Seoul, February 14
North Korea and South Korea said today they had agreed to resume ministerial talks, which were suspended after Pyongyang's nuclear test last October.

The move came a day after a breakthrough agreement among six countries in Beijing under which Communist North Korea will take steps to dismantle its nuclear arms programme in return for energy aid.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement that delegates from the two countries -- which are still technically at war -- would meet in the North Korean border city of Kaesong tomorrow to discuss when to open the talks.

North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency said Pyongyang's head of delegation to the inter-Korean talks had agreed to South Korea's proposal of renewed contact.

''In the message, the head of the North side delegation agreed to the proposal for having a working contact between delegates for the opening of the talks,'' KCNA said.

The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice and the peninsula remains divided by one of the world's most heavily armed borders.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's government scrupulously avoids criticising Pyongyang and has followed a policy of dialogue, investment and aid to try to persuade its impoverished neighbour to open up. — Reuters 

Tehran, February 14
Eighteen persons were killed and 31 wounded when a booby-trapped car exploded in front of a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran,the IRNA agency quoted a Guards commander as saying, lowering an earlier toll.

"In the bombing this morning in Zahedan, 18 persons were martyred in a thoughtless action," said Mohammd Javad Ethna Ashari,blaming bandits and opposition groups opposed to the Islamic republic.

Islamabad, February 14
President of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Tuesday introduced in the National Assembly another women's rights Bill -- the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment) Bill, 2006 -- on a private members' day, seeking an end to "social, political and religious excesses against women".

Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain allowed Chaudhry Shujaat, who is also PML’s parliamentary leader, to introduce the Bill, although it was the eighth item on the 70-point agenda, amid mild opposition from the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP), which objected only to it having been moved as a private member’s Bill instead of a government Bill.

Moving the Bill in the presence of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the PML president said that over the past 50 years, governments never gave importance to women's rights and treated them as their `mistresses’.

Highlighting the salient features of the draft, he said it would bring an end to certain practices that led to exploitation of and discrimination against women -- deprived them of the right to inherit property, allowed sale and purchase of women, marriage with the Holy Quran and matters relating to divorce.

The statement of objectives and reasons of the Bill states: "There are several practices and customs in vogue in the country which are not only against human dignity but are also violative of human rights. Such customary norms are likewise contrary to the Islamic injunctions. It is, therefore, necessary that such inhuman practices and customs are done away forthwith and the persons insisting on their continuance be dealt with severely by providing penal liabilities."

The Bill suggests punishment of jail terms, ranging from three to seven years, and fines on culprits found involved in forcing women to perform or indulge in these practices.

Chaudhry Shujaat praised Opposition parties, mainly the PPP, which supported the previous Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, passed by Parliament in November, and expressed the hope that the Opposition would cooperate in getting this Bill passed. "To end all wrong customs, let us create a new tradition and pass this Bill jointly," he appealed to the Opposition.

The PML president said the present Bill too was not against Islamic teachings and challenged Islamic scholars to find anything un-Islamic in the draft.

— By arrangement with The Dawn

Islamabad, February 14
After initial claims of victory and promise to accept the World Bank neutral expert's verdict on Baglihar power project, Pakistan is reportedly considering the option of going for Court of Arbitration over Raymond Lafitte's decision to approve the spillway gates of the dam, which Islamabad claims would help India regulate the flow of water.

"Pakistan is considering moving the Court of Arbitration on the design of spillways of Baglihar hydropower project as Lafitte didn't buy Islamabad's point of view on the issue," an unnamed senior government official was quoted as saying by The News.

"A team of legal experts has started working out a case on the design of spillway gates keeping in view the verdict of the neutral expert," the official said.

The neutral expert in his final determination upheld India's point of view on the design of spillway gates.

"As India can still regulate water of Chenab river through spillway gates, therefore legal experts have started examining the decision in which neutral expert has held that spillway gates are in conformity with international practice and state-of-the-art," the official said.

Soon after the verdict was announced on February 12, Pakistan's Power and Water Minister Liaqat Jatoi had said it was a victory for Pakistan. He said the verdict was binding on both sides and hoped India would implement it.

Jatoi had said, "We will not ask the neutral expert again to review its decision on spillways, but under the treaty, the Court of Arbitration is the next forum wherein the case would be listened and decided." — PTI

Tehran, February 14
An adviser to Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hinted in remarks published today that Tehran might consider suspending sensitive atomic work.

The comments are the latest in conflicting signals sent by Iranian officials about whether Iran would halt uranium enrichment, the process the West fears Iran is seeking in order to build atomic bombs. Iran says its programme is civilian.

Ali Akbar Velayati, quoted by French daily Liberation, said Iran accepted suspension in the past but it did not help reach a deal. ''But if we continue to be in favour of a peaceful resolution of this problem, no idea should be unacceptable,'' he said. — Reuters