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South Asia Clips is a free daily newservice
that monitors South Asia and South Asian American news in major U.S. media
outlets. Production of the South Asia clips is a
non-profit effort and are co-hosted by Madison Government Affairs (www.madisongov.net). If you have any
questions or would like to subscribe, please contact me at kap. Please note that
the clips are also archived at www.madisongov.net under the news
section.
SOUTH ASIA DAILY NEWS
CLIPS
November 2,
200 4
Breaking News
Bush or No Bush, US Needs
Pakistan: Kasuri (IANS/Yahoo):
Whether George Bush wins a second term as US president or John Kerry
wins his first, Washington will find it difficult to ignore Pakistan,
claimed the country's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.
"Pakistan has an important position in the world because of its foreign
policy and the US will continue to require Islamabad's support," the
Daily Times quoted Kasuri as saying at a news conference on Monday. http://in.news.yahoo.com/041102/139/2hn15.html
IARA Seeks Legal Action Against
US (ANI/Yahoo): The US' move to ban Islamic charities for
funding terrorist network all over the world has sparked off protests
from Islamic NGOs and charities from all over the world. Earlier the US
had as part of its crackdown on terrorists banned several organisations
from collecting zakat or donations on suspicions of funding terrorist
networks all over the world including terror mastermind Osama bin
Laden's Al Qaeda. According to The News, the Islamic African Relief
Agency (IARA), which has been accused of " providing direct financial
support to Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist groups",
has decided to seek legal action against the US. The officials of the
organisation are also miffed that the US had not informed the agency
even once about the allegations, which hey claim came to their notice
only through media reports. http://in.news.yahoo.com/041102/139/2hn0v.html
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Top Stories
Air India Bombings "Act of Political
Terrorism"
(Airwise)
Blaze Damages Mosque in
Arabi (Times
Picayune)
Musharraf Gets Boost in Keeping Army
Post (LA Times - registration
required)
US-Muslim relations: Hard Choices
Ahead (Christian Science
Monitor)
Business
India Taps
China's Reserve of Technological Talent (NY Times -
registration required) (Seattle P.I//NY
Times)
India's
Tata Group Buying Tyco (Information Week) (NY Times -
registration
required)
India
Renews the Regulation on Scrap Imports
(SteelVillage)
Circumstances Make Pakistani Hot IT Outsourcing
Hot Spot
(E-Commerce)
Oil Price Hike May Cost Indian Firms
(Forbes/AP)
Commentaries/Editorials/Letters to the
Editors
Commentary: Winning Over India
(National
Review)
Defense
Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan Eye Joint AEW&C Buy
(DefenseTalk)
India, Russia Bickering on MIG Delivery
Dates (Defense News - subscription
required)
India to Stay on Course on Nuke
Doctrine (Defense News - subscription
required)
Political
Other
Ford Hospital Telecast Surgey to
India (Detroit Free
Press/AP)
Hindu Fest Lights Up
Woodbridge (Home News
Tribune)
Hostage's Family Beg Captors for his
Return
(Register-Guard/AP)
Pakistani Family to Stay in US
(Philadelphia Inq - registration
required)
*************************************************************************************************************
Top Stories
Air India Bombings "Act of Political
Terrorism"
(Airwise)
The Air India
bombings that killed 331 people were an act of political terrorism so
deadly it is difficult to comprehend, prosecutors told a Canadian court
on Monday. The prosecution began its closing arguments in the trial of
two Sikh separatists charged with the 1985 attacks, including the
destruction of Air India Flight 182 -- history's deadliest bombing of a
civilian airliner. "It is difficult to comprehend why this would
happen... who would do this," lead prosecutor Robert Wright told the
British Columbia Supreme Court trial of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib
Singh Bagri. Wright said there was no doubt from the evidence presented
in the trial, which began in April 2003, that the bombings were an act
of "politically motivated terrorism." "There is no doubt these people
were murdered," Wright told the court in Vancouver. http://news.airwise.com/stories/2004/11/.html
Blaze Damages Mosque in
Arabi (Times
Picayune)
A possible arson
fire Sunday afternoon in a Muslim mosque in Arabi closed for the Islamic
month of Ramadan is being investigated by both St. Bernard Parish and
federal agencies. No one was injured in the 2:45 p.m. fire at the
Islamic Association of Arabi, 7527 West Judge Perez Drive. The blaze was
under control in 15 minutes and extinguished within 45 minutes, Fire
Department officials said.
The fire began in rear sleeping quarters and caused moderate fire
damage and heavy smoke damage, officials said. The building had been closed for at
least three weeks for the religious observance and there were no
utilities connected, officials said. .... The
mosque wasd in 1985 by the Islamic Association of Arabi as a place
of worship for the parish's growing community of Muslims. In the
1990s, the Islamic Association included more than 200 families in St.
Bernard Parish. Unlike New Orleans, where a large number of the Muslims
are Arabs, the majority of Muslims in St. Bernard are from India or
Pakistan. Many have been in the United States for several
generations. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-5/.xml
Musharraf Gets Boost in Keeping Army
Post (LA Times - registration
required)
US-Muslim relations: Hard Choices
Ahead (Christian Science
Monitor)
For George W. Bush, the defining issue of this campaign is
the war on terror. For John Kerry, the most important foreign-policy
issue is nuclear nonproliferation and access to weapons of mass
destruction. In both cases, these are issues closely linked to
events and developments in a broad crescent of Islamic countries
stretching from Morocco to Indonesia. It means that whoever wins the
presidency, America's relations with the Muslim world are going to sit
high on the agenda. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1102/p03s01-usfp.html
Business
India Taps
China's Reserve of Technological Talent (NY Times -
registration required) (Seattle P.I//NY
Times)
When Infosys
Technologies began scouting for an alternative to India as a source
of unlimited, low-cost human resources, the fast-growing company came up
with one answer: its home country's archrival, China. Now, a year
after the Infosys Technologies (Shanghai) Company was set up, the
venture center has 200 employees and 4 multinational customers. Infosys,
the Bangalore-based software services company, and other top Indian
outsourcing rivals, including Tata Consultancy Services and
Wipro Technologies, are doing application development and
maintenance work in China as they grow rapidly to keep up with booming
demand from the West for their services.
India's
Tata Group Buying Tyco (Information Week) (NY Times -
registration
required)
The sale of
U.S.-built telecom infrastructure to foreign firms at fire-sale prices
continues. Tyco International says it is selling its Tyco Global Network
to India's Tata Group. Tyco and Tata said the world's most advanced and
extensive submarine cable system will be transferred to Tata's Videsh
Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) for $130 million. Tyco positioned the network
for sale last year by writing down the value of the network by $1.2
billion. During the height of the telecom bubble, the network had a
market valuation of more than $3 billion. "The agreement is a major step
forward in our ongoing drive to offer our enterprise and carrier
customers seamless, end-to-end telecommunications solutions that circle
the globe," said VSNL's director of operations N. Srinath in a
statement. "This agreement, coupled with the submarine cable we plan to
launch shortly connecting India with Singapore, will give customers a
new choice in global data services. Furthermore, the timing of this
transaction is well suited to our international expansion plans."
India
Renews the Regulation on Scrap Imports
(SteelVillage)
The
Indian government has recently published a new decree regarding the
pre-shipment certificate requirement on scrap imports.
As previously reported by
SteelOrbis, following the blast that took place at the Bhusan Steel
factory in Ghaziabad, Indian government published a new policy for scrap
imports. According to the new policy released on October 15, 2004, a
pre-shipment inspection certificate for all types of iron and steel
scrap imported from war-ravaged countries was required.
Although the new regulation
caused shortage of subject raw material in domestic market, Indian
government has recently decided to broaden the scope of the regulation.
According to the new decree, a pre-shipment inspection certificate for
all types of imported iron and steel scrap regardless of origin is
required. Shredded scrap is exempted from the new regulation. http://www.steelvillage.com/readTitle.cfm?ID=3220
Circumstances Make Pakistani Hot IT Outsourcing
Hot Spot
(E-Commerce)
Why is
Pakistan the hot new offshore information technology (IT) destination?
This is because of a combination of favorable economic circumstances.
Just when many Western managers are finally becoming comfortable with
the idea of working closely with Indian IT firms, along comes Pakistan.
Pakistan is shaking off decades of "also ran" status. Funds invested
into building educational institutions in Pakistan (when there were not
enough jobs to absorb all the graduates from those institutions) are
paying off as Pakistan begins to field a modern, highly productive labor
force that is the envy of more prosperous but less tech savvy nations
elsewhere in the region. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Circumstances-Make-Pakistan-Hot-IT-Outsourcing-Location-37750.html
Oil Price Hike May Cost Indian Firms
(Forbes/AP)
India's state-run oil firms may forego up to 200
billion rupees (US$4.4 billion) in revenues if the government stops them
from raising fuel prices in line with increased costs of global crude
supplies, the oil minister said Tuesday. Although India's import costs have increased by almost
50 percent, the state-run oil companies, which have a monopoly in
marketing petroleum products in the country, have been allowed to
raise retail prices by just 8 percent to 15 percent. The government has
cut import duties to moderate the impact of higher crude costs on
domestic fuel prices. Oil marketing
companies have been the worst hit, as they have had to forgo nearly 100
billion rupees (US$2.2 billion) in extra revenues, Petroleum Minister
Mani Shankar Aiyar said Tuesday.
Commentaries/Editorials/ Letters to the
Editors
Commentary: Winning Over India
(National Review)
The U.S. elections are
naturally the number-one news story around the globe right now, and if
you believe the folks at CNN or the BBC, virtually the entire planet is
rooting for the defeat of George W. Bush. But
there are countries where John Kerry is not strongly favored over the
incumbent, and surprisingly India is one of them. A recent poll showed
that Indians split evenly when asked whom they favor in the election.
This is surprising for a number of reasons. Not least is the
old-fashioned tiers-mondiste anti-Americanism that still afflicts
much of the Indian political class. Anyone who hopes that this feeling
has evaporated since the days when Nehru cultivated Mao's China and the
Soviet Union, or at least since Manmohan Singhd up the Indian
economy in the mid-'90s, should just take a look at The Hindu,
India's English-language newspaper of record. Its comment pages might
easily have been written by Noam Chomsky's more prolix twin. Last month
The Hindu joined with the Communist parties in the ruling
Congress-dominated coalition to denounce with mouth-frothing fury an
American offer of condolences and FBI assistance after separatist
terrorists set off bombs killing 80 people in India's troubled
northeast. This was "unwarranted interference in India's internal
affairs." http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/foreman.asp
Defense
Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan Eye Joint AEW&C Buy
(DefenseTalk)
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
are discussing a joint purchase of 14 airborne early warning and control
(AEW&C) aircraft based on Sweden's Saab 2000 regional airliner and
the Erieye radar and sensor suite by Ericsson Microwave Systems,
according to an analyst specializing in South Asian military
affairs. In an Oct. 29
interview from Kuala Lumpur, Prasun Sengupta estimated the aircraft
would cost up to $1.7 billion, the bulk of which would be funded by
Saudi Arabia in exchange for in-country training of Saudi crews by
Pakistani Air Force personnel. http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_001992.shtml
India, Russia Bickering on MIG Delivery
Dates (Defense News - subscription
required)
India will
withhold this month’s $74 million payment on its $740 million contract
to buy 16 new MiG-29K aircraft, saying Moscow-based Russian
Aircraftbuilding Corporation MiG (RSK MiG) is not on schedule to deliver
the first aircraft to the Indian Navy by 2007, Defence Ministry sources
said. www.defensenews.com
India to Stay on Course on Nuke
Doctrine (Defense News - subscription
required)
India’s
Nuclear Command Authority, which reports to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and the left-leaning United Progressive Alliance-led government,
last week moved to continue the nuclear doctrine adopted by the previous
rightist National Democratic Alliance government. www.defensenews.com
Politics
No quit
in Senate long shots (Chicago Tribune - Registration
required)
Other
Ford
Hospital Telecast Surgey to India (Detroit Free
Press/AP)
Fifteen-hundred
doctors at a conference in Bombay, India, watch a three-dimensional
broadcast of a two-hour prostate surgery at a Michigan hospital.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station consult with a doctor
about an on-board experiment. Both of Monday's broadcasts are part
of Henry Ford Hospital's effort to expand the reach of telemedecine,
which can extend health services hundreds or thousands of miles.
"This is the type of thing that is unique to Henry Ford -- it's not
really happening anyplace else in the world," said Dr. Mani Menon, who
used a new, high-tech operating room to broadcast the prostate surgery
to the World Conference of Endourology in Bombay. http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw106649_20041102.htm
Hindu Fest Lights Up
Woodbridge (Home News
Tribune)
A four-day
exhibit celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, will
tomorrow night and continue through Nov. 7, at the Barron Arts
Center. The exhibit is the work of Nikhil Bhalja and his wife
Dipti, who live in Iselin and own Abhishek Decorators. The exhibit is
co-sponsored by Royal Albert's Palace in Fords. "We are trying to
transform the whole room to display India's culture," said Bhalja, while
he, his wife and a few others set up the elaborate exhibit yesterday.
"It's not just snakes. It's not just a country with a lot of animals.
It's a very vibrant country." A wooden swing took up one corner of the
room, while a large metal statue of Lord Ganesha sat on a table
underneath a four-pillar structure covered in bandhani fabric. Candles
arranged on the table, as well as candelabras placed on the floor below
surrounded the statue. "He is the most important God in our culture,"
Bhalja said. "Any celebration starts with him." http://www.thnt.com/thnt/story/0,21282,1099521,00.html
Hostage's Family Beg Captors for his
Return
(Register-Guard/AP)
The
family of a Sri Lankan truck driver taken hostage by Iraqi militants
appealed Sunday for his release, saying they couldn't live without
him. Dinesh Dharmendra Rajaratnam, 37, was in
Iraq working for a Kuwaiti-based transport company when he was abducted
along with a second driver, a Bangladeshi, last week near a U.S.
military base. A videotape aired Oct. 28 by
Al-Jazeera television showed the men and named their captors as the
Islamic Army in Iraq. The group is one of many that have claimed
responsibility for the abductions and beheadings of hostages. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2004/11/01/a2.int.host.1101.html
Pakistani Family to Stay in US
(Philadelphia Inq - registration
required)
The family of a Pakistani convenience-store owner
killed in a hate crime after Sept. 11, 2001, have been granted permanent
U.S. residency. President Bush on Saturday signed a bill by Rep. Rush
Holt (D., N.J.) to allow Waqar Hasan's wife and four daughters to stay
in the United States and, ultimately, become citizens. Hasan, 46, was
shot in the face four days after Sept. 11 by an ex-convict and white
supremacist who walked into his store in Dallas seeking revenge for the
terror attacks. Hasan, who had run several gas stations in New Jersey,
moved to Texas to set up his own business. His family stayed behind in
Milltown, N.J., but were to follow as soon as he could buy a house. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/new_jersey/10075355.htm?1c
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informational purposes only and no representation is made for the
accuracy of information posted on other websites. Kapil Sharma manages,
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Affairs, please visit www.madisongov.net
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