International

By IANS, Dhaka : The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal, which triggered flash floods and left hundreds of fishermen missing, has fizzled out. The deep depression had gathered in the northern reaches of the Bay of Bengal close to the Bangladesh and Orissa coasts. The floods have inundated at least 10 villages, destroyed crops and marooned thousands.

By Xinhua, Beijing : Chile's long-dormant Chaiten volcano spewed clouds of gray smoke, hot rocks and toxic gas on Tuesday, forcing authorities to order the complete evacuation of two nearby towns, media reports said. More than 4,000 people left the town of Chaiten, 10 kilometers (six miles) from the volcano, after the initial eruption. Several hundred are still waiting to leave. Futaleufu, 70 kilometers (44 miles) to the east, is also being evacuated.

By IANS, Colombo : Riding on public support for the ongoing war against the Tamil Tigers, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared that the military campaign will continue "until the last rebel is killed or every inch of land is captured", a media report said Tuesday. President Rajapaksa made these remarks while addressing an election rally of his United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) at Ruwanwella in Sabaragamuwa province Monday.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS Kathmandu : The Nepal government's bid to curb terror activities and the circulation of fake Indian currency has now begun to produce a side effect, causing it to lose millions in revenue. Currently, Nepal's treasury has about Rs.25 million in banned Indian currency that is destined for the incinerator since the Indian government has reportedly refused to exchange the notes with ones that are legal in Nepal.

By IRNA, New Delhi : Nepal's Maoist party on Thursday reached out to other political parties to meet a July 7 presidential deadline to form a national government under its leadership, a day after the embattled prime minister quit following months of protests by the former rebels. Political parties on Thursday began consultations to meet the July 7 deadline set by President Ram Baran Yadav to recommend the name of a new Prime Minister to form a consensus government as per the constitutional provision, following the resignation of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Wednesday.

By Xinhua, Chengdu : Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called the past 110 days since the May 12 quake "shocking and touching" when speaking to journalists in southwest China's quake-hit Sichuan Province on Tuesday. "The past 110 days were days that shocked our minds, and also days that touched our hearts," said Wen. "It's not a long time, but what we did, as witnessed by people all over the world, will go down in history."

By IANS, Chennai : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Tuesday once again called for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka despite most of the opposition parties boycotting an all-party meet called to discuss the plight of minority Tamils in Sri Lanka. "We will continue to demand the declaration of a ceasefire in Sri Lanka and start of political negotiations between the island's government and the Tamil minority there... (but) will not embarrass the centre through mass resignations of our MPs or withdrawal of support to the United Progressive Alliance government," Karunanidhi told reporters.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By DPA, Washington: US President Barack Obama strongly condemned the "outrageous terrorist attacks" on a mosque in southeastern Iran that killed at least 27 people. "The murder of innocent civilians in their place of worship is an intolerable offence, and those who carried it out must be held accountable," Obama said in a statement released by the White House Friday. "The United States stands with the families and loved ones of those killed and injured, and with the Iranian people, in the face of this injustice," Obama said.

By IANS, London : A senior police officer in Britain claims he has slashed the crime rate in his home town - by praying, a media report said Monday. Inspector Roger Bartlett says the power of prayer has helped catch criminals, boosted crime detection rates and even reduced the number of �people killed on the roads, Daily Express reported on its website. Bartlett, who has 23 years' experience, is �"convinced" that faith work has had a positive impact on policing in Barnstaple, Devon.

By Xinhua Tokyo : A fire broke out Thursday on the roof of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan's Niigata prefecture and was put out half an hour later, Kyodo News said. The fire started from a power cable of a makeshift air conditioner at the building of the number one reactor around 10.50 a.m., the report said quoting Tokyo Electric Power Company. According to the company, employees extinguished the fire around half an hour later. No one was injured and there were no radiation leaks.

By RIA Novosti Brussels : About 20 senior officials of the EU's police and justice mission (EULEX) in Kosovo have arrived in Pristina, the mission's head French General Yves de Karmebon said on Tuesday. Prior to the declaration of independence by the Serbian province on February 17, the European Union approved sending a 2,000-strong EULEX mission to Kosovo to replace the UN mission, which has been deployed there since the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since the end of the conflict between Albanian and Serb forces.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : DNA tests on human belongings found buried in a jungle near Kathmandu have reinforced the possibility of a mass grave that could hold the remains of 49 people who disappeared during Maoist insurgency, Nepal's top rights body said Wednesday. Gauri Pradhan, spokesman at the National Human Rights Commission that last year began investigating the articles found at the Shivapuri jungle, said DNA tests by Finnish experts at Finnish laboratories had proved they belonged to a human male.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By Prensa Latina Yakarta : Collapses and flooding caused by recent rains in Indonesia have killed over 80, reported sources from the local authorities on Wednesday. The weather phenomenon intensified its consequences in Java province with several houses' collapses. Government spokesmen added that is very difficult to reach to the affected areas because the roads are blocked with mud. In addition, 36 corpses were recovered besides other 30 that were buried with a mountain of mud in Karang district.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : Almost 18,000 refugees have returned to South Ossetia from Russia over the last nine days, Russia's emergencies ministry said on Thursday. "A total of 17,912 people returned in the period August 12-20," the ministry said in a statement. According to the ministry's data, 38,207 people fled South Ossetia across the Russian border after Tbilisi launched a massive ground and air offensive to retake the breakaway republic on August 8.

By DPA, London: Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not attend next week's nuclear security summit in Washington due to commitments in Britain's election campaign, sending Foreign Secretary David Miliband in his place, the government said Tuesday. A spokesman said the White House had been informed of the decision and "completely understood" the reasons for Brown's absence from the international meeting. He said that Brown and US President Barack Obama would discuss moves to counter nuclear proliferation later Tuesday in one of their "regular phone conversations."

By DPA, Moscow/Washington : The arrest in the US of 10 individuals accused of spying on Russia’s behalf has sparked strong denials in Moscow, but Washington played down the prospect of a diplomatic rift between the two countries. The Russian foreign ministry confirmed that the arrested included Russian citizens, but insisted that there was no wrong doing and that US interests were not affected. "They had taken no action which harmed the interests of the US," the ministry said on its website Tuesday.

Damascus: The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed beheading a US journalist who had gone missing in Syria nearly two years ago, a media...

By DPA Wellington : Asians are the fastest growing group in New Zealand's population and were expected to come close to outnumbering the indigenous Maoris in 18 years, according to government projections released Wednesday. The Asian population, driven by migration, is forecast to increase by 3.4 percent a year from 400,000 at the last census in 2006 to 790,000 in 2026, when it would account for 16 percent of the total, Statistics New Zealand said. The number of native Maoris is tipped to rise by 1.4 percent annually from 620,000 to 820,000, or 17 percent of the population.

By DPA, Washington : Houston-based Boeing Company Wednesday said it has a tentative agreement with Space Adventures Ltd to provide seats for private passengers into outer space.

By Xinhua, Colombo : The Sri Lankan government Monday asked the international aid agencies to leave the country's Northern province as fighting between security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels has intensified, an official said. A senior official of the defence ministry confirmed the order but did not elaborate when it would be implemented. Defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said as no development work was taking place in the area, there was no need for the agencies to continue.