April

INTERNATIONAL

China ready to work on trilateral cooperation

• China would like to address the issue of trade imbalance and is willing to provide greater opportunities to India for exports, its Ambassador in New Delhi Le Yucheng said.

•  “China takes the Indian concern of trade imbalance very seriously,” he said in a written interview, which was followed by an interaction.

•  Asserting that Beijing was willing to work with India to conduct trilateral cooperation involving other South Asian nations, Mr. Le said there was no basis to the fear that India would be “encircled” by China.1

Japan could join AIIB by June

•  Bowing to pressure from its powerful business groups, Japan could join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in the next few months, deserting the United States — Tokyo’s foremost post-war ally, says a media report.

• The Financial Times , quoting Japan’s Ambassador to China, Masato Kitera, reported that Tokyo would sign up to the AIIB by June, missing the March 31 deadline for applying as a founder-member of the lender.

•  “The business community woke up late, but now they have mounted a big campaign for the AIIB which appears to be very effective,” Mr. Kitera was quoted as saying.

•  But in Tokyo, the FT report evoked an ambivalent response. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday that the Ambassador had not made any such comment and Japan’s position on the AIIB was unchanged.

•  “I have been informed that it is not true that Ambassador Kitera made such remarks forecasting [Japan’s] participation,” Mr. Suga told a news conference. But he added that, “I think it’s impossible for Japan to take part today,” not ruling out a reversal of position later.

 Reuters quoted an unnamed Japanese government source as saying, “We have not ruled out the possibility of either joining or staying out.”

•  In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said that Japan was welcome to join the bank, but Tokyo would have to take the call.

•  “As for whether or not Japan is willing to participate, we have previously said that we welcome all countries to proactively participate,” she observed.

•  She added China would respect the wishes of any country “whether or not they join or when they decide to join”.

•  According to FT , a group of Mitsubishi Group executives based in China have offered support during their meeting this month with Jin Liqun, who has been designated to run the infrastructure bank.

•  The Japanese find Mr. Jin a familiar face because of his position as a senior official at the U.S. and Japan-backed Asian Development Bank (ADB)

•  The Japanese industrial houses see participation as beneficial, as the AIIB will be at the heart of building infrastructure in the region, offering substantial business opportunities. Besides, collaboration with the Chinese could help mend frayed ties between Beijing and Tokyo, highlighted by a dispute on a group of islands in the East China Sea.

•  Analysts say that over time, the U.S. could change its position towards the new bank. However, visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew, said in Beijing that Washington still had its concerns about the standards that the AIIB would maintain.

•  “We very much welcome China’s increased participation in infrastructure investment, and the concerns we’ve raised about the needs for standards continue,” Mr. Lew said. He added: “The initial decisions of what kinds of projects are invested in will obviously be a very important signal as to how they’ll proceed.”

Indian-American's sentencing sparks abortion law debate

•  The stiff 30-year prison sentence doled out to an Indian-American woman for female foeticide and child maltreatment has sparked a debate in the United States on how prosecutors are using laws that were designed to protect expecting mothers to instead prosecute women for terminating a pregnancy.

•  Purvi Patel, 33, was sentenced to 30 years in prison with 20 years executed, 10 suspended, charged with neglect of a dependent. She will also serve five years probation.

•  For the foeticide charge, she was sentenced to 6 years in prison, to run concurrently with her neglect of a dependent sentence, ABC News reported.

•  Reproductive rights activists believe the sentencing of Patel, who lives in Indiana, highlights how U.S. prosecutors are misusing of the laws protecting expecting mothers.

•  “While no woman should face criminal charges for having an abortion or experiencing a pregnancy loss, the cruel length of this sentence confirms that foeticide and other measures promoted by anti-abortion organisations are intended to punish not protect women,” said Lynn Paltrow Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) in a statement

•  Ms. Patel is not the first woman in the U.S. to have been arrested and charged with a crime for terminating her own pregnancy or based on allegations that she had attempted to do so, it said.

•  This case, however, is the first time any woman has been charged, convicted, and sentenced for the crime of foeticide for having attempted to end her own pregnancy, it said.

•  Ms. Patel comes from a family of Indian immigrants who settled in Granger, Indiana, a suburb of South Bend.

• Ms. Patel in July 2013 went to a hospital emergency room suffering from heavy vaginal bleeding. She denied that she had been pregnant, but eventually told doctors that she had miscarried and placed the stillborn foetus in a bag and placed the bag in a dumpster.

• Ms. Patel’s defence attorney argued that the prosecution could not simultaneously accuse her of killing her unborn child and of abandoning a living one.

•  But Indiana prosecutor Ken Cotter said that a person can be found guilty of foeticide even if the foetus survives, and Judge Elizabeth Hurley ultimately rejected the defence’s argument. A jury found Ms. Patel guilty on both counts in early February, though her attorney plans to appeal the verdict.

•  At the sentencing, Ms. Hurley said that Ms. Patel was in a position to legally end her pregnancy, but opted for an illegal method, and later “ensured that baby’s death by placing him in the trash can with the other bathroom trash".

•  Activists like Sara Ainsworth, director of legal advocacy at National Advocates for Pregnant Women, expressed concerns that women will be less likely to seek out doctors in cases of abortions or miscarriages.

•  David Orentlicher, a medical ethics specialist and former Indiana state representative, echoed that fear.

•  “Any time a pregnant woman does something that can harm a foetus, now she has to worry, ‘Am I going to be charged with attempted foeticide?’”

Arkansas Governor rejects ‘religious freedom law’

•  Republican Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson rejected a religion bill he had said he would sign into law, reversing course after a firestorm of criticism assailing such legislation as discriminating against gays and lesbians.

•  In a news conference at the Capitol in Little Rock, Mr. Hutchinson said he was sending the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) back to the Republican-controlled legislature to be rewritten to better balance tolerance for diversity and protections of religious freedom.

•  The Governor said his own son had asked him to veto it, adding a personal element to the intense pressure to reject the bill he had already faced from businesses such as Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world’s biggest retailer.

•  While Mr. Hutchinson spoke, scores of protesters outside waved the rainbow flag of the gay rights movement.

•  Mr. Hutchinson’s reversal came a day after Indiana Governor Mike Pence, also a Republican, said he was sending his State’s new RFRA back for the same reason. Mr. Pence faced national outrage after he signed Indiana’s bill into law last week.

•  Republican lawmakers in his State met with leaders of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to see how they could modify the law to protect their community from potential discrimination.

•  The rewritten law could be ready, said Tory Flynn, spokeswoman for Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma.

•  Twenty U.S. States and the federal government have RFRAs, which allow individuals to sue the government if they believe their First Amendment religious rights have been violated. But those in Indiana and Arkansas go further, allowing lawsuits between private parties. That raised the possibility that businesses such as florists or photographers could use the law as a defence if they are sued for refusing to provide services for same-sex weddings. Texas is the only other State with a similar provision.

•  Mr. Hutchinson said he was asking lawmakers to bring the Arkansas RFRA in line with the federal one, which does not include the language on lawsuits between private parties.

•  Critics see the crafting of the bills in Arkansas and Indiana as a pushback against the expansion of gay-marriage acts to most States last year.

•  The U.S. State of Arkansas has followed closely on the heels of Indiana to pass a “religious freedom” law despite criticism that it effectively legalises anti-LGBT discrimination by commercial businesses and other organisations.

•  This week Arkansas’ Republican-led House passed Bill 1228, which prohibits government officials from infringing on a person’s religious beliefs without a “compelling” interest.

•  Although at least 19 U.S. States and the federal government have religious freedom laws, anti-discrimination laws in either State do not cover sexual orientation.

•  After Indiana’s Republican Governor Mike Pence signed the religious freedom bill into law last week critics hit out at the legislation saying it could allow a company to deny any individual a service, based on a religious belief, and these circumstances could be used as a viable legal defence.

•  A frequently invoked example highlighting the potentially discriminatory outcomes of the laws in the two States is of a baker refusing a wedding cake order from a gay couple.

•  Even as Arkansas’ bill awaits approval by Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson, who has thus far indicated that he is of mind to sign it into law, a backlash against the law in Indiana garnered support from industry heavyweights such as Apple CEO Tim Cook and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. Mr. Cook tweeted about the bills in both States, “Apple is open for everyone. We are deeply disappointed in Indiana’s new law and calling on Arkansas Gov. to veto the similar #HB1228.”

•  In a statement, Mr. McMillon urged Governor Hutchinson to “veto this legislation,” adding that the law would “undermine the spirit of inclusion” in the State and “does not reflect the values we proudly uphold.”

•  Following the outcry regarding Indiana’s law, including criticism from the White House that it “flies in the face of [American] values,” Governor Pence and his colleagues in the legislature argued the bill was similar to a 1993 federal law signed by former President Bill Clinton.

•  White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest refuted this claim, arguing, “Governor Pence falsely tried to suggest the law is the same as the 1993 law. That is not true.”

Indian entrepreneurs charged with insider trading in U.S.

•  Two Indian-origin entrepreneurs have been charged by a top U.S. regulator with insider trading in connection with the 2013 proposed acquisition of American company Cooper Tire and Rubber by India’s Apollo Tyres.

•  Amit Kanodia of Massachusetts (a 47-year-old entrepreneur and private equity investor) and Iftikar Ahmed of Connecticut (a general partner at a venture capital firm) have been charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a complaint filed in U.S. district court in Connecticut.

•  The SEC is seeking to have Mr. Kanodia and Mr. Ahmed return their allegedly ill-gotten gains with interest and pay civil monetary penalties.

•  While the acquisition of Cooper by Apollo was never completed, the SEC complaint said that Cooper Tire’s stock price jumped 41 per cent when the acquisition was announced in June, 2013.

•  The SEC alleges that Mr. Kanodia tipped Mr. Ahmed and another friend prior to the acquisition announcement after learning of the deal from his wife, who was Apollo’s general counsel at the time, more than two months before the merger was announced

•  Mr. Kanodia shared the highly confidential information with Mr. Ahmed who began buying significant amounts of Cooper Tire stock and options.

•  Once news of the deal was public, Mr. Ahmed immediately liquidated his Cooper Tire holdings, reaping more than $1.1 million of the ill-gotten profits, according to the complaint.

Subway firm under fire over censorship of ‘Christian’ ad

•  RATP, the firm operating the Paris subway, and its advertising agency, Metrobus, have come under fire for apparently pushing France’s beloved secularity too far with their refusal to display an ad with the mention “Christians of the East.”

•  French music group “The Priests” had planned to advertise its upcoming June concert in Paris with a poster sporting a banner that said proceeds would go toward the cause of persecuted Christians.

•  But the state-owned firm ordered the group’s producers to take off the banner, pointing in a statement to the public service’s requirement for neutrality “in the context of an armed conflict abroad.”

Turkey blocks social media websites

•  Turkey blocked access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube over the publication of images of a Turkish prosecutor killed by leftist militants last week.

•  Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz and his two captors linked to Marxist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) were killed after a shootout at a courthouse in Istanbul.

State of Palestine refugee camp ‘beyond inhumane’

•  Palestinian fighters clashed with Islamic State (IS) militants in a heavily contested Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital as a United Nations official described the situation in the embattled camp as “beyond inhumane.”

•  The fighting in Yarmouk began after IS muscled into the camp, marking the extremists’ deepest foray yet into Damascus.

•  The heavy clashes that have raged since then have added yet another layer of misery for the nearly 18,000 Yarmouk residents .

•  The deteriorating situation prompted the U.N. Security Council to call an emergency meeting to discuss Yarmouk.

Malaysia passes tough anti-terror law

•  Malaysia was accused of waging an assault on civil rights as its Parliament passed a tough anti-terrorism law aimed at countering Islamic militancy.

•  The new law allows authorities to detain terrorism suspects without charge for extended periods. The political Opposition and legal and rights groups had urged its withdrawal, saying it could be used by the long-ruling government to stifle political dissent.

Saudi-led strikes target south Yemen

•  Saudi-led coalition jets bombed a military installation in southern Yemen as local tribes battled Shia rebels and their allies in the area, seizing a makeshift camp and weapons, Yemeni military officials said.

•  The fighting in southern Ibb province came as UNICEF warned that more than 100,000 people have fled their homes in different provinces in Yemen seeking safety from the violence.

•  According to UNICEF, at least 74 children have also been killed since the fighting between Yemeni rivals intensified and the coalition air strike campaign began two weeks ago.

•  A medical volunteer in the Maytam district in Ibb said the air strike on a Republican Guards’ camp wounded at least 25 troops. The Guards’ unit is loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh who is allied with the Shia rebels in their power grab in Yemen.

•  About 50 km south of the camp, local tribes battled with Huthis who had set up a makeshift camp in the area, driving the rebels away and seizing their weapons, a local resident said.

•  Civilians have paid a heavy toll for the violence that mushroomed from an internal power struggle into a regional war. Last week, the U.N. said more than 500 civilians have been killed in the last two weeks.

Need for a complete model to measure growth: SPI official

•  Unlike GDP, a country cannot boost its SPI score just by improving the lives of the most well off, or even the majority. At any level of GDP per capita, countries with lower poverty tend to have higher social progress, the SPI shows.

•  “Richer countries do better on the SPI as more GDP in general makes lives better but that is not the whole story…there is good correlation between GDP and social progress but not perfect correlation as other things matter…and therefore there is need for a complete model not just a GDP methodology,” says executive director of the Social Progress Index, Michael Green.

•  As the GDP is increasingly seen as an adequate measure of only economic progress but not overall well-being, the World Bank, OECD and European Commission are in discussions to adopt measures of social progress as an indicator of inclusive growth.

•  “Time is right for new thinking…The inequality debate over the last ten years has showed that there is need to bring inclusion on board. Kuznets when he created the GDP knew and said it was not perfect,” Dr. Green says. The concept of GDP was introduced in the 1930s by economist Simon Kuznets, who warned at the time that “the welfare of a nation can… scarcely be inferred from a measurement of a national income” such as GDP.

•  The European Commission is set to create an SPI for the regions of the European Union. Paraguay is using it to guide an inclusive national development plan for 2030. Cities across Latin America, such as Rio de Janeiro and Bogota, are setting up SPIs to guide urban renewal strategies.

•  World Bank, OECD and European Commission planning to adopt social progress index.

Obama, Castro to meet at Americas summit

•  U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuba’s Raul Castro will have a historic face-to-face encounter at the Summit of the Americas this week, breaking the ice after decades of glacial relations.

•  The image of U.S. and Cuban Presidents sitting across from each other at the 35-nation summit for the first time after decades of Cold War-era animosity will be the highlight of the gathering in Panama.

•  While the meeting will mark a major milestone — no Cuban leader has attended a Summit of the Americas — the two sides have yet to reopen embassies and lingering differences have been evident at negotiations that started in January.

•  Cuba’s inclusion on a list of state sponsors of terrorism has been a major sticking point in negotiations to restore full diplomatic ties, which were downgraded back in 1961.

•  The White House indicated this week that the State Department was in the “final stages” of deciding whether to recommend Havana’s removal from the list. Congress would then have 45 days to decide whether to override Mr. Obama’s decision.

•  “We’re trying to get it done quickly,” a U.S. State Department official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

•  In another sign of warming ties, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State John Kerry could meet with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on the sidelines of the summit.

Iran seeks to deepen relationship with China

•  Barely had the ink dried on the nuclear agreement signed in Switzerland that a senior energy delegation from Iran arrived in China, opening the first chapter to integrate Tehran into the Eurasian economic core.

•  Iran’s Oil Minister, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, headed for China on Wednesday, accompanied by Amir-Hossein Zamani-Nia, an accomplished former nuclear negotiator, and now the Minister’s deputy for international affairs and trading.

•  Mohsen Qamsari, the director for international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), is also part of the delegation, Iran’s Press TV reported.

•  The visit it taking place in anticipation of the lifting of sanctions against Iran, in case the final nuclear deal between Tehran and the six global powers is signed in June.

•  China, which has been one of the mainstays of the Iranian economy after strict sanctions were imposed against Iran, is apparently being prioritised for economic engagement, ahead of Tehran’s possible entry into the global mainstream. Iranian media quoted Mr. Zamani-Nia as saying that China’s investment in oil and gas projects in Iran will be discussed during the talks.

• The NIOC officials as well as senior Iranian oil managers are expected to meet officials of Unipec, which is the trading arm of Chinese refiner Sinopec, and state trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp.

•  “China has a number of big projects in Iran, and we’re going to polish and resolve questions about those projects,” Mr. Zamani-Nia observed.

•  The visit has been suitably prefaced by Iran’s entry into the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

•  The new lender is expected to play a central role in implementing China’s Silk Road initiatives, meant to integrate Eurasian economies as part of an independent new structural alignment.

•  The Islamic Republic, along with the United Arab Emirates, has joined at a time when the run-up to the formation of AIIB triggered a revolt within the post-War Atlantic Alliance.

Hillary set to announce bid for White House

•  The former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, will announce, her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination race in 2016, according to sources close to her campaign here.

•  Speculation on when and how Ms. Clinton would unveil her intentions has reached fever pitch in Washington and across the nation, even as several prominent Republicans such as Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky have thrown their hat in the ring.

Syrian peace talks in Moscow end in disarray

•  Talks between the Syrian government and the opposition ended in acrimony with the parties blaming each other for the breakdown.

•  The Russian mediator of the weeklong meeting, Vitaly Naumkin, said the parties agreed on a set of principles for a political settlement, including the condemnation of foreign support for terrorist groups, a call for preserving state institutions and lifting economic sanctions.

•  But some opposition representatives later reversed their support for the initially approved document because of a failure to agree on moves to improve mutual trust, such as prisoners’ release, said Mr. Naumkin, head of the Moscow-based Institute for Eastern Studies.

•  Moscow arranged the negotiations in a bid to raise its international profile at a time of bitter tensions with the West over Ukraine. The meeting followed the first round of Moscow-hosted talks in January.

•  The main Western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, refused to attend the Moscow talks amid deep distrust of Russia’s intentions. Bashar Jaafari, Syria’s U.N. envoy who represented the Syrian government in the negotiations, sought to cast them as a success, hailing the initially agreed document.

Human chain marks 100th week of Bagmati clean-up

•  Over one lakh people joined hands to form a human chain to mark the 100th week of the Bagmati Cleaning Mega Campaign.

• Thousands of people began trickling in early in the morning to form the chain over a 28-km-stretch from Sundarijal to Chobhar in the capital, along the banks of the river. Vice-president Parmanand Jha, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) chairman K.P. Oli, and UCPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamala Dahal were among the participants.

•  People from all walks of life, including leaders of political parties, ministers, bureaucrats, members of civil society and the business community took part in the human chain.

•  At Sundarijal, Chief Secretary Lila Mani Paudyal — the man credited with conceiving and spearheading the campaign — read out a public oath to keep the river clean. Mr. Paudyal began the campaign to clean the Bagmati, considered sacred by Hindus and one of the dirtiest rivers in the country, on May 18, 2013.

•  “This has demonstrated that no goal is impossible if we are committed to achieving it. The campaign will inspire Nepal to maintain a clean environment, peace, democracy and development,” said Mr. Koirala, at Tilganga section of the river, close to the Pashupatinath temple.

•  According to reports, Mr. Dahal said the spirit of unity displayed during the campaign would inspire the Constitution-writing process.

Malta votes for bird hunting

•  Malta has voted in a referendum to continue the controversial tradition of spring hunting in which birds migrating across the Mediterranean are killed before they can breed, preliminary results showed.

•  The issue has stirred passions for years in the island nation, with supporters defending it as a longstanding custom and opponents attacking what they see as a cruel practice that often flouts the law.

Obama’s Cuba shift opens new era in ties with the region

•  The historic meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro before the Summit of the Americas closed provided the U.S. and Latin America with an opportunity to move beyond a history of grievances and mistrust and set a course of closer cooperation.

•  The conciliatory tone was set by Mr. Castro, who joked that since Cuba had been barred from the previous summits he was entitled to speak well beyond the eight minutes allotted to each of the 30-plus heads of state in attendance.

•  “Since you owe me six summits when you excluded me, six times eight is 48,” he said to laughter. While much of Mr. Castro’s meandering remarks consisted of condemnation of U.S. aggression, the high point came when the aging Cuban leader, in an abrupt about face, professed admiration for Mr. Obama, saying he had read his two memoirs and was convinced that he was an “honest man” who hadn’t forgotten his humble roots.

•  “I have told President Obama that I get very emotional talking about the revolution,” Mr. Castro said, noting that Obama wasn’t even born when the U.S. imposed sanctions on the communist island. “I apologise to him because President Obama had no responsibility for this.” The two leaders later sat down for the first meeting between Cuban and American heads of state since before the 1959 revolution that deposed Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista.

•  Even Mr. Maduro eased up, forgoing a threat to deliver a petition signed by 10 million Venezuelans calling on Obama to repeal the sanctions. Instead, as what he called the “Summit of the Truth” was closing, he also briefly spoke with Mr. Obama in a private exchange that Mr. Maduro said could open the door to meaningful dialogue between the two nations.

•  The U.S. and Latin American leaders avoided a final joint declaration. But the mood was considerably warmer than at the last summit in Colombia in 2012, which ended with many leaders saying they would never hold another with the U.S. unless Cuba was included.

•  In another small thaw, Ms. Rousseff announced she was accepting an invitation to visit to the White House, a trip she’d scrapped in 2013 after revelations of NSA spying on her private communications.

•  The mood was considerably warmer than at the last summit in Colombia in 2012.

Syrian regime used chemical weapons: HRW

•  Eyewitness accounts and evidence collected from northwestern Syria “strongly” suggest regime forces dropped toxic chemicals on civilians several times last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

•  HRW said the chemicals appeared to have been packed into crude explosives-filled barrels that were dropped by military helicopter on rebel-held areas during heavy fighting for Idlib.

•  “Evidence strongly suggests that Syrian government forces used toxic chemicals in several barrel bomb attacks in Idlib governorate between March 16 and 31, 2015,” it said.

•  It called on the U.N. Security Council to investigate what would be a breach of both its own resolutions and Damascus’s obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. HRW said it had investigated six reported attacks in Idlib and villages outside.

•  A Syrian security official said these were “lies” that the rebels spread to “explain their failures to their funders.”

•  ‘Evidence suggests that Syrian government forces used toxic chemicals in Idlib between March 16 and 31’.
  ‘Red Corner’ notice against Tarique

•  The Interpol has issued a ‘red corner’ notice for the arrest of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Tarique Rahman, who has been in exile in London for more than six years.

•  The notice was issued for the arrest of Tarique, senior vice chairman of the party and son of Khaleda Zia, on the charge of murder and explosion of hand grenade in an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004.

•  The Interpol ‘most wanted’ list has carried Tarique’s picture with details, saying Bangladesh is seeking him to stand trial in the case.

•  The August 21, 2004 grenade attack left 24 leaders and activists of the Awami League killed and nearly 200 badly injured in front of the party’s Bangabandhu Avenue central office.

White paper on Tibet denounces ‘middle way’

•  The Chinese government has issued a white paper on Tibet, which rejected the “middle way” path advocated by the Dalai Lama.

•  Titled “Tibet’s Path of Development Is Driven by an Irresistible Historical Tide”, the document observes that rather than pursuing autonomy, the “middle way” of

Dalai Lama is a cover for gaining independence.

•  Xinhua reported that the “middle way” negates a sound developmental path and is an attempt to establish a “state within a state” on Chinese territory as an interim step towards the ultimate goal of full independence.

•  The white paper states that in tune with the improvement of relations between China and the United States in late 1970s, Dalai Lama’s group shifted its attempts from achieving open independence to achieving disguised independence by cloaking them with what is called the “middle way.”

•  The document counselled that, “The only sensible alternative is for the Dalai Lama and his supporters to accept that Tibet has been part of China since antiquity, to abandon their goals of dividing China and seeking independence for Tibet, and to begin to act in the interests of Tibet and the country at large.”

•  The government said that the Dalai Lama and his supporters had little understanding of modern Tibet and, instead, held “a sentimental attachment to the old theocratic feudal serfdom”.

•  An e-mailed response from Dharamsala , where Dalai Lama lives in exile said that the “middle way Policy seeks genuine autonomy within the framework of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China which is a win-win proposition for all parties and one lauded throughout the world including various governments”.

Pak. test fires ballistic missile

•  Pakistan successfully test fired a new ballistic missile which is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads up to a distance of 1,300 km, bringing many Indian cities under its range.

•  The launch of intermediate-range Ghauri missile conducted by a Strategic Missile Group of the Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) was aimed at testing the operational and technical readiness of the command, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

•  The successful launch has been commended by President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

India among AIIB’s founder-members

•  India and many influential western nations are among the 57 founder members of the $50 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), while the U.S. and Japan stayed away from the China-backed multilateral lender, according to the final list of members released .

•  Though the deadline for founding membership application has expired, the bank will continue to accept new members, China’s Vice Finance Minister Shi Yaobin said.

•  Backing the Chinese initiative, India was one of the first countries to have signed up for the bank.

New visa scheme for tourists from Sri Lanka

•  India has launched e-tourist Visa Scheme (eTV) aimed at making visa facility easier for India-bound Sri Lankans.

•  Those Sri Lankans holding ordinary passports can avail themselves of the facility, which came into effect coinciding with the Tamil and Sinhala New Year Day. Applicants need to go to indianvisaonline.gov.in and apply, according to a release of the Indian High Commission issued. This will be in addition to the existing system of visa services wherein applications for most of the categories are being processed through a private agency.

•  The launch of the scheme follows the announcement made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Colombo last month.

•  Visas to be issued under the new scheme will be for single-entry and valid for only 30 days’ stay from the date of arrival in India.

•  Entry into India must be through any of the nine designated airports. A fee of $ 60 will be levied per person for the new scheme. Asked about the expected increase in the number of tourists from Sri Lanka, an official of the High Commission replied that “we are in the test mode.” However, the fee under the new arrangement is about four times that of the existing system. The official acknowledges this but points out that the eTV scheme is “hassle free.”

India factor in Silk Road project to temper Beijing-Islamabad ties

•  India has acquired fresh leverage in its ties with China, which is seeking New Delhi’s cooperation to fulfil its aspirations to develop the critically important Silk Road blueprint.

•  China is expected to finalise with Pakistan a deal for eight diesel-electric submarines during President Xi Jinping’s visit next week. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, however, has said New Delhi has the ability to match the proposed acquisitions by Islamabad.

•  “I do not see it as a big problem because we will have enough submarines by the time Pakistan gets these eight. By the time they get the deliveries, we can manufacture 15-20 submarines,” he said in an interview.

•  But analysts say the devil would be in the detail, for Indian security interests could be gravely affected if China cooperates with Pakistan to turn the submarines into platforms for a second nuclear-strike capability.

•  Reports in Bloomberg have quoted Iskander Rehman of the Washington-based Atlantic Council as saying that Pakistani naval commanders may want to follow Israel’s example of equipping conventional submarines with nuclear-tipped missiles.

•  Pakistan formed the Naval Strategic Force Command Headquarters in 2012, which would be in charge of the “nation’s second-strike capability,” a statement on a Pakistan military website had said.

•  Despite the special relationship between China and Pakistan, observers say that India has acquired fresh leverage in its ties with Beijing, which is seeking New Delhi’s cooperation to fulfil its aspirations to develop the critically important Silk Road blueprint.

•  Some Chinese academics in government-linked think tanks say that China is wary that the United States in the Western Pacific, India in the Indian Ocean, and Russia in Central Asia could be possible impediments to the “belt and road” initiative, a coinage that encompasses China’s plan to develop the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century MSR.

•  Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China, there appears to be greater sensitivity in Beijing to India’s concerns regarding terrorism that originates from Pakistan. In a conversation with a group of Indian journalists, Hu Shisheng, of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, stated that, “India’s concerns over terrorism will be addressed in a more constructive way.”

•  However, he pointed out that “China and Pakistan have been undergoing very close anti-terror cooperation,” especially to safeguard the Gwadar-linked economic corridor — an observation that reflects Beijing’s emerging dilemma of striking a balance between China’s “all-weather” ties with Pakistan and a rapidly maturing relationship with India, under President Xi’s watch.

IS video purports to show killing of Ethiopians in Libya

• A video released by the Islamic State group appears to show the killing of two different groups of captured Ethiopian Christians by the extremist group’s Libyan affiliates.

•  The 29-minute online video purports to show militants holding two groups of captives. It says one group is held by an IS affiliate in eastern Libya known as Barka Province and the other by an affiliate in the south calling itself the Fazzan Province.

•  A masked fighter brandishing a pistol delivers a long statement, saying Christians must convert to Islam or pay a special tax prescribed by the Quran.

•  The video then switches between footage of the captives in the south being shot dead and the captives in the east being beheaded on a beach.

•  It was not immediately clear who the captives were or when they were captured. It was also not clear how many captives were killed.

•  The video bore the official logo of the IS media arm Al-Furqan and resembled previous videos released by the extremist group, including one in February in which IS militants in Libya beheaded 21 captured Egyptian Christians on a beach.

•  The Islamic State group has been able to gain a foothold amid the chaos in Libya, where two governments backed by rival alliances of militias are battling each other as well as extremist groups.

•  The Islamic State group is also advancing in Iraq, where the extremists captured three villages near the city of Ramadi in the western Anbar province and were locked in heavy clashes with Iraqi troops.

•  More than 90,000 people have fled the Islamic State group’s advance in Anbar, a United Nations humanitarian agency said .

Mediterranean disaster: boat captain faces charges

•  The Tunisian captain of the migrant boat in which 800 people are feared to have drowned is set to be charged with mass murder over the Mediterranean's deadliest disaster in decades.

•  Prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Catania said on Tuesday they believed Mohammed Ali Malek (27) was responsible for steering mistakes and the reckless overcrowding which led to the horrifying shipwreck off Libya.

•  He will appear before a judge along with crew member and Syrian national Mahmud Bikhit (25), who was also arrested in a probe into a catastrophe that has evoked chilling comparisons with the slave trade and allegations of callous disregard on the part of European governments.

•  The captain was questioned by investigators on Tuesday after being arrested on suspicion of multiple homicide, causing a shipwreck and aiding illegal immigration. Bikhit faces potential charges on the latter count.

•  Hundreds of the victims, including an unknown number of children, will have died in hellish circumstances having been locked in the hold or the middle deck of the 20-metre (66-foot) boat which keeled over in pitch darkness after colliding with a Portuguese container ship answering its distress call.
  NYT’s Ebola coverage wins Pulitzer

•  The New York Times won three prestigious Pulitzer Prizes and a St. Louis newspaper took the breaking news photography award for its coverage of racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.

•  The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, won the coveted award for public service journalism for an investigative series on why South Carolina is among the deadliest States for women in the country.

•  The New York Times staff shared the prize for international reporting for its coverage of the deadly Ebola epidemic in West Africa, announced the Pulitzer committee at Columbia University in New York.

•  The paper’s Eric Lipton took the prize for investigative reporting on the influence of lobbyists.

•  A freelance photographer for the Times , Daniel Berehulak, won the feature photography award for what the committee called his “gripping, courageous” Ebola coverage.

•  A Pulitzer prize came a bit too late for Rob Kuznia (39), who had to quit journalism because it didn’t pay enough. LA Observed, a news website which contacted Mr. Kuznia after the prestigious award was announced, reported that he quit journalism last year and now works as a publicist for the USC Shoah Foundation — an organisation dedicated to documenting eyewitness accounts from the Holocaust and other genocides.

Emphasis on Gwadar-Kashgar economic corridor

•  China catapulted itself as Pakistan’s unrivalled partner, riding on a string of mega deals, mainly focussed on developing the Gwadar-Kashgar economic corridor — a passage that would allow Beijing strategic access to the Indian Ocean.

•  Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif signed agreements worth $28 billion, which nearly equals the amount that Islamabad has received in a decade from the United States in support of its war in Afghanistan.

•  The bulk of this amount is being spent on the development of the 3,000 km China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which will host roads, railways, energy pipelines and industrial parks. Pakistan says China will invest up to $37 billion in energy projects that would generate 16,400 MW of power.

•  Concessional loans will fund infrastructure projects worth $10 billion. China wants to develop the corridor as one of the arteries that head out of its restive province of Xinjiang, which can then access the markets of South Asia, West Asia and Africa.

•  This is possible on account of Gwadar’s location on the tri-junction of these lucrative geographic zones. China is also investing heavily in Xinjiang as a gateway to Central Asia and Europe as part of the Eurasian Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB), President Xi’s signature “belt and road” initiative.

•  Though CPEC will pass through a lawless, insurgency-prone zone, Pakistan has promised to counter it by deciding to deploy a Special Security Division, consisting of nine battalions of the Army and six battalions of the civilian forces. These troops are meant to ensure the safety of the Chinese workers who are expected to arrive in strength in the area.

•  During the visit, Mr. Xi met the chiefs of Pakistan’s armed forces, but there was no official word about the widely anticipated $6 billion submarine deal that the two countries were expected to finalise during his stay.

California Assembly describes 1984 riots as “genocide”

•  The California State Assembly has passed a resolution describing the 1984 riots as “genocide and recognised the responsibility of the Indian government in the alleged rape, torture and murder of thousands of Sikhs across India”.

•  Co-authored by Sacramento area assembly members Jim Cooper, Kevin McCarty, Jim Gallagher and Ken Cooley, the resolution states “government and law enforcement officials organised, participated in, and failed to intervene to prevent the killings.”

•  Further remarks declared that the atrocities were a “genocide” since it “resulted in the intentional destruction of many Sikh families, communities, homes, and businesses,” said the American Sikh Political Action Committee.

•  “Although we cannot change the horror of the events of 1984, as an Assembly member representing families of genocide victims, I felt it was important that we tell the truth about those events and honour the thousands of victims. Sikhs around the world should know that, here in California, we will always stand against intolerance and will not forget the tragedy of 1984,” said Mr. Cooper.

Clinton, Rubio lead in 2016 U.S. poll survey

•  Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio are early frontrunners to become the next president of the United States, according to a well-regarded poll released.

•  Ms. Clinton — a celebrity former secretary of state, first lady and New York senator — who is bidding to become America’s first woman president, is head-and-shoulders above her 2016 Democratic party rivals according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

•  She has the backing of 60 per cent of Democrats, according to the survey, with her nearest potential rival, Vice-President Joe Biden trailing on 10 per cent.

•  At first blush, that would appear to be superb news for Ms. Clinton supporters, who were shocked to lose the party nomination to Barack Obama in 2008.

•  But Ms. Clinton’s seemingly unassailable lead has the party faithful worried that a meek primary campaign will leave her far from battled hardened by the time the general election campaign against the Republican nominee begins.

•  Perhaps more concerning for Clintonites will be Quinnipiac’s finding that more than half of all voters polled say the 67-year-old is not trustworthy.

•  Republican Party operatives have already launched a massive campaign to undercut Ms. Clinton’s appeal by painting her as out of touch, manipulative and not to be trusted.

•  The scandals and pseudo-scandals of her husband Bill Clinton’s tenure in the White House have been restated, along with allegations about her use of a private email server, her handling of the murder of a US diplomat in Libya and foreign donations to the Clinton family foundation.

•  Until now, candidate Ms. Clinton has mostly brushed off criticism, choosing instead to focus on meeting voters in the first primary states Iowa and New Hampshire.

Ukraine marks 29 years since Chernobyl

•  Ukrainians marked 29 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, laying wreaths and candles near the plant where work to lay a new seal over the reactor site has been delayed.

•  The explosion of reactor number four on April 26, 1986, spewed poisonous radiation over large parts of Europe, particularly Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

•  At the site of the plant itself, around 100 km from Kiev, Ukraine’ President Poroshenko laid a wreath at a monument to the victims.

German President thanks Britain

•  Germany’s President paid tribute to Britain for liberating the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen 70 years ago and restoring “humanity” to the country, at a ceremony joined by about 70 survivors.

•  More than 50,000 deportees from across Europe lost their lives at the camp in western Germany between 1941 and 1945, including the young Jewish diarist Anne Frank, in addition to 20,000 prisoners of war.

•  President Joachim Gauck said British forces who freed the starving camp prisoners led by example during the subsequent Allied occupation.

Obama turns 2016 hopefuls into comic fodder for media dinner

•  A presidential election just getting into gear provided U.S. President Barack Obama plenty of new material to work with on the night he describes as Washington celebrating itself.

•  “It’s amazing how time flies,” Obama told those attending the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association. “Soon, the first presidential contest will take place, and I for one cannot wait to see who the Koch brothers pick. It’s exciting.” Mr. Obama added: “Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker ... who will finally get that red rose?

•  On the Democratic side, Mr. Obama observed that Hillary Rodham Clinton kicked things off by going unrecognised to Chipotle.

• Taking a playful poke at himself and at Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is considering a bid, Mr. Obama said: “Apparently, some folks want to see a pot-smoking socialist in the White House. We could get a third Obama term after all.”

•  The dinner also gave the President an opportunity to rib some of his loudest critics

•  “Just this week Michele Bachmann actually predicted that I would bring about the biblical end of days. Now, that’s a legacy,” he said. “That’s big. I mean, Lincoln, Washington, they didn’t do that.

Loretta Lynch sworn in as A-G

•  Loretta Lynch was sworn in as the 83rd Attorney-General, becoming the first African-American woman to serve as the top U.S. law enforcement official.

•  She said her confirmation as Attorney-General showed that “we can do anything” and pledged to deal with cyber attacks and other threats facing the country.

•  Vice-President Joe Biden administered the oath of office to Ms. Lynch (55) at a Justice Department ceremony. Ms. Lynch replaces Eric Holder, who left the job after six years as head of the department.

•  Ms. Lynch was confirmed by the Senate and is expected to serve as the top federal law enforcement official for the remaining 20 months of the Obama administration.

Sri Lanka adopts 19th Amendment

•  Marking the beginning of a new chapter in the contemporary political history of Sri Lanka, the Parliament night adopted the 19th Constitutional Amendment with an overwhelming majority. The legislation envisages the dilution of many powers of Executive Presidency, which had been in force since 1978.

•  At a marathon sitting that lasted over 12 hours, the 225-strong Parliament cleared the Bill with 212 members voting in favour of the legislation. Ten members were absent. While one voted against the Bill, another member abstained from the voting. The 14-member Tamil National Alliance (TNA) also supported the Bill.

•  After announcing the results of the third reading at about 11 p.m., Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa adjourned the House.

•  President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe thanked all the parties that supported the Bill.

•  Among the important features of the Bill are: the reduction in the terms of President and Parliament from six years to five years; re-introduction of a two-term limit that a person can have as President; the power of President to dissolve Parliament only after four and a half years [unlike one year, as prevalent now]; the revival of Constitutional Council and the establishment of independent commissions.

•  Though the abolition of the Executive Presidency was the major electoral promise of Mr Sirisena, the Supreme Court, in its ruling early this month, held that certain provisions, such as those making Prime Minister the head of Cabinet and empowering PM to determine the size of Cabinet, would require a referendum. So, the President remains the head of Cabinet. However, he can appoint Ministers on the advice of Prime Minister.

•  Earlier in the day, two issues cropped up — objections to the composition of Constitutional Council and the provision regarding the appointment of Ministers.

•  Eventually, the government agreed to include seven MPs in the Constitutional Council as against the original proposal of having only non-political members.

NY’s first India-born woman judge sworn in

•  Raja Rajeswari, the first India-born woman to be appointed a judge in New York City, was sworn-in by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

•  Ms. Rajeswari (43), who immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager, previously worked with the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office in several bureaus including Criminal Court, Narcotics, Supreme Court, and the Sex Crimes Special Victims Bureau, where she last served as Deputy Chief.

•  Ms. Rajeswari took the oath of office along with 27 other judges appointed earlier this month to the Family Court, Criminal Court, and Civil Court, which are part of the New York State Unified Court System. “To ensure New Yorkers have access to a fair, equitable justice system, we need judges who are qualified, honest and reflective of the people of this city,” said Mayor de Blasio.

•  The Mayor also said Ms. Rajeswari has an “extraordinary, extraordinary empathy for others.”

•  Ms. Rajeswari has worked on cases involving women and children and had said they are the ones that touched her the most.

• She also said that she hoped to use her new position to improve the judicial system by encouraging interpreters to have more access to aid immigrants.

SNP, UKIP could play kingmakers

•  With less than 10 days to go for the polling day, the only point on which parties are in agreement is that it will be an election like no other.

•  A hung Parliament seems as much on the cards as it was when predictions began. Tuesday’s YouGov survey on voting intentions put the Conservative party at 35 per cent, Labour at 34, Liberal Democrats at nine per cent, United Kingdom Independence party (UKIP) at 12, the Green party at five per cent and others at six per cent.

•  This survey does not include an electoral player who is writing the story of the’2015 elections, the Scottish National Party (SNP), whose strong position has given it the potential to influence government formation after May 7.

•  Since the campaign started, the SNP has made clear gains in Scotland and is poised to win an overwhelming majority of the 59 Scottish parliamentary seats.

•  This is going to be at the expense of Labour, for which Scotland has traditionally been a stronghold. There were 41 Scottish Labour party members in the last House of Commons.

•  The SNP factor, and the fragmentation of the vote among more parties has already set the 2015 elections apart from earlier one. “Traditionally, we would have said that elections in the U.K are won or lost in the centre ground of British politics,” said John Curtice, Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde.

•  “That is certainly not what this election is about. The biggest challenge to the Conservatives and Labour is coming from parties to their Right and Left… because the centre has kind of collapsed when the Liberal Democrats collapsed,” he told in a phone interview.

•  The challenge from the Right is from UKIP. Therefore “winning or losing this election is about who does or doesn’t lose votes to the smaller parties,” said Professor Curtice.

•  The Conservatives may yet win a larger number of seats in Parliament, although its options in forming a coalition are more limited than that of Labour.

•  The Labour party, however, has ruled out any post-poll alliance with the SNP whose leader Nicola Sturgeon has repeatedly offered her party’s support.

Saudi King names a new heir

•  Saudi Arabia’s King Salman announced a new heir and made his son second in line to rule on Wednesday, concentrating power in his inner circle as the kingdom faces enormous regional challenges.

•  Since acceding to the throne following the death of King Abdullah in January, King Salman (79), has been steadily bringing loyalists into the deeply conservative kingdom’s upper reaches of power.

•  King Salman named his 55-year-old nephew Prince Mohammed bin Nayef — the powerful Interior Minister who once led a crackdown on al-Qaeda — as the new crown prince, replacing Prince Moqren bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud (69).

•  It was the first time a Saudi crown prince was relieved of duty and Prince Moqren was the last son of the kingdom’s founder Abdul Aziz bin Saud in line for the throne.

•  The King also named one of his sons, Mohammed bin Salman, to be deputy crown prince — ensuring power will pass to a new generation after his death. Mohammed bin Salman will also remain as Defence Minister, overseeing the Saudi-led air war against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen.

Africa summit: Xenophobic attacks loom large

•  Attacks on migrant workers living in South Africa threatened to overshadow a regional summit in Zimbabwe when leaders gathered to promote industrial growth.

•  Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has expressed “shock and disgust” at the xenophobic violence in Johannesburg and Durban in which at least seven people have been killed. But he avoided the issue in his opening address to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit, where South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma was among the delegates.

•  Thousands of immigrants in South Africa were displaced by the unrest earlier this month as local mobs targeted workers from countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.

•  The Presidents of all three of those countries were among the 10 heads of state at the one-day event in the Zimbabwean capital Harare

•  Many member countries of SADC, which seeks to promote economic, political and security cooperation, are rich in minerals.
   

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