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UAE Prepares Papers to Ease Return of Citizens from Saudi


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Abu Dhabi, August 23: UAE missions across the GCC are working to prepare travel documents for citizens returning from or via Saudi Arabia after it refused to recognise UAE national identity cards.

Saudi Arabia announced on Friday that it had stopped recognising UAE identity cards, protesting that a map on the ID card did not correspond with the border agreed by the two in 1974.

But travel agencies, many of whom organise Umrah packages for the thousands of visitors during this period, said they had received no directives.

Petition for trial of Musharraf for treason filed in SC: Report

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Islamabad, August 22: In what could spell fresh trouble for the ex-Pak President, a petition was filed in Supreme Court on Saturday seeking the trial of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for high treason, a news report said.

Zafar Ali Shah, a senior leader of Pakistan opposition party PML-N, petitioned the apex court to begin a trial for high treason under Article 6 of the Constitution against the the 66-year old former President, The Nation newspaper said.

China a ‘stakeholder’ in Sri Lanka’s development: Colombo

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Colombo, August 22: Describing China as a “major stakeholder” in Sri Lanka’s development, Colombo has said Beijing had offered financial support and had stood by the country in “crucial situations”.

“China has extended its support to us… despite some international pressures on Sri Lanka in recent times,” senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa said, while addressing a ceremony to mark the completion of the first phase of a power plant build with Chinese assistance in North-western province.

Rajapaksa said China was a major stakeholder in the country’s development.

Brazil Prez urges Obama to explain bases plan

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Rio de Janeiro, August 22: Brazil’s leader is urging President Barack Obama to meet with South American nations and discuss the growing US military presence in Colombia.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Obama in a phone call that many nations are worried about the plan to give the US greater access to seven military bases in Colombia.

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim gave details about the conversation to the O Globo newspaper on Friday.

The US says the plan is part of its agreement with Colombia to battle drug traffickers and leftist rebels.

Obama to visit China in November: US Ambassador

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Beijing, August 22: Barack Obama will make his first official visit to China as US President in mid-November, Jon Huntsman, the new US Ambassador to China, said on Saturday.

“Much is happening in US-China relations… President Obama… is going to be visiting in the middle of November,” Huntsman told journalists after arriving in the Chinese capital.

“By the end of the year, after the President has been able to sit down with the leaders here in China, I am hopeful, I am confident, that by the end of the year the US-China relationship will be stronger than ever before.”

Thai king calls for unity as political tensions grow

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Bangkok, August 22: Thailand’s widely revered king warned that the country could collapse if its feuding political factions do not unite, as the government braced for fresh street protests, reports said on Saturday.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 81, made a rare speech to an audience at his seaside palace late yesterday that was later broadcast on national television and radio and reported by Thai-language newspapers.

Iran clerics object to women ministers: Report

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Tehran, August 22: Iranian clerics have raised objections to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s decision to include three women in his new cabinet, the conservative daily Tehran Emrouz reported on Saturday.

Ahmadinejad named Sousan Keshvaraz, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi and Fatemeh Ajorlou as his ministers respectively of education, health and welfare, and social security in his 21-member cabinet line-up.

Officials investigated in lead poisonings of China

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Wenping, August 22: Two environmental officials were under investigation on Saturday after more than 1,300 children were poisoned by pollution from a manganese processing plant in central China.

The investigation comes as officials scrambled to punish those responsible for the poisoning caused by the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping township in Hunan province. The incident came to light days after reports that emissions from a lead smelter in another province sickened hundreds.

Two Iraqi soldiers gunned down at checkpoint

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Baghdad, August 22: Gunmen attacked an Iraqi military checkpoint in the Iraqi capital on Saturday, as Iraqi lawmakers scrutinise the readiness of Iraqi forces following a string of bombings in recent weeks that have killed hundreds.

The attack on the checkpoint in northern Baghdad killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounded another, a police official said, and follows a string of bombings in Baghdad that have shaken public confidence in Iraq’s security forces.

Greek forest fire rages near Athens

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Athens, August 22: A large forest fire raged out of control on the northern outskirts of Athens on Saturday, sending thick clouds of smoke over the Greek capital as it burned homes and threatened three villages.

Fanned by strong winds, the fire broke out late Friday and spread to residential areas overnight, the fire brigade said. At least two homes were engulfed, a police source said.

Six airplanes, five helicopters, 35 fire engines and 150 firefighters were deployed to battle the flames.

Baghdad bombings possible inside job: Iraqi FM

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Baghdad, August 22: Iraq’s Foreign Minister said on Saturday that those who carried out bombings that targeted government buildings in the Iraqi capital received help to pull off the attacks, possibly from Iraqi security forces.

The comments comes as anger mounts over the bombings that have lead lawmakers to scrutinise the readiness of Iraqi security forces and raised questions about the loosening of security measures in Baghdad.

Tory leader’s ‘attractive’ woman MP comment causes furore

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London, August 22: A veteran Tory leader has said he may consider a woman candidate to replace an outgoing MP if she was “attractive”, drawing flak within and outside his party with a minister calling it “deeply offensive” and “highly inappropriate”.

Alan Scard, the chairman of Conservative association in Gasport, in an interview to Channel 4 said he would select women candidates, “if they are attractive”, the Telegraph reported.

Taiwan’s envoy to Japan on vacation during typhoon: Reports

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Taipei, August 22: Taiwan’s top envoy to Japan went for a vacation as the island country was reeling under the worst typhoon in half a century that left more than 500 people dead and damaged property worth billions of US dollars, local media reported on Saturday.

John Feng, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to Japan, took off from August 15 to 20 for vacationing in Europe with his family, while victims of killer typhoon Morakot in Taiwan were awaiting international aid, the TV news channels of the island flashed citing Foreign Ministry officials.

Arrested Pak infiltrators to undergo lie-detector test

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Ahmedabad, August 22: Three of the nine Pakistanis, who were arrested on August 17 by the BSF from a boat in the Sir Creek area in Gujarat’s Kutch district, will be subjected to polygraph (lie-detector) test.

The decision was taken after security agencies failed to ascertain their real identity as the three weren’t carrying any identity proof unlike the other six ‘infiltrators’.

The arrest of the nine Pakistanis came just two days after Independence Day and hours after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned of terror groups in Pakistan plotting fresh attacks in India.

Another swine flu death in Pune; city toll at 20

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Pune, August 22: The city recorded its 20th swine flu death on Saturday with a 60-year-old man succumbing to the virus.

Baban Hangule was admitted in a serious condition to the government-run Sasson Hospital on August 19, officials said.

Authorities were, meanwhile, yet to take a decision on reopening of schools and colleges tomorrow.

The educational institutions have been closed for a week to prevent spread of the virus, which has claimed the maximum victims in the city since the first fatality was reported on August 3.

Will keep providing info to Pak on 26/11: SM Krishna

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New Delhi, August 22: Keeping up the pressure on Pak to act against the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Saturday said that India will keep providing information on JuD chief Hafiz Saeed.

“We are in continuous touch with the government of Pakistan. It is an ongoing exercise between India and Pakistan. So, as and when, we collect more evidence we will keep sending it across to Pakistan and that is what Foreign Secretary did yesterday,” Krishna said.

Jaswant Singh meets George Fernandes

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New Delhi, August 22: Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh on Saturday met his former cabinet colleague and current Rajya Sabha MP George Fernandes.

Sources close to Singh said he drove down to Fernandes’s residence at around 9:30 am.

Fernandes was the only political figure present at the book launch of Singh’s controversial book on Pakistan founder M A Jinnah. No BJP leader had showed up at the function.

–Agencies

India confident Afghan polls will strengthen democracy

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New Delhi, August 22: Hailing the elections in Afghanistan, India onSaturday said it is confident the exercise will strengthen “democracy and pluralism” in the war-ravaged country.

“The Afghan Presidential and Provincial Council elections held on August 20 were one of the largest democratic exercises in the history of Afghanistan,” External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said.

As a fellow developing country and democracy, India “remains strongly supportive” of the election process and democratic institutions of Afghanistan, he said.

Federal law to help NIA fight terror likely: Moily

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New Delhi, August 22: Dubbing terrorism as “an undeclared war” on humanity, Law Minister Veerappa Moily on Saturday said the Centre was likely to enact a federal law to enable the newly set up National Investigation Agency (NIA) to fight the scourge.

“Looking into the inter-state and international nature of terrorism, the need was felt to create the NIA and it is important to have a federal law, which is quite possible. I have recommended it in the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) report,” he said inaugurating a conference on ‘The Constitution and Anti-Terror Laws’ here.

New book reveals India’s ‘hidden hand’ in Sri Lanka war

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New Delhi, August 22: India played a critical, albeit covert, role in the success of Sri Lanka’s war against the Tamil Tigers, with the Indian Navy providing vital intelligence in locating and destroying at least a dozen LTTE rogue vessels laden with arms, says the first such detailed account of the operation.

India receives uranium for Kudankulam second unit

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Chennai, August 22: India has received the first consignment of uranium for the second unit of the 2,000-MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu from Russia, a top official of the project developer has said.

“This is the first consignment of the light enriched uranium for the second unit of the Kudankulam project. Several more consignments of the fuel will come from Russia for the project,” SK Jain, chairman and managing director of Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL), said.

‘Everybody kicks ideological football in BJP’

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New Delhi, August 22: Jaswant Singh, who was unceremoniously ousted from BJP for “attacking” the party’s “core ideology”, had described the Saffron organisation as “an open field where one gets to kick an ideological football everyday”.

The June 9 letter Singh had written to the party’s core group calling for a “deep review” of the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections raised the hackles of the party leadership.

Hakimullah Mehsud appointed as new Pak Taliban chief

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Islamabad, August 22: Hakimullah Mehsud has been nominated as the successor of the banned group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistani Taliban said on Saturday.

According to the private channel GEO News, TTP commander Maulvi Faqir Muhammad has claimed that Baitullah Mehsud is alive, but wants to nominate his successor before his demise. However, reports have claimed that Mehsud was killed by a US drone on August 05.

Urban poor most vulnerable as climate changes: WB

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New York, August 22: Climate change directly impacts food prices and wages in some developing countries, driving the urban poor deeper into poverty, a new study supported by the World Bank has said.

The Development Research Group at the World Bank and climate researchers from Purdue University in Indiana have concluded that the urban poor will be “hardest hit and they enter more rapidly into poverty as the climate changes throughout the century”.

Satellites put into orbit for Japan and Australia

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Kourou, August 22: An Ariane-5 rocket put into orbit satellites for Japan and Australia after being launched from French Guiana on Friday, space officials said.

The rocket blasted off from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) launch center in Kourou, French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America.

One of the satellites, a JCSAT-12, will provide telecommunications services covering Japan, the Asia-Pacific region and Hawaii for Japan’s Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. It was built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems.