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N Korea ends peace pacts with South
World leaders attend Chavez’s funeral
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New York woman on trial for keeping Indian as ‘slave’
Osama’s son-in-law held, pleads not guilty in US
Pak Govt given 'last chance' to reply
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N Korea ends peace pacts with South Seoul, March 8 The latest measures announced by Pyongyang ramped up tensions on the Korean peninsula that have surged since the North staged a third nuclear test last month. The country had yesterday threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States and South Korea. Pyongyang is known for its bellicose rhetoric, but the tone has reached a frenzied pitch in recent days, fuelling concerns that it might trigger a border incident, with both North and South planning major military exercises next week. North Korea "abrogates all agreements on non-aggression reached between the North and the South", the state-run Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said in a statement. A non-aggression pact signed in 1991 endorsed the peaceful settlement of disputes and the prevention of accidental military clashes. The CPRK said the pact would be voided as of Monday, the same day that Pyongyang has vowed to rip up the 1953 armistice agreement that ended Korean War hostilities. "It also notifies the South side that it will immediately cut off the North-South hotline," the committee said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The hotline was installed in 1971 and the North has severed it on five occasions in the past -- most recently in 2010. Pyongyang's latest announcement came hours after the UN Security Council beefed up existing sanctions on the communist state in response to its February 12 nuclear test. The resolution adopted by the 15-member Council added new names to the UN sanctions blacklist and tightened restrictions on North Korea's financial dealings, notably its suspect "bulk cash" transfers. The new sanctions will "bite hard", said the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice. "They increase North Korea's isolation and raise the cost to North Korea's leaders of defying the international community." — AFP Flexing Muscles
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World leaders attend Chavez’s funeral
Caracas, March 8 Venezuela has given a lavish farewell to the leftist firebrand, with hundreds of thousands of people filing past his open casket non-stop since Wednesday to say goodbye to the man who was worshipped by the oil-rich nation's poor. Foreign Minister Elias Jaua and a crowd of flag-waving Chavez supporters greeted leaders who began to arrive at the military academy for the funeral, set to start at 11.00 am (2100 IST). In the evening Nicolas Maduro, who was Chavez's Vice-President, will be named acting president and elections are expected to be called within 30 days. Most Latin American leaders are attending the funeral, as well as bugbears of the West long courted by the anti-US Chavez, including Cuba's Raul Castro, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Belarussian strongman Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko, once dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by the United States, smiled and pumped his first at a crowd of Chavez supporters waving Venezuelan flags behind a fence in front of the academy's entrance. Chavez's mother, Elena Frias, raised her arms toward the cheering crowd, crying and wiping her tears with a white handkerchief. — AFP Maduro to take oath as acting prez Caracas: Vice-President Nicolas Maduro will be sworn in as acting president of Venezuela on Friday after a state funeral is held for Hugo Chavez.
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New York woman on trial for keeping Indian as ‘slave’
New York, March 8 Annie George (40) told jurors that her late husband made every important decision during the time she allegedly forced her ex-employee Valsamma Mathai to work as an illegal servant. Federal prosecutors say Annie's ex-servant Mathai (49) from Kerala worked illegally for 17 to 18 hour shifts with no time off and no sick leave in three homes for the Georges. Annie faces up to 10 years in prison and a $2,50,000 fine if convicted in the US District Court of harbouring an illegal alien for financial gain. — PTI
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Osama’s son-in-law held, pleads not guilty in US Washington, March 8 Ghaith (47), who is married to one of Osama's daughters, Fatima, appeared before Judge Lewis A Kaplan of the US District Court in the cavernous ceremonial courtroom in Lower Manhattan, only blocks from the site of the 9/11 terror attack. Ghaith, a slight, trim man with a grey beard and dressed in a blue prison smock, barely spoke aside from some one-word replies to questions from the judge during the 20-minute arraignment. His lawyer pleaded not guilty on his behalf, the New York Times reported. Federal prosecutors asked that Ghaith remain in custody. His lawyer did not challenge the request, but left open the possibility of making a bail application later. The judge said he would set a trial date of April 8. — PTI
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Zardari case
Lahore, March 8 A five-judge Bench of Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial asked the government to submit its response by March 18. "We have enough material to give a verdict on whether the writ petition about indicting the President for contempt is maintainable or not," Bandial observed while hearing the case. — PTI
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Homemade bombs explode in Shahbagh Square; 1 hurt Dalai Lama ‘rewarding’ self-immolators Japan clones 26 generations & still going Musharraf’s return trip: Tickets available John Brennan sworn in as CIA Director For $2,500, be part of Musharraf’s return trip |
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Washington, March 8
