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Shift focus to western border, Gates tells Pak
US not out to control Pak nukes: Gates
iPhone comes to rescue of filmmaker in Haiti
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Quake toll 1,10,000
Nepal Maoists call off indefinite strike
Prez poll: Campaigning
ends in Lanka
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Shift focus to western border, Gates tells Pak
Islamabad, January 23 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
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iPhone comes to rescue of filmmaker in Haiti
New York, January 23 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
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Nepal Maoists call off indefinite strike
Kathmandu, January 23 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 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 |
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