No Leeway Given In Picking Dalai Lama:- The new governor of Tibet said Sunday that the Dalai Lama did not have a right to choose his successor however he wanted, but instead must abide by the �requirements� of Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Xinhua, the state news agency, reported. The governor, Padma Choling, speaking at a news conference during the National People�s Congress, appeared to harden the Chinese government�s position on one of the most delicate issues involving the future of the Tibetan regions in the west.

Bangladesh 'ignoring plight' of starving Burma refugees :- An American medical charity has warned that thousands of Burmese refugees in Bangladesh are facing starvation. Physicians for Human Rights said government authorities are preventing the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, from receiving adequate care. It accuses Bangladesh of obstructing efforts to help the Rohingya, who have fled Burma to escape persecution.

One-third Done :-  The Women�s Reservation Bill is a powerful normative signal about the desirability of the empowerment of women. It comes against the backdrop of profound social change. Women have, by the dint of their capabilities and efforts, torn down so many barriers. Even in politics, at the top echelons, there is a striking story to be told. Sonia Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee, Brinda Karat hold top leadership positions in five of the most consequential political parties.

China demands Iran nuclear talks, despite US pressure:- Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, has pledged to rebuild the southern Afghan town of Marjah following a Nato-led operation to take control of the area from the Taliban. Karzai visited the former Taliban stronghold in southern Helmand province on Sunday, in his first trip to the town since US, Nato and Afghan troops launched a major military offensive in the region in February.

Iran In Its Intricacy :- A year has passed since President Obama�s groundbreaking Nowruz offer to Iran of engagement based on mutual respect. Iran is now a different country, its divided regime weaker and confronted by the Green movement, the strongest expression of people power in the Middle East and a beacon for the region.Obama�s outreach has achieved this: the unsettling of Iran�s revolutionary power structure. That alone was worth the gambit.

Atmosphere of Mistrust :-  It is unfortunate that Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor hijacked a successful trip by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Riyadh. Tharoor�s remark that Saudi Arabia could be an interlocutor for talks between New Delhi and Islamabad was embarrassing. True, an interlocutor is not a mediator. Kuldip Nayyar writes for Dawn.

Natural Law Sends AfPak Crashing:- Be it a baseball struck in a neighborhood sandlot game or in high-wire diplomacy, an elementary principle of physics holds good - what goes up must come down. In a way, the sheer dynamics of the nosedive of the United States' AfPak diplomacy in the four weeks since the London conference on Afghanistan on January 28 can be attributed to gravitational pulls.

Educated And Fearing The Future In China:- As China�s economy recovers, employers are competing to hire low-skilled workers, but many of China�s best and brightest, its college graduates, are facing a long stretch of unemployment. In 1999, the government began a push to expand college education � once considered a golden ticket � to produce more professionals to meet the demands of globalization.

Chinese Assurance:- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi�s remark, during a press conference at Beijing the other day, that his country has neither changed its policy on the Kashmir dispute nor would it abandon Pakistan in difficult times, is only an expression of the reality on the ground. The Chinese have gone out of their way to help Pakistan, even losing the lives of their citizens in the process.

Pakistan, US agree on new Afghan set-up:- A strategic shift in Pakistan�s three-decade old Afghan policy has taken a quiet but effective shape as Islamabad has successfully negotiated a peace plan with Mustafa Zahir Shah, the grandson of late King Zahir Shah, who would play a key role in future political dispensation comprising all ethnic groups. �It is a strategic coup by Pakistan against rising Indian influence in Afghanistan,� an analyst tartly remarked commenting on the development.

Letting Women Reach Women in Afghanistan:- The Marines in a recent �cultural awareness� class scribbled careful notes as the instructor coached them on do�s and don�ts when talking to villagers in Afghanistan: Don�t start by firing off questions, do break the ice by playing with the children, don�t let your interpreter hijack the conversation.

Tibet: Two Years After The Uprising:- The Chinese are less tense and more relaxed as Tibet and Tibetans observe the second anniversary of the uprising of March 10,2008, which started in Lhasa and spread across the Tibetan areas. They have made many preventive arrests in Tibet to prevent anything untoward happening, but the high tension, which one witnessed last year, is not there.

Nuclear liability law has sting in tail for the U.S. too:- The Manmohan Singh government may be courting trouble at home by pushing a controversial new law to limit the financial exposure of nuclear companies in the event of a nuclear accident. But the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill also has a sting in its tail for the United States, which has made the passage of a liability law immunising its suppliers from lawsuits a precondition for any American nuclear sales to India.

Climate Change = War?:- For all the heat generated by discussions of global warming in recent months, it is an often overlooked fact that climate change has the potential to create border disputes that in some cases could even provoke clashes between states. Throw into the mix three nuclear-armed nations with a history of disagreements, and the stakes of any conflict rise incalculably.

India Decides To Formally Back The Copenhagen Accord:- India on Tuesday said it has decided to formally back the Climate Change Accord hammered out in Copenhagen last year joining over 100 countries that have already �associated� with the pact. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in a suo-motu statement in the Lok Sabha said India has agreed to be listed in the preamble of the Accord subject to certain conditions. India was the last major emitter yet to formally endorse the agreement.