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Friday, August 15, 2008 Volume: 6, Issue: 33 |
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| Front Page News |
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61 years on, India triumphs odds to celebrate Independence Day |
India’s 61st Independence Day Aug 15 this year will prove to be, perhaps in retrospect, more memorable than any in the recent past. The claim may seem exaggerated in the context of the bomb blasts in the cities of Bangalore and Ahmedabad last month and the fear of homegrown Islamist terrorists. But terrorism, by common consent, does not pose a major long-term threat to India’s integrity, however menacing it may seem at present because of the suicide bombers and the indiscriminate killing of innocent people. Similarly, Left-extremist insurgency may seem a serious threat because of the presence of these ultra-revolutionaries in the tribal belt and their occasional attacks on police personnel. But few expect the Indian state to crumble before them, just as it didn’t while confronting the Sikh militancy in the 1980s. However, it is the path-breaking initiatives on the India-US civil nuclear deal and the continuing economic reforms that have implications well beyond the present times. Although the terrorists and the Maoist insurgents do present major security challenges, what will ultimately matter is the fallout from India’s entry into the league of big powers, as the invitation to India to attend the G-8 summits show.
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Condoleezza Rice warns Russia of isolation over Georgia violations |
Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, has threatened Russia with international isolation unless it keeps to a peace deal with Georgia brokered by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President. As she was despatched for Tblisi by George W Bush, in a strong show of US support for Georgia, Ms Rice said Russian troops' violations of the truce since the agreement was reached have "only served to deepen the isolation into which Russia is moving", as Moscow confirmed its troops remain in the state. There is a "very strong, growing sense that Russia is not behaving like the kind of international partner that it has said that it wants to be," said Ms Rice, who will meet Mr Sarkozy before holding talks with Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian President. "We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia." However there are signs that Russia is beginning to fulfill its commitments. Georgia’s Interior Ministry said Russian troops had begun pulling out of the town of Gori, although Moscow has warned that the hand-over could take two days. A forces have also left Poti, the Black Sea port with an oil terminal seen as key to Georgia’s economic stability. Ms Rice's comments came as US aid began to arrive in the former Soviet state in a further show of support. A military aircraft, packed with medical supplies, shelters and bedding, arrived in Tblisi along with promises that more will follow.
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Canada orders U.S. deserter to leave |
MISSISSAUGA, Ont.: A U.S. army deserter who fled to Canada to avoid fighting in the war in Iraq was handed a deportation order, a move critics called an about-face for the country given its tradition of opening its doors to refugees. Jeremy Hinzman, along with his wife, son and a new baby, have been ordered by the Canada Border Services Agency to leave by Sept. 23. “I’m tremendously disappointed," Hinzman said. “We’ve been here nearly five years, we have lots of friends and family. But life goes on and we’ll make the most of it wherever we go." A handful of friends gathered outside the border services office west of Toronto where the decision came down, along with supporters from the War Resisters Support Campaign.
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Saudi Arabia's First Female CFO |
From her smartly appointed office in Riyadh, Samira Al Kuwaiz, 44, helps manage Osool Capital, an independent investment firm in Saudi Arabia that holds 2.2 percent of the country's traded shares. Al Kuwaiz is from one of Saudi Arabia's tribal families, the equivalent of blue blood in that society. After earning a master's degree in accounting and teaching at King Saud University, she became the first female chief financial officer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The World Economic Forum ranked Saudi Arabia the lowest out of 128 countries on women's participation in the workforce. Women make up roughly 6 percent of the workforce in Saudi Arabia, according to the Labor Ministry -- among the lowest in the world, but a jump up from nearly nothing a generation ago. Al Kuwaiz is part of an emerging set of women executives in the Kingdom.
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