W O R L D

Bhutto to apply for pre-arrest bail: Report
Karachi, September 29
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has decided to apply for anticipatory bail apprehending her arrest on arrival here on October 18.

N-deal only when India ready: US
New York, September 29
In the face of Left’s opposition, the Bush administration has refused to set a time-limit for moving the Indo-US nuclear deal forward, saying it will start work towards operationalising the agreement when New Delhi is ready.

Mahato arrested, tried to burn PM’s effigy
The Nepal’s police on Saturday detained Rajendra Mahato, a minister for industry, commerce and supply, including 25 other supporters, for three hours on charge of trying to burn an effigy of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala this morning.

18 killed in Iraq violence, Maliki rebuffs US Senate
Baghdad, September 29
Three Iraqi soldiers and three civilians, killed in a suicide truck bombing near Mosul, were among 18 victims of sectarian violence across Iraq today even as the country's leaders denounced a US Senate proposal to split the country into ethnic or religious-based regions.

Suicide bomber kills 27 in Kabul
Kabul, September 29
A Taliban suicide bomber killed 27 Afghan troop members and an unknown number of civilians today in an attack on an army bus here, officials said. “So far the information that we have is that 27 Afghan National Army personnel were killed and 21 soldiers on the bus were wounded,” said army spokesman Zaher Murat.

Indians, Pakistanis detained in China
Beijing, September 29
Chinese police has detained 24 foreigners, mostly Indians and Pakistanis, on the charge of poaching state-protected falcons in the northwestern region of the country.

Russia, China buy time for Iran
United Nations, September 29
In a reprieve for Iran, the six major powers have agreed to wait until mid-November before pushing for tougher sanctions against the country to force it to abandon its uranium enrichment activities, dealing a blow to US-backed efforts to step up the heat on Tehran.

Whites outnumbered at primary schools
London, September 29
White children in UK schools are outnumbered by those from ethnic minority families at the primary and secondary level in 29 of the 150 local education authority areas, including Birmingham, Leicester, Luton, Slough and most London boroughs.

4 lakh Indian kids work as bonded labourers: report
New York, September 29
More than four lakh children, mostly girls (below 18 years of age), were working as child labour in cottonseed fields in India, a human rights report said.

Video

Protest in Bangladesh. (56k)

Bhutto to apply for pre-arrest bail: Report

Meanwhile, Bhutto and her family have been allowed to import three bulletproof vehicles for travel in Pakistan, deputy attorney-general Rizwan A. Siddiqui informed the Sindh High Court yesterday.

Nawaz to ‘return’ after Id

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was deported on his arrival here last month from exile would make another attempt to return to Pakistan after Id, a close relative of the deposed leader has said. Nawaz Sharif would return to the country soon after the Id-ul-Fitr, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, nephew of the former Prime Minister, said here. However he did not reveal the exact date of Sharif’s return.

Hamza also condemned the way the former Prime Minister and PML-N leader was deported on September 10 saying, Sharif had returned to Pakistan after a favourable Supreme Court verdict.

The Supreme Court has fixed October 17 as the date for the next hearing on the contempt petitions — PTI

N-deal only when India ready: US

New York, September 29
In the face of Left’s opposition, the Bush administration has refused to set a time-limit for moving the Indo-US nuclear deal forward, saying it will start work towards operationalising the agreement when New Delhi is ready.

“We will deal with it as it comes. We will deal with it in terms of the opportunities that are there when India is ready to move forward,” assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher said.

Cautiously speaking at a briefing here yesterday, Boucher said the issue did come up during discussions between external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in New York on Wednesday.

“We did talk about the steps down the road, but we’ll leave it to the Indians to work their way through the current political discussion in Delhi,” the senior official said.

After the meeting held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, there was no briefing by either side and a brief press release issued by the Indian mission did not mention specific subjects discussed.

The Manmohan Singh government, Boucher said, was answering questions that have been raised in the Indian political system and “we understand that,” the US itself had a “fair amount” of debate but in the end, the deal could get a strong majority in its favour in the Congress, he said.

“We frankly at this juncture leave it to the Indians to work their way through the political issues, to answer questions that have been raised by their parliamentarians,” he added. — PTI

Mahato arrested, tried to burn PM’s effigy
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

18 killed in Iraq violence, Maliki rebuffs US Senate

Suicide bomber kills 27 in Kabul

Kabul, September 29
A Taliban suicide bomber killed 27 Afghan troop members and an unknown number of civilians today in an attack on an army bus here, officials said. “So far the information that we have is that 27 Afghan National Army personnel were killed and 21 soldiers on the bus were wounded,” said army spokesman Zaher Murat. “There are civilian casualties also but we don’t know the exact number.”

The Defence Ministry said a suicide bomber had caused the blast. The Taliban had claimed responsibility.

The bus was split into two by the blast and shop windows around were shattered. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted from power for harbouring Al-Qaida leaders in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the USA.

Taliban insurgents have largely shied away from large-scale conventional attacks on foreign and Afghan forces after suffering heavy casualties in pitched battles last year. — Reuters

Indians, Pakistanis detained in China

Beijing, September 29
Chinese police has detained 24 foreigners, mostly Indians and Pakistanis, on the charge of poaching state-protected falcons in the northwestern region of the country.

The group of suspects, a few of whom had no passport, were detained on September 17 in Hanjiaoshui township near Zhongwei City in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, head of Zhongwei’s public security bureau Zhu Yangming said.

Police confiscated 9 falcons, 2 motorbikes, 26 pigeons used as baits for catching the falcons and some tools which the police said they were unable to identify, Xinhua news agency reported.

Initial investigation showed that the group of suspects entered China in August but officials were not sure how and from where did they managed to cross the border. — PTI

Russia, China buy time for Iran

United Nations, September 29
In a reprieve for Iran, the six major powers have agreed to wait until mid-November before pushing for tougher sanctions against the country to force it to abandon its uranium enrichment activities, dealing a blow to US-backed efforts to step up the heat on Tehran.

Foreign ministers of the USA, Britain and France - permanent members (P-5) of the Security Council - and Germany yesterday failed to convince Russia and China, the other two P-5 countries with veto power, to back efforts to strengthen the embargo connected to its controversial nuclear programme immediately.

A joint statement from the P5+1 said they would finalise the new resolution on a third round of sanctions and bring it to a vote unless reports in November from the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency and EU foreign policy Javier Solana chief “show a positive outcome of their efforts”.

However, Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns claimed the statement sent “a very tough and strict message to Iran”. At the meeting, diplomats and officials said, the USA pushed for quick action but Russia sought time for negotiations to resolve the issue.

The six agreed to ask Solana to hold discussions with Iran’s national security chief Al Larijani while the IAEA tries to clear up issues about the Iranian nuclear programme. — PTI

Whites outnumbered at primary schools

4 lakh Indian kids work as bonded labourers: report