The New Nation - Internet Edition

India army chief wary of growing China military

Reuters, New Delhi

India needs to be wary of a rapidly modernising Chinese military as it could affect the country's security in the long run, India's army chief said on Thursday.

The world's two most populous nations are forging new ties amid soaring trade and business links, though serious differences over their Himalayan border, the cause of a 1962 war, fester.

India has also been pursuing closer relations with the United States, something that worries China.

"We need to take note of likely implications of China's military modernisation, improvement of infrastructure in the Tibet Autonomous Region, which could impact our security in the long-term," General Deepak Kapoor said in New Delhi.

Although India and China have signed a treaty to maintain "peace and tranquility" along the disputed frontier and agreed to find a political solution to the row, talks over a 3,500-km disputed frontier have hardly made progress.

Kapoor said growing trade ties augured well for both countries and there was peace along the border.

"Our mutual economic engagements and continued efforts to amicably resolved this boundary issue have ensured peace along the border," he said.

Another report adds: The Indian Army's involvement in the country's internal security is more than normal, army chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor said here Thursday.

Notwithstanding its multi-front obligations, the Indian Army is being called in to tackle many issues ranging from law and order to providing aid during natural or man-made disasters.

"Due to external abetment, the Indian Army is involved in internal security functions on a relatively larger scale than is normal," said Kapoor.

Kapoor was delivering a lecture on 'Changing global Security Environment with specific reference to our region and its impact on the Indian Army' at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis here.

"The primary obligation of the army is to defend the borders of the country and internal security is the secondary duty," Kapoor added.

The internal engagements of the Indian Army include training police and paramilitary forces to combat the menace of Maoist insurgency.

Currently, the army is proving to be instrumental in strengthening police and paramilitary forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and reserve police battalions in various states.

"The army has been providing advice and training in counter-Naxal (Maoist) operations and counter-IED (Improvised Explosive Device) operations.

We are rendering assistance in the establishment of counter-terrorism schools in the analysis of violent incidents to help the police and the paramilitary forces to formulate an operational framework," Kapoor said.

The army has trained 150 companies of police and paramilitary forces till June this year.

US Navy won't let Iran shut Gulf, will defend ships

Reuters, Abu Dhabi

The US will not allow Iran to block the Gulf, which carries crude oil from the world's largest oil exporting region, and would defend its ships in the waterway, the US Navy's Fifth Fleet said yesterday.

"I believe t Iran will not attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz and we will not allow them to close the Strait of Hormuz. I can't say it anymore clearly than that," Vice-Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, the commander of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, told a conference on Gulf naval security in Abu Dhabi.

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in remarks published last week that Tehran would impose controls on shipping in the Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it was attacked.

Fear of an escalation in the standoff between the West and Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, has helped propel oil prices over $140 a barrel. Speculation about a possible attack on Iran because of its nuclear programme has risen since a report last month said Israel had practised such a strike.

Western powers say they fear Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear programme. Tehran says the work aims to generate power.

"Regardless of what might precipitate an entity or a country to attempt to close the strait t it is an international affront that is saying to the world that the nearly 40 per cent of the world's oil and the significant amount of natural gas which goes through the strait is now being held hostage by a single country," he said.

"I think the international community would find its voice rapidly and insist that whoever was attempting to do this cease and desist."

There have been repeated incidents in the Gulf, where the Fifth Fleet is based, in which the US ships have come close to skirmishing with approaching boats in the busy waterway.

A cargo ship hired by the US military fired warning shots at approaching boats in the Gulf in April, underscoring regional tensions. In January, the US said five small Iranian speedboats aggressively approached three US Navy ships in the start and warned they could explode.

Sharia could play part in law: Top UK judge

AFP, London

The head of the judiciary in England and Wales has said that Islamic sharia law could play a part in the legal system.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Nicholas Phillips's comments came after the head of the world's Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, sparked outrage in February by saying Britain would likely adopt parts of the Islamic code.

"There is no reason why sharia principles, or any other religious code, should not be the basis for mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution," Phillips said in a speech at the East London Muslim Centre.

"It must be recognised, however, that any sanctions for a failure to comply with the agreed terms of mediation would be drawn from the laws of England and Wales."

There are already about a dozen sharia courts in Britain which are mainly used to resolve family disputes but they have no formal legal status.

Phillips said there could be "no question" of physical punishments like flogging and stoning being handed down.

He stressed: "So far as the law is concerned, those who live in this country are governed by English and Welsh law and subject to the jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts."

Williams faced calls for his resignation after saying that the adoption of some parts of sharia law alongside the existing legal system "seems unavoidable" in some circumstances.

Phillips defended Williams on the issue, insisting his comments were "not very radical" and saying that the current system "goes a long way towards accommodating the Archbishop's suggestion."

"It is possible in this country for those who are entering into a contractual agreement to agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law," the Lord Chief Justice said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street office said of Phillips's remarks: "We think that British law should be based on British values and determined by the British Parliament."

Indian lefts give July 7 deadline on nuclear deal

Reuters, New Delhi

Communist parties said the government must tell them by Monday if it plans to press ahead with the next step in a controversial civilian nuclear deal with the United States, which they strongly oppose.

Scrambling to avoid snap elections if the left withdraws support over the deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is trying to line up a regional party to secure a parliamentary majority for his Congress party-led ruling coalition.

The communists have threatened to end their backing for the government if it seeks approval for the deal from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the next international move needed to operationalise the pact.

"We wish to know definitely whether the government is proceeding to seek the approval of the safeguards agreement by the board of governors of the IAEA," said Prakash Karat, head of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), reading out a letter addressed to the government. "Please let us know the position by July 7, 2008."

The communist party said it would launch a national campaign from July 14 to explain its opposition to the nuclear deal and what it called "runaway" inflation.

Singh heads to a G8 summit in Japan next week, where he will likely meet U.S. President George W. Bush-the man who shook hands with Singh over the accord at the White House in 2005.

It looks increasingly likely that the prime minister will press ahead with the landmark accord, moving his country's trade and diplomatic relations closer to the West.

Frustrated after four years of stymied reforms due to leftist opposition, Singh now seems to want to secure his legacy before the end of his term, even if some experts say time has run out for U.S. Congress to pass the deal before Bush leaves office.

Mongolia's Democratic Party leader defiant after unrest

AFP, Ulan Bator

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, once a celebratedleader of a peaceful revolution that ended 70 years of communist rule in Mongolia, cuts a defiant figure after being accused of triggering deadly riots. The Democratic Party that he heads refuses to accept the validity of Sunday's elections which his former communist rivals won in a landslide.

Prime Minister Sanj Bayar has blamed him for this week's unrest by making vote-rigging allegations.

'We did not call them, we did not say anything,' Elbegdorj told AFP in an interview when discussing charges that he instigated riots in which five people were killed as thousands took to the streets of the capital, Ulan Bator.

To further back his peaceful credentials, the 45-year-old former journalist referred to the relatively peaceful political environment that he had helped engineer during Mongolia's past 18 years as a democracy.

'No single bullet was fired, no single window was shattered for 18 years. Our people never use violence,' he said, speaking confidently in English at his party headquarters.

Elbegdorj, who has served twice as prime minister, instead laid the blame for the violence on the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), which ruled the nation when it was a Soviet satellite and won the weekend poll.

'They first steal the election, steal votes from the people and they usually change election results,' Elbegdorj said, outlining the methods he believed the former communist MPRP used.

'When there is violence, there is usually force, then they call a curfew and introduce an authoritarian system,' he said, alleging his rivals wanted to bring back an autocratic system by rigging the elections.

Five Indian soldiers, rebel die in clash near Kashmir border

AFP, Srinagar

Five Indian soldiers and a Muslim militant were killed Friday in continuing fighting near the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the army said.

"In fresh fighting today (Friday) five soldiers, including two officers, and a militant were killed," an army spokesman said.

The clash took place in Pathri Behak area in the mountainous district of Kupwara, about 140 kilometres (86 miles) north of Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar.

"The fighting has been raging there since late Monday," the spokesman said, adding in all a dozen militants and six soldiers have died, making it the deadliest series of clashes so far this year in Kashmir.

Soldiers came under heavy fire when they resumed searches to root out more militants near the Line of Control early Friday.

"The operation in the area is still on," the spokesman said.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and funding militants engaged in an 18-year-old insurgency in the Indian part of the scenic Himalayan region. Pakistan denies the charge and says it is doing its best to prevent armed rebels from crossing into Indian Kashmir.

Violence has dropped sharply since the two nuclear-armed neighbours started a peace process in 2004 to resolve all disputes, including Kashmir.

Nobel winner Ebadi warns against war on Iran

AFP, Tehran

Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi warned the West on Thursday against launching a military attack against Iran or imposing economic sanctions over its contested nuclear programme.

"We not only are against military action on Iran but are also against economic sanctions," Ebadi said in a speech in Tehran.

"They would spread destitution in Iran and we will do our best to prevent this disaster occurring," the 2003 Nobel peace prize winner said, according to a transcript of her speech.

Her address marked the formation of a "National Peace Council" of around 70 dissident Iranian politicians, social activists and intellectuals.

The list of people who signed on as founding members of the council included figures like Ibrahim Yazdi, head of the outlawed but tolerated Freedom Movement and Hashem Aghajari, who was sentenced to death but pardoned for apostasy.

Also included is the film director Jafar Panahi, winner of the top prizes at the Berlin and Venice film festivals and Iran's leading female film-maker Rakhshan Bani Etemad.

"We must have a society with a sustainable peace and we should avoid being in a situation where there is no war but also no peace," Ebadi said.

Ebadi's call and the formation of the council come at a time when US President George W. Bush has said that "military options remain on the table" in the five-year nuclear standoff with the West.

UN chief calls on fellow Koreans to do more for world

AFP, Seoul

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged his fellow South Koreans Friday to do more for the world, saying they have a responsibility to help others.

Calling his appeal "a sobering message" for Koreans, Ban said in a speech to parliament that the international community wants his homeland to be more active in solving the world's problems. South Korea's former foreign minister called for more international efforts to fight climate change and poverty, meet development goals and keep peace in the world. "While we Koreans take pride in many achievements, economic and political maturity and democracy, the messagetis that we should do more-much, much more-for the peace and stability and common prosperity of the international community," he said.

He lamented the fact that South Korea ranks low among the members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as a donor nation.

"Personally, I was ashamed as the secretary general (at South Korea's record)," he said, adding that it is time for his country to give back to the world the help it received after the Korean War.

"Korea may not be a great power but certainly we can be a great nation," he said, adding that its people tend to focus on domestic issues and pay less attention to global concerns.

"If Korea is to be a great nation, we must show greatness of our heart and generosity," he said.

Ban emphasised the urgency of addressing climate change, one of his top agenda items at the helm of the United Nations.

McCain woos Catholic, Latino voters on Mexican visit

AFP, Mexico City

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain visited the Basilica of Guadalupe, home to Mexico's most revered icon, a stop likely aimed at Roman Catholics and Mexican-Americans voters in the United States.

The basilica houses a 16th-century icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a picture depicting an apparition of a brown-skinned Virgin Mary. The icon, Mexico's most beloved religious and cultural image, and the basilica is the second most-visited Catholic shrine in the world.

McCain, who arrived here late Wednesday from Colombia, then met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon for talks Thursday on fighting the illegal drug trade.

"McCain recognized the leadership that President Calderon has maintained since the start of his administration in the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking," a Calderon spokesman said after the talks.

A McCain spokesman said the trip was meant to demonstrate the high regard that the Protestant US senator feels for Catholics in both Mexico and the United States. McCain also is hoping to close the gap that his Democratic rival Barack Obama, has opened up among Latino voters.

A Time magazine poll released Thursday showed McCain with a slight, one-point lead over Catholics nationally, 45 percent to 44 percent supporting Obama.

China, Taiwan resume direct flights

AFP, Taoyuan

China and Taiwan resumed regular direct flights Friday for the first time in six decades, ushering in what Beijing called a "new start" in their tense and testy relations.

In the most visible sign yet of a new openness toward the mainland under new Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, the two sides-which split in 1949 after a civil war-welcomed passenger flights directly from each other's territory. "This is a sacred moment," said Liu Shaoyong, the chairman of China Southern Airlines, who piloted the first flight from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou to Taiwan himself.

"Flying over the strait to Taiwan is like coming home," he told a crowd of well-wishers at the airport welcoming ceremony. "It feels good."

The 100 Chinese tourists aboard got the red-carpet treatment on arrival, including jets of water shooting over the plane, to symbolise the cleaning of dusty travellers, as well as a traditional Chinese "lion dance".

"We were lucky to be on the plane," said Wang Yu, a businessman from Zhuhai in southern China. "Many people were fighting for seats on the inaugural flight."

Ties between Taiwan and China have always been better than the public hostility from the two sides has acknowledged, and trade between them last year was more than 100 billion dollars.

But officially, China sees Taiwan as its territory waiting to be reclaimed by force if needed-and the Strait, heavily armed on both sides, has long been one of the world's most dangerous potential military flashpoints.

Pope faces lack of faith in Australia:Survey

AFP, Sydney

Australia is one of the least religious nations in the western world, research showed Friday, as the country prepares to host Pope Benedict XVI and Catholic World Youth Day celebrations this month.

Most Australians -- 52 percent-never or very seldom visit a church, mosque, synagogue or temple for religious reasons, according to an international survey carried out by Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation.

While one in four of Australia's 21 million people classify themselves as deeply religious, 28 percent are not at all religious and another 44 percent say religion does not play a central role in their lives. The Religion Monitor survey is the most extensive and detailed study on the significance of religion in the main cultures of the world, says the Bertelsmann Foundation, a private, non-profit group.

The survey found that of 21 countries surveyed, only four showed less interest in religion than Australia-Russia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

But the pope will not be in a "religious desert" for the celebrations in Sydney from July 15-20, the report says-at 25 percent of the population, Catholics make up the country's biggest faith group.

"On the eve of World Youth Day it is interesting to note the strong religious vitality recorded amongst the nation's youth," Martin Rieger, leader of Bertelsmann Foundation's religious project, said in a statement.