W O R L D

US for ‘tangible’ offers from India 
Washington, February 10
The United States has asked India to make "tangible" offers at the WTO and provide leadership to the developing nations to conclude the Doha Round of trade talks at the WTO, which re-started last week.

Indian cultural centre vandalised
Sydney, February 10
Vandals attacked an Indian cultural centre in northern New South Wales (NSW), destroying priceless items, including a 500-year old manuscript.

Militants blow up gas pipeline in Baluchistan
Islamabad, February 10
Suspected militants blew up a major gas pipeline in Baluchistan today, disrupting supplies to over one million people, gas officials said. Baluch nationalists have waged a low-scale insurgency for decades.

Residents wash their utensils at a flooded slum area in east Jakarta on Saturday. Thousands of Indonesians were cleaning up mud and debris from their flood-damaged homes after rains eased and waters that forced many into cramped emergency shelters began to subside. — Reuters photo

Serial child molester gets 800-yr term
Silicon Valley, February 10
A local court today sentenced a serial child molester to 800 years in prison for molesting several boys.Last year, the 36-year-old Fred Everts was convicted of 15 counts of child molestation and child pornography. His victims included a three-year-old boy.

Anna Nicole Smith: Autopsy reveals nothing
Fort Lauderable (Florida), February 10
An autopsy on former model Anna Nicole Smith failed to establish the cause of death, a medical examiner said while ruling out a violent death.

US for ‘tangible’ offers from India 

Washington, February 10
The United States has asked India to make "tangible" offers at the WTO and provide leadership to the developing nations to conclude the Doha Round of trade talks at the WTO, which re-started last week.

"We believe that India’s leadership is required if we are to achieve a breakthrough and get a good agreement, the kind of agreement that will generate prosperity throughout the world," US Commerce Secretary Carlos Guttierez told mediapersons here ahead of his February 13-14 visit to India.

"I do want to impress upon Indian government officials that without India's leadership, we can't do it (conclude Doha Round)," he said.

While asking India to offer more concessions on agriculture, industrial goods and services, Mr Gutierrez said, developing countries look to India to play a leadership role and they want to see that India is moving before they move (on offering concessions).

Asked if the United States will be bringing more to the table on farm subsidies, he claimed that Washington has already an "aggressive" proposal.

He stressed that the bilateral relationship with India is a top priority for the administration. — PTI

Indian cultural centre vandalised

Sydney, February 10
Vandals attacked an Indian cultural centre in northern New South Wales (NSW), destroying priceless items, including a 500-year old manuscript.

The incident happened on Friday at the Raj Mahal Indian Cultural Centre in Woolgoolga, which has a large Sikh community.

The vandals used a 200-year-old sword to destroy rare Indian paintings, ancient musical instruments and statues collected over the past 25 years by Salinder Singh Salindera, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

After damaging the artefacts the vandals set off fire hoses to flood the building.

They also destroyed a rare 1.3 sq mt marble replica of the Taj Mahal, which cost Salindera 45,000 Australian dollars.

"A lot of the items were priceless," Salindera said.

One-third of Woolgoolga's 15,000 residents are of Indian descent and racial tensions are relatively low. — IANS

Militants blow up gas pipeline in Baluchistan

Islamabad, February 10
Suspected militants blew up a major gas pipeline in Baluchistan today, disrupting supplies to over one million people, gas officials said. Baluch nationalists have waged a low-scale insurgency for decades.

Attacks on government infrastructure, including gas pipelines and power pylons were frequent in early 2006, but there was a lull after Pakistani forces killed one of the rebels' main leaders, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, late last year.

''The pipeline was blown up by explosives around noon and we are now trying to assess the damage,'' Sheikh Nawaz, General Manager of the state-owned Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) said.

He would not say when the supplies could be resumed.

The 16-inch diameter pipeline was ruptured in the Tilli Kambrani area on the outskirts of Quetta, halting supplies to the city.

Gas fields in Baluchistan, the country's poorest province, meet much of Pakistan's demand.

Groups fighting for more political autonomy accuse the government of exploiting their resources without sharing benefits with the people of the province. — Reuters

Serial child molester gets 800-yr term

Silicon Valley, February 10
A local court today sentenced a serial child molester to 800 years in prison for molesting several boys.

Last year, the 36-year-old Fred Everts was convicted of 15 counts of child molestation and child pornography. His victims included a three-year-old boy.

Shackled at the wrists and ankles, Everts did not speak during yesterday's hearing at the Santa Clara County Superior Court. The police discovered the crimes two years ago while investigating a serial paedophile, Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, who was convicted on 10 counts of child molestation and sentenced to 152-year prison last month.

Everts had shared a south San Jose home with Schwartzmiller, who the police believe may have molested as many as 300 young boys around the country and in two other countries. Schwartzmiller, who defended himself at his trial, claimed Everts molested the boys, and that he was out of town when the incidents occurred. — PTI

Anna Nicole Smith: Autopsy reveals nothing

Fort Lauderable (Florida), February 10
An autopsy on former model Anna Nicole Smith failed to establish the cause of death, a medical examiner said while ruling out a violent death.

Smith, who fought for years for the estate of the wheelchair-bound, 89-year-old oil billionaire whom she married when she was 26, died on Thursday in the town of Hollywood after being found unconscious in her hotel suite.

While both Smith’s estranged sister and mother have suggested that the model's death may have been drug-related, the local Florida medical examiner said the cause could not immediately and conclusively be established.

Medical examiner Joshua Perper said yesterday that further tests would be carried out in the coming three to five weeks.

Local police chief Charlie Tiger said an undisclosed quantity of prescription medicines had been seized in Smith's hotel room.

Los Angeles: A judge yesterday refused to order an emergency DNA test on Anna Nicole Smith as part of a paternity suit involving her infant daughter, but he ordered that her body be preserved until a hearing on February 20, attorneys said.

Two men are contesting the paternity of her five-month-old daughter Dannielynn, and experts said the custody decision could determine the child's inheritance. — AFP, AP