Al-Asad Air Force Base (Iraq), September 3
US President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq today, just a week before his top officials in Baghdad will present pivotal testimony to Congress that could influence future policy on the war.

UK troops quit Basra Iraq, September 3 British troops quit the Iraqi city of Basra today, leaving the southern oil hub without British forces for the first time since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. The withdrawal from the besieged Basra Palace complex, under daily mortar and rocket fire by Shia militants, is a step towards handing over Basra province to Iraqi control and an eventual British pullout from Iraq. Members of the Shia Mehdi Army cheered the withdrawal as a victory for them and a defeat for Britain. — Reuters

The White House said Bush had arrived at the al-Asad Air Force base, west of Baghdad in Anbar province. He was accompanied by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Steven Hadley. Defence secretary Robert Gates was also there.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Bush, Rice and Gates would meet their top commanders, Iraqi leaders including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and tribal leaders in Anbar, once the most dangerous region for the US troops.

“This is very much the meeting of the war council,” Morrell told mediapersons. “This will be the last big gathering of the President's advisers and the Iraqi leaders before the President makes a decision on the way forward.”

The stopover in Iraq had not been announced previously by the White House. Bush, who visited Iraq in June last year and previously in November 2003, was on his way to a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in Sydney.

Bush is under mounting pressure from Opposition Democrats and some senior Republicans who want US troops to start leaving Iraq after more than four years of war in which 3,700 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed.

The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and US ambassador Ryan Crocker will appear before Congress on September 10.

They will give their assessment on the impact of Bush's decision to send an extra 30,000 extra troops to Iraq.

The US strategy has benefited from a rebellion by Sunni Arab tribal leaders against Al-Qaida, especially in Anbar. In his testimony, Petraeus is likely to highlight the success in pacifying restive Anbar, once considered lost to Sunni Arab insurgents and the most dangerous place in Iraq for US troops.

The National Action Committee (NAC) of lawyers at a meeting here yesterday decided to launch a countrywide campaign from September 6 to block President General Pervez Musharraf’s election through the incumbent assemblies.

The committee worked out a comprehensive programme of strikes, rallies and battle in courts to frustrate Musharraf’s presidential aspirations.The meeting was attended by representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA),the provincial bar councils,the high court bar associations and various district bar associations.

SCBA President Munir A Malik told newsmen here that the protest campaign would continue till the Musharraf regime was ousted and genuine democracy restored through fair and free elections under the supervision of a neutral government and independent election commission. Malik said Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan would reach Islamabad to lead the campaign along with other top lawyers.

Denouncing the serial bomb explosions in the capital that left two dead and over two dozen injured, the Nepal government on Monday claimed that the blasts were the doings of elements that wanted to disrupt the upcoming Constituent Assembly election.

After holding an emergency Cabinet meeting, the government decided to provide free treatment to those injured in the blast.

Hours before the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had called home minister Krishna Situala at Baluwatar and directed him to beef up security in the aftermath of Sunday’s terror strike.

On Sunday, a woman and a higher secondary student were killed and about two dozen others injured in three simultaneous blasts in Tripureshwor, Balaju and Sundhara.

Major political parties, human rights organisations and the United Nations have denounced the incident and urged the government to probe into the incidents and take stern action against the guilty.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested several persons from the Kathmandu valley as part of the investigation.

Kathmandu: Two little-known ethnic outfits from Nepal's restive Terai region have claimed responsibility for the serial blasts that left two persons dead and over 24 injured here, just days after the government reached a peace deal with one of the major groups fighting in the south.

Nepal People's Army and Terai Army claimed that they had carried out yesterday's near-simultaneous blasts, the local media said. The Terai Army had earlier claimed to have carried out blasts that injured over 12 people in Rautahat district in May.

The weekend attack was condemned by the United Nations and major political parties, including the Maoists who termed it as an attempt to disrupt the Constituent Assembly poll to be held in November and derail the peace process.

Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the blasts, the police said.

The Terai region has been witnessing a violent agitation since early this year by Madhesis who are demanding a greater share in the politics and the economy of the country. — PTI 

Dubai, September 3
Over one lakh Indians have taken advantage of the UAE government's three-month amnesty for illegal workers, officials said.

Authorities have given a two month grace period to people who have processed the papers, but are unable to return because of unavailability  of tickets

The number includes people who have left the country as well as those who have found jobs in the UAE and have their status regularised.

According to the latest UAE government figures after the amnesty period ended, 2.78 lakh people have taken advantage from the amnesty by regularising their legal status or leaving the country without a penalty.

In Dubai, 1,84,873 people took advantage of the amnesty, a majority of them are Indians, officials sources said.

Nearly 70 per cent of Indians utilising the amnesty come from Andhra Pradesh.

Indian consulate officials in Dubai said they received 41,050 applications for Emergency Certificates (ECs).

It has printed over 40,190 ECs and delivered 37,650 ECs.

It has received nearly 29,710 passports of Indian nationals from the local immigration authorities and distributed 20,145 passports to the public.

With the amnesty period over, the UAE authorities have said they will act tough on illegal workers.

Islamabad, September 3
Pakistan today said there needs to be a “level playing field” in access to nuclear technology without “discrimination”, in an apparent reference to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. The US has repeatedly ruled out a similar deal with Pakistan.

Expressing Pakistan’s determination to meet its energy requirements through all available means, including nuclear energy, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz sought equal opportunities for all countries for the transfer of civil nuclear energy and said installation of more nuclear reactors is underway in the country.

He was inaugurating a two-day international conference ‘Energy: Sources of Regional Cooperation and Competition’ in Islamabad.

Scholars from India, Iran, Bangladesh, Japan, Argentina, Germany, France, Indonesia, China, Singapore, US, Sudan and Pakistan will present their papers on energy during the conference.