Ship with 600 migrants sinks off Libya

Aid officials were still trying to confirm the fate of those people after the vessel broke apart on Friday in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, UNHCR spokeswoman Laura Boldrini said.

Witnesses who left the Libyan capital on another boat shortly afterward reported seeing remnants of the sunken ship and the bodies of some passengers floating in the sea. Other witnesses saw passengers swimming to shore but it was unclear how many survived, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Its staff on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa interviewed a Somali woman who said she lost her four-month-old baby in the sinking. The woman swam to shore and managed to board another boat heading to Italy, the IOM said in a statement on Monday.

At least three other boats that left Libya in late March have disappeared, with hundreds feared dead, Boldrini said.

Tunisia Protesters Call for Change

Breaking News TUNIS: More demonstrations are taking place in Tunisia amid reports of police crackdowns on allies of the country’s ousted president.

Police fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters at an anti-government demonstration outside Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi’s offices in Tunis.

Hundreds of protesters spent the night camped out in front of the building calling for Ghannouchi to resign following the removal of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14.

It comes after two high-ranking officials were reported to have been placed under house arrest.

And the head of a well-known private TV station is said to have been detained for allegedly trying to slow down the country’s move toward democracy.

State news agency reported that Larbi Nasri, the president of a TV station, was arrested along with his son on charges of high treason and plotting against state security.

It also reported that former Ben Ali advisers Abdallah Kallel and Abdelaziz Ben Dhia have been placed under house arrest, with police looking for a third man, Abdelwaheb Abdallah.

And the crowds gathering on a daily basis in the capital Tunis seem set on claiming more scalps from the interim government, ahead of planned elections within six months.

NATO says six troops shot dead in east Afghanistan

KABUL: Six NATO troops were shot dead by a man wearing an Afghan border police uniform during a training exercise in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the coalition said, the worst apparent “rogue” shooting in more than a year.

The incident appeared to be the latest in a string of recent attacks by renegade police and soldiers, underlining the pressure on NATO-led troops as they try to train Afghan forces rapidly to allow the handover of security responsibility from next year.

However, NATO and Afghan officials were unable to confirm whether the person who carried out the shooting was actually a member of the border police or if it was an insurgent who had infiltrated the Afghan security forces.

Afghan authorities said last year they were tightening vetting procedures for the police and army after a similar incident when a renegade soldier

Pakistan Rejects US Demand to Expand Drone Operations

News Trends: The United States is seeking to expand the areas inside Pakistan where Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drones can operate.

Pakistan, however, rejected the request and instead agreed to more modest measures, including an expanded CIA presence in Quetta. You expect us to open the skies for anything that you can fly, the paper quotes a high-ranking Pakistani intelligence official as saying. In which country can you do that?Citing unnamed US and Pakistani officials, the newspaper said US officials were eyeing areas surrounding the Pakistani city of Quetta, where the Taliban leadership is believed to be hiding. But the request also seeks to expand the boundaries for drone strikes in the tribal areas, the report said. On Friday, a US drone attack destroyed a vehicle in Pakistan’s tribal district of North Waziristan, killing at least three suspected militants, Pakistani security officials said. The United States considers Pakistan’s tribal belt an Al-Qaeda headquarters and the most dangerous place on Earth, and has reportedly criticised Pakistan’s failure so far to launch a major ground offensive in North Waziristan. Friday’s drone strike comes three days after a similar attack killed at least 15 militants and destroyed a training centre north of Miranshah.More than 220 people have been killed in Pakistan in over 40 strikes since September 3.

US seeks ‘expansion’ of drone operations in Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The United States is seeking to expand the areas inside Pakistan where Central Intelligence Agency drones can operate, according to The Washington Post.

Citing unnamed US and Pakistani officials, the newspaper said US officials were eyeing areas surrounding the Pakistani city of Quetta, where the Taliban leadership is believed to be hiding.

But the request also seeks to expand the boundaries for drone strikes in the tribal areas, the report said.

On Friday a US drone attack destroyed a vehicle in Pakistan’s tribal district of North Waziristan, killing at least three suspected militants, Pakistani security officials said.

The United States considers Pakistan’s tribal belt an Al-Qaeda headquarters and the most dangerous place on Earth, and has reportedly criticised Pakistan’s failure so far to launch a major ground offensive in North

Indian media say Obama visit hitting right notes

MUMBAI: Indian media on Sunday hailed U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to ease export controls and support India’s membership of powerful nuclear groups, saying he had set the right tone on a visit aimed at winning U.S. jobs.

Obama’s Democrats lost control on the U.S. House of Representatives in congressional elections last Tuesday as voters punished the party for high U.S. unemployment after a campaign marked by criticism of China and outsourcing hubs like India.

But Indian newspapers noted Obama had rejected the view that Indian outsourcers poached American jobs, and that he had satisfied Indian demands for lifting of export controls imposed after India’s 1998 nuclear tests.

“Delhi feels Obama’s first words in India hit the right notes,” read a frontpage headline in The Hindu newspaper which said Indian officials were not perturbed at Obama not

No information of further plane bombs–UK minister

LONDON: Interior minister Theresa May said on Monday British officials were not aware of any further attempts to put bombs on planes after two devices were discovered on Friday on cargo flights in Britain and Dubai.

“At this stage we have no information to suggest that another attack of a similar nature by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is imminent,” May told parliament.

“But this organisation is very active. It continues to plan other attacks in the region, notably against Saudi Arabia.

“We therefore work on the assumption that this organization will wish to continue to find ways of also attacking targets further afield.”

May also said Britain would extend a ban on unaccompanied air freight from Yemen to Somalia. She also announced that air passengers would be banned from carrying toner cartridges over 500 grams in their hand luggage on flights

Afghan governor says district captured from Taliban

KABUL: An Afghan governor said Monday that security forces had recaptured a remote southern district that had been overrun by Taliban guerrillas.

Rebels stormed Khogyani district in the troubled province of Ghazni late Sunday, seizing the local administration, provincial governor Musa Khan Akbarzada told reporters.

“This morning our national security forces — police, army and intelligence — mobilised and took back the control of the district,” he said in Ghazni, the provincial capital.

“Our security forces are stationed in the district. They are in control now,” he said, declining to give further details.

He said Afghan officials were investigating possible casualties among the local administrators and a small police contingent based in the district.

The Taliban are waging a war against President Hamid Karzai’s Western-backed administration

Nasrallah calls for boycott of UN tribunal on Hariri killing

BEIRUT: The leader of Hezbollah called on Thursday on all Lebanese to boycott the United Nations (UN) tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of a former prime minister, claiming all information gathered by the team was being sent to Israel.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah spoke on Thursday, a day after a crowd of women attacked two UN investigators and a Lebanese interpreter as they gathered evidence at a private gynaecology clinic in Beirut.

The women scuffled with investigators and stole several items from them.

The attack underscored the charged emotions behind the tribunal, which Hezbollah says is biased.

Nasrallah did not address the violence at the clinic or whether Hezbollah had asked the crowd to gather, but he confirmed that the wives and relatives of Hezbollah commanders and officials were among the clinic’s patients.

Nasrallah said

No end to CWG mishaps: Scoreboard collapses

There seems to be no end to Commonwealth Games-related mishaps. After a brief lull, notoriety is back to haunt the sporting event when a 25-feet-high electronic scoreboard at the rugby stadium in Delhi University collapsed. The video matrix LED screen scoreboard was installed at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. No one was injured in the mishap.
The incident comes barely four days before matches begin at the venue. The rugby stadium will host matches from October 11 onwards.
The scoreboard collapsed when some finishing touches were being given to the peripheral areas of the venue. Soon after the collapse, several paramilitary officials were rushed to the site. Security personnel blocked the entrance to the venue and cordoned off the area soon after the collapse. Construction work at the stadium was completed only a day ago. Barely seven days ago, during a safety check, it was found that the scoreboard was not functional due to shortage of direct power supply required to check the equipment. Also, the Delhi Police was able to lock down the venue only a day ago, after the stadium was handed over to them.

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