International

By IANS, Washington : Biomedical engineers have hit upon a way of speeding up genome sequencing by cutting down the amount of DNA required in existing methods, which are costly, time-consuming and error-prone. A team led by Amit Meller, a Boston University biomedical engineering associate professor, reduced the number of DNA molecules required for such sequencing by 10,000 times, from about one billion sample molecules to 100,000. "The current study shows that we can detect a much smaller amount of DNA sample than previously reported," said Meller.

By DPA Yangon : Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was Friday permitted to leave her home, where she is under house arrest, to meet a senior member of the military junta, according to witnesses. The junta's shadowy chief, General Than Shwe, has promised to enter into talks with Suu Kyi if she abandons her call for economic sanctions and drops her "confrontational" approach.

By SPA Beirut : A moderate earthquake hit southern Lebanon in the early hours Tuesday, causing no damage but sending many panicked residents into the streets in the coastal town of Tyre, DPA quoted police sources as saying Tuesday. The quake struck at 2:20 am (0020 GMT) and measured 4.0 on the Richter scale, according to Moueen Hamze, head of Lebanon's National Centre for Scientific Research. "The quake was six kilometres east of Tyre," Hamze was quoted as saying in radio reports.

By IRNA New Delhi : The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has expressed readiness to hold talks with the government if it stops the military operations against them. According to All India Radio (AIR) report, LTTE political head P Nadesan told a group of Parliamentarians from the pro-rebel Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Wanni, Sri Lanka recently that it was the government which started the war. He said, the offer of the LTTE for a ceasefire and talks should not be construed as any desperation on LTTE part to stop the war.

By NNN-LKNews Colombo : Sri Lankan security forces continued to advance in the Vavuniya-Mannar sector Monday, taking full control of Thampanai town on the Madhu as Tiger cadres in the area withdrew amid heavy fire, according to defence sources. The fall of Thampanai town is considered a major breakthrough in the efforts to flush out the LTTE from these areas and clear the path to Wanni, senior military officers state.

By DPA, London : A British man convicted of staging a failed suicide bomb attack on a crowded restaurant in a university town last summer was Friday given a life sentence for attempted murder. Nicky Reilly, a 22-year-old Muslim convert, was the only person injured when he accidentally set off his home-made nail-bomb in a toilet of a restaurant in Exeter, southwest England, last May. Sentencing him at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London, the presiding judge said it was "sheer luck or chance" that the planned attack did not succeed.

By DPA, San Francisco : Tiger Wood's sexual indiscretions have not just wrecked his marriage and his squeaky-clean reputation. They also wreaked $12 billion worth of havoc on the companies that paid him millions of dollar in sponsorship and endorsement fees, according to a new study released Tuesday. The researchers at the University of California-Davis said that shares at companies like Gillette and AT&T and Nike lost $12 billion in value in the 13 trading days after the scandal first broke in November.

New Delhi: British ministers William Hague and George Osborne will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj when they visit...

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : The Obama administration's release of four classified memos authorising "enhanced interrogation techniques" on terror suspects has had a "chilling effect" on US clandestine services working on counter-terrorism issues, according to Stratfor. Realistically, those most likely to face investigation and prosecution are those who wrote the memos, rather than the low-level field personnel who acted in good faith based upon the guidance the memos provided, the global intelligence company noted in an analysis Wednesday.

By Sheldon Schreter In my January 30 op-ed in The Jerusalem Post, I contended that our settlements weaken rather than strengthen us by seriously eroding both our own and the world's belief in the justice of our cause. That cause is asserting the right of the Jewish people to a sovereign state in their ancient homeland. In over 100 "talkbacks" on jpost.com, letters to the editor, and some personal communications, my views were mostly attacked, though occasionally supported. Let me address some of the criticisms of my argument.

By IANS, Washington : Christina Romer, who chairs the White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), will step down next month, Xinhua reported. After her resignation, effective Sep 3, Romer will resume her position as professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where her son will be starting high school in the fall, the White House said in a statement Thursday. As CEA chair, Romer is one of the key economic advisers who meets President Barack Obama on almost daily basis to help chart the response to the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

By IANS, Warsaw : Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced that the new government will be formed by Nov 22 in the country, Xinhua reported.

By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net

By IANS, Vancouver : Cathay Pacific Airways, one of the six five-star airlines in the world, is reducing its flights to North America to cut costs because of high fuel prices. In a statement issued Monday, the Hong Kong-based airline said it was cutting 10 North American flights and adding eight new flights to Australia and switching its bigger aircraft to 14 more profitable European flights each week.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : As the US Tuesday unveiled an "unprecedented and aggressive" plan to pour at least $250 billion to partly nationalise nine major banks and expand federal insurance protection, the Wall Street was on the upward curve again. In an early morning speech from the White House, President George W. Bush described the administration's plan as an "essential short term measure to ensure the viability of American's banking system".

By IANS Colombo : Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Asia's longest-serving leader, has said that the political reforms initiated in the Indian Ocean island nation four years ago will be implemented in full and will be his "legacy". "I firmly believe that the political reforms that I proposed in June 2004 can be implemented in full in a few years from now," Gayoom told Hamaroalhi Daily, a Maldivian newspaper last week.

By Xinhua, Colombo : People in Sri Lankan capital Colombo Tuesday expressed mixed feelings over the forthcoming 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit. The 15th SAARC Summit, which will be attended by heads of state or government of eight member countries in South Asia and delegations from seven countries and regions, will be held here on Aug. 2-3 amid tight security.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By DPA, Washington : The US Defence Department said Wednesday it was willing to issue a 60-day extension of the deadline for bids on a lucrative contract to build the next generation of aerial refuellers. The decision would push the May 10 deadline to July 9, allowing the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) more time to come up with a proposal after its US partner, Northrop Grumman, dropped out earlier this month.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick has suggested formation of a core group comprising seven emerging powers, including India, joining the Group of Seven to deal with the global economic crisis. "The G-7 is not working. We need a better group for a different time," he said in a speech to the Peterson Institute for International Economics here Monday. "For financial and economic cooperation, we should consider a new Steering Group including Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the current G-7."

By IANS/EFE, Santiago : Hooded assailants intercepted two freight trucks, pulled out the drivers and set the vehicles on fire in a southern town in Chile. The incident took place Wednesday in Araucania region, where ethnic Mapuche Indian activists have torched vehicles, highway toll booths and lumber shipments on earlier occasions as part of a protest to reclaim ancestral lands from business and forest products companies.

By IANS, Rio De Janeiro: At least 11 people were killed and as many injured Monday afternoon in a Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, after a passenger bus plunged over a cliff, Xinhua reported.

By Xinhua, Tokyo, Japan : Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda arrived in Hokkaido on Sunday for the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations. Fukuda, host of the summit in the resort of Toyako, is expected to meet U.S. President George W. Bush in the afternoon. Japan has put talks on climate change high on the agenda of the gathering in the northern resort of Toyako to build on the outcome of last year's summit in Germany, where leaders agreed to seriously consider a target of halving greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century.

By DPA, Colombo : The army foiled a last-ditch, predawn attempt by Tamil rebels using boats to breach military defences Sunday, killing at least 70 fighters and destroying a six boats, a military spokesman said. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said rebels initially posing as civilians had come across a lagoon and made an attempt to breach the defences around 1:30 a.m., but were confronted and killed. He did not say whether the army suffered any casualties in the incident.

By DPA, Copenhagen: The first of over 100 heads of state and government and other leaders arrived Tuesday in Copenhagen for the closing days of the United Nations climate change talks. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was one of the first heads of states to arrive Tuesday as did UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Danish organisers expect some 110 heads of state and government by Friday when the conference is scheduled to end, including US President Barack Obama.

By IANS, Port-au-Prince : An estimated 1,523 people have died of cholera and the epidemic could last for years in Haiti, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) has said.

By IANS,

By IANS, Washington: A Sikh temple and school that was under construction in Vancouver in Washington state has been burned to the ground in an early morning fire, according to a media report.

By IRNA, London : British foreign secretary despite repeating west’s past accusations against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program said Wednesday west is ready for surveying various multilateral initiatives aimed at solving Iran’s nuclear issue. According to IRNA, David Miliband added at question and answer session of the British Parliament, “We support the Russian investments in Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Plant.” The British top diplomat added, “The nuclear NPT should be the basis for any kind of dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.”

By Xinhua, Luxembourg : The European Union (EU) stressed on Monday the significance of international coordination on Kosovo, in particular during the transition period. At a meeting of the EU Troika with the delegation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the OSCE mission should continue to work and cooperate with the EU police and justice mission EULEX, as well as the special EU representative to be deployed to Kosovo by the EU.

By Xinhua, Bangkok : Thai Army Chief Anupong Paochinda Wednesday urged Prime Minister Somchai Wonsawat to dissolve parliament in the wake of massive protest of the opposition People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) demanding the resignation of the prime minister. Paochinda also asked the protesters who laid siege to the Bangkok international airport disrupting all flights to disperse. Anupong made the "suggestions" Wednesday afternoon at a press conference after holding an urgent meeting with military and police top brass, business leaders and academics.

By EFE, Montevideo : Jose "Pepe" Mujica, winner of the presidential runoff in Uruguay, said he will alternate his duties as head of state with working the land on his small farm on the outskirts of Montevideo. "Everybody has his own interests and you have to respect them," the 74-year-old former guerrilla leader and political prisoner told reporters. Mujica, candidate of the governing leftist Broad Front, lives in a house with a dirt road in front in the Rincon del Cerro area.

By Arun Kumar Washington, Oct 10 (IANS) The United States says it supports India in its efforts to complete the remaining steps to conclude their civil nuclear deal, but will leave the timing to New Delhi. Apparently mindful of the crisis facing the Indian government over opposition to the deal from its communist allies, a US official sought to downplay reports that India had not yet approached the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to get its nod.

By Xinhua, Beijing : The Long March 2F rocket designed to carry China's third manned spacecraft into space will be sent to Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest Gansu province in a few days, officials with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) said here Saturday. The rocket was coated in red, a color to show that it was ready to fulfill its mission, said Jing Muchun, chief designer of the spacecraft, adding that further testing will be conducted to ensure 100 percent safety after the rocket arrives at Jiuquan.

By IANS, Moscow: Russia will keep backing the peaceful settlement plan in Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

By DPA, Moscow : Russia has joined the list of countries banning Adolf Hitler's autobiographical work "Mein Kampf", 65 years after the Nazi dictator's suicide. The state prosecutor justified the decision in Moscow Friday by saying the "extremist" work contains ideas that preach murder and racial discrimination, the Interfax news agency reported. Russian media outlets complained the move came 84 years too late, pointing out that Hitler had written "Mein Kampf" in the mid-1920s.

By Prensa Latina, Moscow : Japan expects to move towards the signing of a peace treaty during the current visit to Russia of Mahasaiko Komura, minister of Foreign Affairs, diplomatic sources informed. The press secretary of the Japanese foreign ministry, Kazuo Kodama, affirmed that during talks with Komuras counterpart, Serguei Lavrof, new opportunities are expected for an arrangement that dates back to 1945. Moscow and Tokyo had not signed a formal peace treaty after the Second World War regarding discrepancies over the Kuril Islands, under Kremlin sovereignty.

By IANS, London : Oscar winning actress Penelope Cruz has raised $333,000 for the Haiti earthquake victims by selling her designer dresses. The 35-year-old and jewellery maker Chopard raised the sum by organising an auction for the Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organisation at the Cannes Film Festival, reported femalefirst.co.uk. Other than Cruz, Hollywood stars Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts, Gisele Bundchen, Charlize Theron and Salma Hayek donated for the cause. Hayek raised $21,000 for her burgundy Gucci gown, the first from the Italian brand's new couture range.

Tehran, Aug 3, IRNA – Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said on Tuesday that Tehran is ready to hold an explicit and transparent meeting with US President Barack Obama in the presence of media. Talking to reporters during his weekly press briefing, he added that Tehran tries to inform the world nations of its strong logic and reasoning.

By RIA Novosti Moscow : Russia Thursday warned democracy watchdog Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) against its election monitoring panel's threat of boycotting the country's March 2 presidential polls. OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) insisted on sending at least 50 of its observers to Russia Feb 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, to monitor electioneering before sending its team of election observers. The body has threatened to boycott the election if the conditions are not met.

By IRNA, London : A broad coalition of politicians, trade unionists, lawyers, religious leaders and peace campaigners joined together Thursday to issue a warning about the rise of Islamophobia in Britain. “We cannot stand by and watch this continue without remark or action,” said the alliance, led by former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, and several MPs, peers and members of the European Parliament.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By IRNA, Tehran : Despite the difficult conditions in post-earthquake Haiti, United Nations agencies are reaching more and more survivors with vital assistance, even as search and rescue operations continue for those who still might be saved. The 7.0-magnitude quake that struck the Caribbean nation on January 12 levelled buildings, including homes, schools and hospitals, damaged roads and other vital infrastructure, and left one third of the country’s 9 million people in need of food, water, medical help and other urgent aid.

By Arun Kumar,IANS, Washington : Amid rumours about the impending departure of Vikram Pandit, the Indian-American CEO of Citigroup, the banking giant is reported to have launched a counterattack aimed at stabilising the company. While Citigroup executives and directors continue to wrestle with the question whether drastic changes are needed at the New York firm, its officials have been talking in recent days to Treasury Department and Federal Reserve officials, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

By IANS, Sydney : Computer animation students have designed an online game to help children understand ways they can reduce their impact on climate change. Programme coordinator of multimedia at Swinburne University of Technology, Peter Ciszewski, said the University's student designers have incorporated educative elements into animation and game play techniques to produce the game.

By IANS, Colombo : Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to brief Indian leaders on the progress made by an all-party committee on devolution of powers to the provinces during his visit to India to attend the second BIMSTEC summit starting Nov 13. The All Party Representative Committee (APRC) was set up in 2006 by Rajakapsa and is tasked to suggest a system of devolution of powers to end Sri Lanka's bloody ethnic war.

By IANS, London : Huge posters of Hitler wearing a lurid pink uniform with a love heart, instead of swastika, on his arm band have whipped up a storm in Italy. The posters, which are 18 feet high, are for a line of clothing for young people and they have been prominently set up in Palermo city. They show Hitler wearing a bright pink uniform above the slogan "Change Style - Don't Follow Your Leader", The Telegraph reported Friday. Local people have found the posters offensive and demanded that they be removed.

By DPA Tokyo : Four inmates were executed Thursday in Japan, Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said, bringing the number of death penalties carried out there since December to 10. The convicted murderers, aged 41 to 64, were hanged at prisons in Tokyo and Osaka, Hatoyama said. The series of multiple executions over the past four months has been the biggest cluster to be carried out since Japan resumed executions in 1993. The reason for the increase has been a rise in the number of death sentences, Japanese media reported.

By Prensa Latina Washington : Democrat pre-candidates to the White House Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama resumed their fight on Saturday in the primary elections that will be held in Louisiana, Washington and Nebraska. National media is focused on this new battle between the two contenders, absent from the republican process, which shows a wide advantage of Senator John McCain, the party's possible candidate. After Super Tuesday's elections tie, those of Saturday and Tuesday will be more relevant for the Dems.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : Saved from a dire constitutional crisis last month by the opposition Maoist party but now at loggerheads with it once more, Nepal's government faces a fresh hurdle next month when it again needs help to pass the new budget. With a fresh quarrel erupting between Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and the former guerrillas after the premier refused to resign by Wednesday, the ruling party might find itself in yet another difficult position.

United Nations : UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday called for a "comprehensive and collective" response to ensure "a robust search and rescue capacity...

By Xinhua, Bangkok : A bomb planted under a motorcycle was triggered Tuesday night in Thailand's southernmost province of Yala, fatally injured a woman and wounded another four, local news network The Nation said on Wednesday. The explosion occurred at about 9:10 p.m. (1410 GMT) on Tuesday in front of Yala's Muang Municipality in Muang district. Police quoted eyewitnesses as saying that they saw two men parking the motorcycle and running away and the explosion occurred less than one minute after that.

By IANS,

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS, Toronto : Islamists are secretly working to build a "parallel society" in Canada, warns an intelligence report.

By Xinhua, Washington : NASA's first spacecraft dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide is in final preparation for a Feb 23 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Carbon dioxide is the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth's climate. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) will provide the first complete picture of human and natural carbon dioxide sources as well as their "sinks", the places where carbon dioxide is pulled out of the atmosphere and stored.

By IANS, Dubai : Financial difficulties drove a young Indian family, whose bodies were fished out of the Dubai Creek, to death, police said Friday. The bodies of Girish Kumar, 29, his wife Shabija, 27, and their 20-month-old daughter Gauri Nanda were fished out of the creek in the heart of this city Wednesday. A police spokesman told reporters that the family was under heavy financial burden and that was what apparently drove to them to this extreme step. While Girish's death is being treated as a suicide, the deaths of the mother and daughter are being investigated.

By Xinhua, Manila : At least 34 passengers on the sunken Philippine ferry "MV Princess of the Stars" have been able to reach shore to be rescued by Monday as the coastal guard rescue team, with the help of the navy, continued their difficult search on the sea. In a terse report released Monday afternoon, the Philippine Coast Guard said they were able to confirm 30 more surviving passengers after four survivors swam shore on Sunday. Two were found on Romblon province while twenty-eight others had been rescued in Quezon province, north of the mishap area off the Romblon coast.

Berlin, Oct 24, IRNA ,The US is pressing Germany on assuming a greater role in the controversial anti-terror mission 'Operation Enduring Freedom'(OEF) in Afghanistan, news reports said here Wednesday. A senior US Defense Department official met with key legislators of four German parties which are represented in the German parliament ahead of next month's crucial vote on extending the American-led anti -terror operations.

By DPA Berlin : Hanns Martin Schleyer had almost reached home when his driver braked hard to avoid a car that cut in front of him and a pushchair that rolled across the other side of the road. The police escort vehicle following the head of West Germany's powerful employers' association did not have time to stop and slammed into the back of Schleyer's Mercedes. Suddenly a group of terrorists appeared from nowhere and peppered the two cars with bullets from sub-machineguns, killing the industrialist's chauffeur and his three bodyguards.

By IANS,

By DPA, Washington : At least 11 people were killed in the US state of Tennessee over the weekend after torrential rains led to heavy flooding, broadcaster CNN reported Monday. Thousands of people had to flee their homes, while hotels and nursing homes were evacuated. Rapidly moving water washed over roads and parking lots, leading to the shutdown of several highway stretches. Some drivers had to be rescued by firefighters after rising water trapped them in their cars.

By IANS, Dharamsala : Ahead of the Copenhagen summit, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama Monday asked world leaders to make finding a solution to climate change their number one priority. "Protection of the global environment must take precedence over matters of national interest and politicians must make finding a solution to climate change their number one priority," the Nobel Peace laureate told reporters in Sydney, according to a post on the website of the Tibetan government-in-exile here.

By IANS, Washington : Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping called on US President Barack Obama at the White House Tuesday and delivered a letter from Chinese President Hu Jintao.

By RIA Novosti Madrid : A light-engine aircraft carrying 600 kg of hashish crashed in southern Spain on Thursday, Spanish police said in a report. "A plane carrying 600 kg of hashish packaged in 20 bags crash-landed in rice fields not far from Sevilla," the report read, adding that the plane's pilot and its sole passenger had fled the scene of the crash. Police eventually located and arrested the plane's occupants several kilometers away from the crash site. They have been accused of drug trafficking.

New York : The US State Department has asked a court here to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Sikh rights group for declaring...

By IANS, Beijing : Scientists from China have obtained three ice cores from Mount Everest with the aim to understand more about climate change, an expedition leader said Monday.

By IANS, Beijing : Five road accidents in two days have claimed the lives of at least 58 people, as thousands of Chinese started travelling across the country for the Lunar New Year.

By IANS,