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SOUTH ASIA NEWS |

STRING |
|
US
NEWS SOURCES -May 21, 2003 |
|
|
|
BREAKING NEWS
/ NEWSWIRE |
| * |
IBM sets up tech design centre in India
*(Reuters) |
| |
International Business Machines Corp on
Wednesday launched a technology centre in India that
would provide design services for advanced chips and
hardware boards to companies across Asia. The unit,
based in Bangalore, is part of IBM's engineering and
technology services divisions in the United States,
Europe and Japan, the company said in a statement. "The
centre will enable IBM to leverage a vast and talented
Indian information technology talent pool, competent in
large integration and embedded software design," said
Uday Shukla, director, technology group labs at IBM
India. The company declined to give the staff size of
the new centre. |
| |
http://in.news.yahoo.com/030521/137/24hdo.html |
| * |
Republican Jeb Hensarling joins India caucus
|
| |
Congressman Jeb Hensarling, a
Republican from Texas, is the latest entrant to the
Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, the
largest country caucus on the Hill. Hensarling said: "I
was very pleased to join my colleagues on the Caucus for
India and Indian Americans." He added: "As the world's
largest democracy, India remains an important economic
and strategic ally of the U.S. And, as a member of the
Congress, I hope to promote a stronger trade and
cultural exchange with India while continuing to
recognise the valuable contributions of Indian Americans
here at home." There is a large concentration of Indian
Americans in Texas, several of whom are active
politically. |
| |
http://in.news.yahoo.com/030521/43/24ham.html |
| * |
Benazir decries US double standards on
dictatorial regimes *(ANI) |
| |
Former prime minister of Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto has said that the world political
standards varied, according to political expediency, as
those decrying dictatorship in Iraq were staying close
to dictators in Pakistan. Addressing the founding
conference of the World Political Forum convened by the
former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in the Italian
city of Turin, she said: "Democracy for Iraq, but
dictatorship just miles away. Iraqi violations of the UN
resolutions bring a strong response. Violations of UN
resolutions in the Middle East or in South Asia draw a
less vocal reaction." The topic of her discourse was
"Democracy and Internationalism: Post Iraq". Benazir
said that President Bush claimed that war on Iraq was
war for liberty and against tyranny. In the post Iraq,
tyrants should fear but it was troubling that some of
those tyrants still feel little fear and some of them
were still close allies of Washington, a party press
release said. "In the case of Pakistan, a repressive
regime exiles the popular opposition, imprisons
dissidents and rigs elections". |
| |
http://in.news.yahoo.com/030521/139/24hb6.html | | |
|
|
A U.S military report on
the active role played by Pakistan in the war against the Taliban
irks Islamic leaders in Pakistan. Pakistani and U.S. officials meet
to discuss ways to limit the spread of conventional, chemical and
biological weapons in South Asia. The Prime Minister of Pakistani
Kashmir calls for the bifurcation of the disputed Kashmir region on
religious lines as a probable solution to the decade long dispute.
USA multinationals, Pepsi and Coke are accused of unlimited
exploitation of groundwater in Southern India. In the business
section, IBM sets up a chip design center in India's high-tech city
Bangalore, catering to customers across
Asia. |
HEADLINES |
| TOP STORIES |
 |
Sikh shooting called hate crime (Arizona
Republic) |
 |
Untochable (National Geographic - Subscription
Required) |
 |
Bush Eyes Easing of Missile-Export Rules (NY
NewsDay) |
 |
Pakistan, U.S. discuss stopping spread of weapons in South
Asia (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)
(Hoovers) |
 |
Pakistani role in Afghan war brings anger (New York
Times - Registration required) (Indianapolis Star) (Miami Herald) (Las
Vegas Sun) (News Day) (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required) (San
Francisco Chronicle) (Star Tribune) (The Oklahoman - Registration
required) (Chicago Tribune - Registration required) (Sacramento Bee)
Arizona Republic (Philadelphia Inquirer) |
 |
New Delhi police brace for riots over water,
power (Wall Street Journal - Subscription
required) |
 |
Protests in India deplore soda makers' water
use (New York Times - Registration required) (Mercury
News) |
 |
Muslim leaders: Pakistani President must quit army job by
August 14 (Wall Street Journal - Subscription
required) |
 |
Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers likely to attend Tokyo aid
meeting (Wall Street Journal - Subscription
required) |
 |
Pakistan navy chief: New port to boost Central Asian
trade (Wall Street Journal - Subscription
required) |
 |
Missing journalist found alive, in chains in
Bangladesh (Wall Street Journal - Subscription
required) |
 |
Nation Pleads for Aid After Devastating Floods (LA
Times - registration required) |
 |
Rickshaw pullers endure hardship and officials' scorn
(Philadelphia
Inq.) |
| EDITORIALS / OP-ED |
 |
N/A |
| BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY |
 |
Indian workers begin strike to protest
privatization (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)
(Washington Post) |
 |
Siemens Mobile: India becoming 2nd biggest Asian
market (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)
(Hoovers) |
 |
IBM chip design center in India (Wall Street Journal -
Subscription required) (Forbes) (Staten Island Live) (Washington Post)
(The Boston Globe) |
 |
SABMiller forms new joint venture in
India (Forbes) |
 |
Pirated movies, software swamp Pakistan
markets (Forbes) |
| OTHER STORIES |
 |
Sherpas called unsung heroes of Everest (New York
Times - Registration required) (Indianapolis Star) (Seattle Times) (Star
Tribune) (Star Tribune) (San Francisco Chronicle) (News Day) (Newark Star
Ledger) (Sacramento Bee) |
 |
In
rebuilding, India's needy become savvy aid consumers (Christian
Science Monitor - Subscription required) |
 |
Challenge cup (Chicago Tribune - Registration
required) |
 |
Kashmiri leader calls for religious divide (New
York Times - Registration required) (Washington Post) |
 |
$5
million bail for man accused of killing wife (Chicago Tribune -
Registration required) (Daily Herald) |
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One
hot curry, from one cool summer fruit (Los Angeles Times -
Registration required) |
 |
Mystery Disease Stalking Vultures in Asia
(National Geographic) |
 |
New
Visa Tracking System Unveiled (NY NewsDay) |
 |
India's Sinha: Last chance for peace over
Kashmir (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)
|
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Former government minister stabbed to death in Southern
India (Wall Street Journal - Subscription
required) |
|
| TOP
STORIES |
|
* |
Sikh shooting
called hate crime |
| |
A Sikh man was
shot Monday night in north Phoenix in what authorities are calling an
unprovoked hate crime. Avtar Singh Cheira, a 52-year-old truck driver who
lives in Phoenix, was shot twice by men in a red pickup near Ninth Street
and Bell Road, police said. The Indian immigrant, who has lived in the
United States for 18 years, was wearing a turban as he waited for his
family to pick him up from work about 9:20 p.m. "I heard that voice say,
'Go back to where you belong to,' and at the same time I heard that shot,"
Cheira said Tuesday at a Valley hospital, where he winced with pain each
time he moved his legs. Cheira was hit twice in the legs with bullets from
a small-caliber gun. His youngest son found him, scooped him up and waited
for an ambulance. Police have no suspects. "There is no doubt this is a
hate crime," said Phoenix police Detective Tony Morales. "To think that
this kind of ignorance is still out there and can fuel such an ugly racist
action is just appalling." The shooting is the second in the Valley
targeting a member of the Sikh community since the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks. On Sept. 15, 2001, Balbir Singh Sodhi, 49, was fatally shot at
his Mesa gas station. Police believe his killer mistakenly believed Sodhi
was an Arab and shot him simply because of the turban he wore as part of
his Sikh faith. The suspect, Frank Silva Roque, 43, is scheduled for trial
on June 24. |
| |
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0521hatecrime21.html |
|
* |
Untochable
|
| |
Discrimination
against India's lowest Hindu castes is technically illegal. But try
telling that to the 160 million Untouchables, who face violent reprisals
if they forget their place .... To be born a Hindu in India is to enter
the caste system, one of the world's longest surviving forms of social
stratification. Embedded in Indian culture for the past 1,500 years, the
caste system follows a basic precept: All men are created unequal. The
ranks in Hindu society come from a legend in which the main groupings, or
varnas, emerge from a primordial being. From the mouth come the
Brahmans—the priests and teachers. From the arms come the Kshatriyas—the
rulers and soldiers. From the thighs come the Vaisyas—merchants and
traders. From the feet come the Sudras—laborers. Each varna in turn
contains hundreds of hereditary castes and subcastes with their own
pecking orders. |
| |
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0306/feature1/index.html |
|
* |
Bush Eyes
Easing of Missile-Export Rules |
| |
The Bush
administration is looking into whether stiff controls over
missile-technology exports should be relaxed so U.S. missile defenses can
be more easily shared with certain other nations ..."It is a silly
trade-off. It shows the administration is willing to compromise
international controls to transfer missile technology" in hopes of
advancing its missile-defense ambitions, said Daryl Kimball, executive
director of the private Arms Control Association. As an example, he said
an Israeli proposal to sell its Arrow missile defense system to India
could not go forward under the current rules but could if the restrictions
were eased. Such a sale would come under U.S. jurisdiction because the
Israeli system is based on U.S. technology. |
| |
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-bush-missile-defense,0,5505469.story |
|
* |
Pakistan, U.S.
discuss stopping spread of weapons in South Asia |
| |
May 20, Islamabad
-- Pakistani and U.S. officials met Tuesday to discuss ways to limit the
spread of conventional, chemical and biological weapons in South Asia, a
Foreign Ministry statement said. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for
Arms Control Stephen G. Rademaker and Pakistan's acting Foreign Secretary
Tariq Usman Hyder met for talks in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, the
statement said. "Both sides exchanged views on regional and strategic
security issues and reviewed the progress of arms control treaties to
which the two countries were signatories," the statement said, without
giving any other details. |
| |
http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR_524f0001f2a7156e |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030520_003964,00.html |
|
* |
Pakistani role
in Afghan war brings anger |
| |
May 20, Islamabad
-- A U.S. military report giving new details on Pakistani help during the
war to oust Afghanistan's Taliban regime angered Islamic leaders Tuesday,
who argued the government wasn't honest about the extent of its
assistance. Leaders of hard-line religious parties threatened to call
street demonstrations to protest the revelations. Some urged the
resignation of Pakistan's President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in
the U.S. campaign against terrorist groups. |
| |
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-may21,1,7746946.story |
| |
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/893706p-6225769c.html |
| |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AMay20.html |
| |
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0521islamic21.html |
| |
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/5907004.htm |
| |
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Pakistan-Islamic-Anger.html |
| |
http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/9/.html |
| |
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/2003/05/21/news/world/5907564.htm |
| |
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-asia/2003/may/20/052007564.html |
| |
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-pakistan-islamic-anger,0,1510024.story |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030520_002861,00.html |
| |
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/20/international1654EDT0676.DTL |
| |
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3893910.html |
| |
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=1028117&TP=getarticle |
|
* |
New Delhi
police brace for riots over water, power |
| |
New Delhi --
Police in India's capital are carefully watching 25 potential trouble
areas where they fear angry citizens could riot over continuing water and
power shortages, a news report said Wednesday. Citizens in many parts of
India go without power and water for several hours a day, especially in
the summer months. Angry street demonstrations have been a familiar sight
during previous summers. In some poor neighborhoods, a "water mafia"
drives tankers door to door to sell buckets of water at high rates, and a
"power mafia" has wired homes to illegally sell electricity, domestic news
reports say. Any protests would have political overtones this year due to
the upcoming Delhi state elections at year's end. |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030521_001239-search,00.html |
|
* |
Protests in
India deplore soda makers' water use |
| |
May 20,
Bangalore, India -- Just as the threats of a boycott against American soft
drinks because of the war in Iraq appear to have petered out, Coca-Cola
and PepsiCo are caught in a whole new controversy here over the water
consumed by their bottling plants in southern India. The village
government of Pudussery, a rural community in the Palghat district of
Kerala state, said last week that it had revoked the water-use license of
the Pepsi bottling plant there because the plant had depleted the
community's groundwater to the point of causing a shortage. The license
was not due to expire until 2005. |
| |
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/21/business/worldbusiness/21SODA.html |
| |
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/5910060.htm |
|
* |
Muslim
leaders: Pakistani President must quit army job by August
14 |
| |
Islamabad --
Hardline Islamic lawmakers demanded Wednesday that Pakistani President
Gen. Pervez Musharraf resign as head of the army by Aug. 14 or face street
protests. The opposition politicians, who have a powerful voice in
parliament, have set Pakistan's Independence Day as the deadline for
Musharraf to retire from the military and fully become a civilian head of
state, said Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, a parliamentarian from the religious
right. "It will be good if Musharraf (takes) off (his) uniform when the
nation celebrates the national day," Ahmad said. |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030521_001564-search,00.html |
|
* |
Sri Lankan
Tamil Tigers likely to attend Tokyo aid meeting |
| |
May 20, Colombo
-- Tamil Tiger rebels, who are moving tentatively toward reviving Sri
Lanka's fragile peace process, said Tuesday they will likely attend a key
donor conference in Tokyo next month. Earlier they said they would boycott
the meeting. Rebel leader S.P. Thamilselvan was expected to announce the
Tigers' participation in the aid conference at a press briefing Wednesday
in the northern rebel-held town of Kilinochchi, rebel sources said on
condition of anonymity. Last month, the rebels suspended peace talks and
pulled out of the Tokyo conference, accusing the government of not doing
enough to resettle and improve the living conditions of some 800,000
Tamils displaced by the island's 19-year civil war. |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030520_002215,00.html |
|
* |
Pakistan navy
chief: New port to boost Central Asian trade |
| |
May 20, Islamabad
-- A new port that Pakistan is building near the Iranian border will
up new trade routes into Central Asia and stimulate economic activity for
the entire region, Pakistan's navy chief said Tuesday. The $250 million
port in the remote coastal city of Gwadar near the Iranian border is being
built with Chinese backing and is expected to be completed within two
years. "India and Pakistan have huge economic stakes associated with their
sea-lanes. The upcoming Gwadar Port project promises (to be) a trade
conduit to Central Asian States and a major hub of commercial activity in
the region," Admiral Shahid Karimullah told a graduation ceremony at
Pakistan's Navy War College, according to a navy statement.
|
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030520_003118,00.html |
|
* |
Missing
journalist found alive, in chains in Bangladesh |
| |
Chittagong,
Bangladesh -- A Bangladeshi journalist missing for nearly three weeks in
southeastern Bangladesh was found Wednesday abandoned by a roadside with
his hands and legs bound in chains, police said. Atahar Siddik Khasru, a
reporter for the national daily Ittefaq newspaper at Sitakund, went
missing April 30 from the nearby port city of Chittagong. Following an
anonymous phone call to his family early Wednesday, police found Khasru
dumped in a bush by a highway at Sitakund, an industrial town near
Chittagong, 215 kilometers southeast of the Bangladesh capital of
Dhaka. |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030521_001516-search,00.html |
|
* |
Nation Pleads
for Aid After Devastating Floods |
| |
Sri Lanka needs
international aid after its worst flooding in five decades, which has
killed at least 300 people and left an estimated 150,000 homeless, the
government said. An additional 200 people are missing, many buried by
landslides in the weekend deluge. "I appeal to the international community
to urgently help us with bottled water, shelter material, clothes and
medicine," Rehabilitation Minister Jayalath Jayawardene said.
|
| |
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-briefs21.1may21,1,740615.story |
|
* |
Rickshaw
pullers endure hardship and officials' scorn |
| |
Wiry and wrinkled
from 40 years of pulling rickshaws through Calcutta's clamorous streets,
Ganesh Shaw fingers the round bell that serves as his horn, rolling it
like a prayer bead as he wipes sorrowful eyes with a blue plaid sarong
wrapped around his waist. Shaw is among the world's last remaining
rickshaw pullers, the human horses of Calcutta both reviled and revered in
the 1992 film City of Joy. "It's our fate that we are poor, and it's our
fate to pull rickshaws," says Shaw, who believes he is about 70. "I'll get
senile soon and have to go back to the village, so I've got to keep
earning money now." On a good day, he earns 100 rupees - about $2 - by
charging 10 rupees for a 10- to 15-minute ride. Nearly half goes to the
owner of his rickshaw and the garage where 250 "rickshaw-wallahs" get two
meals a day, repairs for their carts, and a safe place to sleep.
|
| |
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/5906994.htm |
|
| BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY |
|
* |
Indian workers
begin strike to protest privatization |
| |
New Delhi --
Workers from six trade unions that oppose privatization Wednesday launched
a nationwide strike that is likely to hurt ports and the banking,
insurance, transportation and mining industries. "The strike would be
something independent India has not seen for a long time," Gurudas
Dasgupta, general-secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, was
quoted as saying by The Times of India newspaper. AITUC and other labor
groups affiliated with communist parties called on their more than 5
million members to stay home Wednesday to protest the government's plan to
raise 132 billion rupees (US$2.75 billion) by selling off state-run
companies in the current fiscal year ending in March
2004. |
| |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AMay21.html |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030521_000048,00.html |
|
* |
Siemens
Mobile: India becoming 2nd biggest Asian market |
| |
Munich -- With
the launch of six new mobile phones, Siemens AG (SI) unit Siemens
Information and Communication Mobile, or Siemens mobile, intends to expand
in the Indian mobile communication market, the company said Wednesday.
India will develop into Siemens mobile's second most important market in
Asia, after China, within only a few years. For this reason Siemens'
wireless communications division will significantly expand its activities
in that region. This was announced by Lothar Pauly, Board Member of
Siemens mobile, at a press conference in New Delhi. The research and
development site in Bangalore was given the global lead for the
development of GSM and 3G/UMTS network software. For that reason the
number of engineers employed there will be increased from 400 to
500. |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030521_001391-search,00.html |
| |
http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR_f0f100218724b2f5 |
|
* |
IBM chip
design center in India |
| |
Bangalore, India
-- IBM Corp. (IBM) has set up a chip design center in India's high-tech
city Bangalore, catering to customers across Asia, company officials said.
"The India center will enable IBM to leverage a vast Indian IT talent pool
... to create innovative solutions for our customers," Uday Shukla,
director of IBM's Technology Group Lab said in a statement late Tuesday.
IBM has similar centers designing semiconductors in the United States,
Germany and Japan. The company didn't give details of the investment in
the Bangalore center. IBM India , a unit of IBM Corp., currently employs
about 900 people. The new center will design chips for use in
communication equipment such as modems and circuits. |
| |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AMay21.html |
| |
http://boston.com/dailynews/141/economy/IBM__chip_design_center_i:.shtml |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030521_001758-search,00.html |
| |
http://forbes.com/newswire/2003/05/21/rtr977163.html |
| |
http://www.silive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?o0051_BC_NY--India-IBMCenter |
|
* |
SABMiller
forms new joint venture in India |
| |
SABMiller Plc,
the world's second largest brewer, announced on Wednesday a new joint
venture in India, spending $132.8 million for a 50 percent share in the
venture to take advantage of India's growing beer market. SABMiller
says its Indian subsidiary, Mysore Breweries Ltd, has formed a
50-50 venture with India's second largest brewing group Shaw Wallace to be
called Shaw Wallace Breweries Ltd which will hold the combined brewing
interests and licences of the two businesses. "Mysore is now in a position
to take advantage of the 11 percent per annum growth in the Indian beer
market through the joint venture's leading positions in the key beer
consuming states of India," said SABMiller's Chief Executive Graham Mackay
in a statement. |
| |
http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2003/05/21/rtr977171.html |
|
* |
Pirated
movies, software swamp Pakistan markets |
| |
May 20, Karachi,
Pakistan -- A shabbily dressed hawker squabbles with a teenager over the
price of a latest Microsoft Windows programme in Pakistan's biggest city
Karachi. The deal is closed at 40 rupees -- about $0.70. Saad Hasan has
just bought a pirated copy of Windows XP, which is more readily available
in Pakistan than the licensed product which retails at 5,800 rupees
($100). "Who can afford the original?" he said as he ran his fingers over
row after row of CDs piled on the rickety push cart. "It would have cost
me thousands of rupees. I can't afford that." Another cart is stacked with
Hollywood blockbusters and Indian "Bollywood" movies, all selling at less
than a dollar. |
| |
http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2003/05/20/rtr976989.html |
|
| OTHER STORIES |
|
* |
Sherpas called
unsung heroes of Everest |
| |
New Delhi -- It
was, recalled Sir Edmund Hillary, like riding a runaway elevator down a
tube of ice, plunging deep into the crevasse and wondering whether the
rope would stop him before he met his death. Fifty years have passed since
the New Zealander and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the mountaineer at the other
end of the rope, became the first men to scale 29,035-foot Mt. Everest,
but the story still enthralled the audience gathered in New Delhi on
Tuesday to mark the anniversary. Preparing to scale the peak, Hillary
said, he and Norgay had headed up the icefall "just to prove how fit we
were," and were heading back from 21,000 feet, trying to reach camp before
dark. |
| |
http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-8/.xml?starledger?ntop |
| |
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/893727p-6225893c.html |
| |
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Everest-50th-Anniversary.html |
| |
http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/4/.html |
| |
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134781201_everest21.html |
| |
http://www.forbes.com/fdc/contact.shtml |
| |
http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3893364.html |
| |
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/20/sports1928EDT0359.DTL |
| |
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-everest-50th-anniversary,0,1497468.story |
|
* |
In rebuilding,
India's needy become savvy aid consumers |
| |
Rapar, India --
Two years ago, an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7.9 ripped through
the state of Gujarat, leveling nearly every building in this village and
forcing people into makeshift bamboo huts. So when Jayendra Rathore told
village elders here that his organization would rebuild shattered homes,
he expected an enthusiastic response. But it took a full year of
negotiations to convince Rapar's leaders to say yes. Since the earthquake,
more than 200 groups and millions of dollars have poured into the region,
transforming desperate aid recipients into savvy customers of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). "A lot of resources have come in,
and people can see that, so they want ... to find the best deal," says Mr.
Rathore, a manager of CARE, an international relief agency that runs a
rehabilitation project in Bhuj, western Gujarat. The project has built
5,000 houses and more than 60 community centers. |
| |
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0521/p07s01-wosc.html |
|
* |
Challenge
cup |
| |
Tea may be a bit
too subtle for a palate used to stronger stuff. But even a jaded wine
lover can see the obvious parallels between two of the world's favorite
beverages. A recent "cupping," or tasting, of Indian tea at the Peggy
Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park provided a perfect comparative
opportunity. There, Bill and Nancy Todd of River Forest's Todd &
Holland Tea Merchants, together with a tea importer and a representative
of the India Tea Co. staged the cupping. |
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/chi-may21,1,7765211.story |
|
* |
Kashmiri
leader calls for religious divide |
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Muzaffarabad,
Pakistan -- The prime minister of Pakistani Kashmir called Tuesday for the
partition of the disputed Kashmir region on religious lines as a way to
resolve the long-running bloody dispute with India over the territory.
Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan said Kashmir's Muslim-majority areas should go
to Pakistan and Hindu areas accede to India. "This solution is the closest
to the 1947 partition plan under which India and Pakistan came into
being," Khan told Reuters in a telephone interview. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AMay20.html |
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-pakistan-kashmir.html |
|
* |
$5 million
bail for man accused of killing wife |
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Kewal Aujla, 29,
of the 400 block of Meadowhill Lane, was charged with first-degree murder
late Monday after leading Round Lake Beach police to Narinder Sangha's
body, said Matthew Chancey, of the Lake County state's attorney's office.
Sangha's family reported her missing April 9. Sangha, 30, met Aujla during
a trip with her family to India, and they got married about three years
ago, said Sangha's sister, Sonia Sangha, earlier this
month. |
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/north/chi-may21,1,5596854.story |
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http://www.dailyherald.com/news_story.asp?intid=37762361 |
|
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One hot curry,
from one cool summer fruit |
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Last year I made
a drop-dead Indian dinner: a lamb curry that took four hours to cook, a
majestic pilaf full of toasted whole spices, a rich Moghul coconut-lime
soup and a raft of fresh chutneys and side dishes. Everybody was very
impressed, and afterward all the guests were begging me for a recipe. A
recipe. They all wanted the same one. And after all my work, it was the
very simplest dish I'd made. It takes less than 10 minutes to cook.
|
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http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-curried21may21231417,1,6605346.story |
|
* |
Mystery
Disease Stalking Vultures in Asia |
| |
A mysterious
disease wiping out white-backed vultures in India is now decimating
populations in neighboring Pakistan. Recent studies of the migration
routes of Eurasian vultures, which winter in India, raise fears that these
far ranging birds may spread the disease further to related species in
Africa and Europe with devastating consequences. |
| |
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ |
|
* |
New Visa
Tracking System Unveiled |
| |
Foreign visitors
arriving with visas at U.S. airports or seaports next year will have their
travel documents scanned, their fingerprints and photos taken and their
identification checked against terrorist watch lists. Such a tracking
system could have stopped two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Homeland Security
Department undersecretary Asa Hutchinson said Monday as he gave details of
the department's new U.S. Visitor and Immigration Status Indication
Technology, or U.S. VISIT. The system, which goes into effect Jan. 1, will
check the comings and goings of foreign travelers who arrive carrying
visas. Travelers with visas made up about 60 percent, or 23 million, of
foreign visitors to the United States last year. Hutchinson said such a
system could have caught hijackers Mohammed Atta, who had overstayed his
visa on a previous occasion, and Hani Hanjour, when he failed to show up
at school as required by his student visa. |
| |
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/ny-usvisa213294842may21,0,6756066.story?coll=ny%2Dnews%2Dprint |
|
* |
India's Sinha:
Last chance for peace over Kashmir |
| |
Singapore --
India's Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha has indicated that the current
"thaw" in relations with Pakistan is the last chance for a peaceful
solution over Kashmir between the two nuclear nations, the British
Broadcasting Corp. reported on its Web site Tuesday. Speaking to the BBC
ahead of Tuesday's meeting of the eight countries of the Commonwealth
Ministerial Action Group in London, Sinha said: "Hopes have been raised in
Pakistan that maybe this time we'll have better luck." |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030521_000125,00.html |
|
* |
Former
government minister stabbed to death in Southern
India |
| |
May 20, Madras,
India -- A former government minister in the southern Indian state of
Tamil Nadu was stabbed to death Tuesday by unidentified assailants while
on his morning walk, police said. T. Kiruttinan, a senior leader of the
state's opposition Dravida Munnethra Kazhagham, was found with several
stab and head injuries in his hometown of Madurai, nearly 500 kilometers
south of Madras, the state capital. He was rushed to a hospital, where he
was declared dead. "According to initial reports from Madurai, there were
stab injuries in the body as well as head injuries," said I. Govind, the
state's police chief. |
| |
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030520_002249,00.html |
|
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--- South Asian News, May 21, 2003
--- |
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