John Kerry hosts Afghan-Pakistan talks in Belgium

US Secretary of State John Kerry has hosted talks near Brussels between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani military chief Ashfaq Kayani.

Ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been strained over links between the Afghan Taliban rebels and Pakistan.

Following the talks, Mr Kerry said progress had been made.

But there is no sign that either side is ready to make concessions before Nato's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, says the BBC's David Loyn.

Mr Kerry met the officials at Truman Hall on the outskirts of the Belgian capital.

Following the three-hour long meeting, he said: "It's fair to say that there is a good feeling among all of us that we made progress in this dialogue."

But he added: "We have a lot of homework to do. We are not going to raise expectations or make promises that can't be delivered."

The talks come a day after Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen called on Pakistan to combat militants who used the country as a launch-pad for attacks on Afghanistan.

Mr Rasmussen said: "We need a positive engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and stability not only in Afghanistan, but in the region."

The 100,000 remaining Nato International Security Assistance Force soldiers are due to be withdrawn by the end of 2014, after which Nato says its role in the country will essentially be a training one.

Earthquake rocks eastern Afghanistan

At least seven people have been killed, dozens injured and many homes destroyed when a powerful earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, officials said.

Wednesday's quake, measured at a magnitude of 5.6 by the US Geological Survey, sent people rushing from their homes in worst-hit areas and was felt in the Afghan capital Kabul and in Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan.

It struck at 09:25 GMT at a depth of 62km, with its epicentre 24km northwest of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad near the Pakistani border, the USGS said in a revised update.

Six people died in Nangarhar province of which Jalalabad is the capital, said provincial spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, and 75 people were injured. Forty of them were given first aid and the rest admitted to hospital for further treatment.

"We are still in the process of getting information from the affected areas. Among the dead are some children," Abdulzai told AFP news agency.

Afghanistan sees 'troubling rise' in civilians killed

Afghanistan has suffered “a troubling rise” in killings of civilians, with the figure surging almost 30% in the first three months of the year, according to a United Nations envoy.

Despite the sobering statistic, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that other facts “highlight the improved security across the country,” including dramatic increases in the number of children in school and the share of Afghans who have access to healthcare.

The death toll is being closely watched because Afghan forces are slated to take over responsibility for securing the country ahead of the departure of most foreign troops in 2014. The latest figures were released as Afghanistan faces the seasonal resurgence of heavier fighting, triggered by warmer weather that eases militants’ movements through mountain passes.

Jan Kubis, the U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, told NATO foreign ministers meeting Tuesday in Brussels that he was particularly troubled that the Taliban had declared courthouses and their personnel targets. Attacks this month on a courthouse and government offices in western Afghanistan were “nothing less than a war crime,” he said.

Overall, 475 civilians were killed from January through March of this year, Kubis said. Last year, civilian casualties fell 12%.

Nonetheless, Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., commander of the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, said Wednesday that the insurgency was losing relevancy for many Afghans. The bulk of the attacks – 80% -- occur in areas where fewer than 20% of Afghans live, he said in a statement.

As Afghan forces take control of security nationwide, Dunford said, “the insurgency can no longer use the justification that it is fighting foreign occupiers – that message rings hollow.”

Afghans protecting Afghans “will continue to undermine the influence and effectiveness of the insurgency,” Dunford said.

Iran’s finance minister: ‘Sanctions haven’t crippled us’

The tactic of choice to derail Iran’s nuclear program has been "crippling sanctions," imposed by the United States and other Western countries.

Iranian Finance Minister Seyyed Shamseddin Hosseini said that sanctions have driven up prices to some degree, but he downplayed the larger effect. Hosseini spoke with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Tuesday.

“I am not saying that they haven't had any impact on our country,” Hosseini said of the sanctions. “But on the other hand, I don't believe that such sanctions have crippled us.” 

The Obama administration has painted a completely different picture.

“Few thought that sanctions could have an immediate bite on the Iranian regime,” President Obama declared last year. “They have – slowing the Iranian nuclear program and virtually grinding the Iranian economy to a halt in 2011.”

The efforts to isolate and penalize Iran by cutting it off from international markets are based on the hope that sanctions will force Iran to come into compliance with U.N. resolutions.

Sectors that depended on foreign imports have been weakened, Hosseini admitted to Amanpour. But he also claimed that some of the negative measures placed on the economy have actually had a positive impact.

“Non-oil exports grew,” Hosseini said. “Our industrial exports grew twenty percent. And in comparison, our imports were reduced by fourteen percent. As such that we met our foreign import requirements by non-oil exports.”

Hosseini maintained his country’s stance that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and that the sanctions won’t stop its efforts.

Israel UN envoy slams Iran hypocrisy over ME arms

Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor addressed the UN on Wednesday, highlighting two key Israeli concerns; the Iranian race for nuclear arms and Palestinian intolerance towards Israel.

"Earlier this month, the Iranian delegate stood in front of the General Assembly to share Iran's so-called concerns with the Arms Trade Treaty...this is like the mafia complaining that the crime rate in New York is high," Prosor said.

He continued to warn the UN, "Make no mistake - Iran's ambition for nuclear weapons is the single greatest threat to the Middle East and the entire world.   

Prosor noted that following last month's negotiation attempts with Iran, "Iran announced two key infrastructure projects. Surprise, surprise, both of them expanded Iran's ability to process Uranium."

Prosor slammed Iran for sending Hezbollah fighters to Syria to effectively help Syrian President Bashar Assad butcher the Syrian people.

Though the bulk of Prosor's speech centered around the Iranian nuclear problem, he reserved some choice words to address the issue of Palestinian intolerance as a society towards the Israeli people.

Iranian travelling on fake Israeli passport 'arrested in Nepal'

Security staff detained the man, later identified as Mohsin Khosravian, after spotting him behaving suspiciously outside the embassy grounds on April 13.

They then handed him over to the Nepalese police, who established that he had entered the Himalayan country 10 days earlier on a false Israeli passport while concealing his genuine Iranian documents in his luggage.

Nepal's central bureau of investigation has begun an investigation to establish possible terrorist links due to Mr Khosravian's "frequent and suspicious visits" to the area near the Israeli compound, the Himalayan Times reported.

Mr Khosravian, who was carrying a tourist map of the neighbourhood when he was detained, initially told police he had been looking for a computer shop to repair his laptop.

He later admitted travelling from Iran to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, where he had been given the forged passport that named him as "Alexander". Subsequently, he flew to Sri Lanka, and from there to Kathmandu. Mr Khosravian had been living in Thailand since 2004 and is married to a Thai woman, according to the Himalayan Times.

Israeli foreign ministry officials refused to comment, saying they never speak about security issues surrounding their embassies.

But the newspaper, Maariv, concluded that the arrest was evidence that Iran was planning a "terror attack" in Kathmandu, which is a favourite location of Israeli tourists.

"The assessment is that the Iranians, apparently by means of the Revolutionary Guard's Al-Quds Force, had been planning to attack either the Israeli embassy, some of its staff members or groups of Israelis who gathered in the city," the newspaper wrote.

Investigators have implicated Iran in plots to simultaneously attack Israeli interests in India, Thailand and Georgia in February last year.

While the alleged conspiracies in Thailand and Georgia failed, the wife of the Israeli military attaché in Delhi was injured when a car bomb exploded near Israel's embassy.

Officials in Bulgaria have blamed the Lebanese Shia group Hizbollah, Iran's close ally, for a suicide bomb attack on a bus in the town of Burgas last July that killed five Israelis and the Bulgarian driver, along with the bomber.

Uzbekistan and USA discuss situation in Afghanistan

On Wednesday the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, National News Agency of Uzbekistan (UzA) reports.

During the meeting, the President noted that thanks to the efforts of both sides the Uzbek-American relations have a stable and long-term character, and the fruitful bilateral cooperation between Uzbekistan and the United States at the international level as well as between representatives of business, scientific and educational sectors, and civil society is sequentially developing on the basis of mutual respect and interests.

Robert Blake, in turn, confirmed the intention of the United States to continue working together in order to enhance the multidimensional cooperation in various fields.

The parties exchanged their views on the topical issues of regional and of international policy, first of of all those related to the current situation in Afghanistan.

As reported before, on Wednesday, Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov discussed with the U.S. Assistant Secretary the schedule of the upcoming consultations between the foreign ministries, meetings of representatives of business circles of the two countries and other bilateral contacts at various levels.

Afghanistan offers Turkmenistan to build Imamnazar-Akina railway line

Afghanistan has offered Turkmenistan to construct the Imamnazar-Akina railway line -- section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway line -- on the Afghan territory.

The proposal was voiced at a meeting of the special coordination intergovernmental group on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway project, which took place in Ashgabat, the Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary reported.

"Representatives of the Afghan delegation suggested participation of the Turkmen specialists in the development of a feasibility study and construction of the Imamnazar-Akina railway line section in Afghanistan," the report says.

The meeting was attended by senior representatives of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and held within a memorandum of understanding signed in Ashgabat on March 20 following a tripartite meeting of the presidents of three countries.

The sides signed an intergovernmental framework agreement on the construction of Atamyrat-Imamnazar-Akina-Andkhoi railway in May 2011.

Earlier, Deputy Minister of Public Works of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Wahid, said the main investors in the project for the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway will be Ashgabat and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Wahid said the railway section passing through Turkmenistan will be funded by the Turkmen government and the Afghan and Tajik sections are likely to be financed by the ADB.

The bank plans to allocate $350 million to Afghanistan, he said.

Turkmenistan’s foreign trade turnover shows steady growth

For the period from January to March 2013, Turkmenistan's foreign trade turnover amounted to over $5.421 billion reaching 102 per cent compared to the corresponding period of 2012, the Ministry of Economy and Development of the country reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, during the recent year, Turkmenistan has been preserving its balance of foreign trade at a consistently positive level. From 2007 to 2011 the volume of foreign trade in the country increased 2.1 times, while exports grew 1.9 times and imports by 2.6 times.

Turkmenistan's foreign trade turnover in 2012 increased by 21.4 per cent compared to 2011. In turn, exports increased by 19.3 per cent and imports by 24.4 per cent.

The global locations of participants of foreign trade are growing and include more than 100 countries around the world. The main exporting countries are Iran, Russia, China, Georgia, Italy, Turkey and Afghanistan. The dominant importing countries are Turkey, China, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, France and Germany.

There is a growth in the proportion of crude oil and petroleum products, petroleum gases, vegetable oil, textiles, cotton and other commodities exported from the country. Turkmenistan remains the largest natural gas exporter in Central Asia.

Among export oriented industries, the most intensive foreign trade growth is planned to be achieved in the chemical, textile, food, construction materials and agriculture industries.

Diversification and production increase have become an important condition for the growth of the economy. Foreign investments constitute one-third of the total investments in the country. They are mainly invested in the production sector of Turkmenistan.

Bangladesh inks biggest ever JV power deal with India

Dhaka, Apr 20 (PTI) Bangladesh on Saturday signed its biggest ever joint venture agreement with India involving investment of USD 1.6 billion for 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant which is expected to be operational in the next five years.
"This will be the largest investment Bangladesh ever had ... this will be cheapest source of energy (after hydropower) to accelerate the countrys economic growth," Prime Ministers energy affairs adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said at the signing ceremony at the Biddut Bhaban here.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said the event reflected the development in sub-regional cooperation.
The two country''s signed three deals under the pact floating Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (PvT) Limited to run the plant at Rampal of Bagerhat while the two others were Power Purchase Agreement and Implementation Agreement.
Under the agreements, 70 per cent of the investment would come as loan from market while Bangladesh Power Development Board and India''s power producer NTPC would provide equally the rest of the amount.
A supplementary joint venture agreement floating the company was signed by BPDB chairman Abdual Wahab Khan and NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Choudhury while the two others agreements were signed by officials concerned of the two countries.

Sri Lanka tracks tourists to ensure national security

(Reuters) - Sri Lanka, which saw record tourist arrivals last year, said on Thursday it had started tracking those same tourists to crack down on crime and ensure national security.
The $59 billion economy recorded one million arrivals last year with annual revenue from tourism jumping to an all-time peak of $1.04 billion, helped by the end of nearly three decades of civil war in 2009.
The decision to track the tourists, requiring hotels and guesthouses to submit weekly reports on their foreign guests, comes after several foreign visitors were arrested for crimes including credit card fraud and printing counterfeit money, government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters.
"In the guise of tourists, there are certain elements which are adverse to (security of) the country," Rambukwella said.

After rape of 5-year-old girl, India debates even stricter punishments

India recently passed tougher sentences for rape convictions. After this latest case, protesters want even harsher penalties put in place, but analysts argue police reform is more critical.


Protests over the rape of a five year old in Delhi have renewed the debate in India about what needs to be done about the country's rape problem.
In the aftermath of large, daily protests over the rape and murder of a 23-year-old in December, the government had passed a new law that strengthened the punishment for rape convictions. The law expanded eligibility for the death penalty to repeated rapists and rapes where the victim dies or is left an invalid. And the law boosted the minimum sentence in the rape of minors from seven to 20 years in prison.
"Such legislation has come to India for the first time and the parliament has given its approval. It will create a revolution in the country," Home Affairs Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had said about the law last month.
The stiffer penalties did not appear to deter the rape of the 5-year-old daughter of construction laborers. Some of the protesters are now focused on ratcheting up punishment again by expanding the death penalty to those convicted of raping minors. The demands by protesters have been echoed by Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition in Parliament.
"Nothing short of death sentence in cases of rape of children and in cases involving brutality and barbarity will help," Ms. Swaraj said after meeting the girl in the hospital.

India Use Drones to Protect Rhinos From Poachers

Wildlife authorities used drones on Monday for aerial surveillance of a sprawling natural game park in northeastern India to protect the one-horned rhinoceros from armed poachers.
Security officers conducted flights of the unmanned aircraft over the Kaziranga National Park. The drones will be flown at regular intervals to prevent rampant poaching in the park located in the remote Indian state of Assam.
The drones are equipped with cameras and will be monitored by security guards, who find it difficult to guard the whole 480-square kilometer (185-square mile) reserve.
"Regular operations of the unmanned aerial vehicles will begin once we get the nod of the Indian defense ministry," said Rokybul Hussain, the state's forest and environment minister.

            

A mahout walks past with an elephant used for tourist rides as Remo Peduzzi, Managing Director, Research Drones LLC Switzerland prepares to fly an unmanned aircraft or drone at the Kaziranga National Park at Kaziranga in Assam state, India, Monday, April 8, 2013. Wildlife authorities used drones on Monday for aerial surveillance of the sprawling natural game park in northeastern India to protect the one-horned rhinoceros from armed poachers. The drones will be flown at regular intervals to prevent rampant poaching in the park located in the remote Indian state of Assam. The drones are equipped with cameras and will be monitored by security guards, who find it difficult to guard the whole 480-square kilometer (185-square mile) reserve. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) Close

The drones will also be useful during the annual monsoon season when large parts of the Kaziranga reserve are inundated by floods from the mighty Brahmaputra River and three other rivers that flow through the game park, park officials said.
Hussain said the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's equivalent of the FBI, will soon begin investigations into the steep rise in rhino poaching this year.
Poachers armed with automatic rifles killed 22 rhinos last year, but have killed 16 rhinos already this year.
Rhino horn is in great demand in China and Southeast Asia where it is believed to have medicinal properties.
A rhino census conducted in Kaziranga reserve two weeks ago put their number at 2,329, up from 2,290 in 2012.

Bangladesh March exports rise 16 pct on garment sales

(Reuters) - Bangladesh's exports rose 16.2 percent in March to $$2.3 billion from a year earlier, rising for a ninth month, thanks to stronger clothing sales, the Export Promotion Bureau said on Monday, but recent political unrest could drag overseas orders down.

Monthly exports had fallen year-on-year from March through June as the global economic slowdown weighed on demand. But exports have since picked up, with a 10.16 percent rise in the July-March period.

Sri Lanka to Probe Mass Grave With 150 Skeletons

A Sri Lankan presidential commission will be appointed to investigate a mass grave where more than 150 skulls and bones, most likely of Marxist rebels killed decades ago, were found last year, a government spokesman said Monday.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa had decided to appoint the commission to investigate into the mass grave found at a state-run hospital in the central region of the country, said Lakshman Hulugalle, head of the government's Media Centre for National Security.
He told reporters the commission's probe will be in addition to an ongoing police investigation, adding names of the members of the commission will be announced soon.
Workers found the remains while doing construction last December at the hospital in Matale, about 105 kilometers (65 miles), northeast of the capital, Colombo. The skeletons were found buried in neat rows, five or six stacked on top of one another, totaling 154 bodies.
Last month, a judge declared the mass grave a crime scene, and said the skulls and bones recovered date back 25 years, strengthening suspicions that they belonged to suspected Marxist rebels killed at the time.

Americans killed in Afghanistan attacks

A car bomb blast in Afghanistan has killed five Americans, including three US soldiers and a young diplomat, while an American civilian died in a separate attack.

An Afghan doctor was also killed in Saturday's attack in Zabul province.

The US diplomat and other Americans were in a convoy of vehicles when the blast occurred, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

The soldiers and the diplomat died in the blast along with a civilian employee of the Defence Department and Afghan civilians, Kerry said. His statement gave no overall death toll.

The convoy was near a hospital and a NATO base at the time of the explosion.

"Our American officials and their Afghan colleagues were on their way to donate books to students in a school in Qalat, the province's capital, when they were struck by this despicable attack," Kerry said in his statement.

Provincial governor Mohammad Ashraf Nasery was in the convoy, but was unharmed.

"One doctor and one civilian were killed and two of my body guards have been injured," he told the AFP news agency.

Taliban claim

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Zabul attack in a text message from Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the group's spokesman.

He said a car bomb killed seven foreigners and wounded five others, though he later revised the toll to 13 foreigners killed and nine wounded

Pakistan summons Musharraf over treason case

Pakistan's former leader Pervez Musharraf has been ordered to appear in court over treason allegations and has barred him from leaving the country. 

The orders were issued on Monday after the country's Supreme Court heard applications from lawyers that the former military ruler was to face a treason trial for imposing emergency rule and arresting judges in November 2007. 

"It is necessary to issue notice to the respondents in these petitions. The office shall ensure service of notice to the respondents for tomorrow," Justice Jawad Khawaja told the court, referring to Musharraf and the state.

Government officials should "ensure that the respondent [Musharraf] does not leave the jurisdiction of Pakistan", he added.

Khawaja, part of a two-member bench of the top court, heard the petition against Musharraf on Monday after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry recused himself from the initially formed three-member bench.

Diplomat killed in Afghanistan 'was the rock of our team'

Risks come with serving as a U.S. diplomat in the Middle East, but Anne Smedinghoff hardly dwelled on them and took all the precautions while in the field, her colleagues said Monday.
"I think for Anne, (the risks are) what she saw as part of the job," said John Rhatigan, a deputy information officer who worked with Smedinghoff, who was killed Saturday in Afghanistan in a roadside attack. "She believed in the work she was doing … I think she wanted to be out there with the Afghan people as much as possible."
Still shaken by Smedinghoff's death, colleagues who knew her well described her as eager, kind and hard-working. Smedinghoff poured her heart into projects that built relationships between the Afghan public and Americans, they said.
"Anne was the rock of our team," said Solmaz Sharifi, an assistant information officer who met Smedinghoff while they were training together before their assignment in Kabul. "She was also exceptionally good at brightening up our day after an especially long day."
The young diplomat, from River Forest, and four other Americans were killed while delivering donated  textbooks to children at a new school. She and the other victims were traveling in a convoy when a bomb set off by the Taliban exploded, according to the State Department.
As an assistant press information officer, Smedinghoff spent most of her time working on public engagement and public diplomacy initiatives between the United States and Afghanistan. Often, she reached out to both the international and Afghan press with stories that showed locals a different side of America that they may not have known.

Kerry pledges support for Israel against Iran threat

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Iran on Monday that his country would not hesitate to take military action if the diplomatic process failed to prevent Tehran from continuing its drive for nuclear weapons.

“No option is off the table. No option will be taken off the table,” he said during a joint press conference with President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. Kerry is in Israel on a three-day visit. “And I confirm to you, Mr. President, that we will continue to seek a diplomatic solution. But our eyes are open, and we understand that the clock is moving. And no one will allow the diplomatic process to stand in the way of whatever choices need to be made to protect the world from yet another nuclear weapon in the wrong hands,” Kerry said.

The two met in advance of Kerry’s Monday night dinner with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz and senior officials such as chief negotiator Yitzhak Molcho and National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror. As of press time, the dinner was ongoing.

Kerry is also expected to meet with Netanyahu on Tuesday before leaving for London. The secretary of state also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf region Philip Gordon is expected to arrive in Israel on Tuesday.

In Kerry’s meetings with Israeli officials, he spoke about regional security issues such as Iran’s push to produce nuclear weapons, the unrest in Syria and its store of chemical weapons, Jerusalem’s renewed ties with Turkey and the possibility of restarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

When speaking with Peres at the latter’s official residence, Kerry assured the Israeli president that Washington understands the nature of the Iranian threat, as US President Barack Obama has said many times.

“You have a friend in President Obama; he doesn’t bluff,” Kerry declared.

The state of Nepali economy

On January 7, a group of unidentified men vandalized an SUV that Rajan Singh Bhandari, the CEO of Citizens Bank International, was traveling on in Kathmandu. 

On March 22, another group of people attacked BK Shrestha, the managing director of Hotel Radisson. 

Although both of these prominent personalities in the Nepali business community did not sustain any major injuries, the attacks reflect the security situation in the country which has become a major concern for businesspersons and investors. 

Successive governments that ruled Nepal over the years have all talking about mobilizing domestic and foreign investment to create jobs, raising people´s living standards and making the country economically prosperous. But they have so far failed to improve the country´s law and order situation, which is a basic minimum to boost investor confidence.

What is even more upsetting is that some of the leading political parties are directly engaged in polluting the business and investment environment.

In late December and early January, the Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party of Nepal -Maoist demanded millions of rupees from the business community as donation to hold its general convention. At around the same time, Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), a ruling party at that time, launched a similar extortion drive citing it needed close to Rs 50 million to finance its convention. 

When a major party in the ruling coalition -- whose senior member held the prime minister´s post at that time -- engages in such dirty tactics to extort money, what can the business community expect from others? 

The Nepali business community is already knee-deep in problems. 

Take for instance power cuts of up to 18 hours per day that have prevented many industries from operating at full capacity. Then there are the frequent government changes that lead to frequent changes in policies. Add to these the security issue and the private sector starts losing investment appetite.

Little wonder, the contribution of private investment to GDP fell to 15.3 percent in the fiscal year to mid-July 2012 from 18 percent five years ago, when the decade-long insurgency came to an end and Maoist combatants entered mainstream politics. 

Nepal GDP growth rate may slump to 6-year low in current fiscal

Hit by lower government spending and fall in production of key agricultural products, Nepal's economic growth rate is expected to slacken to 3.56 per cent in 2012-13 fiscal as against 4.48 per cent in previous year. 

The country's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in its preliminary projection on Friday said Nepal's economic growth rate is seen at 3.56 per cent, the lowest since 2006-07 fiscal year when the economy expanded by 2.75 per cent. 

The gross domestic product figures are on basic prices. "The economic growth rate is expected to slacken this fiscal year because of shrinkage in government spending and fall in production of key agricultural products like paddy and maize," CBS Deputy Director General Suman Raj Aryal said during a press meet in Kathmandu. 

"These reasons, coupled with unsatisfactory performance of other sectors, will hit this fiscal's GDP growth rate." 

Among others, manufacturing sector is expected to grow by nominal 1.85 per cent this fiscal year as against 3. 63 per cent last fiscal year. 

Real estate, renting and business activities sector is expected to expand by 1.64 per cent compared with 2.97 per cent last fiscal year. 

The current fiscal year will witness the lowest economic growth in the last six years due to to poor agricultural output and industrial growth and the delayed budget.

Dammed or Damned: Tajikistan and Uzbekistan Wrestle Over Water-Energy Nexus

The rivalry between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan is like any other, borne out of similarity, proximity, and scarcity. But the growing contention between the two countries hasn’t been around forever. It is a product of the former Soviet Republic’s distribution of political power. In a region where identity was long dictated by lifestyle, straddling ethnic and linguistic barriers, sudden political categorization based on Soviet terms formed the foundation for simmering animosity. Over the last 15 years, a string of environmental and political stresses have only aggravated relations. But there are strategic steps each country could take to rebuild the relationship based on the principles of mutual investment and benefit.

Underlying the present state of Uzbek-Tajik relations are a few key shifts: sporadic cuts to Tajikistan’s access to natural gas by Uzbekistan (Tajikistan consumes an average of 39,000 barrels a day, mostly from Uzbekistan), the introduction of a visa regime program, the introduction of minefields along the shared border, and disputes surrounding the origins and history of Tajik and Uzbek national identitites. A main point of contention is a controversial hydroelectric project, the Rogun Dam, in the works since the 1960s. The project has been advertised by Tajik leaders as a path to energy and economic independence, but Uzbeks claim it will stop their share of the flow of the Vakhsh River, a resource that is crucial to its cotton monocrop economy. Despite this bleak political backdrop, the plant, which the Tajik leadership is poised to complete, actually represents an opportunity to unite. It offers the Uzbek leader, Islam Karimov, an opportunity to transform the current state of bilateral relations into a more constructive alliance based on reciprocal understanding and support. From Tajikistan’s main regional foe, Uzbekistan could transform into its foremost economic partner. The current state of affairs between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is in need of cardinal reshaping and transformation into a more constructive dialogue. The Rogun project is a unique opportunity to bring to fruition the wishful thinking that is prevalent in both countries about friendship and communal trust between neighboring nations.

Rumors About Uzbekistan Leader’s Health Set Off Succession Debate

MOSCOW — The president of Uzbekistan, a white-haired man in a suit, rose from his seat at an annual spring festival and swung his hips, clapped his hands and danced a vigorous little jig.

This was nothing out of the ordinary; President Islam Karimov, who is 75 and has ruled Uzbekistan, the most populous country in the former Soviet Central Asia, since before the collapse of Communism, dances every year for Nowruz, the Persian spring holiday celebrated throughout the region.

For eight days after this year’s televised event, however, Mr. Karimov disappeared from public view and a disputed report surfaced that he had suffered a heart attack on the day of the dance, March 19. The heightened possibility that a leader who has been in power for more than two decades could suddenly die in office underscored the uncertain politics of succession in Uzbekistan.

State television broadcast archival footage of the leader, never a good sign. His oldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova, 40, seen as a leading figure in what some analysts say is a succession struggle already under way, resigned as envoy to the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday, possibly positioning herself for a larger role at home. Uzbek exiles reported political paralysis, citing people inside the government.

The rumors in the nation of 30 million people highlight a broader, looming political quandary in former Soviet states from Russia to Tajikistan, where the absence of real elections has meant that succession becomes an unpredictable, hair-raising event.

It is important for the United States because Uzbekistan has been a partner of convenience in supplying American and NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan. And over the next two years NATO forces in Afghanistan are expected to remove about 70,000 vehicles and 120,000 shipping containers. That operation will require rail lines and well-surfaced roads, something Uzbekistan has to offer as an alternative to Pakistan.

Turkmenistan to construct water reservoirs

Turkmenistan's Agriculture Ministry will construct water reservoirs on the Gozganchay River.

According to a decision of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the water reservoirs will be built in the Kaahka district of the Akhal province and in Kunya Urgench district of the Dashoguz province.

Water management equipment will be supplied by the Turkmen Enjam business entity. The equipment is also designed for the development of new irrigated lands with a total area of 25,000 hectares in the Altyn Asyr district of the Akhal province.

A transaction has been made to implement a program of social and economic development for 2012-2016, as well as to improve the cultural and economic efficiency of Turkmenistan's agricultural sector.

Turkmenistan grows cotton, corn, rice and sugar beet. In recent years, the country has been increasing capacities for the production of fertilizers. Turkmenistan is also actively purchasing agricultural machinery from the U.S. and Belarus in the framework of substantial reform in the agricultural sector.

According to Turkmen media, in the period of spring floods the Turkmen water sector enterprises start work on accumulation of water in various artificial reservoirs of the country.

The reservoir "15 Years of Independence of Turkmenistan" located in the southeast part of the Lebap province accumulates water stock from Amu Darya River for uninterrupted supply of water to the rural economy of the country in spring and summer seasons.

This reserve is intended to meet the growing needs for water of the irrigated agriculture of the country, taking into account the development and cultivation of new lands. In addition, the reservoir acts as a regulator of the river flow, ensuring the normal passage of water through the Karakum River to the south-western regions of the country.

The reservoir will be able to accumulate more than 3 billion cubic meters of water. It is also planned to build the first hydraulic complex with the capacity of 2.2 billion cubic meters of water.

The bowls of the Hauzhan, Mammetkel and Saryyazyn reservoirs are being expanded. The Saryyazyn reservoir is located on the Murgab River while the Mammetkel reservoir is in the Balkan province. The Hauzhan reservoir plays a special role in the functioning of the hydraulic system of the Karakum River.

The current arrangements on efficient management of winter and spring flood waters, including large amounts of water flowing down from the slopes of the Kopetdag Mountains, will significantly increase water supply to the Turkmen agricultural industry.

India's $15 billion Rafale deal faces delays: sources

By Nigam Prusty and Anurag Kotoky
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's plan to buy 126 fighter-jets from Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) could be delayed as the two sides struggle to reach an agreement over the role of state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), two sources familiar with the matter said.
India picked the Dassault-made Rafale jet for exclusive negotiations in January 2012 after a hotly contested bidding war with rival manufacturers, but it is still to finalize the $15 billion deal, one of the world's largest defense import orders.
Under the initial terms of the proposed deal, Dassault was expected to provide 18 fighters in "fly-away" condition, and then let HAL manufacture the rest in India.
However, Dassault now wants two separate contracts to be signed - one for the ready-made ones, and another for the rest to be built by HAL, but India opposes that proposal, an Indian Defense Ministry official told Reuters.
"Dassault says HAL does not have the capacity and capability to assemble the aircraft," said the official, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.