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Medvedev
sworn in as Russia's president, but
will he rule?
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With
the swearing in of Dmitry Medvedev
as Russia's president, the Kremlin
leadership now mirrors one of its
most potent symbols - the double-headed
eagle. Standing next to the new president
during a ceremony Wednesday in a gilded
Kremlin hall was his predecessor,
Vladimir Putin, the man who nurtured
Medvedev's rise to power and who will
now be his prime minister. The world
waits to see whether the two can jointly
rule this sprawling country, or whether,
like the Byzantine crest, they will
gaze in opposite directions. Medvedev
has promised to strengthen democratic
freedoms and suggested he will move
Russia in a more pro-Western direction,
raising the hopes of those who want
to see the country shift away from
Putin's authoritarian rule. But Putin
spent his last weeks as president
planning to strengthen the prime minister's
role and assuming the chairmanship
of the United Russia party, which
dominates politics from the municipal
level to the parliament. Both Medvedev
and Putin have dismissed concerns
the dual leadership will lead to conflict
and instability. But Wednesday's ceremony
in the glittering Andreyevsky Hall
of the Kremlin Grand Palace, which
overlooks the Moscow River, only emphasized
the apparent contradictions between
the 42-year-old president and his
future prime minister. While Medvedev
spoke of economic and democratic development
after taking the oath of office, Putin
said in his own brief remarks that
the Russian people "have many times
defended their own path and their
sovereignty."
Despite
the martial overtones, the ceremony
marked a rare constitutional succession
in a country where changes in leadership
have often resulted from illness,
political unrest or violence. Shortly
after noon, Medvedev strode up a red
carpet and took the oath of office.
The brief statement included a pledge
"to protect the rights and liberties
of every citizen." Later in a speech,
Medvedev declared that "human rights
and freedoms ... are deemed of the
highest value for our society and
they determine the meaning and content
of all state activity." The new president,
who worked as Putin's assistant in
St. Petersburg City Hall in the 1990s,
inherits a robust economy that has
experienced a decade of rapid growth
thanks to high world prices for Russia's
oil, natural gas and other commodities.
But he must also grapple with double-digit
inflation, tight credit markets overseas
and the possibility that the price
of natural resources will not grow
as fast as they did under Putin. Medvedev
promised in his speech to modernize
industry and agriculture, encourage
the development of new technologies
and attract investment. He also pledged
to keep Russia open to the rest of
the world and to participate in "constructive
and equal dialogue" with other nations.
Putin, 55, endorsed Medvedev as his
successor in December, rallying the
Kremlin and the United Russia party
behind his candidate. Medvedev was
elected March 2 with just over 70
percent of the votes. Medvedev's victory
was aided by Russia's major TV networks,
which are all formally or informally
controlled by the state and lavished
coverage on Medvedev while paying
little attention to his challengers.
Many voters said they were pressured
by employers and government officials
to support the Kremlin favorite, and
there were allegations of ballot stuffing
and other irregularities. The leader
of the main European election monitoring
mission said the vote was neither
free nor fair. Despite Medvedev's
vows to protect democracy, anti-government
demonstrations were prohibited, broken
up or harassed by police both before
and after his election. Police detained
dozens of anti-Kremlin protesters
Tuesday as they tried to stage a rally.
State-owned Channel One television
provided elaborate coverage of Wednesday's
event, broadcasting sweeping aerial
shots of the Kremlin's crenelated
walls, its cluster of gilded onion
domes and the cloistered courtyards
where ranks of blue-uniformed soldiers
waited for the arrival of Medvedev.
Television viewers watched the progress
of the black Mercedes Pullman limousine
carrying Medvedev through the deserted
streets of the city center - evidence
of the high level of security for
the inauguration. The president-elect
was driven along the banks of the
Moscow River, up into Red Square and
through the Kremlin's Spassky Gate,
with its famous clock tower facing
St. Basil's Cathedral. Later, the
crowded czarist-era Andreyevsky Hall,
with its huge doors and intricate
chandeliers, shimmered with gold leaf
and bright television lights as Medvedev
was sworn in.
Courtesy:
www.google.com, May 08, 2008
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Putin
set for new Russia role
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Vladimir
Putin is set to be sworn in as Russia's
new prime minister, a day after his
protege Dmitry Medvedev replaced him
as president of the country. Russia's
lower house of parliament will meet
on Thursday to confirm Putin's nomination,
with his United Russia party possessing
enough seats to carry the vote alone.
Medvedev nominated Putin as the prime
minister shortly after taking over
as the president. Putin, to be formally
appointed by Medvedev after the parliament
vote, has said he will work closely
with the new president. Putin will
set up a new cabinet, which is expected
to be broadly similar to one that
was in place during his eight-year
presidency.
Close
partnership
Many Russians believe that Putin will
still exercise formidable power despite
no longer being the country's president.
He selected Medvedev as United Russia's
candidate for a presidential election
in March, which Medvedev won by a
wide margin. But although Putin and
Medvedev are political allies, some
analysts have said that the partnership
could be unstable. After he won the
presidency in March, Medvedev said
only the president would determine
foreign policy, but Putin has called
the prime minister's office the "highest
executive power in the country". In
his inaugural speech on Wednesday,
Medvedev promised to bring greater
"civil and economic freedom" to Russia.
He also said he would strive to ensure
that the rule of law is upheld. Shortly
after he took the presidential office,
Medvedev was presented with a briefcase
containing controls for Russia's nuclear
arsenal. Both Medvedev and Putin will
attend a military parade in Moscow's
Red Square on Friday, where Russia's
new Topol-M intercontinental ballistic
missiles will be displayed. The Victory
Day parade is the biggest display
of Russia's military might since the
end of the Soviet era in 1991.
Courtesy:
www.english.aljazeera.net, May 08,
2008
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Indian
doctors win historic legal battle
against UK govt
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Indian
doctors fighting for job parity with
European Union medicos won a landmark
verdict against the British government
on Wednesday when the country's highest
court ruled a state guideline discriminating
against overseas medical graduates
for employment in state health services
as illegal. In a four-to-one majority
verdict, the Lords Committee dismissed
the government's appeal against a
court order in favour of the British
Association of Physicians of Indian
Origin (BAPIO) which had challenged
an April 2006 "guideline" of hospital
trusts to employ non-EU medicos only
if no candidate from EU is available.
The Lords Committee also awarded costs
to BAPIO, that spearheaded the legal
battle against government's attempt
to retrospectively introduce regulations
to restrict non-EU doctors already
in the UK from applying for training
posts in the state-aided National
Health Service. Lord Bingham of Cornhill,
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell,
Lord Mance dismissed the appeal while
Lord Scott of Foscote upheld the government
decision. Soon after the judgement
was delivered in the Lords Chamber
of the House of Lords, an elated Ramesh
Mehta, president of the BAPIO said,
"This is a landmark victory. We expected
the Health Department would now treat
Non-EU overseas doctors fairly and
equally on the basis of merit in the
case of recruitment to the NHS." An
estimated 7,000 to 8,000 international
medical graduates, a majority of them
from India, would benefit from the
judgement, he added. Thousands of
international doctors have already
left UK after suffering a traumatic
experience. "The House of Lords has
vindicated our position that the Government
had acted in haste and prematurely
without thinking about the damaging
consequences for thousands of international
medical graduates," Mehta said.
Courtesy:
www.headlinesindia.com, May 01, 2008
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India
willing to review 1950 treaty with
Nepal
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Foreign
Affairs Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon
on Wednesday said that India was willing
to review the 1950 Indo-Nepal peace
and friendship treaty under the present
circumstances. According to sources,
Menon said that the Indian government
was ready to amend the 1950 treaty
as per the present context so as to
develop a new and high-level relationship
between the two countries. The issue
of the 1950 treaty gained publicity
after Maoist chairman Prachanda stressed
on the need to review the treaty in
accordance to the present context
in the aftermath of the Constituent
Assembly polls result that established
the Maoists as the largest party.
Senior Nepali dignitaries have time
and again questioned some of the points
of the treaty including the need to
inform India on the import of arms
and ammunition by the Nepal government
and the need to prioritise the Indian
investment in the same level with
Nepali investment. The 1950 treaty
was signed by the-then Nepali Prime
Minister Mohan Shumsher and Indian
Ambassador for Nepal, Chadreshwar
Narayan Singh 58 years ago. The Nepali
side has deemed clauses 5, 6 and 7
of the 10 clause 1950 treaty as unfair.
Courtesy:
www.headlinesindia.com, May 01, 2008
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