SPECIAL COVERAGE
CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI



THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
W O R L D

Tackling Terror
Pak, Afghanistan to frame common plan

Islamabad, August 3
After engaging in a bitter spat over the suicide bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, Pakistan and Afghanistan today decided to frame a common strategy to overcome the challenges posed to both countries by cross-border terrorism and extremism.

Zardari meets Sharif tomorrow
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif will meet on Tuesday. This could be a make-or-break meeting between the two leaders to decide the fate of the four-month-old ruling coalition.

Held Baha’is confess taking orders from Israel: Iran
Tehran, August 3
Seven detained Baha'i believers have confessed to setting up an illegal organisation in Iran that took orders from Israel and others to undermine the Islamic system, an Iranian newspaper reported today.

12 killed in Baghdad blasts
Baghdad, August 3
A series of bomb attacks in Baghdad early today killed 12 persons and wounded at least 34, the latest violence to rock the Iraqi capital in nearly a week, witnesses and officials said.



EARLIER STORIES



A bomb disposal expert collects evidence at the site of a blast outside a police station in Tizi Ouzou, east of Algiers
A bomb disposal expert collects evidence at the site of a blast outside a police station in Tizi Ouzou, east of Algiers, on Sunday. A car bomb exploded near a police station in the town, wounding 25 persons, including four policemen.
— Reuters

UML rejects Maoists’ proposal to exclude NC
Kathmandu, August 3
Formation of the government seems uncertain after the Maoists’ proposal to form government excluding the Nepali Congress (NC) was rejected by the CPN-UML, media reports today said.

Syrian general assassinated
Beirut, August 3
A brigadier general thought to be the Syrian regime's liaison with Hezbollah in Lebanon has been assassinated, Arab media reported today. The reports came almost six months after the killing in a Damascus car bomb of top Hezbollah military commander Ima Mughnieh, which the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel.

A woman dressed in costume participates in the 7th Jember Fashion Carnival in Jember, East Java
A woman dressed in costume participates in the 7th Jember Fashion Carnival in Jember, East Java, on Sunday. Around 500 participants from around Indonesia took part in the carnival. — Reuters

Fukuda cabinet rejig in vain
Japanese PM’s rating still low
Tokyo, August 3
Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda's revamp of his cabinet has done little to improve the leader's image among voters, media surveys released today showed, fanning doubts over whether he can keep his job.

Al-Qaida confirms death of explosive expert
Cairo, August 3
Al-Qaida today confirmed the death of a senior commander known as a top explosive and poison expert, who is believed to have been killed in a US airstrike in Pakistan last week.

Obama too thin to win White House?
London, August 3
Barack Obama, who hopes to become the first Black-American President, may be ahead of Republican candidate John McCann in some opinion polls, but when it comes to figure, he is far behind.





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Tackling Terror
Pak, Afghanistan to frame common plan

Islamabad, August 3
After engaging in a bitter spat over the suicide bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, Pakistan and Afghanistan today decided to frame a common strategy to overcome the challenges posed to both countries by cross-border terrorism and extremism.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, during a breakfast meeting in Colombo today, also decided to resume bilateral engagements which were suspended by Kabul following last month’s embassy bombing.

Afghanistan had blamed Pakistan’s ISI for the attack on the Indian mission that killed nearly 60 persons, including two Indian diplomats.

Kabul subsequently suspended all bilateral and multilateral meetings with Islamabad on July 15 to protest “the violent policies of the Pakistani army and intelligence agencies”.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had conveyed his concerns to Gilani over the Indian embassy attack when he met the Pakistani premier on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Colombo yesterday.

A statement issued by Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman said the meeting “agreed that there was a need for the two governments to engage on all issues across the board with a view to developing a common strategy to overcome the challenges posed to the security and stability of both countries by terrorism and extremism”.

The statement said, “The two sides agreed to coordinate their efforts to stop cross-border terrorism.” At the suggestion of Pakistan, Afghanistan agreed to re-engage on all bilateral and multilateral forums.

Gilani and Karzai decided that their foreign ministers will meet to “prepare grounds for a framework for close and constructive engagement between the two countries to build confidence and develop a common strategy at the political, military and intelligence levels in collaboration with their coalition partners and NATO (and the) International Security Assistance Force”.

The two leaders “recalled the strong bonds of brotherhood between Pakistan and Afghanistan” and exchanged views on common challenges facing the two countries in terms of dealing with terrorism and militancy.

They stressed the importance of “closer bilateral engagement at the leadership level”. At Afghanistan’s suggestion, they agreed that the engagement should lead to expediting the process of convening the Pakistan-Afghan mini-Jirga “as soon as possible”.

Following the meeting, Gilani expressed the hope that his talks with Karzai would help remove misunderstandings between the two countries. “It was a very successful meeting, held in a very cordial atmosphere,” he told reporters.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed the hope that “definitely there will be an end to the blame game” which had soured ties between the two sides.

Both India and Afghanistan have linked the ISI to the suicide car bombing at the Indian mission in Kabul, a charge denied by Pakistan.

Gilani yesterday assured Singh that he would conduct an independent investigation to ascertain whether or not ISI was involved in the embassy attack. — PTI

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Zardari meets Sharif tomorrow
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif will meet on Tuesday. This could be a make-or-break meeting between the two leaders to decide the fate of the four-month-old ruling coalition.

The luncheon meeting between the two leaders, to be held at the Zardari House here, will decide whether the PML-N will sit in the opposition or rejoin the cabinet if the PPP agrees to the demand for the restoration of the deposed judges under the Murree Declaration.

Prior to this all-important meeting, Nawaz Sharif has summoned a meeting of the Central Working Committee and parliamentary party of the PML-N on Monday in Lahore to consider the current political scenario and arrive at a consensus that will form the basis of talks with Zardari.

PPP sources said the legal team of Zardari had formulated a new set of proposals for the meeting to settle the legal issue of the restoration of deposed judges and it would be presented to Nawaz Sharif during the meeting.

However, the PML-N has rejected any other formula for the restoration of judges, saying that they would only accept the proposal that would implement the Murree Declaration and there would be no compromise on the issue.

The lawyers' movement has already given August 14 as the D-Day to the coalition to make a decision to restore the deposed judges in accordance with the Murree Declaration. The PML-N has endorsed this demand and has further called for early impeachment of president Pervez Musharraf.

Both parties are also partners in the coalition in Punjab. If they break, the Punjab government may also fall but chief minister Shahbaz Sharif has said the party is ready to sacrifice the Punjab government if the deposed judges were not restored. PML-N sources said this would be communicated to Asif Ali Zardari at the meeting.

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Held Baha’is confess taking orders from Israel: Iran

Tehran, August 3
Seven detained Baha'i believers have confessed to setting up an illegal organisation in Iran that took orders from Israel and others to undermine the Islamic system, an Iranian newspaper reported today.

The report in Rasalat daily comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel over Tehran's disputed nuclear plans. Israel accuses Iran of seeking atomic bombs and has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails.However, Iran denies the charge.

The Resalat report appeared to refer to a group of Baha'is, most of whom were detained in May. Judiciary officials had no immediate comment.

Baha'is regard their faith's 19th-century founder as the latest in a line of prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammad.

“Seven Baha’i individuals have set up an illegal organisation with connections to a number of countries, including Israel, and they have received orders from them to undertake measures against the Islamic system,” Resalat reported.

Iran said in May it had detained six members of the Baha'i faith on security-related charges.

The Baha'i International Community said they were members of a committee that tends to the needs of Baha'is in Iran. It said the group of six were detained in May and the seventh member was detained in March.

The Baha'i International Community represents the faith worldwide, operating under a governing council, which is based in Israel. Baha'is said hundreds of their faith had been jailed and executed since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. — Reuters

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12 killed in Baghdad blasts

Baghdad, August 3
A series of bomb attacks in Baghdad early today killed 12 persons and wounded at least 34, the latest violence to rock the Iraqi capital in nearly a week, witnesses and officials said.

In the deadliest attack, a small truck parked near the passport office on Magreb Street in the north of the city exploded and killed 12 persons and wounded 23, defence and interior ministry sources said.

Several people suffered burns as flames from the powerful blast swept skywards, damaging buildings, they said.

Bloodstains were still visible on the busy commercial street as dozens of Iraqi soldiers set about clearing debris as far as 100 metres from the seat of the blast, an AFP photographer saw. He was prevented by soldiers from taking pictures.

A US army captain whose platoon was offering support for the Iraqi police said the attack bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida.

“It was a safe and stable neighbourhood,” he said, adding that typically al-Qaeda sought to destabilise areas believed to be secure.

Meanwhile, on Palestine Street in central Baghdad a roadside bomb targeting a passing police patrol wounded nine people, including six civilians.

A third attack thought to have targeted government vehicles wounded two civilians in the southeastern neighbourhood of Al-Ghadir. — AFP

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UML rejects Maoists’ proposal to exclude NC

Kathmandu, August 3
Formation of the government seems uncertain after the Maoists’ proposal to form government excluding the Nepali Congress (NC) was rejected by the CPN-UML, media reports today said.

The Maoists have intensified the discussion with various political parties to form a new government under their leadership.

The Maoist has said the party is willing to form the government without the NC if the attempts for a national consensus fail.

The UML rejected the Maoist’s proposal during a meeting held at the UML party headquarters in Balkhu.

President Ram Baran Yadav has called the Maoists to form a government with consensus as no party has the clear majority in the recently concluded CA polls.

The Maoists emerged as the largest party with 227 seats in the 601 seat CA. Maoists’ candidate was defeated in the recently held presidential polls despite being the largest party.

The NC, the MJF and the UML had formed an alliance to defeat the Maoists presidential candidate and these parties became able to elect president, vice-president and chairman of the CA respectively. — UNI

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Syrian general assassinated

Beirut, August 3
A brigadier general thought to be the Syrian regime's liaison with Hezbollah in Lebanon has been assassinated, Arab media reported today.

The reports came almost six months after the killing in a Damascus car bomb of top Hezbollah military commander Ima Mughnieh, which the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel.

The Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat today quoted informed sources in London as saying that a senior Syrian officer had been found dead. “The circumstances of the incident are not clear,” the London-based paper said in its report.

Al-Bawaba, an Arab news website, named the officer as Mohammed Sleiman and said he was Syria's liaison officer with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

It said he was killed by a sniper in the northwest Syrian town of Tartus and would be buried in his hometown of Driekesh today. The Lebanese anti-Syrian daily al-Mustaqbal quoted a Syrian news site as saying that Sleiman was the head of security at the presidential palace in Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad's right-hand man.

A Hezbollah official said he did not know Mohammed Sleiman and had not heard about any killing. Israel has denied the Hezbollah charge that it was behind the assassination of Mughnieh in the Syrian capital on February 12. — AFP

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Fukuda cabinet rejig in vain
Japanese PM’s rating still low

Tokyo, August 3
Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda's revamp of his cabinet has done little to improve the leader's image among voters, media surveys released today showed, fanning doubts over whether he can keep his job.

Fukuda (72), tapped a popular rival, former foreign minister Taro Aso, for a top ruling party post and reshuffled his cabinet to try to erase doubts about his leadership skills

among voters, who are worried about a slowing economy, rising fuel and food prices, and the growing welfare costs of a fast-ageing population.

Aso's appointment as the Liberal Democratic Party's No. 2 figure was applauded by most voters, the three surveys showed, with 57 per cent of those responding to a Mainichi newspaper poll expressing positive expectations for the outspoken nationalist.

Aso, a dapper fan of manga comics, and the bland, bespectacled Fukuda, are a study in contrasts. Fukuda, a dovish conservative, favours warmer ties with China, while Aso is a security hawk who has made remarks that angered Asian neighbours that suffered under Japan's past military aggression.

In a troubling sign for the ruling bloc, more voters said they would cast their ballots for the main opposition Democratic Party if a general election were held now, the polls

showed. No election for parliament's powerful lower house need be held till September 2009.

However, speculation is simmering that Fukuda, or his successor, will call a snap poll to seek a mandate to break a deadlock born of a divided parliament, where the opposition controls the upper house and can stall legislation.

Support for Fukuda's cabinet showed little improvement from its predecessor in two surveys, with the liberal Asahi newspaper putting support unchanged at 24 per cent and the Mainichi survey showing a three-point rise to 25 per cent. — Reuters

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Al-Qaida confirms death of explosive expert

Cairo, August 3
Al-Qaida today confirmed the death of a senior commander known as a top explosive and poison expert, who is believed to have been killed in a US airstrike in Pakistan last week.

In a web statement, Abu Khabab al-Masri and three other commanders were killed. It did not give details on when or how they were killed, but Pakistani authorities have said they believe al-Masri died in an American airstrike last Monday on a compound near the Afghan border.

Pakistani officials have said six people were killed in that strike.

Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose real name is Midhat Mursi, had a USD 5 million bounty on his head from the United States. He is accused of training terrorists to use poisons and explosives, and is believed to have trained suicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.

The al-Qaida statement called al-Masri and the other three slain commanders “a group of heroes” and warned of vengeance for their deaths. — AP

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Obama too thin to win White House?

London, August 3
Barack Obama, who hopes to become the first Black-American President, may be ahead of Republican candidate John McCann in some opinion polls, but when it comes to figure, he is far behind.

In fact, The Wall Street Journal has indicated that Obama is too thin to win the White House as his slim physique could be a liability in a nation of mostly obese voters and it might also affect his presidential campaign.

To be specific, the report suggested that Obama might be too thin and too fit to appeal to voters who tend to like candidates with flaws that they can identify with, British newspaper The Sunday Times reported.

Obama’s enthusiasm for exercise first raised eyebrows last month, when he stopped three times in one day for workouts at Chicago gyms, prompting a reporter to wonder: “Sometimes it’s hard to tell if Barack Obama is running for President or Mr Universe contest.”

It has also been widely noted that Obama sometimes seems appalled when presented at election meetings with the pride of local cuisine, often a fat-smothered hunk of meat or a sugary bun dripping in aerosol cream. — PTI

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BRIEFLY

9 climbers feared dead in avalanche on K-2
Islamabad:
A Pakistani tour operator says nine climbers are feared to have died in an avalanche after scaling the world's second-highest mountain, K-2. Nazir Sabir says 22 climbers, mostly foreigners, reached K-2's summit yesterday but an ice avalanche struck them during their descent. He says nine of the mountaineers are feared to have died and three others are missing. His Alpine Club of Pakistan organised a Serbian expedition on the mountain. — AP

BBC looks into Pak artistes charge
LONDON:
The BBC has set up an inquiry to probe into the allegation that domination of bollywood songs on the corporation’s Asian Network has led to the marginalisation of music created by Pakistani and British-Pakistani artistes. The inquiry, set up by BBC director-general Mark Thompson in June, is being conducted by Stephen Whittle, chairman of the Broadcast Training and Skills Regulator. Labour peer Lord Ahmed of Rotherham said, “The BBC needs to start reflecting all the communities and be sensitive to all the cultures in the UK”. — PTI

Indian physio loses post
LONDON:
An Indian physiotherapist working in Britain had been struck off a professional register after intimately touching a woman while she slept in the seat next to him on an overnight flight from the US. During a hearing here, the Health Professions Council was told that Babu John (34), an Indian citizen, living in West Bromwich, accepted a police caution for the incident on May 13, 2007. He informed the council about the caution and described it as a “misunderstanding” over consent, the hearing was told. — PTI

40 women rights activists held
Kathmandu:
Around 40 women rights workers, staging a relay fast since mid-July demanding a probe into the killing of activist Laxmi Bohara, were detained after they clashed with the police on Sunday. Around 12 of them were injured in the row that broke out after the police tried to stop them from stooping low by baring parts of their body while holding a demonstration at Maitighar Mandala, a restricted area, eye-witnesses said. — PTI

Farmer on murder spree
Beijing:
A farmer went on a killing rampage in a village in central China, stabbing six people to death, including a seven-year-old boy, state media reported on Sunday. Zhang Jinfu also killed two brothers in their 60s, a couple in their 50s and a woman in her 80s in Xuyang village in Hubei Province on Saturday. The mother of the seven-year-old boy was also seriously injured by the 43-year-old attacker as she tried to rescue her son, the report said. — AFP

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