Countries differ with Iran intelligence, says NYT

New York, September 30: Countries’ differing assessments of Iran’s secret nuclear facility are driving how leaders may address Iran’s nuclear intent, US officials said.

Leaders of the United States, France and Britain announced during last week’s Group of 20 economic summit in Pittsburgh that they had evidence Iran had been building a nuclear facility near Qom well in advance of the country’s recent notification of such activity to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Afghan terror suspect pleads not guilty

New York, September 30: An Afghan immigrant has pleaded not guilty to plotting a terrorist attack on New York City using common chemicals.
Najibullah Zazi’s lawyer entered the plea Tuesday in a Brooklyn courtroom. Zazi was ordered held without bail during the brief hearing.

Officials claim Zazi and his co-conspirators bought beauty products in Colorado containing hydrogen peroxide and acetone – key ingredients for homemade bombs.

Prosecutors insist Zazi received explosives training from Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and planned to target mass transit in the New York City area.

US seeks to isolate Iran

Washington, September 30: US officials say the Obama Administration will try to isolate Iran if talks over the country’s nuclear ambitions break down.
Even though officials say they hope Iran will agree to open up its nuclear programme to international inspectors, officials said the administration is preparing to make it more difficult for Iranian companies to ship their goods and as well as keep goods from reaching Iran, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Burglars strike at 10 houses in city

Hyderabad, September 30: Burglars struck at ten houses in the city and its suburbs on Monday night and decamped with more than 50 tolas of gold ornaments and over Rs.5.50 lakh.

In all the offences, the thieves gained entry into the houses by breaking open locks of the main doors. Three offences were reported at East Prashanth Nagar in Malakpet, seven other incidents took place in Vinayaknagar, Kallem Yellareddy Colony and Rajarajeswari Colony under the Hayathnagar police station limits.

The offenders targeted only locked houses.
Owners out of town

Tehran says won’t discuss nuclear rights in Geneva

Tehran, September 30: Iran said on Tuesday that it will offer a timetable soon for UN inspection of its controversial new uranium enrichment plant but again rejected demands for a freeze on the sensitive process and cautioned Western powers it could curb cooperation further if they repeated “past mistakes”.

Afghanistan not ‘US battle’, says Obama

Washington, September 30: US President Barack Obama said Tuesday the war in Afghanistan was not purely an “American battle” but was a broader Nato mission, as he met the western alliance’s chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The Nato chief assured the US President the alliance would remain in Afghanistan as long as it took to finish its mission.

US to send home 4,000 troops from Iraq

Washington, September 30: The top general in Iraq is sending home 4,000 more US troops by the end of October as the American military winds down the six-year war. Army Gen.

Ray Odierno said in remarks prepared for a congressional hearing Wednesday that the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq will total about 120,000 over the next month. He said that will mean about 4,000 fewer troops than are in Iraq now — about the size of an Army brigade.

Sword play proves fatal for youth

Hyderabad, September 30: A youngster displaying his mastery in sword play died of bleeding wounds during a religious procession at Kishan Bagh cross roads in Hyderabad on Monday night, police said.

Martial arts

Jaswinder Singh of Sikh Chawni was a member of a team which displayed a breathtaking sword play called ‘Gatka’ meaning display of martial arts. Jaswinder Singh (20) got separated from the team and sat down and within minutes other processionists noticed that he was bleeding profusely.

Musharraf wants US to win in Afghanistan

Washington, September 30: Former President Pervez Musharraf, a close U.S. ally in the war on terror, wants the Obama administration to send additional troops to war-torn Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is growing.
“We must win in Afghanistan,” he said in an interview with the conservative Washington Times published in its Tuesday’s edition.

Musharraf said the U.S. would make a “disastrous” mistake if it withdrew from Afghanistan and warned that a delay in sending more troops would be seen as a sign of weakness.

US urges Israel to probe Gaza crimes

Geneva, September 30: The United States called on its close ally Israel on Tuesday to conduct credible investigations into allegations of war crimes committed by its forces in Gaza, saying it would help the Middle East peace process.

Michael Posner, US Assistant Secretary of State, said that Hamas leaders also had a responsibility to investigate crimes and to end what he called its targeting of civilians in Israel and use of Palestinians as human shields.

SIMI and Taliban want Pak-India nuclear war: Musharraf

Islamabad, September 30: Former President Pervez Musharraf has said the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Taliban want nuclear war between Pakistan and India. Musharraf who has been on a lecture tour in United States in a lecture at Baltimore University said that the links between Students Islamic Movement of India and Pakistan Taliban could cause nuclear war between Pakistan and India. The Indian outfit can get assistance from Taliban and other extremists for strikes in Pakistan.

Over 6,000 engineering seats vacant after second phase

Hyderabad, September 30: More than 6,000 seats are still vacant in engineering after the second phase of allotment done on Tuesday.

Allotment list is placed on the website – ‘http://apeamcet.nic.in’.

Officials said 9,017 seats remained vacant after the second phase of counselling of which 6,357 are in the engineering stream and 2,660 in the pharmacy stream.

After the first phase of allotment, 1,24,331 candidates reported to the colleges while 14,340 candidates preferred not to report.

Snag-hit plane makes emergency landing

Hyderabad, September 30: A Chennai-bound Kingfisher flight made an emergency landing within 10 minutes of taking off from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here on Tuesday.

Sources in the RGIA said flight IT2479 took off at 8.40 p.m. but had to return to the airport by 8.50 p.m. because of a technical snag. It is learnt that 64 passengers were on board. All of them were later accommodated in another flight bound for Chennai.

–Agencies–

Police detain Karimnagar youth

Hyderabad, September 30: A day after senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao is alleged to have received threatening telephone calls, the Amberpet police reportedly picked up a youth from Karimnagar district who had made the call to the MP.

The youth identified as Mahipal Reddy is said to be a follower of another senior Congress leader.

Sources said that the anti-goonda squad picked up Mahipal Reddy after obtaining the details of the caller from the service provider.

Emirates passenger misbehaves with air-hostess

Hyderabad, September 30: A passenger on the Hyderabad-bound Emirates Airlines was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly misbehaving with an air-hostess.

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) police said Biyad Khalsan (35), a native of Abu Dhabi, boarded a Hyderabad Emirates flight in Dubai on Monday night. But throughout the journey, Biyad Khalsan allegedly not only misbehaved with the air-hostess but also tried to outrage her modesty.

When the flight landed in Hyderabad, the air-hostess lodged a complaint at the RGIA airport with the help of the local Emirates staff.

AI pilots’ strike: Not much impact in City

Hyderabad, September 30: Even as the agitation by a section of executive pilots of Air India is intensifying, the services of the national carrier did not have much impact in Hyderabad Tuesday.

According to AI officials, only one flight scheduled to leave from Hyderabad to Kolkata at 6 a.m was cancelled.

Can Obama Say No To His Generals On Afghanistan?

Washington, September 30: It was less than five months ago when President Obama sent Gen. Stanley McChrystal to Afghanistan as the top military commander to devise a new strategy for the flailing U.S. war effort.

Now that McChrystal has reported back to the Pentagon that as many as 40,000 additional troops are needed, the Obama administration has put out the word that it wants to consider a range of options, including a more limited role for a smaller U.S. force.

University of Hyderabad ranked No 1 in India

Hyderabad, September 30: University of Hyderabad (UoH) has been ranked as the number one varsity in India on the basis of indicators like publication quality and also overall performance in the rankings given by a reputed agency.

“University of Hyderabad has been ranked as the number one university in the country based on multi-disciplinary bibliographic database on the basis of many indicators including publication quality, citation, impact and overall performance,” UoH vice-chancellor Seyed E Hasnain told reporters here tonight.

Partnering for Progress in the Middle East

Beirut, September 30: At almost every international or regional gathering these days on how to fix the assorted problems and deficiencies in the Middle East, a common theme keeps popping up: What is the most effective and legitimate way for foreign parties — governments, international agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities or companies — to help achieve advances in areas like human rights, economic growth, social protection, democratization, or technological advancement?

Malaysia, Saudi set up 2.5 bln dlr investment fund

Kuala Lampur, September 30: Malaysia and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday said they would establish a 2.5 billion dollar partnership to invest in economic and energy projects here.

The joint-venture company is a collaboration between government development and investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and Saudi Arabia’s PetroSaudi International Limited (PSI).

In a statement the companies said the fund would target the renewable energy sector and “long-term sustainable economic development” projects in Malaysia.

Decayed body of widow found

Banglore, September 30: A 65-year-old lonely woman was found dead at her residence in Kumaraswamy Layout on Tuesday morning. The neighbours who found a foul smell emanating from her residence informed the police.

Police said that it was initially suspected to be a case of suicide. But preliminary investigations have revealed that the woman died a natural death about three days ago. Leela Prakash, a widow, was staying alone at her residence. Her body was found in a decomposed state by her neighbours. They are on the lookout for her family members.

Burglary

Iran will not be ‘harmed’ despite nuclear pressure

Tehran, September 30: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on said Tehran will not be “harmed”, whatever happens in talks with the six major powers.

“The leaders of these countries made a historic mistake with their comments about the new plant,” state television website quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

“After this they also said Iran must give access to the facility as quickly as possible,” the hawkish president said.

“Who are you to tell the agency (International Atomic Energy Agency) and Iran what to do?” he added, referring to the UN nuclear watchdog.

Jagan loyalists show signs of frustration

Hyderabad, September 30: Loyalists of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy are growing more belligerent as the Congress high command is toughening its stand, making it clear that it alone will decide the party affairs in AP.

Fear in Israel over Gaza ‘war crimes’ accusations

Tel Aviv, September 30: Israel is mulling setting up an inquiry into its troops’ conduct in the Gaza war to ward off damage from a damning UN report that accused the Jewish state of war crimes.

Hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed with cabinet ministers the idea of creating an independent commission of investigation, a senior official said.

On Tuesday, the judge who led the inquiry into the Gaza offensive urged the United Nations to refer Israel and the Palestinians to the International Criminal Court if they fail to conduct investigations.