Bush raps Brazil, India & China

Brazil, India and China need to make more concessions in their manufacturing and services sectors for a successful conclusion to the Doha round of global trade talks, US President George W Bush said on Monday.

“Where I am concerned about Doha is that, while we are making some progress on the agricultural side, nations such as Brazil, India and China are not making corresponding openings on manufacturing and services sector,” Bush told reporters after meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London.

“Now is the time to get the Doha round completed and in order to do so there has to be more movement on the manufacturing and services sectors so it can be a fair and equitable deal.”

Protest against visit

In a related development, at least 25 peoples were arrested in London as over 2000 demonstrated against Bush and his much-criticised foreign policy, coinciding with his visit to the UK.

An estimated 2,500 people held a noisy demonstration against the US President and his “War on Terror” at the Parliament Square as he attended a dinner nearby hosted by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday.

Protesters blew whistles, banged their drums and voiced their opposition to the Iraq war, police said.

Twenty-five people were arrested near Parliament Square after they pelted officers with placards and tried to breach a police cordon near Downing Street, as the US President arrived for dinner.

Some of the placards read “Bush terrorist”, “We want welfare, not Warfare”.

“This is a signal to the incoming US president that the people of this country are absolutely against this illegal war and destroying of civil liberties,” said 71-year-old Sarah Cox, a retired teacher who carried a Bush effigy bearing a cowboy hat, toy pistol and miniature missile.