W O R L D

Kolkata to Dhaka train from April 14
Bangladesh and India decided today to start the long-awaited passenger train service between the two countries on April 14, the start of the Bangla new year. The passenger train will run once a week between Dhaka and Kolkata.

47 killed in Iraq
Baghdad, March 23
A wave of attacks across Iraq today killed 47 persons, while insurgents fired a barrage of mortars at Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, sending US embassy staff scurrying into bunkers.

50 Taliban killed
Kabul, March 23
Afghan and NATO-led forces killed or wounded scores of Taliban insurgents in a joint air and ground operation in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan Defence Ministry said today. Afghan security sources said nearly 50 Taliban fighters had died. — Reuters

Pranab may meet Bush today
Washington, March 23
External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet President George W. Bush tomorrow as part of his maiden bilateral visit to the USA during which the civil nuclear deal is expected to dominate the parleys.

Brown faces rebellion over embryo Bill
London, March 23
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is facing a rebellion within his Cabinet over the government’s embryo research Bill, which would allow the creation of part-human, part-animal embryos for research.

Bhutanese to vote for democracy today
Thimphu, March 23
Over three lakh Bhutanese will vote tomorrow in the country’s first general elections to transform the Himalayan Kingdom into a democracy, under the close watch of international observers, including from India.

2 killed in bomb attack in Pak
Islamabad, March 23
Two persons were killed and 50 others injured when militants targeted dozens of tankers carrying oil for US-led forces in Afghanistan with bombs in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Agency today.

Kolkata to Dhaka train from April 14
A.W. Khan writes from Dhaka

Bangladesh and India decided today to start the long-awaited passenger train service between the two countries on April 14, the start of the Bangla new year.

The passenger train will run once a week between Dhaka and Kolkata. The deal to start the train service was signed last year but negotiations had stalled over Dhaka’s refusal to construct fenced security boxes in no-man’s land on the border.

The decision was approved during the recent India visit by Bangladesh’s army chief General Moeen U. Ahmed, but was finalised during a meeting between Bangladesh communications adviser (minister) Ghulam Quader and the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty. A deal would be signed on April 1 during a three-day meeting on technical matters.

“We are trying to ensure Dhaka-Kolkata passenger train service from April 14. Though some infrastructure are yet to be completed, it would be finished within a short period,”Chakravarty said.

Chakravarty has also urged the Bangladesh government to start container-train services between the two neighbours.

47 killed in Iraq

Baghdad, March 23
A wave of attacks across Iraq today killed 47 persons, while insurgents fired a barrage of mortars at Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, sending US embassy staff scurrying into bunkers.

The deadliest attack was in the main northern city of Mosul where a suicide bomber crashed an explosives-laden truck into an Iraqi army base, triggering a blast that killed 10 soldiers and wounded 30 others, mostly soldiers, army officer Maj Mohammed Ahmed told AFP.

In a brutal attack in the south of Baghdad, armed men travelling in three cars opened fire on crowds in a local market in the mixed Zafaraniyah neighbourhood, killing seven people and wounding 16, security and medical officials said.

In another attack in Baghdad a rocket struck a residential building in largely Shiite eastern Al-Kamaliyah neighbourood, killing at least five persons and wounding eight. — AFP

Pranab may meet Bush today

Washington, March 23
External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet President George W. Bush tomorrow as part of his maiden bilateral visit to the USA during which the civil nuclear deal is expected to dominate the parleys.

Mukherjee is scheduled to meet secretary of state Condoleezza Rice tomorrow at 8.45 am (6.15 pm IST). Rice and Mukherjee are expected to hold a wide-ranging discussion on several aspects of the broadening and deepening Indo-US ties which will include the civil nuclear initiative.

After the meeting at the State Department, the minister is scheduled to talk at a closed-door session with senior analysts and think tank specialists at the Carnegie Endowment, an event that is closed to the media.

The high-point of Mukherjee’s trip to Washington is his visit to the White House tomorrow afternoon where he will be having a session with US national security adviser Stephen Hadley. Mukherjee is also expected to meet Bush there. Mukherjee would leave for New York on Tuesday on his way to India.

Senior officials have been stressing that in Mukherjee’s meetings, including at the White House, a range of issues on bilateral, regional and global issues will be discussed, but there is also the feeling that the civilian nuclear initiative will merit a high degree of importance.

The feeling is that the Bush administration would want to know from Mukherjee his thinking and that of the government of India on this critical issue given his important role on the nuclear initiative. — PTI

Brown faces rebellion over embryo Bill

Bone of Contention

Bill envisages the creation of part-human, part-animal embroys for research MPs want a free vote on it 12 ministers threaten to quit

London, March 23
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is facing a rebellion within his Cabinet over the government’s embryo research Bill, which would allow the creation of part-human, part-animal embryos for research.

According to sources, 12 government ministers were poised to quit office over the issue and the Prime Minister was being told by his own supporters that he must offer MPs a free vote.

But Brown is reluctant to allow the whole Bill to be a free vote because he considers it to be a key government legislation, extremely important to the UK’s position at the cutting edge of stem cell research.

A U-turn by Brown would represent the biggest humiliation to his leadership since he came to power as Labour leader and Prime Minister in June last year.

The row exploded last week after Cardinal Keith O’Brien, leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics, described the move as a “monstrous Frankenstein” plan.

According to a report in ‘The Scotland’, Brown is being told by his own supporters that he must offer MPs a free vote to avoid a ministerial clear-out, which could include Catholic ministers such as transport secretary Ruth Kelly, Scottish secretary Des Browne and Welsh secretary Paul Murphy.

Brown’s only public concession so far is to allow ministers to abstain, but it is believed this has failed to reassure some who want to be free to vote against the Bill. — PTI

Bhutanese to vote for democracy today

Thimphu, March 23
Over three lakh Bhutanese will vote tomorrow in the country’s first general elections to transform the Himalayan Kingdom into a democracy, under the close watch of international observers, including from India.

“Bhutan is ready for tomorrow’s polls,” Chief Election Commissioner Kunzang Wangdi said.

A strong delegation from India that includes Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami is in the Himalayan country.

“Every possible step has been taken for the smooth conduct of the elections,” he said despite threats from Nepal-based Maoists, who had asked the people to boycott the polls.

He said a turnout of over 70 per cent for the 47 constituencies going to the National Assembly polls was expected.

Counting would begin tomorrow after the polls and the results were expected to be out by the night.

“However, the results will be officially declared on Tuesday,” Wangdi said. He said security had been beefed up for the polls. — PTI

2 killed in bomb attack in Pak

Islamabad, March 23
Two persons were killed and 50 others injured when militants targeted dozens of tankers carrying oil for US-led forces in Afghanistan with bombs in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Agency today.

Six bombs ripped through a restaurant and a parking lot at Torkham near the Afghanistan border late tonight, destroying over 30 oil tankers. The explosions killed two persons and injured 50 more, Dawn News quoted officials as saying. The local political administration rushed Khasadar militia and Frontier Corps personnel to the area and beefed up security. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Thousands of Okinawans rally in Chatan town to protest against crimes committed by US troops and demand a smaller US military presence on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa on Sunday, after last month’s arrest of a Marine on suspicion of raping a schoolgirl. The arrest of US Marine Tyrone Hadnott, 38, on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl sparked outrage in Okinawa, reluctant host to a huge chunk of US troops in Japan. — Reuters

Rowling contemplated suicide
London: Author of Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling (42), said she had contemplated suicide while suffering from depression as a struggling single mother. She said she was prescribed cognitive behavioural therapy after suffering from “suicidal thoughts” in the aftermath of separation from her first husband, Jorge Arantes. Her economic condition was weak. It was there she began writing the first Harry Potter book, and now she is one of the world’s richest women, with a fortune worth £ 545 million. — PTI

Tibetans protest in UK
London: Hundreds of people marched through the central London to protest against China’s crackdown against pro-independence demonstrators in Tibet. The protesters, including many exiled Tibetans, marched from Regent’s Park to Trafalgar Square on Friday evening, staging a rally in front of the National Gallery and singing the Tibetan national anthem outside the Chinese embassy. — PTI

Ancient asteroids ‘found’
New York: Astronomers have identified three ancient asteroids which they claim are among our Solar System’s oldest objects. These ancient asteroids are relatively unchanged since they formed some 4.55 billion years ago and are older than the oldest meteorites ever found on our planet Earth. — PTI

Chinese power project in PoK
Beijing: Pakistan is expected to conclude soon reinsurance deals with a Chinese consortium for the strategically important Neelam-Jhelum hydro-electric project being built by it at a cost of $ 1.5 billion in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), over which India has voiced concerns. — PTI

Pak leader of House resigns
Islamabad: Senator Wasim Sajjad has resigned as Leader of the House in the Senate saying it is the prerogative of the new Prime Minister to name somebody to the post. Sajjad, who belongs to the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), said his resignation would allow the parties forming the new coalition government to appoint a new leader of the House. — TNS