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35 killed, 166 hurt in China oil pipeline blast
Maoists routed in Nepal elections
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Nisha Desai’s success shows deepening India-US ties: Kerry
Afghanistan rejects US demand to sign security deal
Fresh drone strike: Pak leaders spar over ‘false assurance’ by US
Doc who helped track Osama faces murder charge
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35 killed, 166 hurt in China oil pipeline blast
Beijing, November 22 The explosion caused a blaze that took several hours to bring under control and halting operations at a major oil port, media and ship brokers said. The explosion in the underground pipeline caused a huge hole to appear in the roadway above and state television showed a truck that had fallen into it, with a residential apartment block in the background. The Huangdao oil terminal in Qingdao had stopped operations, ship brokers and a port official said. The cause of the accident is being investigated. Photographs posted on Sina Weibo showed the blast caused a large trench on the ground and that car windows nearby were shattered. The local government said on its microblog that the blast happened at 10.30 am (1300 IST) as workers were trying to repair leaks in the pipeline. It said oil had spilled into the port, which had also caught fire. However, a port official said: "The port was not affected by the pipeline blast, but tankers were told to sail away from the port as a safety precaution." Qingdao is one of China's largest crude oil import terminals, supplying at least two major Sinopec refineries — the Qingdao plant and Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Corp —as well as many small, independent refineries. A Chinese trader said the explosion would disrupt crude flows into China as the blast involved a major pipeline supplying several refineries. “Early investigations showed the spilled oil flowed into the municipal grid, which caused the explosion,” the local government said, giving no further details about the grid. It said the oil spill had spread across 3,000 square metres of sea water. Sinopec confirmed on its microblog that the explosion was caused by a leak in the Huangwei crude oil pipeline. The China International Marine Containers (CIMC) factory located nearby closed for a period to rehouse about 500 workers whose dormitories had been damaged. — Agencies 5.3 magnitude quake jolts northeast area
Beijing: A moderate earthquake of 5.3-magnitude jolted a city in northeast China's Jilin Province on Friday, damaging some houses. The epicentre of the quake that hit the Songyuan city was determined to be at a depth of eight kilometres, Xinhua news agency quoted the China Earthquake Networks Centre as saying. The epicenter was located at Qian Gorlos Mongol and Qian'an county. — PTI |
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Maoists routed in Nepal elections
Kathmandu, November 22 The CPN-UML has so far bagged 58 seats out of the 130 seats declared so far while Nepali Congress has won in 53 constituencies. The Prachanda-led Unified CPN-Maoist has won nine seats. The Jhalanath Khanal-led CPN-UML and Nepali Congress headed by Sushil Koirala were locked in a fierce battle to emerge as the leading party in the polls to elect a 601-member Constituent Assembly. Other fringe parties including the Madhesi parties have secured 10 seats. Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Terai Madhes Democratic Party have secured three seats each while Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum (Democratic) has bagged two seats. Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum (Nepal) has won one seat and an independent candidate has also won in the election held on November 19. The Madhesi parties which had joined the Maoists for power sharing have suffered significant losses in the election. The counting of votes was still as Nepali Congress was leading in 57 constituencies and CPN-UML was leading in 54 constituencies while UCPN-Maoist was ahead in 13 seats. — PTI
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Nisha Desai’s success shows deepening India-US ties: Kerry
Washington, November 22 Biswal, the first ever Indian American to become Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, was formally sworn in by Kerry at an impressive ceremony held at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department which was attended by key officials of the Obama Administration including the White House Chief of Staff, Dennis McDonough. “Nisha’s experience and the success that so many Indian Americans bring to the American table shows to everybody in the world the deep ties that we have between the United States and India. “And I know that we’re going to unlock the enormous potential of stronger economic, security, and cultural ties between our countries,” Kerry said in his remarks. Describing Biswal as an woman with "incredible energy” and praising her focus and her enthusiasm for what she does, Kerry said, “Think about the message that we’re sending today, which I am excited about: The story of a woman who left a small town in India at age 6 to come to America.” — PTI Indian-American gets key post in Obama admn
Washington: US President Barack Obama has appointed an Indian-American Gargee Ghosh to a key administration post. Ghosh, currently the Director of Policy Analysis and Financing at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been appointed as member of the President’s Global Development Council. She has also worked for McKinsey & Company, Google and the Center for Global Development. — PTI |
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Afghanistan rejects US demand to sign security deal
Kabul, November 22 Washington warned Kabul yesterday to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) pact as soon as possible, with senior officials hinting that delaying beyond the end of this year could mean no post-2014 US troop presence. The latest US run-in with President Hamid Karzai was set off by the Afghan leader's statement that the painstakingly negotiated pact would not be signed until after the election in April. The White House, however, said it needed a swift decision from Karzai to start planning the footprint of any US forces, and warned Obama had not yet decided on whether to keep US forces in Afghanistan. “Failure to get this approved and signed by the end of the year would prevent the United States and our allies from being able to plan for a post-2014 presence,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Karzai had said the pact currently under consideration by a loya
jirga, a meeting of tribal chieftains, could only be signed "when our elections are conducted, correctly and with dignity". His spokesman Aimal Faizi stood firm on the issue today. "Security, peace and good elections are key to the signing of the
BSA," Faizi said. — AFP Can’t wait till next elections: US
Senior US officials speaking on condition of anonymity were blunt, warning that it was not practical for the BSA to await the signature of the next Afghan president. They said that if there were no BSA in force, there would be no US troop garrison in Afghanistan after NATO combat troops leave in 2014. |
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Fresh drone strike: Pak leaders spar over ‘false assurance’ by US
Islamabad, November 22 Khan said he was "dumbfounded" at how Aziz had believed the US assurance on drone strikes. Questioning how any one could call the US a friend of Pakistan after the recent drone strikes, he said the US cannot be trusted. "Actions have made it clear that the US neither wants peace in Pakistan nor talks with the Taliban," he told reporters outside parliament. US involvement in Pakistan was behind all the chaos in the country, he claimed. The time has come for Pakistan to choose between "honour and US dollars" . — PTI
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Doc who helped track Osama faces murder charge
Islamabad, November 22 Naseeba Gul, mother of Salman Afridi, a resident of Sipah area in Bara in Khyber Agency, lodged a complaint with the political agent. — PTI
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43 dead in grocery roof collapse in Latvia
Indian-origin legislator honoured in UK Pak SC orders action against anti-graft body chief Pak province bans book by Calcutta University VC American Arts Council honours Rushdie, Mira Nair Indian cargo ship detained in Singapore Indian-origin boy inspires bone marrow donation in UK Indian couple hosts Prince Charles’ birthday bash
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were killed and over 166 people injured when a leaking petroleum pipeline caught fire and exploded today in China's coastal city of Qingdao, in the latest deadly industrial disaster to hit the country.
The success of Nisha Desai Biswal and other Indian-Americans is reflective of the deep ties between the United States and India, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.
