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BAGHDAD: The Iranian foreign minister on Saturday called for Iraq's neighbours to hold a meeting to discuss Iraqi security after Baghdad accused Syria of harbouring the planners of two massive bomb attacks.Separately, Turkey's foreign minister is to visit Iraq and Syria on Monday to try to soothe relations between the two.Since 2003, tensions -- prone to flare-ups since around the time Saddam came to power in 1979 -- have centred on charges from Iraq's U.S.-backed government that Syria, estranged from Washington, has allowed insurgents to stream into Iraq. Iraqi politicians have also lashed out at Saudi Arabia for inciting Sunni Islamist insurgents, a charge the kingdom denies. And while Baghdad's relations with Tehran are cordial, the U.S. military complains that Iran arms and trains Shi'ite militia.Meanwhile, Iraq's relations with Kuwait to the south are strained as Baghdad chafes at Kuwait's insistence it continue to pay billions of dollars in reparation...

Sunday, August 30, 2009 AMMAN: Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal took part in his father's funeral in Amman on Saturday. Meshaal joined hundreds of citizens and key figures of Islamic Hamas movement at the University of Jordan's Mosque in performing prayer for his father, who died Friday at the age of 91. The Hamas leader arrived in Jordan earlier Saturday from Syria along with several Hamas members after King Abdullah II of Jordan instructed the government Friday to allow his entry. Official sources in Jordan said allowing Hamas leader to enter the kingdom was purely for humanitarian reasons and there are no political reasons behind. This is the first time for Meshaal to be allowed back into Jordan since Jordan expelled the Hamas leader and later shut down offices of the Islamic movement in Jordan in 1999. Relations between Hamas and Jordan soured further in 2006 after Amman alleged that members of the group smuggled missiles and other weapons into the kingdom.

Sunday, August 30, 2009 KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday inched closer to the prospect of outright victory in elections marred by allegations of massive fraud and international concerns about their credibility. Officials have now announced results from 35 percent of polling stations in the second ever direct presidential vote in a country dogged by a Taliban insurgency, eight years after the US-led invasion. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on a lightning visit to the troubled south, pledged to speed up training Afghan security forces in order to battle the insurgency and eventually draw down international troops. As Brown visited Helmand province, an explosion killed a British soldier who was on foot patrol in the province, raising to 208 the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, British officials said. Out of 2.03 million valid votes counted, Karzai won 940,558 and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah 638,924, Daud Ali Naja...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 WASHINGTON: Six million people worldwide will die from smoking-related illnesses next year, according to the annual Tobacco Atlas report from the American Cancer Society."Tobacco accounts for one out of every 10 deaths worldwide and will claim 5.5 million lives this year alone," the study said, predicting that current trends indicate that tobacco-related deaths could top 8 million annually by 2030."One hundred million people were killed by tobacco in the 20th century," the report said. "Unless effective measures are implemented to prevent young people from smoking and to help current smokers quit, tobacco will kill 1 billion people in the 21st century."The Tobacco Atlas said that there are 1 billion male smokers worldwide and 250 million female smokers, and that tobacco kills one-third to one-half of those who smoke.

NEW DELHI: India’s $80-million moon mission suffered a serious blow on Saturday as ground station lost radio contact with the lunar craft. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) abruptly lost contact with the unmanned spacecraft at around 0130am local time (2000 GMT) on Friday. Data was last received from spacecraft shortly after midnight on Saturday. “The mission is definitely over. We have lost contact with the spacecraft,” Project Director of the Chandrayaan-1 mission M Annadurai told reporters. He, however, claimed the mission had “technically completed its job 100 percent and scientifically... almost 90-95 percent”. S Satish, public relations director of ISRO, earlier told TV channels that scientists were unable to determine what was happening to Chandrayaan-1. “We are not able to establish communication with the spacecraft – that is what we mean by loss of radio link. It is some sort of serious problem,” said Satish. Job done: An ISRO press release, issued in Bangalore, sa...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 NEW DELHI: Indian National Security Advisor MK Narayanan said people have tried to misinterpret the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint statement and that India will not resume the composite dialogue until it will see concrete evidence that Pakistan has acted against terrorism. In interview to an Indian newspaper Narayanan said, “The Indian standpoint has been that we will not resume the composite dialogue until we see concrete evidence that Pakistan has acted against terrorism in a manner that we feel comfortable,” adding, “that position remains.” “I don’t see any change in that position at any time. People have tried to misinterpret the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint statement.”Answering there was a reference to Balochistan in the document, he replied, “There was a reference to Balochistan in the document because it found a mention in the discussions. It’s possible that someone could read a meaning into it. I don’t think there is any particular meaning.” Replying to another quest...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 JEDDAH: The Abaya for women has been made part of Ahram and usual dress code by the Saudi authorities. Under the new regulation, women of all ages staying in Saudi Arab have been advised not to leave their residential compounds without wearing the Abaya otherwise they will be sent back. All Pakistani female pilgrims have been told to wear Abaya over their usual dresses before leaving their residence. However no colour has been specified for this purpose, yet a green Abaya – representing the national flag – may spot the Pakistani women among millions of pilgrims. It may be recalled that govt of Pakistan, with the collaboration of the PIA, has been distributing Abayas and scarves among female pilgrims to cover their heads. The government of Pakistan has been demanded to encourage the use of this Abaya by improving its quality.

Saturday, August 29, 2009 NAJAF: Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of Najaf on Saturday for the funeral of powerful Shiite politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, as his body arrived in the southern shrine city.Hakim's coffin, draped in an Iraqi flag, was earlier paraded in the nearby holy Shiite city of Karbala, where crowds also gathered ahead of a funeral ceremony expected to take place in Najaf around 3.00 pm (1200 GMT).Hakim, 60, who died in a Tehran hospital on Wednesday after a 28-month battle against lung cancer, was hailed as "leader of the fight" against the tyrannical reign of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, when his body arrived home on Friday.The former head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), Iraq's largest Shiite political party, was one of the principal leaders in exile of the opposition to Saddam, who waged a devastating 1980-88 war against Iran.In 1982, Hakim helped to establish an opposition movement in Iran against Saddam's Sunni-dominat...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 LOS ANGELES: An out-of-control wildfire that exploded in the mountains north of Los Angeles has spread over nearly 8 square miles of bone-dry forest, sent up massive billows of smoke and cast an eerie orange glow against the night sky.The blaze in the steep San Gabriel Mountains above La Canada Flintridge spread out in all directions Friday, the most active flanks to the north, deeper into the forest and east, said Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea. The fire was creeping slowly toward the city of Altadena, but no homes were immediately threatened Friday evening, Florea said. It was zero percent contained.A major goal was to keep the fire from spreading up Mount Wilson, where many of the region's broadcast and communications antennas and the historic Mount Wilson Observatory are located, officials said.Hundreds of homes in La Canada Flintridge remained evacuated and hundreds more residents were packed and ready to move on a moment's notice."W...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 BAGHDAD: Two bomb attacks in volatile parts of northern Iraq killed at least 15 people on Saturday and wounded more than 30, police said, interrupting a relatively peaceful start to the Ramadan fast.In one attack, a suicide car bomber killed at least nine people and wounded 11 others at a police station in the town of Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, in Salahuddin province. Four of those killed in the attack were police.The blast, at about 8 a.m. (6 a.m. British time), destroyed many shops in the area, a police source in Shirqat said. The death toll may rise, the source said.The other bombing killed six people and wounded 20 in the town of Sinjar, 390 km (240 miles) northwest of Baghdad, which is home to Yazidis, members of a pre-Islamic Kurdish sect.At least 21 people were killed in two suicide attacks in Sinjar earlier this month, part of a wave of violence that has hit ethnically and religiously mixed northern Nineveh province.Iraq is strugglin...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 TOKYO: Japan's top political leaders made their final appeals to voters Saturday before crucial parliamentary elections that could bring a sweeping victory for the opposition and break the ruling party's decades-long grip on power.Prime Minister Taro Aso, whose ruling Liberal Democratic Party is widely seen as an underdog in Sunday's balloting for the powerful lower house of parliament, called on voters to stick with his party."Can you trust these people? It's a problem if you feel uneasy whether they can really run this country," Aso told a crowd in Oyama City, north of Tokyo, warning them against a vote for a change.Aso said more time is needed for economic reforms aimed at pulling the country out of one of its worst slowdowns since World War II, and asked for support "so our government can accomplish our economic measures."Rival Yukio Hatoyama, who heads the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, traveled to western Osaka ...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 WASHINGTON: A Virginia man wore a sign admitting his infidelity in public at the request of his wife, it has emerged.William Taylor of Centreville spent Wednesday morning at the busy Tysons Corner crossroad wearing a large placard emblazoned with the words, 'I cheated. This is my punishment'.The idea was suggested by his wife found after she found evidence of his infidelity on his mobile phone.Taylor told local media, "I thought she was kidding, but she was serious. I figured I got to do what I got to do to makes things right. So here I am."After two hours, the unnamed woman reportedly telephoned Taylor to tell him that his punishment was complete.

Saturday, August 29, 2009 WASHINGTON: Former US vice president Dick Cheney Friday slammed a Justice Department probe into alleged abusive interrogation techniques by CIA agents as an "outrageous political act."In an interview with a US-based news channel Sunday to be aired at the weekend, Cheney said the investigation would do long term damage to America's ability to protect itself, adding the administration should not punish agents for doing their jobs.Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday he had named assistant US attorney John Durham to review the CIA interrogations of detainees at secret sites overseas to determine whether any laws were broken.But Cheney, who has called on the Central Intelligence Agency to release proof that harsh interrogation techniques provided key information in stopping attacks, slammed the probe."We had a track record now of eight years of defending the nation against any further mass casualty attacks from Al-Qaeda," he said S...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 CAPE CANAVERAL: The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center here late Friday on a mission to the International Space Station. Discovery roared into the dark nighttime Florida sky at 11:59 pm Friday (0359 GMT Saturday), as scheduled, and reached orbit just a few minutes later. The shuttle and its crew of seven astronauts -- including one Swede -- is to deliver to the ISS equipment for a new bedroom, a treadmill, a freezer, food and other supplies. It will also be dropping off the newest member of the ISS team -- US astronaut Nicole Stott. Stott will be taking over from engineer and fellow American Tim Kopra, who has been aboard the ISS since July and is returning to Earth with the Discovery. The launch had been delayed three times. A first attempt on Tuesday was cancelled shortly before liftoff when weather conditions were deemed too dangerous, and two subsequent attempts were thwarted by problems with a liquid hydrogen fill-and-drain ...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's death was declared a homicide by Los Angeles coroners on Friday as they revealed the singer had a lethal cocktail of six different drugs in his body when he died. Ending several weeks of feverish speculation following Jackson's sudden death in Los Angeles on June 25, the county coroner's office issued a brief statement ruling that the superstar's death was unlawful. The statement said that while "acute intoxication" from the powerful anesthetic propofol was the primary cause of death, Jackson, 50, had also suffered from the effects of other drugs in his system. As well as propofol, powerful drugs including lorazepam, midazolam, diazepam, lidocaine and ephedrine were found in Jackson's body. The coroner's statement said police investigators and public prosecutors had ordered that the full toxicology report concerning Jackson be withheld until further notice. Jackson's family welcomed the findi...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 WASHINGTON: The U.S. military can't win credibility in the Muslim world through new public relations strategies and instead must pursue actions that build trust, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, took aim at burgeoning "strategic communication" efforts inside the armed forces in which officials plan how to present their operations and ideas to the public."We need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate," Mullen said in an article for Joint Force Quarterly, a U.S. military journal, released by his office on Friday.As they fight insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. military officers have attached increasing importance to communications efforts.Top officials including Defense Secretary Robert Gates have lamented that a country which, leads the world in marketing and media has been out-communicated by al ...

Saturday, August 29, 2009 PETALING JAYA, Malaysia: Muhammad Shabbir and Muhammad Munir etched their names in the history books as they guided Pakistan to their first Omega Mission Hills World Cup on Saturday.The unheralded Pakistani duo shot a superb three-under-par 68 in the final round foursomes at Seri Selangor Golf Club to finish third at the Asian qualifier, which was won by pre-tournament favourites Singapore.Represented by Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat, Singapore carded a closing 72 for a four-day total of 15-under-par 269 to finish one shot ahead of Philippines pair Mars Pucay and Angelo Que.The top three qualify for the World Cup, which takes place in China in November.A World Cup appearance continues to elude the Malaysian pair of Iain Steel and Danny Chia as they ended fourth after a battling 71 while Myanmar finished a further three strokes behind following a 74."Pakistan have played in the cricket World Cup, hockey World Cup and squash World Cup but never before in ...