W O R L D

Defiant N Korea conducts N-test

n Pyongyang says test designed to bolster nuclear deterrent n Permanent members of UN Security Council express concern n Security Council emergency meeting scheduled Seoul, May 25 North Korea conducted a second nuclear test today that was far more powerful than its first one, triggering an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on the hermit state’s defiant act, but financial markets wobbled only briefly on the news.

Anti-North Korea protesters hold signs denouncing North Korea’s nuclear test, in Seoul on Monday. — Reuters

Madhav sworn in Nepal PM

Veteran Communist leader and former general secretary of the CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal was sworn in as prime minister of the Himalayan nation on Monday.
Nepal’s new PM Madhav Kumar Nepal addresses officials in Kathmandu on Monday. — AP/PTI

Pak troops secure key Taliban base
Islamabad, May 25
Pakistani troops captured a key Taliban stronghold in Swat valley and moved to wrest its main town Mingora, where the militants today appealed to civilians to return and promised to hold fire but stopped short of calling it a truce.

• Shutdown in Sindh against Swat influx

Pak, Iran, Afghanistan pledge to defeat terror
Tehran, May 25
Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan at a trilateral summit here yesterday reaffirmed their commitment to eliminate terrorism from the region and agreed to hold regular consultations on important matters between the three countries.

Defiant N Korea conducts N-test
n Pyongyang says test designed to bolster nuclear deterrent
n Permanent members of UN Security Council express concern
n Security Council emergency meeting scheduled

Seoul, May 25
North Korea conducted a second nuclear test today that was far more powerful than its first one, triggering an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on the hermit state’s defiant act, but financial markets wobbled only briefly on the news.

US President Barack Obama said Pyongyang’s attempts at developing nuclear weapons was a threat to international peace and security, while the North’s neighbour and long-time benefactor, China, said it was “resolutely opposed” to the test.

Russia, which also called the test a threat to regional security, said the blast was about equal in power to the US atom bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki in World War II.

Ratcheting up tensions further, North Korea test-fired three short-range missiles just hours later, Yonhap news agency said.

Officials in Washington and Beijing said North Korea had warned their governments of the test about an hour before detonation but nearby Japan said it was not given advance notice. Germany, Britain and France were among the nations condemning the test while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply worried.”

Monday’s blast was up to 20 times more powerful than the North’s first nuclear test about 2 ½ years ago, underscoring the advances in its nuclear programme despite multilateral talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons ambitions.

The latest test will confound the international community, which has for years tried a mixture of huge aid pledges and tough economic sanctions to persuade the impoverished North to give up efforts to build a nuclear arsenal.

It is also bound to raise concerns about proliferation, a major worry of the United States which has in the past accused Pyongyang of trying to sell its nuclear know-how to states such as Syria.

Analysts said the test also will serve to raise North Korea’s leverage in any negotiations with the United States. It comes as speculation has mounted that leader Kim Jong-il, his health uncertain after reports of a stroke last year, wants to strengthen an already iron grip on power so he can better secure the succession for one of his three sons.

North Korea already is so isolated there is little left with which to punish an autocratic government that has long been willing to take dealings with the outside world to the brink. At home, its leaders repeatedly stress the threat from a hostile United States to justify heavy spending on the military that keeps them in power but which has meant deepening poverty, at times famine, for most of the rest of its 23 million people.

The official KCNA news agency said the North had “successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way.” — Reuters

Madhav sworn in Nepal PM
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

Pak troops secure key Taliban base

Islamabad, May 25
Pakistani troops captured a key Taliban stronghold in Swat valley and moved to wrest its main town Mingora, where the militants today appealed to civilians to return and promised to hold fire but stopped short of calling it a truce.

Amid intense fighting, nearly 2.4 million people have fled their homes, the UN and government officials said.

The military said the security forces have secured Maalam Jabba, located on the main line of communication and connecting Swat Valley with Mansehra in Hazara area.

Once popular with tourists for its pristine ski slopes, it was being used as a training centre and logistics base by terrorists, a military statement said. “After stiff resistance, security forces have secured Maalam Jabba, the stronghold of militant-terrorists in Swat,” it said.

Officials said six Taliban were killed, eight arrested and six security personnel were injured in the last 24 hours in different parts of the restive region.

The forces have also started an operation to secure Kabbal, the main stronghold of Taliban, where fleeing militants from Mingora are gathering, the military said.

The security forces are facing “stiff resistance” as they moved to secure the militant strongholds, according to the statement. Troops had to clear improvised explosive devices while advancing, it said.

UNHCR spokesperson Ariane Rummery, citing North West Frontier Province authorities, said 2.38 million people have fled the conflict zone since May 2.

Shutdown in Sindh against Swat influx

Karachi: Shoot-at-sight order was issued today here to quell violence, as agitators protesting against the influx of refugees from the restive Swat valley forced complete shut down in Pakistan’s commercial capital.

A local group Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) forced authorities to wind up shelters, which housed the displaced ethnic Pushthuns from the restive NWFP as they observed the provincial strike.

Abdul Wahid Aresar who heads the JSQM said the province could not accept anymore immigrants as the native Sindhis were being marginalised. “It is not an issue of helping displaced people but off the existing burden on the province and Karachi,” he said. — PTI

Pak, Iran, Afghanistan pledge to defeat terror