Beijing, October 26
Chinese President Hu Jintao today said his country placed “importance” to friendly ties with India as reflected by Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s visit, the first by a foreign political party leader after the recent leadership changes here.

“You are the first foreign political leader to visit China after the conclusion of the 17th National Congress (on October 22 of the ruling CPC), which is an indication of importance both of us have attached to our relations,” Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China told Gandhi during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People here.

Hu said he still had fresh memories of his last visit to India in November last year and remembered the warm reception given by the Indian government and the people of India. — PTI

President Pervez Musharraf has ruled out the return of exiled premier Nawaz Sharif's return before elections and poured cold water on ambitions of another ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto while declaring that the next Prime Minister will be from the Pakistan Muslim League (PML).

And in another apparent snub to Bhutto, Musharraf rejected her demands to enlist foreign experts to hold probe into Karachi blasts, a bigger share in the caretaker government and the suspension of local governments during elections to reduce their role in influencing the next elections. He said Pakistani experts can do an equally competent job and that local governments would not be disturbed because they brought democracy into the lives of the people at the grassroots level.

The President met MPs and leaders of coalition parties at a dinner hosted last night by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. It was designed to allay their apprehensions and nervous response to Bhutto's triumphant return amid widely held belief that the USA and its western allies want her to share power with Musharraf as country's next Prime Minister.

"You are dearer to me than the PPP because you have given me unflinching support for the past five years and voted for me as President for another term," Musharraf was quoted by participants as telling them emphatically. "There is no basis in the perception that the PPP is being given larger representation in the caretaker and the next government."

Musharraf said he wanted the coalition members to win the next elections. "You will be my ultimate choice to form the next government and earlier in the caretaker set-up." He added: "Now it's my turn to support you," the President said.

General Musharraf went on to diminish the significance of any understanding with Bhutto under foreign pressure. He flayed the demand for the removal of Intelligence Bureau chief Brig. Ejaz Shah (retd) saying it was unacceptable. IB chief will stay, he said.

Without naming Bhutto, Musharraf derided and debunked her for making various statements to please western powers. To her suggestion that she would allow International Atomic Energy Agency investigators to question the disgraced nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan, Musharraf said, Dr Khan would not be handed over to any foreign agency.

When Sindh Chief Minister Ghulam Arbab Rahim complained that provincial bureaucracy, including the chief secretary and home secretary had stopped listening to him since Bhutto's return, Musharraf was even more caustic.

"You are the chief executive of the province ... if you have no control over the bureaucracy, it is better you leave your office immediately."

Talking about the National Reconciliation Ordinance, the President said the main purpose of the ordinance was to create an atmosphere of reconciliation in the country and to end the politics of vendetta.

He said the elections would be held in a free, fair and transparent manner. "The assemblies will complete their constitutional term, which ends on November 15," he added.

The dinner was attended, besides others, by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, President PML-Q Chaudhry Shujat Hussain, secretary general Mushahid Hussain Sayed, federal ministers, the Chief Ministers of Punjab , Sindh and Baluchistan and the chairman of the Kashmir Committee Hamid Nasir Chattha. Some Opposition MPs who had defected and voted for Musharraf in the presidential election on October 6, were also present.

Islamabad, October 26
Keeping up the pressure on the government, former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto today asked the authorities to seek assistance from the US and Britain in probing the Thursday night suicide attack on her homecoming procession and review her security arrangements.

In a letter written to the Interior Secretary, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson said the “poorly equipped Pakistan police” should seek the “sophisticated technology and scientific techniques available to (Britain’s) Scotland Yard and FBI to assist in the investigation and the bring the culprits to book”.

Instead of relaxing the ban on tinted windows in cars and the public display of weapons for her guards, the department had asked her to travel in vehicles with transparent windows and not to have private armed guards, she said and demanded that the government should review these decisions. — PTI 

Silicon Valley, October 26
Harping on a year-end deadline for the nuclear deal with India, the USA has said it will be good to get it voted in the Congress by coming January.

US under secretary for political affairs Nicholas Burns has also expressed the hope that the deal is not "dead" in India but only postponed.

"One message that the USA is articulating very clearly to India is that this is an opportunity which doesn't come around often. They ought to take that opportunity," he said.

"We don't have (it) forever. The reality of our politics is that Congress made a huge effort to pass the necessary law in the United States. The Congress has to have one more vote that has to be taken. We certainly don't want to go too deep in 2008," he told National Public Radio.

When asked if January was important because otherwise in an election year not much would get done, Burns said it would be a smart move to get the deal back to the Congress when they have time to look at it.

Asked whether it was frustrating as India seemed close to rejecting the deal, Burns said, "we hope they are not close to rejecting it. We don't think the deal is dead, but the deal has been postponed". — PTI

London, October 26
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has signed a multi-million-pound deal to pen 
his memoirs in Downing Street.

Blair’s account of 10 years as Prime Minister, including few details of his turbulent relationship with his successor Gordon Brown, will be published by Random House, the Daily Mail reported here today.

“I hope my memoirs would provide a serious and thoughtful, but also entertaining, reflection on my time as a Member of Parliament and as Prime Minister,” Blair was quoted as saying.

Though Blair and the publisher have refused to put a figure on the deal, sources said it could earn Blair as much as £ 6 million. — PTI

Dubai, October 26
An Indian woman died after falling from a six-storeyed building, in Deira, in the UAE. Identified as a businessman’s wife and mother of three children, the woman fell from the sixth floor of the Sheikh Latifa building near Emirates Bank in Bani Yas Square yesterday. The family members of the 38-year-old woman said she fell from the balcony, while trying to feed pigeons.

“She slipped and fell down while she was trying to feed the pigeons. The wooden balcony is broken which indicates that she slipped from there,” a family member was quoted as saying. The Dubai police have started investigating the case. — UNI