W O R L D

Pak irked over Indian presence in Kabul
Seeks US intervention to dilute its ‘adverse impact’ on war against terror
Pakistan's top civil and military leaders have reiterated their concerns over India's increasing presence in Kabul to the United States seeking its intervention to dilute its adverse impact on the war against terrorism.

US President Barack Obama (left) bows as he is greeted by Japanese Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Saturday. — AP/PTI

US won’t be cowed by N Korea’s threats: Obama
Tokyo, November 14
Seeking a world free of atomic arms, President Barack Obama today asserted that the US and others will not “be cowed” by North Korea's threats to step up its nuclear programme and will advance the goal of securing all of the world's “vulnerable” material within four years. “Next year, we will advance our goal,” he said.

Car bomber kills 10 in Peshawar
In continuing wave of violence in Pakistan's northwest, a suicide car bomber blew himself up at a police check-post on Peshawar's outskirts today, killing 10 persons, including women and children, and injuring over 25 others.

Hearing of 26/11 rescheduled
Islamabad, November 14
The hearing of the Mumbai attack case involving seven suspects, including LeT operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, has been rescheduled for Monday in a Pakistani anti-terror court as the judge who was to take up the matter today was on leave.

Suu Kyi appeals to top court: lawyer
Yangon, November 14
Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday lodged an appeal with the military-ruled country's highest court against her extended house arrest, her main lawyer said. The Nobel laureate was ordered to spend another 18 months in detention in August after a court convicted her over an incident in which a US man swam to her house. An initial appeal was rejected in October.

NASA moon strikes find abundant lunar water
 Washington, November 14
Two months after India's maiden Chandrayaan-I mission discovered traces of water on Moon, NASA today said it had found "significant amounts" of water ice on its surface, a finding that could trigger a hunt for life in outer space and boost hopes for a permanent lunar base.

California’s ‘mini Punjab’ gets Sikh mayor
Los Angeles, November 14
An Indian-American man who rose from humble beginnings to become a successful farmer and banker, will be the first Sikh mayor of a Californian city known for its large Punjabi population.

PPP wins PoK poll
The Pakistan Peoples’ Party has won 11 of 23 contested seats to emerge as single largest majority party in the 33-seat Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, according to unofficial results amid allegations of large scale rigging by opposition parties.

Heavy snow claims 40 lives in China
Beijing, November 14
Early heavy snow storms in north-central China have killed 40 persons, caused collapse of over 9,000 buildings, destroyed standing winter crop over 2,000 hectares and led to massive traffic snarls.

 

Pak irked over Indian presence in Kabul
Seeks US intervention to dilute its ‘adverse impact’ on war against terror
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Pakistan's top civil and military leaders have reiterated their concerns over India's increasing presence in Kabul to the United States seeking its intervention to dilute its adverse impact on the war against terrorism.

"Indian presence in Afghanistan would not help achieve objectives of the war on terror," Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was cited by a military spokesman as telling on Friday making it clear to the US National Security Advisor Gen James Jones (retd) who called on him at GHQ.

The visiting US dignitary also held separate meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

The Chief of Army Staff also pointed out that Indian presence in Afghanistan might adversely impact efforts seeking to woo moderate Taliban in Afghanistan. General Kayani apprised the US dignitary about operation Rah-e-Nijat being carried out against terrorists in South Waziristan Agency.

Earlier, Jones also called on President Asif Ali Zardari and discussed issues relating to Pakistan's struggle against militancy, rehabilitation of IDPs and early reimbursement of the arrears in coalition support fund (CSF).

When the US official called on Prime Minister Gilani, the PM underlined Pakistan's concerns on the possible effects of surge in the US forces in Afghanistan, particularly in the bordering province of Helmand. Gilani emphasised that crossing over of Afghan Taliban into Pakistan's territory must be factored in the new policy.

Gilani also called for regular consultations and coordination between the two sides in deployment of the US forces in Afghanistan, strengthening of the mechanism of border coordination centres, fencing of Pakistan-Afghan border, introduction of telemetric system for stemming the supply of weapons and drugs, and stopping the crossover of undesirable elements from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

In Multan talking to reporters at the airport, Prime Minister Gilani said he had spoken to his Indian counterpart on reports about Indian intervention in Balochistan to bolster insurgency there. "We will make public proofs of Indian activities at an appropriate time," Gilani added.

US won’t be cowed by N Korea’s threats: Obama

Tokyo, November 14
Seeking a world free of atomic arms, President Barack Obama today asserted that the United States and others will not “be cowed” by North Korea's threats to step up its nuclear programme and will advance the goal of securing all of the world's “vulnerable” material within four years. “Next year at our Nuclear Security Summit, we will advance our goal of securing all of the world's vulnerable nuclear materials within four years,” he said in his major policy speech on Asia at the Suntory Hall here. Obama stressed on the need of a world free of nuclear weapons for achieving “common security”.

Noting that strengthening the global non-proliferation regime is not about singling out individual nations, he said it was about all nations living up to their responsibilities. “That includes the Islamic Republic of Iran. And it includes North Korea,” he said.

“For decades, North Korea has chosen a path of confrontation and provocation, including the pursuit of nuclear weapons.” “It should be clear where that path leads. We have tightened sanctions on Pyongyang. We have passed the most sweeping UN Security Council resolution to restrict their weapons of mass destruction activities,” he said.

“We will not be cowed by threats, and we will continue to send a clear message through our actions, and not just our words. North Korea's refusal to meet its international obligations will lead only to less security - not more,” Obama said.

Obama said the US was prepared to offer North Korea a different future. “Instead of an isolation that has compounded the horrific repression of its own people, North Korea could have a future of international integration.”

And instead of increasing insecurity, it could have a future of greater security and respect,” he said. Obama said the path for North Korea to realise this future was clear: a return to the six-party talks on its nuclear issue; upholding previous commitments, including a return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; and the full and verifiable de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. — PTI 

Car bomber kills 10 in Peshawar
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

In continuing wave of violence in Pakistan's northwest, a suicide car bomber blew himself up at a police check-post on Peshawar's outskirts today, killing 10 persons, including women and children, and injuring over 25 others. “Five persons, including a constable, were killed on the spot” city administration chief Sahibzada Anis told reporters adding that it was a suicide attack.

“The bomber driving a car was checked at the police post for search but he blew himself up,” Anis said adding that the bomber carrying about 50 kg of explosive was heading towards another target in the town. The bomber and the policeman who tried to search the car were killed instantly.

The high intensity blast at the check post severely damaged the vehicles parked nearby. The site of the explosion was close to city’s elite Peshawar Club. On Friday morning, a suicide bomber driving a mini truck loaded with huge quantity of about 300 kg of explosives rammed into the provincial headquarter of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in Peshawar killing 13 persons and inuring dozens others.

This was the fifth consecutive bomb blast in as many days in provincial metropolis Peshawar which has been targeted by Taliban militants since May when the army launched offensive in Swat. The incidents intensified in September after nearly two months lull when the army moved in South Waziristan, the main bastion of Tehrike Taliban Pakistan. Over 250 persons have been killed in 20 blasts since September.

Meanwhile, troops killed 13 militants in two separate gunfights on Saturday in the Swat valley, officials said. Five militants were killed after a group of insurgents ambushed a military convoy near Totakan village while eight more insurgents were killed during a search operation in thick forest near Mangaltan village.

Hearing of 26/11 rescheduled

Islamabad, November 14
The hearing of the Mumbai attack case involving seven suspects, including LeT operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, has been rescheduled for Monday in a Pakistani anti-terror court as the judge who was to take up the matter today was on leave.

There was no hearing today as the judge, Malik Muhammad Akram Awan, was on leave, Shahbaz Rajput, the lawyer of some of the accused, said. The next hearing had been scheduled for November 16, he said. On November 7, the judge had adjourned the trial for a week after accepting two applications filed by the accused and hearing arguments from both sides, Rajput had earlier said.

The other sources had said in their applications, the accused had sought details of the chargesheet framed against them and attested copies of the statement made to the Indian authorities by Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the Mumbai attacks. A Rawalpindi-based bench of the Lahore High Court last month directed the anti-terror court to take into account the views of the accused and to redress their grievances before proceeding with their indictment. — PTI 

Suu Kyi appeals to top court: lawyer

Yangon, November 14
Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday lodged an appeal with the military-ruled country's highest court against her extended house arrest, her main lawyer said. The Nobel laureate was ordered to spend another 18 months in detention in August after a court convicted her over an incident in which a US man swam to her house. An initial appeal was rejected in October.

"We submitted the appeal petition to the supreme court. Now we must wait to find out whether the court will agree to hear the case," Kyi Win, the head of Suu Kyi's legal team, told AFP outside the court.

The fresh appeal came as Suu Kyi's case was set to dominate an expected meeting between US President Barack Obama and the Myanmar junta's prime minister in Singapore at a regional forum on Sunday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Myanmar on Thursday to free the 64-year-old Suu Kyi, who has been in jail or under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years. The ruling junta refused to recognise the landslide victory of her National League for Democracy in elections in 1990. — AFP

NASA moon strikes find abundant lunar water

Washington, November 14
Two months after India's maiden Chandrayaan-I mission discovered traces of water on Moon, NASA today said it has found "significant amounts" of water ice on its surface, a finding that could trigger a hunt for life in outer space and boost hopes for a permanent lunar base.

This image provided by NASA shows the ejecta plume created by the LCROSS Centaur upper stage rocket. It turns out there’s plenty of water on the moon, at least near the lunar south pole, scientists said. — AP/PTI

"Indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a little bit, we found a significant amount," Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Centre at Moffett Field, California, said.

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) probe 'bombarded' the lunar south pole at a crater called Cabeus on October nine.

"In the 20 to 30 metre crater we found may be about a dozen, at least, two-gallon buckets of water. This is an initial result," Colaprete said.

The $ 79 million spacecraft, preceded by its Centaur rocket stage, hit the lunar surface in an effort to create a debris plume that could be analysed by scientists for signs of water ice.

"The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water. Secrets the moon has been holding, for perhaps billions of years, are now being revealed to the delight of scientists and space enthusiasts alike," the space agency said in a statement.

Scientists are mulling over the idea of establishing a lunar base that would help in interplanetary missions and space exploration.

"Preliminary data from the LCROSS, indicates that the mission successfully uncovered water during the October 9, 2009 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus cater near the moon's south pole," it said.— PTI

California’s ‘mini Punjab’ gets Sikh mayor

Los Angeles, November 14
An Indian-American man who rose from humble beginnings to become a successful farmer and banker, will be the first Sikh mayor of a Californian city known for its large Punjabi population.

Kash Gill, who as a boy used to work as a farm labourer to help his family make ends meet, was sworn in as the Mayor of Yuba City earlier this week. The 46-year-old, now the senior vice president of a bank in the town, was elected to the City Council four years ago. The local body members chose him for the post in a 5-0 vote.

Gill, a native of Lakhsian village in Punjab, is the first Punjabi-American to hold the title in Yuba City and one of the first to do so in the state of California. — PTI

PPP wins PoK poll
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

The Pakistan Peoples’ Party has won 11 of 23 contested seats to emerge as single largest majority party in the 33-seat Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, according to unofficial results amid allegations of large scale rigging by opposition parties.

The PML-N secured only two seats while MQM, JUI and PML-Q got one each. Four independents were also elected one of whom Hamid Khan joined the PPP on Saturday. The newly elected lawmakers will first elect six women and three technocrats on reserved seats, after which the assembly would elect the regions first chief minister.

Heavy snow claims 40 lives in China

Beijing, November 14
Early heavy snow storms in north-central China have killed 40 persons, caused collapse of over 9,000 buildings, destroyed standing winter crop over 2,000 hectares and led to massive traffic snarls. At least 21 persons were killed mostly in house collapses caused by heaviest snowfall in a decade in Hebei and Henan provinces over the past three days.

The heavy snow storms also caused death of 29 more persons in traffic-related accidents, the official news agency Xinhua reported, quoting officials of Civil Affairs Ministry saying that the unusual snowfall had disrupted flights and affected more than eight million people. — PTI