French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid honor to India's armed forces yesterday as the guest of honor at the country's Republic Day celebrations during a two-day visit aimed at cementing Indo-French ties.
Sarkozy joined India's first woman president, Pratibha Patil, as thousands of members of India's security forces -- army, navy, air force and an array of police and paramilitary units -- marched through the capital city.
Republic Day marks the adoption of India's democratic Constitution on Jan. 26, 1950. The country gained freedom from Britain in 1947 after two centuries of colonial rule.
Security was tight across the country, especially in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, where nearly a dozen rebel groups are fighting against Indian rule and observe the day as "black day."
Police say four bombs were discovered overnight in different parts of the Himalayan state, which they suspect were to be used to attack government forces during the day's celebrations.
On Friday, Sarkozy said the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and India appear to be within weeks of an agreement on oversight of New Delhi's civilian nuclear program -- a deal key to a US atomic pact with the South Asian country.
"To the best of my knowledge, it's only a matter of weeks and the [IAEA] authorization will be given," he told reporters.
India's deal with the IAEA would be an important step in finalizing India's landmark atomic energy pact with the US -- as well as allowing it to press forward with similar agreements with France and other nuclear powers.
The IAEA had no comment on Sarkozy's statement.
France and India have completed negotiations on a civilian nuclear technology agreement, the two leaders said, but Sarkozy added that the agreement is dependent on India concluding its own agreement on nuclear safeguards with the IAEA.
India's economy is desperate for energy, and such deals would allow India to buy nuclear fuel and reactors. They would also bring India into the nuclear mainstream after decades of outsider status because of its refusal to sign nonproliferation treaties and its testing of nuclear weapons.
The trip was also designed to bring the two countries closer in everything from education exchanges to business.
"This partnership is long standing and rests on shared values and similar approaches to regional and global issues," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters on Friday.
Notably absent from Sarkozy's visit was his girlfriend, model-singer Carla Bruni, who declined to accompany him, reportedly because they were not yet married. Much of the attention ahead of his trip was on whether she would join him -- particularly during his visit to the Taj Mahal, one of the world's most famous monuments to love.
Sarkozy and Bruni reportedly met in November, soon after his October divorce from Cecilia, his second wife. Sarkozy's openness about his private life has surprised many French, accustomed to presidents who keep their love lives under wraps.
The Taj Mahal was sealed off to tourists yesterday for the visit by Sarkozy.
Ticket sales to Indian and foreign tourists were stopped shortly after noon and those already inside the white marble mausoleum were shooed out as police and officials threw a tight security cordon round the monument, a reporter said.
The 40-year-old Bruni herself told the Liberation paper earlier this week that she would not be accompanying the president as they were not yet married.
Foreign ministry sources in conservative India had raised eyebrows over the prospect of Bruni attending as first lady due to protocol issues.
The romance has some French worried their president is neglecting his election pledges to slash unemployment and boost growth.
The Taj Mahal was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved queen, Mumtaz Mahal, who died while giving birth to their 14th child. About 20,000 workers toiled for more than 20 years to build the tomb.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
SKEPTICAL: Given the challenges, which include waste disposal and potential domestic opposition, experts warn that the 2032 nuclear timeline is overambitious Indonesia is hoping going nuclear can help it meet soaring energy demand while taming emissions, but faces serious challenges to its goal of a first small modular reactor by 2032. Its first experiment with nuclear energy dates to February 1965, when then-Indonesian president Sukarno inaugurated a test reactor. Sixty years later, Southeast Asia’s largest economy has three research reactors, but no nuclear power plants for electricity. Abundant reserves of polluting coal have so far met the enormous archipelago’s energy needs, but “nuclear will be necessary to constrain the rise of and eventually reduce emissions,” said Philip Andrews-Speed, a senior research fellow at the
RSS