Troops search Mumbai siege hotel

Troops have been searching through Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel, hours after an assault ended a bloody three-day siege there.

Commandos went room-to-room to check for casualties, while small blasts were heard from controlled explosions.

A military commander said three militants were killed in the final gun battle, which ended early on Saturday.

Militants attacked the hotel and other targets on Wednesday night, in violence that left at least 195 people dead.

Witnesses spoke of a scene of destruction at the Taj Mahal hotel, parts of which had been ablaze during the siege.

Turkey's Alevis Struggle for Religious and Secular Acceptance

ISTANBUL, Turkey --This past July, President Abdullah Gul of Turkey spoke to an assembled crowd of Shiite Turks, known as Alevis. The speech, calling for unity and acceptance of minorities, came less than a month after Gul's Justice and Development Party was spared closure by the constitutional court for anti-secular activity, a decision hailed as the start of a more inclusive atmosphere in the country. Three months later, a massive demonstration of Alevis in Ankara shows that the vision of a multi-ethnic, multiconfessional Turkey is in tatters.

Islamic fighters vow to rescue hijacked Saudi tanker

Somali militants vowed to rescue a Saudi supertanker that was hijacked by pirates a week ago, according to residents of a town where the pirates are believed to be based.

Five armored vehicles loaded with al-Shabab fighters arrived in the central Somali coastal town of Harardhere this weekend, near where pirates are holding the massive oil tanker Sirius Star, said Ahmed Mohamed, a resident of the town.

The fighters told residents they would battle the pirates because the tanker, which is loaded with 2 million barrels of oil, is owned by a Muslim country and should not have been taken, Mohamed said.

Another resident, Hassan Nor, suggested that the al-Shabab fighters' motive was to share in the multimillion-dollar ransom the pirates have demanded from the supertanker's owner.

The al-Shabab militia is an offshoot of an Islamic party that ruled much of Somalia in the second half of 2006 and aims to impose Islamic sharia law in Somalia. It was forced from power by Ethiopian troops but continues to fight for control.

Nor said he could see the Sirius Star anchored offshore from his town.

"The armed pirates have climbed on the top of the ship," Nor said. "They vowed that they will defend any attackers from the ship."

Germans held in Kosovo over blast

A Kosovan judge has ordered three Germans suspected of throwing an explosive device at the EU headquarters in Pristina to be held for 30 days.

The three reportedly deny involvement in the attack on 14 November, saying they were detained while investigating it themselves.

Windows in the glass-fronted building were shattered but nobody was hurt.

German and Kosovo media report that the men are German intelligence agents but officials in Berlin refuse to comment.

Lawyers for the detainees say the prosecution is seeking terrorism charges that carry a maximum 20-year sentence.

A spokesman for the German foreign ministry in Berlin confirmed that three Germans had been arrested on Thursday, but declined to make any further comment as an investigation was under way.

Apec leaders make free-trade vow

Leaders from Asia-Pacific countries have pledged not to respond to the global financial crisis by raising trade barriers over the next year.

In a statement issued at an Apec summit in Peru, they said protectionism would only worsen a difficult situation.

US President George W Bush urged Apec countries, which account for half the world's economic activity, to rely on free markets to resolve the crisis.

The meeting is Mr Bush's last scheduled foreign trip as US president.

The statement was issued at the half-way point of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

"There is a risk that slower world economic growth could lead to calls for protectionist measures which would only exacerbate the current economic situation," the Apec leaders said in their joint statement.

Terrorism issue couldn’t be solved emotionally

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said the political wing of Inter Service Intelligence (ISA) has been disbanded, adding that army is performing its duties amicably.

Speaking to newsmen here on Sunday, Foreign Minister said the government wanted to redress all issues, including terrorism which could not be resolved emotionally.

Economy has been adversely affected by the militancy, he said, adding that a 16-member group of economic experts headed by Dr. Hafiz Pasha has been formed to devise policies for the economic growth.

“Talks are underway with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The fund’s board will approve the loan to Pakistan on November 24,” said the federal minister.

He said, “next meeting of ‘Friend of Pakistan’ will be held in Islamabad from January 13 to 16 in which issues relating to security situation and terrorism will come under discussion.”

About agricultural tax, he clarified that federal government would not impose any such tax, but added that he had no knowledge about provincial government’s decision in this regard.

Qureshi informed that he would leave today for India to discuss bilateral relations and ongoing water row between the two countries. He said former president Pervez Musharraf is a Pakistani citizen who can move freely.

To a question, Foreign Minister said that efforts were underway for the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, adding that she would return to country soon.

Musharraf leaves for London on one-week tour

ISLAMABAD: Former President General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf today left for London on one-week tour.

Pervez Musharraf accompanied by his wife Begum Sehba Musharraf left from the airport here for London by PIA flight PK-785. Following his resignation from the president slot, this is his maiden tour abroad.

Sources said that the former president during his tour would address the Cambridge University Students Union besides he would also be holding meetings with the members of different think tanks. Pakistan High Commission will provide full official protocol on his arrival at London.

Arrests over cemetery sex attack

Two men have been arrested over a sex attack on 24-year-old woman in a cemetery on Merseyside.
The woman had been out in the area of Bakers Bar, Southport, and then made her way to Duke Street cemetery on Thursday where she was assaulted.

Merseyside police said they have arrested two men, aged 28 and 32, both from Southport, on suspicion of rape.

A police spokeswoman said the arrests followed a "high visibility" operation close to the scene.

Royal demands French vote re-run

French ex-presidential candidate Segolene Royal is contesting the results of a vote to choose the leader of the French Socialist opposition.
Martine Aubry, a former minister and current mayor of Lille, won the vote by a razor-thin margin of 42 votes.

Ms Aubry is best known as the architect of the 35-hour work week.

Supporters of Ms Royal said there had been irregularities and demanded a re-run of the vote next week, raising the prospect of more party in-fighting.

The party has been divided over whether to move toward the political centre or hold to traditional leftist beliefs.
Ms Aubry, 58, won 50.02% in a second ballot of party members. Ms Royal scored 49.98%.

Ms Royal's lawyer, Jean Pierre Mignard, said the result was "contested and questionable".

"I am not going to take this," Ms Royal told AFP news agency.

But Ms Aubry rejected her proposal to hold a new vote. She will be the first female to head the French Socialists.

She takes over from Francois Hollande, Ms Royal's estranged partner and the father of her four children, who has led the Socialist Party for the past 11 years.

Party infighting

The election went to a second round after a first ballot on Thursday failed to produce a winner with more than 50% of votes.

Ms Royal gained 42.5% of the vote, Ms Aubry 34.7% and Leftist MEP Benoit Hamon 22.8%.

Mr Hamon dropped out and urged those who had backed him to vote for Ms Aubry in the second round.

Ms Aubry has said she wants to reform the party while also upholding its "leftist values".

Ms Royal, defeated by centre-right President Nicolas Sarkozy in last year's election, had said she wanted to renew the party and put it in a position to beat the conservative candidate in 2012.

There has not been a Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand won a second term in 1988.

Ms Royal has been accused of seeking to transform the party into her own personal electoral machine, says the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris.

Supporters had hoped she could reform the party and bring it towards the centre, but critics, especially among the party's old guard, have accused her of being politically inconsistent.

The voting took place after last weekend's annual party congress - that was meant to back a single candidate - ended in disarray, with top party members failing to reach consensus on a new leader.

France's media have said the Socialists showed themselves at the Reims convention to be "ungovernable".

Bush and Hu meet at Apec summit

US President George W Bush meets China's Hu Jintao, ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit dominated by the financial crisis.

US shares up on 'Treasury choice'

US shares rise sharply on reports that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his treasury secretary, reassuring investors.

'Safe haven'

Several Pakistani TV channels reported that Mr Rauf was one of five people killed on Saturday by a presumed US attack in the country's remote north-western region.

Unnamed Pakistani intelligence sources said that a wanted Egyptian militant, Abu Zubair al-Masri, was among the others killed.
Islamist militants use the mountainous tribal areas along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan as a safe haven for training and resupply.

The US regularly uses pilotless drones to attack militant targets in the region, a tactic that has caused growing resentment among Pakistan's leaders.

On Thursday the government summoned the US ambassador in Islamabad to protest one day after an attack deep inside Pakistani territory killed five people - including at least one alleged militant.

Pakistan says the constant missile strikes infringe its sovereignty. The BBC's Barbara Plett, in Islamabad, says the attacks spark widespread anger in Pakistan - especially among tribal figures.

In that context, Saturday's attack will be reported in Pakistan as another violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and not for the possible killing of Rashid Rauf, our correspondent says.

The US says the insurgents use the territory to launch attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Islamabad has been pursuing a policy of ad-hoc peace deals with local Taleban commanders.

UK militant 'killed in Pakistan'

A fugitive British militant linked to an alleged UK plot to use liquid bombs to blow up transatlantic airliners has been killed in Pakistan, reports say.

Pakistani media said Rashid Rauf, born in Birmingham, was killed in a US air strike in North Waziristan, a haven for militants and the Taleban.

Mr Rauf, on the run after escaping from a Pakistani jail, was alleged to have helped the group planning the attacks.

Three men were convicted in the UK in September of conspiracy to murder.

News of the liquid bomb plot paralysed global air travel, prompting authorities to implement stringent security measures at airports around the world.

Rashid Rauf was arrested in Pakistan on 9 August 2006, at the request of US authorities, who feared he was about to disappear into the remote north-west of the country.
One day later authorities in the UK and the US implemented strict security measures at airports, fearing possible bomb attacks.

Hundreds of flights were delayed at airports around the world with massive disruption at major UK terminals and in the US, amid security service fears that militants were planning to mix liquids into lethal explosives.

Terrorism charges against the Briton were eventually dropped but he remained under detention in Pakistan as a "preventative measure".

Mr Rauf, who is thought to have Pakistani citizenship through his family connections, then escaped custody in December 2007 while on his way to an extradition hearing under police guard.

West Midlands Police in the UK were seeking his extradition from Pakistan in connection with a separate case over the suspicious death of an uncle.

Fire threat prompts rolling blackouts in Los Angeles

Raging wildfires threatened high-voltage transmission lines along southern California's Interstate 5, causing the utility that serves Los Angeles to orchestrate rotating power outages in some districts for nearly an hour Saturday.
Four firefighters have been injured, and more than 10,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the northern San Fernando Valley by the wind-driven Sayre Fire, named after the street where it was first spotted in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles.

The Sayre fire, which has burned more than 6,500 acres since it began Friday night, was one of at least three affecting the Los Angeles area Saturday.

In Santa Barbara County, the Tea Fire was about 40 percent contained after destroying more than 100 homes and burning 1,800 acres since Thursday.

South of Los Angeles, a brush fire that began in Corona has moved into Yorba Linda, destroying at least 30 homes and scorching 800 to 1,000 acres, according to CNN affiliate KTLA.

As of about 1 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) Saturday, the Sayre fire was 10 percent contained, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

The brush-fueled Sayre fire erupted late Friday in the steep terrain of the Angeles National Forest on the outskirts of Sylmar, about 20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

It covered 1,500 acres and threatened at least 1,000 homes just three hours after it was reported, according to Los Angeles Fire spokesman Armando Hogan.

At least 9 killed by suicide car bomb in Iraq

A suicide car bombing near a car dealership killed 11 Iraqis and wounded 36 in the northern city of Tal Afar, the Interior Ministry said Saturday.
The U.S. military said attackers targeted civilians.

The U.S. put the death toll at nine and said 40 people were wounded.

Tal Afar is about 43 miles (70 kilometers) west of Mosul.

In Baghdad, at least three people were killed and 23 others wounded when a bomb detonated Saturday evening in a parked car in a busy area of central Baghdad's Karrada district, a ministry official said. A dozen cars were destroyed, the official said.

Earlier Saturday, a roadside bombing targeting a police patrol in northern Baghdad wounded at least seven people. Three of the injured were police officers, and the other four were civilians.

Also, a bomb attached to an empty oil tanker detonated Saturday morning in eastern Baghdad, wounding three civilians, the ministry said.

In Mosul, two U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday in a helicopter hard landing, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Their names were withheld pending notification of relatives.

The incident did not appear to be combat-related, the military said in a written statement, and there was no enemy contact in the area.

Earlier, the U.S. military said coalition forces reported that an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter made a hard landing about 6:20 p.m. local time after it came into contact with wires.

Summit pledge to 'restore growth'

Global leaders at the G20 financial summit in Washington have pledged to work together to restore global growth.

They said they were determined to work together to achieve "needed reforms" in the world's financial systems.

Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said the agreements reached by leaders were "historic".

US President George W Bush said that finance ministers would now work on detailed reform proposals, and then report back.

The meeting brought together leading industrial powers, such as the US, Japan and Germany, and also emerging market countries such as China, India, Argentina, Brazil and others - representing 85% of the world economy.

Petrol, diesel prices cut by Rs 10, Rs 3 per litre

ISLAMABAD: The government on Saturday cut down petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 and Rs 3 per litre respectively for passing on the benefit of lowering petroleum products' rates in the global market to domestic consumers.

According to petroleum ministry sources, new maximum sale price of petrol is Rs. 66.66 and diesel Rs. 61.14.

There would be a reduction of Rs. 5 in the price of Kerosene oil and new prices would be effective from November 15, 2008. In pakistan

Shuttle on its way to beef up space station

Riding a brilliant tower of flame into the night sky, the space shuttle Endeavour left Earth on Friday, carrying seven astronauts on a 15-day mission to the international space station.
The space shuttle Endeavour launched on time at 7:55 p.m. ET on Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in eastern Florida, mission managers announced.

"Preparing our home in space for a larger international family," launch commentator Candrea Thomas said during liftoff.

The 15-day flight's primary goal is to update the international space station so it can house six crew members at a time comfortably, instead of the current three.

Bollywood investor admits to $33 mn fraud in US

A high-profile Indian-American businessman with Bollywood connections has pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud amounting to $33 million.

Vijay K. Taneja, 47, owns a company called Financial Mortgage Inc. in neighbouring Fairfax county. He also produced films such as Aap ka Surroor and brought many top Bollywood stars to the area for performances.

The Washington Post described it as the largest mortgage fraud case in Virginia in almost 20 years and among the largest in the country. The paper quoted prosecutors as saying he created bogus mortgage loans and sold legitimate loans to more than one buyer.

Taneja admitted in US District Court in Alexandria on Thursday that he used the money to finance his entertainment ventures, the Post reported.

Sonia congratulates scientists for placing tricolour on moon

Congress President Sonia Gandhi tonight congratulated the country's space scientists for their spectacular achievement in placing the tricolour on the moon's surface.

"This is indeed a historic moment and we are proud of our scientists," the UPA Chairperson said.

India marked its presence on moon tonight to scale this historic milestone after a Moon Impact Probe with the national tricolour painted on it crashed on the lunar surface after being detached from the unmanned spaceprobe Chandrayaan-1.

Pakistan seeks $9 bln loan from IMF

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $9 billion bailout along with help from other lenders to avert a balance of payments crisis, a finance ministry official said on Friday.

"We are asking $9 billion from the IMF, they are talking about $7.4 billion. IMF can give us up to $7.6 billion," a finance ministry official told a foreign news agency.

The official said that the government would soon deliver a letter of intent to the IMF, paving the way for the world's lender of last resort to release funds rapidly.

Another official said on Friday that the letter of intent would probably be sent before Monday, when potential donors are due to gather in Abu Dhabi for a "Friends of Pakistan" conference.

The conference of officials is not expected to result in loans being pledged, but it could pave the way for a ministerial meeting later.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's cited Pakistan's tardiness in securing foreign assistance for a decision on Friday to lower its rating on the nation's sovereign debt deeper into junk bond territory.

Zardari calls Clinton, gets support for the $15 bln package

NEW YORK: President Asif Ali Zardari Friday called Senator Hillary Clinton on telephone who has emerged as a choice of President-elect Barack Obama for the US Secretary of State.

The President, now in New York to attend the dialogue on interfaith harmony, said Pakistan was striving for peace in the region and its nascent democracy needed support and cooperation of the international community to confront several challenges it was facing.

Hillary Clinton, a senator from New York, extended full support to President Zardari for $15 billion assistance under the Biden-Lugar bill for the next ten years as a long-term engagement with Pakistan.

Hillary Clinton said the United States of America was keen to see the economic and social uplift of the people of Pakistan and the new US administration and the Congress would work together to attain that objective.

The US media reported Clinton was the top contender for the slot of U.S. Secretary of state, following her meeting with President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday to discuss her role in the new administration.

Black father, white mother

The couple were married on 21 February 1961, a month after John F Kennedy took the presidential oath of office. Less than six months later, they celebrated the birth of a child, Barack Hussein Obama Jr.

He was the product of what was then a rarity in post-war American society: a mixed-race marriage. As Barack Obama himself wrote, his father was as "black as pitch", while his mother was as "white as milk".
Certainly, there are clues to Obama's personality in the unorthodox backgrounds and personalities of his parents. His father had come to the University of Hawaii as its first black student, and became the president of the International Student Association. He was known for his rich speaking voice, strong opinions and a magnetic personal charisma.

His mother was an only child, who was christened Stanley Ann because her parents yearned for a boy. As a schoolgirl and student, she was known for her quick wit, feisty intelligence and expansive vocabulary.

The marriage did not last long, but then Barack Sr hardly fitted the mould of the reliable husband. Before arriving in Hawaii, he had been married already to a local Kenyan woman, who mothered four of his children (he lied to his new wife, Ann, that he had arrived in Hawaii a divorcee).

Then, when Barack Jr was still a toddler, he decided to take up a scholarship at Harvard, turning down a more financially generous offer from New York University which would have supported the whole family. So Ann and young Barry, as he was then known, remained in Hawaii. And thereafter, Barack Obama Sr made only one more appearance in his son's life, visiting him in Hawaii when he was aged 10.


There was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalogue
Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father
The break-up of his parents' marriage set-up the next episode in Barack Obama's life: his years in Indonesia.

Ann met another foreign student at the University of Hawaii, an Indonesian by the name of Lolo Soetoro. They lived as a family for two years in Hawaii, before leaving for Jakarta in 1967.

Within six months, Barry had learnt Indonesia's language and was being awoken by his mother at 4am each morning so that she could give him additional English lessons before school. Perhaps his thirst for self-improvement, and his fierce self-criticism, stem from those pre-dawn lessons.

There were other formative influences. His step-father was a Muslim, though he followed a brand of Islam, according to Barack, "that could make room for the remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths".

Barack Obama the epoch-changer

By his mid-forties, President-elect Obama had authored two memoirs of his scattered life, both of which became global best-sellers. His search for identity has been instrumental in his upward journey towards power.
Yet for all his "age of Oprah" candour, and for all the 400-plus pages of his beguiling autobiography, Dreams from My Father, to many he remains a frustratingly elusive and enigmatic figure.

Who precisely is Barack Hussein Obama, a politician who defies neat encapsulation?

The back-story begins in a suitably exotic location: Hawaii. Back in the late-1950s, America's most newly-minted state was the meeting place for his African father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr, and his American mother, Ann Dunham.

A talented and exuberant economist who had won a scholarship to the University of Hawaii, Barack Sr came from the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya. His mother, Ann, was an "awkward, shy American girl", from Wichita, Kansas. Though Barack Sr was five years her elder, they met in a Russian language class and quickly fell in love.

China welcomes UK Tibet decision

Mr Zhu would not say whether it might be linked with Prime Minister Gordon Brown's efforts to bring China into a new world economic order.

Beijing says Tibet has been part of the Chinese nation since the 13th Century.

Many Tibetans disagree, pointing out that the Himalayan region was an independent kingdom for many centuries, and that Chinese rule over Tibet has not been constant.

After a brief military conflict between China and Tibet in the early part of the 20th Century, Tibet declared itself an independent republic in 1912.

China sent troops to Tibet in 1950 and summoned a Tibetan delegation the following year to sign a treaty ceding sovereignty.

Obama talks to Clinton about possible role

Clinton's response is unknown, although multiple sources agree that she was left with the impression that if she were interested in the post, it would be hers.

"There was a serious discussion to determine whether, if offered secretary of state, she would accept it," said a source close to the Obama transition team.

In these circumstances, that source added, a president-elect does not meet with potential Cabinet secretaries unless he is serious about making an offer.

Another source close to the Obama transition team said that asking Clinton to be secretary of state "has been of great interest to Obama for a while. You've got to assume that Hillary Clinton did not come to visit the city of Chicago."

Over the course of the past 24 hours, sources close to Clinton have softened their one-time solid public position that she would not be interested in a Cabinet post. Those sources now say Clinton is clearly contemplating various ways in which she can serve the Obama administration.