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NEW DELHI: The third round of India's (Lok Sabha) general elections concluded on Thursday with the searing summer heat affecting voter turnout in several places even as the key contenders for power admitted that the country was irrevocably headed for another coalition government. A total of 1,567 candidates were in the fray including Congress president Sonia Gandhi and L.K. Advani, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) choice of prime minister. Polling also took place for the 32-member legislature in Sikkim, bordering China, which sends a single member to the Lok Sabha. "The entire poll process was absolutely peaceful and extremely satisfactory," Deputy Election Commissioner R. Balakrishnan told reporters after the 10-hour exercise. He said many voters stood in queues even after the scheduled close of polling at 5 p.m., patiently waiting for their turn. In the Gir forests of Gujarat, home to the majestic Asiatic lion, two officials trekked 20 km to reach a polling statio...

WASHINGTON: Terrorist attacks in Pakistan more than doubled last year despite a general decline in such violence and its casualties worldwide, according to U.S. government figures released on Thursday.The death toll from worldwide terrorism fell to 15,765 from 22,508 in 2007, while the number of attacks dropped to 11,770 from 14,506, according to data compiled by the U.S. intelligence community and released in a U.S. State Department report.The general decline reflected diminished violence in Iraq following U.S. President George W. Bush's 2007 decision to send additional troops to the country, which U.S.-led forces invaded in 2003 to topple former dictator Saddam Hussein.However, the report said that attacks in Pakistan more than doubled in 2008.U.S. officials have grown increasingly worried about the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan, a U.S. ally seen as vital to stabilizing Afghanistan, as the Taliban have advanced from their Swat Valley stronghold to other parts of the country...

WASHINGTON: US officials planning the closure of Guantanamo prison are weighing the cases of about 50 to 100 detainees who cannot be tried or released, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. "The question is what do we do with the 50 to 100 -- probably in that ballpark -- who we cannot release and cannot try," Gates told a Senate hearing. "I think that question is still open," Gates said when asked about President Barack Obama's plans to shut down the controverial "war on terror" prison. His comments made clear that some inmates might have to be detained further even after the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay is closed as ordered by Obama. The US administration is closely reviewing the files of about 240 detainees held at the center to determine who could be transferred to other countries or tried in US civilian courts or special military tribunals set up under former president George W. Bush, Gates said.About 60 detainees have been cleare...

MORENA: A BJP worker was shot and injured after a dispute with the rival BSP workers over the issue of voting in favour of the saffron party at Budha Chambal village of Morena district here today, police said. The incident occurred when the BJP worker identified as Subedar Singh Sikarwar was coming out of a polling station in the village, police said. When Subedar crossed the poll-booth limits he was confronted by a group of BSP worker led by Prem Singh Sikarwar, they said. Prem Singh confronted Subedar for supporting the BJP candidate and later opened fire at him with a country-made pistol. The bullet hit Subedar on his chest following which he was rushed to Gwalior in serious condition, police said. However, Morena Superintendent of Police (SP) Santosh Singh told PTI that Subedar had an old rivalry with Prem Singh and Thursday's incident was a fall out of it. He said that this incident cannot be termed as a poll-related violence as it took place at a far-off place from the pollin...

NEW DELHI: An estimated 50 per cent of the 14.4 crore electorate on Thursday exercised their franchise in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls nine states and two union territories, which passed off by and large peacefully barring stray violence in Bihar and West Bengal. The electoral fate of political heavyweights Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP's prime ministerial nominee L K Advani, former prime minister and JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda, senior Left leaders Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) and Basudeb Acharya (CPI-M) and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh were decided in the third phase that covers 107 constituencies. The 14 constituencies in West Bengal, where the polling was held for the first time in this election, recorded the highest turnout of 64 per cent followed by Karnataka (57), Gujarat (50) and Maharashtra (45 per cent). The turnout in Mumbai, the country's financial hub, was estimated at 45 per cent as the metropolis witnessed the first election six months after the November...

WASHINGTON: The U.S. State Department said on Thursday the number of people killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan last year rose by more than 70 percent, despite an overall drop in such violence worldwide. Data compiled by the U.S. intelligence community suggested that Pakistan faces a growing threat from terrorist violence. The number of people killed in such attacks – including the Sept. 20 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad – rose to 2,293 from 1,340, according to the data released by the State Department. The number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan more than doubled to 1,839 from 890, U.S. officials told reporters.These increases occurred even as the death toll from worldwide terrorism fell to 15,765 from 22,508 in 2007 and the number of overall attacks dropped to 11,770 from 14,506, they said.The number of people killed in Iraq fell to 5,016 from 13,606, U.S. officials said, while the number of attacks declined to 3,258 from 6,210.But the number of people killed by terro...

BAGHDAD: Three Americans have been killed in fighting in the former Al-Qaeda stronghold of Anbar province in western Iraq, the US military said in a statement on Friday. "Two marines and one sailor were killed while conducting combat operations against enemy forces here April 30," it said. No further details were provided.Anbar was once a bastion of the anti-US insurgency movement until Sunni rebels allied with the American forces in late 2006 and helped to drive Al-Qaeda out of the vast desert province. The armed groups commonly referred to as Sahwa or Awakening, are made up of former insurgents and have played a key role in dramatically reducing violence across the country.

NEW YORK: General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of staff of the Pakistan Army, has been named in a list of 100 most influential people in the world by Time, a leading American magazine.The list also includes international figures like US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Markel and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Among women leaders are: American First Lady Michelle Obama; US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Saudi Arabia's first woman minister Nora al-Faiz; Republican Party's vice presidential candidate in 2008, Sarah Palin; and an Afghan woman activist Surraya Pakzad.The only military leader figuring in the list is Gen. David Mckiernan, commander of the US-led coalition troops in Afghanistan. The annual Time 100 list was published in the latest issue of Time magazine which hit the news-stands on Friday.Also on the list are number professionals in various fields, including the Indian musician, A. R. Rahman. Gen. Kayani, 57...

ISLAMABAD: Undeclared curfew has been imposed for foiling demonstrations after Friday prayers, while people of occupied Kashmir are observing complete strike in occupied Kashmir. Indian Army martyred 31 innocent Kashmiris during the month of April. Barbed wires have been erected for blocking the movements of the people in IHK According to Kashmir Media Service, the occupation authorities had put the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, senior Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani, APHC leaders, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi and Nayeem Ahmad Khan under house arrest, which continued unabated. Kashmir media service said that 31 Kashmiris including four women and one child were martyred. Indian army injured 218 and arrested 68 persons. Indian Army assaulted 9 Kashmiri women and demolished 11 houses in April.

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan government troops have tightened their siege of the last strip of land on the island still controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels and poised for a final assault, the military said Friday.Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told that two columns of troops had consolidated positions along a strip of coastline in the northeast captured from the ethnic rebels earlier this week. "The Tigers have no land escape routes left. We have troops in place to move in at anytime," another top military official said. "If not for the civilians still trapped inside, we would have gone in by now."Nanayakkara refused to say when the final assault would take place, asserting that troops "have to consider the civilians" still trapped in the territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Officials said sporadic fighting was continuing Friday, with the navy also fighting an offshore battle with LTTE rebels trying to flee by boat. Navy spoke...

MUMBAI: The direction of the trial of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the prime accused in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, may be decided tomorrow (Saturday) when the court is expected to give its findings on claim made by him that he is a minor.On a prosecution plea, judge M L Tahaliyani had ordered an inquiry to determine Kasab's age.Kasab had claimed that he was less than 18 years and therefore could not be tried by the special court.The inquiry concluded on Wednesday with Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam submitting forensic and substantive evidence to show that Kasab was not a minor. The testimony of five witnesses, Ossification (bone) test and dental check has revealed that he was above 20 years. The witnesses, Jail Superindent and the doctor who treated Kasab for bullet injuries sustained in a police encounter on the day of terror, have deposed saying the accused had himself told them that he was 21. The duo even showed the court the registers wherein they had recorded Kasab's a...