International

By IANS, London : Up to four children die each week in England from abuse or neglect, according to an official report. The report by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted), published Wednesday, found that 282 vulnerable children - many of them already known to social services - died in the 17-month period to the end of August. Another 136 suffered serious harm or injury and two-thirds of those killed or hurt were babies less than a year old, it said.

By IANS, Colombo : A Sri Lankan delegation will head to South Africa this week to learn and discuss about the South African Truth and...

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's tottering government faced a new crisis Sunday as transporters called an indefinite strike to protest the state's refusal to let them raise fares despite a substantial hike in fuel prices. Kathmandu valley was paralysed as public buses went off the road and bus owners blocked major roads and held demonstrations. Taxis also joined the protesters, condemning the murder of a cabbie in the capital last week and demanded security.

By IANS,

Tehran: Iran's parliament on Tuesday approved a legislation which asks the government to implement the recent nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the...

By KUNA, Brussels : Leaders of the 27-member European Union have expressed support to the action plan adopted by the Eurogroup on Sunday in Paris. "Europe as a whole without exception, supports the concerted action plan adopted in Paris on Sunday. We are faced with an unprecedented crisis and the 27 member states have a single united response," Nicolas Sarkozy, French President and President-in-office of the EU Council, said at a news conference here late Wednesday night, following the first day of a meeting of EU leaders.

By IANS/RIA Bovosti, Vladivostok (Russia) : Russian border guards in the Far East seized five kg of bear paws which poachers tried to transport to China, authorities said Tuesday.

By IANS, Colombo : The Sri Lankan government Monday dismissed the Tamil Tigers' readiness to agree to a fresh ceasefire, insisting that the rebels needed to first give up their weapons. Senior minister and ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) leader Maithripala Sirisena made the observation in parliament while responding to questions from opposition MPs regarding the offer from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

By DPA, Johannesburg/Harare : A senior army officer has told soldiers in Zimbabwe's 35,000-strong army that they have to vote for President Mugabe in next month's run-off in presidential elections, according to the state-controlled Herald Saturday. It quoted Major-General Martin Chedondo as saying that voting for Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, would be to "sell out to the British and American imperialists".

By IANS, Tokyo : Japan launched a climate orbiter "Akatsuki" on a two-year mission to Venus, from the country's Tanegashima island Friday. The H-2A rocket, which will study the climate and surface of Venus, lifted off at 6.58 a.m. local time (2158 GMT Thursday) from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Kagoshima Prefecture, Xinhua reported citing a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency statement. The rocket carrying the probe was originally scheduled to blast off Tuesday but had to be postponed due to bad weather.

By DPA, Colombo : A Canadian parliamentarian is to be deported from Sri Lanka on the grounds that he was a sympathiser of the Tamil rebel movement, senior government officials said Wednesday. Bob Rae, who arrived from the Indian city of Chennai, was detained at Sri Lanka's Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, before the government decided the Ontario politician should be sent back to Chennai.

By Xinhua, Kathmandu : Senior leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M), the ruling party, said Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda", may review ties between Nepal and India, local newspaper The Rising Nepal reported on Sunday. Mohan Baidhya known as "Kiran", chief of the CPN-M organizational department, said the government had all rights to sign in the bilateral and multilateral treaties, as it is the elected body. However, he also said the present government, like previous ones, would not sign in any agreement without doing proper homework.

Washington: The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has announced that its leader and self-proclaimed caliph of the Muslim world, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has accepted...

By IANS, Brussels : Two arts students in Germany have triggered online outrage by seeking, in a poll, from people whether or not a sheep should be beheaded as part of their project work.

By Venkata Vemuri, IANS, London : In an undercover investigation the BBC has exposed a London-based criminal network that used fake passports, identity documents and human carriers to bring in illegal migrants, mostly from Punjab, into Britain. These immigrants were settled in around 40 safe houses in Southall, home to a large concentration of immigrants from India. Nearly all of the illegal migrants - called "faujis" in criminal parlance - are said to be from Punjab.

Beijing : Four ships tasked with evacuating Chinese nationals from anti-China riot-hit Vietnam arrived at the central Vung Ang port Monday. The ship Wuzhishan, sailed...

By DPA, Washington : US President George W. Bush Monday lifted a ban on offshore oil drilling in an effort to relax record high gasoline prices. But exploration and drilling cannot proceed until Congress repeals legislation that prohibits offshore production because of the risk of oil spills and other environmental hazards. The Democratic majority has refused to end the moratorium. "Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal. And now Americans are paying at the pump," Bush said.

By KUNA,

By Catherine Atundi, NNN-KBC Nairobi : The Kenyan government has earmarked 6.5 billion (about 97 million USD) to build three dams as part of its strategy of finding a permanent solution to the problem of floods in Budalangi constituency. Programmes Minister John Munyes says the funds will also be used to create waterways, construct dykes and canals in order to control the flow of water into the River Nzoia.

By Manish Chand , IANS,

By Xinhua Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday urged foreign troops to withdraw from Iraq and called for a deadline for an end to the foreign troops' presence in the country. He made the remarks at an annual question and answer programme on the country's main TV channels and radio stations. Unless a date for pulling out is set, Putin said, "the Iraqi leadership, feeling (safe) under the reliable American umbrella, will not hurry to develop its own armed and law enforcement forces."

By DPA, Beijing : Police in northwestern China's Xinjiang region Tuesday stepped up security following a deadly attack against paramilitary police which authorities suspected to be a terrorist plot by ethnic minority Uighurs. A Washington-based association of exiled Uighur Muslims from China Tuesday called for independent accounts of the attack, saying details remain unclear. The attack Monday against a group of armed police while they were jogging outside their barracks in Kashgar city left 16 officers dead and 16 others injured, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

By IANS, Melbourne : Violence against Victoria's Indian community is "completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated", Premier of Australia's Victoria state John Brumby said Friday after discussing the spate of attacks on Indian students with the High Commissioner of India. Brumby met High Commissioner Sujatha Singh and Consul General of India Anita Nayar to discuss safety and security of the Indian community in Victoria, the province of which Melbourne is the capital.

By KUNA, GAZA : Israeli forces arrested seven Palestinians who were fishing near the coasts of Gaza Strip Tuesday morning. Israeli military boats seized a number of Palestinian fishing boats near the coasts of Bait Lahya town, in the northern parts of Gaza Strip, and arrested seven fishermen who were on board, local radio stations said Tuesday. The arrested fishermen were Isaaq Al-Sultan, Hafeedh Al-Sultan, Ahmad Al-Sultan, Ramiz Al-Sultan, Rasim Al-Sultan, Riffat Zayid, and Nashaat Zayid, they added.

By IANS/AKI, Milan: Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi will stay in hospital for a few more days after suffering from an eye infection and "continuing hypertension", his doctor said.

By IANS, Sydney : In a pilot project that has far-reaching implications, an Australian power station has used a “carbon capturing” plant to trap a bulk of its CO2 emissions. The “post-combustion-capture (PCC) pilot plant” at the Loy Yang Power Station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley trapped up to 85 percent of its CO2 emissions. The 10.5 metre-high pilot plant is designed to capture up to 1,000 tonnes of CO2 annually from the power station's exhaust-gas flues. Future trials will involve the use of a range of different CO2-capture liquids.

By NNN-ENA, Addis Ababa : The Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, Ali Mohammed Ghedi, says the war is over and terrorist elements in Mogadishu have been totally defeated. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in a report monitored here quoted Ghedi as saying that the situation in Mogadishu was very calm and the displaced families were going back to their houses in Mogadishu over the past few days.

By IANS, New Delhi: Cambridge University Cricket Club, where the legendary Ranjitsinhji played during his university days, is touring India for the first time and are set to play a number of matches in Delhi and Mumbai beginning Jan 10. They will play matches at Roshanara Gardens ground in Delhi and Bombay Gymkhana stadium in Mumbai.

By IANS,

By IANS, Beijing : Nearly one in two births in China are caesarean, said the latest survey by the World Health Organisation as a professor pointed out that many hospitals are motivated by financial incentives to encourage unnecessary caesarean operations. China Daily Thursday quoted experts as saying that in recent years, a growing number of women in the country have chosen C-sections over natural birth as some want to avoid the pain of labour and some want to choose an auspicious day for the baby's birth.

By IANS, Brussels: European Union environment ministers meeting in Luxembourg Wednesday adopted a Strategy on ship recycling with the objective that all ships are recycled in safe and environmentally sound facilities worldwide. "This shows that the EU is taking the issue very seriously and that methods that are safe for the environment and for workers can be promoted," EuAsiaNews quoted Sweden's Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren as saying. Carlgren chaired the ministerial meeting as Sweden holds the current EU presidency.

By DPA Washington : Bowing to President George W. Bush, Congress gave up on US troop withdrawal and approved $70 billion in war spending on Iraq and Afghanistan for 2008. The 272-142 vote in the House of Representatives Wednesday marked the end of a year that often saw Democratic lawmakers frustrated by Bush's veto power and their slim majority in both chambers.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russia could release 45,000 people imprisoned in the country since the second world war and grant amnesty to 300,000 convicts to mark the 65th anniversary of its Victory Day May 9, Russian Association of Lawyers said. The amnesty, to be declared by the Russian parliament, would come into effect May 9, when the country celebrates the 65th anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany in the World War II, said Pavel Krasheninnikov, co-chair of the Russian Association of Lawyers.

By Prensa Latina Abuja : At least 40 persons died in a fire in a Nigerian oil pipeline provoked by looters in the southern state of Lagos, a police source reported on Wednesday. Nearly 34 corpses, among them children and women, have been rescued from the place where the blast took place on Tuesday. The deflagration occurred when a group of hooligans made a hole on the pipeline of a state oil company established in that region.

By IANS, Colombo : Sri Lanka's trade deficit grew by 2.6 percent to $761 million in April from $741.7 million in the same month last year, the central bank said Tuesday.

By IRNA Berlin : The German government here Monday stressed its support for Serbia's path to the European Union less than a day after ultra-national leader Tomislav Nikolic won the first round of the Serbian elections against President Boris Tadic. Addressing a press conference, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said, "We believe that the future of Serbia lies in the European Union. We will support Serbia on this path. The choice whether they want or not want to go this path lies with the citizens of Serbia."

By DPA Caracas : Two helicopters identified with Red Cross symbols left Venezuela Wednesday and were heading for Colombia, to pick up four hostages set to be released by the Colombian guerrilla group. Venezuelan television reported that the helicopters took off from Santo Domingo, in the Venezuelan state of Tachira - bordering Colombia. Venezuelan Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin and Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba were part of the delegation, the TV channel Globovision said.

By RIA Novosti, Tbilisi : A train hit a mine on Sunday morning near the Georgian city of Gori, a Georgian Interior Ministry official said, adding that there were so far no reports of casualties. The incident took place next to an abandoned Georgian military base occupied by Russian troops during recent fighting over breakaway South Ossetia. "The explosion occurred when a goods train carrying heating fuel was passing the military base. We have no exact information at the moment, but preliminary reports suggest the track was mined," said Shota Utiashvili.

By Venkata Vemuri, IANS, London : Imagine what would have happened if the latest British immigration rule requiring the spouse of a British citizen to know English to enter the country was in vogue only a couple of centuries ago? There just might not have been a Victorian era! Commenting on the rule announced by Home Secretary Theresa May earlier this week, The Telegraph pointed out that Queen Victoria's mother knew no English when she came to Britain as the bride of the Duke of Kent who apparently knew more French.

Male, Aug 19 (IANS) The island nation of the Maldives Sunday opted for a presidential form of government in a historic referendum held as a run-up to multiparty elections next year. With less than 50 of the 433 ballot boxes remaining to be opened, results showed that 93,042 votes or more than 60 percent of the total votes polled supported a presidential system of government as against 57,109 votes for a Westminster-style multiparty parliamentary democracy.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,

By IANS, Melbourne: A 42-year-old Australian faces up to 45 years in jail after a jury Tuesday found him guilty of murdering three siblings of an Indian-origin family in Brisbane in 2003.

By Prensa Latina, Dublín : Ireland could repeat its rejection to the Treaty of Lisbon if a new referendum on the document led to reform the European Union institutions is carried out, said a poll by consulting firm Red C Sunday. On June 12, 53.4 percent of the participants in the referendum was against the Treaty of Lisbon, an agreement signed in December 2007. Now, 62 out of each 100 questioned people about the Treaty of Lisbon could be against the document. Just thirty-two percent of the questioned people would support the document this time.

By IANS, New Delhi : A day before Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon heads to Colombo, Sri Lanka Wednesday said it will look at any Indian request for extradition of LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran "positively". "The government's stand is that if there is a request, certainly that will have to be looked at very seriously - I would say even positively," Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to India C.R. Jayasinghe told the Times Now news channel.

By IANS, Washington : President Barack Obama Friday signed into law free-trade pacts with Colombia, South Korea and Panama, ending a long-stalled process aimed at boosting US exports.

By IRNA, Tehran : Preventing and resolving conflicts peacefully must remain high on the shared agenda of the United Nations and the African Union, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a Security Council meeting at UN Headquarters, calling for deeper cooperation between the two institutions. In a speech to a meeting on peace and security in Africa, attended by many heads of State and other high-level figures, Mr. Ban said he would "spare no effort" in making the partnership between the UN and the AU complementary, effective and inclusive.

By SPA, Kathmandu : At least 13 people were killed and dozens of others were missing after an overcrowded bus plunged off a mountain highway in western Nepal on Monday, police and media reports said. Police said the bus plunged into the fast-flowing Rapti River in Dang district, about 400 kilometers west of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, after skidding off the highway on Monday morning, DPA reported. Police confirmed at least 13 bodies were recovered from the river and said more than 40 others remained missing.

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS, Toronto : Canadians have unanimously supported the niqab ban announced by French-speaking Quebec province this week. After France, the Canadian province is the first in North America to ban the niqab, a top-to-toe dress worn by Muslim women. The ban, triggered by an Egyptian immigrant woman's refusal to remove her niqab in her French classes in Montreal, will disallow access to government services, schools and colleges and health care to those who don't remove the face veil.

By DPA

Pristina : Kosovo authorities Thursday started retrieving human remains from a suspected mass grave from the 1999 conflict in the province.