W O R L D

Shift focus to western border, Gates tells Pak
Islamabad, January 23
US has asked Pakistan to shift its greater security role to its western border with Afghanistan as it is there that it faces an "existential threat" rather than on the frontier with India.

A supporter of former Thai premier Shinawatra protests on Saturday at a golf course said to be built illegally on forest land. The protesters accused royal adviser Prem Tinsulanonda of having links with the ownership of the golf course, a charge denied by the owners. — Reuters

US not out to control Pak nukes: Gates
US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates has said the US was seeking no military bases and had no desire to control Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.“Let me say definitively that the US does not covet a single inch of the Pakistani soil. We seek no military bases here and we have no desire to control Pakistan’s nuclear weapons,” Gates said. He also announced $1 billion aid for Pakistan, besides providing pilotless plane and state-of-the art military equipment.

iPhone comes to rescue of filmmaker in Haiti
New York, January 23
American filmmaker Dan Woolley, who lay trapped beneath Haiti's earthquake rubble for some 66 hours used medical application installed on his iPhone to survive until help arrived.

Firefighters try to douse flames emanating from an oil tanker carrying fuel supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan. The tanker was attacked by militants on the outskirt of Peshawar on Saturday. — AP/PTI

Quake toll 1,10,000
Port-au-Prince: More than 110,000 persons were confirmed killed in the Haiti earthquake, the interior ministry has said, making it the deadliest quake on record in the Americas. The ministry put the toll from the disastrous January 12 quake at 111,499. The statement said that 193,891 persons were injured in the 7.0-magnitude quake that hit the capital Port-au-Prince.

Nepal Maoists call off indefinite strike
Kathmandu, January 23
Nepal's Maoists have called off their indefinite strike to shutdown the country in a dispute with the president, amid speculations that the political parties may have made progress to end the deadlock. The UCPN-Maoist called off its indefinite general strike from January 24 after a top meeting of senior leaders under the chairmanship of its supremo Prachanda. Even as Maoist vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the party had decided to withdraw the nationwide shutdown, he underlined that the party will step up the agitation if the row over "civilian supremacy" is not addressed by the ruling coalition.

Prez poll: Campaigning ends in Lanka
Colombo, January 23
Campaigning of Sri Lanka’s crucial presidential elections has been wound up, with the opposition warning the government against any vote rigging or violence. As the final election rallies were being held, opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka said he feared that the ruling party led by incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa might intimidate voters and indulge in violence.

Shift focus to western border, Gates tells Pak

Islamabad, January 23
US has asked Pakistan to shift its greater security role to its western border with Afghanistan as it is there that it faces an "existential threat" rather than on the frontier with India.

Visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said Pakistan should commit itself to a greater role in its western border. He made these remarks during an interview with state-run Pakistan Television while responding to questions on why US believes Islamabad should commit itself to a greater role on its western borders.

"Well, I think...because it faces, in its own way, an existential threat on its western border," Gates said. Asked if there was no threat to Pakistan on the eastern border with India, Gates replied: "I said we understood Pakistan's legitimate concerns. It also has an existential threat on its western border, and that is the more immediate threat.

"That is the threat where people have put suicide bombers in Pakistan cities, have killed Pakistani military officers and their families.

This is the threat that faces Pakistan most immediately, and that's the reason why I think, Pakistani leadership has taken action to prevent those kind of attacks from happening," he said.

Over the past few months, the US has been nudging Pakistan to shift troops from the Indian border to its western frontier so that they can take on Taliban militants who attack foreign forces in Afghanistan. However, Pakistan has been reluctant to reduce troop deployments along the Indian border, citing the strained relations between the two countries.

Gates, who is visiting Islamabad for a strategic dialogue on the link between security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, also described as "exaggerated" Pakistan’s concerns about the Indian presence in Afghanistan.

Noting that India is one of 44 countries providing development assistance to Afghanistan, he said: "I think at this stage to worry about India having predominant influence is exaggerated, as far as I'm concerned."

“I think what's important is that over the long term (that) both India and Pakistan have a strong relationship with Afghanistan.”

Gates reiterated that he believed India "was restrained in its response" after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

"But no country, including the US, is going to stand idly by if it's being attacked by somebody," he said. — PTI

iPhone comes to rescue of filmmaker in Haiti

New York, January 23
American filmmaker Dan Woolley, who lay trapped beneath Haiti's earthquake rubble for some 66 hours used medical application installed on his iPhone to survive until help arrived.

American news network NBC reported that Woolley used the light from his iPhone to locate his injuries and diagnosed it as a broken foot. He, then, used the instructions from the application to treat the excessive bleeding from cuts on his legs and the back of his head.

"I kind of had some time to do some self-diagnosis down there," Woolley told NBC news. The 39-year-old filmmaker also used the application for ways to stop from going into shock and used it to take pictures to figure out a way to get out.

"I took pictures all around me, then I would hold up the back of the camera to me and I could see what the picture was of a little," Woolley said.

"I was able to find an elevator in one of the pictures and that is where I decided to hobble to be in a more safe location."

The filmmaker was in Haiti to make a documentary on the Caribbean country's children suffering from poverty when the devastating 7-magnitude earthquake struck, trapping him in the ruins of his hotel.

So far, the disaster in Haiti has killed at least 75,000 persons and left 5,00,000 homeless. — PTI

Nepal Maoists call off indefinite strike

Kathmandu, January 23
Nepal's Maoists have called off their indefinite strike to shutdown the country in a dispute with the president, amid speculations that the political parties may have made progress to end the deadlock. The UCPN-Maoist called off its indefinite general strike from January 24 after a top meeting of senior leaders under the chairmanship of its supremo Prachanda. Even as Maoist vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the party had decided to withdraw the nationwide shutdown, he underlined that the party will step up the agitation if the row over "civilian supremacy" is not addressed by the ruling coalition.

The decision fuelled speculations that the high-level political mechanism (HLPM) to end the deadlock may have made some progress in satisfying the Maoists demand, media reports said.

The political parties are deadlocked over the Maoists' demand to rectify the decision of President Ram Baran Yadav, who reinstated General Rukmangad Katawal, the then Army Chief dismissed by Maoists Prime Minister Prachanda in May last year.

Nepali Congress and CPN-UML leaders asked the Maoists to call off the agitation to paralyse the country, expressing their readiness to resolve the deadlock through dialogue, the report said. The mechanism also passed its terms of reference (ToR) prepared by the three-party committee.

Political tensions have been high in Nepal since a government led by the Maoist resigned last year amid a dispute with the president over the army chief's refusal to incorporate former Maoist rebels fighters into the military. — PTI 

Prez poll: Campaigning ends in Lanka

Colombo, January 23
Campaigning of Sri Lanka’s crucial presidential elections has been wound up, with the opposition warning the government against any vote rigging or violence. As the final election rallies were being held, opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka said he feared that the ruling party led by incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa might intimidate voters and indulge in violence.

The electioneering has been marred by large-scale violence, and four persons, who were opposition supporters, have been killed and hundreds wounded in the run up to the polls.— PTI