PARIS, Jan 12: US Secretary of State John Kerry on today spearheads a bid to drag Syria’s opposition forces into peace talks with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
At a Paris meeting that represents a critical juncture for international efforts to end a bloody conflict that has claimed more than 130,000 lives, Kerry and ministers from 10 other countries in the “Friends of Syria” grouping will seek to persuade the opposition National Coalition to attend talks due to start later this month in Switzerland.
The Coalition is profoundly divided over the issue: its main component, the Syrian National Council has long maintained that it will not enter peace talks without clear assurances that Assad will have no role in the transitional Government the talks will aim to establish.
At talks in Istanbul last week, the different factions were unable to agree on terms for their attendance at the so-called Geneva II talks that are scheduled to get under way in Montreux on January 22.
Coalition leader Ahmad Jarba will be in Paris today and senior diplomats at the US State Department and in France have voiced cautious optimism that he will bow to intense pressure to ensure the rebels hold what would be the first direct talks with Assad’s regime since the conflict erupted in March 2011.
“There are people all around the world doing their best to get them there and get them there with a unified position,” said a senior US official involved in preparing the talks.
He described himself as “reasonably confident” that the opposition will accept that joining peace talks is the best option they have against a background of military stalemate and mounting combat fatigue in the nearly three-year-old civil war.
“I think in the final analysis they won’t want to miss that opportunity, because frankly there’s no other game, really,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters.
A French diplomat added: “We think it is important that they decide to attend, even if it is only to show that you have an opposition willing to agree a process of transition on one side and, on the other, a regime that might be willing to put people on the plane to Geneva but not to negotiate a political solution.”
Officials acknowledge however that advances by Syrian forces in recent days have made it harder for the opposition to contemplate sitting down with representatives of the Assad regime.
Government troops yesterday seized a previously rebel-held town in the north of the country and pushed toward part of Aleppo, the main city in northern Syria.
Observers of the conflict believe the Government advances are due to opposition forces having become preoccupied with fighting a jihadist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, with which they were previously allied. (AGENCIES)

TOKYO, Jan 12: A Japanese professional wrestler- turned-lawmaker left on a visit to North Korea today for talks with officials after a high-profile leadership purge in the reclusive communist state.
“I will just check the faces of people standing on the stage after some change in the (North Korean leadership) structure,” the senator, Antonio Inoki, told reporters before leaving Tokyo’s Haneda airport, according to Jiji Press.
He is to fly into Pyongyang tomorrow after a stopover in Beijing.
Inoki, 70, is a frequent visitor to North Korea. During his last trip in November, he met Jang Song-Thaek, the uncle of North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-Un, who was long considered his key adviser. Jang was purged and executed last month after being branded a counter-revolutionary.
Inoki, an opposition member of the upper house, is head of a non-profit organisation aimed at establishing sports-based exchanges which opened an office in Pyongyang last month.
After the November trip, Inoki, a member of the tiny opposition Japan Restoration Party, was suspended for a month from the legislature for visiting Pyongyang without parliamentary permission while the house was sitting.
The latest trip does not require parliament’s approval because it is in recess.
He is scheduled to return to Tokyo next Thursday.
Inoki’s secretary said the senator would not know until he arrived in Pyongyang who he will have talks with.
But the secretary added: “His talks with North Korean senior officials are likely to take up diplomacy through sports, and the possibility of other Japanese parliamentarians visiting the country.”
Inoki, whose mentor in professional wrestling was the late Korean-born Mitsuhiro Momota, aka Rikidozan, has visited North Korea nearly 30 times since 1994.
In 1995, he organised a sports festival in Pyongyang featuring bouts between Japanese and American pro wrestlers.
Inoki’s upcoming trip comes on the heels of a show of high-profile “sports diplomacy” involving former US basketball star Dennis Rodman.
Rodman and other former National Basketball Association (NBA) stars played in an exhibition match in Pyongyang last week.
Prior to the match, Rodman stirred controversy by implying in a US television interview that an American missionary was at fault for being detained in the North for allegedly seeking to topple the Government.
Rodman, 52, later apologised for the comment, explaining that he had been stressed and drinking at the time. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI, Jan 12: Home and interior decor firm Hindware Home Retail Ltd, which has an interior decor store chain under the brand name ‘Evok’, is aiming to have a turnover of Rs 200 crore by the end of fiscal 2014-15.
HHRL, which is a subsidiary of HSIL also plans to expand total numbers of stores to 35 across the country from its existing 17, said Evok COO Ajay Seth.
“By the end of fiscal 2014-15, we are targeting to have a turnover of around Rs 200 crore. We would also increase our presence to 35 locations from the present 17,” said Ajay Seth to reporters.
Out of that 10 to 15 stores would be on the franchise model which would sell modular kitchen and modular wardrobes and rest would be the company owned.
Moreover, the company would also invest around Rs 35 crore in capex for expansion of the chain, he added.
The company reported turnover of Rs 80 crore in last fiscal. The company expects that the turnover of financial year 2013-14 would be between Rs 125 to Rs 135 crore.
Its main business includes living solutions, modular kitchens and wardrobes and entertainment solutions.
“We are planning to expand in the Western and Eastern region. The company would soon have a stores in Patna, Kolkata and Guwahati next financial year,” he said, adding that in the first quarter of 2014-15, Evok would open stores at Ahmedabad and Noida.
According to Seth, “Evok is targeting only the premium segment of the buyers and not from the luxury segment. Our customer bases includes urban, semi urban and middle class families.”
The company also plans to expand in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. As per its future outlook, tier 1 stores would be company owned, while stores in tier 2 and below would be on the franchise model.
“For next five years we have a target of adding 10-15 stores every year, in which 5 to 6 would be company owned and rest would be on franchise model,” Seth said.
EVOK has 17 stores pan India in which 15 are large format stores with floor area of 10,000 sq ft onwards and two small format stores.
The company sources its furniture from globally from Malaysia, China, Europe and India and modular kitchens from Europe and domestic suppliers.
It has two warehouse located at Bahadurgarh and Bhivadi. (AGENCIES)

TOKYO, Jan 12: The US army conducted field experiments of biological weapons, which could harm rice cropping, in the Japanese island of Okinawa in the early 1960s, a media report said today.
The same experiments were also conducted on the US mainland and in Taiwan, Kyodo news agency reported, citing US military documents it said it had obtained.
The US is “believed to have had China and Southeast Asia in mind in developing such crop-harming agents”, the report stated.
In the tests conducted at least a dozen times between 1961 and 1962, rice blast fungus was released over rice fields and data was collected on how it affected rice production, Kyodo said, citing the documents.
Rice blast disease causes lesions to form on the plant, threatening the crop.
The fungus, which is known to occur in 85 countries, is estimated to destroy enough rice to feed 60 million people each year.
The US Government decided in 1969 to discard all biological weapons in its possession, Kyodo said. In 1975, an international convention against production and possession of biological weapons came into force.
Okinawa was under post-World War II US rule until 1972.
The US Government has previously disclosed information about chemical and biological warfare tests at sea and on land in such places as Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Utah.
The obtained documents mention test sites including Nago and Shuri, both in Okinawa, but it is not known whether the experiments were conducted within the premises of US bases there, Kyodo said.
In the field tests, the army “used a midget duster to release inoculum alongside fields in Okinawa and Taiwan,” measuring dosages at different distances and the effect on crop production, the documents said.
A separate document said, “Field tests for stem rust of wheat and rice blast disease were begun at several sites in the (US) midwest and south and in Okinawa with partial success in the accumulation of useful data,” according to Kyodo. (AGENCIES)

TOKYO, Jan 12: Three Chinese ships entered disputed waters off Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea today, the Japanese coastguard said, the first such incursion this year.
The Chinese coastguard vessels sailed into the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters at about 0500 IST yesterday off one of the Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls the Diaoyus, Japan’s coastguard said.
They left less than two hours later.
Chinese state-owned ships and aircraft have approached the Senkakus on and off to demonstrate Beijing’s territorial claims, especially after Japan nationalised some of the islands in September 2012.
Today’s intrusion was the first since December 29 when three Chinese coastguard ships entered the zone and stayed for around three hours. (AGENCIES)

WASHINGTON, Jan 12: Expressing deepest condolences to the family of Ariel Sharon and to the people of Israel, US President Barack Obama said Vice President Joe Biden will lead the American delegation to the memorial service of the popular former Israeli premier.
“We reaffirm our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security and our appreciation for the enduring friendship between our two countries and our two peoples,” Obama said in a statement.
“We continue to strive for lasting peace and security for the people of Israel, including through our commitment to the goal of two states living side-by-side in peace and security.
“As Israel says goodbye to Prime Minister Sharon, we join with the Israeli people in honouring his commitment to his country,” he said.
Biden said: “I look forward to leading the US delegation to his memorial service, to pay respects to the man and to pay tribute to the unshakable partnership between the United States and Israel.”
The Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his condolences. Because of his pre-scheduled travel plans, Kerry would not be able to attend the memorial, his spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
“During his years in politics, it is no secret that there were times the United States had differences with him. But whether you agreed or disagreed with his positions – and Arik (Ariel) was always crystal clear about where he stood – you admired the man who was determined to ensure the security and survival of the Jewish State,” Kerry said.
Former US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, an ex-Secretary of State, in a statement said Sharon gave his life to Israel — to bring it into being, to sustain and preserve it, and at the end of his long service, to create a new political party committed to both a just peace and lasting security.
“It was an honour to work with him, argue with him, and watch him always trying to find the right path for his beloved country,” the statement said.
“I was honoured to know this man of courage and call him friend,” said George W Bush, the former US president whose 2001-2009 tenure in the White House coincided with Sharon’s 2001-2006 premiership.
Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Sharon fought for Israel on the battlefield and for peace at the negotiating table.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: “Ariel Sharon was a loyal and a fierce defender of peace and prosperity for the Jewish democratic state of Israel. I admired and respected him for his passion and courage. He was a good friend of the United States and a partner in seeking a more peaceful Middle East.” (AGENCIES)