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Monday, December 14, 2009 GAZA CITY: The Islamic militant group Hamas is marking the anniversary of its 1987 founding with celebrations in the Gaza Strip. The organization hopes to show it still has support despite four years of rule that have led Gaza into war, poverty and isolation. Gaza is decked out in Islamic green, with Hamas flags fluttering from roofs and lampposts. Hamas' radio and TV stations are exhorting Gazans to attend a mass rally after midday prayers.

Monday, December 14, 2009 SEOUL: The United States and North Korea agreed to discuss a peace treaty on the Korean peninsula at four-nation talks involving the two nations, China and South Korea, a news report said Sunday.The "common understanding" was reached when US envoy Stephen Bosworth visited Pyongyang from December 8 to 10, a news agency said, citing an unnamed Seoul official.A peace treaty would replace an armistice to formally end the 1950-1953 Korean War at which Communist North Korea, backed by Chinese troops, fought South Korea, supported by US-led UN troops.Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang was to persuade North Korea to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks -- which also group South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Pyongyang quit the talks in April.Though failing to set a date for the North's return to the six-party process, the US envoy said both sides agreed on the need to resume nuclear disarmament talks during what he termed "very useful" ...

Monday, December 14, 2009 SEOUL: The United States and North Korea agreed to discuss a peace treaty on the Korean peninsula at four-nation talks involving the two nations, China and South Korea, a news report said Sunday.The "common understanding" was reached when US envoy Stephen Bosworth visited Pyongyang from December 8 to 10, a news agency said, citing an unnamed Seoul official.A peace treaty would replace an armistice to formally end the 1950-1953 Korean War at which Communist North Korea, backed by Chinese troops, fought South Korea, supported by US-led UN troops.Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang was to persuade North Korea to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks -- which also group South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Pyongyang quit the talks in April.Though failing to set a date for the North's return to the six-party process, the US envoy said both sides agreed on the need to resume nuclear disarmament talks during what he termed "very useful" ...

Monday, December 14, 2009 NEW DELHI: Twenty people died and several others were injured in a high-speed collision between a bus and a truck in Uluberia in India's eastern West Bengal in the wee hours of Sunday.The accident took place when a truck collided head-on with a bus, with fifty passengers on the National Highway-6. Eight people died on the spot. The injured were rushed to Uluberia General Hospital, out of which 12 succumbed to their injuries.Federal Railway minister and Chief of regional Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee and her colleague, Minister of state for shipping Mukul Rai rushed to the spot immediately."In this region, there is no concern for the humans. In this hospital, doctors, nurses or medicinal facilities are not available. Many injured passengers died due to lack of proper treatment. In this situation, only thing that can be done is setting up of camps outside the hospital. We have informed the authorities to do the needful for injured. This is a crime ...

Monday, December 14, 2009 BEIJING: A detailed genome map of the giant panda completed by Chinese scientists has shown that the notoriously shy animal is genetically similar to the dog, state media reported Sunday.Scientists from the Beijing Genomics Institute finished sequencing the giant panda genome in October last year but a detailed genome map was only recently completed, a local news agency said."The research found there is a high genomic similarity between giant panda and dog," the report said, but added that the research also supported the view of most scientists that the giant panda may be a subspecies of the bear family.The detailed mapping showed that the giant panda has 21 pairs of chromosomes and more than 20,000 genes, the news agency said.The research is expected to provide scientific support for the conservation, disease prevention and artificial propagation of the endangered giant panda, researchers have said."We hope the genome map could help geneticall...

Monday, December 14, 2009 WASHINGTON: Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Samuelson died Sunday at the age of 94, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said.Samuelson became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1970, and is credited with creating the mathematical analysis on which modern economics is based."Paul Samuelson transformed everything he touched: the theoretical foundations of his field, the way economics was taught around the world, the ethos and stature of his department, the investment practices of MIT, and the lives of his colleagues and students," said MIT President Susan Hockfield.Samuelson's best-selling economics text, "Economics: An Introductory Analysis," has been translated into 40 languages and has sold nearly four million copies over a span of 60 years, MIT said.He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Risha Samuelson, six children from his first marriage and a stepdaughter, as well as 15 grandchildren.

Monday, December 14, 2009 WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives has approved $1.459 billion in assistance for Pakistan for the fiscal year 2010 as it passed a massive American $1.1 trillion appropriations bill, Geo news reported on Monday The aid will be spent under the Kerry-Lugar legislation passed by the US Congress earlier this year and is part of the FY 2010 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. Under the measure, $1.035 billion will be allocated as economic support fund for Pakistan while other expenditure heads include health, law enforcement and security. The US Senate is expected to okay the bill this weekend.The US will also spend $268 million on foreign military financing for Pakistan next year. Washington has already endorsed $1.6 billion for Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) for the fiscal year 2010. The CSF provides for reimbursement of expenditure that Pakistan incurs in providing infrastructural facilities to the coalition.Besides, the U...