register
at immigration offices. The program was launched after the Sept.
11, 2001,
attacks, amid concerns that immigration officials did little to
keep track
of millions of foreigners entering the country each year. Men and
boys from
24 predominantly Muslim countries and North Korea, though they were
already
in the United States, were required to report for photographs,
fingerprints
and interviews. They were required to repeat the process every
year.
Kashmiris reunite on river border (Billings Gazette) (Rocky
Mount
Telegram) (Times Picayune) (Wilimington Morning Star, NC)
A
cease-fire in place, the people of this divided Kashmiri village -
separated
by the fast-flowing Neelum River that also marks the frontier
between India
and Pakistan - congregated on both sides of the icy channel
Monday, shouting
greetings to relatives and hurling letters wrapped around
stones. The
reunions were unthinkable before a cease-fire reached last week
by the uneasy
neighbors, who have fought two wars over Kashmir since gaining
independence
from Britain in 1947. In addition to the cease-fire, India and
Pakistan
agreed on Monday to resume airline overflight and landing rights by
Jan. 1,
two years after the South Asian nuclear rivals ended all
transportation links
while on the brink of war. However, peace moves remain
tenuous with both
sides having proven reluctant to settle the territorial
dispute.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/12/02/build/world/65-kashmir.inc
Musharraf says Pakistan ready to withdraw troops from Kashmir if
India
does (The Charleston Gazette, WV) (Burlington County Times) (Sarasota
Herald
Tribune) (Rocky Mount Telegram) (Atlanta Journal Constitution) (Akron
Beacon
Journal) (NY NewsDay) (Voice of America)
Pakistan would
withdraw its forces from the disputed Himalayan region of
Kashmir if rival
India does, Pakistan's president said Monday. "India has
700,000 troops in
Kashmir. We have only 50,000 troops in Kashmir. Let's both
remove (the
troops),'' President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said. "Let's start
from
tomorrow.'' The Pakistani leader's comments, made during a radio
phone-in
program, come amid escalating peace efforts by the South Asian
neighbors,
including a cease-fire that began last week. But despite the
easing of
tension, the two countries would be unlikely to agree to a
complete
withdrawal of forces until an overall settlement of the dispute,
which has
been the source of two of their three wars.
http://wvgazette.com/section/APNews/News/ap0746n http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/.html
On World AIDS, U.N. Declares Drug War On The Disease (Tampa Tribune)
(NJ
Star Ledger) (Quad City Times, IA) (New York Times - Registration
required)
Promising less costly drugs, simpler regimens and more money,
two U.N.
agencies launched a campaign Monday to provide 3 million
HIV-infected people
the latest drugs available by the end of 2005,
potentially revolutionizing
treatment of the disease. In marking World AIDS
Day, the World Health
Organization certified a new generic drug for use in
treating HIV. The
tablet combines three essential antiretroviral drugs in one
pill taken twice
daily. The pills are manufactured by two India-based generic
drug makers and
cost patients only $270 a year, but their manufacture
violates patents held
by two major drug companies. To legally import the
drugs, countries must
suspend the rights of the patent holders.
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAP6T4GPND.html http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-12/.xml
Business
Texas Instruments Unveils High-Speed Chip (Baltimore Sun) (NY
NewsDay)
(Chicago Tribune - Registration required)
American
semiconductor maker Texas Instruments said Tuesday its design
center in India
has developed the world's fastest chip for converting analog
signals such as
the human voice to digital signals that can be transmitted
on computer
networks. "It is the fastest known analog-to-digital converter
for networks,"
said M. Harish, business development manager of Texas
Instruments India. The
new chip, designed by TI's center in the southern
Indian city of Bangalore,
will be used in phone network base stations and in
medical systems such as
magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, he said.
Commentaries/Editorials/Letters to the
Editors
Commentary: Over the cuckoo's nest (Washington Times)
Why
don't moderate Muslims speak up in favor of President Bush and Prime
Minister
Tony Blair when they resolve, "to crush global terrorists who hate
freedom"?
One of Pakistan's most respected former army chiefs supplied a
chilling
explanation last week: because the "terrorists" are the "freedom
fighters" of
a "Muslim world facing unprecedented oppression and
injustice."
Obstreperous is the way the Pakistani media refer to
retired Gen. Aslam
Beg. Harum-scarum would be more accurate. Mercifully, his
finger is not
anywhere near Pakistan's nuclear trigger. But it could be
tomorrow or the
next day should President Pervez Musharraf fall victim to a
seventh attempt
on his
life.http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/r.htm
OpEd: The Two Terrorisms (NY Times - Registration
required)
One salutary effect of the rise of Al Qaeda is that it has
given terrorism
an even worse name than it had before the Sept. 11 attacks.
For the "new"
terrorists of Al Qaeda and its affiliates, apocalyptic
terrorism is an
indispensable means to a total, violent victory for radical
Islam over the
West. But for "old" terrorist groups, terrorism has
historically been used
selectively, as a means of getting a place at a
negotiating table to achieve
nationalistic, ethnic or ideological ends that
are geographically
circumscribed. Such groups, including the Basque
separatist group E.T.A. in
Spain and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, have been
compelled to distance
themselves from Al Qaeda and its affiliates by
refraining, in at least some
measure, from violence. This development has
given the governments they
oppose anng to resolve conflicts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/opinion/02STEV.html India, Russia Agree On Price for Aircraft Carrier (Defense News
-
Subscription required)
India will buy the 44,500-ton Russian
aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov
for 30 billion rupees ($652 million),
India’s navy chief announced Dec. 2.
The price includes two squadrons of MIG
29 K fighter jets, Admiral
Madhvendra Singh told reporters. He said the deal
would likely be signed
within the next few months but added the carrier would
be only be inducted
into the Indian navy in four-and-a-half years time.
Negotiations for the
Russian ship have dragged on for three years due to
differences over the
price and other terms. The Indian navy decommissioned
one of its two
aircraft carriers in January 1997, while the second is due to
be retired in
a couple of years.
http://www.defensenews.com
India, U.S. Boost Technology Ties (Defense News - Subscription
required)
India and the United States have agreed to formalize a
framework that
would enable New Delhi to obtain so-called dual-use technology
from the
United States.“The decision can jump-start Indo-U.S. relations to
new
levels,” a senior official of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs
said.
The decision came at the third Indo-U.S. High Technology Cooperation
Group
meeting held here Nov. 20. The session was co-chaired by Indian
Foreign
Secretary Kanwal Sibal and Kenneth Juster, U.S. undersecretary of
commerce,
the Indian officials said. The framework on dual-use technology —
meaning it
has civilian and military applications — can result in allowing
India to
acquire civilian nuclear, space and other advanced technologies from
the
United States, an Indian Defence Ministry official said.
http://www.defensenews.com
Racism explored as possible Jindal downfall (The
Advertiser)
Analysts don’t like it. Pollsters aren’t keen on it.
Strategic mistakes,
they say, were the key to Bobby Jindal’s defeat by
Kathleen Blanco in the
governor’s race. Since the election, it’s
been a great unmentionable. Yet
the word “race” may apply to the face-off
between Blanco and Jindal in more
ways than one. Jindal’s ethnicity — the
fact that he looked and sounded so
different — wasn’t supposed to matter in
the governor’s race. The candidate
himself said it, time and again. But
it could have been critical in Jindal’
s defeat. Here’s the nasty paradox:
Racism, an aid to so many Republican
triumphs across the South, may have
saved the Democrats two Saturdays ago.
And Jindal, the candidate who quickly
staked out a French-bashing,
super-patriot position, may have lost because he
was found insufficiently
American.
http://www.theadvertiser.com/news/html/3FCEFA53-EE59-4FBE-80AF-E9682CF819EE.shtml
U.S. Senate backs student, mother in deportation fight (Charleston
Post
Courier - Registration required)
The fight for a Wofford
College student and his mother to avoid
deportation to India has the support
of the U.S. Senate. The Senate
unanimously approved legislation sponsored by
Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C.
The measure still needs House approval. Hitesh
Tolani, 21, and his mother,
Jaya, 50, were in the process of obtaining U.S.
citizenship when Jaya's
husband died, leaving the family with no close
relative to sponsor them. The
family had lived in the United States for 20
years. O f a companion bill is
approved by the House, the family will
be able to stay. The family includes
15-year-old Ravi, who was born in New
York and is a U.S. citizen.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/120203/sta_02deport.shtml
Senate balks at contract bill (Indianopolis
Star)
Legislation prohibiting non-U.S. citizens from doing contract
work for
state government will need an overhaul if it's going to have a
chance of
passing next year in the Indiana Senate. During a two-hour
hearing Monday,
most lawmakers on the Senate Economic Development and
Technology Committee
opposed Senate Bill 4. Republicans and Democrats
alike worried that a ban
on all foreign workers would go too far and have
unintended consequences.
They also feared recommending the bill's passage
would send the wrong
message as Indiana tries to lure overseas
investment. State Sen. Jeff
Drozda, R-Westfield, said he wrote the bill
because he opposes Indiana
spending public money to create jobs for low-paid
workers from other
countries. "This is a real significant issue
for American workers," Drozda
told the committee. "These companies don't pay
taxes. It doesn't help our
economy one bit." Drozda criticized a $15.2
million contract state
officials signed in August with a firm based in India
to upgrade state
computers used to process unemployment claims.Last month,
Gov. Joe Kernan, a
Democrat, canceled the deal after initially defending it.
He said the way it
had been structured and advertised squeezed out Indiana
companies.
http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/.html
Other
Ceasefire, flights back on, but still no sign of Pak-India talks
(Space
Daily)
A ceasefire between India and Pakistan and their
imminent resumption of
flights may bode well for the nuclear rivals'
normalisation efforts, but
analysts anxiously pointed out Tuesday there was
still no promise of
all-important dialogue. "The real issue is will India and
Pakistan sit at
the table? There's been no move forward on that as yet," said
Samina Ahmed,
who heads the Pakistan chapter of the International Crisis
Group think-tank.
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/.ko5tiocg.html
Northern India Bus Accident Kills 27 (Sarasota Herald
Tribune)
(Wilimington Morning Star, NC) (News Journal, TX)
A bus
skidded off a steep mountain road and fell into a river in northern
India on
Tuesday, killing at least 27 passengers and injuring 30 others, a
police
official said. The bus, with 60 people on board, veered off the road
near the
town of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh state and fell into the Ravi
river, said
A.K. Yadav, superintendent of police. At least 27 people,
including five
women and four children, died, he said.
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