Yenagoa (Nigeria), January 10
Militants invaded a Korean oil services base in Bayelsa state in Nigeria’s southern oil-producing Niger Delta overnight and kidnapped nine South Korean workers, the police said today.

The attack came less than a week after five Chinese telecom workers were seized by gunmen in another area of the volatile delta, where kidnappings for ransom and attacks on the oil industry are frequent.

“All nine of the workers are from Daewoo Construction and Engineering,” a company spokesman in Seoul said, adding they were all South Korean nationals.

There was an exchange of gun shots between Daewoo guards and the militants, South Korea’s YTN TV news network quoted a South Korean foreign ministry official as saying in Seoul.

The Daewoo base is located in the Bayelsa state capital Yenagoa.

Hostages in the Niger Delta are usually kept for a few days in remote settlements accessible only by boat through mangrove-lined creeks, before being released unharmed after their employers or local authorities pay money.

However, one Nigerian and one Briton were killed last year in separate botched attempts by troops to free them.

Crime and militancy flourish in the delta, which provides all of Nigeria’s crude oil exports but where residents complain of neglect and marginalisation.

As well as the five Chinese hostages, three Italians and one Lebanese employed by Italian oil company Agip have been held captive since December 7 in the delta by a rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

The MEND, which says it is fighting for local control of oil assets and reparations for neglect and pollution, was responsible for a wave of attacks on the oil industry last February that shut down a fifth of Nigeria’s output capacity.

Yesterday, the body of a Nigerian naval officer who was kidnapped two days earlier was recovered. — Reuters

Tokyo, January 10
Japan has no plans to recognise India as a nuclear power but will refer to a US law allowing the sale of nuclear fuel and reactors to India to shape its strategy, the government’s top spokesman said today.

Such recognition would enable Japanese companies to participate in construction of nuclear power stations in India, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper said earlier in a report on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to visit India later this year.

Abe would express support for the US-India agreement, giving de facto recognition to India’s status as a nuclear power, the paper said.

“As the only nation to suffer a nuclear attack, we have placed importance on international nuclear non-proliferation based on means such as the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” Japanese government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference.

“Taking this into consideration, I believe we have to decide our nation’s thinking through careful examination of the details of the US-India agreement,” said Shiozaki, the chief cabinet secretary, adding that Japan would continue to urge India to sign the treaty.

Supporters say the US law, signed last month, will boost strategic ties with India, which has nuclear weapons, but critics fear it could undermine efforts to stem nuclear proliferation.

Japan, with an eye on India’s rapid economic growth, agreed last month to launch economic partnership talks and tighten ties in a number of fields during a visit to Tokyo by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The United States opposed nuclear cooperation with India for 30 years because India developed nuclear weapons in breach of international agreements and never signed the NPT. — Reuters

Los Angeles, January 10
Called “style-free and fashion deprived,” Britney Spears and Paris Hilton has tied for the Number 1 spot on Mr Blackwell’s 47th annual “Worst Dressed” list.

Some of his nastiest words were reserved for Camilla Parker-Bowles, a member of the British royal family who finished Number 2.

“The Duchess of Dowdy strikes again,” wrote Blackwell. “In feathered hats that were once the rage, she resembles a petrified parakeet from the Jurassic age. A royal wreck.”

At Number 3 was actress Lindsay Lohan, scolded by Blackwell for turning “from adorable to deplorable.”

Others in Blackwell’s fashion hall of shame were singer Christina Aguilera, Sharon Stone and Mariah Carey. — AP

Dubai, January 10
Some influential Indian businessmen and community activists in the United Arab Emirates have said the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) held every year in India caters to the needs of wealthy people of Indian origin (PIO) only.

The Non-Resident Indians said they are no longer interested in attending the event.

“Indians living in the Gulf are not given any special treatment. This is because we do not have the option to take dual nationality. Although we live outside India we are Indians,” convener of the Indian Community Welfare Committee K Kumar told the Gulf News.

Social worker and businessman Bharatbhai Shah said he stopped attending the meeting as the focus is on PIOs from rich countries.

“For Gulf Non-Resident Indians they only extend a bag of false promises. I forwarded the grievances and demands of NRIs here to the office of Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi. But so far nothing has been done,” he lamented.

Mr Ram Buxani, founder president of Indian Overseas Forum, said although setting up an Overseas Ministry for Indians is a good idea, its objectives are not realised with ministers and bureaucrats in charge being changed frequently. — UNI

BRIEFLY

New Kazakh Prime Minister
ASTANA: Oil producer Kazakhstan on Wednesday appointed Deputy Prime Minister Karim Masimov, a technocrat who studied at a US business school, to the post of Prime Minister. Both Houses of Parliament, sitting in a special joint session, voted unanimously to approve Masimov, who was nominated for the job by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. — REUTERS

Al-Qaida man killed
AMMAN: Jordanian security forces on Wednesday killed a suspected Al-Qaida militant and captured another in a shootout in northern Jordan, state-run television reported and security officials said. Some security forces were hurt in the operation lasting more than four hours, in which intelligence agents and police took part after a tip-off that Al-Qaida militants were plotting attacks inside the country, the reports said. — AFP

Beatles stamps a hit
LONDON: Britain’s Royal Mail released a first-ever series of stamps featuring The Beatles on Wednesday, and immediately forecast they would break global records for sales of a single issue. Demand for the stamps, particularly from Japan, the US and Canada, has already put the six-stamp issue on target to become its biggest seller apart from collections related to occasions like royal weddings. — AFP