Marine issue:Italian PM calls up Manmohan Singh

Italian  Prime Minister Mario Monti . |AP

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti called up his counterpart Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday to discuss on the case involving two marines facing murder charges. 

With the possibility of allowing death charges against the marines for killing two Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala in February last year, the Italian Prime Minister decided to call Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"Prime Minister Singh received a telephone call this evening from Italian Prime Minister. During the course of the call, the issue of Italian marines in India was discussed," official sources said.

Prime Minister appreciated the Italian Government’s decision to return the marines to India as per the commitments made before the Indian Supreme Court and this step would enable the judicial process to proceed forward. 

Following his recent conversation between External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Italy Staffan de Mistura, he mentioned that the process of setting up a special court was at an advanced stage and the details regarding this would be provided by the Attorney General  during the hearing in the Supreme Court on April 16.

On February 15 last year, the two marines Massmiliano Latore and Salvatore Girone were on board on Italian vessel ‘Enrica Lexie’ when they allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast.

The Home Minister had handed over the case to National Investigation Agency(NIA), which  has submitted an FIR before the Special NIA court booking under sections 302(murder), 307(attempt to murder), 427(mischief) and section 34(Common intent) of IPC. 

The NIA also booked them under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act, 2002.

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Agni- II takes off successfully

Agni-II was successfully test-fired on Sunday from Wheeler Island off the OdishaCoast

The ballistic missile Agni II, which has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), lifted off high from the mobile launcher on Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast. Traveling about 2,000km range, it reached the targeted area in the Bay of Bengal. The missile   was successfully test fired by Strategic Forces Command (SFC)  on Sunday at 10.25 a.m.

“Everything went off well. Radars on the coast tracked the missile’s trajectory,” said DRDO officials. The missile was monitored by Electro- optical systems through out its journey. It weighs about 17 tonnes having the length of 20 meters and is capable of carrying nuclear warheads. 

All the three missiles- Agni I, Agni II and Agni III have been successfully launched and introduced formally into the Army

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Kissinger Cables- The Inside Story

Consisting of more than 1.7 million U.S diplomatic records, the Kissinger Cables reveal documents for the period 1973 to 1976 when Henry Kissinger was the U.S Secretary of State in the Nixon and Ford Administrations.

This new accessible format has already let a lot of news organizations to reveal  interesting tidbits from the cables obtained in WikiLeaks.

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The fate of Circus companies

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China appoints a new President

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping (right), shakes hands with the newly-confirmed premier, Li Keqiang. Photograph: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Marking different leadership style from his predecessor, and characterizing more down-to-earth nature, the National People’s Congress (NPC) delegates cast their vote for Communist Party of China’s (CPC) General Secretary Xi Jinping. 

Out of NPC’s 2963 delegates, 2956 were present. While 2952 voting was casted for Mr. Xi, one vote was recorded against him and the remaining three representatives did not cast their vote. 

After the results were announced, Mr. Xi bowed before the Congress and shook the hand with his predecessor Hu Jintao, whose tenure in the office saw an unusual rise in China’s economy. 

Mr. Xi was appointed as the CPC’s General Secretary by National People’s Congress in November. He is however known for launching a high profile campaign against government waste and extravagance. 

His appointment as President has led to rising expectations that the new government will be bolder in holding political and economic reforms. Mr. Xi, the successor of Hu Jintao, will face more challenges from corruption in the party, environmental pollution and rising inequality.

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Ieng Sary, the co-founder of Khmer Rouge, dies at 87

Ieng Sary in 1996 with former members of his radical Maoist movement who were allowed to join the Cambodian Army
-Darren Whiteside/Reuters

Ieng Sary, the co-founder of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, who was one of the few leaders on trial on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, died on Thursday in a hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

 Mr. Ieng Sary had been on treatment for heart problems and other ailments. On March 4, he was taken from his holding cell at the special tribunal to a hospital to treat him for  gastrointestinal problems. Later, on Thursday, March 14, he died before his case against him could be finished. 

Mr. Ieng Sary was found to be a part of Paris-educated communists, which brutally killed 1.7 million people from starvation. Kaing Guek, a prison commander, was also found guilty for the deaths of people. He was sentenced to life in prison in February 2012.

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Nepal CJ headed as interim Premier

Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi.— PHOTO: AP

In order to hold elections for a new Constituent Assembly by June 21, Chief Justice Khila Raj Regmi was on Thursday sworn in as the head of the interim government until he fully takes charge as Prime Minister.  

All the four parties including Nepali Congress, United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Communist Party of Nepal – United Marxist Leninist and United Democratic Madhesi Front agreed to appoint on the basis of deal made between the parties. The deal was struck on several issues related to peace process, citizenship, voter rolls.

It was parties’ agitation that turned Thursday into a ‘black day’ as the transportation was halted in many parts of the country. Mr. Regmi called out the agitated parties to support the elections.

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