Islamabad, May 29
At least six suspected militants were today killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan tribal region, amid reports that Taliban's No. 2 commander in the country, Waliur Rehman, was among those dead.

The CIA-operated spy plane targeted a house in the Chashma Pul area of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency, a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaida-linked militants on the Afghan border, early this morning.

This was the first missile strike in Pakistan since the landmark May 11 general election and the announcement of a new policy for the use of drones by President Barack Obama last week.

At least six suspected militants were killed instantly and two others injured, news channels quoted officials as saying.

Local residents said several drones were seen hovering over the area after the attack.

The injured were taken to a nearby hospital, where officials described their condition as critical.

The Foreign Office reacted strongly to the attack and a brief statement issued by spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said the Pakistan government had "serious concerns" over the US drone attack in North Waziristan.

"The government of Pakistan has consistently maintained that the drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives, have human rights and humanitarian implications and violate the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law," the statement said. — Agencies

Lashio, Myanmar, May 29
Religious violence shook eastern Myanmar for a second day today as terrified residents called for security reinforcements after an orphanage, mosque and shops were burned down.

The government appealed for calm after the unrest -- the latest in a series of outbreaks of sectarian strife that pose a major challenge to the country's reformist leaders following the end of decades of military rule.

Residents said mobs armed with sticks were roaming the streets of Lashio town in Shan State looking for Muslims today, while an AFP reporter saw two houses ablaze.

A local hospital said it had received four persons with slash wounds but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

The police had earlier claimed the situation was "under control" after an overnight curfew was imposed yesterday after the initial unrest, which the authorities said was triggered by an attack on a local Buddhist woman. — AFP

Islamabad, May 29
Pakistan Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif will oversee the sensitive foreign and defence portfolios as he seeks to forge a working partnership with the all-powerful military in the early days of his tenure, sources close to him said on Tuesday.

Sharif, ousted in a bloodless military coup in 1999, has decided not to appoint defence and foreign ministers in the Cabinet he is putting together. He led his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), back to power in May 11 elections. Instead, he will select a retired civil servant as an adviser on foreign affairs - Tariq Fatemi, a former ambassador to the United States and the European Union, the sources said.

The army has ruled Pakistan for more than half its history since partition with India in 1947 and critics say generals have jealously guarded the right to dictate foreign policy. The move to defer appointing a foreign minister suggests that Sharif wants to get to grips with the government's relationship with the army.

"The incoming government and the army need to be on the same page on key foreign policy issues, not least Pakistan's relations with Afghanistan, India and the United States," a PML-N insider said.

The United States wants ally Pakistan to help rein in the Afghan Taliban before most NATO combat troops pull out of Afghanistan in 2014. — Reuters

Islamabad, May 29
Notwithstanding India's concerns, China has agreed to provide Pakistan $448 million for the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project, currently underway in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), work on which had slowed down due to a financial crunch.

International bodies had refused to fund the 969-MW project, being built on the Neelum river in PoK, as it is located in the disputed region of Kashmir.

India had flagged its concerns regarding Chinese activities in PoK during China's Premier Li Keqiang's visit to New Delhi last week.

The agreement with the state-run Export-Import Bank of China is a "significant development in efforts to secure requisite financial resources for the remaining works" of the project, official sources were quoted as saying by state-run APP news agency. — PTI

Moscow, May 29
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced as "odious" a US-backed draft resolution condemning the Syrian government before a debate at the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday and said it would undermine peace efforts.

Lavrov said US support for the draft resolution, which would condemn "widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights" by Syrian authorities and affiliated militias, ran counter to US-Russian efforts to convene a peace conference.

"The US delegation (at the council in Geneva) is very actively promoting this extremely unwholesome initiative," Lavrov told a news conference after talks with Latin American counterparts in Moscow.

He said the draft was "unilateral and odious" and likened it to a UN General Assembly resolution adopted earlier this month that he said was aimed at creating obstacles to US-Russian efforts to foster a peaceful solution.

Lavrov said it was unacceptable to support the conference, which he and US.Secretary of State John Kerry are trying to organise, while at the same time "taking steps that are in essence aimed at undermining this proposal".

Lavrov reiterated Russian insistence that Iran be invited to the conference, an idea opposed by France, and said opponents of President Bashar al-Assad should be persuaded to enter negotiations "without preconditions" such as his exit. — Reuters

Britain last week informed the United Nations of "new incidents" of apparent chemical weapons use in Syria, diplomats said today. If confirmed, the attacks would heap further pressure on Western countries supporting Syrian rebels to intervene in the conflict.

Kathmandu, May 29
Nepal today felicitated some of the top names in mountaineering, including an Indian, to mark the diamond jubilee of the first human ascent of Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world.

Amelia Rose Hillary, granddaughter of Sir Edmund Hillary, at a function to mark the 60th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest in Kathmandu on Wednesday. — AP/PTI

Sixty years ago, Tenzing Norgay Sherpa from Nepal and Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand had climbed the 8,848-metre high mountain on May 29, 1953 for the first time in human history.

The summiteers felicitated today by Nepal's Tourism Minister Ram Kumar Shrestha included Reinhold Messner, the first person to climb Everest without oxygen, Furba Tashi Sherpa, the record 21-time summiteer, and Ang Rita Sherpa, who climbed the Everest ten times without oxygen.

Other notable names were Kami Sherpa, who climbed Everest three times within nine days, Arjun Vajpayee, the former youngest Everest summiteer of India, and Frits Vrijlandt, president of the Union of International Alpinist Association. Nepal is also using the jubilee celebrations to generate awareness about climate change besides positioning Nepal in the international tourism market.

"Through this celebration, the world will come to know about our culture, tradition and heritage," said Shrestha. "This year, the government has allocated substantial portion of the revenue generated from the mountain activities to the development of the mountain region," he added.

Tashi, son of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, said: "We have learnt lots of things about the culture, environment and heritage of the mountain over the last 60 years and we can utilise the knowledge to preserve the mountain and its climate for another 40 years ." — PTI