International

By NNN-KUNA New Delhi : Bhutan Monday voted for the first ever Parliamentary elections, kicking off a process to end the 100-year-old monarchy in the Himalayan State. "Response in the polling was very positive," Bhutan's chief election commissioner Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, told news agency Indo Asian News Service from capital Thimphu over telephone this evening. "A total of 41 candidates contested in the 15 districts of Bhutan with 15, 000 officials conducting the elections in 723 polling stations," Wangdi said.

Washington, Oct 1 (DPA) The US presidential candidates Tuesday spent the day after a $700-billion financial rescue plan failed in Congress calling on their colleagues to quickly move to renew the deal. "I am disappointed at the lack of resolve and bipartisan goodwill among members of both parties to fix this problem," Republican John McCain said at a campaign event in the Midwestern state of Iowa. "Bipartisanship is a tough thing, never more so when you're trying to take necessary but publicly unpopular action. But inaction is not an option."

By IANS, London: Singer Hilary Duff worries about bringing up her son in the spotlight, and insists she would be reluctant to let the little boy pursue a career in Hollywood.

By IANS Kathmandu : Inclement weather marred Thailand's ambitious plan to give a remarkable gift to its king on his 80th birthday - the first Thai Everest Expedition has been forced to abandon the attempt to climb Mt Everest. As a tribute to the world's longest ruling monarch Bhumibol Aduldyadej on his 80th birthday, Thailand had planned its first expedition to the highest peak in the world and broadcast the event on the state-owned TiTV.

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russia's upper house of parliament approved on Monday amendments to the law on entry into and exit from Russia, allowing the president to waive visa restrictions when required. The bill was passed by the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, on May 8. The amendments do not set out any specific procedures, but allow the president to introduce a simplified visa regime by decree.

By DPA Kathmandu : The Nepalese government and an ethnic group Monday said they were close to clinching a deal to end nearly two weeks of crippling general strike in southern Nepal and to address demands of the ethnic Madhesi community living there. Leaders of the United Democratic Madhesi Front, which spearheaded the general strike in the southern plains known as Terai, said most of the issues had been resolved.

By DPA, Rome : Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition was Monday credited with a narrow lead of just under five percent over Walter Veltroni's Democratic Party in Italy's general election, according to preliminary projections based on votes cast. The projections, which widened the gap provided by exit polls published earlier, put support for Berlusconi at 43.7 percent, compared with 39.1 percent for Veltroni. The data carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent, ministry officials said.

By DPA,

By RIA Novosti Moscow : The Russian and Libyan navies have resumed contacts after a long hiatus when a Russian Navy vessel made a port call at Tripoli, an aide to the Russian Navy commander said on Saturday. The Ivan Bubnov tanker will stay at the Libyan capital until January 7. It is participating in a two-month patrol mission in the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Russia's first in the past three years, which began on December 5.

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS,

By Xinhua, Jakarta : A series of moderate quakes rocked western and eastern parts of Indonesia on Tuesday, with no report of damage or casualty, meteorology agency said here. The first quake with magnitude of 5.2 struck at 07:06 Jakarta time (0006 GMT) with epicenter at 167 kilometers southwest Bengkulu province and at 30 kilometers in depth, an official of the agency said. About three hours later, another quake with similar magnitude occurred, with epicenter at 201 kilometers northwest Saumlaki town of Maluku province and at 139 kilometers in depth, the official said.

By IANS, Kathmandu : Agitated workers went on strike at the tobacco factory of ITC in south Nepal Thursday demanding security after one of their peers was killed by an armed group. Lila Lamichhane, an employee at Surya Nepal's tobacco factory in Simra town in Bara district, was abducted Wednesday while returning home from work. Late at night, his body was found near a rivulet. The Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha, an armed group led by former Maoists, is suspected to have been behind the killing.

By IANS, Washington : The US State Department has condemned the bombing at a metro station in Minsk, capital of Belarus, which killed 12 people.

By Nicholas Rigillo, DPA, Brussels : Sherif el-Mashad, a 32-year-old Egyptian with a knack for carpentry, moved to Italy in 1997 in search of a better life. Having obtained the necessary permits, he began working in a restaurant before setting up a small business near Lake Como. In July 2001, two months before the Sep 11 terrorist attacks against the US, he bought a round-trip ticket to Afghanistan, where he said he intended to spend some time doing charity work.

By IANS,

By IANS Seoul : South Korea's new government would push for legislation to enable rapid deployment of its forces in UN peacekeeping operations and increase the number of its peacekeeping forces, WAM news agency reported Friday. The new legislation envisioned by the defence and foreign ministries will allow the government to obtain advance parliamentary approval for its peacekeeping forces' dispatch plans on a yearly basis. Under the current law, the government must obtain parliamentary approval, whenever it seeks to send its peacekeeping forces abroad.

Abuja : More than 30 insurgents were killed in an early morning raid by military operatives in Nigeria's north central Nasarawa state, witnesses said...

By IANS/AKI, Taranto (Italy) : Italian police have uncovered 50,000 tonnes of dangerous waste, including cancer-causing asbestos, in a sprawling illegal landfill in the southern Puglia region. A formal complaint was filed Tuesday against an unnamed individual in connection with the 10,000 square metres dump in Torricella in Taranto province. Formal complaints have been made against 92 people this year over 43 illegal landfills discovered in the province. Shady waste disposal firms were planning to conceal 622,000 tonnes of dangerous waste in the illegal dumps.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By IANS, Washington: US President Barack Obama will sign into law Thursday a new sanctions bill against Iran, the White House said. The bill, passed last week by the House of Representatives and the Senate respectively, contains sanctions targeting Iran's energy and banking sectors, Xinhua reported. Under the bill, businesses that help supply Iran with refined petroleum or help develop the country's own refining capacity would be penalised.

By Bernama, Seoul : South Korea and the United States need to enhance their military command capabilities before Seoul retakes the wartime operational control of its troops from Washington, as North Korea's asymmetric warfare or nuclear capability continues to grow, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday. Gen. Burwell B. Bell noted South Korea and other Asian nations in the region will continue to be threatened by the communist North's conventional and nuclear weapons even after Seoul takes back the wartime operational control, or OPCON, of its troops in 2012.

By KUNA, KABUL : An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service member was killed and three others were wounded after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) hit their vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday.

By IANS, Beijing: China's fiscal revenue for the year 2009 was estimated at 6.85 trillion yuan (just over $1 trillion), an increase of 11.7 percent over the previous year, Finance Minister Xie Xuren said here Sunday. China rolled out a massive investment plan worth 4 trillion yuan in November 2008 to cope with the international financial crisis, Xinhua reported. Xie said the central government would fulfill the target of adding 1.18 trillion yuan for public investment in the time period between the fourth quarter of 2008 and 2010.

By Xinhua Colombo : At least 13 Tamil tiger rebels were killed in separate clashes with government troops in northern Sri Lanka, the military said Thursday. Officials from the Media Centre for National Security said six Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels were killed in three battles in Vavuniya district while three rebels were killed in Mannar district Wednesday. In the Jaffna peninsula, four LTTE rebels were killed in a confrontation in Muhamalai at 13:10 GMT.

By IANS, Brussels : NATO Wednesday decided to extend its Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen's service by one year until July 2014, Xinhua reported.

By IANS,

By Bernama, Kathmandu : The Nepali government has been urged to make labour agreements with other countries to protect the rights of Nepali migrant workers, China' Xinhua news agency quoted a local daily as reporting Saturday. The appeal was made by participants, including social activists and representatives of migrant workers, at the International Migrant Workers' Hearing Program on the occasion of International Migrants' Day on Friday, according to the report.

By Xinhua Washington : American Airlines said it canceled more than 1,000 flights, or more than one-third of its mainline operations, Wednesday for safety checks. The move could disrupt travel plans for tens of thousands of passengers nationwide. It follows 460 flights canceled Tuesday, while it inspected and repaired wiring in the wheel wells of its Boeing MD-80s. The wiring is near the jet's fuel tanks.

By IRNA New Delhi : Nepali Congress vice president Prakash Man Singh Friday became the first candidate to be elected to Nepal's Constituent Assembly as the results for the landmark vote started trickling in. Singh, son of 1990 pro-democracy movement hero Ganesh Man Singh, has won the election under direct voting system from the prestigious constituency Kathmandu 1 securing 11,515 votes against his nearest rival from Communist Party of Nepal (UML) Pradip Nepal who bagged over 6000 votes, PTI reported.

By IANS,

By IANS, Beijing : Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie Tuesday met visiting US Secretary of Navy Ray Mabus and called for deeper mutual trust between the two militaries.

By IANS, Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and France discussed bilateral military cooperation at a meeting of the army chiefs of the two nations here, WAM news agency reported Friday. Lt. General Hamad Mohammed Thani Al Rumaithi, chief of staff of the UAE Armed Forces, Thursday met Jean-Louis Georgelin, chief of staff of the French Armed Forces, and an accompanying delegation currently visiting the country. The two officials discussed professional matters and ways to boost military cooperation.

By Xinhua Beijing : China Thursday called on Iran to "positively respond" to international concerns about its nuclear programme, a day after Tehran announced it had installed 3,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment. "We have taken note of the developments and we request Iran to positively respond and attach importance to the concerns and voice of the international community," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. He said Iran should show restraint and adopt a flexible attitude in dialogue and contact.

By IANS, Washington : Opponents of Russian president-elect Vladimir Putin are being targeted through a computer virus sent by email, CNN reported.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow: A male nurse practitioner has been arrested in Moscow on suspicion of numerous counts of sexual abuse of more than 450 children, an official said.

By RIA Novosti Kiev : The Ukrainian and US presidents have signed a roadmap on bilateral cooperation, laying the foundation for a free trade zone between the two countries, the Ukrainian presidential press service has said. "Today's signing of the roadmap between Ukraine and the US was very important for us," President Viktor Yushchenko told reporters Tuesday after talks with US President George W. Bush. "The roadmap lays the necessary foundation to prepare for and start in the near future talks to establish a free trade zone between our countries."

By DPA Brussels : The NATO military alliance called on Russia to rejoin a post-Cold War era treaty that regulates armed forces in Europe, and warned that it would not uphold its end of the deal indefinitely if no solution could be found. The Western alliance's late Friday statement came just days before outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin meets European leaders and US President George W. Bush at a NATO summit in Romania next week.

Dubai:A four-year-old Indian boy died in a mishap while he was on a desert safari with his family in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Pranav,...

By IANS,

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By Xinhua, Beijing : A major earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale hit Wenchuan County in China's southwestern Sichuan province Monday. The earthquake took place at 2.28 p.m. The epicentre was located at 31.0 degrees north latitude and 103.4 degrees east longitude, the bureau said. Wenchuan is about 100 km to the northwest of Chengdu, provincial capital of Sichuan. The quake was also felt in Beijing. Xinhua reporters in Zhengzhou, Chengdu and Chongqing also reported major tremors at around 2.00 p.m. Monday.

New York : The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) should adopt the recommendation of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to create...

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington: Americans like Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani origin suspect in the failed Times Square bombing, who help terrorists could have their citizenship revoked under a bill introduced this week in Congress. The proposed Terrorist Expatriation Act would authorise the State Department to revoke citizenship of anyone who supports Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups or who helps in attacks against the US or its allies. Identical bills were introduced this week in the House and Senate.

By IRNA, New Delhi : Unidentified persons Friday lobbed a bomb targeting the home of opposition Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka's campaign manager Colombo, capital city of Sri Lanka as violence escalated with just four days left for the polls. The bomb severely damaged the house of businessman and opposition member Tiran Alles in the Western Province and destroyed his car parked in the compound. But Alles and his family members escaped unhurt, PTI reported.

By IANS, By RIA Novosti,

By DPA, Jakarta : Greeted by thousands of cheering supporters, the 83-year-old founder of Aceh's rebel movement returned to the tsunami-wracked Indonesian province of Aceh Saturday for the first time in almost 30 years. Hassan di Tiro fled to Sweden in late 1970s after declaring Aceh independent in 1976, a move triggered that a long-running conflict in the northwestern Indonesian province.

By NNN-Xinhua Kathmandu : Nepali Election Commission (EC) urged the government to further improve law and order situation for the April 10 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections. Stating that the souring relations between the political parties have affected the environment for holding the polls, the EC also underscored the need to improve relations among the parties.

By Lalit K. Jha, IANS, New York : US President George W. Bush Thursday said that key global financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank need to be made more accountable and transparent. In his speech on 'Financial Markets and the World Economy' at the prestigious Manhattan Institute in New York, Bush argued that the time had come to reform and modernise these financial institutions to reflect the realities of the present days.

By Xinhua Seoul : South Korea on Friday appealed for calmness over missile test-firing by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) earlier in the day. "The government regards the North (DPRK)'s missile firing as merely a part of its ordinary military training," said Presidential Spokesman Lee Dong-kwan at a news briefing. President Lee Myung-bak was briefed on the news of missile launches while presiding over a meeting of senior presidential secretaries, but the president didn't show any extraordinary response, said the spokesman.

By IANS,

By IANS/EFE,

By IANS New York : Aparisim 'Bobby' Ghosh , Time magazine's Baghdad bureau chief, has been promoted as world editor. He is the first non-American as well as the first Indian to hold the important title at the magazine. Ghosh takes over from Romesh Ratnesar, who has held the post since 2004. Ratnesar, who grew up in Hayward, California, is going on book leave and will be back in January next in an important new role.

By Ranjana Narayan, New Delhi/Washington : America’s “pivot” towards Asia, now rechristened “strategic rebalance”, could get new impetus during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s summit talks...

By IANS, Washington : Over the last decade the e-mail has grown from a novelty into a necessity. But how do people respond to e-mails? Do they respond to the most important first, making sure the process is efficient? Or do they send e-mails randomly, when they are at their computers or when they have time, without any regard to efficiency? These are questions that Luís Amaral, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University, and his associates set out to answer.

By NNN-ZANIS Lusaka : President Mwanawasa has called on Chiefs in the country to cooperate with government when releasing land for development purposes. Mr. Mwanawasa said investors will need more land for the expansion of the existing investments and the involvement of Chiefs was cardinal. Mr. Mwanawasa, who advised the Chiefs to use the available land effectively, however cautioned the Chiefs against issuing land to bogus investors. He was speaking in Lusaka today at the official opening of the First Session of the Second House of Chiefs.

By Xinhua, Bangkok : Thailand's Social Development and Human Security Minister Sutha Chansaeng has submitted his resignation, which took effect immediately, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej confirmed here on Thursday. Secretary of Sutha, Anake Hutankabodi, said Sutha resigned because of bad health, adding that doctors told the minister to rest a lot because he stands a chance of being paralyzed. Sutha's health condition raised concern when he passed out at a public occasion late last month and admitted to a hospital for a check up.

London/Berlin/Monrovia : London's Heathrow airport Tuesday began applying new precautionary measures to detect possible cases of Ebola virus disease in passengers arriving from West...

Sydney: Just over a week after the hostage crisis in Sydney which left three people dead, terrorism is rearing its ugly head again in...

By Parveen Chopra, IANS 

New York : Over 5,000 people attended the 14th biennial convention of JAINA - Federation of Jain Associations in North America -that was held in New Jersey.