World News

Amid a spate of racial attacks on students that have dented its image, Australia today named an Indian-Australian as its new envoy to New Delhi in an apparent bid to assuage feelings in India. Peter Varghese, Australia's intelligence chief and a close aide of Premier Kevin Rudd, has been nominated as the new High Commissioner to India even as an incident of a beating up of an Indian student was reported while a stand-off broke out between the police and students in Sydney.

Varghese, the current head of the Office of National Assessments (ONA), will take over in August from John McCarthy, who has served in the job since 2004. The announcement comes as Kamal Jit, a 23-year-old Indian student, was beaten up for the second time in a fortnight by a group of youths here.

At least 300 members of the community today staged a sit in Harris Park in Sydney, triggering a stand-off with the police as the students sought the immediate release of a colleague arrested by the authorities. Meanwhile, a group of Indian students allegedly stabbed a 20-year-old man in a western suburb here after they were racially abused.

Varghese' appointment has been made at a sensitive time in bilateral relations with the billion dollar foreign student market under threat due to spate of attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney. More than 90,000 Indians are currently studying in Australia.