Medical students to continue anti-quota strike

New Delhi: Students of four medical colleges here Thursday decided to continue their stir against a government proposal to hike reservation seats, even as Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh assured them that the matter will be considered after the assembly polls in five states.

"We met the minister and he assured us that he would speak to the prime minister after the assembly elections are over. We have been asked to give them (government) time till May 11 so that the government could discuss the issue," said Aatish Kumar, a doctor of the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) who was part of the delegation.

The minister assured the students that he would raise the issue before the cabinet after the ongoing elections in five states were over as he was bound by the Election Commission's code of conduct.

On April 5, Arjun Singh had declared that the government was planning to reserve 27 percent of seats for other backward classes (OBCs) in 20 central universities, the Indian Institutes of Management, the Indian Institutes of Technology and other central government funded institutions.

Arjun Singh also apologised to the students for the police action against them Wednesday. Over 400 medical students had clashed with police after they were denied a meeting with the minister a day before.

The minister said that he was always open to meeting students and would meet them prior to raising the issue before the cabinet, according to the students.

Kumar said: "The doctors and the interns have decided to resume work in the hospitals so as not to cause inconvenience to people but all students would remain on strike till May 11. The future course of action would only be decided after the government comes out with its decision on the issue.

"We do not want to trouble the people unnecessarily but we would be forced to take extreme steps and intensify our agitation if the government does not listen to our demands," he added.

Kumar added that this time only the outpatient departments (OPDs) were on strike but all hospitals might stop work after May 11.

"We have also decided to boycott our ongoing examination to take part in the strike. If the government does not want to give us enough opportunities then there is no point for us to study hard and take examinations," said
Soumyendro Chaterjee of the University College of Medical Science (UCMS).

The students of Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College, Lady Harding Medical College and University College of Medical Science (UCMS) are taking part in the strike.

The strike did not cover the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where the flow of patients is very high, but protestors said its doctors and students were wearing black badges in support of the strike.

"Students from Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Karntaka have also joined our agitation and we expect more students to come forward as the days progress," said Shewta Sardana of Lady Harding Medical College.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police deployed personnel in huge numbers outside Arjun Singh's Akbar Road residence and at the India Gate where the students were holding protest demonstrations.

Police begin recording statements of Mahajan family

The police have started recording statements of the family members of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan in connection with the assault on him by his younger brother Pravin on Saturday.

* Pramod Mahajan Shot

A team of Worli police is camping at Hinduja hospital, where it is slated to record statements of Mahajan's wife Rekha, son Rahul and brother in-law and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde.

Among these persons, Rekha and Rahul Mahajan were the closest to the place of the incident while Munde was among the first who had reached Mahajan's flat at Worli to take him to the hospital.

Mahajan was shot at by Pravin at the BJP leader's Worli residence on Saturday morning.

Mahajan's condition continued to be critical after suffering injuries to vital organs like liver, pancreas and small intestine.

Qaeda Video Vows Iraq Defeat for 'Crusader' US : USA News

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 25 —

A man identifying himself as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, appeared in a video released Tuesday calling the American effort here a "crusader" campaign and denouncing the efforts to form a new Iraqi government.

The 34-minute video, posted on a Web site used by jihadist groups, shows a man who appears to be Mr. Zarqawi, speaking and mesturing,
meeting with his lieutenants, and firing long bursts from an American machine gun in a stretch of empty desert. He has a mustache and a beard, wears black
fatigues and a cap, and at one point Identifies himself by name. He also refers to himself as "the brains of Al Qaeda in Iraq."

The video predicted American "defeat and humiliation" while praising the insurgents in Iraq and urging them on, saying at one point, "They are slaughtering your children and shaming your women."

"God almighty has chosen you to conduct holy war in your lands and has opened the doors of paradise to you," he said. "So mujahedeen, don't dare close those doors."

He also mocked President Bush and accused him of lying to the American people.

"Why don't you tell about the reality of your soldiers and their failure to fight?" he said on the video. "Why don't you tell your people about the soldiers who commit suicide? Why don't you tell your people that your soldiers cannot have any sleep without taking drugs, which makes them like animals?"

He said American troops were "driven by your generals, who are like the crusaders and evangelists, to the slaughterhouse."

Mr. Zarqawi, a Jordanian, is believed responsible for dozens of car and suicide bombings here that have killed and wounded thousands of Iraqi civilians. He also took credit for the November bombing of three hotels in Jordan that killed at least 57 people.

While the authenticity of the video could not be verified, an American official said Tuesday night that intelligence agencies had completed an analysis of the video and concluded that the speaker was Mr. Zarqawi. The man who appears in the video bears a strong resemblance to various photos the American and Jordanian governments have distributed of him.

If it is authentic, the video would be the first time that Mr. Zarqawi had willingly shown his face to the world. And it would amount to a public resurfacing after several months of obscurity.

In January, Mr. Zarqawi's group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, declared that it had joined something called The Freedom Fighter Council with several other insurgent groups and submitted itself to the leadership of an Iraqi man, identified as Abdullah al-Baghdadi.

Al Qaeda then stopped taking credit for attacks altogether in Iraq, and the Freedom Fighter Council has not claimed responsibility for the kind of mass murder of civilians for which Mr. Zarqawi has been blamed.

Even so, the suicide attacks and car bombs have continued, and American officials said Mr. Zarqawi's group was the most likely culprit in the destruction of the Golden Shrine in Samarra, which had set off a wave of sectarian bloodletting and brought the country to the brink of civil war, one of his professed goals.

The video, titled "Address to the People," was part propaganda blast against the United States and President Bush, and part paean to the insurgency in Iraq. Though it makes references throughout to Al Qaeda, the video carried the signature of "The Freedom Fighter Council."

"Your mujahedeen sons were able to confront the most ferocious of crusader campaigns against a Muslim state," the speaker said, gesturing with an index finger. "They have stood in the face of this
onslaught for three years."

It wasn't immediately clear why Mr. Zarqawi would release such a video now. It was made public just two days after Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, released an audio tape accusing the West of a "Zionist-crusaders war on Islam," a statement similar in parts to Mr. Zarqawi's.

Many experts believe that there are elements of a rivalry between Mr. Zarqawi and Mr. bin Laden, despite the declaration in 2004 that Mr. Zarqawi was submitting himself to Mr. bin Laden's leadership. While Mr. bin Laden has been in hiding since late 2001, presumably in Pakistan, Mr. Zarqawi has become the world's most active terrorist.

The video released Tuesday opens with an excerpt of a speech by Mr. bin Laden urging men to take up a jihad against the West, and in it, the man identified as Mr. Zarqawi refers to Mr. bin Laden as "our prince."

everal other explanations for releasing the video also suggested themselves, including the possibility that the timing was meant to coincide with the first steps toward a new Iraqi government, which was agreed on last week after a five-month deadlock. The government is made up of leaders from the country's Shiite majority, as well as Kurds and Sunnis. The Sunnis form the backbone of the guerrilla insurgency.

Indeed, American and Iraqi officials have been hoping for months that the greater inclusion of Sunnis in the democratic process could begin to marginalize insurgents and terrorists like Mr. Zarqawi, who have hidden among the population.

In a letter obtained by American forces in January 2004 and believed to have been written by Mr. Zarqawi, the Jordanian expressed concern that his efforts in Iraq could be undermined by a functioning democracy. In the video, the Iraqi government is singled out.

"By God, you will have no peace in the land of Islam," the speaker says. "Your dreams will be defeated by our blood and by our bodies. What is coming is even worse."

He then refers to the Shiites as "Rawafidh," which means, roughly, "rejecter."

"We believe that any government made up of rejecter or godless Kurds or people who call themselves Sunnis is only a collaborators' government, and that it would be a sword in the Islamic nation's body," he said.

Throughout the video, the man claiming to be Mr. Zarqawi spoke in classical Arabic, which did not reveal the Jordanian accent with which he is believed to speak ordinarily.

The video could have been intended to dispel any notion that Mr. Zarqawi is dead or unable to lead his movement. Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia said last year that Mr. Zarqawi had been wounded while fighting in Iraq, and there was widespread speculation that he had died. Various statements, including ones believed to have been made by him, asserted that he had recovered from his wounds. There was no mention of any wounds in the video posted Tuesday.

Mr. Zarqawi is perhaps the single most hunted man in Iraq, with the Americans offering a $25 million reward for information leading to his death or capture. His picture, particularly the one taken from a booking photo at a jail, hangs on the walls of American and Iraqi checkpoints here. There are unverified reports that Mr. Zarqawi was in either American or Iraqi custody at some point after the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003.

The man in the video cuts a vigorous figure. When he holds up the heavy machine gun, he shows his bare forearms. The scenery surrounding him is mostly flat and brown and bare, suggesting any number of places in Iraq or the Middle East.

In another frame, he is shown poring over a map, and in another he is meeting with someone referred to in a caption as "one of the commanders in Anbar Province," a large area in western Iraq.

Unlike Mr. Zarqawi, the other men in the video are masked. At one point in the tape, a printed imperative flashes across the screen.

"Don't forget to pray for us," it says.

News Source : The New York Times Company

Sri Lanka launches new strikes on Tiger territory :Asia News

By Peter Apps

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's military launched new strikes on Tamil Tiger areas in the island's northeast on Wednesday, a day after a deadly suicide bomb attack in the capital blamed on rebels shattered a fragile ceasefire.

Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said Wednesday's strikes came after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired on naval patrol craft off the eastern port of Trincomalee for a second day.

"The navy is heavily patrolling the area," he said. "They requested air support."

The government launched attacks on Tiger territory on Tuesday after a suspected suicide bomb in the capital killed nine and wounded the army commander.

The attacks were the first official military action since a 2002 ceasefire halted the two-decades-old civil war and raised fears that the Norwegian-brokered truce was on the brink of collapse.

More than 100 people had already died in the bloodiest two weeks since the truce even before a female suicide bomber, disguised to look pregnant, blew herself up at Colombo's high-security army headquarters.

The Tigers' political leader in Trincomalee district, S. Elilan, told the pro-rebel Tamilnet Web site (www.tamilnet.com) that the rebels, who deny all recent attacks, had not attacked the military and that the strikes on them were unprovoked.

He asked the Nordic staffed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), tasked with observing the ceasefire, if the war had resumed.

"We did not fire a single shot against the Sri Lankan troops
Tuesday," he said. "SLMM should inquire into our complaint and should inform us whether the Sri Lankan Army has launched a full scale war on the LTTE."

The Tigers on Tuesday denied responsibility for the suicide bomb attack, but scant mention was made of it on their Web site.

They indefinitely postponed peace talks that should have taken place last week in Switzerland, accusing the government of obstructing the transport of eastern rebel leaders to a pre-talks meeting.

But diplomats say they were just looking for an excuse to pull out, angry the government has not reined in renegade group of ex-rebels, the Karuna group, which has been attacking the mainstream Tigers in the east.

Some fear the Tigers may be planning a return to the battlefield to win their goal of a separate Tamil homeland.

The government has repeatedly said it will not be provoked, but it changed tactics following the suicide bombing.

Tamilnet said more than 150 shells and bombs had fallen on a stretch of northeastern rebel territory controlling the entrance to Trincomalee, causing "severe damage to the life and property of civilians".

Tamilnet said a primary school had been hit in the raid, but the military said they had no details on targets struck.

Nepal Maoists want "unconditional" elections : Nepal News

Siddharth Varadarajan

They denounce the King's revival of Parliament; SPA accused of betraying the people's movement by walking into the monarchy's trap

Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala (centre) consults party members after the seven main opposition political parties declared him Prime Ministerial candidate.

KATHMANDU: Even as jubilant crowds took to the streets here on Tuesday, a day after King Gyanendra's climbdown in which he agreed to reinstate Parliament, the message to political leaders was loud and clear: Constitute a constituent assembly and do not deviate from the aims of the pro-democracy movement.

At an impromptu roadside meeting in Vasundhara, not far from the residence of Nepali Congress leader Girija Prasad Koirala, one speaker declared: "If Girija babu does something funny, we will hang him." The crowd around him cheered lustily.

The Seven Party Alliance (SPA), spearheading the anti-monarchy protests, issued a statement welcoming the King's latest proclamation and declaring that Mr. Koirala would be their candidate for Prime Minister.

"Restoration of the House of Representatives is only the beginning for us," the SPA declared, conscious of the mood on the streets. The parties also expressed their commitment to abide by the 12-point agreement reached with Maoists last November.

For the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which has formed a partnership of sorts with the SPA since November last, these assurances are clearly not enough. In a toughly worded statement issued in the name of party leaders Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai, the Maoists denounced the King's revival of Parliament and accused the SPA of betraying the people's movement by walking into the monarchy's trap.

"Continue agitation"

They called on the people to continue their peaceful agitation until "unconditional" elections to a constituent assembly were announced.

"The SPA's unilateral support for the revival of Parliament, without consulting the Maoists, in effect tried to break the spirit behind the 12-point agreement. Why should people believe that Parliament, which has come as a gift from the King, would have the resolve to hold unconditional elections to the constituent assembly?''

Despite the tough language of the Maoists' statement, independent analysts do not consider the gap between the Maoists and the parties to be insurmountable.

Devendra Nath Pandey, former Finance Minister and leading civil society campaigner for democracy who was released on Tuesday after months of incarceration, told The Hindu that the Maoist rejection appeared tactical. "The 12-point agreement had envisaged the reinstatement of Parliament. Though the Maoists had some reservations about it, they endorsed the overall agreement," he said. "I think the Maoist reaction [to the SPA's acceptance of the restoration of Parliament] may be tactical. They can't be seen as welcoming anything the King says. And they had never really been in favour of reinstatement of Parliament. But as long as parties move forward on the constituent assembly, the Maoists will come on board."

Acknowledging that there were procedural and methodological issues involved in an election to a constituent assembly which could not be resolved very quickly, Dr. Pandey stressed that once Parliament convened "it should not get bogged down in business as usual." Going for a constituent assembly has to be the first agenda item and since the Maoists have to be with them on this, negotiations with the Maoists have to begin almost immediately, he said.

Things going well

While it was legitimate for people to be suspicious of the parties, given their record, Dr. Pandey said they behaved very responsibly these past few weeks.

"The parties stood up to the King, to India and to the donor countries. This is very refreshing. Even on choosing a prime ministerial candidate, there wasn't the usual wrangling. Things are going well so far."

Senior diplomats also seemed convinced that the new all-party government's top priority had to be a dialogue with the Maoists structured around the goal of a constituent assembly.

"For this to happen, of course, there would need to be a two-way ceasefire, as well as the removal of the "terrorist" tag from the Maoists and the repeal of certain laws," a diplomat said.

Realistically speaking, say analysts, given the harvest and monsoon seasons as well as the festival of Dasein, the earliest that any elections can be held is November.

Dahab blasts pinned on suicide bombers :Egypt News

At least two of the three deadly blasts that ripped through the Egyptian tourist resort of Dahab were caused by suicide bombers, security sources said on Tuesday.

"There were at least two suicide bombers involved in the attacks," an official said on condition of anonymity.

At least 23 people were killed in the triple bombings on Monday, the third such attack to strike tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula in 18 months, according to the interior ministry.

Egyptian state television had initially ruled out suicide bombings and said the explosions were caused by remote-detonated devices.

It was too soon to tell whether any South Africans were killed or wounded in the blasts, the Foreign Affairs Department said on Tuesday.

"It's quite early in the day for us to be able to say," said spokesperson Nomfanelo Kota said shortly after 7am.

"We'll have a better idea when the SA consulate in Egypt is open."

The three explosions, which happened at around 7.15pm local time (5.15pm GMT), left the streets littered with body parts, glass and debris, and smoke billowing over the tourist bazaar.

Reports suggested bombs were detonated at two restaurants and a third at a supermarket in the coastal town. Ambulance workers said many of the dead were foreigners. Other rescue workers said they counted up to 30 dead.

An interior ministry statement said there were 23 dead, including a German boy and two unidentified foreigners. Those wounded included 20 foreigners, among them three Britons, two Italians, two Germans, two French people, three Danes, a South Korean, a Lebanese, a Palestinian, an American, an Israeli and an Australian.

The bombings came a day after the broadcast of a tape by Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaeda leader appeared to justify attacks on western civilians.

Joseph Nazir, who owns a safari company in Dahab, said one of the blasts had destroyed the Al Capone restaurant, one of the busiest in the town. "There is nothing there," he said. "The tables and chairs have gone, there is nothing left."

He said the explosion had covered an area of around 100 square metres and that many Egyptian holidaymakers had been in the area. "Everybody is panicking, a lot of people are crying," he said.

Dr Said Essa, who runs Egypt's Sinai Peninsula rescue squad, said he believed at least 18 people were killed and at least 150 wounded in an explosion at the el-Khaleeg hotel in the el-Masbat section of the town.

The interior ministry said that the three explosions occurred at the Nelson restaurant, Aladdin cafe and one at Ghazala supermarket.

Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said the attacks were carried out by "callous" terrorists who attacked a popular holiday resort on an Egyptian public holiday, he said. "Once again terrorists have demonstrated their callous disregard for human life."

United States President George Bush condemned the blasts as a "heinous act against innocent civilians". Bush, seeming to equate the perpetrators of the attacks in Dahab, on the Sinai peninsula, with al-Qaeda militants who carried out the September 11 attacks in the United States, said: "Today, we saw again that the terrorists are willing to try to define the world the way they want to see it. I strongly condemn the killings that took place." Bush, who was addressing a political fundraiser in Las Vegas, added: "The innocent life lost in Egypt is a heinous act against innocent civilians."

After offering condolences to the victims' families, Bush said: "And I assure the enemy this: we will stay on the offence. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will bring you to justice for the sake of peace and humanity."

Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak, whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism, said the blasts were a "sinful terrorist action".

Paul McBeath, a British tourist who witnessed the blasts, said there had been no warning before the bombs ripped through the town. "There were just three loud bangs and people rushing around," he told Sky News. "Everybody is shaken."

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "There were body parts and debris in the street. There are ambulances and cars taking people to hospital."

Rene Overgaard, a shipping executive from Cairo who had travelled to Dahab for a long weekend, said he believed the blasts had been well planned and well coordinated. "There were three explosions very close together, near the water fountain close to the Ghazala supermarket," he said. "This was incredibly well coordinated. They went off within seconds of each other."

Dahab, which is on the Gulf of Aqaba on the eastern side of the Sinai peninsula, is in its high tourist season, with hotels all along the coast at near capacity, mainly filled with Europeans, Israelis and expatriates living in Egypt.

Terrorist attacks have killed nearly 100 people at several tourist resorts in the Sinai region in the past two years. Bombings in the resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, near the Israeli border, killed 34 people in October 2004. Suicide attackers in July in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh killed at least 64 people, mainly tourists.

The Egyptian government has said those who carried out those bombings were locals without international connections, but other security agencies have said they suspect al-Qaeda.

Israel's rescue service said it had raised the alert level. The country's Channel 10 TV reported that Israel had closed the border crossing at Taba, preventing vehicles from entering Sinai. It said a stream of Israeli vehicles was leaving Sinai, where many Israelis go for beach holidays.

Israel's ambassador in Cairo, Shalom Cohen, told Channel 10 that he did not know if any Israelis had been killed. He advised any Israeli tourists in the area to go home. He said the Israeli government had repeatedly warned against visiting the Sinai desert, where Israelis have been targeted in the past. "Unfortunately, the warnings came true," he said.

The Israeli rescue service, Magen David Adom, offered help through the International Red Cross and the Egyptian Red Crescent but has not received a reply, the service said in a statement. It said about 20 ambulances were standing by at the Taba crossing between Israel and Egypt.

On Sunday, the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television station broadcast a new audio tape in which Bin Laden seemed to urge his followers to open a new front in al-Qaeda's war against the west. A voice sounding like the al-Qaeda leader's said the western public shared responsibility for the deeds of their governments, and for what he described as "a continuous crusader-Zionist war on Islam". - Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006, Sapa

Related articles :Deadly blasts rock Red Sea resort

5 killed, army chief among many hurt in Sri Lanka blast : Asia News

By V.S. Sambandan

Colombo, April. 25: The Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Sarath Fonseka, was injured in an attack by an LTTE woman suicide bomber inside the Army Headquarters complex in Colombo on Tuesday afternoon, the Sri Lankan Defence spokesperson’s office told The Hindu.

At least two others - the suicide bomber and an Army officer - were killed and several others injured in the blast. The severed head of the woman suicide bomber was found several yards away, sources said.

The blast occurred inside the Army Headquarters opposite the Army Hospital. Investigations are on to find out the modus operandi behind the attack, the Inspector General of Police, Chandra Fernando, said.

According to initial reports, the woman suicide bomber had gained entry into the Army Headquarters premises on the pretext of visiting the Army Hospital, which is located inside the complex. She had reportedly hurled herself on the car in which Lt. Gen. Fonseka was travelling.

The Commander of the Army was undergoing treatment at the National Hospital, Colombo, when reports last came in. A battle-hardened Infantryman, Lt. Gen Fonseka took charge as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army on December 6, 2005.

Fonseka was seriously injured and five of his bodyguards were killed when the suicide bomber attacked the Army headquarters, police said, reports PTI

Ambulances rushed to the scene of the explosion suspected to be carried out by Tamil Tiger rebels targeting the army chief against a backdrop of increasing guerrilla attacks on the security forces in recent months.

Initial suspicion pointed to a woman suicide bomber, although investigations were still underway, police said.

Five of Fonseka's bodyguards who were escorting him were killed on the spot, police said adding more than a dozen were wounded.

Fonseka is a high profile military commander who has taken a hard line against the Tamil Tigers, advocating a tougher stance against the rebels in the ongoing peace process.

It was the worst bomb attack in Colombo since July 7, 2004 when a woman suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to her body while being searched at a police station.

Google reaches further into the enterprise : Technology News

Search giant's new enterprise box should simplify application searches

Google has launched a new search appliance for corporates that can trawl their back-end systems for data and present it to staff via a single, familiar search interface.

Google OneBox for Enterprise has been developed through a series of new partnerships with IT giants including Oracle, Cisco and SAS. The system lets staff retrieve data from business intelligence applications, databases or customer relationship management (CRM) systems via a Google front-end.

"It [used to be hard] to find information in an organisation with the problems of data [in separate] silos," said Google's Matthew Glotzbach. "But we asked what if from a single search box you could
have access to all the information [in your enterprise] securely, very fast and reliably?"

Google also launched an enterprise developer programme, with a web site for developers to access Google Enterprise SDKs. A new API in the Google Search Appliance (GSA) will let developers build OneBox modules and integrate them with home-grown legacy applications, Glotzbach added. The GSA also adds external metadata indexing capabilities and better security, with support for third-party authentication.

Angela Ashenden of analyst Ovum said Google was approaching the corporate search market from a "grass roots" perspective. "It's a good way of getting buy-in from the people in an enterprise who will be implementing this," she said. "There is some very sophisticated technology on the market, which is great for organisations that need configurability and flexibility, but a large proportion of the market doesn't want that complexity."

However, rival enterprise search vendors insisted they were unfazed by the competition. John Lervik, chief executive of Fast, said Google is trying to position itself as "owner of the desktop", ahead of Microsoft's Vista release. "This is a very small part of the enterprise search space [aimed at] the lower end of the market," he argued. "There are very few one-size-fits-all solutions. "

Google also launched a new edition of its Mini appliance, which it said is easier to set up, delivers faster results and supports more traffic.

Nepal's king pledges to return democracy to people

By John Lancaster, Washington Post KATMANDU, Nepal

In an emergency television address, King Gyanendra declared yesterday that he would hand power to Nepal's main political parties, after 16 days of often-violent protests that have brought the Himalayan country to a standstill.

The king broke days of silence in an effort to calm a street movement that has gained momentum in the face of mass arrests and rushes by baton-wielding police, drawing support from diverse sectors of Nepalese society. Many young protesters demand nothing less than the abdication of Gyanendra, who assumed absolute power 14 months ago.

Early reaction from the street suggested his bid for conciliation would fail. Several leaders of the seven-party alliance coordinating the demonstrations said the statement fell short of their demands. The parties later issued a joint pledge that the protests would ''further intensify."

The unrest has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in Nepal, an impoverished, mostly Hindu country of 28 million people that the outside world knows mostly for its breathtaking Himalayan peaks, including Mount Everest. India, China, and the United States worry about long-term lawlessness and the need for international aid.

US officials have expressed concern that Maoist insurgents, who hold much of the country after a 10-year rebellion, could emerge as the winners if the protests continue.

The United States joined India yesterday in welcoming the king's statement. ''We urge the parties to respond quickly by choosing a prime minister and a Cabinet," Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, said. That call could force the parties to choose between capitalizing on the momentum on the street or losing key international backing, especially if the anarchy spreads.

In a 7 p.m. address, a somber-looking Gyanendra, 58, promised that ''executive power of the kingdom of Nepal, which was in our safekeeping, shall from this day be returned to the people."

The king appealed to leaders of the party alliance to recommend a new prime minister who would oversee the naming of a new Cabinet and ''bear the responsibility of governing the country in accordance with the constitution."

Several key party leaders quickly responded that the statement failed to address their demands for the restoration of the last elected parliament, which was dissolved in 2002, and the convening of a national assembly to write a new constitution. Such a document could reduce the king to a ceremonial figure or eliminate the monarchy.

The king's statement also skipped over the parties' demand that any new government be vested with authority to negotiate a settlement with the Maoist rebels, whose fight to topple the monarchy has cost more than 12,000 lives.

In a brief phone interview after the king's speech, Ram Sharan Mahat, a former foreign minister and a leader of the Nepali Congress, the country's largest political party, described the statement as inadequate and short of many people's expectations. ''There are many ambiguities," he added.

Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was dismissed as prime minister by Gyanendra in 2002, told the Nepali-language newspaper Kantipur that the statement left ''no space for the parties to be hopeful."

Gyanendra's announcement was aimed at ending unrest that has claimed 14 lives and idled an economy already devastated by the insurgency. The protests have grown steadily in size and momentum; more than 200,000 people thronged the streets of Katmandu yesterday in defiance of a continuing curfew, according to estimates by UN observers and Nepalese media.

Thousands of protesters remained on the streets after the king's speech, and many dismissed it as a ploy. ''Democracy has been attacked by the royal palace so many times in the past," said Brijesh Sharma, 30, an engineer with the national telecommunications company. ''The protest goes on like this until we get what we are looking for."

The government's harsh crackdown on protesters and activists has sparked sharp condemnation from the United Nations and foreign governments, including the United States. Yesterday, before the king's statement, US Ambassador James Moriarty told reporters here that Gyanendra's hard-line stand placed his throne at risk.

''Time is running out," he said. ''Ultimately the king will have to leave if he doesn't compromise. And by 'ultimately' I mean sooner rather than later."

Protester at China summit has no regrets

Washington (dpa) - A protester who faces a possible six months in US prison for shouting at Chinese President Hu Jintao during a White House welcoming ceremony says she has no regrets.

Federal charges of intimidating a foreign leader were filed Friday against Wenyi Wang, 43, news reports said, a day after the Falun Gong supporter disrupted Hu's opening speech to President George W Bush at a US-China summit.

Wang screamed in English that Falun Gong, the spiritual movement banned in China, "is good" and told Hu in Chinese that his "time is running out," according to court documents.

She faces up to six months in prison if convicted on charges of intimidating, coercing, harassing and threatening a foreign official, US media reported. A federal judge in Washington freed Wang pending a court hearing expected next month.

Asked Friday on Cable News Network (CNN) whether she had regrets, she said no.

She said her protest was "a personal act" meant to call attention to "unspeakable crime" she said Falun Gong was suffering in China.

Wang, a naturalized US citizen who reportedly lives in New York, entered Thursday's summit ceremony with a press pass for The Epoch Times, a Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper.

US administration officials say Bush expressed regret to Hu after the incident, but that Wang's press credentials were legitimate and no one knew she would use the occasion as a stage for protest.

Nepal's protesters return to face gunfire with flags : Asia News

Maoists and anti-monarchist protesters were returning to the streets of Nepalese capital athmandu today for a second day of demonstrations in defiance of a shoot-on-sight curfew.

The royal government has pledged to face down the wave of unrest but international pressure was building for King Gyanendra to relinquish direct control and restore multi-party democracy to the Himalayan kingdom.

The United States, the United Nations and India have urged Nepalese security forces to exercise restraint. Yesterday, four activists were shot dead when police fired into the crowds. It is feared that their funerals could become flashpoints for further violence today.

Yesterday's curfew had been due to end at 9pm but was extended until 3am local time, giving families precious little time to dash outside to shops for food and milk before lockdown was imposed again from 9am (0415BST) today.

Residents scurried to the few stalls and grocers who opened after dawn. Piles of rubbish line the roadsides. Supplies of fuel are running short as a general strike enters its 16th day.

This morning a fresh wave of demonstrations began on the outskirts of the capital. In the western district of Kalanki, scene of the most violent protests yesterday, activists blocked roads with barricades of burning tyres. A large red and white message painted on the pavement read: "Martyrs’ square, long live the martyrs."

The seven opposition parties and their unlikely Maoist rebel allies are co-ordinating their demonstrations through text messages, mobile phones and the internet. Today's demonstrations began with large crowds assembling at a number of districts on the city's ring road at noon (0715BST). The protestors pledged to march through the lines of armed police and soldiers toward the royal palace.

"Our movement is successfully moving forward despite the state’s excessive use of force during demonstrations nationwide," the alliance said in a statement. "The strike will continue with more intensity in the capital and across the country until further notice."

Sabina Dhakal, a housewife, said that the deadlock and daily demonstrations were making life impossible. "The government should understand that curfew is not the answer to resolve the problem, it will just worsen the situation," she said.

At the Model Hospital, where many of the wounded protesters - including three of those killed - were taken, doctors wore black bands to protest at the shootings.

"It was terrible," said Dr Sarita Pandey. He said 66 wounded people, eight in critical condition, were brought in yesterday. He said the injured included a 10-year-old boy with a gunshot wound and a boy of 5 beaten by police.

The King seized absolute power in February 2005, claiming that the move was necessary to crush a Maoist insurgency that has cost 13,000 lives in the past ten years. But the guerrillas’ grip on rural Nepal has since escalated while the monarch has accelerated his curb on civil liberties.

Late last year the Maoists and political parties announced a coalition to unseat the King and calling for the restoration of multiparty democracy.

The king has been slow to respond to the growing crisis. This week five leading opposition politicians were released from custody in the first hint of a possible reconciliation, but observers say that a deal to return to the constitutional monarchy introduced by his father in 1991 may now be impossible.

Today, the pro-democracy Kathmandu Post said: "For the king time has run out," it said in an editorial. "No ruler can get away by killing innocent people. We believe the king has gone to the extent of no return. Even if he restores people’s sovereignty as per people’s wishes, he may not be able to protect the 237-year-old institution [of the monarchy]."

The state-owned Rising Nepal however urged negotiation and dialogue between the king and political parties in an editorial headlined "Shun Confrontation".

The demonstrations appear to encompass all sections of society. Housewives, lawyers and even civil servants have taken to the streets as anti-monarchy sentiment has grown across the country.

Delhi fears that Maoist movements in east India would be bolstered by the overthrow of the monarchy in Nepal, and is also worried about a possible exodus of refugees across the open border into the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Human rights experts from the United Nations also condemned the embattled government's use of violence against the protestors. "The law enforcement agencies have resorted to indiscriminate firing of rubber bullets - even on occasion live ammunition - into crowds, beatings, raids on homes and destruction of property," they said.

Tom Cruise cancels M:I promotions : Entertainment News

New dad Tom Cruise has cancelled initial promotional appearances for his Mission: Impossible III movie to spend time with his fiancee Katie Holmes and their new baby Suri.

The Hollywood couple welcomed their seven-pound, seven-ounce daughter in Los Angeles on Tuesday, a little sister for Cruise's adopted children from his marriage to Nicole Kidman, Isabella and Connor.

Before the birth, Cruise stunned fans by scheduling appearances at the film's premieres in Europe, Mexico and his native US for next week, despite his admittance that Holmes was due any day.

Cruise was expected in Rome, Italy, on Monday for the action movie's world premiere, before journeying to London, Paris, Mexico City and New York City.

However, after the birth yesterday, a Paramount representative said Cruise had cancelled all press appearances.

Aust troops to quell Solomons riots

Aust troops to quell Solomons riots

Australia is sending 110 soldiers to the Solomon Islands after a night of rioting and looting in the capital, Honiara.
An extra 66 Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers, equipped with riot gear, are also heading to the region.Prime Minister John Howard says the troops will arrive in the Solomons tonight.

"Starting at about 2.30pm this afternoon from Townsville, 110 soldiers of a unit that has been in readiness for just this eventuality will go to the Solomon Islands," Mr Howard said.

"They will be joined by ... additional Australian Federal Police officers and that will represent an immediate and needed injection of additional security forces to the Solomon Islands."

Mr Howard says the commitment follows a written request from the Solomon Islands Government.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has backed the extra measures.

"The job these people are doing is immensely important and it must be supported and seen through successfully," he said.

The swearing-in yesterday of the new Solomons Prime Minister, Snyder Rini, sparked widespread riots and looting in the capital.

The protesters say Mr Rini's coalition Government is funded and influenced by the owner of the Honiara Hotel, Sir Thomas Chan, a naturalised citizen of Chinese origin.

Mr Rini has issued a statement denying that his Government is heavily influenced by Chinese businessmen and accusations that he bought the votes of MPs before the election ballot.

Chinese interests targeted

Honiara residents have been asked to stay indoors as the looters target shops and businesses in Chinatown.

Fred Olsson, an Australian education and health adviser in Honiara, lives in a flat above a

Chinese-owned business in the centre of town with three other expatriates.

He says they were aware that ethnic tension in Honiara would make the shop below them a target for looters.

"We could sense that danger and we said, 'Oh please not us'," he said.

"We didn't even think that Chinatown would go up or the restaurants close by, but it became very apparent and our staff and security said, 'Well look, the position is anything Chinese has to go'."

Seventeen Australian police serving in the country as part of the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission (RAMSI) have been injured in the violence.

Two of the officers need surgery and will be evacuated to Australia for medical treatment.

Labor's Bob Sercombe says Australia's thoughts are with the officers.

"We all extend our best wishes for a speedy recovery," Mr Sercombe said.

RAMSI began in 2003 after the country plunged into ethnic violence.

It will be the second deployment to Honiara in 18 months for Townsville troops.

They were called in two days before Christmas in 2004 when an Australian policeman was killed in civil unrest.
Curfew
The commissioner of the Solomon Islands Royal Police, Australian Shane Castles, has met the Solomons Governor-General for talks about the unrest.

Commissioner Castles has suggested that the Government invoke a declaration under the Preservation of Public Security Act to help lock-down the capital Honiara.

"That will see a potential curfew come into play at 6pm this evening that will be effective until 6am tomorrow morning," he said.
"There's other other strategies also being developed to lock down the city and allow us to restore law and order"

San Franciso marks earthquake anniversary

Thousands of San Franciscans have turned out to mark the 100th anniversary of a 7.9 magnitude earthquake that devastated their city.

An estimated 3,000 people died in the minute-long quake, which sparked three days of fires that devoured 500 city blocks and left half of the city's 400,000 residents homeless.

Most of the survivors were infants when the quake hit, but still have tales to tell.

"I remember a cow running up the hill with its tail straight in the air," survivor Violet Lyman said.

Another woman, 99-years-old, said says she considers herself "a product of the earthquake" because she was conceived and born in one of the many tents erected for survivors in Golden Gate Park.

Mayor Gavin Newsom says San Francisco is an example to places devastated by disaster, such as New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last year.

"Who would have imagined that just a few days after that people would literally dust off and step up and seek to resolve to rebuild their home in the miraculous way that we see it here today," Mr Newsom said.

Sirens were sounded and bars were open at dawn to enhance the anniversary commemorations.

Residents awoke to find a copy of the morning-after 1906 edition of The Call-Chronicle- Examiner newspaper on their doorsteps, with the headline "Earthquake and Fire: San Francisco in Ruins".

City vulnerable

But for all the celebrations of survival, the anniversary also has served as a reminder of how vulnerable the Bay Area is to the movements in the seven faults in its environs.

Seismic experts believe the Bay Area has a 60 per cent chance of a major earthquake in the next 25 years.

An earthquake today on the San Andreas fault of the magnitude of the 1906 disaster could kill thousands and cause $US150 billion in damage.

"I live on the Hayward fault and we are up for another one," Art Brandenburg, who came to the ceremony in long underwear, a coat and top hat, said.

"Everyone needs to carry a whistle and a flashlight."

Mr Brandenburg says he dressed for the occasion to emulate Enrico Caruso, the great Italian tenor who was similarly clad as he fled his room at the nearby Palace Hotel when the quake hit.

Caruso never came back to San Francisco.

Mob attacks tourist hotel : current news

By David Braithwaite and Jano Gibson
April 19, 2006 - 1:16PM

Australian tourists have told today of huddling together in fear as they came under attack from rioters in their Solomon Island hotel rooms.

Troubled flared in the capital, Honiara, yesterday after the announcement of a new Prime Minister, Snyder Rini.

About 500 supporters of rival candidate, Job Dudley Tausinga, took to the streets, claiming the election was fixed and votes bought.

Parts of Honiara have been completely burned down and looting continues unabated today, according to Reverend Kevin Rietveld, 59, an Australian missionary who has lived in the Solomons for eight years.

Priest threatened

Rev Rietveld said he was threatened while driving through Honiara today.

"The mood is quite tense," he said. "There have been all sorts of people on the radio calling for peace and quiet.

"The thing that's happening now is people are just going out to see what they can get.

"It's no longer just a political backlash, it's now just greed and 'Let's see who we can rip off and how."

"I went out this morning to a place called Ranad. It's the industrial area about 3km from Chinatown. I passed two burning buildings, both of them owned by Chinese.

"I saw one building that had been burned out already and I saw another building in full flame. It was a grocery place and its containers were being looted. I saw people carrying boxes and bags of stuff all over the place."

Rev Rietveld said one of the looters was then confronted by one of the looters.

"One guy, when he saw my car and saw that I was white, picked up a stone to throw it at me. I stopped right next to him and was able to pacify him. He was drunk. Some friends came and dragged him away."

Chinatown charred

He described Chinatown as being "pretty well burnt out".

"[There are] probably about twenty buildings that have been burned out [there]."

Reverend Rietveld said the mood on the streets was tense and the introduction of more RAMSI security personal may have an adverse effect.

"On the one hand you don't want to create a further antagonism towards what RAMSI's doing her. I'm a little bit afraid that the influx of more armed personnel may create a backlash,' he said.

"On the other hand the absence of police in some of the danger areas is also a concern. If nothing is done, then things will just continue. So you are caught between a rock and a hard place."

Rioters hit

Robin Deamer, 33, an Air Vanuatu based in Honiara, was at the Pacific Casino Hotel when it came under fire about 2.30am.

Mr Deamer said the hotel was filled with Australian tourists, Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) officials and other staff from international aid organisations.

"Basically it was right outside the hotel. What happened was a wave of rioters moved up from town basically targeting any Chinese-owned business," he said.

"It was pretty scary. You [could] hear small rocks coming through and then they got bigger and bigger. You could tell they got bigger and bigger once they started hitting the concrete wall.

"There was one room that caught fire because they pelted a petrol bomb through one of the windows. The local security jumped in pretty quickly with a fire extinguisher and put that one out."

Mr Dreamer said tourists at the hotel were "pretty freaked out".

"They were bunching up in rooms. They jumped into their mates' rooms, especially the ladies. They thought they'd be safer."

The rioters were quelled about an hour later as police forces moved in.

"It took them about an hour getting through the rioters and the stones were flying everywhere. Once the police moved in, it came to a bit of a halt."

Mr Deamer said the hotel was attacked because it was owned by a Chinese man.

None of the hotel guests was injured during the incident but most of the tourists and RAMSI staff have since moved on to safer areas in the city, he said.

Scene of destruction

"You've got broken glass [all] over the place," Mr Deamer said. "They've done a good job of cleaning all that up. A lot of cars outside have got broken windows and are banged up inside. A couple of the brand new RAMSI police vehicles are burnt out just outside the front gates."

Hotel secretary Lyndall Helen said said several rooms had also been looted. "There was these young boys. They throw stones and they come inside and smash all the cars outside the hotel. All the windows and things are broken. They stole all the computers and the bedding."

Mr Deamer said Air Vanuatu had ordered him to leave the Solomon Islands today.

"We have just been told by Air Vanuatu that we should get out of here in case something happens to us or our aircraft," he said.

theage.com.au, with AAP

Bad-faith domains grow

Karen Dearne
APRIL 18, 2006

THE number of "bad faith" domain-name registrations raises concerns that trademarks are increasingly being infringed online, the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property has found.

Bad-faith registrations are where a party deliberately and unlawfully sets out to benefit by registering a domain containing another party's business name and associated trademarks.
The present process of domain-name registration does not require the registrar to check whether the same or similar domain names are already listed.

The same situation applies to the registration of company names and business names.

"There is a public misconception that registrars check for existing prior rights, such as registered trademarks, when registering a domain name," ACIP says in a report.

"The result is that business owners conduct inadequate checks for common law and registered trademarks before embarking on a business activity.

"Business-name registrants often become aware that their name infringes a pre-existing trade mark only after they have made a major investment.

"A significant number of traders do not fully comprehend the legal significance or inherent differences between trademarks, business names, company names and domain names.

"Compounding this is the resulting confusion that exists in the business community as to the nature of rights, if any, associated with each identifier."

At present, people can set up a business, commence trading under a registered business name without knowing they are infringing an existing trade mark, federal Industry parliamentary secretary Bob Baldwin said. He said the Government would consider the ACIP report in detail when making decisions.

ACIP recommends mandatory searching of trademarks to ensure there is no conflict prior to registration; amending the Trade Marks Act to give registered business and company name owners protection against identical and confusingly similar registrations; and a single business name system to replace the state-based one used at present.

Any changes to the domain names registration system should be considered after the other matters have been resolved, the ACIP report says.

"Whilst evidence suggests that bad-faith registration of domain names has increased in recent years, the ACIP is satisfied the (domain bodies) have been dealing with the problem," it says.

* Clothing maker and retailer Supre operates more than 100 stores across Australia and New Zealand.

It first registered the name Supre as a trademark in 1990; it also owns the domain name supre.au.com.

In 2000, another party registered a business name that was very similar to Supre's trademark in Western Australia; and further registered a confusingly similar domain name in 2001. The business name was cancelled in 2003.

In 2004, Supre's lawyers lodged a complaint with the domain authority, claiming the other name should be transferred to them because it was "confusingly similar" to their brand. The other party did not respond, and the panel transferred the domain to Supre.

The Australian

Nine killed in Tel Aviv suicide bombing

Less than two hours before the 17th Knesset was sworn in on Monday afternoon, terror struck in southern Tel Aviv as a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd at the entrance to a fast food stand, killing nine people and wounding close to 70 others.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing that ripped through the Rosh Ha'ir shwarma stand on Rehov Salome in the southern Tel Aviv neighborhood of Neveh Sha'anan, not far from the old Tel Aviv central bus station. The same restaurant was hit in a similar suicide attack three months ago, injuring 20 people.

Four of the victims were women, and five were men. Seven names have been released: Philip Balahsan, 45, from Ashdod, a father of two children who were wounded as well; Victor Erez, 60, from Givatayim; the restaurant's security guard Binyamin Hafuta, 47, from Lod; Ariel Darhi from Bat Yam; Lili Yunis, 42, from Oranit; David Shmuelov, 28, from Holon; Piroshka Boda, 50, and Rosalia Basalia, 48, both Romanian citizens;.

Erez's funeral was scheduled for 11 a.m. on Tuesday at the Yarkon cemetery. Shmuelov's funeral was also scheduled for the same time in Holon.

Thirty-six of the victims remained hospitalized overnight at Ichilov, Sheba and Wolfson Hospitals, and at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva. The wounded included two children, a 60-year-old French tourist, and a 16-year-old American tourist who was listed in critical condition. Nine victims were listed in serious condition, 16 moderate and the rest in light condition.

The suicide bomber was identified by Israeli sources as Sami Hamad from the village of al-Gharakah, near Jenin. Media reports listed his age as 16, but his family said he was 21.

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted at a harsh Israeli response following a consultation with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, "We will know how to respond, and will continue to act with all the means at our disposal to prevent further terror attempts," he said.

On Tuesday, Mofaz will meet again with Olmert to formulate an Israeli response to the attack. Security officials said Monday night that the recommendations would focus on targeting the Islamic Jihad, sealing off Samaria from the rest of the West Bank and cracking down on Palestinians illegally residing in Israel.

"Don't expect to see tanks rolling into Nablus," one official said. "But we will launch more widespread operations against the Islamic Jihad."

Read More : http://www.jpost.com

Iraqi parliament meeting delayed; four Marines among dozens killed

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's top legislator postponed today's scheduled meeting of parliament, putting off "for a few days" an attempt to resolve a months-long deadlock over the formation of the country's new government.

Although the move was not entirely unexpected, it still represented a setback for U.S. officials and an Iraqi public that is losing patience with four months of political paralysis since Dec. 15, when the country held elections to form a long-term government.

The delay has coincided with a surge in sectarian killing between Iraq's Sunni Arabs and Shiites. At least 37 Iraqis died in shootings, bombings and other attacks Sunday, according to police officials and news reports. U.S. military officials also reported killing five insurgents in a raid, and said four Marines were killed in combat west of Baghdad.

The biggest political sticking point is whether incumbent Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari will serve a new four-year term. The leading coalition of Shiite parties nominated al-Jaafari in a close vote, but Sunni Arabs, Kurds, and even some Shiites are now demanding an alternate candidate, saying he is a weak leader.

In recent days, some officials in the Shiite alliance said they had agreed to replace al-Jaafari with another leader as part of a larger deal over who would hold the various posts.

When Adnan Pachachi, the acting speaker of parliament, called Wednesday for a meeting to solve the impasse, he said it was with the intention of pushing all sides toward making an accommodation by setting today as a deadline. But as politicians from each group continued to hold closed-door meetings Sunday, Pachachi announced the parliament meeting would be delayed "for a few days."

Politicians in the Shiite alliance said they wanted to present a complete package of nominees that resolved not only the al-Jaafari question but also who would serve as the president and the two deputy presidents. By Sunday night the matter appeared to be unresolved.

Adnan Ali al-Kadhimi, an adviser to al-Jaafari, said it was "still in dispute." He added that one of the leading candidates to replace al-Jaafari was Ali al-Adeeb, a Shiite from al-Jaafari's party. Al-Adeeb appeared to have more support from Sunni Arabs, Kurds and secular parties than he did from his own Shiite alliance, al-Kadhimi said.

The Iraqi ambassador to the United States, Samir Sumidaie, also identified al-Adeeb as one of the leading candidates in an interview on CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer."

Al-Kadhimi said Jalal Talabani, the incumbent president and a Kurd, was likely to remain in office. He also said Ayad Allawi, a secular leader, and Adnan al-Dulaimi and Saleh al-Mutlak, both Sunni Arabs, were being bandied about as candidates for the two deputy presidents' slots.




Al-Mutlak acknowledged he was in the running for deputy president. But he predicted negotiations would go on for "weeks," and called al-Adeeb "an Iranian" — a grave insult in a country that fought an eight-year war with the Shiite theocracy in the 1980s.

"All of them are the same," al-Mutlak said of the Shiite candidates for prime minister. "They are not qualified to run the country. But nobody listens to us."

Meanwhile, a car bomb killed 11 people in Mahmoudiya, a town 20 miles south of Baghdad. The bomb exploded in a busy food and vegetable market in the morning, police said. Many of the shops were left ablaze after the blast, and at least four civilian cars were seen in flames.

U.S. military authorities reported killing five insurgents and capturing a suspected al-Qaida member and four other suspects during a pre-dawn raid in the town of Youssifiyah, about 15 miles south of the capital. A woman was killed in the crossfire and four women and children were wounded, the military said. Five soldiers also were slightly wounded.

Four Marines from Regimental Combat Team 5 were killed in two engagements in Anbar province, to the west of Baghdad, military authorities also said. The U.S. death toll for this month rose to 47 — compared with 31 for all of March, according to The Associated Press. The latest deaths raised to at least 2,376 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the war began, according to an Associated Press count

News source :http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

6 Killed in Sri Lankan Mine Explosions :World News

Land mines blasts in northern Sri Lanka killed four soldiers and two Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday, raising the death toll from a week of bloody unrest to at least 50, police said.

The violence is some of the worse since a 2002 cease-fire that continues to be challenged by clashes between ethnic Tamils and the majority Sinhalese.

The soldiers were killed by a remote-controlled land mine in government-controlled Vavuniya, said police chief Gamini Silva. The town is 130 miles north of the capital, Colombo.

"Right now what we know is that four soldiers are dead and seven are wounded," Deputy Inspector General of Police Gamini Silva said.

In rebel-held Jaffna, north of Vavuniya, a similar device exploded during transport, killing two rebels, local police said.

Discrimination against the Tamils led the Tigers to take up arms in 1983, and a resulting war with government forces on this tropical island of 19 million left more than 65,000 people dead before Norway brokered the cease-fire.

On Sunday the rebels said they would not attend peace talks with the Sri Lankan government in Switzerland unless they can hold an internal meeting first.

Rebel commanders on Saturday canceled a trip to the internal meeting, saying they felt threatened by the presence of naval ships. The government said the four craft were there to ensure the rebels' safety.

The talks in Geneva have been scheduled for April 24-25.

Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority is made up mainly of Buddhists and accounts for about 14 million people. They dominate the military and police.

The Hindu Tamils, in contrast, number about 3.2 million, and are concentrated in the country's north and east and in the tea-growing hills of central Sri Lanka.

News Source: http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2006/04/17/ap2673238.html

Govinda can be expelled for supporting Salman

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government on Sunday took strong exception to Congress MP and Bollywood star Govinda's presence during Salman Khan's bail hearing in the poaching case in Jodhpur court. It asked the Congress party to clarify its "stand" in the case.

"Congress leaders' presence during Salman's bail petition in the court was highly objectionable and it should tell the nation about its policy on poaching," said State Forest Minister and government spokesman L N Dave in a statement.

Similarly, former forest minister Beena Kak's presence was also deplorable, Dave said, alleging Kak, who acted as Salman's mother in Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya, had tried to save Salman in Gehlot government.

Both Govinda and Kak can be expelled from the Congress party as they have acted against the Wildlife Protection Act by supporting convict Salman, Dave said.

News Source: http://sify.com/

Salman released on bail
PTI

Jodhpur, April 13: After spending three days in the Central Jail here for killing an endangered animal, Bollywood heart-throb Salman Khan today secured bail from a local court here.

The 40-year-old actor, who was sent to jail after being sentenced to five years imprisonment for killing a Chinkara in September 1998, was given bail by the district and session judge, Mr G S Surana.

The judge directed him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each while granting him bail.

A large number of Salman’s fans and supporters, who had gathered outside the court since morning, reacted in jubilations when they heard about he being granted bail. The police had a tough time in controlling the crowd and had to made a mild lathi-charge.

Salman was not present in the court when the judge granted him bail after a lengthy arguments from both prosecution and defence lawyers. He had appeared before the court earlier in the day in connection with his appeal against another poaching case in which he has been sentenced to one year imprisonment.

The actor’s brother Suhail Khan, sister Alivera, his friend and model-turned-actress Katrina Kaif besides a number of Bollywood personalities, including Govinda, David Dhawan and Sajiid Nadiadwala, were present in the court.

His lawyers said that they would try to complete the formalities so that the actor is released from the jail by the evening.

http://www.navhindtimes.com