Washington/New York, May 1 (DPA) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will hold the top position of speakers when the UN opens nuclear non-proliferation talks Monday.
But the US said Friday it definitely won’t be meeting him during the talks, even though US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend Monday’s opening.
She will be the highest-ranking US diplomat to attend the talks in 10 years.
“Iran knows what our address is – it’s the P5-plus-1,” quipped the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, at a press briefing. “If Iran has something to say, it knows where to find us.”
As the only head of state attending the talks, Ahmadinejad has claimed top billing of individual country speakers at the General Assembly opening.
He is expected to follow opening remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a representative of the Non-Aligned Movement, for which a nuclear-free world is a major goal.
Clinton is to speak in the afternoon.
Rice was referring to the group that is working towards a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for defying international demands that it stop enriching uranium, a step that could precede nuclear weapons manufacture. The group includes the five permanent members of the Security Council – France, Britain, China, Russia and the US -
and Germany, an added party to the talks.
The sanctions’ talks are expected to absorb a good bit of the sidelines’ talks in New York as more than 180 countries gather to discuss the way forward with the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT.)
Iran has sent its Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki around the globe in recent weeks seeking allies to fend off the proposed sanctions.
Rice said that the sanctions’ discussions are proceeding at a “significant pace and intensity”. China is apparently doing the most foot dragging against the sanctions, insisting on further talks.
“We are working with that sense of urgency. I can’t tell you exactly when it will all be cooked,” she said.
Ellen Tauscher, under secretary of state for arms control, said the US would be seeking at the NPT talks more authority and money for the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“We want a fully-funded IAEA, but one with teeth,” she said.
Tauscher also emphasized the “great value” that US President Barack Obama puts on NPT membership. She referred to Obama’s recent nuclear posture review, which pledged never to use nuclear weapons first against states that comply with non-proliferation treaties.
The new pledge – a first for the US – leaves open a nuclear strike against countries that have signed on to the global non-proliferation treaty but stand accused of violating its terms.
Obama has told the New York Times that the loophole would apply to “outliers” like Iran, which is an NPT member, and North Korea, which has withdrawn from the treaty while exploding two nuclear devices in past years.
New York, Apr 30(ANI): Louisiana’s Indian American Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency after oil spilling from America’s Deepwater Horizon rig is threatening to dwarf the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.
A leaking pipeline is spewing out 210,000 gallons a day into the Gulf of Mexico – five times more than first thought.
Experts fear the spillage will eventually be worse than the Exxon Valdez disaster, as the slick off the coast near New Orleans is already 100 miles long and 45 miles across.
According to reports, it has also started washing ashore at the mouth of the Mississippi River.
U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to use “every single resource at our disposal” to help, including the military.
The White House has even assembled top officials from Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency and announced an aggressive effort to fight the spill.
It is believed that the damage to Louisiana’s bayous, marshes and inlets and its three billion dollar seafood industry is expected to be profound.
“This is worse than an atomic bomb,” The New York Daily News quoted Ricky Robin, a ninth-generation fisherman, as having told WWL-TV.
The disaster began on April 20 when the rig operated by British Petroleum blew up and finally sank 50 miles from the fishing port of Venice. (ANI)
Aligarh, April 30 (IANS) A website on an Islamic reformer, claimed to be the largest digitization work dedicated to any person or institution in the country, was launched Friday by Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) vice-chancellor P.K. Abdul Azis, an official said.
“The website, www.sirsyedtoday.org, has been designed by AMU alumnus Masarrat Ali, who has claimed it is the largest digitization work on any individual or institution in India,” AMU official spokesperson Rahat Abrar told reporters here.
“The website has more than 110,000 pages of historical documents related to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, founder of AMU, and history of the varsity,” he added.
The website was launched at the central hall of Maulana Azad Library of AMU. Aligarh is about 300 km from Lucknow.
Ali, who has designed the website, joined AMU in 1971 and received a gold medal in M.Sc. (Biochemistry) in 1977.
He is the first Indian Muslim who was nominated as an official candidate of US President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party to run for the House of Representatives elections in Texas, a statement issued by the varsity said.
According to Ali, the purpose of the website was to revive the Aligarh Movement. It is his humble tribute to the founder of his alma mater, the statement added.
Washington, April 30 (IANS) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen are among nine Indians who figure in Time magazine’s annual list of 100 most influential people, while Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan tops its 100 Alumnae list.
Manmohan Singh finds himself in the 19th spot in the Leaders list headed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with US president Barack Obama in the fourth place.
As India’s finance minister from 1991 to 1996, Manmohan Singh “released India’s potential for the benefit of its people. Now, as prime minister, he is guiding India into the ranks of the great powers”, wrote PepsiCo’s Indian American chairperson Indra Nooyi.
Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar gets the 13th place among 25 “Heroes” headed by former US president Bill Clinton who is recognised for his work as a fund-raiser and anti-poverty activist.
Writing about Tendulkar’s double century in a One Day International match, new age guru Deepak Chopra says: “To millions of Indians and countless fans around the world, this act, which caps a career of record-breaking feats, arouses a sense of awe.”
“The Alchemist” is the favourite book of Time Alumnae Aishwarya, who lists “certainly my mother and father” as the two people who had the most effect or influence on her.
Sixth placed among heroes, Perumalsamy Namperumalsamy, 70, was recognised for performing cataract surgery at the Aravind Eye Care Hospitals since 1976 and having treated 3.6 million surgeries to date – a new one every 15 minutes.
Indian entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw gets the 16th spot among ‘heroes’ for donating $2 million to support health insurance coverage for 100,000 Indian villagers and another $10 million for creating the 1,400-bed Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Centre in Bangalore.
A paramedic from Toronto, Rahul Singh in 22nd place is recognised for his relief work in Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit the poor Caribbean nation Jan 12. In 1998, Singh founded GlobalMedic to provide disaster relief using volunteer professional emergency workers.
Chetan Bhagat, author of bestsellers, “One Night @ the Call Centre” and “Five Point Someone” is the lone Indian in the list of artists headed by extravagantly outfitted singer Lady Gaga.
“I’ve seen the effect Chetan has on his readers,” writes Academy Award winner Indian composer A.R. Rahman. “He often writes about following your dreams and not bowing to others’ expectations. That isn’t easy in India, where family opinion matters and some professions are regarded as more serious than others.”
Economist Amartya Sen is 20th on the “Thinkers” list. “Occasionally loquacious, often ironic, usually genial, always brilliant,” Sen’s notion of measuring human development is now central to the work of the UN and the World Bank, notes Harvard University history professor, Neil Ferguson.
Indian-American doctor and Harvard professor Atul Gwande is fifth on the list of “thinkers” for his contribution to medicine. “In this historic time for health policy, the need for smart, creative thinkers is greater than ever. Gawande certainly is one and it is equally certain his influence will grow,” wrote former US State Senator Tom Daschle.
Humanitarian worker, Sanjit Bunker Roy’s Barefoot College has trained more than three million people for jobs in the modern world, in buildings so rudimentary they have dirt floors and no chairs, Time said.
“Roy combines humanitarianism, entrepreneurship and education to help people steer their own path out of poverty, fostering dignity and self-determination along the way,” it said.
London, April 30 (IANS) A British woman called a bigot by Prime Minister Gordon Brown snubbed his request to shake hands with her in front of the cameras, her nephew said.
Brown was visiting Rochdale when Gillian Duffy called out to him. As part of the new “real voters” strategy, she was ushered by an aide to speak directly to the prime minister.
After their discussion, Brown turned to a trusted aide and said: “That was a disaster… She was just a sort of bigoted woman who said she used to be Labour.”
Little did Brown realize that he was still wearing a microphone, which recorded everything.
Scandalized, Brown went to meet Duffy and apologised to her. Then, she was asked to step outside and shake the prime minister’s hand after a 40-minute chat.
But the pensioner was so traumatised by the insult that she snubbed his pleas to shake hands for the cameras, Daily Express reported Friday.
“My auntie was asked to go outside and stand on the drive with him. I did not think it was a good idea. We just thought she’d had enough.
“She has accepted his apology, but she is still upset. She is not a bigot, she is a fantastic lady and she was just a bit disappointed that someone could say that to her,” Gillian’s nephew Peter Duffy was quoted as saying.
London, Apr.30 (ANI): Polls published immediately after the third and final debate involving Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative Party leader David Cameron and Liberal Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg suggest Cameron is the winner.
YouGov puts Cameron on 41 percent, Clegg on 32 percent and Brown on 25 percent.
ComRes has Cameron two points ahead of Clegg on 35 percent with Brown trailing in third on 26 percent.
Angus Reids puts Cameron on 37 percent, eight points ahead of Clegg (29 percent) and 14 points ahead of Brown (23 percent).
However, a Populus poll for The Times puts Cameron and Clegg level on 38 percent and Brown on 25 percent.
An ICM poll for The Guardian has Brown in second place on 29 percent, Cameron on 35 percent and Clegg on 27 percent.
Sky News’ Instant Poll of Polls puts Cameron on 38 percent, Clegg on 32 percent and Brown on 26 percent. (ANI)
Washington, April 30 (ANI): An asteroid on the list of potentially dangerous space passed Earth last week at a distance of 1.5 million miles.
The near-Earth asteroid named 2005 YU55 was observed with the Arecibo Telescope’s planetary radar on April 19, 2010, according to Michael Nolan, director of the Arecibo Observatory.
The Arecibo telescope is located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and it is managed by Cornell University on behalf of the National Science Foundation.
Arecibo radar imaging of 2005 YU55 at 25-ft resolution showed that this asteroid is about 400 meters (1,300 feet) in size — about a quarter-mile long — and about twice as large as previously estimated.
This object is on the list of “potentially hazardous asteroids” maintained by the Minor Planet Center, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.
High-precision radar astrometry reduced orbit uncertainties by 50 percent. This improvement eliminated any possibility of an impact with the Earth for the next 100 years, and it was removed from the “Risk Page” maintained by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
After circling the Sun, 2005 YU55 will next approach the Earth to about 0.8 lunar distances on Nov. 8, 2011. It will pose no impact hazard at that time. Robert McMillan of the Spacewatch asteroid detection program discovered the asteroid on December 28, 2005.
President Barack Obama has proposed that NASA’s ‘Near Earth Object Observations’ program be increased from 3.7 million dollars in 2009 to 20.3 million dollars in 2011.
NASA has indicated that it intends to provide support to the Arecibo radar program if that funding remains in the budget.
Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., added 2 million dollars to NASA’s near-Earth object research program in 2010 for support of the Arecibo research work. These funds will offset reduced funding from the National Science Foundation. (ANI)
Washington, April 30 (DPA) A massive crude-oil slick from an exploded rig in the Gulf of Mexico inched closer to the mouth of the Mississippi river late Thursday as the government marshalled resources to protect fragile wetlands.
The estimated 5,000-sq-km slick was spreading faster than expected and could reach the shores of Louisiana as early as Thursday night. It could devastate fisheries, wildlife refuges, bird sanctuaries and tourism in Louisiana as well as Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
The size and speed of the oil slick grew exponentially after energy giant BP Plc, which owned the Deepwater Horizon floating rig, which exploded, confirmed that its exploratory well in the Gulf of Mexico was gushing up to five times the amount of crude oil than had been originally estimated after last week’s blast.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration said the slick was expected to hit the east side of the Mississippi River Delta late Thursday at Pass-A-Loutre, Louisiana, home to a bird sanctuary.
“While BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and cleanup operations, my administration will continue to use every single available resource at our disposal – including, potentially, the Department of Defence – to address the incident,” President Barack Obama said Thursday.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared the leak to be of “national significance”, freeing up federal agencies to get involved.
Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson were to travel to Louisiana Friday to inspect efforts to contain the oil slick.
The estimated rate of leakage from the damaged well was raised to 5,000 barrels a day on Thursday, five times the 1,000 barrels a day previously feared to be spilling, BP said.
Salazar has ordered an “immediate inspection” of all deep-water drilling and pumping platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer for exploration, estimated that drilling a relief well, which would help pump heavy fluid into the well to counteract the pressure, “could take 90 days.”
A siphoning alternative, which would funnel the gushing oil up a pipe to a drill ship, could take two to four weeks to build.
Obama had backed March 31 new drilling for oil and natural gas off parts of the US coastline as part of the solution to the country’s massive energy needs. But the oil spill could now alter those plans.
Washington, April 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and economist Amartya Sen are among nine Indians figuring in Time magazine’s annual list of 100 most influential people while Bollywood sensation Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan tops its 100 Alumnae list.
Manmohan Singh finds himself in the 19th spot in the Leaders list headed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with US president Barack Obama in the fourth place.
As India’s finance minister from 1991 to 1996, Manmohan Singh “released India’s potential for the benefit of its people. Now, as Prime Minister, he is guiding India into the ranks of the great powers,” wrote PepsiCo’s Indian American chairperson Indra Nooyi.
Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar gets the 13th place among 25 “Heroes” headed by former US president Bill Clinton who is recognised for his work as a fund-raiser and anti-poverty activist.
Writing about Tendulkar’s double century in a One Day International match, new age guru Deepak Chopra says: “To millions of Indians and countless fans around the world, this act, which caps a career of record-breaking feats, arouses a sense of awe.”
“The Alchemist” is the favourite book of Time Alumnae Aishwarya, who lists “certainly my mother and father” as the two people who had the most effect or influence on her.
Sixth placed among heroes Dr Perumalsamy Namperumalsamy, 70, was recognised for performing cataract surgery at the Aravind Eye Care Hospitals since 1976 and having treated 3.6 million surgeries to date-a new one every 15 minutes.
Indian entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw gets the 16th spot among ‘heroes’ for donating $2 million to support health insurance coverage for 100,000 Indian villagers and another$10 million for creating the 1,400-bed Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Centre in Bangalore.
A paramedic from Toronto, Rahul Singh in 22nd place is recognised for his relief work in Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit the poor Caribbean nation on Jan 12. In 1998, Singh founded GlobalMedic to provide disaster relief using volunteer professional emergency workers.
Chetan Bhagat, author of bestsellers, “One Night @ the Call Centre” and “Five Point Someone” is the lone Indian in the list of Artists headed by extravagantly outfitted singer Lady Gaga.
“I’ve seen the effect Chetan has on his readers,” writes Academy Award winner Indian composer AR Rahman. “He often writes about following your dreams and not bowing to others’ expectations. That isn’t easy in India, where family opinion matters and some professions are regarded as more serious than others.”
Nobel prize winner economist Amartya Sen is 20th on the “Thinkers” list. “Occasionally loquacious, often ironic, usually genial, always brilliant,” Sen’s notion of measuring human development is now central to the work of the United Nations and the World Bank, notes Harvard University history professor, Neil Ferguson.
Indian-America doctor and Harvard professor Atul Gwande is fifth on the list of ‘thinkers’ for his contribution to medicine. “In this historic time for health policy, the need for smart, creative thinkers is greater than ever. Gawande certainly is one and it is equally certain his influence will grow,” wrote former US State Senator, Tom Daschle.
Humanitarian worker, Sanjit Bunker Roy’s Barefoot College has trained more than 3 million people for jobs in the modern world, in buildings so rudimentary they have dirt floors and no chairs, Time said.
“Roy combines humanitarianism, entrepreneurship and education to help people steer their own path out of poverty, fostering dignity and self-determination along the way,” it said.
Washington, April 30 (DPA) The nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea pose a threat to a key nuclear treaty designed to prevent the spread of atomic weapons, a top US official warned Thursday.
North Korea’s withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003 and Iran’s intent to develop nuclear weapons by masking it as an energy programme undermine the goals of the treaty, said Ellen Tauscher, under secretary of state for arms control.
“The nuclear non-proliferation regime is under great stress and is fraying at the seams,” Tauscher said ahead of UN conference that begins in New York next week for the five-year review of the NPT.
North Korea conducted tests of two nuclear bombs after withdrawing from the NPT. Pyongyang agreed through years of six-nation negotiations to abandon its nuclear programme, but the deal has not been implemented.
Following the test the US and its partners enacted UN Security Council sanctions against the Stalinist state.
President Barack Obama’s administration is working with key European allies to persuade the Security Council to introduce another round of sanctions on Iran, accusing the Islamic republic of refusing to meet its international obligations to come clean on its nuclear activities.
Tauscher warned that North Korea’s and Iran’s pursuit of atomic weapons threaten to unravel the NPT and international efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear armaments.
“This cynical path to a nuclear weapon cannot be allowed to serve as a model for others, otherwise it strikes at the very core bargain of the treaty,” she told a gathering at the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington.
Iran is expected to be a major focus at the UN conference that begins on Monday and runs until May 28. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is heading the American delegation – the highest US representative to attend in 10 years.
Clinton will likely be meeting with her counterparts on the sidelines to win support for additional sanctions on Iran. Iran flatly denies it is pursuing weapons and maintain the programme is solely for producing energy – which is permitted under the NPT.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has requested a visa from the US government so he can attend the event and make his country’s case.
Arab governments participating will likely urge the world to act against Israel for its unacknowledged possession of nuclear weapons. Tauscher said the United States, Israel’s closest ally, stands by a 1995 Security Council resolution calling for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.
She said the best way to achieve that goal is to reach a “lasting and just peace in the Middle East”.
