W O R L D

Fighter jets bomb Iraqi defence sites
Washington, January 5 Fighter jets from the US-British coalition have bombed three Iraqi air defence sites in response to hostile fire, and dropped leaflets urging Iraqis to tune in to coalition radio broadcasts, the US military has announced. US Army Humvee utility vehicles pass a welcoming sign attached to a highway route marker in the Kuwait desert on Sunday. — Reuters

Deployment of UK troops from Jan 15
London, January 5
The deployment of British troops to the Gulf in preparation for a possible war with Iraq will begin on January 15. “The first of up to 20,000 troops, together with their equipment, would start being moved to the Gulf on January 15,” The Sunday Times newspaper reported today, quoting Ministry of Defence sources.

Pakistan refutes US claims that American troops have the right to enter Pakistan territory in hunt of al Qaeda members.  (28k, 56k)

Pak-US clash due to misunderstanding
Islamabad, January 5
Islamabad and Washington have agreed that the December 29 shoot out between Pakistani and US troops on the Pak-Afghan border probably occurred due to some misunderstanding and decided to strengthen coordination to avoid such skirmishes in the future.

Indo-Pak N-clash remote: expert
Moscow, January 5
Drawing an analogy between the Russian-American relations in the 1980s and the current Indo-Pak relations, a top Russian defence expert has said that chances of India and Pakistan trading nuclear strikes in the event of a military conflict were remote. 

More Pak troops on Afghan border
Islamabad, January 5
Pakistan has deployed heavy contingents of military and paramilitary troops in a town bordering Afghanistan following incidents of cross-firing between Pakistani and US forces in the area.

Afghan children feed pigeons at a mosque in Kabul on Sunday.  — Reuters photo

Pak Press for debate on anti-terror pact
Islamabad, January 5
Pakistani papers today called for Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali to hold a parliamentary debate on the Pak-US cooperation in the fight against terrorism after a recent incident on the Pak-Afghan border triggered an uproar.

Pak Gujrat centre of fake visas
Gujrat, (Pakistan), January 5
Walk the streets of Gujrat and you will hear the same thing. People have an itch — to go elsewhere, to join loved ones overseas and to seek fortunes that cannot be found here.

• 3 more cloned babies on way

• 43 killed in Algeria

• Pilgrims in Jeddah

Fighter jets bomb Iraqi defence sites

Washington, January 5
Fighter jets from the US-British coalition have bombed three Iraqi air defence sites in response to hostile fire, and dropped leaflets urging Iraqis to tune in to coalition radio broadcasts, the US military has announced.

The warplanes used precision-guided munitions to strike cable repeater sites located near the city of An Nasiriyah, approximately 275 km southeast of Baghdad, according to a statement released by the US Central Command.

But there was no immediate word about the effectiveness of the strikes, with the command saying damage assessment was still underway.

Cable repeaters are used to relay and amplify signals between radar installations and anti-aircraft batteries, according to military experts.

"The coalition targeted the communications sites after Iraqi air defence forces fired multiple anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles at coalition aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone," the statement said.

The strike came just two days after coalition planes hit a similar set of Iraqi air defence cable repeaters outside the southern city of Al Kut in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi air defence spokesman acknowledged firing surface-to-air missiles to chase away the US and British planes away but did not report any hits. AFP

Deployment of UK troops from Jan 15

London, January 5
The deployment of British troops to the Gulf in preparation for a possible war with Iraq will begin on January 15.

“The first of up to 20,000 troops, together with their equipment, would start being moved to the Gulf on January 15,” The Sunday Times newspaper reported today, quoting Ministry of Defence sources.

According to the report, the British Ministry of Defence is chartering four commercial ferries to transport vehicles and artillery. It is also taking over a container ship for munitions and supplies, a semi-submersible vessel for carrying landing craft and another ship.

The movement of British forces will be the first decisive step in preparation for a possible war. PTI

Pak-US clash due to misunderstanding

Islamabad, January 5
Islamabad and Washington have agreed that the December 29 shoot out between Pakistani and US troops on the Pak-Afghan border probably occurred due to some misunderstanding and decided to strengthen coordination to avoid such skirmishes in the future.

The late last month’s border clash figured during the telephonic talks between President Pervez Musharraf and US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday “and both agreed that the incident of December 29 may have occurred due to some misunderstanding at the operational level on the ground,” Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khurshid Muhammad Kasuri, said in a statement.

He said Mr Powell had telephoned General Musharraf.

The two countries remained in close contact and “reiterated the need to further strengthen coordination to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future,” the statement said.

An American soldier was wounded in firing by Pakistani troops along the Pak-Afghan border on December 29. A US warplane subsequently bombed a religious school in the area.

Pakistan also decided to take up other contentious issues with the USA like inclusion of Pakistani nationals in the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System in the USA to undergo checks. The decision to take up the issue at the highest level with the USA was taken at a meeting between General Musharraf and Mr Kasuri yesterday. Mr Kasuri called on General Musharraf following intense behind-the-scene diplomatic engagements. PTI

Indo-Pak N-clash remote: expert

Moscow, January 5
Drawing an analogy between the Russian-American relations in the 1980s and the current Indo-Pak relations, a top Russian defence expert has said that chances of India and Pakistan trading nuclear strikes in the event of a military conflict were remote.

“It seems that just like in the Russian-American relations in 1980s, the factor of self-restraint, which was of incredible significance, here also is beginning to play its role,” Chief of the Moscow office of Washington-based Center for Defense Information (CDI), Dr Ivan Safranchuk, said.

“Since 1998 (after nuclear tests) India and Pakistan are learning to be nuclear powers, albeit with difficulty and mistakes,” Safranchuk said on the state-run “Mayak-24” radio station.

“After acquiring their nuclear weapons, India and Pakistan were on the brink of an armed conflict on two occasions. They reached this stage very easily and in both the cases (Kargil and 2002 stand-off) the escalation of crisis was very quick, but all of a sudden they stopped,” he said. PTI

More Pak troops on Afghan border

Islamabad, January 5
Pakistan has deployed heavy contingents of military and paramilitary troops in a town bordering Afghanistan following incidents of cross-firing between Pakistani and US forces in the area.

Besides deploying heavy contingents of troops in Angoor Adda town in southern Wazirisitan tribal agency, the Pakistani authorities also ordered closure of shops and banned visits to the town’s bazar, The News daily reported.

Pakistan and US troops reportedly exchanged heavy fire on Friday. On Sunday last, a US soldier was injured in firing by Pakistani scouts on an American patrol chasing Al-Qaida militants. Subsequently a US plane bombed a religious school raising tensions in the area. PTI

Pak Press for debate on anti-terror pact

Islamabad, January 5
Pakistani papers today called for Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali to hold a parliamentary debate on the Pak-US cooperation in the fight against terrorism after a recent incident on the Pak-Afghan border triggered an uproar.

“Before the popular opposition turns sour, the Jamali government must open a parliamentary discussion on the rules of engagement that President Pervez Musharraf had contracted with the USA,” The News said.

It said the elected representatives must be allowed access to the actual contents of the Pak-US cooperation agreement.

“After an in-depth discussion of all aspects of Pak-US ties — security and defence, foreign and economic policies and most importantly public aspirations — the parliament should set new parameters of Islamabad’s relationship with Washington,” it said.

The call came amid tension over a US warplane’s bombing of a religious school on the Pak-Afghan border on December 29.

Pakistan said a bomb dropped by a US aircraft landed on a deserted religious school inside Pakistan while the US military insisted that the incident took place inside Afghanistan.

After the raid — which came after a US soldier was wounded when coalition troops on the frontier with Afghanistan came under fire from a Pakistani border guard — the US military said it “may pursue attackers who attempt to escape into Pakistan to evade capture or retaliation.” AFP

Pak Gujrat centre of fake visas

Gujrat, (Pakistan), January 5
Walk the streets of Gujrat and you will hear the same thing. People have an itch — to go elsewhere, to join loved ones overseas and to seek fortunes that cannot be found here.

The people ache to travel to other countries. Post-September 11, when Western visas are hard to come by, Gujratis have a reputation for finding a way.

"Anywhere you go in the world, if you find Pakistanis with fake documents, you will find someone from Gujrat,” says Mirza, who runs a travel agency on the grounds of Gujrat's sports stadium and has six British Airways outstanding sales performance certificates on his wall.

Last week, the US Government circulated photos of foreigners suspected of entering the USA illegally in a case that has raised fears of terrorism.

Though the authorities acknowledge that passport forgery operations go on everywhere, an official from Pakistan's Federal Investigative Agency says some 70 per cent of fake travel documents come from two cities just 48 km apart — Gujranwala and Gujrat.

This is what the USA fears: that in Pakistani towns like Gujrat, fake Americans and fake American visitors are being created with cameras and laser printers and the intricate work of forgers' skilled hands.

While many of the illegal travellers are simply looking for better-paying jobs, it is a route open to terrorist exploitation.

Reported prices in Pakistan have ranged from $220 for a fake Egyptian visa to $25,000 for customers who want to go to the USA.

Travel agents interviewed in Gujrat yesterday said they only booked tickets and did not deal with documents, which they said were handled directly between travellers and the embassies of their destination countries.

The head of the Federal Investigative Agency's passport crimes unit, Abdul Malik, said the agency's immigration branch referred 400 cases of forgery and fake documents in 2002. More than 450 investigations were pending from 2000, he said.

In Lahore, two forgers, spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. They said the most common method was "P C" — picture change, which involves replacing a passport's original photo with an adeptly inserted new one. AP

3 more cloned babies on the way

London, January 5
Clonaid, the company that claims to have successfully cloned two human beings, said today that three more cloned babies were due to be born in the coming weeks, as scepticism mounted among the scientific community.

Clonaid head Brigitte Boisselier, whose firm has links with the Raelian sect, was speaking to the BBC after a second purportedly cloned child was born to a Dutch lesbian couple on Friday. AFP

43 killed in Algeria

Algiers, January 5
Islamic rebels ambushed a convoy of government forces, killing 43 persons, in what is believed to be the worst single rebel assault in Algeria in the past six years, the daily Le Matin reported today. The attack, which also left 19 persons seriously injured, came yesterday near Theniet el Abed village in Biskra province, 320 km south of Algiers, the daily said. Reuters

Pilgrims in Jeddah

Dubai, January 5
The first batch of 200 Indian Haj pilgrims were warmly welcomed in Jeddah by Ambassador Talmiz Ahmed, Consul-General Syed Akbaruddin and other officials. Apart from the pilgrims who arrived from Lucknow here yesterday, two more Haj flights from Chennai and Bangalore, carrying 410 pilgrims each, were scheduled to arrive in the early hours today, Jeddah’s Gulf News reported. UNI

GLOBAL MONITOR

A stranded unmanned freighter lies beached on La Capelle reef on the island of Guernsey on Sunday. The freighter, filled with 200 tonnes of water ballast, was en route to Holland from Romania to be fitted when it ran aground after it's tow lines snapped. Due to falling tides the ship could be stranded for six weeks. — Reuters

MADONNA REJECTS ENGLISH WAY OF LIFE
LONDON: US popstar Madonna, who ascended into Britain’s high society with her marriage to film director Guy Ritchie, said she was fed up with “everything that is English,’’ according to a British press report on Saturday. The 44-year-old vegetarian and yoga convert, thinks hunting game and deer is “barbaric’’, and so much so, that she will no longer tolerate 34-year-old husband Guy’s involvement in the sport at their home in Wiltshire, south-west England. DPA

HOSTAGE SIEGE GOES INTO DAY 11
LONDON: One of the longest sieges in British criminal history was headed into its 11th day on Sunday with a lone gunman still holding a hostage in a small London apartment surrounded by heavily-armed police. The gunman, thought to be Eli Hall, 32, has been holed up in the studio flat on Graham Road in Hackney, north London, since December 26, together with a hostage whose identity has not been disclosed. AFP

‘THE PIANIST’ BEST PICTURE OF 2002
NEW YORK: “The Pianist,” the biography of a Polish-Jewish pianist and Holocaust survivor, has taken top prizes for best picture, director, actor and screenplay at the National Society of Film Critics awards. Alfonso Cuaron’s coming-of-age romp “Y Tu Mama Tambien” came in second in the best picture voting, while Pedro Almodovar’s “Talk to Her,” a film about a nurse caring for a comatose ballet dancer, came in third. The group of 55 newspaper and magazine film critics held its 37th awards ceremony at Sardi’s Restaurant in Manhattan. AP

THIEF SNATCHES DEADLY SNAKE
SYDNEY: Sydney’s criminals were warned on Sunday not to handle a venomous red-bellied black snake that one of their numbers lifted in a bag snatch from a car stuck at traffic lights. The deadly 1.2-metre reptile was in a canvas bag in the care of a professional snake catcher on the way back from a city centre apartment. Police spokesperson Sonia Roberts said the bag-snatcher was in mortal danger from the snake. DPA

ROW OVER PRINCESS DIANA’S LAST WILL
LONDON: A row has erupted over Princess Diana’s last will as some of her closest friends are calling for an inquiry into whether those charged with administering her will carried out her wishes. They claim a high court order that resulted in the substitution of “grubby trinkets” for a quarter share of her personal effects, as specified in a letter of wishes, has led to gross injustice. It meant that her 17 godchildren were given gifts worth a fraction of the mementos they might have expected. PTI