Varsity to honour Indian surgeon in UK Iran nuke deal: Impasse over weapons persists
Friday, 10/07/2015
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LONDON: Shiv Pande, a Liverpoolbased doctor who has made major contributions in the areas of charity, academia and broadcasting besides his medical profession after moving to Britain in 1971, is to be honoured by the University of Central Lancashire on Monday.
Representatives for the Iran nuclear talks wait for the start of a meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday.
Born in India, Pande gained his MBBS degree in 1962 from Vikram University, Indore, and initially worked in cardio-thoracic surgery at the London Chest Hospital after moving to Britain. He then practised medicine for over 30 years in Liverpool.
Pande organised cricket coaching for unemployed Liverpool youngsters when India’s World Cup-winning cricketers visited the city in 1984. He also raised £20,000 for victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984.
The citation for his honorary fellowship says: “Rarely has a medical doctor achieved so much in so many areas, not only within his own profession, but also in our broader community. As a dedicated medical practitioner, tireless charity campaigner, accomplished broadcaster, and distinguished academic, Shiv Pande MBE represents a superb role model for any citizen of multicultural Britain.”
Honoured with an MBE in 1989, Pande, now retired, told HT: “I am humbled, honoured and at the same time excited. The people of northwest England, especially of Liverpool, are extremely friend and helpful. I have received much affection, respect and love all these years”.
Pande was instrumental in launching the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test, overseeing its first pilot in India in 1996. VIENNA: Iran and six world powers were close to an historic nuclear agreement on Thursday that could resolve a more than 12-year dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, but they remained deadlocked on the issue of Iranian arms and missile trade.
Over the past two weeks, Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China have twice extended a deadline for completing a longterm deal under which Tehran would curb sensitive nuclear activities for more than a decade in exchange for sanctions relief.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Thursday said he could not rule out that there would be an agreement in the coming hours.
But the Iranian state broadcaster Press TV cited an Iranian official as saying it was unlikely an agreement would be reached on Thursday.
US energy secretary Ernest Moniz and Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi were meeting on Thursday morning.
“Hopefully today is the last day,” Salehi said. Moniz added: “We’re going to resolve the last issues, if we can.”
However a senior Western diplomat said it was ‘very doubtful’ the talks would finish on Thursday.
Western countries accuse Iran of seeking the capability to build nuclear weapons, while Tehran says its programme is peaceful. A deal would depend on Iran accepting curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the easing of economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations, United States and European Union.
A successful deal could be the biggest milestone in decades towards easing hostility between Iran and the United States, enemies since Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.
