W O R L D

Suicide blast at Iraq police centre kills 50
Tikrit, January 18
A suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of police recruits in the Iraqi city of Tikrit today, killing 50 persons and wounding 150, an interior ministry official said. The blast was the deadliest to hit Iraq since an October 31 siege at a Baghdad church left 53 people dead, and was the first major attack in the country since the formation of a new government on December 21.

Cops at the spot where the suicide bomber blew himself up in Tikrit on Tuesday. — AFP

Even 1 lakh resolutions can’t derail N-drive: Iran
Tehran, January 18
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today that Tehran was making steady progress in its nuclear programme, and warned that not even 100,000 UN Security Council resolutions would derail his country's nuclear ambitions.

A man rides a horse through a bonfire in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain, during a traditional festival in honour of Saint Anthony, the patron saint of animals, on Sunday. — AP/PTI

UK moves to ban Pak Taliban under terror law
London, January 18
Britain has moved to ban the Pakistani Taliban as a terrorist group, making it illegal to belong to or raise funds for the organisation in Britain, the government said today.

Political turmoil in Nepal
India renews support to peace process
As Nepal struggles to bring its fragile peace process on track, India today extended its full support to it for a satisfactory culmination of the transition and strengthening of a democratic set up.

Suicide blast at Iraq police centre kills 50

Tikrit, January 18
A suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of police recruits in the Iraqi city of Tikrit today, killing 50 persons and wounding 150, an interior ministry official said. The blast was the deadliest to hit Iraq since an October 31 siege at a Baghdad church left 53 people dead, and was the first major attack in the country since the formation of a new government on December 21.

“Fifty persons were killed and 150 wounded by a suicide bomber at a police recruitment centre in Tikrit,” the official said in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity. “A suicide attacker blew himself up at a police recruitment centre in the middle of Tikrit this morning,” a police officer in the city said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Among the dead were recruits and policemen, he said, without giving details.

An AFP journalist said the bomb site in the middle of Tikrit, the former hometown of now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein, 160 km north of the Iraqi capital, was covered in torn off flesh and pools of blood, with pieces of clothing and shoes scattered across the scene.

Policemen and soldiers had cordoned off the blast site and several ambulances were rushing wounded people to a nearby hospital. It was also the first major strike in Iraq since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki named a new cabinet on December 21, ending nine months of stalemate after March 7 elections. — AFP

Even 1 lakh resolutions can’t derail N-drive: Iran

Tehran, January 18
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today that Tehran was making steady progress in its nuclear programme, and warned that not even 100,000 UN Security Council resolutions would derail his country's nuclear ambitions.

Ahmadinejad spoke days ahead of talks with world powers in Istanbul, Turkey. Tehran has hardened its position ahead of the meeting with the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, and Iranian officials have said they will not discuss their country's right to enrich uranium at the January 21-22 talks.

The semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying "Iran is making progress in nuclear energy" while the US and its allies "only issue resolutions".

"Let them issue 100,000 resolutions," he said. "It's not important. Let them say what they want to".

The UNSC slapped a fourth round of sanctions on Iran last summer over its refusal to stop enriching uranium. — AP

UK moves to ban Pak Taliban under terror law

London, January 18
Britain has moved to ban the Pakistani Taliban as a terrorist group, making it illegal to belong to or raise funds for the organisation in Britain, the government said today.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is the group most influenced by Al-Qaida and is the main militant alliance based in northwestern Pakistan, focusing on attacking the Pakistani state, which it considers illegitimate.

Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May introduced the order, which needs legislative approval, in Parliament on Monday and it will be debated later this week. The order would ban Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan under the British Terrorism Act.

“Proscription is a tough but necessary power to tackle terrorism and is not a course of action we take lightly,” said a statement from May whose order states she believes the group “is concerned in terrorism”.

“Proscription means that membership of Tehrik-e-Taliban will become a criminal offence, and the organisation will not be able to lawfully operate in the UK, including by raising funds.”

Last year, the group threatened attacks on the United States and Europe. It also claimed responsibility for an attack last July in Mohmand, a Pashtun region on Pakistan’s northwestern border with Afghanistan, which killed 102 people and wounded at least 80.

Last October, a Pakistani intelligence official said a British man killed by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan had ties with a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen who tried to set off a car bomb in New York’s busy Times Square in May. — Reuters

Political turmoil in Nepal
India renews support to peace process
Bishnu Budhathoki in Kathmandu & PTI

As Nepal struggles to bring its fragile peace process on track, India today extended its full support to it for a satisfactory culmination of the transition and strengthening of a democratic set up.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao today held high-level consultations on the first day of her official visit to Nepal, holding meetings with President Ram Baran Yadav and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, among others.

The Foreign Secretary first called on President Yadav, and later held talks with Nepal and Parliament speaker Subhash Nemwang.

During her meeting with PM Nepal, Rao conveyed India’s strong support to a satisfactory culmination of the peace process and strengthening of multi party democracy in Nepal.

Nepal is locked in a political crisis for over a year and its peace process is in tatters as it struggles to get over political and ideological differences between major parties who were elected to the Constituent Assembly in 2008 in the landmark elections that marked the country’s transition from a monarchy to a parliamentary republic.

The Constituent Assembly that was tasked with drafting a constitution has failed to make any progress and the peace process remains stalled.

Nepal has failed to elect a new PM following the resignation of Nepal, with 16 rounds of inconclusive polls in the parliament, further hampering the peace process.

“We discussed matters of common concern of bilateral, regional and international levels,” she said after the meeting.