29_page01-city final_Layout 1

10 The Bengal Post Kolkata Monday November 29, 2010
WORLD
Briefly
US drone attack
kills 4 in Pak
Peshawar: A US drone strike
in the lawless North
Waziristan tribal region in
northwest Pakistan killed
four suspected militants on
Sunday, officials said. The
drone struck the house of a
suspected militant in Mirali
area of North Waziristan
Agency, killing four militants
believed to be associated
with the Haqqani network
that often targets US and
Nato forces across the border
in Afghanistan. — PTI
Pak girl mauled to
death by dogs
Islamabad: A six-year-old
Pakistani girl was mauled to
death by a pack of dogs in
Multan, a media report said
on Sunday. Sonia Bibi, was
returning home after
attending a Madrassa in
Multan, in Punjab, when
some dogs owned by a local
landlord attacked her. The
dogs used to guard the poultry
farm of the landlord, the
News International reported
on Sunday. She later succumbed
to her injuries in
a local hospital. Police,
however, tried to give a
twist to the incident, saying
that the girl was bitten by
stray dogs. — PTI
US troops kill
Iraqi civilian
Baghdad: US troops who
thought they were under
attack killed an Iraqi airport
employee on Sunday as he
drove near a military convoy
on his way to work, officials
said. The driver, identified
by colleagues as Baghdad
International Airport worker
Karim Obaid Bardan, failed
to heed repeated signals to
slow down or turn on his
headlights as he neared the
military convoy, said US and
Iraqi security officials. “As a
result, the vehicle was perceived
as a threat and a
decision was made to
engage it with small-arms
fire in order to stop it and to
protect the convoy from a
possible attack,” said Army
Colonel. — AP
Stampede death
toll rises to 351
Phnom Penh: The number
of people killed in a bridge
stampede during the
Cambodian capital’s annual
water festival now stands at
351, the social affairs minister
said today. The figure,
which included 222 females,
is four higher than previously
announced, while the
number of injured stood at
395, said a statement signed
by Ith Samheng, who sits on
a committee investigating
the disaster. It said each of
the wounded would receive
free treatment and assistance
from the Cambodian
Red Cross as well as
1,000,000 riels ($244) from
the government. — AFP
Pak cops break up
anti-Taliban rally
Islamabad/Lahore: Riot
police arrested dozens of
people and fired teargas
shells and used batons to
break up a march organised
by a religious group to
protest the Taliban bombings
in Pakistan, organisers
and witnesses said. Several
hundred activists from
Sunni Muslim groups
started the “Long March”
from Islamabad on Saturday
and planned to go to Lahore,
the capital of Punjab
province. The Punjab government
had banned the
rally, fearing it could be
attacked by militants. — AFP
6 Filipinos die in
Japan bus crash
Tokyo: Six Filipino workers
were killed and 22 others
were injured when a bus
collided with a trailer truck
in western Japan on Sunday,
police said. Six Filipino
workers in their 20s and
30s, three men and three
women, died in the collision
in Mie prefecture, a police
official said. Twenty other
Philippine workers, including
one who had obtained
Japanese nationality, and
two Japanese were injured,
he said. Police arrested the
driver of the truck on suspicion
that “the trailer bum -
ped into the left flank of the
bus at a crossing without a
traffic light,” he said. — AFP
N Korea readies missiles, China seeks talks
Yeonpyeong: North Korea has
placed surface-to-surface missiles
on launch pads in the
Yellow Sea, Yonhap news agency
said, as the United States and
South Korea began military
drills and China called for emergency
talks.
China made clear that the
talks would not amount to a
resumption of six-party disarmament
discussions which
North Korea walked out of two
years ago and declared dead.
South Korea said it would
carefully consider China’s suggestion.
South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak had told a visiting
Chinese delegation that Beijing,
North Korea’s only major ally
which is traditionally reluctant
to criticise the reclusive regime,
should do more to help.
China, which agreed with
South Korea that the situation
was “worrisome”, suggested the
emergency talks for December
among North and South Korea,
host China, the United States,
Japan and Russia.
Japan was non-committal.
“We want to respond cautiously
while cooperating closely with
South Korea and the United
States,” Kyodo news agency
quoted deputy chief cabinet
secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama
as saying.
Beijing has repeatedly urged
restraint and fresh talks to
defuse tensions.
Kyodo quoted a Japanese government
official as saying the
issues of denuclearisation and
Tuesday’s attack on the island of
Yeonpyeong had to be separate.
“We’ll see what South Korea
thinks, but the six-party talks
are a place to discuss the nuclear
issue, so should they be taking
up the issue of the attacks?”
Yonhap said North Korea had
moved surface-to-air missiles to
frontline areas, days after it
shelled Yeonpyeong killing
four people. The North’s official
KCNA news agency warned of
retaliatory action if its territory
is violated.
South Korea’s defence ministry
told journalists to leave the
island on Sunday because the
situation was “bad”. Many residents
evacuated earlier said they
did not want to return.
Officials from South Korea’s
defence ministry and the joint
chiefs said they could not comment
on the Yonhap report. “It is
impossible to confirm the report
as it is classified as a military
secret,” an official said.
In Seoul, life carried on normally
for the city’s more than 10
million residents, with downtown
shopping districts jammed
with people despite the freezing
temperatures, and cafes decked
with Christmas decorations
doing brisk business.
“I am worried, but not that
worried that I need to stay at
home,” said Eunhye Kim, an
usher showing people from a
packed theatre in the capital.
“They don’t really want to make
war ...there’s no gain for either
side.” The exercises, in waters far
south of the disputed maritime
boundary, are being held in the
face of opposition by China and
threats of all-out war from
North Korea.
The chairman of North Korea’s
Supreme People’s Assembly will
visit China from Tuesday, the
official Xinhua news agency
said. China has not taken sides in
the conflict and declined
to blame North Korea, unlike
the United States, for the
sinking of a South Korean naval
vessel in March.
“We ask that China make a
contribution to peace on the
Korean peninsula by taking
a more fair and responsible
position on South-North Korea
ties,” the South Korean presidential
Blue House quoted Lee as
telling Dai.
Washington says the drill is
intended as a deterrent after the
worst assault on South Korea
since the end of the Korean War
in 1953.
Seoul expects jitters in financial
markets to settle in the short
term unless North Korea carries
out further provocations,
Yonhap quoted a senior finance
ministry official as saying.
The government plans to
inject sufficient liquidity in won
and dollar trading if local markets
suffer from herd behaviour
on Monday, Yonhap said.
The nuclear-powered carrier
USS George Washington, which
carries 75 warplanes and has a
crew of over 6,000, has joined
the exercises and will be accompanied
by at least four other US
warships, an official from US
Forces Korea said.
South Korea has deployed
three destroyers, frigates and
anti-submarine aircraft, Yonhap
reported, adding the exercises
were being held far south of
the disputed area where
the artillery firing took place
on Tuesday.
South Korea’s marine commander
on Saturday vowed
“thousand-fold” revenge for the
North Korean attack. North
Korea said that if there had been
civilian deaths, they were “very
regrettable”, but that South
Korea should be blamed for
using a human shield.
It also said the United States
should be blamed for “orchestrating”
the whole sequence of
events to justify sending an aircraft
carrier to join the maritime
manoeuvres. — Reuters
Fourth blast hits NZ coal mine
Greymouth: A fourth explosion
in nine days at the New
Zealand mine where 29
miners died could significantly
delay recovery of
the bodies.
Large quantities of smoke
and flames were seen
shooting from the Pike River
mine’s vertical ventilation
shaft after Sunday’s blast,
and officials said coal
was on fire.
“This smoke has changed,
it’s no longer a gas fire, it’s
obviously now a coal fire,”
said the Pike River chief
executive, Peter Whittall.
“Where that coal fire is or
how big it is, we
don’t know.”
The mine might have to
be temporarily sealed to
starve the fire of oxygen,
Whittall said. That could
seriously delay recovery
of the bodies, and Whittall
said it was not the
preferred option.
The explosions have dislodged
a lot of coal, “so
there’s a lot of fuel in the
mine to burn,” he said. The
worst-case scenario was
that the actual coal seam
would start to burn, he said.
A gas fire is relatively easy to
put out, but a coal fire in a
RED RIBBON EXPRESSION
seam would be a “very
different beast”.
Operators still hope to
deploy an Australian jetpowered
engine to blast
nitrogen and carbon dioxide
gases and water vapour into
the mine. The inert gases
would expel oxygen that
could fuel more explosions,
and would smother the fire.
That option may be ready to
use on Monday.
There were no injuries in
Sunday’s blast, and a brief
fire involving vegetation
around the surface vent was
extinguished. People working
near the mine entrance
� A protester holds a placard at a rally demanding to halt the join military
exercise between the United States and South Korea, outside a US naval
base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on Sunday — Reuters
were moved away from the
area for safety.
The 29 miners were
trapped by the first blast on
November 19 and declared
dead after a second, massive
blast five days later. A third
explosion on Friday was
fuelled by methane gas
seeping into the mine.
Police superintendent
Dave Cliff said the latest
explosion demonstrated the
volatility of the mine environment,
which has prevented
any rescue workers
from entering the mine
since the first blast.
— Guardian News Service
� Indonesian students pose with HIV/AIDS symbols during a campaign in Jakarta on Sunday prior to World AIDS
Day. There were 21,770 reported cases of HIV and AIDS in Indonesia in 2010 — AFP
Zardari meets Rajapaksa,
signs pacts to boost ties
Colombo: Sri Lanka and
Pakistan on Sunday inked
key agreements to boost
bilateral relationship as
President Asif Ali Zardari met
his counterpart Mahinda
Rajapaksa in the capital.
Zardari, who is the first
head of state to undertake a
four-day visit to Sri Lanka
after Rajapaksa began his
second term last week, aims
to boost bilateral cooperation
and coordinate policies
on regional and international
issues. Rajapaksa and
Zardari held high-level
bilateral discussions, presidential
officials said.
Even as there was no statement
from either side immediately
at the conclusion of
the thirty-minute talks, it
was learnt that four agreements
were signed during
the meeting of the two presidents.
Pakistan foreign minister
Shah Mahmood Qureshi
and his Lankan counterpart
G L Peiris signed the Visa
abolition agreement for
holders of diplomatic and
official passports.
A Memorandum of
Understanding on agricultural
cooperation and
agreement on mutual
administrative assistance
and cooperation in custom
matters were also signed
between the officials of the
two countries.
Another agreement was
signed between Pakistan
National College of Arts and
University of visual and performing
arts of Sri Lanka on
cooperation on arts and creative
studies.
Zardari, who arrived on
his maiden visit on Saturday,
also met Sri Lankan Prime
Minister DM Jayaratne on
Sunday and pushed for
deepening economic and
trade cooperation between
two countries. — PTI
Colombo: Political prisoners
from the minority Tamil
community, including pregnant
mothers and children,
have appealed to the Sri
Lankan government to
release them on bail from the
high-security New Magazine
Prison in the capital.
“Our parents suffered
greatly during the war and
are still living a life of sorrow
just like us. We are also experiencing
agony in prison
after being held in prison for
many years,” they wrote
in a letter to the newly
appointed justice minister
Rauf Hakeem.
They expressed hope that
there would be a just resolution
to their grievances following
the end of a three-
Koreas may be on the warpath
� Missiles placed in Yellow Sea,
frontline areas
� Seoul says too early to talk about
six-party talks
� Japan responds to China idea
with caution
� China made it clear that the talks
would not amount to a resumption
of six-party disarmament
Washington: The Obama
administration has told
whistleblower WikiLeaks
that its expected imminent
release of classified state
department cables will put
“countless” lives at risk,
threaten global counterterrorism
operations and jeopardize
US relations with
its allies.
In a highly unusual step
reflecting the administration’s
grave concerns about
the ramifications of the
move, the state department
late Saturday released a letter
from its top lawyer to
WikiLeaks founder Julian
Assange and his attorney
telling them that publication
of the documents would be
illegal and demanding that
they stop it.
It also said the US government
would not cooperate
with WikiLeaks in trying to
scrub the cables of information
that might put sources
and methods of intelligence
gathering and diplomatic
reporting at risk.
The letter from state
department legal adviser
Harold Koh was released as
US diplomats around the
world are scrambling to
warn foreign governments
about what might be in the
secret documents that are
believed to contain highly
sensitive assessments about
world leaders, their policies
and America’s attempts to
lobby them.
In the letter, Koh said the
publication of some 250,000
discussions which North Korea
walked out of two years ago and
declared dead
� South Korea said it would carefully
consider China’s suggestion
� China suggested the emergency
talks for December among North
and South Korea, host China, the
United States, Japan and Russia
secret diplomatic cables by
WikiLeaks, which is
expected on Sunday, will
“place at risk the lives of
countless innocent individuals,”
‘’place at risk on-going
military operations,” and
“place at risk on-going cooperation
between countries.”
“They were provided in
violation of US law and without
regard for the grave consequences
of this action,” he
said. Koh said WikiLeaks
should not publish the documents,
return them to the
US government and destroy
any copies it may have in its
possession or in computer
databases.
The state department said
Koh’s message was a
response to a letter received
on Friday by the US ambassador
to Britain, Louis
Susman, from Assange and
Korea to
be ‘careful’
about China
talks plan
Seoul: South Korea will
“very carefully” consider
China’s suggestion of
emergency talks on
North Korea, the foreign
ministry said on Sunday.
China called for emergency
consultations
among six governments
in moribund talks aimed
at ending North Korea’s
nuclear programme,
adding that they would
not amount to a full
restart of the negotiations.
South Korea’s presidential
office said on
Sunday it was not the
time to discuss the
resumption of six-party
nuclear talks, Yonhap
news agency said.
Blue House spokesman
Hong Sang-pyo said the
subject of the multilateral
forum was raised
during President Lee
Myung-bak’s meeting
with Chinese state councillor
Dai Bingguo but Lee
“made it clear it was not
the time to discuss it”,
Yonhap said.
China on Sunday proposed
an emergency
meeting of the six parties,
not amounting a full
restart of the on-againoff-again
talks. — Reuters
US asks WikiLeaks to
halt document release
decade civil war last May.
“There are about 765 Tamil
prisoners including pregnant
mothers, infants, crippled
persons and the aged
being incarcerated with
many diseases minus medical
facilities. We feel abandoned,”
according to the letter
quoted in the
ColomboPage online.
The prisoners asked
Hakeem to honour his pledge
to intervene to secure the
release of political prisoners.
“You had promised that
you would directly intervene
for the release of political
prisoners and that you
would visit the prison to collect
the details of all such
prisoners in order to raise
this issue in Parliament
� Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, during a press
meet — Reuters file photo
along with Tamil National
Alliance,” they said.
International and local
human rights watchdogs
have repeatedly asked the
government to free political
prisoners in the country
after the end of the civil war
in the country in May 2009.
They have accused Sri
his lawyer, Jennifer
Robinson. The department
said that letter asked for
information “regarding individuals
who may be ‘at
significant risk of harm’
because of” the release of
the documents.
“Despite your stated
desire to protect those lives,
you have done the opposite
and endangered the lives of
countless individuals,” Koh
wrote in reply. “You have
undermined your stated
objective by disseminating
this material widely, without
redaction, and without
regard to the security and
sanctity of the lives your
actions endanger.”
He said the US government
would not deal with
WikiLeaks at all in determining
what may or may not
released. — Reuters
Tamil prisoners appeal for release
Prisoners expre -
ssed hope that
there would be a
just resolution to
their grievances
following the end
of a three-decade
civil war last May
Lankan authorities of committing
war crimes during a
final military offensive
against Tamil rebels in the
northeastern part of the
country, a charge dismissed
by the government.
The LTTE launched its
armed struggle in 1980’s to
create an independent
homeland for Sri Lanka’s
Tamils to protect them from
alleged discrimination at the
hands of the ethnic Sinhalese
majority.
Government forces
crushed the Tamil Tiger
rebels in 2009, ending the
LTTE’s quarter-century
armed struggle for a separate
state. Between 80,000 and
100,000 people were killed
in the fighting. — PTI