We don't want all-out war with Russia: Britain

Bhubaneswar, August 28, 2008 : There is no question of launching 'all-out war' against Russia, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Thursday, while condemning Moscow's 'invasion' of Georgia।

Miliband, asked whether NATO would go to war against Moscow if it were to attack a neighbouring country or ally again, said: "We don't want all-out war with Russia। There's no question of launching an all-out war against Russia."

NATO is committed to the principle that an attack against one or several members would be considered an attack against all, and to defending its members against aggression। Georgia is not a NATO member but it has ambitions to join.

NATO was not an 'offensive' alliance, Miliband told BBC Radio।

He said no-one ever doubted that Russia's army would defeat a much smaller Georgian military।

"The question though for Russia is whether it wants to suffer the isolation, the loss of respect and the loss of trust that comes from that," he added।

Miliband was speaking a day after he called in a speech in Ukraine for relations with Russia to be reviewed। He said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had a responsibility not to start a new Cold War.

The foreign secretary denied that his words in Ukraine, whose ambitions to become a NATO member also anger Russia, had ratcheted up tensions between London and Moscow।

He said it was right to describe Moscow's actions in the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as an "international crisis" that jeopardised a growing calm and stability across Europe since the collapse of the Soviet Union।

He said there was a tit-for-tat between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway regions but 'the Russian response has been to invade a neighbouring country'.

More churches, homes burnt as trouble spreads in Orissa

Bhubaneswar, August 28, 2008 : Communal violence spread in Orissa on Thursday with fresh incidents of mobs burning churches and homes, adding to the tensions in the state that has seen at least 11 people being killed in revenge for the murder of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader last week।

The situation was so volatile that Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal and other Congress leaders, who arrived in Bhubaneswar to visit riot hit areas, were told by the state government that they could not do so and returned to New Delhi।

Though the volatile Kandhamal district continued to be the worst hit with mobs defying curfew, blocking roads and attacking churches even after shoot-at-sight orders, there were reports of churches and homes being attacked from other parts of the state too।

Police said trouble had spread to new areas, including the western district of Bolangir and the coastal district of Kendrapada।

No details were available but officials said curfew had been clamped in Kendrapada town and security intensified in Bolangir।

"There have been stray incidents of violence in Kandhamal। We have also received reports of people burning a church in the district of Bolangir," said Director General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda, adding that more than 3,000 policemen had been deployed.

"We are hopeful normalcy would return in a week," Nanda told IANS while describing the situation as "under control"।

Police have registered at least 70 cases in different police stations related to the communal violence and 54 people have been arrested, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik informed the state assembly।

The state has been on the boil since Saturday evening when Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a member of the VHP's central advisory committee, and four others were killed by suspected Maoist guerrillas at his Jalespata ashram in Kandhamal।

As violence raged in Kandhamal, particularly in isolated hamlets, despite orders to the police to shoot at sight anybody defying curfew and indulging in violence, police and paramilitary forces marched through several town on Thursday।

Curfew has been clamped in all towns of the district and is still in force, said revenue divisional commissioner Satyabrata Sahu।

On Monday, the VHP had called for a statewide shutdown। Since then, 11 people have been killed in the state, 10 in Kandhamal and a woman in Bargarh district who was burnt when the crowds attacked an orphanage. Local newspapers and television channels, however, put the toll at 17.

Saraswati was leading a campaign against cow slaughter and religious conversion in the communally sensitive Kandhamal district - which with a population of around 600,000 including 150,000 Christians has witnessed numerous clashes between Hindus and Christians in the past।

Radical Hindu groups in the state blamed Christians for the crime and alleged that Christians killed Saraswati because he was opposing religious conversion। Christian organisations deny these allegations.

Saraswati's supporters have been holding protests since Saturday night, blocking trains and vehicles।

Orissa is not new to communal violence between Hindus and Christians।

On Jan 22, 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, 10-year-old Philip and six-year-old Timothy, were burnt alive by a Hindu radical mob in their vehicle in Keonjhar district.

Manmohan announces Rs 1000 cr as flood relief to Bihar

Patna (PTI): Describing the floods in Bihar as a "national calamity", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday announced an immediate assistance of Rs 1,000 crore to the state for rescue and relief operations and 1।25 lakh tonnes of foodgrains to tide over the situation.

After undertaking an aerial survey along with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi of the four worst affected districts in the state where the swollen Kosi river continued to wreak havoc, Singh also assured Bihar to provide all possible help to meet the situation।

Singh and Gandhi arrived at the Purnia airbase by a special IAF plane from New Delhi and took off in an IAF chopper to undertake the aerial survey in Supaul, Saharsa, Araria and Madhepura districts, official sources said।

They were accompanied by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil as also several union ministers including Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar।

Earlier, Kumar received Singh and Gandhi at the Purnia airbase and briefed them about the flood situation।

Over 25 lakh people in 15 districts have been hit by the impact of one of the worst floods in recent memory with victims from these four districts making up 19.78 lakh.

The Chief Minister who met the Prime Minister in New Delhi yesterday had sought central assistance of Rs 1,000 crore and one lakh tonnes of foodgrain immediately for the affected people.