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At least 20 die in accident on Russian nuclear sub

Sunday, November 09, 2008 MOSCOW: At least 20 people died and 21were injured in an accident on board a Russian nuclear-powered submarine, Russian media said on Saturday. A naval spokesman confirmed the reports, which did not give the name of the submarine specify or where it was located, adding only that it was on exercises, at sea and 208 people were on board. An anti-submarine ship, the Admiral Tributs, was providing assistance and taking some of the injured crew from the submarine to port, media reported.


U.S. expert urges Obama to solve Afghanistan, Kashmir issues soon

WASHINGTON: U.S. President-elect Barack Obama should move quickly to deal with Afghanistan and try to help resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, a former senior American national security adviser says. “India has resisted U.S. mediation on Kashmir in the past, but the growing U.S.-India strategic relationship may now make American involvement possible,” Meghan O’Sullivan, former deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote in a foreign newspaper, which had invited proposals for President-elect Barack Obama’s priorities. “One intriguing model for Kashmir is the 1998 Belfast agreement, which established a web of overlapping institutions that have allowed the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland to, in effect, share sovereignty over Northern Ireland—and end decades of deep-seated violence,” he said. In case of Kashmir, the United Nations Security Council has called for the Kashmiri people to exercise their right to self-determination under U.N. auspices, a verdict India has all along defied. On the eve of Election Day, Obama made two significant statements on Kashmir. He called for the United States to help resolve the decades-old Kashmir dispute, and then indicated that he might consider appointing ex-president Bill Clinton as a special envoy on the issue. In his opinion piece, O’Sullivan, said, “President-elect Obama must deal quickly and boldly with Afghanistan. But doing so will require an early initiative to help Pakistan and India settle their differences on Kashmir. The problems of Afghanistan and Pakistan are inseparable. But Pakistan’s ability to deal with Taliban and other extremists on its western border is hampered by its preoccupation with India, its traditional adversary to the east.”

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