Putin to sign multi-billion dollar arms deals in India

NEW DELHI: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was to seal a series of multi-billion dollar arms deals Friday during a visit to India aimed at boosting ties with Moscow''s old Cold War ally.

According to Russian officials, Putin will sign more than a dozen pacts amounting to 10 billion dollars, including an accord to resolve the troubled sale of a refitted Soviet-era aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov.

Other deals include a contract to sell India 29 MiG fighter jets and an agreement to install additional nuclear power units in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where it is already building two reactors.

The sale of the Admiral Gorshkov has been marred by a series of price disputes and delayed deliveries, fuelling concerns in Moscow that India could be tempted to end its dependence on Russian military equipment.

Putin''s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the new accord would "suit both sides" and help put the dispute behind them.

"We have an enormous interest in India," he told reporters ahead of Putin''s arrival in New Delhi.

Russia supplies 70 percent of India''s military hardware but in recent years New Delhi has looked to other military suppliers including Israel and the United States.

The strong ties between Moscow and New Delhi date back to the 1950s after the death of Stalin. But India has in recent years also taken care to balance this friendship by fostering closer relations with Washington.

India''s foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash described Russia as a "valued partner and time-tested friend."

"We have a similar outlook on a whole host of regional and international issues," Prakash said.

Israel orders army to seal off West Bank for 48 hours

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the army to seal off the West Bank for 48 hours until midnight on Saturday, an army spokesman said.

The action was taken "for security reasons" including a risk of attacks, the spokesman said Friday. The area was sealed off at midnight on Thursday.

Since the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000, Israel has usually sealed off the West Bank ahead of major holidays, saying the move is necessary to prevent attacks.

This was the first time such a measure was taken outside of a major Jewish occasion.

Incidents of violence leave 8 dead in Mexico

MEXICO CITY: An American citizen, two policemen, four young men and a local government official were among those killed in attacks scattered across Mexico, as a wave of violence associated with powerful drug cartels continues.

Police identified U.S. citizen German Norman Hall on Thursday as one of two men murdered by gunmen with assault rifles in the border town of Piedras Negras across from Eagle Pass, Texas. Police said Hall was shot eight times in the Wednesday attack.

Four men sitting down to eat in the Mexican state of Sinaloa died when attackers burst into the restaurant with assault rifles and sprayed them with gunfire.

One victim tried to fire back with a handgun before he was killed in the Wednesday afternoon attack, said Martin Gastelum, prosecutor for drug-plague state on Mexico''s West Coast.

The killings don''t represent a new wave of terror _ about 17,900 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug trafficking in December 2006.

But they reflect the ongoing wars for local turf and drug routes to U.S. markets among entrenched gangs.

Much of the attention in recent weeks has been centered around the border town of Reynosa _ across from McAllen, Texas _ where federal authorities warned residents to avoid certain neighborhoods after three people were killed in two separate shootings Wednesday.

In Chilpancingo, capital of Mexico''s southern Guerrero state, two commanding police officers were killed Wednesday when gunmen opened fire on the car they were riding in, peppering it with more than 70 bullets, according to police reports. Their murders follow the killings of six other police officers in the region since last weekend.

Soldiers killed a government employee and arrested three other men, including a former politician, during a Wednesday shootout in northeastern Nuevo Leon state.

Mexican military officials say the men were traveling in the town of Apodaca in a pickup that had been reported stolen and were armed with pistols. The shootout erupted after soldiers tried to stop them. Instead of pulling over, the pickup truck driver opened fire and tried to flee.

Empty shell casings were found scattered around the vehicle following the pre-dawn attack. Apodaca Mayor Benito Caballero confirmed the dead man, aged 20, was an events organizer for the city.

"It''s regrettable that an a local official was involved in this type of activity," Caballero said.

Slain Islamist militant leader buried in Indonesia

PEMALANG: Slain Islamist militant leader Dulmatin was buried in his Indonesian home village on Friday, as a large crowd of mourners chanted "God is great" and hundreds of police stood guard.

The crowd of more than 2,000 shouted "Allahu Akbar" as the Jemaah Islamiyah extremist was laid to rest in the village of Pemalang in Central Java, watched by a heavy police presence, a photographer said.

"The funeral has gone well, with no problems or difficulties. Everybody in this village came and helped us. This shows that my brother was a good man," Dulmatin''s eldest brother Azam Ba''afut said.

Dulmatin was shot dead along with two other people on Tuesday in a gunfight with counter-terrorism forces on the outskirts of Jakarta. His body was driven by ambulance from the Indonesian capital early Friday.

Dulmatin had a 10-million-dollar US bounty on his head. He was accused of being a mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings by Jemaah Islamiyah, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Georgia deploys first woman envoy in Riyadh

RIYADH: A Georgian has become the first woman ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Yekaterina Mayering-Mikadze, who presented a copy of her credentials to Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, is the current Georgian ambassador to Kuwait. She also represents her country in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the UAE.

Ambassador Yekaterina said that cooperation with the Gulf states was a “paramount task” for Georgia, especially in agriculture, real estate, tourism and finance.

Georgia, a former Soviet republic nation that became independent in 1991 and admitted to the UN as its 179th member after a year, now has the distinction of sending the first female ambassador to Riyadh.

“She is waiting for an audience with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to present her credentials after presenting a copy to Prince Saud,” a report said. Arab News tried to reach Yekaterina in Kuwait, but she was unavailable.

“Only a few diplomats in the Saudi capital are female,” said Ulla-Maija Nevalainen, deputy chief of the mission at the Finnish Embassy in Riyadh. Nevalainen said that she herself had no problems in handling her job as a diplomat in the capital.

The number of women diplomats in Riyadh will not exceed six or seven, claimed another diplomat, while expressing his happiness over Mayering-Mikadze’s appointment. “Worldwide efforts to bring more women into diplomacy are having a limited effect,” he said, claiming that developing countries have the fewest number of women diplomats.

The US has recently posted Susan L. Ziadeh as deputy chief of the US mission in Riyadh.

The US has allowed women to become diplomats since 1922, with UK and Canada allowing women into their foreign services since 1940.