‘US wants to strengthen military ties with India’

Washington: Ahead of Indian Defence Minister AK Antony's visit here next week, the US has said it wants to expand its military ties with India in "mutually beneficial" ways with more exchanges and exercises.



"I had a very good visit to India last year, and met with the defence minister and met the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh)," Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters Wednesday when asked about what would be on the table during Antony's Sept 27-28 visit.

"We are looking to expand this relationship in ways that are mutually beneficial," he said. "But I think we'll also be looking at ways in which we can expand our exchanges, exercises, and strengthen-further strengthen the relationship that we have."

Gates also indicated that he would talk with Antony about the $9.11 billion deal for the purchase of 126 multi-role combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force through an open competition.

Two American fighter planes, F-16IN and F/A-18IN, a version of the Super Hornet, are among six aircraft on offer in what has been touted as India's single largest defence deal ever. The Saab Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale and Mikoyan MiG-35 are the others in the running.



"I'm sure that we'll - they have a big competition going on for a new modern fighter. We'll probably have some conversations about that," he said referring to the deal.

Asked about India's concerns about US restrictions on export of dual use high-technology items to India, Gates said it was high on his list and he would like to see those restrictions eased.

"I think that, that is certainly high on our list, particularly in the context of export-import, or export controls, and my view of the importance of changing those export controls in ways that better protect the things that are really important and open up trade and allow US companies to sell abroad those things that technologies that are not critical," he said.



"So, I think India certainly is high on our list in terms of a country that we would like, I would like to see those restrictions eased," Gates said.

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who jointly addressed the press conference with Gates, said "just the military-to-military relationship with India is exceptionally strong and growing".

"We are very committed to that, and with all of our services. I was recently there and it has taken on a significance that is equal to so many other historic relationships for us, and we know that," he said.

"The Indian Ocean, we also know, is an incredibly important body of water; not just now, but also in the future. So we recognise the importance of keeping that relationship as strong as it is, and also making it grow," Mullen added.



Obama looking forward to India trip; Michelle excited

New York: US President Barack Obama is looking forward to visiting India in early November and first lady Michelle is excited about the trip. Obamas conveyed this to Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna at a reception they hosted at the Natural History Museum here in honour of heads of delegation attending the United Nations General Assembly.

Obama told Krishna that he was looking forward to visiting India and Mrs Obama added that she was excited about the trip, diplomats said. Earlier, in his speech to the UN general assembly too he made a reference to his upcoming trip to India.

"Later this fall, I will travel to Asia. I will visit India, which peacefully threw off colonialism and established a thriving democracy of over a billion people," Obama told the annual gathering of world leaders in his second address to the world body since becoming president.

Source: IANS

Pak scientist sentenced to 86 yrs in US

New York — A US-trained Pakistani scientist convicted of trying to kill US agents and military officers in Afghanistan was sentenced on Thursday to 86 years in prison after she called on Muslims to resist using violence and said she loves American soldiers.



Aafia Siddiqui, 38, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by Judge Richard M Berman, who said "significant incarceration is appropriate." "Don't get angry," Siddiqui said in court to her supporters after the sentence was announced. "Forgive Judge Berman."



Berman responded, saying: "I wish more defendants would feel the way that you do." The sentencing capped a strange legal odyssey that began two summers ago, when Siddiqui turned up in Afghanistan carrying evidence that -- depending on the argument -- proved she was either a terrorist or a lunatic.



In February, she was convicted of grabbing a rifle and trying to shoot U.S. authorities in Afghanistan while yelling, "Death to Americans!" The conviction touched off protests in Pakistan that resumed Thursday as hundreds chanted "Free Aafia!" at a rally in Karachi. Others demonstrated outside the Manhattan courthouse.



During a rambling statement to the court Thursday, Siddiqui carried only a message of peace. "I do not want any bloodshed. I do not want any misunderstanding. I really want to make peace and end the wars," she said.

Siddiqui said she was particularly upset by overseas reports that she was being tortured in a US prison. She said she was actually being treated well.



"I am not sad. I am not distressed. ... They are not torturing me," she said. "This is a myth and lie and it's being spread among the Muslims." Prosecutors said Siddiqui is a cold-blooded radical who deserves life in prison.

In court papers, they cited threatening notes Siddiqui was carrying at the time of her detention. They directly quoted one as referencing "a `mass casualty attack' ... NY CITY monuments: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge," and another musing how a dirty bomb would spread more fear than death. They claimed the notes, along with the fact that she was carrying sodium cyanide, showed she wasn't an accidental menace.



"Her conduct was not senseless or thoughtless," prosecutors wrote. "It was deliberate and premeditated. Siddiqui should be punished accordingly."

The defense had asked the judge for a sentence closer to 12 years behind bars. Her lawyers argued in court papers that their client's outburst inside a cramped Afghan outpost was a spontaneous "freak out," born of mental illness not militancy.

Pak scientist sentened to 86 yrs in US




Pakistan to fight for terrorist convict's release

Meanwhile, Pakistan's prime minister called a female scientist convicted of trying to kill U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan "the daughter of the nation" on Friday and vowed to campaign for her release from an American jail.

Yousuf Raza Gilani's comments appeared to be an attempt to manage public anger over the 86-year sentence handed down to Aafia Siddiqui. The plight of the American-trained Pakistani scientist and mother has struck a chord among Islamist groups and ordinary Pakistanis, many of whom are convinced of her innocence.




She was sentenced on Thursday in a New York court. The punishment prompted demonstrations in at least two cities, with much of the anger directed at the already unpopular Pakistani government for failing to somehow intervene in her case. Pakistani authorities on Friday were braced for more protests.

Gilani said he had recently lobbied US officials for Siddiqui's release to "improve the US image in Pakistan." "We all are united, and we want the daughter of the nation to come back to Pakistan," he told parliament, which unanimously adopted a resolution demanding Aafia's "repatriation."



"I fought for her, my lawyer fought for her and now I will take up this matter on a political level," he said. Siddiqui, 38, was caught in Afghanistan in 2008. She was found guilty of seizing a weapon from one of her captors and trying to shoot US authorities who were interrogating her there.

Many Pakistanis believe claims by her supporters that the US abducted Siddiqui long before that and kept her in a secret prison for years as it pursued its fight against global terrorism. US officials deny those claims, though they had listed Siddiqui as a suspect wanted for alleged links to al-Qaeda before her arrest.

Source/ Images: AP

Like a dog, says Obama

Washington: US President Barack Obama has caused quite a flutter by accusing his Republican opponents of talking about him "like a dog" at a rally to launch his embattled Democratic party's election campaign.



"Some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time and they're not always happy with me," he said addressing a union crowd on Labour Day Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.



"They talk about me like a dog. That's not in my prepared remarks, but it's true," he told the union crowd straying from his prepared remarks to take a more aggressive tone in campaign mode.


"They're betting that between now and November, you'll (voters) come down with a case of amnesia," Obama said in the speech less than two months ahead of midterm elections where Democratic majorities in the House and Senate are on stake.

"They (Republicans) think you'll forget what their agenda did to this country. They think you'll just believe that they've changed. These are the folks whose policies helped devastate our middle class and drive our economy into a ditch. And now they're asking you for the keys back," he said with some bitterness, alluding to the recent tirade launched against him by his critics.

Source: IANS

One in five Americans thinks Obama is a Muslim

Washington, Aug 19(ANI): A new survey has found that nearly one in five Americans incorrectly believe that President Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Obama's religion, like his place of birth, has been the subject of Internet-spread rumours and falsehoods since before he began his presidential campaign.

According to a new Pew Research Center survey, 18 per cent of the Americans now say that Obama is a Muslim, which is up from 11 per cent in March 2009.

It also found that the number of people who now correctly identify Obama as a Christian has dropped to 34 percent, down from 48 per cent in 2009.

The survey was completed in early August, before Obama's recent comments that appeared favouring the proposed construction of a mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center, the Center said.

Meanwhile, White House officials have expressed dismay over the poll results, blaming it on "misinformation campaigns" by the President's opponents.

"While the president has been diligent and personally committed to his own Christian faith, there's certainly folks who are intent on spreading falsehoods about the president and his values and beliefs," The Washington Post quoted Joshua DuBois, Director of the President's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, as saying. (ANI)

Barack Obama's Oval Office

Every US president eventually puts his own mark on the Oval Office, decoratively speaking, and the White House unveiled the Obama makeover on Tuesday, just hours before a major presidential speech on Iraq from his famous Resolute Desk.

Design experts were weighing in immediately, of course, on the calming melange of browns and tans, with a generous helping of leather and an assortment of stripes: Was it all a little too No-Drama Obama? Or was it livelier, cooler, more chic and elegant than before?

First, the changes: While the president and his family were away on vacation in Martha's Vineyard, workers installed new striped wallpaper, new sofas, re-upholstered chairs, new lamps and a coffee table - and a new rug bearing quotes around its borders from famous Americans.

The updates have a more modern, easy-to-live-in look - for example, the new brown leather desk chair, or the mahogany armchairs by the fireplace, now re-upholstered in caramel-colored leather.

Or the plush sofas, custom-made in New York and covered with a very soft-looking light brown cotton with red, white and blue threads running through it.