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NEW DELHI: Indina prime minister Manmohan Singh Friday said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has assured that there is complete unanimity of views in Pakistan against the war on terror.Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Singh said secretary level talks will be undertaken between the two countries.He said that 'meaningful dialogue' with Pakistan will depend on Islamabad fulfilling its promise of acting against the perpetrators of the 26/11 terror strikes.He made this statement amid uproar by the Opposition BJP blaming the Government of capitulated to Pakistan on the terrorism issue and agreeing to return to talks delinking the issue of talks with composite dialogue.However, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not satisfied with prime minister's assurance and staged a walkout from the Parliament. "You have delinked terrorism and the composite dialogue. Why have you taken seven months to decide on this?" queried BJP leader LK Advani before leading his party memb...

Friday, July 17, 2009 NEW DELHI: U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton urged India on Friday to join Washington in supporting Pakistan's fight against terrorism, but Delhi demanded results before it begins formal peace talks with its rival.Clinton is due to arrive in Mumbai late on Friday to start a five-day visit designed to cement ties and dispel any doubts about U.S. President Barack Obama's commitment to India's role as a rising global power.Although her trip has a wide agenda, including securing a deal to ensure U.S. arms technology does not leak to third countries, Clinton is expected to push for a smoothing of Indo-Pakistani ties frayed by last year's Mumbai attacks.Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani agreed on Thursday to fight terrorism jointly but Singh insisted Pakistan must punish those responsible for the Mumbai attacks if it wants formal talks.Clinton, in an opinion piece published in the Times of India n...

LONDON — Two Pakistani men detained during a series of terrorism raids in northern England are no longer considered a threat and will be released, but they could still face deportation over immigration offences, British officials said Friday. The two men were among 12 students arrested in high-profile April raids, and have been held for several months in immigration detention. They had been due to be deported to Pakistan after the U.K. ruled they posed a risk to British national security, but officials have concluded they are no longer a threat, Jennifer Wilkes, a spokeswoman for the British High Commission in Islamabad, said in a statement. Judge John Mitting told a court hearing in May that Britain's Home Office alleged the arrested men were linked to al-Qaida and involved in planning terrorist attacks in Britain. The men have maintained their innocence. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the police operation had foiled a "very big terrorist plot," but law enforcement an...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the latest Harry Potter series, has stormed the box office like never before, witnessing a wonderful opening. It has broken the old record for Wednesday midnight screenings of $18.5 million held by the Batman movie The Dark Knight, which was released last year The Dark Knighthold s the highest one-day US box office record by $67.1 million and went on to $203.7 million in its first five days in theatres. It's overall earning worldwide was $1 billion. The five Harry Potter films based on the books written by J.K. Rowling have raked in $4.5 billion worldwide. There was scepticism around the recently released Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince due to the ongoing economic recession and the entrance of other franchises like the Twilight films. Many thought that Twilight films would steal away Harry Potter audience. But reality proved otherwise, with tickets of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince selling like hot cakes. Maybe the two-years g...

TOKYO — Ten climbers have died as strong winds and rain struck two mountains in northern Japan, police said Friday. Nine died while climbing Mount Tomuraushi on Hokkaido, Japan's main northern island, said Hokkaido police spokesman Masafumi Yamasaki. Eight of them were part of an 18-member group tour, while the other was climbing alone. A 10th person died on another mountain on Hokkaido, he said. The weather at the 2,141-meter (7,024-foot) Tomuraushi peak was bad Thursday with strong winds and rain, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency. The temperature in the area was lower than usual. Yoshiaki Takeda, a local official near Mount Tomuraushi, said it was highly unusual to see such deadly accidents there. "The mountain has several shelters. We hear sometimes that climbers sprain their ankles. But we are not aware of such a deadly accident taking place at the mountain in the past," Takeda said. Police earlier had said one person was missing at Tomuraushi mountain,...

Friday, July 17, 2009 WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve has predicted that unemployment in the United States will top 10 percent this year, but noted that the end of the recession might be in sight. The pace of job losses in the United States quickened in June to 467,000, driving the jobless rate to 9.5 percent, the highest in more than 26 years, the Labor Department reported last week. Since the recession began in December 2007, the U.S. economy has lost a net total of 6.5 million jobs. According to the Federal Reserve, the unemployment rate could rise to as high as 10.1 percent this year, compared with the previous forecast of 9.6 percent. Meanwhile, the central bank said that the U.S. economy will shrink between 1 and 1.5 percent this year, better than a decrease of 1.3 to 2 percent it forecast in May. For 2010, the Federal Reserve said the growth rate in the United States will be in a range of 2.1 to 3.3 percent. For 2011, the economy will continue to expand in a range of 3.8 to 4.6...

NEW YORK — Marking the 40th anniversary of man's first lunar landing, more than 50 items related to the Apollo 11 mission are to go on the auction block Thursday. Bonhams New York said many of the articles were acquired directly from the astronauts or were originally in their collections. Among the highlights from the historic July 20, 1969, mission of Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin is a lunar module landing sequence — three sheets that list "entry commands to enable Lunar Module Eagle to descend from lunar orbit and touch down on the moon's surface," Bonhams said. The lot was estimated to bring $125,000 to $175,000. It is inscribed by Aldrin, who consigned it to the sale. The auction also contains about 350 additional items from various space missions. From Apollo 16, is a checklist of sheets mounted to a cuff used by lunar module pilot Charles M. Duke during the second and third explorations of the moon's surface. It was expected to sell for $...

The 11th test flight of an R-30 Bulava (SS-NX-30) solid-propellant ballistic missile, from the Borey-class flagship submarine Yury Dolgoruky in the White Sea on July 15 resulted in self-destruction of the missile at an initial stage of flight. According to the Russian Defense Ministry statement the first stage of the missile malfunctioned and the weapon self-destructed. Special investigation commission has already established to find the failure cause, a ministry representative told reporters. It was the sixth failure for the Bulava. After previous unsuccessful launch on December 2008 tests were suspended until the origin of malfunction had been determined. Officials from the investigation committee blamed low-quality components as a major source of problems. Earlier this year, Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said the ministry expects to complete trials by the end of 2009. Consequently, more than four missiles were planned to be built and tested this year, with the missiles ...

Judy Chu was sworn in as the first Chinese-American Congresswoman in U.S. history on Thursday. Chu, a Democrat from California, was sworn in by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Her husband, Mike Eng, also attended the ceremony. Chu filled the House seat for 32nd district in California left open by Hilda Solis, who resigned to become U.S. Secretary of Labor earlier this year. Pelosi said in a statement that as the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress, Chu's victory is "a source of pride to many." "Over her 24 years in public service, Congresswoman Chu has been committed to the essential issues facing our nation: the strength of our economy, the education of our children, and the health of all Americans," she said. Chu became the first Chinese-American woman in U.S. Congress after winning a runoff election for the House seat for 32nd district in California on Tuesday. The former vice chair of the California...

The United Nations listed for new sanctions on Thursday five individuals and five entities believed to be involved in nuclear or ballistic missile development for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Security Council sanctions committee mandated to list the targets, and also announced a ban on the shipment of two sensitive goods to or from the East Asian country. New sanctions were voted against the DPRK on June 12, following a second nuclear test on May 25. Sanctions were imposed after Pyongyang's initial nuclear test in October 2006. The original measure included a ban on ballistic missile tests by the DPRK. "The committee has decided today (Thursday) to designate the following five entities for assets freeze," said Turkey's Fazli Corman, chairman of the Council panel. "These entities are linked to the DPRK's nuclear and/or missile programs." Lister were, the DPRK's General Bureau of Atomic Energy, Namchongang Trading Corp., K...

Two explosions occurred at the Ritz Carlton and Marriott hotels respectively in Jakarta on Friday morning, killing at least 9 people and wounding more than 50 others, an Indonesian minister said. "Six of them were killed in JW Marriot Hotel and two others in Ritz Carlton," Minister for Politics, Law and Security Widodo AS told reporters at the side of blast. The minister said that nearly a half of the victims were foreigners. Among the victims were Westerners including Japanese and New Zealand citizen, the radio station said. The minister said that the first blast took place at 6:45 Jakarta time (2345 GMT Thursday) and two minutes later the second one occurred, before the hotels were opened. One New Zealand citizen of 60 years working for the PT Holchim company died in the Medistra Hospital in Jakarta, the radio station said. The deaths shocked family members of the victims who are waiting outside the hospital. An eyewitness said she saw at least three foreigners with blood ...

Friday, July 17, 2009 CAIRO: Egyptian medical and security officials said at least nine Europeans and three Egyptians were killed in a bus crash near the Red Sea port town of Safaga some six hours South-east of Cairo on Thursday.This is the most recent accident along the Red Sea coast, where crashes have been frequent due to bad driving habits.Another 10 tourists were reportedly injured after the bus they were riding in slammed into an oncoming truck on a road near Safaga.According to initial reports, the nine tourists who died were from Serbia. The crash again highlights the high number of deaths in road accidents in Egypt.According to the Ministry of Transportation, some 6,000 people are killed annually in road accidents in Egypt. Non-governmental observers, however, said the number is far higher.Poor road conditions, high speed and non-usage of seat belts are blamed for most of the deaths.Cairo attempted last year to establish a stricter legal code to combat the rising accidents, b...