New Delhi: Leaders of the banned ULFA today met Home Minister P Chidambaram as they began face-to-face unconditional talks with the Centre in an attempt to usher in peace in insurgency-hit Assam. An eight-member ULFA delegation led by its 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa met Chidambaram at his North Block office here as a part of an introductory meeting. The meeting was followed by a full session with senior Home Ministry officials...
02:20 PM, Feb 10, 2011
New Delhi: After more than 30 years of a violent insurgency, which has left thousands dead, eight top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Assam or the ULFA will start peace talks with the Central Government on Thursday. On Wednesday morning, they met with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to iron out last minute glitches and then in the afternoon, the eight-member ULFA delegation flew out of Guwahati along...
10:39 PM, Feb 09, 2011
Guwahati: The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has vertically split with the elusive commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah on Monday rejecting the proposed February 10 peace talks between New Delhi and the rebel leadership now out on bail. "The decision taken by the general council to hold peace talks with the government cannot be considered legal as the general council itself was unconstitutional," an emailed statement by Arunodoi Dohotia, ULFA...
12:54 PM, Feb 07, 2011
New Delhi: The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on Saturday admitted that the killing of NGO activist Sanjoy Ghose and the bomb blast of Dhemaji on Independence Day in which children were killed was a mistake. At a press conference in Guwahati ULFA Vice Chairman Pradeep Gogoi, Foreign Secretary Sasha Chowdhury and Publicity Secretary Mithinga Daimari, announced that the ULFA will formally start peace talks with the Indian government...
12:57 PM, Feb 05, 2011
Oslo, Norway: A Norwegian lawmaker has nominated WikiLeaks for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, saying that its disclosures of classified documents promote world peace by holding governments accountable for their actions. The Norwegian Nobel Committee keeps candidates secret for 50 years, but those with nomination rights sometimes make their picks known. Snorre Valen, a 26-year-old legislator from Norway's Socialist Left Party, told The Associated Press he handed in his nomination...
11:38 AM, Feb 03, 2011
Davos: Campaigners awarded a prize for corporate malfeasance on Friday to South Africa-based gold miner AngloGold Ashanti for its operations in Ghana as top executives met at the World Economic Forum. The award, organised by Greenpeace and Swiss left-wing group the Berne Declaration, went to the world's third-largest gold mining firm, which they accused of mistreating people in Ghana and polluting rivers. "The shortlisted cases presented here, one must say,...
11:04 AM, Jan 29, 2011
Beijing: The wife of China's imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was able to leave house arrest for a family meal while President Hu Jintao was visiting the United States last week but she is still unable to visit her husband in jail, a rights group said today. It was the first known time that Liu Xia has been able to leave house arrest since October, shortly after her...
07:17 PM, Jan 28, 2011
Guwahati: ULFA chief Paresh Barua has sent out a stern message to the peace lobbby. A video footage, showing ULFA's elusive Commander in Chief Paresh Baruah dancing during Bihu along with the militant group's armed cadres in an unknown location, was sent to the media by ULFA cadres who still owe their allegiance to Barua and not Arabindo Rajkhowa. The video message came days before top ULFA leaders were to...
09:02 AM, Jan 27, 2011
Guwahati: In a step towards formal peace talks between the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the government, the outlawed separatist group's central executive is set to meet this week to work out modalities for the negotiations. The central executive is expected to be held in the next couple of days in the western Assam district of Nalbari and all the top ULFA leaders are scheduled to take part,...
05:52 PM, Jan 18, 2011
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has received a formal letter from ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa expressing his outfit's willingness to hold peace talks with the government. Stating that the outfit's central executive council would be meeting soon, the chief minister said, "I have received a letter from Rajkhowa about ULFA's willingness to sit for the talks. "The talks process is moving in the right direction. I can't say exactly...
12:12 PM, Jan 17, 2011
New Delhi: Love commandos, a group of volunteers who claim to be on a mission to help "love birds", said that all the states must set up block level love birds help committee to promote love, peace and a casteless society. "We demand setting up of block level love birds committees by the state to empower the couples so that the country can move towards a casteless society which can...
05:26 PM, Jan 13, 2011
New Delhi: Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is all set to meet her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit Standing Committe meeting in Bhutan on February 6 and February 7 taking forward the stalled peace process between the two countries. The meeting will also clear the ground for a productive meeting at the level of foreign ministers which is most likely to happen in the first...
10:11 AM, Jan 09, 2011
Abu Dhabi: The World Orchestra for Peace, an ensemble of some of the world's finest musicians led by acclaimed Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, enthralled audiences in Abu Dhabi in its first ever concert in the Middle East. The orchestra, which consists of 76 artistes from 63 different orchestras from 31 countries, performed at the Emirates Palace Tuesday night. The 90-minute concert was hosted by the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts...
11:16 AM, Jan 06, 2011
Sibsagar: ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on Sunday said his outfit was ready to sit for peace talks without any preconditions for an "honourable" solution to relieve the people of Assam of their suffering. Rajkhowa also maintained that there were no ideological differences within the ULFA. The ULFA leader's visit to Sibasagar district - after he was released on bail - where the rebel group was formed has raised a degree...
07:31 AM, Jan 03, 2011
New Delhi: Just a year after he was arrested and handed over by Bangladesh - ULFA chief Arabinda Rajkhowa walked free on Saturday on a new path. Within the next few weeks, ULFA's Chairman is expected to sit for peace talks with New Delhi along with most of the top ULFA leadership. The bail was expected, the government did not oppose it. And as if on cue, just after the...
10:23 AM, Jan 01, 2011
Guwahati: United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa walked free from jail, his release will pave the way for talks between the Government and top ULFA cadres. Rajkhowa, immediately after walking out of jail, has given a clear indication of entering politics while addressing a rally at Sipajhar. "There is no question of banning ULFA. We hope there will be some positive response," said Assam Chief Minister Tarun...
08:47 AM, Jan 01, 2011
Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa on Friday met Governor HR Bhardwaj to talk truce. In a fence-mending move, Yeddyurappa had said that he would meet Governor H R Bhardwaj once in 15 days as he stressed that there should not be any room for rift and disagreement. "There should not be any rift with the Governor, neither any room for disagreement. As a Governor, he has freedom to offer...
11:10 AM, Dec 31, 2010
China heavy handed tactics to keep news about Liu Xiaobo out of public sight before the ceremony at Oslo is a measure to silence dissidents. ...
12:26 PM, Dec 11, 2010
In Beijing, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo's wife Liu Xia remains under house arrest. ...
09:50 AM, Dec 11, 2010
New Delhi: The pitch for the release of Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo has gathered fresh momentum with more than 500 high-profile literary signatories from around the world joining ranks with the Internationales Literaturfestival-Berlin. The litterateurs who have joined the crusade against Xiaobo's detention include the likes of John Ashbery, Wolf Biermann, Breyten Breytenbach, Hans Christoph Buch, Judith Butler, J.M. Coetzee, Dave Eggers, Elfriede Jelinek, Herta Müller, Salman Rushdie...
07:30 PM, Dec 10, 2010
