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7 Pak soldiers die in militant attack
Indian student stabbed
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Pak Oppn vows to end army
role in politics
Quake flattens houses in Tibet
Oppn strike in Bangladesh
S. Korea okays woman PM
IMF for urgent reforms in India’s labour laws
Give General Assembly more power to elect Secy-Gen: India
Chinese version of Mahabharata
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7 Pak soldiers die in militant attack
Islamabad, April 20 The convoy of three vehicles of Frontier Constabulary was attacked when it was on its way from Miranshah, the headquarters of the North Waziristan region, to Razmak, a town in the tribal area, Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told the state-run PTV. The attackers used rockets and other weapons to target the convoy when it was passing through mountainous Sarobi area, 17 km from Miranshah. Twentysix paramilitary personnel were injured in the attack and 18 of them were shifted to a military hospital in Bannu, a city close to the tribal region, he said. Security forces, armed with gun-ship helicopters, were rushed to the area to search for the suspects and to clear the suspected militants, Sherpao said. Meanwhile in Islamabad, Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan, while confirming the death of seven soldiers, said the security forces were responding to the attack and encircled the area. Maj-Gen Sultan did not say about the casualties on the part of the attackers but TV channels reported that six attackers were also killed when security personnel retaliated. Separately five soldiers were injured late yesterday when a vehicle of the local “Tul Scouts” was blown up using a landmine in Mira Ali, a town near Miranshah. — PTI
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Moscow, April 20 The fifth-year student , Anjani Kumar, 23, of the local Mechnikoff Medical Academy was returning to his hostel when he was attacked by a group of "unknown" youths who stabbed him in the neck. According to local agencies, the student has been hospitalised and is reportedly out of danger. The police has launched a search for the attackers. Last night's incident comes in the wake of a string of racial attacks by Russian skinheads in different parts of the country to mark Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler's birthday today.— PTI
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Pak Oppn vows to end army
role in politics
Lahore, April 20 Broad outlines of the future political agenda also came under discussion when a PPP delegation, led by Makhdoon Amin Fahim, called on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. This was a follow-up meeting of the one PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif held with PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto in Dubai a few weeks ago. Now a meeting of the two former premiers will be held to finalise matters. Before the meeting of the two ARD components, the PPP and the PML-N leaders also held a joint session with MMAs Hafiz Hussain Ahmed. PML-N’s secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said the ARD would not take part in the elections held under the supervision of Gen Musharraf. We ‘ll not let anybody hold the elections if Gen Musharraf does not quit by then, said Mr Jhagra, who is also the secretary-general of the ARD. PPPs Nafees Siddiqui said that both sides had decided not to hold any dialogue with the government. Hafiz-Hussain Ahmed said after the tripartite talks that he had proposed that Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto should return to Pakistan as soon as possible so that an effective movement against the government could be launched. According to the MMA leader, Mr Sharif planned to hold an all-party conference in London to gather all opposition parties on a single platform. A Charter of Democracy, prepared by the PPP and the PML-N, came under discussion at the talks the Makhdoom Fahim-led delegation held with the exiled former prime minister. The Charter commits the two parties to annul the 17th amendment and restore the Constitution to its pre-October 1999 shape. The charter proposes that the power to appoint the services chiefs and governors should rest with the prime minister, not the president. |
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Quake flattens houses in Tibet
Shanghai, April 20 The quake flattened some houses in the epicentre area but no casualties have been reported, said Mr Sigyai, head of the Publicity Department of Baingoin County Committee of the Communist Party of China. The State Seismological Bureau said the earthquake hit Baingoin County at 5:05 a.m. (2:35 am IST) with the epicentre being 31.5 north latitude and 90.3 east longitude, about 30 km from the county town of Baingoin. Mr Sigyai said the quake affected eight of the 10 towns in Baingoin County, of which Jiaqun town suffered the most serious damages. Reports from Jiaqun town said a grain depot and some buildings in a local school collapsed. And cracks were seen on the local government office building and some residential buildings of local herdsmen and farmers, Mr Sigyai said. — PTI
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Dhaka, April 20 Witnesses said clashes erupted in several areas of Dhaka, including Bangabandhu Avenue, where the central office of the main opposition party Awami League is located. About 70 activists including women were injured, the witnesses said. Police detained dozens of protesters. ‘’The autocratic government has turned all of Bangladesh into a prison,’’ Tofayel Ahmed, a senior Awami League leader, said as police dragged protesters towards prison vans. The opposition has tried for years to shake the stability of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia’s government through a series of strikes and other protests, but with no success. Business leaders say each day of strike costs the country more than $ 60 million in lost production and exports. — Reuters
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Seoul, April 20 Analysts said they expect Han to use her position as a political moderate to patch up a stormy relationship between the government and opposition parties ahead of local elections in late May. In vote of 182 to 77, the unicameral parliament approved Han, who was first elected to parliament in 2000 and has since served as the environment minister and gender equality minister. — Reuters.
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IMF for urgent reforms in India’s labour laws
Washington, April 20 "India, too, is growing rapidly and important steps are being taken to improve the infrastructure. Reforms in the labour laws are urgently needed if jobs are to be created in labour-intensive sectors, " Economic Counsellor and Director of Research Department of the IMF Raghuram Rajan said yesterday. Discussing the World Economic Outlook for the Spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, Mr Rajan said India had to expand opportunities in higher education if it was to maintain competitiveness in the highly skilled sectors. The IMF chief feels the international Monetary Fund must start changing its method of operating to deal with the changing world economy brought about by globalisation, its managing director said. Mr Rodrigo Rato said the days were over when a group of major industrialised nations made economic decisions that led to an orderly evolution of global economy, as had happened during the past two decades of the 20th century. Mr Rato said there were new players in the global economy - he did not name them - and even those players would change over the next five to 10 years. "We need to move with the times and move ahead from what was an orderly way of addressing global issues in the 1980s and 1990s to a more multilateral way of consulting," he said. — AP
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Give General Assembly more power to elect
United Nations, April 20 Addressing the ad hoc committee considering revitalisation of the 191-member Assembly yesterday, Indian Ambassador Nirupam Sen spelled out “concrete but extremely” modest proposal seeking amendment to the rules to provide for the council to recommend at least a panel of three candidates from which one could be selected after deliberations. The Assembly president, he said, could conduct consultations with regional groups on the panel of names to allow a consensus or at least a clear majority.
— PTI |
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Chinese version of Mahabharata
Beijing, April 20 The Chinese experts, who are celebrating 2006 as the 'Year of India-China Friendship ', said the voluminous publication would make a great contribution to cultural exchange between China and India, both of which are ancient civilisations.
— PTI |
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