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MULTAN/Pakistan: At least 12 people were killed and 35 others injured in a suicide attack at offices of a sensitive agency in Qasim Bela area of Multan Cantt.According to reports, gunmen stormed at a building of a sensitive agency and opened fire on police officials. According to reports, gunmen stormed at a building of a sensitive agency and opened fire on police officials. Later, they blew up a car bomb near the building, which severely damaged the building. A rocket was also fired before the blast.Dr. Kaleem of Rescue 1122 said four security personnel and eight civilians were killed in the blast and more than 35 including women and children were wounded. The injured were rushed to CMH and Nishtar Hospital where emergency was declared. The blast was so powerful that the windowpanes of the nearby buildings were smashed to pieces. Front of the building has been destroyed completely and several people trapped under the rubble. According to Civil Defence official Shahid Pervaiz, 500 kg ...

Oscar winner musician AR Rahman is facing the camera in upcoming film Son of a Preacher Man about the life and times of Grammy winning singer-songwriter-producer PJ Morton. Besides Rahman, other cast includes American Gospel musician Kirk Franklin (Norbit), Grammy nominated American Idol Winner Ruben Studdard (Life on a Stick), and producer Warryn Campbell (Stomp the Yard). Shot in Atlanta and New Orleans in USA and London in United Kingdom, it will be released in 2010. Michael Akwesi Djaba (Reasonable Excuse) is the director. Rahman and Morton collaborated on Sajna song in recent Hollywood comedy Couples Retreat. Acclaimed Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, commended multi-talented and innovative Rahman for bringing East and West closer through music and for making the world look at Indian film music more seriously. Diversity of his styles and themes was appealing to different sections of the society, Zed, who is chairperson of Indo-American Lead...

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 LONDON: The British death toll in Afghanistan this year reached 100 on Monday as another soldier was killed in the violence-scarred country, but London insisted the increasingly unpopular fight is not in vain. The soldier, from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, was killed by small arms fire in Nad-e Ali in the troubled southern Helmand Province, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. His death brings to 237 the total number of British troops who have died in Afghanistan since operations began in October 2001. At least 205 were killed as a result of hostile action.Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement that every loss was a "real and personal tragedy", adding that British troops had to complete their mission. "We will never forget those who have died fighting for our country and we must also honour their memory. That means staying the course, doing what is right for Britain, and seeing this mission through," he said.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 BERLIN: Christmas is around the corner. As the big day approaches, a small German chocolate maker is busy preparing for the holiday rush. He specializes in hand-decorated Santas chocolates which have gained enormous fame all over country.Christmas preparations for Paul Wangler traditionally begin in mid-November. The German pastry chef and his small team decorate the plastic moulds by hand with liquid chocolate, producing edible masterpieces.As many customers complain the works are too beautiful to eat, it seems many of Wangler's pieces are destined for a life that lasts much longer than the Christmas season.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 GUADALAJARA: A remote-controlled dinosaur robot worth about 100,000 dollars has been stolen from Australia's "Walking with Dinosaurs" show in Guadalajara, event organizers said Monday. "Only in Mexico! How it happened, we don't know. We don't even know if whoever stole it knows its value," show spokeswoman Karla Arroyo told reporters. It was the first time an exhibit has been stolen from the show, which has toured worldwide and been seen by more than four million people, she said. "Walking with Dinosaurs" opened in Guadalajara on Friday, and staff discovered that one of the smaller robots was missing after the show closed that same day. The missing reptilian is 1.50 meters (59 inches) tall and moves by remote control. At around 100,000 dollars, it is the least expensive of its fellow robots at the show, which measure up to 13 meters (42.6 feet) and cost up to one million dollars, Arroyo said. Despite the robbery, Arro...

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 MUMBAI: Navi Mumbai crime branch has arrested three people from Panvel for being in possession of a chemical looking substance that is suspected to be uranium.The material has been seized and sent to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre for further analysis. The trio was arrested on Monday evening and as much as 5 kilograms of the material was seized from them.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 SEOUL: The South Korean government Tuesday decided to send 350 troops backed by helicopters and 140 reconstruction workers to Afghanistan to help rebuild the war-torn country, the defence ministry said. The South Korean contingent will be based in Parwan province just north of Kabul for 30 months from July 1 next year, the defence ministry said in a statement. A provincial reconstruction team of 100 civilians and 40 police will be guarded by 350 troops backed by helicopters, armoured vehicles and an unmanned reconnaissance drone, it said. Officials have said the South Korean troops will not do any fighting except to protect the aid team.A cabinet meeting Tuesday approved the deployment and the ministry plans to send a motion this week to parliament for approval.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 MARSEILLE: A French court on Tuesday banned France's anti-immigrant National Front party from giving out leaflets attacking plans to build a giant mosque because they used pictures of it without permission.The ruling was to protect the architects' intellectual property, but also came at a sensitive time after a ban on minarets in neighbouring Switzerland stoked debate about Islam in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.The Marseille court ordered the far-right party to destroy all leaflets on which it had reproduced designs for the planned Grand Mosque in the southern city, alongside the slogan "No to the mosque."It also ordered the National Front to pay 1,500 euros (2,210 dollars) in costs, according to a copy of the judgement.The architects' lawyer Armelle Bouty told the court that they had also been attacked on the party's website and the use of their intellectual property on the leaflets was "the last straw....

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 WASHINGTON: The members of a 1,500-strong contingent of US Marines will begin arriving in southern Afghanistan next week as part of the first elements of President Barack Obama’s troop build-up of 30,000 troops, officers said.The United States hopes the 7,000 additional troops promised by NATO allies will arrive in Afghanistan by the first half of 2010.The new commitments are expected to swell the ranks of foreign troops in Afghanistan next year to 150,000, some two thirds of them US forces.Apart from the 1,500 Marines heading to southern Helmand province this month, another 6,200 Marines from Camp Lejeune were due to deploy in the ‘early spring’ next year and 800 Marines based in California would head to Afghanistan at the same time, the Pentagon said.The US Army also was mobilizing troops, with 3,400 from the 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum in New York state ordered to head out in the spring to focus on training Afghan security forces.About 4,100 suppo...