W O R L D

‘Taliban ousted from Kandahar’
Kandahar, June 19
Afghan and NATO-led forces flushed out Taliban militants from the outskirts of Kandahar city today, killing or injuring hundreds of insurgents, the provincial governor said. However, a spokesman for NATO’s Afghan forces, Captain Mike Finney, was more cautious, saying he could not confirm that hundreds of Taliban who had infiltrated into Arghandab district had been driven out.

Canadian soldiers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force patrol the outskirts of Kandahar on Thursday. — Reuters photo

I’ll not step down: Mush
President Pervez Musharraf has said he will not step down but will accept any verdict of Parliament if it decided to impeach him.

Nepal’s parties narrow down differences
Ending over three-week long political dispute, Nepal’s three big ruling parties - the CPN - (Maoist), the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML - today reached a political understanding to amend the interim Constitution and integrate the former rebels combatants in Nepal Army.

• PM ready to step down

Gene therapy to treat cancer
Washington, June 19
In the first case of its kind, doctors have treated a cancer patient by injecting him with billions of his own immune cells, a development that projects the huge power of gene therapy for the killer disease.

Rice: Historic change in US-India ties
Washington, June 19
Terming the "historic transformation" of the US ties with the "rising democratic power" India as among its key strategic accomplishments, the Bush Administration has said it will enable Washington to advance its "interests and values" in the region in future.

Boundary row very sensitive issue: China
Beijing, June 19
Amid reports of frequent incursions by Chinese forces into Sikkim, Beijing today described the festering boundary row with India as a "very sensitive issue".

2 Pak soldiers die in clash on LoC
Islamabad, June 19
Two Pakistan soldiers were killed and two wounded on Thursday in a clash with “unknown miscreants” on the border with India in the disputed Kashmir region, a Pakistani military spokesman said. It was the most serious incident on the so-called Line of Control (LoC), an old ceasefire line separating the Pakistani and Indian armies in Kashmir, for some time, but the spokesman said the fire had apparently not come from the Indian side.

Russia launches 6 US satellites
Moscow, June 19
Russia today successfully launched six US satellites from its space centre in the south of the country.

Wife Cindy may cook McCain’s goose
If John McCain loses in November, his wife Cindy may catch some of the blame after apparently cheating in a high-stakes presidential cookie bake-off. Across America, readers are busy testing cookie recipes submitted by candidates’ spouses for the Family Circle magazine competition.

‘Taliban ousted from Kandahar’

Kandahar, June 19
Afghan and NATO-led forces flushed out Taliban militants from the outskirts of Kandahar city today, killing or injuring hundreds of insurgents, the provincial governor said. However, a spokesman for NATO’s Afghan forces, Captain Mike Finney, was more cautious, saying he could not confirm that hundreds of Taliban who had infiltrated into Arghandab district had been driven out.

Kandahar provincial governor Assadullah Khalid told a news conference that the district to the northwest of Kandahar city was clear. “The Taliban have been totally cleared from Arghandab district,” Khalid said. “They have suffered hundreds of casualties, many of whom are Pakistanis,” he said, adding that troops were searching the area for any militants hiding inside villagers’ houses.

Defence ministry spokesman Zaher Azimi also said the district had been retaken with 56 of the insurgents killed. Two Afghan army officers had also been killed and two wounded, he said. But another government official, who declined to be identified, said the district had not been fully recaptured.

A NATO spokesman said the alliance had not heard about the developments Khalid had reported. “I think he says that on the basis that there has been no engagement,” said Finney. The Taliban could not be reached for comment.

Yesterday, the commander of NATO forces in south Afghanistan, Major-General Marc Lessard, said the infiltration of Taliban into Arghandab was a setback for NATO.

“There are setbacks ... the prison breakout and the Arghandab operation, and there will be setbacks in the future,” Lessard told Reuters in an interview. “They’ve definitely managed to achieve some kind of tactical success, there’s no doubt there,” he added.

Earlier today, NATO and Afghan forces attacked Taliban militants for the second consecutive day, in one of the biggest battles in Afghanistan in recent years. The offensive, which NATO said is expected to last till the weekend, is aimed at an estimated 600 Taliban fighters who had slipped into the valley and comes days after the Taliban freed hundreds of their comrades from the main jail in Kandahar city. Around 800 Afghan government troops, backed by hundreds of mainly Canadian NATO soldiers, are fighting the Taliban insurgents who seized seven villages in the district on Monday. Yesterday, NATO helicopter gunships and troops had blasted Taliban positions in the valley.

I’ll not step down: Mush
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

President Pervez Musharraf has said he will not step down but will accept any verdict of Parliament if it decided to impeach him.

"I will continue to play my constitutional role as President to strengthen democracy in the country,” Musharraf told senior journalists at a meeting at his Army House residence in Rawalpindi. He has started a series of meetings with senior journalists and columnists, both in groups and individually, to defend his position amid a barrage of attacks from all sides.

He said he was a democrat and worked for democracy even when he was in uniform. He defended his November 3 proclamation of emergency rule, saying he saved the democratic process from being derailed.

Musharraf also repudiated the notion that he was responsible for the current economic problems facing Pakistan. He said the responsibility for any economic mismanagement rested with the previous government. "My policies and steps should be viewed against the backdrop of circumstances that existed in the country at a critical point when I took over."

He said he had thrice asked former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to return to Pakistan and defend his economic policies. But Aziz was worried about his security. 

Nepal’s parties narrow down differences
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

Ending over three-week long political dispute, Nepal’s three big ruling parties - the CPN - (Maoist), the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML - today reached a political understanding to amend the interim Constitution and integrate the former rebels combatants in Nepal Army.

PM ready to step down During the meeting, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said he was ready to step down immediately if the parties suggested him the proper body to tender his resignation. Netra Bikram Chand, a Maoist leader, said, “In the meeting, Koirala has expressed commitment to resign from the post once the Constituent Assembly appoints the president of the federal republic Nepal.”

After holding series of meetings, top-brass leaders of the three parties met at Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s official residence in Baluwatar today morning and agreed to amend the Constitution that would pave the way out to expedite the new government formation process under the Maoist leadership with simple majority in the Constituent Assembly instead of existing two-third majority provision.

Emerging from the meeting, Maoist leader and minister for local development Dev Prasad Gurung said, “The meeting has reached the informal agreements in this regard.”

They also agreed to form a special committee to carry out necessary homework to reintegrate over 19,000 Maoist combatants confined inside the UN-monitored cantonment sites across the country with the Nepal Army within three months.

As per the agreement, individual members of the Maoist combatants will be reintegrated into the Nepal Army on the basis of single-man competition as per the existing criteria set up by the security forces while others will be given choices like vocational training and foreign employment.

Earlier, the Maoists were demanding a mass reintegration of its fighters into the security bodies.

However, the parties have not reached any understanding regarding the issue of power sharing among the major political parties.

Gene therapy to treat cancer

Rice: Historic change in US-India ties

Washington, June 19
Terming the "historic transformation" of the US ties with the "rising democratic power" India as among its key strategic accomplishments, the Bush Administration has said it will enable Washington to advance its "interests and values" in the region in future.

"There are other strategic accomplishments in Asia... partnerships with a newly democratic Afghanistan, a democratic Pakistan, and a historic transformation of our relationship with the rising democratic power, India," US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said addressing the Heritage Foundation. — PTI

Boundary row very sensitive issue: China

2 Pak soldiers die in clash on LoC

Islamabad, June 19
Two Pakistan soldiers were killed and two wounded on Thursday in a clash with “unknown miscreants” on the border with India in the disputed Kashmir region, a Pakistani military spokesman said. It was the most serious incident on the so-called Line of Control (LoC), an old ceasefire line separating the Pakistani and Indian armies in Kashmir, for some time, but the spokesman said the fire had apparently not come from the Indian side.

“The fire was not from the Indian bunkers,” said Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas. — Reuters

Russia launches 6 US satellites

Moscow, June 19
Russia today successfully launched six US satellites from its space centre in the south of the country.

In a textbook launch from Kapustin Yar in the Astrakhan region at 12.06 PM IST, the Cosmos 3M launch vehicle blasted off with six US Orbcomm Low-Earth orbit (LEO) commercial satellites, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces' spokesman Colonel Alexander Vovk said.— PTI

Wife Cindy may cook McCain’s goose
Leonard Doyle

If John McCain loses in November, his wife Cindy may catch some of the blame after apparently cheating in a high-stakes presidential cookie bake-off.

Across America, readers are busy testing cookie recipes submitted by candidates’ spouses for the Family Circle magazine competition.

Unfortunately, the recipe Cindy McCain submitted is a near facsimile of a recipe from Hershey’s, America’s largest confectioner. The scandal has not yet risen to “cookiegate” dimensions, but the omens are not good. It’s the second time this year that Cindy has been caught with her hand, figuratively, in the cookie jar.

“McCain Family Recipes” posted on her husband’s campaign website in April, turned out to be near word-for-word copies of recipes on the Food Network site.

The stakes could hardly be higher. In the past four presidential elections, the magazine’s readers have successfully predicted America’s next first lady.

Hillary Clinton’s chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies beat Barbara Bush’s effort, and Laura Bush’s cowboy cookies triumphed over Tipper Gore’s ginger snaps. In 2004, Mrs Bush won again with oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies.

This year, Cindy’soatmeal-butterscotch cookie entry was accompanied by a note stating that it was a “family” recipe that “came from a good friend”.

Michelle Obama submitted a recipe for shortbread cookies with orange and lemon zest, and a kick of Amaretto. But she didn’t claim the recipe as her own, stating it came courtesy of Mama Kaye who is godmother to her daughters.

— By arrangement with Independent