GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – At least 73 people have died in a hospital fire in south Kolcata (Calcutta), India, according to initial reports from India’s media, and 75 people were rescued. The fire at Amri Hospital broke out in the early hours of the morning Friday 9 December. The fire department says, according to the Times of India, that it will sue the hospital for not having adequate equipment or a rapid evacuation plan. The seven-storey building was thick with smoke hours after the fire started.
Links to other sites: Reuters, Times of India
Time flies when trade is growing rapidly; Indian Trade Minister Arnand Sharna at Baselworld 2011
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Trade between India and Switzerland, currently negotiating a bilateral free trade treaty, has grown at a “fulgerant” rate in the past 20 years, the Swiss Customs Office says. Exports from Switzerland to India grew by 18 percent in the first nine months of 2011 and have now crossed the threshold of CHF3 billion.
Swiss exports grew seven-fold from 1990 to 2010, from CHF378 million to nearly CHF2.6 billion. Imports from India grew during the same period from CHF251m to CHF901m. Trade with India has thus grown dramatically, but India remains Switzerland’s seventh trading partner, well behind China, with Swiss exports of CHF7.1b and Japan, with CHF6.43.
Chemicals account for main exports as well as imports: mainly pharmaceuticals for Swiss exports, with basic chemical products and finished ones sharing the imports from India about equally. Other Swiss exports: machines, particularly precision instruments, and electronics plus watches.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss and Indian governments Monday 10 October announced that their revised double taxation treaty enters into force today. The treaty, revised to accommodate OECD international standards, is being met in India with hope that this will pave the “way for obtaining data on black money stashed there,” says the Economic Times. “The move comes at a time when the issue of black money stashed in Swiss banks has become a major concern back home with political parties and civil society taking up the matter.”
The Indian Express noted during the Indian president’s visit to Switzerland last week that she would most likely review the issue of black money with her Swiss counterpart. The issue of black money has been widely covered by Indian media, with guesses at the amount in Swiss banks varying wildly.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil’s two-day visit to Switzerland that began Monday has already resulted in a number of initiatives, including a request by India for Switzerland’s support for an Indian seat on the UN Security Council as well as a fiscal agreement, and 11 new joint scientific research programmes.
Switzerland is the seventh most important importer of Indian goods and services, and trade between the two countries is CHF3.6 billion, with a 180 percent increase in the past decade. The trade surplus is CHF1.6b in Switzerland’s favour. Swiss exports to India rose by 21 percent in the first six months of 2011 while Indian exports to Switzerland rose by 31 percent.
Swiss direct investment in India in 2009, says the Swiss National Bank, was CHF3.3b.
The number of Indian tourists in Switzerland in 2009 rose by 21 percent.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Eleven people are dead and at least 76 injured following the explosion of a bomb in Delhi, India Wednesday 7 September. HuJI, a Bangladeshi terrorist group earlier “in an email demanded that Afzal Guru’s death sentence should be repealed immediately else the group would target major high courts and the Supreme Court”, reports the Times of India. The group, which reportedly has ties to al Qaeda, has now claimed responsibility for the attack, where a bomb was put inside a briefcase left at the reception of one part of the country’s high court.
Guru is a prisoner, condemned for an attack on parliament.
Several hundred people go through the reception area every day.
Links to other sites: Reuters, Times of India
Tourists meet the local cows, hiking down from the Jungfraujoch
BERN, SWITZERLAND – July 2011 was not the disaster for Swiss tourism that some people expected, given the high Swiss franc, but European visitors’ overnight stays were down by 3.5 percent compared to July 2010, with foreigners’ overnight stays down 4 percent.
Two of Switzerland’s traditionally largest groups of European visitors, Germans and the British, were down 11.6 and 10.5 percent respectively.
The Swiss Statistical Office attributes the drop to the combination of a very high franc and unusually cold, wet weather for mid-summer.
Chinese (without Hong Kong) tourists, while still a small part of the overall number, had a positive impact with a 61 percent increase, to 76,787 overnight stays. Germans had 527,612, the largest group.
For the first six months of the year, Chinese visitors’ overnight stays rose 42.5 percent, faster than Indian visitors’, which increased by more than 25 percent, and the Chinese are now not far behind Indians as a key tourist group.
LONDON, ENGLAND – Graeme Swann wrapped up the final day of the fourth test by taking six wickets at the Oval Monday 22 August. England won by an innings and eight runs to take one of the most one-sided series of recent years. England moved into top place in the test rankings while India slipped back from first to third, behind South Africa.
Sachin Tendulkar just missed out on making his when hundredth century when he fell lbw to Tim Bresnan for 91. The morning session went India’s way with Tendulkar and Amit Mishra holding out for their first session of the series in which no wickets were lost. After that the wickets tumbled, with the final six wickets falling for 23 runs.
Links to other sites: Times of India, Guardian
Swiss left out of G20 meeting
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland and Germany’s foreign ministers Sunday confirmed media reports that an agreement will shortly be announced on a tax deal. The Swiss Foreign Affairs Department said in a statement that Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle “both praised the progress that has been achieved in the area of taxation, as well as the generally intensive relations between Switzerland and Germany.”
The two met Saturday 7 August in Locarno, on the sidelines of the Locarno international film festival.
Calmy-Rey “stated that she was pleased that the negotiations concerning an agreement on withholding tax will shortly be brought to a conclusion, and she went on to underscore the fact that ‘Switzerland’s banking sector has no interest in untaxed assets.’ She noted that withholding tax is a fair way of taxing German assets without an automatic exchange of information, and it also guarantees the confidential management of client data,” according to the statement.
Switzerland has not yet confirmed details of the deal, but financial media have been reporting a 26 percent withholding tax as likely, in future.
Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported at the start of the weekend that a deal is expected to be announced Wednesday 10 August, with Swiss banks agreeing to pay an upfront lump sum for Swiss accounts held by Germans who did not pay taxes in the past 10 years. The amount agreed to, possibly CHF2 billion, is reported, by what the newspaper calls a source close to the deal, to be a fraction of what Germany initially demanded.
G20 meeting in Cannes won’t include Switzerland
Switzerland’s disagreements with its neighbours over accounts held by their citizens in Swiss banks was dealt a new blow over the weekend, however, when the Seco, Switzerland’s economy ministry, confirmed to news agency ATS that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has invited Singapore, but not Switzerland, to participate in the next G20 meeting. Switzerland has been busy for several months building its influence to counteract the possibility it would not be invited to the G20 talks.
Switzerland, despite its role as the world’s top fortune management centre, is not a member of the Group of 20, the world’s largest economies, created in 1999 “to bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.” The high Swiss franc is currently viewed by a growing number of investors as one of a small group of “shadow currencies”, reports the Economist and other international media.
It was not invited to the last meeting of the group, in Seoul, but Sarkozy has told Switzerland it will be “integrated” into the G20 meeting, even if it is not directly participating. Switzerland fears a repeat of one of the Seoul meeting outcomes. TSR/ats reports that “the objective of this offensive is to prevent a repeat of what happened in 2009, when Switzerland, without any advance consulation, was put on a gray list of tax havens by the OECD, at the instigation of the G20.”
The next meeting will be held in Cannes in November 2011, under France’s presidency.
India studies stolen HSBC-Geneva account holders data
Meanwhile, India Express 7 August published a story saying that France has handed over to Indian authorities the names of 700 holders of HSBC bank accounts in Switzerland. France received stolen data from a former employee of the UK bank’s Geneva branch, in 2008 and the theft increased tensions between France and Switzerland over the issue of tax evasion and the use of stolen data.
The Indian Foreign Ministry says it already had most of the data from other sources, but will be checking the accounts.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Any sense of normality in Mumbai, India, disappeared Wednesday as terrorist attacks returned to the city that was traumatized by three days of attacks in 2008 that killed 166 people. Three separate attacks have taken at least 21 lives and injured more than 100 people, in Zaveri Bazaar, the Opera House business district and Dadar in the city centre. The bombs, which government officials are saying were homemade, targeted the city’s financial district at rush hour.
The blasts could raise tensions between India and Pakistan again; the 2008 bombs were blamed on Pakistan, by India. The Times of India reports that “The 2008 attack killed 166 people and was blamed on Pakistan-based militant groups. Tensions escalated between the countries and peace talks were suspended. The talks recently resumed. Soon after Wednesday’s blasts were reported, Pakistan’s government expressed distress on the loss of lives and injuries. ”
Links to other sites: BBC, Reuters, Times of India
Paint the world red, Blood Donor day slogan (photo: Oliver O'Hanlon/WHO)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The jet d’eau, Geneva’s famous water fountain, ran red 14 June to mark World Blood Donor day, but beyond the colourful display and other events, The World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva marked the day by releasing new global data which shows that 70 percent of volunteer, unpaid blood donors are men. The average age is higher in wealthier countries, 44, compared to developing countries, average age 25. The last figure is explained partly by these countries’ younger populations, says the WHO.
Progress is being made in getting more people to donate blood, with the number of countries getting all their blood supplies from voluntary, unpaid donors seeing a 50 percent increase from 2002 to 2008. India was the country with the most impressive progress in 2010: the number of donors rose from 3.6 million to 4.6m.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Tenzin Yangki, 19 and a student in Zurich, was crowned “Miss Tibet” in Dharamshala, India, home to the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan government in exile. The Times of India reports that her reply to the judges’ question of how she would “contribute to the cause of Tibet” [ed. note: no clarification if this means exiled Tibetans or if it includes those in China] she replied “Tibetan women are educated and beautiful but role models are needed to ensure their effective participation in Tibet cause and Miss Tibet can be the role model to spread awareness.”
Airlines, tourist reservations in Europe also seeing strong growth
Swiss chalet spying: Brazilians, Indians, Chinese and Americans came in larger numbers in March
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Overnight stays in Swiss hotels, the standard measure of the tourism industry’s health, rose to 3.3 million, a 2.3 percent increase in March 2011 compared to March 2010. The latest figures were released by the Swiss statistical office Monday 9 May.
Foreign tourist stays increased slightly, by 1.1 percent, while Swiss tourist traffic was up 3.9 percent.
The strongest growth came from Asia, with Europe the only region not registering growth. India led the way for Asia, with 5,000 more overnight stays, followed by China with an increase of 4,900.
Brazil had the strongest overall increase, up 5,900 overnight stays, with the US having 4,300 more.
The largest drop was the UK: British tourists spent 30,000 fewer nights in Swiss hotels in March than they did a year earlier: the 16 percent fall was the largest of any one country.
Tourism in general is picking up
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Barely a whiff of the scandal has reached Switzerland, but it’s top of the news in India this week, and UK media have been following it with interest: the former head of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi (CWG) in October 2010, Suresh Kalmadi, was arrested Monday 25 April and appeared in court Tuesday, charged, according to India’s Central Bureau of Investigation with “conspiracy to cause favour to a private firm based in Switzerland in awarding the contract for Timing, Scoring & Result system at an inflated cost of Rs. 141 crore [ed. note: CHF27.7 million].
Kalmadi is the third top official to be arrested since March in connection with the investigation.
A lawyer was arrested for throwing a slipper at Kalmadi as he arrived at court Tuesday.
Wednesday, Indian media report that the Indian Olympic Association have replaced him as president (the IOC in Lausanne has not yet confirmed the information).
The company in question, while not named by the court, is clearly Swiss Timing, based in Corgémont, canton Bern, which is owned by the Swatch Group. The scandal has been whipped up by the Indian press for months, but reached a new peak this week, implying in passing that Swiss Timing might be accused of wrongdoing, and even the Associated Press expressed confusion, saying in reports published Tuesday that “it was not immediately clear if Swiss Timing was also accused of alleged wrongdoing.” The sentence was later dropped from updates, but the older version is still available from several of AP’s client news outlets.
Swatch Group, in a press release issued 26 April, vehemently denies the Indian media reports and clarifies the financial situation, which has been the source of much confusion in the Indian press.
The CWG were pursued by charges of corruption months before the Games took place:
Swatch Group vehemently denies Indian media rumours
Beatrice Howald, press spokesperson for Swatch, told GenevaLunch Wednesday that the company has not been contacted or accused by Indian authorities of any illegal activities, nor has it been able to obtain any information in response to its efforts to determine if there were problems with the contract bid process.
“Swiss Timing would have had nothing to gain by this,” she points out, qualifying the company’s reputation in the field of sports events timing as “excellent”.
Swiss Timing was responsible for timing and scoring at the Games. A second company, India-based Gem International, may have been involved in obtaining the contract, but the process now under investigation by a court in Delhi, appears murky.
Swiss Timing has long history of timing top world sports events
Swiss Timing is one of the world’s top sports events timekeepers:
International sports, World Cup cricket
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India (GenevaLunch) - India won the World cup in a canter with a six wicket victory over Sri Lanka, 2 April. However the much awaited battle of the “little masters” was not part of the action. Sachin Tendulkar scored just 18 before being caught in the slips while Muttiah Muralitharan struggled to play in the match and had none of the normal control and guile in his bowling. Instead it was a true team victory for India: they bowled, batted and fielded better than Sri Lanka. They were also helped by Sri Lanka’s bizarre decision to drop Mendis in favour of the mediocre bowling of Perera, Randiv and Kulasakara. Sri Lanka won the toss and started badly but then made a respectable total of 274 for six, with 103 not out from Mahela Jayawardena. India’s response was similar: the loss of two early wickets, but was followed by a disciplined batting display by Gaulam Gambhir and captain MS Dhoni, who struck the winning runs with an emphatic six.
Links to other sites: Times of India,Guardian
Female infanticide appears to continue
India’s census results were published Thursday 31 March, showing that the country is now the world’s second most populous, with 17 percent of the world population. India officially has 1.21 billion people, compared to China’s 1.34 billion.
India added 181 million new people, but the Guardian notes that the census commissioner told reporters in India that growth has slowed. “C Chandramouli, the census commissioner, told reporters in Delhi that the new count showed population growth in India had slowed. The 17.6% increase was down from 21.5% recorded in 2001.”
The child sex ratio has worsened in India in the past 10 years, the Times of India points out,”indicating that female feticide and infanticide remain rampant. Provisional data released by the census office for 2011 shows that the child sex ratio (0-6 years) has further declined to 914 girls for every 1,000 boys as compared to 927 in 2001.”
Links to other sites: Guardian, Indian Census Bureau, Times of India
International sports, World Cup cricket
Mohali, India (GenevaLunch) - India beat Pakistan by 29 runs to go into the finals of the cricket World Cup 31 March. The final will be against Sri Lanka Saturday 2 April from 09:00 GMT, 11:00 Swiss time.
India won the toss, chose to bat and Sehwag soon started to smash the ball around the park, scoring five boundaries in Gul’s second over, but then he fell lbw after scoring 38 from 25 balls. Sachin Tendulkar topped the scorecard for India with 85 runs but it was not one of the little master’s better displays. He was dropped four times, survived two umpire reviews and failed in his bid to reach his hundred centuries in one day games
India ended on 260 for 9 after a middle order batting collapse but the total proved too much for the Pakistani batsmen, who ended on 231 all out.
The prime ministers of India and Pakistan sat together to watch the early stages of the match in a clear gesture to reduce the tension between the two countries, but Manmohan Singh may have enjoyed the game more than Yousuf Gilani.
Links to other sites: Times of India, Yahoo Cricket, Guardian, Telegraph
Background story, GenevaLunch
The Globe & Mail in Canada puts it best: “If you do business in South Asia, well, don’t expect anyone to take your calls, unless you’re ringing to share invective on the shocking performance of India’s spinners.”
Forget about world crises, making money or sorting out family problems, for today is a cricket day. India versus Pakistan, to be precise, playing Wednesday in a match that has brought both countries to a halt. The G&M notes that Sri Lanka is nearly shut for business as well, since the winner of today’s match will face Sri Lanka Saturday in the cricket World Cup finals.
Everyone who counts is at the match (likely to last several hours), including the two countries’ prime ministers, who last met for any length of time over Pakistan’s alleged involvement in the Mumbai bombings in 2008.
The match is taking place near the border between the two countries, in India’s Punjab.
The match: details are headline news, as the match unfolds, but if you don’t follow cricket you might find it hard going to discover who is ahead and why: Times of India and The Jang, Pakistan.
Claims by former US presidential candidate Sarah Palin that she is on a purely private visit to Israel, where she stopped at Jerusalem’s Western Wall were undone somewhat by an analysis for CNN of her visit by a former consultant. Republican consultant Ford O’Connell, who worked on the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008, told the US television network that foreign policy is Palin’s greatest weakness but that “‘Foreign policy is moving up the ladder. If you want to be president, you have to have a good understanding of the global economy in the 21st century.’”
The visit to Israel follows a stop in India.
Palin has not officially announced her candidacy. She was criticized by some observers in the last presidential race because she had rarely set foot outside the US, although she has travelled abroad more since 2008. Her first overseas trip was in 2007, when she visited Alaska National Guard troops in Kuwait, who served under the US president rather than the governor. She stopped off in Germany to visit US troops there at the time.
Links to other sites: Anchorage Daily News (2008), The Week
India and Pakistan say they will resume formal peace talks on all outstanding issues including Kashmir, although they say, some issues are likely to slow any progress toward defusing tensions.
These talks will take place in “quick succession” with the aim to have them completed within the next three months, reports The Indian Express.
Prime Minister Syed Yusaf Raza Gilani of Pakistan is quoted as expressing satisfaction over the progress made by the two countries to resume full dialogue.
Gilani also “appreciates the vision of Prime Minister [of India] Dr Manmohan Singh for opening a new chapter in relations between the two countries,” something that Pakistan “fully reciprocates”, reports the Associated Press of Pakistan.
Links to other sites: Hindustan Times, Times of India.
Head of a tiger (Panthera tigris), India (photo: ©2010 Vivek R Sinh, WWF-Canon)
Nyon / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Three of the six students who were working in Assam for the WWF, counting tigers, when they were kidnapped Sunday, have been released unharmed.
The three women were released but the three men abducted with them remain captive. WWF-India says it is working closely with local governments and organizations to secure their release.
Full story, 7 February, GenevaLunch
One-quarter of jobs to go
The BBC’s long-discussed budget cuts have finally hit, and it means that five countries will lose World Service broadcasts entirely, while in some other countries programming will be reduced. The five are: Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian services plus English for the Caribbean and Portuguese for Africa.
Audiences are expected to fall by 30 million to 150 million. The BBC is looking to save £46 million a year.
The cuts, needed to meet the government-mandated savings of 16 percent, involve the loss of 480 jobs initially, with a total of 650 within four years, out of 2,400 jobs currently.
The BBC in September 2010 had already announced programming cuts that including dropping daily hour-long special coverage of Wimbledon tennis and the Proms music programmes.
Some of the cuts will be offset, the BBC says, by be looking for partnerships in India, Pakistan and sub-Saharan Africa. It also plans to increase online videos.
The BBC World Service began operating in 1932.
Links to other sites: China Digital Times on the impact on Chinese BBC service, Guardian, Rapid TV News, Telegraph
Diamonds are a thieve's best friends (Franck Muller watch)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Times of India reports that police in Mumbai have recovered 20 diamond-studded Franck Muller watches worth several million dollars and six less expensive timepieces as well as “chemicals”, stuffed into the cavity of a toilet on an Air India flight that landed in Mumbai Monday night 10 January.
They were alerted to the possibility of smuggled goods on the plane, which had flown from Abu Dhabi, but they arrived after passengers left the plane. Maintenance staff are being investigated as the most likely suspects, officials told the Times, because a smuggler would have to be certain the person on the receiving end could carry the goods out of the airport.
Low-cost Indian airline Indigo has agreed to purchase 180 Airbus A320s in a deal worth $15.6b at list prices, it was announced 11 January. It is the largest single-firm aircraft order in aviation history, according to Airbus. Indigo will acquire 150 A320Neos, an improved version of the A320 equipped with fuel-efficient engines and wing-tips, to be delivered in 2016.
Indigo is India’s third-largest airline and plans to offer international flights to the Middle East and Southeast Asia in September, after its fifth year of operations, the company’s president told Reuters 12 January.
Analysts expect India to spend up to $120b on aviation by 2020 to meet burgeoning demand. Domestic passenger traffic is expected to reach 140-160m per year by 2020, according to Economic Times.
Links to other sites: AFP, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal
Swiss aid group calls for Zimbabwe to be barred from Kimberly Process diamonds, cites State torture, child and forced labour
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Indian ministry of commerce is the latest to move against the Zimbabwe diamond trade, asking the country’s traders and jewelry exporters Thursday 9 December to “bide their time” until the Kimberly Process (KP), which certifies diamonds, clarifies Zimbabwe’s compliance, according to SouthWest Radio Africa. Monday the Swiss group Bread for All, a humanitarian alliance of the country’s Protestant churches, called for the Swiss market not to accept Zimbabwe diamonds, citing continued human rights abuse in the Marange diamond area. Switzerland imports $676 million in rough diamonds a year and exports close to $1 billion, in addition to its finished diamonds market.
India imports more diamonds than any other country in the world, based on 2009 KP statistics.
Zimbabwe was barred from KP trading in November 2009 because of alleged human rights abuses at its Chiadzwe mines in the east of the country. The KP’s 49-member group, of which Switzerland and India as well as Zimbabwe are members, ruled in July 2010 that Zimbabwe could resume limited exports, following a visit by a monitor in September. The Indian government’s call to its diamond business is reportedly based on ongoing negotiations between Zimbabwe, which threatens to ignore the KP certification process, and the KP, which wants Zimbabwe to limit exports to better monitor the trade there.
The Kimberly Process describes itself as “a joint governments, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds–rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments. The trade in these illicit stones has fuelled decades of devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone.”
Bread for All has appealed to the Swiss government to insist as a member of the KP not only that Zimbabwe be barred from certification by the Kimberly Process but also to push for a change to the KP rules, which currently define “blood diamonds” only as those handled by rebel groups to finance their wars against governments.
The Swiss organization says it has evidence from its Geneva-based partner, Zimbabwe Advocate, of daily instances of human rights abuse since 2008 by the Zimbabwe government’s army in mines in the east of the country, around Marange. The “human rights violations include forced labour, child labour, torture, beatings and rape. In addition, soldiers are forcing minors to work for them and they are organizing illegal trafficking in diamonds,” according to Bread for All.
Zimbabwe minister berates visiting Norwegians for questions over abuse
Updated 10:00 India has not decided yet whether it will attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony 10 December, according to the Times of India. Some Indian press reports 8 December indicate that the Indian ambassador in Oslo, Norway had confirmed to the Nobel Committee that he would attend, despite strong pressure from China. China has suggested that India’s participation could undermine a visit to India by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao 15 December.
Norway has said that 19 countries have confirmed they will not attend the ceremony this Friday, 10 December, while 44 have confirmed. The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has also turned down an invitation to attend because she is hosting a human rights event in Geneva Friday, but she will also not be sending a more junior representative, according to Foreign Policy magazine. The Chinese government reacted angrily to news that the prize is being given to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who is in prison for “endangering state security”. Many of Liu’s friends have been prevented from leaving China in recent weeks and his wife has been put under house arrest to prevent her from receiving the prize in his stead.
Links to other sites: Boston Globe, Hindustan Times
Number of deaths in highrise fire in China put at 53; four arrested
A 15-year-old building in a poor neighbourhood in New Delhi, India, collapsed late Monday 15 November, killing 66 people and injuring at least 70 (Times of India reports 80 injured) of the 200 who are believed to have been living there. Authorities are blaming water damage to the foundation, caused by unusually heavy monsoons earlier this year, reports CNN. The building owner, Amrit Singh, has fled with his family and is being sought by police, say Indian media.
A highrise fire that killed 53 in China Monday has resulted in the arrests of four people on charges related to using unlicensed welders, according to Xinhua. Scores more were injured, of the 440 people who lived in the building, which was being renovated.
China welcomes reform of the UN Security Council as “necessary”, two days after US President Barack Obama said the US would support an Indian bid to gain permanent member status of the body. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told a news conference in Beijing 1o November that “China values the role India plays in international affairs, and China understands and supports India’s willingness to play a bigger role at the UN”, according to Xinhua. He said that the Chinese government hoped that all parties could “negotiate patientlyto reach a consensus on the UNSC reform-related issues.”
Links to other sites: Christian Science Monitor, Economic Times
© WHO 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - India’s mortality rate due to malaria may be 13 times higher than reported, according to a study published in The Lancet 21 October, casting doubts on the validity of malaria deaths figures world-wide. The study estimates that 205,000 people may in fact be dying of malaria every year in India, due to incorrect diagnoses, especially in poor rural areas and at a distance from health centres.
The World Health Organization (WHO) statistics count 15,000 people who die of malaria in India each year. The Geneva-based WHO disputes the numbers, according to the BBC, saying they are far too high and that some criteria for inclusion, such as high fever, are not necessarily accurate.
India will jointly produce 250-300 advanced stealth fighter planes for the Indian air force with Russia’s Sukhoi Company in a deal worth up to $30 billion, the Indian Defense Minister, A.K. Antony announced 7 October. The Russian government will also supply 45 multi-role transport planes. India is set to spend $80bn on modernizing its defense capabilities over the next five years.
Links to other sites: Asia Times Online, Nasdaq, Times Of India
A hitherto unknown language called Koro, spoken by people in NE India has been discovered by researchers investigating languages in danger of extinction it was reported 5 October. The researchers, part of a National Geographic project in Arunachal Pradesh, were surprised to hear a language that they had not heard before.
Koro is part of the family of Tibeto-Burman languages, is spoken by about 1,000 people and is itself in danger of extinction.
Links to other sites: BBC, USA Today
Source: National Geographic
