ONE NEWS

ASTANA: NATO forces cannot prevent insurgents in Afghanistan from moving abroad as fighting there intensifies, outgoing NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.In an interview with foreign news agency, Scheffer said it was unclear if a spate of recent militant attacks in Central Asia were linked to military operations in Afghanistan or Pakistan."It might well be that as we take on the Taliban in more places they'll go other places," he said."If people want to cross borders, NATO cannot prevent that. If militants and extremists want to cross borders into Central Asia to do their horrific work there, NATO cannot possibly stop that."

Thursday, June 25, 2009 TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told US President Barack Obama on Thursday to stop "interfering" in Iran's affairs, a local news agency reported. "I hope you (Obama) will avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express regret in a way that the Iranian people are informed of it," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

Thursday, June 25, 2009 GENEVA: The Swiss government ordered the quick destruction of about 100 pages of evidence linked to an investigation of three Swiss engineers suspected of smuggling nuclear weapons technology.The Cabinet said the documents were "the most explosive" material in a file of more than 1,000 pages related to the case against the Tinner family, which is suspected of links to the nuclear smuggling network of Abdul Qadeer.The documents are copies of files destroyed in 2007 under a previous order that led to protests from lawmakers and legal experts, who said the government undermined the prosecution in the smuggling case. The copies were found in prosecutors' archives last December.

Thursday, June 25, 2009 ISLAMABAD: Legendary Italian mountaineer Michele Fait died on Tuesday while skiing down K2, the world's second-highest mountain in Pakistan.His death was reported today on blogs and specialist Italian websites.The 44-year-old disappeared into a crevasse before the eyes of his Swedish companion Fredrik Ericsson, the website reported. The accident occurred on a section of the Cesen route, on the south-east face of K2, which is 8,611m high, according to mountaineers who travelled to base camp to provide support.Fait had around 50 extreme descents under his belt, undertaken in the Alps as well as the Andes and the Himalayas.

Thursday, June 25, 2009 WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law a $106 billion measure to fulfill his plans to wind down the war in Iraq and ramp up operations in Afghanistan where fighting against militants is intensifying. The bill contains $79.9 billion to continue funding the two wars through Sept. 30. It was also loaded up with extras like$7.7 billion to address the H1N1 flu pandemic, and $1.4 billion in foreign aid for Pakistan, which is fighting Taliban militants spilling over the border from Afghanistan. The measure was nearly derailed by Obama's request for money to close the controversial U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as for $108 billion in credit lines to back the International Monetary Fund as it helps countries weather the global economic downturn. The legislation did not include $80 million Obama wanted for closing Guantanamo and bans releasing any detainees into the United States through Sept. 30. But it allows detainees to be b...

Thursday, June 25, 2009 VIENNA: Thousands of firefighters and soldiers struggled Wednesday to contain flood waters in northern, central and eastern Austria after more than two days of heavy rain.The situation was particularly critical in Lower Austria province where the villages of Ybbsitz and Hollenstein were temporarily not reachable by road. Water also seeped into the Medieval town of Steyr in Upper Austria province, flooding a number of buildings and streets. Towns and hamlets in the provinces of Styria and Burgenland have also been inundated.Interior Minister Maria Fekter said the situation had improved in some, but not all, areas.We are constantly monitoring the situation,» Fekter told reporters at a hastily called news conference, adding that 10,000 firefighters and 3,000 police officers were in action across the country.Television images showed residents in the affected regions scrambling to secure their homes with sandbags or desperately trying to drain their basements or gar...

Thursday, June 25, 2009 CHANDIGARH: Five people, including an eight-year-old boy and two teenagers, were detected to have been affected with swine flu Wednesday, taking the total number of influenza A (H1N1) cases in India to 73, health officials said.Two of the new cases are from Delhi, while one each is from Madurai, Hyderabad and Chandigarh, according to the officials. 'At least 532 persons have been tested so far. Of them, 73 are positive for influenza A(H1N1). Of these, six are indigenous cases, who got the infection from the positive cases who travelled from abroad,' said an official statement. In Delhi, a 40-year-old man and his wife tested positive for the flu. The man had travelled from the US via Germany and was accompanied by his 39-year-old wife. Both of them had developed fever, sore throat and body ache.

Thursday, June 25, 2009 LONDON: Adam Gilchrist, the retired Australian cricket international call for the sport to make a concerted effort to be included in the Olympics."The single best way to spread the game globally," said Gilchrist, "is for the ICC to actively seek its inclusion as an Olympic sport.""Without doubt the Olympic movement provides one of the most efficient and cost effective distribution networks for individual sports to spread their wings globally. It would be difficult to see a better, quicker or cheaper way of spreading the game throughout the world."Several moves have been made by the game's administrators in recent years to begin a campaign to get cricket back in the Olympics.

Thursday, June 25, 2009 BLOOM FOUNTAIN: USA caused one of the biggest surprises in Confederations Cup history by beating European champions Spain to reach Sunday's final.Jozy Altidore scored the opener when he turned his marker Joan Capdevila to fire in from 15 yards. Fulham's Clint Dempsey doubled the lead in the second half when he converted Landon Donovan's pass from close range. The most significant was that they prevented Spain from setting a new world record of 36 matches without defeat.