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BANGALORE -- Hair tucked into a surgical cap, eyes hidden behind thick-framed magnifying glasses, Devi Shetty leans over the sawed open chest of an 11-year-old boy, using bright blue thread to sew an artificial aorta onto his stopped heart. As Dr. Shetty pulls the thread tight with scissors, an assistant reads aloud a proposed agreement for him to build a new hospital in the Cayman Islands that would primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care. The agreement is inked a few days later, pending approval of the Cayman parliament. Dr. Shetty, who entered the limelight in the early...

WASHINGTON: In an extraordinary endorsement of the United States’ economic resilience, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said questions about the American economic model and the setbacks it is suffering are temporary, and the country has the capacity to bounce back. Singh also gave a thumbs up to the beleaguered US dollar, saying ''as far as I can see right now, there is no substitute for the dollar.'' His own feeling, he said, ''is that we have not entered an era of irreversible shift in economic strength of the United States.'' The Indian prime minister’s comments came in an interview...

The manager of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, Karambir Singh Kang, had no idea that a fraught conversation with his wife Niti in the early hours of November 27 last year would be the couple’s last. Niti was barricaded with their sons Uday, 14, and Samar, 5, in the bathroom of the family’s sixth-floor suite at the hotel in Mumbai as terrorists rampaged through its corridors with guns and grenades. Kang was pinned down under heavy fire in the ornate ground floor lobby as he tried to evacuate panic-stricken guests and keep in touch with his family by...

t is the stories woven into its history that make a truly great hotel, according to Karambir Singh Kang, the general manager of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower. A year ago, the hotel became the focus of the world when Islamist gunmen brought terror to its guests and staff. “The Taj was always iconic,” Mr Kang, 41, told The Times, sitting in one of the hotel’s grand cafés overlooking the Gateway of India and the Arabian Sea. “Now, it has transcended to a different level... Each corridor, each corner, has a story.” Few are sadder, or more extraordinary, than...

"At a time when Indian public opinion was looking forward to fruitful results from the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the US, reports from Beijing on Obama's visit to China would strengthen the impression that Obama is not India's cup of tea." .................................................................................... By B.Raman (November 19, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The failure of President Barack Obama to understand the distrust of China in large sections of the Indian civil society has landed the US in a situation in which the considerable goodwill between India and the US created during the administration of his predecessor George...

The glancing reference to South Asia in the Barack Obama-Hu Jintao joint statement on November 17 in Beijing has raised a storm of comment in India, not least from the South Block which read it as insinuating a third party into what it insists must be a bilateral Indo-Pakistan relationship. We read the statement as insinuating a larger claim. The statement says among other things: ''The two sides support the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan [and] are ready to work together to promote peace, stability and development in [the South Asia] region.'' This can be read...

Indian Navy keen to buy newer generation aircraft By Gulshan R. Luthra New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) The Indian Navy has floated a Request for Information (RFI) for a newer generation of aircraft which can operate from the two indigenous aircraft carriers it will commission over the next 10 years. The Ministry of Defence and industry sources indicate that the RFI, issued recently, is of a “generic” nature, looking for newer platforms and airborne technologies and what is on offer from some of the well-known manufacturers. The US Boeing and French Dassault have confirmed receipt of the RFI for their...

SNIPPET: “In about less than a week, India will mark the first anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks. After the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Chicago breakthrough, now Italy has achieved some headway in the investigations relating to last year’s terror events(26/11). The Italian police have arrested, after almost a year long monitoring and surveillance, two Pakistani nationals (Father and Son duo) from Brescia city who are accused of sending funds from their money transfer agency and providing the logistical support to Pakistani terrorists. The suspects Mohammad Yaqub Janjua and Aamer Yaqub Janjua, owners of the Madina Trading telephone...

Wahabism linked with terrorism; Saudi envoy stages walkout NEW DELHI: Saudi Ambassador to India Faisal Al-Trad walked out of an international conference of jurists in protest after noted Indian jurist Ram Jethmlani’s accusation that the Wahabi sect of Islam was responsible for terrorism. The conference was attended by Indian President Pratibha Patil, Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Law Minister Veerapa Moily. Jethmalani said “Wahabi terrorism” indoctrinated “rubbish” in the minds of young people to carry out terrorist attacks. He lamented that India was friends with a country that supported Wahabi terrorism. The event’s organiser, Adesh Aggarwala, said the ambassador had...

NEW DELHI -- As countries around the world prepare to flex their negotiating muscles at next month's climate-change summit in Copenhagen, India has begun to question the Western model of computing global warming statistics. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh released a report last week that says there is no conclusive evidence that climate change has caused the melting of the Himalayan glaciers. The report says that not all of the glaciers are receding at alarming rates and that a few are even advancing. The report, an analysis of data from the past four decades, is part of India's efforts to produce...

Barack Obama has been criticized for kowtowing to the Chinese and the Russians over the last few months. But so far, this is all about atmospherics. The administration has not made any unilateral concession of substance to either country. It is taking a strategic view that developing strong relationships with both countries, particularly China, will yield long-term benefits. Strangely, however, that strategic focus has been lost in dealing with Asia's other rising giant, India. At one level the administration is being extremely friendly. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comes to Washington this week for the first official state visit of...

BANGALORE -- Hair tucked into a surgical cap, eyes hidden behind thick-framed magnifying glasses, Devi Shetty leans over the sawed open chest of an 11-year-old boy, using bright blue thread to sew an artificial aorta onto his stopped heart. As Dr. Shetty pulls the thread tight with scissors, an assistant reads aloud a proposed agreement for him to build a new hospital in the Cayman Islands that would primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care. The agreement is inked a few days later, pending approval of the Cayman parliament. Tending to India's Health-Care System Dr. Shetty, who entered...

China , Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan... US president Barack Obama ran through the gamut of nations as he articulated another elegant Asia policy speech in Tokyo this week. Conspicuous by its absence was India. Was India not on his radar? Or was it such a close ally that he skipped naming it at a public function? It left New Delhi wondering. Just two days later, bam! He did something even more astonishing by acquiescing in a Chinese demand to let Beijing assume the role of a monitor in South Asia, an area where China is seen by India as...

NEW DELHI: Senior lawyer and former Union minister Ram Jethmalani's charge that Wahabi sect was responsible for terrorism provoked a walkout by Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to India Faisal-al-Trad from an international conference of jurists on global terror here. Jethmalani alleged that "Wahabi terrorism" indoctrinated "rubbish" in the minds of young people to carry out terrorist attacks. The senior lawyer lamented that India had friendly relations with a country that supported Wahabi terrorism. Following Jethmalani's speech, Saudi Arabia's ambassador Faisal-al-Trad was seen walking out of the conference, apparently taking offence at the remarks. Organiser of the event Adesh Aggarwala said the...

New Delhi: Former union law minister Ram Jethmalani on Saturday kicked up a row at an international conference on terrorism, asking if Islam's jehadi doctrine does not virtually render 'god a brothel keeper', prompting a Saudi Arabian envoy to walk out of the conference. Addressing the seminar, Jethmalani wondered if the jehadi doctrine, propagating the belief allegedly held by Islam's Wahab sect that Muslims attaining martyrdom while fighting non-Muslims "get a place in heaven and the company of the opposite sex there", does not amount to saying that "god is a brothel keeper". The self-confessed maverick legal hawk also went...

NOVEMBER 21, 2009 The Henry Ford of Heart Surgery In India, a Factory Model for Hospitals Is Cutting Costs and Yielding GEETA ANAND. BANGALORE -- Hair tucked into a surgical cap, eyes hidden behind thick-framed magnifying glasses, Devi Shetty leans over the sawed open chest of an 11-year-old boy, using bright blue thread to sew an artificial aorta onto his stopped heart. As Dr. Shetty pulls the thread tight with scissors, an assistant reads aloud a proposed agreement for him to build a new hospital in the Cayman Islands that would primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care....

Barack Obama says he regards India and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "as part of his family." "This is the reason why I decided to invite Manmohan Singh, who I admire a lot, on the first state visit of my presidency on Thanksgiving Day," Mr. Obama told prominent Indian-American leader Sant Chatwal recently. Indian media prominently carried this statement, and given the importance Indians tend to attach to family connections, much is being read into the symbolism of Obama's invite. As the Indian prime minister prepares to be the first state guest of the Obama presidency on Nov. 24, both...

While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president. In 2000 and 2001, while Barack Obama served as a board member for a Chicago-based charitable foundation, he helped to fund a pioneering carbon trading exchange that is likely to fill a critical role in the controversial cap-and-trade carbon reduction scheme that President Obama is now trying to push rapidly through Congress. During those two years, the Joyce Foundation gave nearly...

Days before India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to be welcomed in the White House for his first state visit with President Obama, two perceived missteps by the Obama administration have concerned Indian officials that New Delhi suddenly has been relegated to the second tier of U.S.-Asian relations. Singh arrives Sunday on a four-day trip that is meant to solidify a relationship transformed under the Bush administration by a deal on nuclear technology, increasing trade and investment, immigration, educational exchanges and unprecedented security cooperation. But ever sensitive to perceived slights, Indian officials and analysts say two statements made by the...

'Pakistan has nothing to fear from India' By Lally Weymouth Sunday, November 22, 2009 NEW DELHI -- Wearing white robes and a blue turban, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared relaxed this week as he discussed his upcoming state visit to Washington. Singh, 77, will meet President Obama next week at a time when many Indians fear that Obama will focus less on India than did previous American administrations, particularly as the U.S.-Chinese relationship grows in importance. Singh sat down in his Delhi residence with Newsweek-Washington Post's Lally Weymouth to discuss terrorism, trade and why it is critical that the...

There’s the cliched phrase: “It’s like watching a train wreck.” In “Terror in Mumbai,” which airs tonight 8 pm ET/PT on HBO, you get to see what no documentary has shown before: a “360 degree view” of a multi-pronged terrorist act, seen partly and genuinely from the terrorists point view. The reason: “Terror in Mumbai” uses actual cell phone instructional conversations during the attack given to the terrorists in the field by a shadowy control “boss” in Pakistan. Not recreated -- the real thing…and it will make your blood both boil, and freeze. So, yes, even terrorists have “directors” who...

New Delhi: US president Barack Obama ruffled Indian feathers on Tuesday. The next day, the American ambassador to India spent considerable effort in soothing offended sentiments. Timothy Roemer almost ran out of adjectives to describe the state of India-US ties, even as the ministry of external affairs expressed displeasure at Obama's statement with Chinese president Hu Jintao, which seemed to project China as the prime mover for peace and stability in South Asia. Roemer's charm offensive is a bid towards damage control ahead of prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington next week. A joint-statement by the US and China...

NEW DELHI: A day after US ambassador Timothy Roemer tried to douse the China fire and create a positive atmosphere for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US, Washington went on the charm offensive, playing up the importance of India in the US’ scheme of things and acknowledging Indo-Pak issue were by and large a bilateral concern. Trying to mollify an annoyed New Delhi, Under-Secretary of State William Burns maintained that both China and India were important to the US. Mr Burns attempted to clarify the intention of the US-China joint statement saying that Washington looked to Beijing as...

This might be in our future too.

Tiny survivor doesn't remember Mumbai attack By AMY TEIBEL (AP) – 14 hours ago KFAR CHABAD, Israel — Moshe Holtzberg celebrated his third birthday on Wednesday the way many Jewish children do — he got his first haircut. He appeared not to recall the tragic events of a year ago, when his parents were killed in a terror attack in Mumbai, India. Surrounding the smiling tot were his grandparents and Sandra Samuel, the caretaker who brought him home to Israel after the attack on the Jewish outreach Chabad House in Mumbai. Hundreds joined them at the group's Israel center, a...

At first glance, Moshe Holtzberg looks like any happy boy on the brink of his third birthday. Messy lunches and tons of playtime is how the lovable tot spends his time with his grandparents and nanny living in Afula, Israel. But Moshe is far from normal. He is a living miracle. Last year, a group of gunmen stormed into Moshe's old house in Mumbai, India, killing his parents and four others at the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish center. His nanny, Sandra Samuel, managed to grab him half way into the 36-hour siege, running from the chaos and saving his life. "He remembers...

Faith leaders on Tuesday gathered at a Jewish religious and cultural centre in Mumbai to light candles to those who died in last year's deadly terror attacks on the city. The candles were lit after a moment of silence to remember the six people who were killed at Chabad House on November 26-29, including the respected rabbi who ran it, Gavriel Holtzberg, and his pregnant wife, Rivka. The ceremony, on the ground floor of the bullet-scarred five-storey building in bustling Colaba Market, followed a multi-faith religious ceremony at the luxury Trident hotel, which was also stormed by gunmen. Overall, 166...

CHICAGO — One of two Chicago men accused of plotting an armed attack on a Danish newspaper may have been involved in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, authorities in that country say. The FBI for now is saying only that it has evidence David Coleman Headley was in contact with the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba — which the Indian government blames for the Mumbai attacks that left 166 dead and 308 wounded — while he allegedly planned and carried out reconnaissance this year near the newspaper offices in Copenhagen. Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, were...

New Delhi: Angered by US President Barack Obama’s attempt to envisage a role for China in South Asia, India on Wednesday made it clear that it objects any move to give a wider footprint to China in the region. The Ministry of External Affairs said that it had objections to Obama giving China a greater role in South Asian affairs, adding a third country’s role cannot be envisaged in the bilateral relationships between countries of the region. The MEA further said a role for a third country in the region was not necessary and India was committed to resolving all...

New Zealand PM will not meet Dalai Lama IANS 18 November 2009, 01:17pm WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Wednesday that he would not meet the Dalai Lama when he visits the country next month. "The reason simply is I've decided that I wouldn't get a lot out of that particular meeting," he told reporters. "I don't see every religious leader that comes to town. I've seen him in the past, I may see him in the future." Key, who said before he was elected a year ago that he would meet the Dalai Lama on future...

The US might be denying direct mediation in Kashmir, but it has opened diplomatic channels with the All Party Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to resolve the issue. “The US is eager to resolve the issue once and for all. They are again showing interest in Kashmir,” the Mirwaiz told HT. Top US State Department officials got in touch with him when he was in New York in September for a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Countries, a fact confirmed by the Mirwaiz. The officials work in association with Richard Holbrooke, the US’s special representative to Afghanistan-Pakistan....

Dubai 09: Lockheed adds probe to F-16 to attract India By Stephen Trimble Lockheed Martin is to add an all-new capability for the F-16 specifically to entice a massive order by the Indian air force. Lockheed has designed and demonstrated a probe refuelling system that extends from the right conformal fuel tank of the F-16IN, a proposed variant of the Block 60 tailored for India's 126-aircraft medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) requirement. The new probe-and-drogue refuelling capability was demonstrated to Indian pilots during flight trials performed in September in India, said Rick Groesch, Lockheed's regional vice-president for Middle East international...

Security Increased at Indian Nuclear Sites Over Possible Attack Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 SNIPPET: "Security at nuclear power facilities in India has been boosted following indications that the sites might face a terrorism threat, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Aug. 17). New Delhi put its nuclear sites on alert following reports that a U.S. citizen, arrested Oct. 3 in the United States in an unrelated case, had visited Indian states with nuclear facilities, the Press Trust of India reported. "The step is precautionary in nature," said an Indian Home Ministry official. "The states have been asked to increase the vigil...

The British warship that India wants: quantum leap on the high seas November 16th, 2009 Dipankar De Sarkar London, Nov 16 (IANS) A futuristic aircraft carrier that India is reported to be keen on buying from Britain is envisaged as a giant guardian of the high seas, capable of travelling thousands of kilometres from home and wreaking massive destruction on enemy targets, experts said Monday. India has reportedly “lodged a firm expression of interest” in buying one of two huge aircraft carriers that are currently under construction - the largest warships ever built by Britain, and designed to be the...

MoD may sell aircraft carrier to India to limit cuts Sale would leave Royal Navy with just one replacement Tim Webb The Observer, Sunday 15 November 2009 Article historyOne of Britain's new £2bn aircraft carriers could be sold off under cost-cutting plans being considered by the Ministry of Defence. India has lodged a firm expression of interest, the Observer has learned. The sale of one of the two 65,000-tonne vessels would leave the Royal Navy with a single carrier and could force Britain to borrow from the French fleet, which itself has only one carrier and is reluctant to build...

SNIPPET: "Mumbai, Nov. 14: David Coleman Headley personally visited every target site of the 26/11 terror strikes last year, carrying out a recce on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a police source said today. Posing as a Jew, he even visited Nariman House, the Jewish Chabad centre, in July 2008. The Mumbai police today carried out raids in Bandra, its adjoining suburb Khar and BPO hub Goregaon in search of Headley’s local acquaintances and contacts. “He (Headley) mapped the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House. We are interrogating (filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s son) Rahul to find out when...

The Indian army is set to order an unspecified number of Akash anti-aircraft missiles to replace its aging Russian SAM-6 Kvadrat air defense missile system. The missile system is for the T-72 main battle tank and has a Hyderabad-developed Rajendra phased-array radar capable of tracking up to 64 aircraft simultaneously over a radius of just under 40 miles. It can shoot down aircraft within 15 miles, according to Indian media reports. The Akash is part of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. Its main target will be use against attacks from unmanned combat aerial vehicles including Cruise missiles and aircraft....

SNIPPET: “With the National Investigation Agency registering a case, officials have begun a sprawling investigation into rail, air and phone records to track the trail in India of US national David Coleman Headley and his Canadian associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the two men arrested by the FBI last month for allegedly plotting terror strikes. While preliminary investigations are expected to go on for at least six weeks, sources said there is evidence to show that Headley checked in at least twice in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and Towers more than a year before it was targeted by the Lashkar’s...

NEW DELHI — The India-China relationship has entered choppy waters due to a perceptible hardening in the Chinese stance. Anti-India rhetoric in the state-run Chinese media has intensified, even as China has stepped up military pressure along the disputed Himalayan frontier through cross-border incursions. Beijing also has resurrected its long-dormant claim to the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, nearly three times as large as Taiwan. The more muscular Chinese stance clearly is tied to the new U.S.-India strategic partnership, symbolized by the nuclear deal and deepening military cooperation. As President George W. Bush declared in his valedictory speech, "We...

"Prem Kumar’s demand for higher pay and better food at the cafeteria at the auto-parts factory where he works near New Delhi forced General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. to shut three plants on the other side of the world. The strike Kumar led at Rico Auto Industries Ltd., coming after managers ...

Convictions Few in Anti-Christian Violence in Orissa, India Violence devastated Kandhamal district, Orissa state in August-September 2008. BJP legislator, a key suspect in Kandhamal violence, acquitted again and out on bail. NEW DELHI, November 11 (CDN) — Following six acquittals last week in trials for those accused of the 2008 anti-Christian violence in India’s Orissa state and the release on bail of a key suspect, Christians are losing heart to strive for justice, according to a prosecuting attorney. The acquittal of six suspects last week raises the total to 121, with just 27 convicted in the Orissa violence by Hindu...

“Gold Finger - A New Take On Operation Grand Slam With A Tungsten Twist” I’ve already reported on irregular physical gold settlements which occurred in London, England back in the first week of October, 2009. Specifically, these settlements involved the intermediation of at least one Central Bank [The Bank of England] to resolve allocated settlements on behalf of J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank – who DID NOT have the gold bullion that they had sold short and were contracted to deliver. At the same time I reported on two other unusual occurrences: 1] - irregularities in the publication of the...

How China gifted 50kg uranium for two bombs to Pakistan Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN 13 November 2009, WASHINGTON: China’s dirty little secret of nuclear proliferation to Pakistan, including virtually giving Islamabad two nuclear weapons on a platter while the US remained oblivious and smug, has exploded in Washington. Embarrassingly for President Barack Obama, the disclosures come on the eve of his much-anticipated visit to Beijing. The broad story is known to every Tom, Dinesh, and Hamid in strategic circles — that sometime in the early 1980s, China provided Pakistan with nuclear know-how and materials to enable it to make the bomb,...

A year after 26/11, no takers for bodies of nine slain terrorists IANS 12 November 2009 MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Almost a year after they were killed during the terror assault on Mumbai last November, the bodies of the nine terrorists continue to remain in Mumbai's J.J. Hospital morgue. There are no claimants and the authorities are clueless on what to do with them. They continue to remain in a room sealed with round-the-clock security and where the temperature is set at four degrees Celsius to prevent any decomposition. The 10 gunmen killed over 170 people in a series of coordinated attacks...

India, it turns out, ended up being gold’s white knight. The world learned yesterday that India had bought 200 tons of the IMF’s gold over a two-week period in October, at an average price of $1,045 an ounce. That’s a 57% increase in Indian gold reserves… quite a statement. “The Indian transaction may be the largest single central bank purchase of gold ever,” notes Byron King. “The only comparable event was the U.S. government seizure of gold from circulation within the nation back in 1933, along with steady U.S. government purchases in the 1930s and 1940s. “I e-mailed an acquaintance...

India's plight: A carrier running out of jets; fighters without their carrier Rajat Pandit, TNN 12 November 2009, 02:33am IST NEW DELHI: Sheer lack of long-term strategic planning, coupled with a dose of bad luck, has landed India in a peculiar situation. If it did not expose a gaping hole in the country's military capabilities, the predicament would have actually been quite ludicrous. On one hand, it has an ageing but newly-refurbished aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, which is fast running out of fighters which can operate from its deck. On the other, it's soon going to induct another type of...

The ISI has influence over every terrorist group and uses this to its “advantage”, Pervez Musharraf has said in a rare admission that corroborates India’s suspicions of Pakistani hand in attacks. The former President debunked Pakistan’s oft-repeated position that its ISI had no role in terror activities across the border and claimed that the intelligence agency was effective because of such influence — which he chose to describe by using the word “ingress”. “Always, in every group, there is an ingress of the ISI. And that is the efficiency, the effectiveness of the ISI. You must have ingress, so that...

SNIPPET: "The Centre has warned the citizens against possible terror attacks in five cities of India, which are expected to take place around the first anniversary of Mumbai terror attacks. "The Intelligence Bureau has received some inputs from state governments that terrorists were trying to infiltrate through the Indian west coast and target vital installations in the country’, revealed a Home Ministry official to a news channel. The state governments have been given the orders for boosting the security in and around railway stations, airports as well as other significant places." SNIPPET: "This Home Ministry alert is based on the...

Intel team returns home after US snub CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA, TNN 11 November 2009, 01:16am IST WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: In a show of miscommunication if not outright discord between Washington and New Delhi, an Indian intelligence team returned home on Tuesday after being denied access to question two Pakistani expatriates accused of plotting terrorist attacks in India. The Indian team had rushed to the US after the FBI last month apprehended Dave Headley alias Daood Gilani and Rana Tawassur in hopes of questioning them about their links to Pakistani terrorist organizations outlined in the FBI affidavit, and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks....

You have to go to a tropical paradise to find the latest front in the brewing cold war between China and India.