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Tuesday, September 22, 2009 SRINAGAR: In occupied Kashmir, the Eid-ul-Fitr, today, was marked with massive Eid gatherings, anti-India protests and clashes between the Indian police and demonstrators.Indian troops after using brute force foiled an attempt by a large number of people to break the police siege around the residence of senior Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani to bring him out for Eid prayers. Dozens of people were injured on the occasion and many were arrested. The senior leader continued to remain under house arrest for the 12th day, today.Thousands of people, chanting pro-freedom slogans, took out a procession from Eidgah in Srinagar, which was intercepted by the police at Kawdara. The troops resorted to heavy baton charge to break up a demonstration in Lal Chowk. People took to the streets in Sopore, Baramulla, Islamabad and other towns and cities to protest against the Indian state terrorism.Addressing a gathering of hundreds of thousands of people in Eidgah, t...

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 KABUL: Afghanistan's overcrowded prison system has become a "sanctuary and base" from which militants can plan attacks on international forces, as well as a key recruiting ground for new fighters, according to a report by the top US commander in the country.Even detainees not previously linked with the Taliban or al-Qaida are at risk of being radicalised because a lack of personnel to interrogate them means many are kept at the Bagram air base facility for long periods without charge, said General Stanley McChrystal, who is in charge of US and Nato forces in the country.The message came in a four-page supplement to a main report by McChrystal, warning that more international troops and revamped military tactics were needed to avoid possible defeat in the country.Attacks apparently planned from inside prisons included the storming of a luxury hotel in Kabul in January 2008 in which seven people were killed, McChrystal said in his report, detail...

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 THIMPHU: A 6.1-magnitude earthquake has killed at least ten people in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, officials have said.Ugyen Tenzing, the country's director of disaster management, said rescuers were searching for survivors under the debris of collapsed buildings in the eastern districts of Munggar and Trashigang on Monday."It's hard to determine the extent of the damage at the moment. There is still information coming in," Tenzing said.The state-run Bhutan Broadcasting Service reported that dozens had been injured.Lungthen Dorji, the governor of Trashigang district said: "Houses, and monasteries and roads have been damaged. Mobile services are clogged."

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 NEW YORK: Drought, conflict and displacement are causing the worst humanitarian crisis in war-torn Somalia in 18 years, the UN food agency warned on Monday.Some 3.6 million people, about half the Somali population, need emergency aid including 1.3 million people displaced by fighting in the Horn of Africa country, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement.Around 1.4 million Somali farmers face a severe drought, while some 655,000 poor urban dwellers face high prices for basic food staples, the FAO said.Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have fled their homes over the past three years of violence involving hardline Islamist movements and many more in total over the country's 18 years of almost uninterrupted civil chaos.Hunger also stalks other countries in east Africa and the Horn of Africa region, the UN agency said.The number of people depending on food aid in the region -- currently nearly 20 million -- "may increase as the hu...

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 CUBA: A military judge agreed Monday to another delay in the war crimes trial of five Guantanamo prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks.Army Col. Stephen Henley agreed to the U.S. government's request for a 60-day continuance, a delay intended to give President Barack Obama's administration enough time to decide whether it should move the case to a civilian court or a revamped war crimes tribunal.Henley had scheduled a hearing at the U.S. base in Cuba to allow Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants — all three of whom are serving as their own lawyers — to voice any objections to the Obama's administration's third continuance in their case.But Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks, and the other defendants sent a note to the judge saying they did not oppose the delay, and Henley granted a written order without a hearing.Mohammed was still expected to address the court later on a series of legal motions from the th...

KABUL: Police officials from some of Afghanistan's most violent regions questioned the need for more U.S. troops, saying Monday it would increase the perception they are an occupying power and that the money was better spent on local forces.The police officials were responding to a confidential report in which Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, warned the war was getting worse and could be lost without more troops. Details of McChrystal's assessment was first reported late Sunday by The Washington Post.President Barack Obama earlier this year approved sending 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total number of U.S. forces there to 68,000 by the end of 2009. Increasing that number risks alienating Afghans, police officials said."It is very hard for local people to accept any foreigners who come to our country and say they are fighting for our freedom," said Gen. Azizudin Wardak, the police chief in Paktia province. ...

Monday, September 21, 2009 HAVANA: The Revolution Square is expected to become a seething mass of people Sunday afternoon, with peace and music as leitmotiv for a unique five-hour concert by Colombian Juanes and 14 other artists, who will perform for 11 million Cubans.Its identity seal is "Peace without Borders," the name of this Juanes' project first materialized on the Colombian border in 2008 and now in Havana.For his dream to become a reality, Juanes had to face aggressions and strong criticism from the most recalcitrant sectors in Miami.It is a dream that beat fear to emerge stronger. This way to Cuba has helped me understand many things. There will be a Juanes before and after this concert. The Juanes after Cuba is the one I want to be, he told Prensa Latina.The enormous perimeter of the Revolution Square, linked to the history and life of Cubans, is an enviable open-air scene, with 12 cameras on different brackets to facilitate better images and a sort of dialogue...