U.S. says Iran has a role in Afghan talks

ROME: The United States recognises that Iran has a role to play in resolving the Afghan conflict, U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Monday, as Iran attended talks with other nations on the issue for the first time.

An Iranian representative joined senior officials in the international contact group on Afghanistan in Rome to discuss progress on the transfer of security responsibility to Afghan forces, the first time Iran has sent an envoy to the talks.

“We were asked whether we had any problems with that and we said ‘No,’” Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, told a news conference.

“We recognise that Iran, with its long, almost completely open border with Afghanistan and with a huge drug problem … has a role to play in the peaceful settlement of this situation in Afghanistan. So for the United States there is no problem

SC allows Khosa to defend Govt in NRO cases

Supreme Court accepted the governments request to change its counsel in NRO implementation and review cases and allowed Latif Khosa to represent the Federation in the case.
During the course of hearing, the court ordered Latif Khosa, governments nominated counsel to defend the NRO cases, to file a separate application in the court for change of counsel. Latif Khosa, the former advisor to the PM, has said that he ahs been issued a letter of authority by the law ministry to defend the government in the NRO cases.
The court told Khosa equivocally that the court rulings have to be implemented.
The CJ stated that recovering the nations money is the sole interest of the court, and asked about the Swiss accounts money, besides ordering the counsel to present the NRO beneficiaries list in the court. The CJ asked Khosa what he got and what he lost after quitting the covetous post of advisor to the PM. The case has been adjourned till November 1.

Commonwealth Games: Queen’s Baton reaches Delhi

The Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) of the XIXth Commonwealth Games reached host city New Delhi on Thursday after completing a 20,000 kilometer long journey, passing through all 28 Indian states and seven Union Territories.
The Baton reached the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee headquarters situated opposite Jantar Mantar on Jai Singh Road, where it was received by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi.
A slew of events have been planned during the display of the baton at the OC headquarters.On Friday, the baton will pass through Vijay Chowk, India Gate, Teen Murti Bhawan, Qutub Minar and Lotus Temple.
On Saturday, it will visit Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib, St Columba’s School and the athletes’ Games Village.
The 1.9 lakh-km-long QBR’s journey across 71 countries will culminate on October 3 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium before the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.
The Queen’s Baton Relay is a torch race symbolising the unity and shared ideals of the Commonwealth of nations. It carries a message from the head of the Commonwealth of Nations, currently Queen Elizabeth II of the UK.
The baton has the ability to capture images and sound as it travels throughout the nations of the Commonwealth. With Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, it can be tracked through exact location.

India bribed 72 nations to get Delhi CWG: Report

India is alleged to have bribed 72 Commonwealth countries $0.1million each to get the hosting rights for the scandal-hit 19th edition of the Games which will start in Delhi from October 3-14, a media report claimed.
A report in an Australian newspaper claimed that Delhi pipped Hamilton in the bid after offering huge sums of money to the 72 Commonwealth countries during the final presentation in Jamaica. The report also said that Australia received a kickback of USD 125,000 from India.
Delhi sealed the right to host the Games when their delegates emerged at the final presentation in Jamaica and offered all 72 nations one hundred thousand dollars each for athlete training schemes if they were the successful bidders, the newspaper reported. The money, subsequently paid to all nations, was not significant to Australia because it had already decided to vote for India and the payment was not an exceptionally large one.
But for small nations who have minimal interest in the Games, it clinched their vote and India went on to beat Canadian city Hamilton 46-22 in the final poll. Hamilton had offered the nations about USD 70,000 each, it said. The newspaper also claimed that some countries’ which had supported Hamilton’s bid cried foul after India won the bid. Hamilton’s bid organisers, and many of the nations who voted for them, fired off angry protests about India buying votes and the bad blood generated between several feuding nations still exists, it said.
The Commonwealth Games Association has decided to ban 11th-hour inducements as a consequence of the outrage over India’s tactics. Australian Commonwealth Games Association president Sam Coffa also accepted that India offered money to get the Games. We had a situation where Asia has had the Games only once (Malaysia in 1998) and it was worthwhile going again, he said. Even though the Delhi Games organisers are battling against time to prepare the city for the mega-event, Coffa was hopeful about a successful CWG. He, however, came hard on the Commonwealth Games Federation for not taking up the matter, in regard to the city’s preparedness, with the organisers earlier.
I still think they can pull it off. If I have any regrets it is that the Commonwealth Games Federation did not act sooner. They were behind schedule quite a few months ago and it would have helped if they had gone to India to get things moving, Coffa said. Chairman of Hamilton bid Jagoda Pike also pounced on the opportunity and said the scenario would have been different if the Canadian city was awarded the hosting rights. I think you can safely say the kinds of issues they are experiencing wouldn’t have happened if it were here, Pike said.

Delhi faces threat of mass exodus from CWG

NEW DELHI: The chaotic Delhi Commonwealth Games faced dire warnings Thursday of a mass pullout by teams as organisers worked frantically to save the event from disaster with just 10 days to go.

Eight countries have written a joint letter to the Indian organisers, demanding a list of conditions covering security and hygiene be met or they will refuse to compete, the BBC reported without naming the nations.

The head of the Commonwealth Games Federation, Michael Fennell, was due Thursday to hold crisis talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and the first athletes were due to begin arriving at the athletes’ village.

Foreign Minister SM Krishna insisted that security was a priority and promised the games would be a success, despite a shambolic buildup that has tarnished India’s hopes of showcasing its modern dynamism.

“I can assure you with

Apple iPad Wi-Fi lands in China today

Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai as well as authorized retailers around the country began offering the Wi-Fi model of the touch screen device, millions of which have already been sold in the United States and a dozen other nations.
Hundreds queued up Friday for the first official iPads sold in China, the world’s biggest Internet market, after months of grey-market action among avid buyers unwilling to wait for the Apple tablet.
Analysts predicted strong demand for the iPad despite a paucity of Chinese content and the country’s huge illegal market for Apple products, which are slipped in from Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States.
At the Apple’s Beijing store, a customer Han Ziwen said that he had camped out for 60 hours to ensure he was first in line when the flagship outlet’s doors opened at 8:00 am.
Apple has not said when the 3G-equipped versions will go on sale in China, which is home to at least 420 million Internet users.

At least 10 dead in China workers” dorm fire

BEIJING: At least 10 people have been killed in a fire at a dormitory for railway workers in China”s Inner Mongolia region, the state news agency reported Tuesday, citing local firefighters.

Fourteen people were injured and taken to hospital in the fire, which broke out in the regional capital Hohhot late Monday, the agency said in a brief dispatch. Six of them suffered serious burns, it said. The blaze was quickly brought under control, the report said, adding that an investigation had been launched.The workers had been building a railway tunnel in the area.

US naval power threatened by new weapons: Gates

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday said new weapons threatened US dominance of the high seas and questioned the US Navy”s reliance on costly aircraft carriers and submarines.

“We know other nations are working on asymmetric ways to thwart the reach and striking power of the US battle fleet,” Gates said.

The US military”s “virtual monopoly” in precision guided weapons was “eroding” and the spread of missiles jeopardized Washington”s means of “projecting power,” he said.

More sophisticated submarines that are more difficult to track along with other underwater weapons “could end the operational sanctuary our navy has enjoyed in the Western Pacific for the better part of six decades.”

The new “anti-access” weapons could potentially render America”s costliest vessels obsolete, with vast sums of money devoted to “wasting assets,” he said.

“Our navy has to be designed for new challenges, new technologies, and new missions — because another one of history”s hard lessons is that, when it comes to military capabilities, those who fail to adapt often fail to survive,” he said.

British embassy in Yemen shut after bombing

LONDON: Britain”s embassy in Sana”a is shut and its citizens are being advised to “keep a low profile” after its ambassador to Yemen avoided injury in a bombing, the Foreign Office said Monday.

Ambassador Timothy Torlot was not hurt in the attack but a suicide bomber died as he targeted the ambassador”s convoy, a security official in Yemen said.

“We can confirm that there was an incident in Sana”a this morning,” a Foreign Office spokesman in London said. “There was small explosion beside the British ambassador”s car. He was unhurt. No other embassy staff or British nationals were injured.

“The embassy will remain closed to the public for the time being. We advise all British nationals in Yemen to keep a low profile and remain vigilant.”

The statement added that Britain was working “urgently” with Yemeni authorities to find out what happened.

India Stoking Terrorism In Balochistan:Musharraf

Former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf has said that India is fuelling terrorism in Balochistan, and advised both the nations to avoid atomic war.
During a press conference at Seattle, Musharraf said that he is ready to play role in country’s politics if the nation demands so. He claimed that when he assumed power, the country was faced with multiple crises; however he pulled it out of all the problems and put it on the path of progress and prosperity.
He said Pakistan’s nukes are in safe hands, and al-Qaeda would never be able to overpower them.
Musharraf hailed President Obama for approving build-up in forces in Afghanista

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