India,
Russia sign protocols for producing missiles
New
Delhi: India and Russia on Thursday signed three protocols
for fresh investments in joint development of Brahmos supersonic
cruise missile and agreed to draft an Intellectual Property
Rights (IPR) accord in four to five months for patenting
weapons systems made in collaborative efforts. The two countries
also decided to work out "mutually acceptable" conditions
on leasing of long-range TU-22 bombers. After three days
of negotiations, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his
Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov announced the decision
to pump in investments in the Brahmos Aerospace joint venture,
paving the way for commercial production of the 290-km range
sea-based supersonic cruise missiles.
However,
the two Ministers were silent on the question of reported
moves to acquire two Russian nuclear submarines. Ivanon
said the two sides had discussed a package deal which also
involved "appropriate projects" for the Navy. Under the
agreement, the Russians would up the stake in the project
from 50 to 60 per cent and, according to experts, it would
enable the project to shore up 50 million dollars (about
Rs 250 crore) to produce the missile and export them to
third countries. With the step-up in investments, Russians
officials said it was proposed to produce 360-370 missiles
per year. India has already announced its intention to induct
the missiles for its warships. The two sides, Mukherjee
said, have also decided to draft an Intellectual Property
Rights (IPR) agreement in four to five months.
Kashmir
is ripe for solution: Musharraf (Go
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Islamabad:
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that long-term
disputes like Kashmir and Palestine are ripe for solution
and cannot be sidelined any longer. Interacting with leading
Argentine media editors in Buenos Aires, Musharraf reaffirmed
that he is still open to having negotiations with India
on Kashmir and refuted charges that he had put forward a
concrete proposal for granting independence to that region.
Asked about Pakistan-India negotiations, Musharraf claimed
that they were going along expected lines, but cautioned
that both Islamabad and New Delhi needed to be very flexible
and sincere if they wanted to reach an agreement. He also
said that there was a dire need for the introduction of
a long-term strategic plan to fight the root causes of terrorism.
Regarding Pakistan's relations with Argentina, he told a
local newspaper that his visit was designed to strengthen
political and economic ties with Argentina. "More than anything,
this is an exploratory visit," he said. "We know little
about one another," the Daily Times quoted him as saying.
Pakistan is interested in buying a $100 million Argentine
communications and observation satellite, he told the newspaper.
The two sides also discussed an Argentine offer of technical
assistance for Pakistan's natural gas projects, among other
business prospects. Both Musharraf and his Argentine counterpart
also reiterated their pledge to fight terrorism. Both were
against increasing the number of permanent members on the
UN Security Council.
Khokrapar-Munnabao
talks begin (Go
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Islamabad:
Senior railway ministry officials of Pakistan and India
have begun talks in Islamabad today on the modalities for
reopening a second rail link between the two countries.
Railway officials of the two sides are to discuss the feasibility
of resuming train services, suspended since 1965, between
Munabao in Rajasthan and Khokrapar in Sindh. Pakistan and
India reopened their only working rail link -- The Samjhauta
Express from Lahore to Attari in Amritsar -- after a two-year
suspension this January. Lajpath Rai Thaper, the Additional
Member (Traffic) in the Railway Board, is leading the Indian
delegation at the talks, while Zaeem Ahmed Chaudhry, the
Secretary of the Pakistan Railway Board, is leading his
team. Before going in for the talks on Thursday, Chaudhry
said he was hopeful the two countries would be able to come
to an understanding on reopening the second rail link. "It
is gift from one country to another, to bring divided families
together. It is a good gesture," he said, apparently referring
to families separated by the partition of the Indian subcontinent
in August 1947. The two-day talks mark the start of back-to-back
meetings between Pakistani and Indian officials throughout
this month on all their disputes, including on Kashmir,
the cause of two of the three wars between the rivals since
independence from Britain. Kashmir will be the main focus
of discussion between the foreign secretaries of the two
countries when they meet on December 27 and 28.
Now,
an Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad (Go
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Hyderabad:
The Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims,
on Thursday cleared plans for the setting up of an international
school of excellence in Andhra Pradesh. The Agha Khan Development
Network would build the school, which is expected to start
functioning from July 2006. The Aga Khan personally inspected
the 50-acre site offered by the state government for the
academy, and later met Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy
to give his nod for setting up the school. To be set up
at an estimated cost of Rs.400 crore, the Aga Khan Academy
for Education would offer education till Class 11. "This
institute of excellence will be an international level school
till 11th standard. We have also decided to start an institute
to train the existing university and technical education
level teachers," Reddy said. The Academy will be set up
under the aegis of Aga Khan Education Services. Founded
in 1967, the Aga Khan Foundation is the principal grant-
making agency for social development within the Shia Ismaili
Imamat. The Aga Khan is its founder and chairman. With a
small staff, a host of co-operating agencies and thousands
of volunteers, the foundation reaches out to vulnerable
populations on four continents, irrespective of their race,
religion, political persuasion or gender. In 1999, it funded
120 projects in 13 countries and spent 88.9 million dollars.
The Aga Khan is the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili
Muslims. Considered a descendant of the Prophet Mohammad,
the 67- year-old is the spiritual leader of an estimated
20 million Shi'ite Ismaili Muslims in 25 countries.
Indian
shares surge to new closing high (Go
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Mumbai:
Shares on the benchmark Bombay index surged past the
6,300-level to a new closing high on Thursday, tracking
global gains and powered by cheaper crude oil prices and
strong foreign fund flows into India. The 30-share Bombay
Stock Exchange index lept above the 6,300- level quickly
today and then hit a record intraday high of 6,335.14 points
before ending 1.62 percent higher at 6,328.43 points. The
index is now up 8 percent this year. But gainers only narrowly
beat losers, 1,019 to 1,005, in active trade of 234 million
shares, reflecting some underlying selling pressure from
domestic funds and retail investors. The 50-issue National
Stock Exchange index rose 1.96 percent at 2,000.45 points,
also a record closing high. Foreign funds bought a record
1.4 billion dollars worth of Indian shares in November,
compared to 876 million dollars in October. Ganesh Shanbag,
senior analyst with the Bombay-based SMS securites, forecast
markets should stablise now. "It is long overdue. A 100-200
points correction is required in this market. Only if the
market corrects and moves forwad, it is a good, healthy
sign in the long run. I think it should happen anytime now
and 100-200 points could be expected before the market takes
off before December," he said. Shanbag said markets also
gained after signs of a potential resolution to a spat between
the Ambani brothers who head the Reliance conglomerate.
"But to add that things have been sorted out to some extent,
an amicable solution has been reached, but that issue has
as of now been taken care of. That issue is not a deterrent
or hindrance in the market. Probably the markets recovered
and even the Reliance stock which fell drastically last
weekend have recovered in the last 3-4 trading sessions.
I think there is a lot of positivity back in the market,
" he said. Reliance Industries Ltd., the top private-sector
refiner, rose 2.6 percent to Rs. 541.8.
Bhajji
scripts 1-0 Test series win against Proteas (Go
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Kolkata:
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took seven crucial wickets
to guide India to an 8-wicket win over South Africa today
in Kolkata. With the first Test having ended in a draw,
India won the Test series 1-0. Harbhajan's 15th five-wicket
haul in his 41st Test helped dismiss the tourists for 222.
To win India required 117 runs and the hosts comfortably
reached the target in the 40th over. For India it was a
Test series win after a gap of two years. Earlier, the "Men
in Blue" had defeated West Indies in 2002. After the victory,
an elated Harbhajan said: "The turning point has been the
two early wickets we got today. Yesterday we had taken five
wickets and the turning point was the wicket of Kallis who
is a very good player and can play on soft tracks. Our batsmen
also performed well." Meanwhile, another highlight of the
day was Anil Kumble emerging as the country's leading wicket
taker. Ntini became his 434th Test victim. The leg-spinner
took a total of three wickets.
