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WASHINGTON: The United States' top military officer says it cannot be successful in Afghanistan if large numbers of civilians keep getting killed amid the conflict. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pointed to this month's disputed U.S. airstrikes in Farah province which led to notes of regret from President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials.Dozens of civilians reportedly died in the incident in the air strikesMullen also refused to rule out strikes from unmanned drones, often used to launch missiles at militant hideouts.

WASHINGTON: Hundreds of ethnic Tamil immigrants converged on the White House Monday, imploring US President Barack Obama to pressure Sri Lanka into ending a "genocide" on the island. "President Obama, you are our only hope!" chanted the demonstrators, many of whom held placards bearing the image of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Earlier Monday, the government of majority-Sinhalese Sri Lanka declared an end to its decades-old war with the Tamil Tigers -- one of Asia's oldest and most brutal ethnic conflicts -- after routing the remnants of the rebel army and killing Prabhakaran and his deputies.Waving red and gold LTTE flags and holding posters with graphic photographs of women and children apparently wounded in the Sri Lankan army's offensive, the protesters crowded in front of the White House denouncing a civilian slaughter and Colombo's refusal to allow relief agencies or journalists into the war zone. Senthan Na...

RIYADH: Saudi authorities evacuated five western villages on Monday after tremors hit a volcanic region in the past weeks raising concerns of possible eruptions. "There was a large quake, the largest so far," Ahmedal-Attas, vice president of the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), told media after civil defence officials evacuated the villages near the town of al-Ais. Attas was referring to a 4.68 earthquake, which hit the region on Sunday. Al-Ais, 150 km (100 miles) northeast of theYanbu on the Red Sea, is not close to the world's top oilexporter's oil and petrochemicals facilities. The region lies on a fault line, according to SGS, which declined to comment on current magma levels, but newspapers reported that in the past few days magma levels had risen to 4km (2.5 miles) below the surface from 8 km.

WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel reserves its right of self-defense against Iran, which the West suspects of harboring a nuclear military program. "Israel reserves its right to defend itself," said Netanyahu, speaking to reporters after a White House meeting with US President Barack Obama. While he said he welcomed US diplomatic efforts to rein in Tehran, Netanyahu said "what is important is the commitment to the result that Iran does not develop military nuclear capability."

LONDON: Prince Charles, an avid gardener and environmentalist, has received Britain's top gardening award from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.The Victoria Medal of Honor is the highest accolade the Royal Horticultural Society bestows. Only 63 horticulturists can hold it at any time — a tribute to the 63 years of Queen Victoria's reign.The society said the heir to throne was given the medal Monday in recognition of his "passion for plants, sustainable gardening and the environment."Charles is particularly well known for his commitment to green issues and his enthusiasm for organic foods. His Duchy Originals line is one of Britain's leading brands of organic food and drink.Charles was given the award at the opening of the Chelsea Flower Show in London.

LOS ANGELES: CIA director Leon Panetta said Monday US intelligence officials did not know the exact whereabouts of all Pakistan's nuclear weapons, but believed they were safe from the Taliban.Speaking in Los Angeles, the Central Intelligence Agency chief said Pakistan's nuclear arsenal was "pretty secure" amid concerns that the weapons could possibly fall into the hands of Taliban insurgents. "We don't have frankly the intelligence to know where they are all located, but we do track the Pakistanis," Panetta said when asked if the US knew where Pakistan's nuclear weapons were located."Right now we are confident that the Pakistanis do have a pretty secure approach to trying to protect these weapons. But it is something that we continue to watch because obviously the last thing we want is for the Taliban to have access to nuclear weapons in Pakistan." Pakistan forces have been locked in an offensive with Taliban fighters in the country for sev...

MANILA: A southern Philippine governor says a mudslide triggered by heavy rains has buried 30 houses, killing at least 16 people and leaving 20 others missing.Governor Arthur Uy of Compostela Valley province says most of the victims of Monday's landslide were small-scale miners living on the foothills of a mountain where mudslides are common. Uy said Tuesday that the area around Pantukan town-ship had been saturated by rain and that the residents ignored warnings to leave. He says at least 20 people are missing and an additional 14 have been injured, and that the bad weather is hampering the rescue operation.

CAPE CANAVERAL: Spacewalking astronauts completed repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope, leaving it more powerful than ever and able to peer even deeper into the cosmos _almost to the brink of creation. The last humans to lay hands on Hubble outfitted the observatory with another set of fresh batteries, a new sensor for precise pointing and protective covers. That equipment, along with other improvements made over the last five days, should allow the telescope to provide dazzling views of the universe for another five to 10 years.

YANGON: Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi faced a second day of a closed-door trial Tuesday as international criticism mounted of a military regime that repeatedly has found pretexts for keeping her in detention over most of the past two decades. Suu Kyi, her two companions under house arrest, and an American,John W. Yettaw, are being tried together for violating the conditions of her restriction order, which bans visitors without official permission. The offense is punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. The ambassadors of Britain, France, Germany and Italy as well as an Australian diplomat were barred from entering the prison compound for the trial, but U.S. consular chief Colin Furst was allowed in.

JERUSALEM: Palestinian officials on Monday said they were disappointed that a round of U.S.-Israeli talks in Washington produced no clear progress on the removal of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank or other issues they feel are crucial to rejuvenating stalled peace negotiations. Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the conditions seemed to undermine any negotiations before they even started."There is a difference between being a tough negotiator and a non-negotiator. What I heard today was a non-negotiator," said Erekat, who added that Palestinians had been looking for Monday's meeting to produce some sense of progress -- whether a statement from Netanyahu about the restriction of settlements or on the establishment of a Palestinian state. Obama restated U.S. support for establishment of a Palestinian state -- something Netanyahu has opposed in the past, arguing that while the Palestinians should govern themselves, they should not have full state pow...

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court says FBI Director Robert Mueller and ex-Attorney General John Aschcroft cannot be sued by a former 9/11 detainee for alleged abuse.The justices reversed a lower court ruling that had allowed a lawsuit brought by Javaid Iqbal to go forward. Mr Iqbal, from Pakistan, argued the two officials were responsible for a policy that saw him singled out for abuse on the basis of his religion and race. The court ruled that his complaint failed to back up this claim. Mr Iqbal spent some six months in solitary confinement in a federal prison in Brooklyn in 2002. In his lawsuit, he said he had suffered physical and verbal abuse and had been singled out for mistreatment because of ethnic and religious discrimination. The government argued that there was nothing to link Mr Mueller and Mr Ashcroft to the alleged abuse of Mr Iqbal. Mr Iqbal was arrested in November 2001 on charges unrelated to terrorism. His lawsuit alleged that two months later he was moved to a prison i...

TOKYO: Japan closed more than 4,000 schools and kindergartens, double the previous day's number, to slow the spread of swine flu, which has infected 163 people in the country, officials said.A total of 4,043 schools and kindergartens were closed in and around both cities at the request of government authorities, up from some 2,000, an education ministry official said.Japan's number of confirmed cases has risen to 163 -- the fourth largest national figure on the world infection table -- in the central Honshu island region since the first confirmed domestic infection was reported Saturday. No fatalities have been reported in Japan.

NEW YORK: The first major exhibition begun in New York in twenty years devoted to one of the most compelling painters of the twentieth century, Francis Bacon. A Centenary Retrospective features some 130 works--sixty-five paintings and as many archival items from public and private collections from around the world--that span the entirety of the artist’s full and celebrated career. Marking the centenary of the artist’s birth in Dublin in 1909, the exhibition brings together the most significant works from each period of Bacon’s career, focusing on the key subjects and themes that run through his extraordinary creative output.

WASHINGTON: Chairman US Joint Chiefs Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen on Monday said Pakistan has not diverted any US assistance to advance its nuclear weapons program as his remarks quashed apprehensions cited in an American newspaper report. The State Department also categorically stated that there was no linkage between the US aid and Pakistan’s nuclear capability. The top US military officer also acknowledged that Pakistan has bolstered the security of its nuclear assets, saying it made use of American aid specifically targeted toward that end in the recent years. “I am not aware of any US aid that has gone towards nuclear weapons, save that which is very focused in the last several years, last three or four years on improving their security, which is exactly what we would like. And they have done that,” he said in response to a question. Mullen’s comments came after a story in The New York Times claimed that members of US Congress are concerned that Islamabad might divert US aid to it n...

BHUBANESWAR: India on Tuesday successfully tested the nuclear capable Agni-II missile from a defence base in Orissa, official sources said. The surface-to-surface missile with a range of over 2,000 km was test-fired from the Wheeler's Island near Dhamara in the district of Bhadrak, some 150 km from here at 10.06am. The Agni II missile, which is a part of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, is 20 meters long. Weighing 16 tonnes, the missile can carry a payload of around 1,000 kg and its range can also be increased to 3,000 km by reducing the payload.

COLOMBO: A pro-LTTE website on Tuesday claimed that the Tamil Tigers supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is still "alive and safe", a day after Sri Lankan army announced that it has killed the top rebel leader. "I wish to inform the global Tamil community distressed witnessing the final events of the war that our beloved leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is alive and safe," LTTE's international relations head S Pathmanathan was quoted as saying by the website, which usually puts out the rebels' version on the battle with the Sri Lankan armed forces. " Prabhakaran will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people," he said. The website, however, did not give the details of Prabhakaran's location. The army had claimed Prabhakaran and his top aides came out of their last hiding place in a small convoy of van and an ambulance and tried to drive out of the war zone, but were gunned down.

NEW DELHI: The Congress Parliamentary Party on Tuesday re-elected Sonia Gandhi as its chairperson. The CPP is also likely to appoint Dr Singh as its leader paving way for him to be re-elected as Prime Minister. The CPP would also endorse Manmohan as the leader of Rajya Sabha, while Pranab would be given the charge of the Lok Sabha. Besides, the Congress leadership has also convened a meeting of the UPA on May 20 in which all pre-poll alliance partners have been invited.

KABUL: Afghan president Hamid Karzai has no plan to install former U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad as "chief executive" of his country, a spokesman said on Tuesday, denying a report in the New York Times.The U.S. newspaper, citing unidentified U.S. and Afghan officials, said Khalilzad, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen who served as former President George W. Bush's ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations, was discussing taking a powerful post under Karzai.Because of his influence, Khalilzad was known by many Afghans as Kabul's "Viceroy" when he served as Washington's top diplomat to Afghanistan.The newspaper described Khalilzad's proposed future role as "chief executive officer of Afghanistan". It quoted a senior U.S. official as saying the post would allow the American diplomat to serve as "a prime minister, except not prime minister because he wouldn't be responsible to a parliamentary system".A spokesman for Karz...

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared a final victory in the country’s 26-year war against the Tamil Tiger rebels, using a speech before Parliament on Tuesday morning to declare that the country had triumphed over terrorism and pledged to resolve the ethnic conflict giving a call for national unity.Mr. Rajapaksa addressed Parliament a day after the government information service sent a text message to cell phones across the country saying that Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the elusive chief of the Tamil Tigers, had been killed. State television also broke into regular programming to announce the news.But a rebel spokesman on Tuesday denied the government’s claim, saying on a pro-rebel Web site that the “dear leader,” Mr. Prabhakaran, was “alive and safe.” “He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people,” said the spokesman, Selvarasa Pathmanathan. It was not possible to verify the conflicting claims because the government has barred indepen...

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan television station on Tuesday broadcast video footage of what it said was the body of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, with the face of the rebel leader visible.

GUWAHATI: Indian security forces killed six tribal separatists Tuesday in the restive northeastern state of Assam, officials said.The six militants belonging to the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were killed in a lengthy shoot-out with troops near the district of Karbi Anglong, about 290 km (180 miles) east of Assam's main city of Guwahati. The operation was conducted "based on specific intelligence about the presence of six to eight NDFB militants," said army spokesman Rajesh Kalia. A few of the militants may have escaped in the dark, he added. Police said a large quantity of arms and explosives were recovered from the dead rebels. The NDFB is a rebel group that has fought for a separate homeland for the Bodo tribe in Assam since 1996, although the outfit agreed to a ceasefire with New Delhi in 2005. Despite the truce, the Assam government has repeatedly blamed the NDFB for numerous attacks. More than 10,000 people have been killed in a two-decade ...

ISLAMABAD: The Executive Director of Kashmir Centre Washington, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai has said that changes in the global community, in general, and the United States after November 2008 election, in particular, are creating a surge of expectations among the people of Kashmir for fulfilling the international promise of self-determination. According to Kashmir Media Service, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai in a statement issued in Washington said that hundreds of petitions had been presented to the United Nations Military Observers Group (UNMOG) in Srinagar during the unprecedented peaceful protest processions in 2008. He said that the global community has the opportunity to focus its attention in setting a stage for a final settlement of the Kashmir dispute. An appointment of a special envoy on Kashmir, Dr. Fai said, as suggested by then candidate Barack Obama would go a long way to hasten the progress of peace and reconciliation in the region of South Asia.

NEW YORK: American Apparel Inc settled film director Woody Allen's lawsuit over the company's use of his image in advertising for $5 million, Allen said on Monday as the case was about to come to trial.The American film director sued the clothing company more than a year ago after his image appeared on billboards in New York and Los Angeles. Allen says his reputation was damaged and the image from his film "Annie Hall," which showed him dressed as a Hasidic Jew, was used without his consent."Five million dollars is enough to discourage American Apparel or any one else from ever trying such a thing again," Allen said outside federal court in Manhattan.Allen, 73, who says he does not sell his image for commercial profit in the United States, said depositions revealed American Apparel believed fear of publicity would keep him from taking action. But American Apparel founder Dov Charney had argued that the ads, which also appeared on the Internet, fell under fre...

SRINAGAR: Hundreds of people staged a protest demonstration against custodial killing of a civilian by Indian police in the occupied Kashmir. According to local media, Manzoor Ahmed, 30, was subjected to brutal torture by Indian police in the custody of Special Operation Group.As a result, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest the extrajudicial killing. The demonstrators pelted stones on the police too. On the other hand, Indian police personnel subjected demonstrators to heavy lathi charge and excessive tear-gassing.