The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	15 killed as Israel pounds Gaza Gaza City, November 15 Two more Gazans died in Israeli air strikes today, raising the toll to 15, as militants fired 250 rockets over the border, killing three Israelis, officials said. Aside from the deaths, around 150 Gazans have been injured in 22 hours of Israeli air strikes, medics said. Hamas health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said a strike in the northern town of Beit Lahiya had killed a 60-year-old man. And the emergency services said a child had died of wounds he sustained in a strike on Khan Yunis earlier today. Since Israel's targeted killing of a top Hamas chief yesterday afternoon, Gaza rockets have killed three Israelis and injured another 16, police and medics said. Soon after dawn today, an Israeli air strike east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis killed three Palestinians, medical officials said. The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said the three men were all members and were hit as they travelled in a motorcycle-taxi. Ahmed Jaabari, the operational commander of Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was killed along with his bodyguard, Mohammed al-Hams, in an initial Israeli strike on a car in Gaza City, the Islamist movement said. Later in the day, an air strike hit northern Gaza where two persons were killed and another person was injured, medics said. It was not immediately clear if they were civilians or militants. Today's rocket strike in Kiryat Malachi "killed ... two males and a female in two apartments in a building which was hit", police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Since the violence erupted when Israel killed a top Hamas militant yesterday, the military has hit "around 225 targets" in Gaza, a spokeswoman said. In the same period, "at least 138 rockets" hit Israel, while another 81 were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, she said. — AFP UNSC meets The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting here to discuss the deadly Israeli attack on Gaza, with India expressing hope that Israel and Palestine will pay heed to the Council's message that the two should exercise restraint and violence must stop.
	LeT militant in FBI’s most wanted list Washington, November 15 A little known Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant, suspected to be operating long in shadows in Pakistan and an American, believed to be operating with terrorists in Somalia have been put in the FBI's most-wanted terrorists list. Sheikh Aminullah, head of a madrassa in Ganj district of Peshawar, and Alabama-born Omar Shafik Hammami today were put under scanner by the American federal agency blocking their assets in the US and banning Americans from doing business with them. FBI spokeswoman Lindsay Godwin said the two had been put on the most wanted list for providing support to foreign terrorist organisations. Raddulan Sahiron, a native of the Philippines, was also put on the list for his involvement in the 1993 kidnapping of an American. — PTI
	Petraeus scandal No breach in security: Obama Washington, November 15 US President Barack Obama has found "no evidence" that the raging scandal that consumed CIA Director Gen David Petraeus and also embroiled America's top general in Afghanistan, has caused any breach in national security. Making his first public comments on the raging row over the sex scandal, Obama was restrained in his comments though he appeared to back the military commanders for now. "I have no evidence at this point from what I've seen that classified information was disclosed that in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security," he said. Petraeus resigned abruptly last week over an extra marital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell. The US commander in Afghanistan, Gen John Allen, also got embroiled in the controversy after a probe was opened for possible "inappropriate communications" with a Florida socialite allegedly harassed by Broadwell via anonymous emails. "Obviously, there's an ongoing investigation. I don't want to comment on the specifics of the investigation," Obama said in response to a question if there was any breach of national security due to the scandal. — PTI
	Ahead of Obama visit, Myanmar to free 452 prisoners Yangon, November 15 Myanmar is set to free hundreds of prisoners today, officials said, just days ahead of a landmark visit by US President Barack Obama to a country emerging from decades of military rule. Relatives of the scores of political detainees still languishing in jails were waiting anxiously to learn whether they would be among those released. A prison department official said 452 prisoners would walk free today morning. "There are some foreigners included in the amnesty," he added, without giving details of their nationalities. The planned release was also announced in state media. Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has already freed hundreds of political prisoners incarcerated by the former junta as part of reforms that have led to a dramatic thaw in relations between the former pariah nation and the West. Obama will on Monday become the first sitting US President ever to visit Myanmar, where he will talk with President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. — PTI
	Sino-India contacts set to resume post transition Beijing, November 15 With China’s ruling CPC appointing “fifth generation” leaders headed by Xi Jinping, high-level Sino-India contacts are set to resume this month starting with the Strategic Economic Dialogue, which will be followed by a likely visit of National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon here. The first contact post-transition will take place between Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and his Chinese counterpart and Chief of China’s National Development Reforms Commission (NDRC) Zhang Ping on November 26. The meeting between the two, both influential officials in their respective administrations, was expected to go beyond issues involving the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) and focus on the scope of the bilateral relationship in the light of the leadership change in Beijing. The SED dialogue is expected to be followed by Menon’s visit, even though there is no official announcement about it so far. Officials here are tightlipped about the expected visit of Menon, who had served as the Indian Ambassador to China earlier and is regarded highly by the Chinese leadership. His visit could kick off a new momentum in the relations. Menon’s counterpart in the Special Representative-level talks to resolve the border issue, Dai Bingguo, too, is slated to retire as the administration headed by outgoing President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao will relinquish their posts by March. 71-year-old Dai, who holds the designation of State Councillor, is the longest-serving Chinese diplomat to have held talks with various administrations in India since 2003. Speculation is rife about who will succeed him, and the present Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi is one of the contenders. Both Xi and the No. 2 leader Li Keqiang (57), who is tipped to succeed Premier Wen Jiabao, have not visited India in the recent years even though they were part of the high-power Standing Committee of the outgoing leadership. Xi played a key role in hosting various meetings during former President Pratibha Patil’s China visit in 2010, while former External Affairs Minister SM Krishna met Li during his visit here this year. Indian officials say as Vice-President and Vice-Premier, respectively, in the outgoing administration, both Xi and Li have been very much part of the India-China rapprochement in the past decade, which made progress under the Hu-Wen leadership with Beijing bringing about “strategic equilibrium” in China’s pro-Pakistan policy of the past. Both Hu and Wen had also not visited India before they took power in 2002. Barring the problem relating to China’s move to issue stapled visas in 2009 to residents of Jammu and Kashmir, a decision it abandoned following India’s objections, the relations were on the upswing in recent years with several meetings taking place between the top leaderships of both countries at various fora. Officials from both sides informally speak of the continuity in the policy of improvement of ties. Some Chinese strategists spoke of Beijing scripting a new Look West Policy (West of China) to improve relations with India and countries in South and West Asia to counter US push into the region. — PTI Upcoming Engagements * Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Ahluwalia and Chief of China’s National Development Reforms Commission Zhang Ping to meet on November 26 * National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon likely to visit China soon after
	Pak arrests 9 Indian fishermen Islamabad, November 15 The Pakistani authorities have arrested nine Indian fishermen and seized five boats on charges of illegally fishing in the country's waters, officials said today. The Indian fishermen were arrested by the Maritime Security Agency on Tuesday as their boats were allegedly 30 km inside Pakistan's maritime boundary, the officials said. The fishermen were later handed over to the Docks police station in Karachi and a case was registered against them under the Foreigners Act and the Fishery Act. — PTI