W O R L D

Nine killed as insurgents attack Baqouba
Baghdad, June 26
Insurgents launched attacks in the strife-ridden city of Baqouba today, and nine persons died, six of them insurgents, US and Iraqi officials said. Attacks also occurred in other cities north and south of Baghdad.

US-N. Korea N-talks make no headway
Beijing, June 26
The USA and North Korea emerged today from four days of nuclear crisis talks as far apart as ever, with Washington insisting Pyongyang disclose its uranium enrichment programme.

A sculptor gives finishing touches to his sand sculpture in Kiev on Saturday. More than 20 sculptors participated in a sand sculpture festival which opened on Saturday in the Ukrainian capital. — Reuters

Russian three-mast sailing ship 'Kruzenshtern' (R) sails during the traditional windjammer parade of some 100 sailing ships at the 'Kieler Woche' sailing event on the Baltic Sea coast, near Kiel's fiord, on Saturday. The 'Kieler Woche,' the world biggest yachting event, with about 5,000 active participants from 50 nations and 2,000 yachts and yawls, ends on Sunday. — Reuters

Asia turning to nuclear power to meet energy needs: IAEA
Vienna, June 26
Asian countries are increasingly turning to nuclear power to meet their energy needs, even as Western countries move away from nuclear energy sources, the UN nuclear agency said today.

USA welcomes Indo-Pak reciprocal steps
Washington, June 26
Welcoming the reciprocal steps India and Pakistan are taking to meet each other’s concerns, the USA has said what one is seeing now is regularisation of something that only a few years ago was considered historic and ground-breaking.

Gang trafficking Indians busted, nine arrested
London, June 26
The British police has smashed a Midland-based gang indulging in trafficking of Indian immigrants from the UK to the USA, with the arrest of nine persons.

• Keep off Princess, Japanese media told

Nine killed as insurgents attack Baqouba

An Iraqi man walks through the rubble of a destroyed house after a US strike in the restive town of Falluja on Saturday. — Reuters photo

Baghdad, June 26
Insurgents launched attacks in the strife-ridden city of Baqouba today, and nine persons died, six of them insurgents, US and Iraqi officials said. Attacks also occurred in other cities north and south of Baghdad.

The attacks in Baqouba, 55 km north-east of Baghdad, occurred only two days after US tanks and jets routed insurgents who assaulted police stations and government offices there, as part of a widespread offensive that killed nearly 100 persons nationwide.

In today’s attacks, rebels targeted offices of two political parties — one of them run by Iraq’s Prime Minister — a police station and a government building in Baqouba. US soldiers and Iraqi security forces took up defensive positions across the city, the centre of Iraq’s orange-growing region.

A taxi, apparently filled with weapons and ammunition, blew up a street about 250 metres from one of the political party offices which was attacked earlier, witnesses reported.

Elsewhere, insurgents killed two Iraqi National Guardsmen in an ambush at Mahmoudiyah, about 30 km south of Baghdad. A police officer was also killed in a separate attack today, said the director of the Mahmoudiyah general hospital, Dawoud al-Taei.

A car bomb exploded today in the Kurdish stronghold of Irbil, injuring the Culture Minister of the pro-American Kurdistan Democratic Party and killing his bodyguard and injuring 15 persons, four of them children.

Gunfire broke out today in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, and ambulances raced to the scene. It was unclear who was shooting and why since the city has been generally quiet since an agreement several weeks ago to end clashes between US soldiers and radical Shiite militiamen.

The attacks were the latest in a wave of violence in the days leading to the transfer of sovereignty on Wednesday. Most of the attacks have been directed at the interim Iraqi government’s security forces, the very foundation of its power. — AP

US-N. Korea N-talks make no headway

Beijing, June 26
The USA and North Korea emerged today from four days of nuclear crisis talks as far apart as ever, with Washington insisting Pyongyang disclose its uranium enrichment programme.

The communist North denies the existence of such a programme, the issue that triggered the crisis 20 months ago and led to three rounds of inconclusive six-nation talks in Beijing.

The third round closed with a bland agreement to meet again before the end of September and a pledge to take the first steps to resolve the crisis ‘’as soon as possible’’. Working-level talks would be held in late July, Russia’s envoy said.

China’s chief negotiator, Mr Wang Yi, said the main gap was between the USA and North Korea.

‘’There are serious differences between the two sides over the uranium enrichment programme,’’ Mr Wang told a news conference. ‘’We hope that this question, together with other issues, will be clarified and resolved in future talks.’’

The parties had agreed that a freeze of the North Korea’s nuclear activities should be a first step, he said.

North Korea stressed its readiness to freeze plutonium-based nuclear facilities but adamantly refused to accept the US demand that it admit to having a uranium enrichment programme, used for making bombs, a diplomatic source in Beijing said.

North Korea also rejected proposals by the USA and Japan to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts to inspect its nuclear facilities for verification. Pyongyang had demanded a ‘’different form of inspection’’, the source said. — Reuters

Asia turning to nuclear power to meet energy
needs: IAEA

Vienna, June 26
Asian countries are increasingly turning to nuclear power to meet their energy needs, even as Western countries move away from nuclear energy sources, the UN nuclear agency said today.

While the construction of nuclear plants in Western Europe and North America has virtually stopped in recent years, Asian countries are forging ahead, the International Atomic Energy Agency said ahead of a major six-day conference on the future of nuclear power starting tomorrow in Moscow.

About 18 per cent of the world’s electricity is produced by 442 nuclear power plants, mostly in western Europe and North America.

But nuclear energy is increasingly popular in many Asian countries because they lack access to more traditional sources of fuel, such as coal or gas, IAEA expert Alan McDonald told The Associated Press.

“For countries like South Korea and Japan, they don’t have so many alternatives,” Mr McDonald said.

Countries where the energy demand is growing fast, or with economies conducive to long-term investments — including several Asian nations — were more likely to go for the nuclear option, he added.

According to agency figures, 18 of the 27 nuclear power plants currently under construction are in Asia, as are 27 of the last 31 plants built around the world. None are planned in North America and only one is planned in Europe in Finland. — AP

USA welcomes Indo-Pak reciprocal steps

Washington, June 26
Welcoming the reciprocal steps India and Pakistan are taking to meet each other’s concerns, the USA has said what one is seeing now is regularisation of something that only a few years ago was considered historic and ground-breaking.

“We are seeing now a regular pattern of engagement, dialogue and reciprocal steps of confidence-building measures between two countries that not so long ago were at the point of confrontation,” US State Department spokesman J. Adam Ereli said yesterday.

“But have now, through wise and forward-looking leadership, taken steps to meet the concerns of each other and find ways to develop systems and procedures that normalise relations and this is welcome.” he said.

“This is positive, this is important not only for the two countries but for the well being of the entire region,” the spokesman added. — PTI

Gang trafficking Indians busted, nine arrested

London, June 26
The British police has smashed a Midland-based gang indulging in trafficking of Indian immigrants from the UK to the USA, with the arrest of nine persons.

“A British national travelling on his own legitimate passport would escort them and they were paying up to £ 20,000 for successful entry,” he said, adding that the raids involved 200 police officers. — PTI

Keep off Princess, Japanese media told

Tokyo, June 26
Japan’s Imperial Household Agency asked domestic news media yesterday not to pester Crown Princess Masako when she goes on private trips so as to reduce the type of stress that has made her ill.

For months now 40-year-old Princess, has been unable to carry out her official duties, this has highlighted the pressures of her position and prompted surprisingly blunt comments in her defence by her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Red deer reappears in Tibet
Beijing: Red deer have appeared again in the Himalayan region of Tibet after vanishing for more than half a century, local officials said. Herds of red deer were found again in Sangyip county’s mountainous area during spring and summer this year. Adults of the rare animal on the verge of extinction are usually 1.2 m tall and weigh around 110 kg. They were widely found 150 years ago but disappeared since the 1940s due to a loss of habitat, intense poaching and wars. According to a wildlife expert, the number of red deer was no more than 600. — PTI

Baby survives snake bite
JERUSALEM: A 12-month-old Israeli baby survived a snake attack when his nappy absorbed most of the venom from the reptile’s fangs as he was playing in his backyard. The child has, however, been kept under observation in the hospital. — PTI

Circus ordered to clear dung
BERLIN: A travelling circus in Germany has been ordered to come back and clean up 50 cubic metres of elephant dung after residents complained about the smell, the police said on Friday. The circus left the site on the outskirts of the western city of Wuppertal four weeks ago and the dung had been ripening in the sun. — Reuters

Couple jailed for killing daughter
HONG KONG: A Hong Kong couple have been jailed for the torture killing of their two-year-old daughter, a news report said on Saturday. Ng Tin-wah (34) beat and tortured his daughter, Ng Wing-sum, over a two-month period last year, leaving her with brain damage and multiple injuries. The girl finally died after one 10-minute beating. — DAP