Several killed in 'missile strike'

Pakistani intelligence officials say a US missile strike has killed at least four alleged militants near the town of Ghulam Khan in the North Waziristan tribal agency.

"It was an American drone attack. Four militants have been killed - the death toll may rise," a security official in Miranshah, North Waziristan's main town, told the AFP news agency.

Another security official in Peshawar confirmed the attack and death toll, but the AP news agency has quoted security officials as putting the toll at eight.

Officials in Miranshah and Peshawar say the militants killed in the strike were associated with the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, but they are still seeking more information on this.

They said the militants were moving from one area to another when their vehicle was struck by missiles from an unmanned US aircraft.

Ghulam Khan is known to be controlled by fighters from a militant group headed by Maulvi Gul Bahadur, and is located 15km northwest of Miranshah, the main town in North....

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Egypt flood waters kill 15 people on school bus

Fifteen people were drowned when a school bus was swept off the road by flood waters caused by torrential rain, Egyptian police say.

The bus was driven into a deep trench and overturned by the flood waters. It was carrying more than 70 people, mostly schoolgirls.

The accident happened late on Wednesday near the city of Minya 200km (120 miles) south of Cairo.

The last two survivors were pulled out of the wreckage early on Friday.

An ambulance driver who had helped in the rescue was himself swept away and died.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing bodies of....

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NI swine flu cases have 'more than doubled'

Cases of H1N1 infection have more than doubled

The number of swine flu cases in Northern Ireland has more than doubled in the past week.

The Public Health Agency said those eligible for the H1N1 vaccine should see their doctor as soon as possible.

Official data shows the number of cases has more than doubled from 56 to 129

But BBC Northern Ireland Health Correspondent Marie Louise Connolly said that, judging by last year's statistics, the real figure is probably a lot higher.

According to the Public Health Agency there has been an increase in all flu activity, including those with respiratory problems.

The classic flu symptoms are a sudden fever, headache, muscle aches, a dry cough and sore throat.

The average duration of...

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Iran halts oil sales to India

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Iran's state oil company wants payments for oil sales to be guaranteed by India's central bank [EPA]

An oil trading dispute between India and Iran has further escalated, with Tehran refusing to sell oil to India under new rules instituted by New Delhi.

The Reserve Bank of India has said that deals with Iran must be settled outside the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) system used by it and other member nations' central banks to settle bilateral trades.

Iran's state-owned oil company has refused to accept payments for oil sales to India without guarantees from India's central bank.

Iranian sources have confirmed the dispute and Indian sources said officials from the central banks of the two countries are set to meet on Friday to further discuss the matter.

Iran, which is under UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, is likely to want to rescue a trade that is worth about $12bn a year.

While the UN sanctions.........

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Flu deaths continue to increase

The majority of deaths were in people infected with swine flu

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FLU OUTBREAK

• Flu cases rise again, GPs report
• Under-five flu vaccine defended
• Winter flu 'hits intensive care'
• Is swine flu making a comeback? Watch

Thirty-nine people in the UK have now died with flu-like illnesses this winter, figures show.

All but three of them were infected with the H1N1 swine flu virus, while the remainder had influenza B, the Health Protection Agency data shows.

The figures were published as the government announced it is to re-launch an ad campaign to raise awareness of how to guard against flu.

Earlier this week GPs said cases had risen to 124 per 100,000 people.

The latest figures for Scotland, released on Thursday, showed 55 cases of flu per 100,000 - up from 45.8 per 100,000 in the previous week.

The HPA figures show 12 people died in....

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Triple suicide bombing hits Mosul

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There are currently about 50,000 US troops in Iraq, operating in 'support and advisory' roles [GALLO/GETTY]

Three suicide bombers have attacked a police headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing the commander and three other officers.

Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said three men with explosive vests attempted to blow up a police compound housing Iraq's First Police Battalion on Wednesday.

Police shot one of the bombers as the three approached the complex. Two managed to get inside and blow themselves up, killing the battalion's commander.

A hospital official confirmed the fatality, but there was no word on the injured.

Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh, reporting from Baghdad, said that the attack "brought down, essentially, the entire building".

"This happened in the early hours of this morning and until now, rescue teams are still trying to pull bodies and survivors from under the rubble.," she said.

"We understand that in addition to the police commander, at least three other police officers were killed."

In a separate incident, a government-backed Sahwa (Awakening movement) leader escaped unharmed when a bomb attached to his car exploded in Baghdad's southern Doura district on Tuesday, an interior ministry....

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Strong aftershocks hit Christchuch, New Zealand

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26 December 2010 Last updated at 13:33 GMT Help

A series of strong aftershocks from a September earthquake has rattled Christchurch in New Zealand on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The most powerful tremor was 4.9 magnitude and its impact was magnified by its proximity to the city centre.

Buildings were damaged, power supplies temporarily cut and a large shopping centre was evacuated.

The city of 370,000 people was hit by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake three months ago, causing widespread destruction.

Man rescued after being swept away in Australian floods

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26 December 2010 Last updated at 13:27 GMT Help

Tropical Cyclone Tasha has caused heavy rain and flooding over a large area of the Australian state of Queensland.

One man had a lucky escape after getting stranded in the middle of rushing floodwaters as he and a friend attempted to cross a creek.

Dozens dead in India road accident

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Up to 35 people have been killed and another 14 injured after a bus collided with a van full of mourners in northern India, according to police.

Saturday's accident occurred near the town of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh. Badaun is 280km southwest of Lucknow, the state capital.

DYS Chauhan, a regional police official, said on Sunday that the van was returning from a funeral when it went through a mound of sand, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

The van then crashed into the bus, killing the bus driver along with the others.

India, with the world's second-largest population, has the highest annual road death toll in the world, according to the World Health Organisation.

More than 110,000 people die each year in India in road accidents caused by speeding, bad roads, overcrowding and poor vehicle maintenance, according to police.

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Pakistan suicide bombing kills dozens in food aid queue 25 December 2010 Last updated at 16:21 GMT Help At least 40 people have been killed and anoth

25 December 2010 Last updated at 16:21 GMT Help

At least 40 people have been killed and another 100 injured after a female suicide bomber attacked a crowd receiving food aid in north-west Pakistan.

People displaced by fighting in the Bajaur region were gathered at a UN food distribution point in the town of Khar when the attack happened.

It came as as Pakistan's military took action against militants in Mohmand, a neighbouring tribal region, killing an estimated 40 rebels.

Aleem Maqbool reports from Islamabad.

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Tsunami warning issued after strong quake in Pacific

(CNN) -- A 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean's Vanuatu Islands region early Sunday, prompting a tsunami warning for the area, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake struck 135 kilometers (85 miles) west of the island of Tanna, Vanuatu and 1,740 kilometers (about 1,100 miles) off Australia's eastern coast just after midnight local time (8:16 a.m. ET).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a regional warning for a part of the Pacific, including Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji.

"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines in the region near the epicenter within minutes to hours," the center said. "Authorities in the region should take appropriate action in response to this possibility."

The tsunami warning did not include the U.S. state of Hawaii, though some coastal areas of the islands could experience very rough seas and strong currents.

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Dozens killed in Ecuador bus crash

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The bus was travelling from Quito, the capital, to the eastern town of Chone and San Isidro [AFP] At least 35 people have been killed and dozens more injured after a bus plunged about 1,100 feet (350 meters) off a foggy, rainy mountain road in Ecuador, say rescue workers. A Red Cross worker, Jorge Arteaga, said by telephone that Friday's accident occurred before dawn in the western province of Manabi. The bus was travelling from Quito, the capital, to the eastern town of Chone and San Isidro. The Red Cross sent 30 volunteers and five ambulances to the scene. Attorney General Washington Pesantez said last month that there are 43,000 road accidents a year in Ecuador, producing about eight deaths a day.

Dozens killed in Ecuador bus crash

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The bus was travelling from Quito, the capital, to the eastern town of Chone and San Isidro [AFP] At least 35 people have been killed and dozens more injured after a bus plunged about 1,100 feet (350 meters) off a foggy, rainy mountain road in Ecuador, say rescue workers. A Red Cross worker, Jorge Arteaga, said by telephone that Friday's accident occurred before dawn in the western province of Manabi. The bus was travelling from Quito, the capital, to the eastern town of Chone and San Isidro. The Red Cross sent 30 volunteers and five ambulances to the scene. Attorney General Washington Pesantez said last month that there are 43,000 road accidents a year in Ecuador, producing about eight deaths a day.

India satellite rocket explodes

The explosion occurred seconds after the rocket carrying the GSAT-5P satellite took off

An Indian space rocket carrying a communications satellite has exploded on take-off.

Live TV footage showed the rocket disappearing in a plume of smoke moments after its launch in Sriharikota near the city of Chennai (Madras).

India's space organisation said it was investigating the cause of the failure.

India is seeking to increase its share of the growing commercial satellite launch market, and says it wants to send a manned mission in space in 2016.

India's Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) was carrying the GSAT- 5P communication satellite when it exploded in the first stage of the flight on Saturday.

"The performance of the (rocket) was normal up to about 50 seconds. Soon after that the vehicle developed large altitude error leading to breaking up of the vehicle," the head of the Indian Space Research Organisation, K Radhakrishnan, told reporters.

"But what caused this interruption has to be studied in detail."

India has successfully launched lighter satellites in recent years, but has faced problems sending up heavier payloads.

Assange dismisses threat of extradition to US

Julian Assange says he could be killed if he was sent to jail in America

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said it would be "politically impossible" for Britain to extradite him to the United States for espionage.

Mr Assange told the Guardian newspaper there was a "high chance" he would be killed if he was jailed in America.

US authorities are thought to be considering whether they could extradite him on espionage charges.

He is currently on bail facing extradition proceedings to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.

Mr Assange denies the claims and says the case is politically motivated.

His Wikileaks website has published......

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India's Ulfa rebel leader: Son abducted in Bangladesh

Mr Barua has opposed talks with India

The leader of an Indian separatist group has alleged that his son has been kidnapped in Bangladesh.

Paresh Barua, head of the military wing of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), said his teenage son's kidnappers were "pressurising" him to negotiate with the Indian government.

Indian intelligence officials have dismissed Mr Barua's claim.

They say the Ulfa is divided on the question of whether to join the peace process with India or not.

Ulfa rebels have fought for a separate Assamese homeland since 1979.

In an emailed statement, Mr Barua said his son's kidnappers tactics "won't work".

"Thousands of young men and women have died fighting for Assam's independence and my son may join that long list of martyrs. If that happens, I will be prepared for it," he said.

Mr Baruah did not provide details about when his son was kidnapped. He broadly alluded to "an Indian conspiracy", but the rebel chief was not specific about who could have been behind it.

But his statement attacked some.....

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Russia warns US on START treaty

Obama has prioritised a reduction in nuclear arms as part of his foreign policy [AFP]

Russia has said that it will not change a draft nuclear arms treaty with the US, that Barack Obama, the US president, wants ratified with Senate support by the end of this year.

On Monday Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said to the Russian news agency Interfax that the proposed New START treaty "cannot be opened up and become the subject of new negotiations".

The treaty is set to...

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Deadly earthquake hits Iran

An earthquake in southeast Iran has killed at least five people and destroyed homes, a regional governor has said.

The quake struck late on Monday in a mountainous region and was given a 6.3 magnitude by the US Geological Survey.

Kerman province is said to be the worst affected area.

"Seven people have been killed and hundreds have been injured. Hundreds of people are still trapped under the rubbles," Esmail Najjar, governor of Iran's Kerman province, the centre of the quake, told the semi-official Mehr news agency.

At least three villages were destroyed, leaving hundreds of people trapped under rubble, according to Mehr, a semi-official news agency....

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North Korea 'will not hit back' over Yeonpyeong drills

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20 December 2010 Last updated at 16:41 GMT Help

North Korea says it will not retaliate despite "reckless provocations" from the South, which held live-fire drills on the flashpoint island of Yeonpyeong.

The North shelled the island last month after similar drills and had threatened more retaliation this time.

But state media quoted the army as saying it was "not worth reacting".

UN Security Council talks ended without a deal on the weekend, reportedly after China refused to agree to a statement critical of its ally, the North.

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Tour bus crash kills 28 in Malaysia

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Malaysia has the highest rate of traffic accident fatalities in Southeast Asia [Reuters]

A double-decker bus carrying Thai tourists overturned on a Malaysian highway on Monday, killing 28 people on their way back from a hill resort in the country's worst road accident in years.

The tourists were heading to Kuala Lumpur after a weekend trip to the popular Cameron Highlands in central Malaysia when their bus spun out of control and crashed into a protective barrier, a district police official said.

The bus then flipped over and landed beside a rocky slope, he said.

Photographs of the site showed the wrecked bus in a shallow ditch, with its tyres and passengers' belongings scattered around. Bodies covered with black sheets were placed beside the road.

The accident may have been caused by speeding or brake failure, the official said.

Fatal crash

Rescuers recovered 22 bodies, and another six people died after being taken to a hospital, he said. About a dozen other passengers were injured.

The bus was reportedly operated by....

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Russia-India to sign defence deals

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Russia expects a series of major defence and business deals out of Medvedev's two-day visit to India [Reuters]

Russia and India are expected to sign billions of dollars worth of defence and nuclear deals during the Russian president's visit starting Tuesday.

An expected highlight of Dmitry Medvedev's trip will be a $30bn agreement for the design and development of a new stealth fighter jet to be inducted into the Indian air force, Alexander Kadakin, the Russian ambassador, told reporters.

The aircraft would be the equivalent of the US air force's F-22 Raptor.

"There is robust defence cooperation between the two countries," Vishnu Prakash, a foreign ministry spokesman, said.

"It is not a mere buyer-seller relationship, but the two sides are looking at joint research and development and joint production."

During the Cold War, India and the Soviet Union shared a deep relationship, while the US tilted toward India's neighbour Pakistan.

In the post Cold War period, India has moved closer to the United States, but its strategic partnership with Russia has endured.

"We can rightfully call it a privileged partnership," Medvedev said in an interview with the Times of India newspaper published Monday.

Medvedev, who will be......

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Foreign troop death toll hits 700 in Afghanistan

A U.S. soldier arrives at the site of a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul November 12, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Omar Sobhani

KABUL | Sat Dec 18, 2010 8:22pm EST

KABUL (Reuters) - A member of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan was killed on Sunday, taking the total number of foreign troops killed in 2010 to 700, by far the deadliest year of the war since the Taliban were toppled in 2001 .

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said one service member was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. It gave no other details, including the nationality of those killed.

A total of...

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Bangladesh boat accident leaves dozens dead

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Related stories

• Ferry sinks in south Bangladesh
• Bangladesh has ferry 'weaknesses'
• Bangladeshi ferry corpses found

At least 37 people have died after a boat capsized in north-eastern Bangladesh, rescue officials say.

They say the boat sank after hitting a cargo vessel in the Surma River at Alipur, some 240km (150 miles) north-east of the capital, Dhaka.

More than 100 people - mostly labourers - are said to have been on board. Most of the victims were reportedly women and children.

Rescuers have been....

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Israeli air strike kills five in Gaza Strip

Rocket fire from Gaza has dropped sharply since 2008

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Israel and the Palestinians

• Going nowhere fast?
• 'Off the record' views from officials
• Q&A: Resuming direct talks
• Mid-East talks: Where they stand

An Israeli air strike has killed five people in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources and the Israeli military.

The five killed were militants, Palestinian hospital sources said.

The strike targeted "a squad of terror operatives", Israel said, "who were preparing to launch rockets towards Israeli territory".

Rocket fire from Gaza has dropped sharply since Israel's devastating 22-day offensive in December 2008.

Hamas, the Islamist group which controls the Gaza Strip, says it has tried to stop rocket fire aimed at Israel.

Palestinian sources later identified the five dead as members of a small militant group, Ansar al-Sunna, Reuters news agency reported.

In the past 18 months one person in Israel, a Thai farm worker, has been killed by a rocket fired from Gaza.

According to Israeli Defence Force figures, 180 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel by militants in 2010.

The United Nations says...

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Russia 'seriously concerned' over Korea tensions

The exercises on Yeonpyeong island are due to be held in the coming days

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Russia says it is seriously concerned that tensions between North and South Korea will escalate further.

Pyongyang is threatening to retaliate if the South goes ahead with planned military exercises on an island near the two countries' disputed sea border.

Last month four people were killed when the North attacked the island during similar exercises.

The UN Security Council is preparing discuss the situation at an emergency meeting, scheduled at Russia's request.

Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said his country was "seriously concerned about possible further escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula".

"We believe that the Security Council must send a restraining signal... and help launch diplomatic activity with a view to resolving all issues of dispute between the two Korean sides by political and diplomatic means," he said.

'Catastrophe'

Russia has already urged South Korea to cancel the live-fire exercises on Yeonpyeong island.

The South has said...

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Bank of America stops handling Wikileaks payments

The Bank of America said it stopped "transactions of any kind" for Wikileaks

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Wikileaks Revelations

• Q&A: Arrest of Wikileaks' founder
• Cables at a glance
• Wikileaks activists go analogue
• A world after Wikileaks

Bank of America has stopped handling payments for whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, joining several other major financial institutions.

It said it acted because "Wikileaks may be engaged in activities that are... inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments".

In response, Wikileaks urged its supporters to stop doing business with the bank - one of the world's largest.

MasterCard, PayPal and other companies earlier cut off Wikileaks' payments.

The financial institutions acted after Wikileaks - together with several major media organisations - began publishing thousands of secret US diplomatic cables, causing tension between Washington and some of its allies.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was earlier this week freed on bail in the UK while facing.....

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S Korea military drills to go ahead

As the threat of war looms, there are widespread calls for South Korea to halt military exercises with the US [Reuters]

South Korea has vowed to go ahead with artillery drills on a border island shelled by North Korea last month despite Pyongyang's threat to retaliate again.

A South Korea official said on Saturday that the military is ready to respond to any possible provocation.

He also said the drills were not expected over the weekend because of bad weather but would be conducted by Tuesday.

The one-day, live-fire drills are to be held on Yeonpyeong Island near the tense sea border with North Korea.

North Korea has warned that if the South goes ahead anyway, it will strike back even harder than in the November 23 attack that killed four people.

Meanwhile, North Korean defectors have launched propaganda flyers into the North from Yeonpyeong Island.

They released balloons with 200,000 leaflets, and one thousand US dollar bills. The pamphlets condemned the North's shelling of the island and the potential succession of Kim Jong-il's youngest son as leader.

Deadly force

North Korea ramped up the tensions on Friday with its warning of....

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Wikileaks: US monitors 'aggressive' China in Africa

The Forum on China-Africa Co-operation recently celebrated its 10th anniversary

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Wikileaks Revelations

• Q&A: Arrest of Wikileaks' founder
• Wikileaks' struggle to stay online
• Cables at a glance
• US hurdles to prosecuting Assange

The US is closely monitoring China's expanding role in Africa, the latest secret US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks reveal.

A cable from February quotes a senior US official in the Nigerian capital, Lagos, describing China as "aggressive and pernicious".

However, the official says the US does not consider China a military, security or intelligence threat.

Wikileaks has so far released more than 1,100 of 251,000 secret US cables.

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent says the latest documents provide a fascinating insight into Washington's rivalry with Beijing in Africa.

The cable, published by the Guardian newspaper, quotes Johnnie Carson, US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, who had been meeting oil company representatives in Lagos.

He describes China as "a very aggressive and....

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Wikileaks: Australia FM blames US

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Kevin Rudd, Australian foreign minister: "US personnel responsible for cable leak"

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Australia's foreign minister has said the US is to blame for the release of thousands of diplomatic cables on Wikileaks, not its Australian founder, Julian Assange.

Kevin Rudd said the release raised questions about US security.

Mr Rudd said he did not "give a damn" about criticism of him in the cables.

Mr Assange, arrested in the UK over sex crime allegations in Sweden, has accused the Australian government of "disgraceful pandering" to the US.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard had earlier called Mr Assange's release of the cables "grossly irresponsible".

Over the past two weeks, Wikileaks has released thousands of classified messages from US envoys around the world, from more than 250,000 it has been given.

Washington has called their.....

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Wikileaks cables show Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang details

Mr Xi - expected to be China's next president - spoke of a love of US war films

Continue reading the main story

US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks have revealed more about the attitudes and concerns of the two men expected to lead China from 2012.

Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang - tipped as China's next president and premier - had separate dinners with US Ambassador Clark Randt in March 2007.

Both spoke proudly of economic advances in their respective regions.

Mr Xi was revealed as a US war film fan, while Mr Li said residents' biggest worry was corruption.

At that time Mr Xi was Communist Party secretary in Zhejiang province and Mr Li held the same position in Liaoning.

Both are now members of the nine-strong Politburo Standing Committee and are widely seen as China's leaders-in-waiting.

According to one cable, Xi Jinping had a "frank and friendly" conversation with Mr Randt, much of which focused on economic development in Zhejiang.

Residents were most concerned about education, affordable housing and healthcare, Mr Xi reportedly said, and also about "the working style of government and.....

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Pakistani interior minister denies flood aid corruption

The bill for floods in Pakistan earlier this year is estimated to be about $9.7bn

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has defended the way his country is distributing millions of dollars of flood relief.

His comments follow allegations of corruption from flood affected people.

The government has launched a huge compensation scheme under which people can withdraw cash aid from local banks using special electronic cards.

Some people say they have been denied cards, while others say payments made have disappeared from their accounts.

Under the compensation scheme, the government will eventually give more than 85,450 rupees ($1,000, £631) per household to 1.5 million families who have been directly affected by the disaster, reports the BBC's Jill McGivering.

So far, some 38,000 cases of fraud are......

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Mass grave claims investigated in Sri Lanka

The authorities in Sri Lanka have sent a team of forensic experts to Mulaithivu to investigate unconfirmed reports of a mass grave.

Imprisoned Tamil Tiger rebels told the investigators that the grave, about fifteen kilometres from Kilinochchi, contained the remains of twenty-six army and navy personnel, allegedly taken prisoner and then shot dead by the insurgents.

Cremated

A military spokesman Major General Ubaya Medawela, told......

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'No survivors' in New Zealand mine

All 29 miners trapped in a coal mine in New Zealand have been presumed dead after a "horrific" second blast tore through the colliery, plunging the country into mourning.

Police said there was now no chance of finding anyone alive, confirming the country's worst mining accident in nearly a century and prompting anguished scenes as distraught relatives wept, shouted and collapsed to the floor.

"There was another explosion at the [Pike River Coal] mine. It was extremely severe," Gary Knowles, the police official co-ordinating the rescue attempt, told reporters.

"Based on expert evidence I have been given ... it is our belief that no one has survived and everyone has perished."

Knowles said the explosion, whose cause was unknown, ripped through the Pike River coal mine at 2:37pm local time, (0137 GMT), on Wednesday, five days after the initial blast trapped the 29 men including 24 New Zealanders, two Australians, two Britons and a South African.

The victims of the blasts ranged from a 17-year-old on his................

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South Korea fires warning shots, second incident in days

South Korea's navy fired warning shots to drive away a North Korean fishing boat at a maritime border on Wednesday, the second incident in six days, jangling nerves in Seoul ahead of next week's G20 summit.

The South Korean capital, about 100 km (60 miles) south of the demilitarized zone dividing the peninsula, is on heightened alert ahead of the summit over concerns Pyongyang may try to create an incident to embarrass its rival.

Washington has pressed Beijing to use its influence over the North not to create an incident in the run up to the meeting.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told a news conference in Seoul that he was not expecting any trouble from across the border.

"I don't think the North will try to do anything when leaders of the international community are meeting to discuss..........

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Greek parcel bomb targets Merkel

German police disarm potentially harmful package at chancellor's office hours after similar parcels go off in Athens.

A spokesman for the German chancellor said the package from Greece 'would have been able to harm people' [AFP] Police have disarmed a potentially harmful package at the German chancellor's office that arrived from Greece, just hours after similar small parcel bombs exploded outside the Russian and Swiss embassies in the Greek capital of Athens. A spokesman for Angela Merkel, the chancellor, said the suspicious package, intercepted in the mailroom of her office, was personally addressed to the German leader and "would have been able to harm people''. Thomas de Maiziere, the German interior minister, said that not only did the package have a Greek return address, but authorities had been able to trace that it had been sent from Greece two days ago. "It contained an explosive device. Based on everything that we know, it was built in the same way and visually resembled the package that exploded at the Swiss embassy in Athens,'' de Maiziere said. Meanwhile in Greece police detonated suspect packages found at the cargo terminal of

.....

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Indonesia tsunami deaths top 400

At least 408 people have been confirmed dead after a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake hit Indonesia's western Mentawai Islands earlier this week, but officials say the death toll could be much higher.

Harmensyah, the head of the West Sumatra provincial disaster management centre, said on Friday that rescue teams "believe many, many of the bodies were swept to sea".

Bodies have also been found buried on beaches and even stuck in trees across the islands.

More than 400 people are believed to be still missing after three-metre high waves battered the small group of islands, about 280km to the northwest of Sumatra, on Monday.

"Of those missing people, we think two-thirds of them are probably dead, either swept out to sea or buried in the sand," Ade Edward, a local disaster management official, said on Thursday.

"When we flew over the area ... we saw many bodies. Heads and legs were sticking out of the sand, some of them were in the trees. If we add another 200 to the toll it would be at least 543 dead.

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Pakistan flood food running out, warns UN

Water-borne diseases are putting millions of children displaced by the floods at risk

The United Nations has warned its supply of emergency food aid for victims of Pakistan's summer floods will run out by the start of December.

UN humanitarian co-ordinator Martin Mogwanja said up to six million people relied on the aid every month.

With winter on the way, seven million people still do not have adequate shelter or quilts, blankets and warm clothing, he told the BBC.

The monsoon floods affected 20 million people and one fifth of the country.

At least 1,500 people died in the deluge.

Appealing for further donations from the international community, Mr Mogwanja said malnutrition was also increasing as food stocks dwindled.

And winter would bring fresh misery for the homeless, he said.

Those most in need of shelter are said to be........

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World's big enough for India and China, says Chinese PM

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (right) is expected to visit India in December

Chinese PM Wen Jiabao has told his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, that there is "enough space" in the world for both countries to develop.

His comments came during a meeting on the sidelines of a regional meeting in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. Mr Wen said he would visit India this year.

China is India's largest trading partner; two-way trade volumes surpassed $50bn (£31bn) in 2008.

The two nations fought a brief border war in 1962, but ties have improved.

Tensions remain, however, between the rising regional powers over their shared 3,500-km (2,170-mile) border, decades on from the conflict, which China won.

Another bone of contention is the presence in India of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.

Beijing and Delhi have had a "strategic and co-operative partnership" since 2005.

"There is enough space in the world for.......

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Southern groups accused of vandalism

vandalism

	Former parliamentarian M. K Sivagilingaum.

Travellers from the South are creating problems for residents in Jaffna said former parliamentarian M. K Sivagilingaum.

He said that the local government administration and the library staff are to meet on Friday to discuss a incident that took place last Saturday.

“A group of people from the South who were denied access to the library as a seminar of medical staff was in progress made their way after arguing with the library staff caused damaged to books and reading material” said Sivagilingam.

Army Spokesman Major General Ubaya madewala said he was not aware of such incident.

Sivagilingam said that groups from the South were......


Read more : http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2010/10/101028_jaffnavandal.shtml

Al Qaeda cell leader killed in Afghan north: NATO

(Reuters) - An al Qaeda cell leader who may have been training suicide bombers was among two insurgents killed in an air strike in northern Afghanistan at the weekend, NATO-led forces said on Monday.

While the Osama bin Laden-led movement is widely believed to be funding and training the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the capture or killing of senior al Qaeda figures is relatively uncommon.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said a Abu Baqir, a Taliban sub-commander and al Qaeda group leader, was killed when an alliance aircraft fired on a truck in northern Kunduz province.

ISAF said the air strike was called in after insurgents attacked a police station in Aliabad district.

"The air weapons team tracked the insurgents from the police station and, when they determined no civilians were in the area, they engaged the truck," ISAF said in a statement.

"The air weapons team killed two insurgents including Baqir, who was reportedly housing four potential suicide bombers for upcoming attacks on the city of Kunduz," it said.

When contacted, ISAF in Kabul had no more details immediately available.

Once a relatively peaceful area, Kunduz has been slowly drawn into the insurgency in recent months as the Taliban spread out of their traditional strongholds in Kandahar and Helmand provinces in the south.

Last October, White House national security adviser James Jones estimated there were fewer than 100 al Qaeda militants operating in Afghanistan. He said the question of Afghanistan once again becoming a haven for al Qaeda was "a hypothetical."

Apart from training and funding the Taliban in Afghanistan, al Qaeda is also closely linked to the Haqqani network, operating mainly in the east of the country.

The Haqqani network has staged several high-profile attacks, including a failed assassination attempt against Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2008. It also has close links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency.

Source - Reuters

Bolivia 's answer to UN summit

Environmentalists, indigenous leaders and celebrities are gathering in Bolivia this week for a self-styled People's Climate Change Summit. It is being billed as an alternative to the United Nations meeting last December in Copenhagen. Evo Morales, Bolivia's president, says he wants to highlight issues largely ignored by delegates in Copenhagen. Al Jazeera's Craig Mauro reports on the expectations for the conference being held in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba.

Source: Al Jazeera

Australia races to stabilise ship

Officials say the Shen Neng 1 was going full speed in a restricted zone 'totally off limits' to shipping [EPA] Australian authorities are battling to stabilise a stranded Chinese coal carrier which is threatening to break up on the Great Barrier Reef and spill more oil into the pristine waters of the World Heritage site. The Shen Neng 1 ran aground on Saturday when it hit a shoal off the eastern state of Queensland at full speed, rupturing a fuel tank and causing a 3km-long slick. "One of the most worrying aspects is that the ship is still moving on the reef to the action of the seas, which is doing further damage," Patrick Quirk, the general manager of Marine Safety Queensland, said. Salvage experts boarded the Chinese-registered 230-metre bulk carrier, which is loaded with 65,000 tonnes of coal and about 975 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, on Monday. Quirk said the initial report was that the ship's main engine room had been breached, the major engine damaged and the rudder seriously impacted. One tug boat was already at the scene to stabilise the vessel and another was to arrive later on Monday, while aircraft are being used to monitor the spill in waters teeming with marine life. Delicate operation Anna Bligh, the premier of Queensland state, said salvage crews were assessing how they might refloat the carrier stranded some 70km east of the Great Keppel resort island, but warned that the operation could take weeks. The bulk carrier was loaded with 65,000 tonnes of coal and 975 tonnes of heavy fuel oil [EPA] "This is going to be a very specialist and delicate operation," she told Australia's Nine news network. Bligh had earlier said there was "a very real risk that the vessel may break apart" and the authorities fear an oil spill will damage the world's largest coral reef. "If this ship was to break further apart, if there was another very significant oil spill, then we would not only see tonnes of oil into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park but modelling shows it is likely to come up onto the beaches of Shoalwater Bay, which is a national park area," Bligh said. The vessel hit Douglas Shoal, in a protected part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, 15km outside the nearest shipping channel and where shipping is restricted by environmental law. Conservationists expressed outrage that bulk carriers can travel through the reef without a marine pilot with local expertise and Larissa Waters, a spokeswoman for the environmentally focused Queensland Greens political party, said the state government was "being blinded by royalties and their short-sightedness will go down in history as killing the reef". But Bligh said the ship was in a restricted zone that was "totally off limits" to shipping and the ship's Chinese owners could be fined up to A$1m ($920,000) and the captain handed a A$250,000 fine.

Source: Agencies

USD 20m demand to release Saudi tanker

	Attacks by pirates increase between January and March

Somali Pirates demand USD 20 million to release the Saudi oil tanker with thirteen Sri Lankan crew members says Sri Lankan consul general in Jeddah.

Saudi tanker Al Nisr Al Saudi was captured by Somali pirates two weeks ago.

Speaking to BBC Sandeshaya the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Jeddah, Safarullah Khan said, “the captain of the ship has contacted the company and informed that all thirteen Sri Lankan crew members are in good health”.

International Committee of Red Cross was not given permission to visit the ship though the pirates have allowed crew members to contact their relatives.

Captured Sri Lankan crew members Jacob Xavier Venice Robinson Parceloan Hewapatige Iranga Jayasinghe Robert Joseph Vijemuni Elmo Anslam Zoysa Selvarasa Rajavale Balakrishnan Jeyarajan Kanagasabhapathi Dushyanthan Arumaisekaran Basil Raja Luxmikanthan Kajendran Arogyasami Pillai Brito Laurence Savarimuthu Athputha Raja Rajagopal Jeyakumar Owners of Saudi tanker

“Pirates are contacting us to negotiate the ransom but they are not thinking on humanitarian terms. However, they promised us that they will not harm anyone” the consul general said.

Negotiations

According to him Sri Lankan diplomatic officials were not able to establish direct contacts with the pirates while having to rely on the information given by captors to families in Sri Lanka.

Pirates are asking for a twenty million US dollar ransom to release the ship and its crew along with the Greek captain.

Negotiation is taking place between the company and pirates and the consul general is hopeful that the matter can be resolved soon.

“Normally it takes about three months but we never know they may even release the crew tomorrow or can keep them for longer” he added.
The tanker, travelling from Japan to Jeddah, was empty when pirates hijacked the vessel and took its crew captive.

Pakistan navy test fires missiles

Video released by the Pakistani Navy showed a test missile being fired at a ship in the Arabian Sea Pakistan's navy has successfully test-fired missiles and torpedoes from ships, submarines and aircraft in the Arabian sea, officials say. The tests were followed by a statement saying they sent a "clear message to forces having nefarious designs". India and Pakistan regularly test their missile systems and they normally notify one another ahead of such tests. Last month the two sides held their first formal talks since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. India says the attacks, which left 174 people dead - including nine gunmen - were partly planned on Pakistani soil. It is not clear if the missiles tested on Friday were capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The tests included anti-surface missiles, air-to-surface missiles, and surface-to-surface missiles, the AP news agency reported. Last month India successfully tested a nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missile.