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Thursday, October 22, 2009 ATHENS: The flame was lit here Thursday for the 2010 Winter Olympics and carried off by the first relay runner on a journey of more than 47,000 kilometres (nearly 30,000 miles) to Vancouver.The Games are scheduled to take place in Canada from February 12-28.At the ancient birthplace of the Olympics here, a high priestess used a concave mirror to capture the sun's rays and help spark the flame before the temple of Hera.Actress Maria Nafpliotou, playing the role of high priestess and supported by 20 vestals, implored the sun god Apollo to light the sacred flame.Among the official attendance were International Olympic Committee chairman Jacques Rogge and Vancouver organising committee head John Furlong.At Canada's request, the elaborate ceremony was the same as for the summer Olympics and the dancing vestals handed over the torch to the first relay-runner: giant slalom skiier Vassilis Dimitriadis.The Olympic flame was to be carried 2,180 kilometres acro...

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that there is clear evidence of Indian involvement in Balochistan and that New Delhi should not be pointing fingers at Islamabad. The interior minister said that India must be prepared to come to the table and discuss their concerns. He added that Pakistan is well aware of the Indian involvement in Balochistan and if given the opportunity, they will present officials in New Delhi with concrete evidence. He was responding to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statements, when the federal minister warned that India should not hurl accusations at Pakistan as it is fighting a war on terror and is also holding trials of the Mumbai attack suspects. He said that India should respect Pakistan’s judicial system. Condemning the twin bombings at the International Islamic University in Islamabad yesterday, the federal interior minister stressed that militants are now aiming to create panic in the country and that innocent civilians are being ...

SEOUL: The United States will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Wednesday, saying its atomic and missile programmes pose a "lethal and destabilising" threat. "There should be no mistaking that we do not today, nor will we ever, accept a North Korea with nuclear weapons," Gates told US and South Korean soldiers as he began a visit to Seoul. "The peril posed by the North Korean regime remains, and in many ways has become even more lethal and destabilising," he said in a speech.Gates said Washington would work with international partners to ensure the North abandons its nuclear weapons programme, and would bolster its regional allies against the threat from Pyongyang.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 LONDON: As a founding member of the rock band Queen, Brian May has played guitar on some of the most memorable music tracks of modern times, he's played legendary shows at some of the world's greatest venues. This event, however, is taking place inside a barn in the Oxfordshire village of Hinton Waldrist.Brian May, Co-Author, A Village Lost and Found said, "This isn't one of the biggest gigs I've ever played, but I have to say it's one of the more exciting ones."The reason is that this launch for his new book, 'A Village Lost and Found', marks the realization of a lifelong passion for 3D photography. It began with the discovery of what's called a stereoscopic card inside a box of Weetabix cereal when he was a child.He said, "So you get your little steroscope, you put your card in and suddenly the magic happens. Instead of two flat images you get a single stereoscopic 3D image, which you seem to be able to walk ...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 NAIROBI: Up to 13 people have been confirmed dead in Kenya on Wednesday after a five-storey building under construction collapsed, trapping workers under piles of rubble on Monday in Kiambu town, 20 km northeast of the capital Nairobi.Kenya Red Cross and the National Youth Service personnel have been trying to clear the rubble with limited resources while onlookers crowd around the site."By 12:30, we had retrieved 13 bodies...that one I'm repeating so that you don't ask me another time, there are some people who have been reported missing; that is 14 people," said Paul Muchai, Assistant Director National Youth Service.The planned five-storey shopping complex caved in when construction workers were still inside. There has been no official confirmation on how many were inside when the building collapsed and the number of people trapped is also not clear.Chances of finding anymore survivors have dwindled since the last time rescuers communicat...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 SILVER SPRING: In a bold effort to end all forms of violence against women and girls around the world, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is co-sponsoring a petition that seeks 1 million signatures from 200 countries and territories, as part of a global initiative launched recently called enditnow, whose main goal is to stop oppressive practices aimed at the female gender. "This petition is an important first step in this campaign because it shows that people from around the world are taking a stand to say that violence against women is no longer acceptable in any of its forms," said Hearly Mayr, director for Public Awareness at ADRA International, and a petition organizer. The petition has found growing support internationally. Hundreds of people from more than 70 countries have already signed the written and online petition in the initial days of the enditnow campaign. Signatures will be presented to the United Nations to draw att...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait's highest court granted women the right to obtain a passport without their husband's approval, the case's lawyer said Wednesday, in the latest stride for women's rights in this small oil-rich emirate.Unlike with highly conservative neighbors like Saudi Arabia, women in Kuwait can vote, serve in parliament and drive — and now can obtain their own passports.In many countries in the region, women cannot travel or obtain a passport without the consent of their male guardian.Attorney Adel Qurban, whose case the court was ruling on, said the landmark decision "freed" Kuwaiti women from the 1962 law requiring their husband's signature to obtain a passport.His client, Fatima al-Baghli, is one of thousands of women who have been petitioning courts for this right.The court found the article in the decades-old law "unconstitutional" because it goes against the principle of equal rights for men and women."...