India 72 in corruption index: Transparency International

India 72 in corruption index: Transparency International
26 Sep 2007, 1651 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: India has improved its position in the comity of nations in terms of integrity as it is ranked 72 among 180 countries in the corruption index this year, Transparency International has said. It was at the 70th position among 163 countries last year. Accordingly, India's integrity index has marginally improved to 3.5 in 2007 from 3.3 a year ago on a scale of 10 points, TI said in a report released today. India's rank at 72 in corruption index is also shared by China, Mexico, Morocco and Peru. Pakistan is way down at 138th position. Denmark, Finland and New Zealand are the least corrupt countries, which jointly top the list with integrity index of 9.4 points each.

(http://www.timesofindia.com)

Israel seeks exemption from atomic rules

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago

Israel is looking to a U.S.-India nuclear deal to expand its own ties to suppliers, quietly lobbying for an exemption to non-proliferation rules so it can legally import atomic material, according to documents made available Tuesday to The Associated Press.

The move is sure to raise concerns among Arab nations already considering their neighbor the region's atomic arms threat. Israel has never publicly acknowledged having nuclear weapons but is generally considered to possess them.

The new push is reflected in papers Israel presented earlier this year to the "Nuclear Suppliers' Group" — 45 nations that export nuclear fuel and technology under strict rules meant to lessen the dangers of proliferation and trafficking in materials that could be used for a weapons program.

The initiative appeared to be linked to a U.S.-India agreement that would effectively waive the group's rules by allowing the United States to supply India with nuclear fuel despite its refusal both to sign the nonproliferation treaty and allowing the IAEA to inspect all of its nuclear facilities.

Israeli officials began examining how their country could profit from that deal as early as last year, at one point proposing that the U.S. ask for an exemption from restrictions stipulating safeguards by the U.N. nuclear agency on all nuclear facilities, said a diplomat familiar with the issue. The U.S. rejected that request, he said, demanding anonymity for discussing restricted information.

The diplomat said the Israeli papers were "acknowledged but definitely not embraced" by the NSG member nations.

Still, the documents show that Israel has not given up its quest.

Under a cover letter labeled "confidential," the two papers were circulated among the group March 19 by Japan, whose mission to Vienna's International Atomic Energy Agency serves as the liaison office for the group.

Among the hurdles still to be cleared before the U.S.-India pact becomes reality is NSG approval of an exemption for India from group restrictions. Critics have warned that the deal, if it goes through, will deal a blow to efforts to contain the spread of nuclear arms by effectively rewarding a country that has developed nuclear weapons while evading the nonproliferation pact.

Besides India, only Pakistan and North Korea are known to have nuclear weapons and be outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Israel is considered an undeclared weapons state, with a doctrine of "nuclear ambiguity."

In the paper proposing a list of criteria to be used by NSG countries for "Nuclear Collaboration with non-NPT States," Israel inadvertently appeared to touch on the debate over its own status, saying one condition should be application of "stringent physical protection, control, and accountancy measures to all nuclear weapons ... in its territory."

The other document urges "the international community at large and NSG Member States in particular" to cooperate "with non-NPT states with strong non-proliferation credentials" in the "supply of (nuclear) know-how and equipment."

Despite close U.S.-Israeli ties, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns appeared to rule out special treatment for the Jewish state, telling reporters earlier this year that NSG countries needed to know the deal with India "won't be a precedent to bring other countries in under the same basis."

But Daryl Kimball, an analyst and executive director of the Arms Control Association, said that — even if unsuccessful — any attempt by Israel to move closer to nations exporting sensitive nuclear technology and material that could potentially be turned into fissile material for warheads would alarm many in the Middle East.

"There is a great deal of tensions between non-nuclear (Arab) weapons states and Israel, and the mere existence of this proposal would exacerbate ... the Middle East situation," he said from Washington.

And despite U.S. assurances, "Israel's proposal illustrates the danger of making exemptions for individual countries from nonproliferation rules and standards," he said.

The most recent tensions over Israel's nuclear capabilities surfaced at the IAEA's 148-nation general conference. On Thursday, the Vienna meeting's penultimate day, only the U.S. and Israel voted against a critical resolution implicitly aimed at the Jewish State for refusing to put its nuclear program under international purview.

(http://news.yahoo.com)

Asian spacefarers race for the moon

by Anil PennaTue Sep 25, 5:41 AM ET

Asian giants Japan, China and India are engaged in a race to map lunar resources and make the moon a platform to explore planets beyond, amid a renewed burst of global space activity.

Japan flagged off the Asian lunar race on September 14 when it successfully launched its first lunar orbiter. China plans to launch its own moon probe before the end of the year, followed by India in the first half of 2008.

"We want to investigate the moon, to know more about the whole of the moon," Keiji Tachikawa, president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, said in this southern Indian city.

JAXA, as the agency is known, will carry out more robotic missions before a landing and astronaut on the moon, said Tachikawa in a brief interview Monday.

Missions to the moon and to Mars and international cooperation top the agenda of a five-day global conference in Hyderabad that brought together 2,000 space professionals, including scientists, astronomers and astronauts.

"There is a great revival of interest in exploring various planets," said Sun Laiyan, head of the China National Space Administration.

China's Chang'e 1 lunar probe is being transported to the launch site and "if everything goes fine, will be launched by the end of the year," said Sun, adding that China will consider a manned moon mission in the future.

India's Chandrayaan 1 lunar probe will be launched in March or April 2008, said B.N. Suresh, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram.

Preparatory work is in "full swing" at the Sriharikota space station in southern India, where the craft is being assembled, the launch vehicle readied and antennae installed to receive data from the moon, Suresh told AFP.

Also in 2008, India will likely choose the target year for a human spaceflight to the moon, said G. Madhavan Nair, head of the Indian Space Research Organisation.

"It will take seven or eight years," Nair said. "We are in the process of sharpening our ideas."

Despite more than four decades of lunar missions, space scientists still lack definitive answers to questions about the moon's origin, the minerals it contains and whether it has water that could support human life.

"There is a lot more known about the moon, but even after the current round of lunar missions, you will still have more questions," said Indian scientist U.R. Rao, who did pioneering work on space launch vehicles.

Mineral samples from the moon contained abundant quantities of helium 3, a variant of the gas used in lasers and refrigerators as well as to blow up balloons, and space experts say that may offer a solution to the earth's energy shortages.

Technology for converting helium 3 to energy is still far away, but spacefaring nations are already talking about a permanent human presence on the moon and looking beyond to Mars and more distant planets.

President George W. Bush in 2004 announced an ambitious plan for the US to return to the moon by 2020 and use it as a stepping stone for manned missions to Mars and beyond.

NASA aims to put a man on Mars by 2037, Michael Griffin, the administrator of the US space agency, indicated here Monday, saying the orbital international space station targeted for completion by 2010 would provide a "toehold in space" for travel first to the moon and then Mars.

Japan's 55-billion-yen (478-million-dollar) Kaguya is the largest moon explorer since the US Apollo missions ceased in the 1970s after six human landings, the only time mankind visited another world.

"The moon is no longer a place for us to visit," said JAXA's Tachikawa. "We should consider inhabiting and exploiting it."

The Kaguya orbiter, aiming to collect data for research on the moon's origin and evolution, will travel around the Earth before moving into an orbit of the moon in early October.

It will gather data on the distribution of chemical elements and minerals and study the moon's gravity and environment while searching for hydrogen.

Still, humanity is a "couple of generations away" from tapping commercial opportunities in outer space, including the moon, said Franco Bonacina, spokesman for the European Space Agency.

"But we need to go back to the moon to go even farther," he said. "The moon is a harbour -- a kind of spare wheel -- from where we can push to Mars."

In the scramble to reach the moon, spacefarers risk duplication of effort, said Indian scientist Rao, who called for cooperation between the world's space agencies to avoid that.

"Everyone doing the same work would be a waste of resources."

(http://news.yahoo.com)

Europe wary of US-style capitalism

By Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt

Published: September 23 2007 16:40 | Last updated: September 23 2007 16:40

Europeans have little faith that their continent can compete economically with fast-growing Asian countries – but are even more convinced that it should not become more like the US.

The wary attitude of Europeans towards US-style capitalism and the gloom of many about economic prospects are revealed in an FT/Harris poll. The results suggest even the recent revival in economic growth has not convinced Europeans that the Continent is on the right track.

Scepticism may have been intensified by the recent global financial market turmoil that has seen the euro soaring to record highs. The poll was conducted between September 6 and September 17.

It shows that multinational corporations are seen by Europeans as more powerful than governments, while those polled generally believed that regulations protecting workers’ rights should be strengthened rather than relaxed.

The French, Spanish and Italians were gloomy about their countries’ economic prospects, although they were more upbeat about Europe as a whole.

Germany stood out as an exception, however, with Germans more confident about the outlook for their country than Americans were about the US.

The same survey shows confidence in the European Central Bank’s ability to combat inflation and boost economic growth. But those polled were generally only moderately positive – often replying that they were “somewhat” rather than “very” or “extremely” confident in the ECB’s expertise.

Asked whether the European economy could compete effectively against rising economies in Asia, such as China and India, almost two-thirds of French respondents said No.

The figures for Italy, at 56 per cent, Germany, at 45 per cent, and the UK, at 41 per cent, were lower, but still higher than the percentage saying Europe could compete with such Asian countries. The difference was accounted for by those who were not sure.

When asked whether Europe’s economy should be more like that of the US, the results were clear-cut. Those saying it should not, included 78 per cent of Germans, 73 per cent of the French, 58 per cent of the Spanish. In both Italy and the UK, 46 per cent opposed the US model.

Among those polled in the US, 30 per cent thought Europe should be more like the US.

Asked if a free-market, capitalist economy was the best system, Spanish and German respondents agreed overall, but the French and Italians did not. The British were less clear, although there was more support than opposition for a “capitalist” system.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007