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MEXICO CITY: Mexico's confirmed swine flu death toll rose to 19 from 16, health secretary Jose Angel Cordova said Saturday.Some Mexicans have criticized their government for reacting too slowly to the outbreak at first, and now for overreacting in ordering a five-day, nationwide shutdown of all nonessential government and private business. Responding to the attacks, Cordova said: "It's absurd to think that Mexico was putting on a show. I think it's preferable, at a certain moment, to take advanced measures and succeed in containing the problem than to not take them and ask, 'Why didn't we take them?' "The only death outside Mexico has been of a Mexican boy who traveled to Texas, suggesting that the flu strain is weaker than feared.But experts say the virus could mutate and come back with a vengeance.Officials in Texas reported the state had 39 confirmed swine flu cases.

WASHINGTON: As the insurgency of the Taliban and Al Qaeda spreads in Pakistan, senior American officials say they are increasingly concerned about new vulnerabilities for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, including the potential for militants to snatch a weapon in transport or to insert sympathizers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities. The officials emphasized that there was no reason to believe that the arsenal, most of which is south of the capital, Islamabad, faced an imminent threat. President Obama said last week that he remained confident that keeping the country’s nuclear infrastructure secure was the top priority of Pakistan’s armed forces. But the United States does not know where all of Pakistan’s nuclear sites are located, and its concerns have intensified in the last two weeks since the Taliban entered Buner, a district 60 miles from the capital. The spread of the insurgency has left American officials less willing to accept blanket assurances from Pakistan that the w...

KATHMANDU: Nepal's president ordered the country's army chief to stay in his job on Monday after the Maoist government tried to sack him in a power struggle between the prime minister and the military.

WASHINGTON: The recent push by Taliban forces to take more ground in Pakistan has served as a wake-up call for the government there, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today. In a broad-ranging interview with US TV that aired today, Gates said he feels the Pakistani leaders now realize that the Taliban is an existential threat there. "We and others have been talking with them about how what is happening there in the western frontier area is truly an existential threat to democratic government in Pakistan," Gates said. "And I think the movement of the Taliban into Buner really got their attention." Last month, the Taliban seized control of Buner, in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, causing alarm as it moved within only about 60 miles of the capital city of Islamabad. It is feared that al-Qaida could also use the border areas of Pakistan to launch attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan has long focused on India to its east as its ma...

MANILA: Flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rains have left 20 people dead in the eastern Philippines, officials said Monday.Storms lashed the eastern Bicol region and the southern fringe of Luzon island at the weekend, displacing nearly 50,000 people in five provinces, the Civil Defense Office said. Some parts of the eastern provinces of Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Albay remain flooded."There were 20 reported deaths," the agency said, adding that rescuers were still searching for three people buried by a landslide in the town of Magallanes. Ferry operations across the eastern seaboard remained suspended, while the government rushed relief workers to the affected areas.While the storms were dissipating and moving away, the state weather bureau said the eastern-most island of Catanduanes would continue to be battered by rains and strong winds, which may cause more flooding and floods.

CARACAS: Sixteen Venezuelan soldiers and a civilian were killed when a military helicopter crashed Sunday near the Colombian border, the state news agency reported. A brigadier general was among those killed.President Hugo Chavez said the soldiers were patrolling the 1,400-mile (2,300-kilometer) border separating Venezuela and Colombia when the local military base lost contact with their Mi-17 helicopter shortly after midday. The helicopter crashed in a mountainous area called ElCapote, the state-run Bolivarian News Agency reported.Two pilots and the entire crew were killed. Army Brig.Gen. Domingo Alberto Feneite and Cristian Velazquez, a civilian, were among the victims, according to the state news agency.Chavez sent condolences to the families of the victims during his weekly television and radio program. “They died while they were on duty and serving the fatherland," he said.Neither Chavez nor the Venezuelan military mentioned the cause of the crash.

ON BOARD US GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday he will seek to reassure Saudi and Egyptian leaders this week that Washington's diplomatic approach to Iran will not jeopardize long-standing ties to Arab states in the region.Speaking to reporters aboard his plane ahead of a visit to Cairo and Riyadh, Gates said there were concerns in the region about US efforts to engage Tehran that "draw an exaggerated sense of what's possible." "One important message will be particularly for the Saudis that any kind of outreach to Iran will not be at the expense of our long-term relationships with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states that have been our partners and friends for decades," he said.US President Barack Obama has sought to open up diplomatic channels with arch-foe Iran in a bid to defuse tensions over its disputed nuclear program, but Gates said the White House had realistic expectations about what could be achieved.Gates also spoke ...

KATHMANDU: Nepal's ruling Maoists on Monday accused the president of attempting a "constitutional coup" by siding with the head of the army in a major political row, and vowed to fight back with street protests.The warning came after Nepal's centrist president, Ram Baran Yadav, attempted to overrule a Maoist decision to sack the head of the national army. "Our party has taken the president's step as a constitutional coup and we will fight against it," Maoist spokesman and cabinet minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara told. He said Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda will address the nation on the crisis at 3:00pm (0930 GMT) Monday.

ACAPULCO: Police say they found 11 bodies dumped around a southern Mexican state, including seven wrapped in plastic bags and thrown off a bridge.Guerrero state police say the bodies of five men and two women were found in a river between the Pacific resort town of Acapulco and the city of Cuernavaca. They were wrapped in bags and dumped off a bridge. The other four bodies were found in a 600-meter (yard) ravine in the Guerrero state town of Pilcaya.The bodies were all found Sunday. Police said they were too damaged to immediately determine how they were killed. Investigators did not have any suspects or possible motive for the killings. Mexico's warring drug cartels, however, often leave the bodies of rivals dumped in public.

JAMMU: Police say at least 21 people were killed when an overcrowded passenger bus plunged into River Chenab in the Indian held Kashmir (IHK). Seven others were injured in the accident. Senior police official Haseeb Mughal said the accident happened early Monday morning near Bhanderkot, a mountainous region about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast from Jammu, one of the main cities in India's occupied Jammu-Kashmir state.Mughal said rescue operations were continuing at the accident site. The bus plunged about 800 feet (244 meters) into the fast-moving Chenab River. Deadly road accidents are common in India _ often caused by aging vehicles, overloading and reckless driving on poorly maintained roads.

NEW DELHI: With female candidates putting up a poor show in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections in Indian state of Jharkhand, all major political parties have been extremely economical in giving tickets to women for the upcoming polls. In 2004 women candidates belonged to various political parties had lost in the Lok Sabha elections. Six Independent women candidates even lost their security deposits. This time, no party including Congress and BJP gave ticket to woman to contest polls.

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina plans to keep in place for now a ban on incoming flights from Mexico as the South American nation copes with the H1N1 swine flu scare, the health ministry said. Argentina's Health Minister Graciela Ocana told reporters that chief of staff Sergio Massa "informed me that it has been decided that the suspension of incoming flights from Mexico will continue." On Monday Argentine officials are to assess how long the ban will remain in place. Ocana said the virus was not spreading in Argentina, which has so far no confirmed cases of the disease, although the number of suspected cases rose from 17 to 29 according to daily figures reported by deputy health minister Carlos Soratti.Ocana added that 203 Argentines are to arrive on a special flight from Mexico early Monday and would face immediate checks by doctors at the airport. The ban on incoming flights was put in place on Tuesday after a high-level crisis meeting.

TEHRAN: At least 28 Iranian pilgrims were killed when a bus heading to neighbouring Iraq crashed into a residential building in a town near the border on Monday, the state broadcaster said."Twenty-eight people were killed in this accident and nine were seriously injured," a hospital director in the western province of Ilam was quoted as saying after the crash in the town of Chavar. Thousands of Shiite Iranians visit holy sites in Iraq every year, especially during major pilgrimages.

KATHMANDU: Nepal's Prime Minister Prachanda announced his resignation Monday after an attempt by his Maoist government to sack the head of the army was blocked by the president.