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Wednesday, November 11, 2009 SANA: Yemeni Shia Houthi fighters have released recent footage of clashes with the Saudi military at the two countries' joint border. The video shows the seizure of Saudi army vehicles by the fighters. It also shows Saudi soldiers fleeing the scene of battles as Houthi fighters open fire on them. The Saudi Arabian air force launched a deadly offensive against Houthis eight days ago, accusing the Shia resistance fighters of killing two Saudi soldiers on the border. While Riyadh says that its offensive targeted Houthi positions on 'Saudi territory', the fighters say Yemeni villages, far from the battlefield, were being bombarded. The Houthis say they've captured an unspecified number of Saudi troops inside the Yemeni territory in response to Saudi attacks on their positions and villages. They have also posted footage of a man they identified as one of several Saudi soldiers in their custody. The video showed a man in military uniform with faci

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 WASHINGTON: A team of Indian intelligence officials left the US disappointed after a weeklong stay in Washington, as they could not question American national David Coleman Headley, arrested by the FBI on charges of plotting a major terror attack in India at the behest of Pakistan-based LeT. Sources familiar with the visit of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officials termed "bureaucratic" and "procedural" hurdles as the main reason for them not being successful in interrogation of Headley, who is now lodged in a Chicago jail. 49-year-old Headley, according to the FBI charge sheet, was being used by the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) to target among others the National Defence College in New Delhi, the Doon school in Dehradun and Woodstock school in Mussoorie. The Indian team, names of its members have not been revealed to the media so far, arrived in Washington on November 1st and was scheduled to grill Headley t

MUMBAI: Forty-two passengers on board a Kingfisher flight had a close brush with catastrophe when their aircraft skidded off the runway moments after landing at Mumbai airport on Tuesday afternoon. Flight IT 4124 from Bhavnagar landed and was moving towards a taxiway to vacate the runway. But instead of turning right onto the taxiway, the plane skidded off the runway and into a grassy patch. There were no casualties. Preliminary reports said the pilot could not control the aircraft's speed while vacating the runway. Low visibility and the wet tarmac aggravated the situation. As repairs were on, only a shortened runway-roughly half the usual length-was available for operations. Officials said that the short length left no margin for error. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered an enquiry into the incident. Its head, Naseem Zaidi, said DGCA had issued an instruction to all airlines not to land on a wet runway while shortened-runway operations were on. "We&

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 TUALATIN, OREGON: Oregon police say two people have been killed and two others wounded in a shooting at a suburban Portland office park. The shooting at a drug-testing facility was reported at 11:48 am (local time) Tuesday. Police said the suspect is not at large but there are no additional details.The wounded have been taken to Emanual Hospital. Their conditions are not immediately available.The Tigard-Tualatin School District was in lockdown following the shooting.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 SEOUL: South Korean officials say a North Korean patrol boat crossed the countries' disputed sea border, prompting a naval vessel from the South to fire warning shots. The North Korean ship then opened fire.The brief encounter left the South Korean patrol boat peppered with holes, and the North's vessel ablaze and apparently badly damaged.Officials in Seoul say the incident was unusual in that the North's boat persisted in sailing deeper into Southern-controlled waters, even after the South Koreans fired warning shots."We sent warning messages to them twice before they crossed [the demarcation line] and three times after they crossed it," Brigadier General Lee Ki-sik of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff explained at a news briefing in Seoul.The Northern boat replied by firing directly at the other boat, and the battle ensued. Seoul says none of its sailors was injured, but it's not clear whether there were casualties on the ot

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 SEOUL: South Korean officials say a North Korean patrol boat crossed the countries' disputed sea border, prompting a naval vessel from the South to fire warning shots. The North Korean ship then opened fire.The brief encounter left the South Korean patrol boat peppered with holes, and the North's vessel ablaze and apparently badly damaged.Officials in Seoul say the incident was unusual in that the North's boat persisted in sailing deeper into Southern-controlled waters, even after the South Koreans fired warning shots."We sent warning messages to them twice before they crossed [the demarcation line] and three times after they crossed it," Brigadier General Lee Ki-sik of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff explained at a news briefing in Seoul.The Northern boat replied by firing directly at the other boat, and the battle ensued. Seoul says none of its sailors was injured, but it's not clear whether there were casualties on the ot

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 PARIS: Award-winning French chocolatier Patrick Roger is commemorating the fall of communism with a 15m long and 900kg chocolate reproduction of the Berlin Wall. Roget has been building the chocolate wall in sections over the past four weeks in his studio outside of Paris. They bear the hallmarks of the original wall with uncanny chocolate replicas of the drawings like "the fraternal kiss" between the then East German leader Eric Honecker and the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. The wall is entirely made of black chocolate, the graffiti spray composed of coco-butter and artificial colouring. The chocolate sections of the wall are already on display in four of his French chocolate shops. On Monday, Roget will commemorate the fall of the wall by smashing his own chocolate incarnation in his flagship shop on Paris' Left Bank and the public will have a chance at joining in and enjoying the sweet taste of freedom. Monday marks 20 years since the Berl

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 MUMBAI: The depression over southeast and adjoining central Arabian Sea moved northwestwards on Tuesday, intensifying into a deep depression which is likely to develop further into a cyclonic storm and hit Gujarat. India Met office advised fishermen not to venture into the sea along and off Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts. Squally winds speed reaching 55-65 kmph, gusting to 75 kmph, are likely to commence along and off south Gujarat and Kerala coasts besides Lakshadweep from tomorrow afternoon, while it will hit Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra coasts during the next 48 hours, it said. The deep depression lay centred at 0830 hour on Tuesday over east central Arabian Sea near latitude 13.0 degree North and longitude 70.5 deg East, about 470 km west of Mangalore, 470 km southwest of Goa and 700 km south-southwest of Mumbai, the Colaba Weather Bureau said. "The system is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm and mov

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 KATHMANDU: Maoist activists on Tuesday blocked all roads in and out of Nepal's capital Kathmandu in the latest stage of a two-week protest against the government. Riot police stood on guard as hundreds of activists waving Maoist flags rallied at the main entry and exit points to the capital.Nepal's Maoist-led government fell in May after the president halted their attempt to sack the head of the army, and the party is holding a fortnight of nationwide protests against the new administration. The Maoists, who fought a 10-year civil war against the state before winning landmark elections in 2008, want the president to apologise for preventing the army chief's removal -- a move they say was unconstitutional. Their protest will continue on Thursday and Friday with a blockade of government buildings in the capital. They initially threatened to shut Kathmandu airport, but backed down under international pressure.