LAHORE - Muhmmad Bani Asadi, Consul General of Iran, has appreciated FPCCI proposals and suggestions, including reviewing its trade policies for Pakistan, for consolidating and strengthening the Pak-Iran economic ties.

On a question about Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, Bani Asadi said Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline is one of Iranian government’s top priorities and Pakistan government should also positively work to resolve issues associated with subject matter.
He informed Iranian trade policy will be revised during upcoming visit of Finance Minter Ishaq Dar to Iran.

These views were expressed by him during his visit to FPCCI on Monday.
Bani Assadi said that the business communities in the two countries would have to increase interaction to share their experiences in the larger interests of the people of two brotherly nations.
He said that the volume of mutual trade between Pakistan and Iran does not match their respective potentials.
FPCCI regional chairman Mian Rehman Aziz hoped that Iranian trade planners would show the same foresight to ensure greater role to be played by Iran particularly in regional trade.
He said, “There is a dire need of policy revision from government of Pakistan and Iran to enhance trade capacity of both countries.
The Iran’s import policy presently is very strict and adversely affecting Pakistan’s exports to Iran.
Iranian Government should review its trade policies for Pakistan.
”


THE NATION

In a drastic escalation of one of its most shocking tactics, Boko Haram is forcing children as young as 8, mostly girls, to become suicide bombers for its radical cause.

A new report by a United Nations agency has found that the number of children involved in “suicide” attacks – often mobilized through deception or force – has soared more than tenfold since 2014 in northern Nigeria and the neighbouring countries Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

The radical Islamist group has intensified its use of suicide bombings as it loses territory to advancing Nigerian soldiers. The number of children involved in these bombings rose to 44 last year, compared with just four in the previous year, according to the report by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). More than three-quarters are girls.



“These children are victims, not perpetrators,” UNICEF regional director Manuel Fontaine said in a statement Tuesday. “Deceiving children and forcing them to carry out deadly acts has been one of the most horrific aspects of the violence in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries.”

As Nigeria prepares to mark the second anniversary on Thursday of the extremist militia’s kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the northern town of Chibok, new evidence is emerging of the extent of the group’s brutal attacks on schools, teachers and children. A report released by Human Rights Watch this week found that in the past seven years Boko Haram had destroyed more than 910 schools, forced the closure of another 1,500, killed at least 611 teachers and forced a further 19,000 to flee. It has also abducted more than 2,000 civilians, including the Chibok students.

Last year alone, Boko Haram organized more than 150 suicide bombings, up sharply from 32 in the previous year, and used children in almost a fifth of those bombings, UNICEF says, “yet their stories are barely told.”

In total, more than 1.3 million children have lost their homes because of the Boko Haram insurgency. Almost a million children have little or no access to school – partly because Nigerian soldiers have often used schools as military bases, according to Human Rights Watch.

Boko Haram’s name can be roughly translated as “Western education is forbidden.” It has targeted Nigeria’s schools in its deadly campaign to impose its extremist version of Islamic law.

The world has “barely noticed” the destruction of education and the homelessness of more than a million children in the Boko Haram conflict, UNICEF says.

“The calculated use of children who may have been coerced into carrying bombs has created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion that has devastating consequences for girls who have survived captivity,” it adds. “Boys are forced to attack their own families to demonstrate their loyalty to Boko Haram, while girls are exposed to severe abuse, including sexual violence and forced marriage to fighters. Some are also used to carry or detonate bombs. The use of children, especially girls, as suicide bombers has become one of the defining and alarming features of the conflict.”

Even after their escape or release, children are often still feared as potential attackers. “Some communities are starting to see children as threats to their safety,” Mr. Fontaine said. “This suspicion towards children can have destructive consequences. How can a community rebuild itself when it is casting out its own sisters, daughters and mothers?”

In many parts of northeastern Nigeria, most schools have been closed for years. An entire generation of children is being “robbed” of its education, Human Rights Watch says.

“The lives of these children could become locked in unending cycles of underachievement and poverty.”




THE GLOBE AND MAIL

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I Am The Captain Of My Soul .. !
--- Nelson Mandela ..

India expresses displeasure to US over F-16 sale to Pakistan

India on Tuesday expressed its displeasure to the US over the sale of F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan even as Washington said the aircraft were meant for anti-terror operations.

After talks with visiting US defence secretary Ashton Carter, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said he raised the issue of sale of F-16 aircraft by the US to Pakistan.

India had earlier protested sale of the combat planes to Pakistan, saying, “We disagree with their rationale that such arms transfers help to combat terrorism.”

Carter said the US was aiming to be a “trusted partner” of India, the way Russia has been all along.

Underlining that even the US has been victim of terror emanating from Pakistani soil, he said those who indulge in terrorism in India, like the Pathankot attack, “should be brought to justice and brought to account”.

“That is America’s position and there should not be any question about that,” he said, adding that the kind of projects that the US and India are discussing will help protect both American and Indian societies from terrorists.

Told that the Russians have always been a trusted military partner for India as they have desisted from supplying war equipment to countries inimical to India, Carter said, “We do aim to be a trusted partner for India.”

He said the US has given some unique technologies to India and that they don’t have such agreements with other countries.

Carter emphasised that from the US’ point of view, Washington’s overall policy towards India is completely different from the way it was decades ago.

However, he said that the US has a relationship with Pakistan which it values.

“What we do in Pakistan is directed towards counter- terrorism. We too have suffered from terrorism emanating from the territory, more specifically Afghanistan,” Carter said, addressing a joint press conference with Parrikar here.

It is a thing of the past to think of India “in relation with Pakistan”, he said, adding that the US has a different vision for India.

Carter said the US does not see Pakistan and India as two sides of the same coin.

Asked what kind of role F-16 fighter jets play against terror as everyone knows it will eventually be used against India, Carter said, “Pakistan has used F-16 in operations in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). We have approved it...We take terrorism emanating from Pakistan very seriously.”

The US had in February said it plans to supply Pakistan with eight F-16 fighter aircraft worth US $699.04 million.

HINDUSTAN TIMES

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I Am The Captain Of My Soul .. !
--- Nelson Mandela ..

1-Secretary Carter has met with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and said India and the United States have agreed in principle to share military logistics.

2-Washington and New Delhi have largely agreed to the terms of a new agreement that allows the two militaries to use each other's land, air and naval bases for resupplies, repair and rest.

3-However, US troops can be in India only on the invitation of the government of India and the agreement isn't binding on either nation.

4-The new pact - whose text has not yet been finalised - addresses India's earlier concerns about losing its traditional autonomy and being perceived as having entered a military alliance with the US.

5-India, the world's biggest arms importer, wants access to US technology so it can develop sophisticated weapons at home -- a key part of the PM's "Make in India" campaign to boost domestic manufacturing.

6-The negotiations on this trip are focusing on the transfer of technology for new generation aircraft carriers to be built in India, jet engines, and helmet-mounted displays for pilots.

7-The US is also hoping to sell its F-16 or F-18 fighter jets to India as part of a major co-production deal involving more than 100 planes which would be manufactured in India in collaboration with an Indian partner company.

8-Secretary Carter told NDTV that the recent sale of US F-16s to Pakistan, which India strongly objected to, was based on the assumption that the fighter jets will be used for counter-terrorism operations."We strongly believe in curbing terrorism originating in the territory of Pakistan and we fully recognize that that has affected India in incidents that we deplore," he told NDTV.

9-The US is keen on working with India to counter China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea but has clarified that at the moment, it is not considering joint patrolling by an Indo-US fleet in the area.

10-However, both sides will work closely together in the Indian Ocean, the two sides agreed.

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I Am The Captain Of My Soul .. !
--- Nelson Mandela ..

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday acknowledged the accuracy of the Panama Papers revelations, but claimed funds had been spent on musical instruments as he blamed the leak on the United States.

The papers revealed that Putin's associates, notably cellist Sergei Roldugin, “secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies,” according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). During Putin's annual phone-in with the nation, a male caller asked the president why he did not react to slander in Western media and “unreliable information about offshores”.

Putin sighed, saying that “strange as it may seem, they are not publishing unreliable information about offshores. The information is accurate.” “I get the impression it (the report) was put together not even by journalists but most likely by lawyers,” Putin said of the leaked information. “They do not specifically accuse anyone of anything.”

The leaks “just serve to muddy the waters” by raising the possibility that “money from these offshores goes to some officials, including to the president,” Putin said. Those who investigated the Panama papers were “wide of the mark”, he insisted.

He alleged that staff of the US official institutions was working on the disclosures, which he called "acts of provocation" ahead of Russia's parliamentary elections in September. “We should not expect any repentance from them, they will keep doing it anyway and the closer the elections, the more smear campaigns there will be,” Putin said.

In patriotic rhetoric, Putin boasted that Russia cannot be manipulated and must be spoken to with respect. He reiterated his defence of his cellist friend, insisting Roldugin spends all his money on costly musical instruments and is not corrupt.

Roldugin has now spent all his money on instruments and is in debt, Putin added. “Sergei Pavlovich has nothing left because he has spent more money on those instruments than he had,” Putin said, using a respectful patronymic. Roldugin bought two cellos and two violins, Putin said.

“The last one he bought cost around $12 million,” Putin said, calling it a Stradivarius cello known as Stuart from 1732.

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I Am The Captain Of My Soul .. !
--- Nelson Mandela ..

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon said Thursday the footprint of the Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan had been "significantly decreased," but warned that the extremist group still had the potential to be an "enormous threat."

"We do think that they (IS) are being contained more than they probably were last fall," said Charles Cleveland, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, at a Pentagon briefing held here. "Again, our concern with them is that they've got the ability to regenerate very quickly, and they've got the ability to catch fire, as we've seen in other places."

The lessened presence of the IS in Afghanistan came after the U.S. military began targeting IS in January. In the first three months of 2016, U.S. forces conducted just under 100 counterterrorism strikes, among which between 70 and 80 were focused on IS.

"About three months or so ago, we thought that Daesh was probably in about six to eight (Afghan) districts. Today, we think they're probably in about two or three districts," said Cleveland, referring to an acronym for the group in the Arabic language.

Also, the containment of the IS could be attributed to attacks from Taliban, locals, and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces against the group, he added.

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I Am The Captain Of My Soul .. !
--- Nelson Mandela ..

(Xinhua) -- China published a report on the United States human rights record on Thursday, providing the hypocritical "defender of human rights" the opportunity to reflect.

Not only did the U.S. see no improvement to its existing human rights issues, but the past year saw the emergence of numerous new problems, according to the report released by China's State Council Information Office.

A total of 13,136 people were killed and 26,493 injured in 51,675 gun violence incidents in 2015, due to out-of-control gun use. American police shot dead 965 people last year, and there was excessive use of violence by the police, too.

Its prison system was plagued by corruption and severely violated inmates' human rights. Women in Lowell Correctional Institution, the nation's largest women's prison, were forced to barter for basic necessities and protection with their bodies.

Moreover, race relations in the U.S. were at their worst in nearly two decades, with 61 percent of Americans characterizing race relations in the country as "bad."

The United States also is guilty of human rights violations outside its borders. Airstrikes launched by the United States in Iraq and Syria killed thousands of civilians, and drone attacks launched by the U.S. in Pakistan and Yemen indiscriminately caused hundreds of civilian deaths in 2015.

Instead of reflecting on its own far-from-perfect human rights record, the U.S. has chosen to turn its attention to that of other countries, while placing itself on a pedestal as a vehement human rights watchdog beyond reproach.

The U.S. on Wednesday rolled out its annual report, in which it rated some 190 countries on their human rights practices. The absence of any mention of its own record speaks volumes.

Time and time again, Washington exploits the issue of human rights issues to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

It is too easy for the U.S. to direct criticism at other countries. The more prudent approach would, perhaps, be to hold back on judging others and put its own yard in order.

The pursuit of improved human rights protection is a path that never ends. China, despite the many challenges it has faced, has always been committed to improving human rights protection.

Those without bias will acknowledge the progress China has made in this regard over the past few decades.

In one such example, China published a revised protocol on court hearings on Thursday.

Defendants who stand trial while in custody will no longer have to wear prison uniforms, and in most cases, they will not wear restraints, such as handcuffs or shackles.

Lawyers are allowed to use their own computers in court and defendants rights to defend will be fully protected, it said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20..._135282521.htm

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I Am The Captain Of My Soul .. !
--- Nelson Mandela ..

Scientists closely observing the Greenland’s massive ice sheet were in for a surprise this week when they found that the sheet has started melting quite early as summer came before time. The team has blamed climate change for early melting of Greenland ice over, a very rare phenomenon. Climate scientists at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) saw on Monday that over 12% of the massive ice sheet experienced ice melt of more than one millimeter. It was surprising and extremely rare for ice cover to melt in first week of April, as per the researchers.

It was the first time in last few years when Greenland’s ice sheet witnessed melting before the normal timing. Before this, it experienced an area melt of more than 10% in 2010, 2006 and 1990. This time, the melt happened early and broke the previous records by about one month.

Robert Fausto of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said some weather stations in the upper regions of the ice sheet reported high temperatures on Monday, 11 April. Some of the sites even had temperature more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit. A station, which is over 6,000 feet above sea level, reported temperature of about 99 degrees Fahrenheit. April never experienced such a rise in temperature in the past, added Fausto.










The DMI scientists believe a mass melt event in 2012 could be reason behind the warm days in Greenland, while a recent research suggests more activity may be causing the melt.

“Our reconstruction of the present-day thermal regime of the GIS reveals more extensive areas of GF-induced basal ice melt than previously recognized and introduces the possibility that a dense network of subglacial meltwater pathways is now operating beneath the ice,” as per the study.

Another research published earlier this year concluded that increased cloud coverage in the area could be impacting Greenland’s ice sheet.

"Polar researchers thought their models were broken when they first saw the results. Almost 12% of Greenland’s ice sheet was melting on Monday, according to data crunched by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI). It beat, by almost a month, the previous record for a melt of more than 10%, on 5 May 2010," according to a news report published by The Guardian.

“We had to check that our models were still working properly,” Peter Langen, climate scientist at DMI, told blog Polar Portal. Temperature readings on the ice were in line with the numbers, however, exceeding 10C in some places. Even a weather station 1,840 metres above sea level recorded a maximum of 3.1C, which data analysts said would be warm for July, let alone April.

According to a report in CBS NEWS by Brian Mastroianni, "Spring thaw is coming exceptionally early in Greenland this year, with 50-degree Fahrenheit temperatures creating a melt area that makes up 12 percent of Earth's most northern ice sheet, according to data released this week by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI)."

"It is a very unusual situation, especially so early in the year, with very cold air and deep low pressures system to the west and east of Greenland and very warm air forming a 'cap' over the island," Martin Stendel, a DMI climate scientist, said on the organization's website. "This helped to force a frontal system with very warm air up the west coast bringing rain over the ice sheet."

A report published by the CS Monitor informed, "On Monday, an early melt event had scientists from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) puzzling over whether their climate models were showing accurate readings or had stopped working. Based on the models, more than 12 percent of Greenland’s massive ice sheet experienced at least 1 millimeter of ice melt."

“Our reconstruction of the present-day thermal regime of the GIS reveals more extensive areas of GF-induced basal ice melt than previously recognized and introduces the possibility that a dense network of subglacial meltwater pathways, most of which spring from the zone affected the history of the Iceland hotspot, is now operating beneath the ice,” the study concludes.

PerfScience

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I Am The Captain Of My Soul .. !
--- Nelson Mandela ..

NEW DELHI – American aircraft and warships will soon be able to access Indian military bases and vice versa for refuelling, repair and other logistical purposes, in a move that will further tighten the India-US strategic clinch and help Washington in its ongoing “re-balance” of 60% of its naval forces to the Asia Pacific to counter an increasingly assertive China.

Signalling a shift from the UPA regime’s diffidence over such pacts, defence minister Manohar Parrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter on Tuesday announced that the two countries “have agreed in principle” to share military logistics, which will now lead to inking of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement in a few months.

Top Indian officials took pains to clarify that the “reciprocal” logistics pact was just meant to facilitate military cooperation and not aimed at forging any sort of a military alliance against China.

Top Indian officials clarified that the logistics pact with US was to facilitate military cooperation, especially for the flurry of bilateral combat exercises and humanitarian aid operations in the region.

India and the US will also further bolster maritime security cooperation, which will include stepping up the complexity of its combat exercises and talks on anti-submarine warfare, but there are no plans for joint naval patrols in the contentious South China Sea or elsewhere. “India has not changed its stand (on joint patrols),” defence minister Manohar Parrikar said.

Parrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter stressed that Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) did not entail stationing of any US troops on Indian soil, even as officials added that India will not extend support in the event of any US military action against “friendly countries”. “We can refuse access to our bases whenever we want,” said an official.

But it does overturn the policy of the previous UPA regime, which had steadfastly stonewalled the US push for the so-called “foundational agreements” on logistics, the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA) for well over a decade.

Then defence minister A K Antony, backed by the Left and others, had opposed the three foundational pacts on the grounds that they would “compromise” India’s traditional strategic autonomy and give “basing rights” to the US military in the country. While the Modi government still has some reservations on CISMOA and BECA, it says India and the US are institutionalising through LEMOA what already happens “on a case-to-case basis”, as earlier reported by TOI.

Carter, who met PM Narendra Modi and NSA Ajit Doval later in the day, said LEMOA will make it “more routine and automatic” for the Indian and American forces to operate together. “We have agreed in principle that all the issues are resolved. The text will now be finalised,” he said.

Meanwhile, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said he had “expressed concern” to his US counterpart Ash Carter over the F-16 sale to Pakistan. Overall, Pakistan will now have 84-85 F-16s, which are primarily directed against India.

Link Newspaper

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I Am The Captain Of My Soul .. !
--- Nelson Mandela ..

WASHINGTON: An independent US report has declared the Indian nuclear programme not only unsafe but also called for a satisfactory international oversight.

The recently released report by the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School identified problems arising from the gaps in the commitments that India made after the nuclear deal, and focused on India's separation plan, its Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol.

The authors of the report titled ‘The Three Overlapping Streams of India’s Nuclear Programmes’ further highlighted that Pakistan had a reason to be concerned that India could use its unsafeguarded portions for boosting its nuclear weapon system. The report observes that India is currently running three streams that include: civilian safeguarded, civilian un-safeguarded, and military.

‘‘The relationships and overlap among the three streams are not transparent,’’ the report says adding that IAEA may contribute to India’s stockpile of unsafeguarded weapons-usable nuclear material.

The Separation Plan did not extend safeguards to a number of nuclear facilities that serve civilian functions, and consequently these facilities may also be used in India’s military programme.

Even though there was no formal verification whether facilitates in the “civilian unsafeguarded” stream were contributing nuclear material to the military stream, the report warned that its current stockpile of reactor-grade plutonium from power reactors has the significant potential to be made available to weaponry programme.

The safeguards agreement also allows India to store, use, or process nuclear material subject to safeguards at a facility that is not under continuous safeguards. In addition, the agreement contains provisions for the substitution of unsafeguarded material for safeguarded material.

These provisions introduce the potential for safeguarded nuclear activities to contribute to India’s nuclear weapons programme.

India negotiated with the IAEA a much more limited additional protocol: the reporting and access provisions of India’s additional protocol are effectively restricted to India’s export activities. Consequently, India’s safeguards agreement and its additional protocol do not have any practical application to its uranium and thorium mines, heavy water production facilities, nuclear fuel cycle-related research activities, or plants where it manufactures equipment for its nuclear facilities.

Authors recommend that India should achieve a cleaner separation of its civilian and military facilities by bringing eight unsafeguarded civilian facilities under safeguards.

They also recommend that India should bring its fast breeder programme as well as upcoming HEU facilities under safeguards. This, authors believe, would be in true spirit of supporting FMCT which India does since it would demonstrate that it is creating conditions that support such a treaty.

THE NEW INTL

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I Am The Captain Of My Soul .. !
--- Nelson Mandela ..