W O R L D

Bangladesh on the boil as Oppn enforces 60-hr strike
Dhaka, October 27
At least five persons were killed, over 100 injured, trains and a Hindu temple were attacked as opposition parties today enforced a 60-hour strike across Bangladesh demanding a neutral caretaker government to oversee the next general elections. Supporters of the main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and its right-wing ally Jamaat-e-Islami set afire vehicles and exploded crude bombs in the capital city Dhaka as the strike got under way early this morning.

Obama ‘knew’ about spying on Merkel
Berlin, October 27
President Barack Obama knew about the US National Security Agency's (NSA) spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel for some years and he also personally approved it, according to a report published today. Obama was informed about the NSA’s tapping of Merkel's mobile phone already in 2010 by its Director Keith Alexander.

‘Musharraf’s coup was pre-planned’
Islamabad, October 27
The 1999 coup in Pakistan that saw the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was pre-planned by the then army chief General Pervez Musharraf to pre-empt his own removal by the government, according to a new book by a former general.

Car bombs kill 62 in Iraq

Municipal workers clear the site of a car bomb attack in Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghdad in Iraq on Sunday. — AP

British-Indian millionaire sues House of Lords
London, October 27
An Indian-origin millionaire is suing the British House of Lords for repeatedly blocking his membership “stymied” by “wrong, inaccurate, partial or partisan” inputs. Raminder Singh Ranger has taken a legal route to know why his application to be a “people’s peer” was rejected twice by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, the Sunday Times reported.

5 stabbed to death in New York
New York, October 27
In a grisly incident, five people of Chinese origin, a woman and four children, have been stabbed to death at a Brooklyn home and police have taken one person into custody, New York police said today. One man has been taken into custody, but no official charges have been filed, Officer Christopher Pisano said.

Bangladesh on the boil as Oppn enforces 60-hr strike
Five killed, over 100 injured in clashes; two trains set afire

Dhaka, October 27
At least five persons were killed, over 100 injured, trains and a Hindu temple were attacked as opposition parties today enforced a 60-hour strike across Bangladesh demanding a neutral caretaker government to oversee the next general elections.

Supporters of the main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and its right-wing ally Jamaat-e-Islami set afire vehicles and exploded crude bombs in the capital city Dhaka as the strike got under way early this morning.

The incidents of clashes, arson, vandalism and homemade bomb blasts were reported from other parts of the country, including port city Chittagong, Rajshahi, Natore and Bogra.

In Rajshahi, demonstrators attacked a Hindu temple and vandalised several shops, Bdnews24 reported. In Chittagong, the report said picketers stopped an auto-rickshaw carrying a pregnant woman to a hospital and set it afire.

Police recovered gunpowder and 17 handmade bombs from a house in the Dhaka University staff quarters here. Opposition supporters tried to set on fire a record room of Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate's court using petrol. Officials said the blaze damaged some documents. However, public life in Dhaka remained largely normal as people joined their works.

In northwestern Joypurhat, the opposition members set two trains afire, injuring nearly 70 passengers.

Demonstrators torched the two trains - Rupsha Express and Rocket Mail - within a short span of time at Joypurhat, a railway spokesman told PTI. The trains were bound for southwestern Khulna, he added. Authorities overnight deployed thousands of additional police and paramilitary personnel countrywide to prevent any untoward incident.

Police said opposition members hacked to death a ruling Awami League supporter in western Jessore while a BNP worker was killed in shootout with police in neighbouring Faridpur.

The third death occurred in Pabna as activists of the ruling party allegedly opened fire on BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami men in Ishwardi upazila, the Daily Star reported. Two other persons were killed elsewhere in the country.

"Some 11 vehicles were set on fire at different parts of the (Dhaka) city since the morning," a police spokesman said. — PTI

Political turmoil

• Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) enforces 60-hour strike demanding a neutral caretaker govt.
• Incidents of clashes, arson, vandalism, homemade bomb blasts reported from Dhaka, Chittagong and other parts.
• Opposition parties workers hack to death a ruling Awami League supporter, a BNP worker killed in shootout, says police

Obama ‘knew’ about spying on Merkel

Berlin, October 27
President Barack Obama knew about the US National Security Agency's (NSA) spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel for some years and he also personally approved it, according to a report published today. Obama was informed about the NSA’s tapping of Merkel's mobile phone already in 2010 by its Director Keith Alexander.

The President “not only did not stop the operation, but he also ordered it to continue,” Bild am Sonntag newspaper said quoting a high-ranking NSA official. The White House later ordered the spy agency to prepare a detailed dossier on the Chancellor. President Obama did not trust Merkel and wanted to know everything about her, Bild said said quoting the official.

Subsequently, the NSA stepped up its surveillance of Merkel and snooped into all conversations with her mobile phone used for communicating with her party colleagues, the newspaper said.

The agency also cracked the codes of a new supposedly tap-proof mobile phone she has been using since the middle of this year, the newspaper said. — PTI

the Revelation

• Obama had been informed about the tapping of Merkel’s mobile phone already in 2010 by NSA Director Keith Alexander.
• The President did not trust Merkel and “wanted to know everything about her”
• Subsequently, the NSA stepped up its surveillance of Merkel and snooped into all her conversations

‘Musharraf’s coup was pre-planned’

Islamabad, October 27
The 1999 coup in Pakistan that saw the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was pre-planned by the then army chief General Pervez Musharraf to pre-empt his own removal by the government, according to a new book by a former general.

In his book 'Yeh Khamoshi Kahan Tak', Lt General Shahid Aziz, the then DG Military Operations and close aide of Musharraf, revealed that even the army units of the notorious 111 Brigade were issued directions in writing before October 12, 1999 to prepare for the operation.

The book says several meetings were held at the Army House to strike at the right time and remove Sharif's government, The News daily reported. Before leaving for Sri Lanka, Musharraf had passed the following verbal directions to Lt General Mehmood, Lt Gen Khan and the author, "All three of you would be individually authorised to issue orders for the removal of the government.

“I hold you three responsible for this (to act and remove the government),” the report quoted the book written in Urdu. — PTI

British-Indian millionaire sues House of Lords

5 stabbed to death in New York

New York, October 27
In a grisly incident, five people of Chinese origin, a woman and four children, have been stabbed to death at a Brooklyn home and police have taken one person into custody, New York police said today.

One man has been taken into custody, but no official charges have been filed, Officer Christopher Pisano said. The stabbings took place in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York Fire Department spokesman Jim Long said.

It was not immediately clear what led to the stabbings. All of the victims lived at the Brooklyn home.

“It’s looking like a domestic violence case," a police source said. — PTI