W O R L D

Suicide bomber kills 41 in Afghan mosque
Kabul, October 26
A suicide bomber killed at least 41 persons, including five children, when he struck at a mosque in northern Afghanistan after Eid al-Adha prayers today, officials said.

Afghans carry the body of a suicide attack victim in Maymana, north west of Kabul, on Friday. — AP/PTI

Obama casts early ballot
Washington, October 26
Barack Obama scripted history when he cast his ballot 12 days ahead of the November 6 polls, becoming the first sitting US President to vote early in the election described by him as an "extremely tight" race between him and his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Italy ex-PM Berlo jailed for tax fraud
Milan, October 26
An Italian court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to four years in jail for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television company.

Missing toddler found dead in US
Washington, October 26
A 10-month-old Indian girl, who was kidnapped early this week, was today found dead in the basement of an apartment in a Philadelphia township in the US, a Philadelphia police official said.


In this undated photo provided by police, Satyavathi Venna holds her granddaughter Saanvi. — PTI

Suicide bomber kills 41 in Afghan mosque

Kabul, October 26
A suicide bomber killed at least 41 persons, including five children, when he struck at a mosque in northern Afghanistan after Eid al-Adha prayers today, officials said.

Dozens more were wounded as the bomb ripped through the crowd of worshippers in Maymana city in Faryab province and there were fears the death toll could rise.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suicide bombings are a favourite weapon of Taliban Islamists trying to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The attacker was wearing a police uniform when he blew himself up at the entrance to the city's packed Eid Gah mosque, deputy provincial governor Abdul Satar Barez told AFP. "Our latest death toll shows 41 deaths, and that might rise," he said.

"Nineteen were members of the security forces, including police, army and intelligence agents. Seventeen were civilians and five children are also among the dead."

Barez, like many other provincial officials, was at the scene at the time of the bombing and described the horror of the blast in the midst of a religious celebration. "We had just finished Eid al-Adha prayers and we were congratulating and hugging each other," Barez said.

"Suddenly a big explosion took place and the area was full of dust and smoke and body parts of police and civilians were all over the place. It was a very powerful explosion." One eyewitness, Sayed Moqeed, described the bomber as appearing to be in his early teens. "Suddenly I heard a very big explosion," he said.

"Everywhere were pieces of bodies, hands and limbs. The suicide attacker was in police uniform, he looked to be around 14 or 15 years old."

Karzai strongly condemned the attack, calling the perpetrators "the enemies of Islam and humanity". "Those who take the happiness of Muslims during Eid days cannot be called human and Muslim," he said. — PTI

Obama casts early ballot
Scripting History Becomes first sitting US Prez to vote early

Barack Obama casts his vote at the Martin Luther King Community Center in Chicago. — Reuters

Washington, October 26
Barack Obama scripted history when he cast his ballot 12 days ahead of the November 6 polls, becoming the first sitting US President to vote early in the election described by him as an "extremely tight" race between him and his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Amidst his hectic electioneering schedule, 51-year-old Obama flew in from Richmond in Virginia to cast his vote at the Martin Luther King Community Center in his home town of Chicago yesterday.

As Obama entered the polling booth, he greeted everybody and said it is exciting to get to vote early.

"This is the first time a President's ever going to be early voting," he said. "That's pretty exciting." After a woman election official asked for his driver's licence for identification purposes, he said: "Oh, you're right" and took out his driver's licence from his pocket. "Now ignore the fact that there's no grey hair in that picture," he said in a lighter vein.

Following this, the election official asked him a question about paperwork, something about whether it was the right form he had, according to a White House pool report.

"I assume it is," he replied. "I hope so. If not, this will be really embarrassing." While waiting, he asked if they had been getting a lot of early voters and was told they were. "It makes such a difference," he said. Then he remarked, "I'm just glad I renewed my driver's licence." — PTI

Italy ex-PM Berlo jailed for tax fraud

Milan, October 26
An Italian court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to four years in jail for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television company.

Berlusconi has the right to appeal the ruling two more times before the sentence becomes definitive and will not be jailed unless the final appeal is upheld. Prosecutors had asked for a jail sentence of three years and eight months.

The court also ordered damages provisionally set at 10 million euros ($12.96 million) to be paid by Berlusconi and his co-defendants to tax authorities.

The ruling comes two days after Berlusconi, 76, confirmed he would not run in next year's elections as the leader of his centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party.

A separate trial over accusations that Berlusconi paid for sex with an underaged prostitute is currently being heard in Milan. He denies all charges against him. The four-time prime minister and other Mediaset executives stood accused of inflating the price paid for TV rights via offshore companies controlled by Berlusconi, and skimming off part of the money to create illegal slush funds.

The investigation focused on television and cinema rights that Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest bought via offshore companies from US groups for 470 million euros between 1994 and 1999.

Angelino Alfano, secretary of the PDL, said the ruling proved once again "judicial persecution" of the media-magnate. — Reuters

Missing toddler found dead in US

Washington, October 26
A 10-month-old Indian girl, who was kidnapped early this week, was today found dead in the basement of an apartment in a Philadelphia township in the US, a Philadelphia police official said.

Saanvi was kidnapped and her 61-year-old grandmother Satyavathi Venna was killed by unknown people on Monday. The authorities had announced $50,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of the toddler.

"We have arrested a family friend, identified as Raghunanean Yaneadamuri, who was demanding ransom," the official said, adding that there were 10 copies of identical ransom notes demanding $50,000 found near the apartment.

"We have filed charges of murder, kidnapping, robbery, burglary and theft against Yaneadamuri. What we have learned during the course of investigation is that this individual planned to kidnap Saanvi and was going to hold her for ransom," the official said.

Earlier, Pennsylvania State Police had issued an Amber Child Abduction Alert.

According to District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, the body of Satyavathi, the paternal grandmother of Saanvi, was discovered inside the apartment. She was babysitting the child. The grandmother had arrived in the US from India in July 2012 and was scheduled to return home in January 2013.

The parents of the child Venkata Konda Siva Venna and Chenchu Latha Punuru emigrated from India in February 2007 and have previously lived in San Antonio Texas, Troy Michigan, and Cleveland Ohio. In June this year, they moved to King of Prussia in Pennsylvania. — Agencies

BRIEFLY

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai with her brothers and father Ziauddin Yousufzai at a hospital in Birmingham. — AFP

Sandy pounds Bahamas after killing 21 in Caribbean
Nassau: Hurricane Sandy raged through the Bahamas early on Friday after leaving 21 persons dead across the Caribbean, following a path that could see it blend with a winter storm and reach the US East Coast as a super-storm next week. Sandy knocked out power, flooded roads and cut off islands in the storm-hardened Bahamas as it swirled past Cat Island and Eleuthera, but authorities reported no deaths in the scattered archipelago. — AP

Bo Xilai stripped of last official title
Beijing: Disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai was on Friday expelled from Parliament ahead of a once-in- decade leadership transition, removing the final hurdle for his trial in a scandal that has thrown the ruling Communist Party into its biggest crisis in decades. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) announced the termination of Bo's membership in the NPC, his last official position. The move strips Bo, 63, of immunity from prosecution. — PTI

Fighting ruptures Syrian ceasefire
BEIRUT: Fighting in Syria killed several people on Friday as a ceasefire brokered by international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to mark a holy Muslim day frayed almost before it had begun. The Syrian military had said it would hold fire for four days following Brahimi's ceasefire appeal, which had won widespread support, including from Russia, China and Iran, President Bashar al-Assad's main foreign allies. — Reuters