W O R L D

Cuba backs asylum offers for Snowden
Havana, July 8
President Raul Castro stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Latin American countries that have expressed a willingness to take in National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden, but made no apparent reference to whether Cuba would be willing to offer him refuge or safe passage.

A demonstration in support of Edward Snowden in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sunday. — AFP

Antony’s visit gave fillip to military ties: China
Beijing, July 8
China today said Defence Minister A K Antony’s visit here has given both countries an opportunity to enhance their “strategic cooperative partnership” and jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas through increased military-to-military coordination.

China's Premier Li Keqiang (R) with Defence Minister AK Antony during a meeting in Beijing. — Reuters

China's ex-minister sentenced to death for graft, power misuse
Beijing, July 8
China's former Railways Minister Liu Zhijun was today given a suspended death sentence by a court here for corruption and abuse of power. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, which is conducting the trial, announced the stiff verdict handing down death sentence to 60-year-old Liu, state-run Xinhua news agency reported quoting verdict.

Osama moved to Pak in mid-2002
Islamabad, July 8
Osama bin Laden's family had entered Pakistan way back in October/November 2001, just around 9/11 while the then Al-Qaida chief joined them in Peshawar in mid-2002, a media report today said quoting the findings of the Abbottabad Commission Report here.

San Francisco plane crash Pilot was in training, says airline San Francisco/Seoul, July 8 The pilot of the crashed Asiana plane at San Francisco International Airport was still in training for the Boeing 777 when he attempted to land the aircraft under supervision on Saturday, the South Korean airline said. A probe team arrives to inspect the wreckage of Asiana Flight 214 in San Francisco on Sunday. — AFP

Indian suffers heart attack; Pak allows emergency landing
Karachi/New Delhi, July 8
In a humane gesture, Pakistan facilitated the emergency landing of an international airline in Karachi after an Indian passenger on board suffered a heart attack and needed emergency medical care.

Cuba backs asylum offers for Snowden

Havana, July 8
President Raul Castro stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Latin American countries that have expressed a willingness to take in National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden, but made no apparent reference to whether Cuba would be willing to offer him refuge or safe passage.

Venezuela and Bolivia both made asylum offers to Snowden over the weekend. Nicaragua has said it was also considering his request.

"We support the sovereign right of...Venezuela and all states in the region to grant asylum to those persecuted for their ideals or their struggles for democratic rights," Castro said yesterday in a speech to Cuba's national assembly, according to state-run newspaper Juventud Rebelde.

Snowden has been out of sight in the transit area of Moscow's main airport since he suddenly appeared there on a plane from Hong Kong two weeks ago.

His simplest route to Latin America would be on one of five direct flights that Russian carrier Aeroflot operates to Havana each week. However, those flights normally pass through US airspace, raising the possibility it could be grounded. — AP

Antony’s visit gave fillip to military ties: China

Beijing, July 8
China today said Defence Minister A K Antony’s visit here has given both countries an opportunity to enhance their “strategic cooperative partnership” and jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas through increased military-to-military coordination.

China paid “high attention” to Antony's visit as he held talks with Premier Li Keqiang, Defence Minister Gen Cheng Wanquang and State Councillor and Special Representative on India-China border talks, Yang Jiechi, Chinese Foreign Ministry said here today.

Antony, who is the first Indian Defence Minister to visit China in seven years, concluded his four-day visit yesterday.

“The two sides exchanged views on defence issues and reiterated that they will enhance defence exchanges with the purpose of maintaining peace and tranquillity of the border areas and create durable conditions for the China and India strategic cooperative partnership,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chuying told a media briefing.

Hua said, “We hope that in future the two sides will take Antony’s visit as an opportunity to enhance military-to-military interaction, jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas and create favourable environment and conditions for the enhancement China and India strategic and cooperative partnership.

“We emphasise that the two militaries enhance coordination and cooperation” and direct the relevant departments to enhance work in this regard, she said answering a question on the outcome of Antony's visit.

The stress on the need for maintaining peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) comes against the backdrop of the Depsang valley incursion incident in May when the Chinese troops had pitched their tents 19 km inside the Indian territory for over three weeks.

The two sides believe that cooperation in the border areas will be of great importance for peace and tranquillity in these areas, Hua said.

The two sides also agreed to hold talks on China India Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA), she said. After his talks, Antony had said that the two sides moved forward on the BDCA which is expected to be finalised soon.

According to officials, the BDCA proposed by China aims to set up mechanisms which will provide for consultations and communication between both the countries to improve management of border and help avert the incident like Depsang valley in April during which Chinese troops pitched their tents causing tensions between the two countries. — PTI

China's ex-minister sentenced to death for graft, power misuse

Beijing, July 8
China's former Railways Minister Liu Zhijun was today given a suspended death sentence by a court here for corruption and abuse of power. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, which is conducting the trial, announced the stiff verdict handing down death sentence to 60-year-old Liu, state-run Xinhua news agency reported quoting verdict.

He was accused of accepting bribes to the tune of $10.53 million over 25 years.

"The combined punishment for Liu's crimes is death penalty with a two-year reprieve, deprivation of political rights for life and confiscation of all personal property," the court said.

Liu was also sentenced to 10 years in jail for abuse of power, according to the court verdict. He headed the railways from 2003 to 2011 during which China had embarked on the high speed network linking different parts of the country.

His suspended death sentence would come up for judicial review after two years. The stiff sentence against him comes in the wake of a promise by China's new leadership headed by President Xi Jinping to crack down hard on corruption which they said threatened the over 60-year-old hold of the ruling Communist Party on China.

A number of middle-rung leaders and officials got similar punishments for corruption as well as sexual misconduct. — PTI

Osama moved to Pak in mid-2002

Islamabad, July 8
Osama bin Laden's family had entered Pakistan way back in October/November 2001, just around 9/11 while the then Al-Qaida chief joined them in Peshawar in mid-2002, a media report today said quoting the findings of the Abbottabad Commission Report here.

The report, which is yet to be made public, contains a treasure trove of information on the hunt for the world's most-wanted man - Osama bin Laden, the Dawn daily reported. Its findings reveal that the arrest of Khalid Bin Attash (an Al-Qaida member who was involved in the pre-9/11 attacks like the ones on USS Cole and the embassies in Africa) in '2002' from Karachi led to the first major breakthrough, it reported.

Attash is said to be the one who identified Abu Ahmed Ali Kuwaiti, the Kuwait-born Pakistani who was Osama's right hand man and courier and the man who led the Americans to bin Laden.

Talking about Kuwaiti, the report said the commission has discovered that "he was with Osama's family in Karachi when it moved to the port city in Oct/Nov 2001".

"In 2002, when the family (including Osama's wives) moved to Peshawar, Kuwaiti was with them and this is where Osama joined them - in mid-2002". From here, they moved to Swat where Osama was visited by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad.

Kuwaiti and his brother Ibrar (who had joined the fugitives in Swat) were with Osama and they all stayed in Haripur till 2005. It is here that the move to Abbottabad was planned and executed by Kuwaiti.

Osama's right-hand man is the one who purchased a plot in Abbottabad by using a fake identity card and also supervised the construction of the custom-built house. — PTI

On the trail

• Osama bin Laden's family moved to Karachi in Oct/Nov 2001
• In 2002, the family moved to Peshawar. Osama joined them in mid-2002
• They moved to Swat and then went on to stay in Haripur till 2005
• At Haripur, the move to Abbottabad was planned and executed. A plot was bought using a fake identity card and a custom-built house was constructed

San Francisco plane crash
Pilot was in training, says airline

San Francisco/Seoul, July 8
The pilot of the crashed Asiana plane at San Francisco International Airport was still in training for the Boeing 777 when he attempted to land the aircraft under supervision on Saturday, the South Korean airline said.

Lee Kang-kuk was the second most junior pilot of four on board the Asiana Airlines plane. He had 43 hours of experience flying the long-range jet, the airline said on Monday.

The plane's crew tried to abort the descent less than two seconds before it hit a seawall on the landing approach to the airport, bounced along the tarmac and burst into flames.

It was Lee's first attempt to land a 777 at San Francisco airport, although he had flown there 29 times previously on other types of aircraft, said South Korean Transport Ministry official Choi Seung-youn.

Earlier, the ministry said Lee, who is in his mid-40s, had almost 10,000 flying hours. — Reuters

Indian suffers heart attack; Pak allows emergency landing

Karachi/New Delhi, July 8
In a humane gesture, Pakistan facilitated the emergency landing of an international airline in Karachi after an Indian passenger on board suffered a heart attack and needed emergency medical care.

Seventy-five-year-old Vasan Bondol was on-board a Turkish Airline flight from Istanbul, Turkey to Mumbai when he had an heart attack on July 6.

Following request by the flight captain, Pakistani authorities allowed the flight to land at the Karachi airport. Acting swiftly, the airport authorities rushed the Indian passenger to a hospital.

Bondol's son Jayant today approached the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi for an emergency visa to visit his father in Karachi and to take care of him.

“We have given him the visa today itself," an official said. — PTI