Clinton tells Syria's Assad to quit, leave country

 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday urged Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power and leave his country, condemning a massacre near the town of Hama that was blamed on his supporters as unconscionable.

Speaking in Istanbul, Clinton said the United States was willing to work with all members of the U.N. Security Council, which includes Russia, on a conference on Syria's political future.

But that conference would have to start with the premise that Assad and his government give way to a democratic government, she told a news conference.

"We are disgusted by what we are seeing," she said, referring to continuing violence in Syria.

US wants greater role for India in Afghanistan, says Leon Panetta

NEW DELHI: US Defense Secretary Leon Panettawill encourage India to take a more active role in Afghanistan as international forces draw down after a decade of war, US officials said on Tuesday as the Pentagon chief arrived in New Delhi for two days of talks. 

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the longstanding rivalry between India and Pakistan for influence in Afghanistan but insisted that both countries had an interest in working with the international community to ensure stability in their northern neighbour. 

"There is a risk that the tensions and historical mistrust between India and Pakistan could lead them to view their respective roles in Afghanistan as being in conflict," one official said. "This is not predestined. This does not have to be the case." 

Pakistan wields considerable influence over neighbouring Afghanistan, while India is already one of its biggest bilateral donors, having pledged about $2 billion since the 2001 US led-invasion for projects from the construction of highways to the building of the Afghan parliament. 

In October, India and Afghanistan signed a wide-ranging agreement to deepen ties, including to help train Afghan security forces, a deal that angered Pakistan. 

"India and Pakistan share an interest, the same interest that we have, of peace and stability in Afghanistan," the official said. "That makes Pakistan more peaceful and stable and it makes India a lot more stable." 

Their remarks came as Panetta flew to India as part of his week-long Asia tour to explain a new US militarystrategy to allies and partners in the region. The strategy calls for a shift in US focus to the Asia-Pacific region.

Panetta announced on Saturday during a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security conference in Singapore, that the US military would rebalance its military assets so that by the year 2020 60 per cent of US warships would be in the region, versus 50 per cent now. 

The officials said the United States views India as a logical partner to work with on security and stability issues in the Indian Ocean region and that India was singled out for its importance in the new strategy. 

SUSPICION Panetta is expected to elaborate on that theme during his meetings with senior defence and political leaders, as well as in a speech at a think tank on Wednesday. 

India has a long history of involvement in the country and its activities have often been viewed suspiciously by Pakistan, which is concerned about being diplomatically encircled by its longtime enemy. 

India has trained Afghan army and police over the past decade, but on a relatively small scale, the US officials said. It has also increasingly helped Afghanistan with its economic reconstruction, the officials said. 

"As we look to the future development of peace and stability in Afghanistan... we know that the regional actors, Afghanistan's neighbours and extended neighbours like India will play a greater role," one official said. 

"That's historically been the case in Afghanistan and that's going to be the case again. And we welcome that." 

The official said the United States would like to see "all of the neighbours, including Pakistan and India, harmonize their approaches because they do share an interest in peace and stability in Afghanistan." 

The two sides will also discuss their military cooperation, including weapons and training needs. 

"We believe that it's very important, again, to help India modernize its capabilities and develop its military capabilities so it can be a net provider of security in the region and internationally," the official said. 

The United States is keen to get a bigger slice of India's defence acquisitions, and is negotiating to sell it about a dozen Apache helicopters along with other weapons.

Congress condemns Narendra Modi's derogatory remarks on Indira Gandhi

The Congress Party on Tuesday lashed out at Gujarat Chief Narendra Modi for passing derogatory comments on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Condemning Modi's remarks, Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said Indira Gandhi's integrity should always be maintained.

"It is highly unfortunate that if someone points fingers at Indira Gandhi. She was widely respected across the globe. If anyone has doubts over her credibility, then it is inappropriate," said Alvi.

Congress leader Prabha Thakur also echoed similar views, saying that Modi should introspect his role in Gujarat and refrain from communal politics.

"Narendra Modi should get rid of his communal spectacle and stop viewing everything in that perspective. He should not replicate this agenda as he has been doing in Gujarat, which in anyways is not possible," said Thakur.

"The people of this country are all loving and Indian society advocates peace. Therefore, such comments should not be made," she added

Narendra Modi had earlier spoken against former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and said that she tried to dismember the northeastern states from the country for vote bank politics.

"Indira Gandhi had committed a big sin, I will just speak of one as she committed many of them. Known for her secular inclination, when she was contesting polls in northeast, the Congress Party mentioned in their manifesto that mentioned if they win, then they would bring in a rule synonymous to that in the Bible," said Modi.

"Can you imagine that if such is the stance while you are running the country then separatist forces would be at such a high advantage; back then no one questioned her secularism," he added

Modi further trained his guns on Nehru-Gandhi family by alleging that they have tried to distort history to their benefit and worked towards camouflaging the importance due to northeastern states

"Events related to patriotism should have found more exposure; and people should have been made aware of such inspirational personalities so that the young generation could draw immense motivation," he said.

"Some people laid down their lives for the country, many even spent their entire lives in jails of Andaman or were even executed. If these incidents come to light then what harm will it do to one particular family (Gandhis)? And, it is in this worry that the entire history is being deliberately distorted," he added.

Modi had also criticized Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, saying he lacks both vision and gumption to run the country.The Congress Party on Tuesday lashed out at Gujarat Chief Narendra Modi for passing derogatory comments on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Condemning Modi's remarks, Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said Indira Gandhi's integrity should always be maintained.

"It is highly unfortunate that if someone points fingers at Indira Gandhi. She was widely respected across the globe. If anyone has doubts over her credibility, then it is inappropriate," said Alvi.

Congress leader Prabha Thakur also echoed similar views, saying that Modi should introspect his role in Gujarat and refrain from communal politics.

"Narendra Modi should get rid of his communal spectacle and stop viewing everything in that perspective. He should not replicate this agenda as he has been doing in Gujarat, which in anyways is not possible," said Thakur.

"The people of this country are all loving and Indian society advocates peace. Therefore, such comments should not be made," she added

Narendra Modi had earlier spoken against former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and said that she tried to dismember the northeastern states from the country for vote bank politics.

"Indira Gandhi had committed a big sin, I will just speak of one as she committed many of them. Known for her secular inclination, when she was contesting polls in northeast, the Congress Party mentioned in their manifesto that mentioned if they win, then they would bring in a rule synonymous to that in the Bible," said Modi.

"Can you imagine that if such is the stance while you are running the country then separatist forces would be at such a high advantage; back then no one questioned her secularism," he added

Modi further trained his guns on Nehru-Gandhi family by alleging that they have tried to distort history to their benefit and worked towards camouflaging the importance due to northeastern states

"Events related to patriotism should have found more exposure; and people should have been made aware of such inspirational personalities so that the young generation could draw immense motivation," he said.

"Some people laid down their lives for the country, many even spent their entire lives in jails of Andaman or were even executed. If these incidents come to light then what harm will it do to one particular family (Gandhis)? And, it is in this worry that the entire history is being deliberately distorted," he added.

Modi had also criticized Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, saying he lacks both vision and gumption to run the country.

I’m too busy for Facebook: Myanmar's Suu Kyi

Bangkok: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is bullish on democratic reform, but she's not so sure about Facebook. 

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was held under house arrest as a political prisoner for much of the past 22 years without even a telephone, was asked Friday at the World Economic Forum on East Asia when she would join the 900-million member social network. 

She said it was not an issue with adjusting to new technology, but a matter of finding the time. She said she will join when her schedule opens up. 

"Mind you, you never know what will happen with the technological revolution," she said at a news conference. "Facebook may be old hat tomorrow. In that case, I won't go on Facebook." 

Under Myanmar's previous military junta, her countrymen with Internet connections were blocked by a government firewall from accessing many sites. The reformist but still military-backed government elected last year has since eased most of those restrictions. 

Suu Kyi herself had a broadband internet connection installed at her house shortly after her release. 

Suu Kyi also said today that she is a big fan of mobile phones, and opposes Myanmar's tight licensing rules on them. 

"This means that we cannot promote the distribution of cellphones as much as we would wish to, and I think we would all agree that cellphones are very important in both the political and economic opening-up of any country," she said. 

Sachin Tendulkar to take oath as Rajya Sabha member on June 4

NEW DELHI: Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will take oath as member of Rajya Sabha on June 4. 

Tendulkar, who turned 39 recently and was nominated to the Upper House in April, is scheduled to take oath as member in the chamber of ChairmanHamid Ansari, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla said today. 

Two others--actress Rekha and industrialist Anu Aga--who were nominated to Rajya Sabha along with Tendulkar had already taken oath earlier this month when the House was in session. 

Tendulkar was busy with the IPL season, which had just ended earlier this week.

CBI court dimisses bail pleas of Janardhana Reddy and 4 others

A CBI court on Wednesday dismissed the bail pleas of former Karnataka Minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, his personal assistant Mehfuz Ali Khjan and three others arrested in connection with an illegal mining case involving Associated Mining Corporation.

Judge BM Angadi dismissed the petitions on the ground that the accused had committed an economic offence of "high magnitude affecting the very economy of the country".

In its order, the court said as the matter was under investigation, the possibility of the accused tampering with evidence or threatening the witnesses cannot be ruled out.

The judge then adjourned the matter to June 5.

The court had on May 23 extended till June 5 the judicial custody of Reddy and others.

Julian Assange loses extradition appeal

Britain’s Supreme Court has endorsed the extradition of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to Sweden, an important turning point in the Internet activist’s controversial career.

Assange, 40, has spent the better part of two years fighting attempts to send him to the Scandinavian nation, where he is accused of sex crimes. The U.K. end of that struggle appeared to come to a messy conclusion on Wednesday, with the nation’s highest court ruling five to two that the warrant seeking his arrest was properly issued and Assange’s lawyer arguing that the case should be reopened.

Supreme Court President Nicholas Phillips, speaking for the majority, acknowledged that Assange’s case “has not been simple to resolve,” but that the court had concluded that “the request for Mr. Assange’s extradition has been lawfully made and his appeal against extradition is accordingly dismissed.”

Assange won’t be extradited immediately no matter what happens. His lawyer, Dinah Rose, stood up after the verdict to say that the decision was based on evidence that was not argued during the appeal and requested time to study the verdict further with an eye toward trying to reopen the case.

Phillips said he would give Rose two weeks to make her move.

Even if the Supreme Court refuses to reopen the case, Assange could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, although extradition experts have said that route wasn’t likely to block his removal to Sweden in the long run.

Assange is best known for revealing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. documents, including a hard-to-watch video that captured U.S. forces gunning down a crowd of Iraqi civilians and journalists that they’d mistaken for insurgents. His release of a quarter—million classified State Department cables outraged Washington and destabilized American diplomacy worldwide.

But his secret-spilling work came under a cloud after two Swedish women accused him of molestation and rape following a visit to the country in mid—2010. Assange denies wrongdoing, saying the sex was consensual, but has refused to go to Sweden, claiming he doesn’t believe he’ll get a fair trial there.

Swedish lawyer Claes Borgstrom, who represents the two women who accuse Assange of sex crimes, expressed relief at the Supreme Court’s decision, but said the British judicial system should have dealt with the case more quickly.

“I think they should have resolved this earlier,” Borgstrom told The Associated Press, adding that the long wait had been stressful for his clients.