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Lift N-curbs, India pleads before IAEA
Israeli air raids send Gaza into darkness
12 killed in Kabul suicide
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Baghdad, September 28 A woman, strapped with explosives, blew herself up outside an Iraqi army recruitment centre in a northern town today, killing at least six would-be recruits and wounding 30 in the first known attack by a female suicide bomber in the country’s bloody insurgency. Family of Pak gang-rape victim disappears
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Lift N-curbs, India pleads before IAEA
Vienna, September 28 India said it was looking forward to joining the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactors (ITER) project as a full partner. Currently the ITER project — building a fusion reactor by pooling scientific and financial resources — involves the US, European Union, Russia, South Korea, China, Japan and Switzerland. Addressing the 49th general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) here, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and leader of the Indian delegation Anil Kakodkar welcomed statements of the US and France and the positive and cooperative approach of several key countries on nuclear energy production. “We are happy that we are now feeling the winds of change,” he said. “We look forward to a rapid growth in nuclear power generation capacity in India based on full international civilian nuclear cooperation,” he said. Mr Kakodkar’s statement comes close on the heels of India voting in favour of the IAEA resolution on Iran’s controversial nuclear programme. Listing several factors in India’s favour, Mr Kakodkar hoped that these would result in “lifting of all restrictions on it.” These factors are India developing nuclear technologies in a self-reliant manner, impeccable record in terms of non-proliferation of
the WMD and related technologies and adherence to all its international commitments. He said predicated on India obtaining the “same benefits and advantages” as other nuclear powers and consistent with the national policy of maintaining the integrity of its three-stage nuclear energy programme, it would be “prepared to take reciprocal steps in a phased manner”. “This would be in keeping with the responsibilities and obligations of an advanced nuclear power with the objective of full civilian nuclear energy cooperation with international partners,” he stressed. “Since some of these steps will also include safeguards on facilities of a civilian nature, selected by India on a voluntary basis, we will, at the appropriate stage, approach the IAEA in this regard,” he said. Mr Kakodkar made it clear that full autonomy of India’s nuclear programme of strategic and research and development significance would be ensured while undertaking these steps. He said India would like to see a rapid increase in nuclear power generation capacity in the country well above the planned programme of achieving 20,000 MWe by 2020. He announced that India would be conducting the regional training course on physical protection of nuclear installations during November 7 to 18 in Mumbai. Mr Kakodkar said the design of Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, an innovative Indian design aimed at moving further on thorium utilisation route, was under regulatory review.
— PTI |
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Israeli air raids send Gaza into darkness
Gaza, September 28 Witnesses said Israeli helicopters fired four missiles, three struck Gaza City and one destroyed the office of a leading Fatah militant. Israeli sources said the aircraft struck three targets, an office building of the mainstream Fatah faction and another in a refugee camp in central Gaza. Witnesses at the camp said it destroyed an office of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. A third Israeli missile struck an office of the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza suburb of Tel al-Hawa. There were no reports of casualties in any of the raids. Rescue workers sifted through rubble in the darkened streets. Islamic militant and political groups held an emergency meeting late yesterday to discuss the rising tensions. After the talks, the leader of Islamic Jihad, Mohammed al-Hindi, said he believed the Israeli offensive was coming to an end. “Therefore we will halt firing rockets,” he said. — AP |
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Lynndie England gets 3-year-jail
Fort Hood (US), September 28 England, who became infamous when photos of the diminutive soldier holding a naked prisoner by the leash were broadcast across the globe, broke down in tears in court here after her sentence was announced yesterday. She was found guilty on Monday on one count of conspiracy to maltreat prisoners, four counts of maltreatment and one count of committing an indecent act. A visibly shocked England bowed her head as her mother walked over to her and consoled her with a hug after the verdict. She was too overcome with emotion to hold her baby son, who was also seen in court during the announcement as she leaned against a table to support herself. The military police permitted the young soldier to have a few minutes with her family before leading her from the court. England’s lawyers had tried to paint the 22-year-old private as a naive young woman whose learning disabilities allowed her to be manipulated by the ringleader of the abuse, Charles Graner, who at the time was her lover. Apologising for posing for the notorious detainee abuse photos at Abu Ghraib prison, England said she had done it at the behest of the soldier boyfriend she loved “I was used by Pvt Graner,” she said. “I didn’t realise it at the time.” England pleaded with jurors not to separate her from her baby boy even though she had been found guilty.
— AP/AFP |
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12 killed in Kabul suicide attack
Kabul, September 28 The blast in northern Kabul is the first major attack in Afghanistan since the war-scarred country held landmark parliamentary elections earlier this month, and follows a period of relative calm in the city. “Today just after 4:30 pm (1730 IST) a man riding on a motor bike carried out a suicide attack in front of the Kabul military training centre,” Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed Zahir Azimi said. “Four of the 12 killed are Afghan National Army soldiers and the rest are under investigation,” he said. — AFP
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Suicide bomber kills 6 army candidates
Baghdad, September 28 The attack took place in Tal Afar, where US and Iraqi forces routed insurgents in a major offensive two weeks ago. The woman, disguised as a man in traditional male robes, was standing in line with applicants to join the Iraqi army at the first of three checkpoints outside the centre when she detonated explosives packed with metal balls and hidden under her clothes, said Major Jamil Mohammed Sadr in Tal Afar.
— AP |
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Family of Pak gang-rape victim disappears
Rawalpindi, Sept 28 However, District Police Officer Saud Aziz denied the claim of the residents .
— ANI |
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