| Hillary Clinton arrives in India today Posted: 18 Jul 2011 02:17 AM PDT 
NEW DELHI: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrives in India on Monday for a three-day visit overshadowed by the triple blasts in Mumbai last week that killed 19 people and injured more than 100. No-one has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack and the initial police investigation has failed to unearth any clear leads on the blasts that also came ahead of a new round of India- Pakistan peace talks later this month. New Delhi has tried to avoid being seen to point the finger at its neighbour but India accuses Pakistan's army and intelligence services of aiding militant groups that have carried out attacks on Indian soil in the past. For Clinton, any Pakistani involvement would again see her under pressure to drop US military support for Islamabad during her talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday. She heads to Chennai the following day. India, with whom the United States has been seeking a broader relationship, welcomed Washington's decision to suspend $800 million worth of aid to Pakistan. "Counter-terrorism has always been part of our strategic dialogue," an Indian foreign ministry official said ahead of the Clinton talks on condition of anonymity. "The July 13 attacks will be part of the exchange." Clinton said last week that it was "more important than ever that we stand with India" and she reaffirmed her "commitment to the shared struggle against terrorism." India broke off its peace process with Pakistan after the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which were blamed on the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-a-Toiba. Ten gunmen went on a 60-hour rampage, killing 166 people across the city. Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, said the latest attacks in Mumbai "will inevitably colour secretary Clinton's visit." He said the bloodshed in India's commercial capital had the potential to upset the delicate balance in the three US relationships in the region -- with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. "If it becomes clear that the Pakistanis at some levels were involved in these attacks, then it would certainly give greater force to Indian complaints that the United States has coddled Pakistan and is not being stern enough," he said. "I think, as the Indians are to be commended for doing, we want to avoid jumping to a conclusion until we simply have more information into who is responsible for these deeds." Clinton, who was in Athens on Sunday to offer support for the Greek government as it tries to tackle its perilous and worsening debt crisis, is scheduled to take in China, Hong Kong and Indonesia on her travels. |
| Ex-Murdoch aide Rebekah arrested Posted: 17 Jul 2011 08:20 PM PDT 
.LONDON: Rebekah Brooks, the flame haired 43-year-old who resigned on Friday as chief executive of the British arm of Rupert Murdoch's multi-billion dollar media conglomerate, News Corporation, was arrested by London's metropolitan police on Sunday. The police said "a 43-year-old woman was arrested for criminal investigation" into alleged phone hacking and bribery carried out by News of the World which closed last week. Brooks is the most high profile arrest after the detention of British Prime Minister David Cameron's communications director Andy Coulson (43). Eight others have been taken into custody so far. Brooks was arrested on suspicions of conspiring to intercept communications and of corruption. Her spokesman said she was informed of her arrest on Friday evening; she was in custody at the time of going to press. A Murdoch favourite, Brooks was editor of News of the World between 2000 and 2003, during which time the mobile phone belonging to a murdered schoolgirl, Milly Dowler, was hacked into. Brooks's arrest took News Corporation by surprise. Murdoch, who is in London in a frantic effort to retain his grip on the company and is (with his son and so far heir-apparent, James Murdoch) scheduled to face a parliamentary select committee on Tuesday, was in a huddle with senior executives at his Mayfair residence. Murdoch also issued a second apology on Sunday for "criminal" intransigence by NOTW staff. Inappropriate payments made by NOTW and equally dishonestly received by some Scotland Yard officers are also part of the investigations. Brooks arrest could, though, be at odds with her appearance in front of a Commons select committee – also on Tuesday – to answer questions from MPs on the same subject. She could plead she cannot implicate herself while she was simultaneously being interrogated by the police. A media analyst, Steve Hewlett, told BBC: "To have a very senior executive of the company arrested would have been rather worse than having a very senior former executive of the company (News Corporation), albeit only just." In this context, the resignation of Les Hinton, one of Murdoch's oldest and closest colleagues (who was the chief executive of News Corp's UK arm when the Milly Dowler incident occurred), from Wall Street Journal in New York, and his statement that he knew nothing about phone hacking, could be seen as an attempt to protect Murdoch himself. It was earlier felt that if Hinton knew something, Murdoch would be privy as well. Hewlett, however, added that News Corporation's handling of the scandal raised "yet further questions" as to whether it has "even now really understood and accepted the gravity of the situation that they're facing". A powerful public relations firm, Edelman, has been hired by Murdoch, as, following his apology to the Dowler family, he continued to carry advertisements in weekend papers in Britain personally expressing contrition. BBC commented: "It's certainly the most extraordinary development. Rebekah Brooks is incredibly close to most powerful people in the UK – the current prime minister, the previous prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown; more or less every senior person of influence within Britain."t |
| Hillary arrives on Monday for strategic dialogue Posted: 17 Jul 2011 08:48 AM PDT 
NEW DELHI: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton will arrive here on Monday to attend the second round of Indo-US strategic dialogue on Tuesday during which a host of key bilateral, regional and international issues including situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and security cooperation in the backdrop of recent Mumbai blasts will be discussed. Hillary, who will be in India for a two-day official trip, will hold talks with her counterpart external affairs minister S M Krishna, apart from calling on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meeting National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon. On Tuesday, the US Secretary of State will hold a breakfast meeting with the National Security Adviser followed by the Indo-US dialogue after which she will call on the Prime Minister and will meet several senior political leaders including UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Clinton will be travelling to Chennai on Wednesday where she is likely to meet representatives of US companies. Besides situation in the region, civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries will also be part of the strategic dialogue during which India is also expected to talk about American visa regime which is impacting the movement of Indian IT professionals in that country. |
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