Somali pirates hijack tanker in Indian Ocean

MOGADISHU: Somali pirates have hijacked a tanker nearly 600 nautical miles off Somalia, pirates and the European Union anti-piracy taskforce said on Saturday.

The taskforce, EU Navfor, said gunmen attacked the MV Polar, a 72,825 tonne Panama-flagged tanker with 24 crew members, overnight in the Somali basin.

The crew includes one Romanian, three Greeks, four Montenegrins and 16 Filipinos.

The tanker’s owner confirmed pirates were now in control of the vessel, EU Navfor said.

Somalia has lacked an effective central government for almost two decades and is awash with weapons. The mayhem on land has allowed piracy to boom in the strategic waterways off its shores linking Europe to Asia and Africa. AGENCIES

India, Japan PMs confirm trade pact, discuss nuclear deal

India and Japan’s premiers Monday said they had broadly agreed on a pact to step up trade between the population giant and the high-tech nation but needed time for a deal on civilian nuclear cooperation.

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Naoto Kan also stressed the warm ties linking two of Asia’s biggest democracies, at a time of high diplomatic tensions between Japan and communist-ruled China.

Kan said after talks with Singh, who was on a three-day Tokyo visit, that “through this meeting, we were able to confirm and be confident about progress in the strategic global partnership between Japan and India”.

The two leaders declared the completion of talks on a free trade and investment pact, with a formal signing expected in coming months, under which tariffs on 94 percent of trade would be phased out within a

Obama’s plan to visit Pakistan holds greats significance: Holbrooke

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama’s pledge to visit Pakistan and invite President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington is vitally important in terms of strengthening the strategic partnership between the two nations, US special envoy for the region Ambassador Richard Holbrooke told a group of Pakistani journalists Thursday.

Holbrooke spoke in the backdrop of a high point in US-Pakistan relations on Wednesday when during the top level Pakistani delegation’s visit for strategic dialogue, President Obama received the Pakistani delegation at the White House.

The special US envoy said President Obama reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to Pakistan’s economic and democratic development and committed to visit Pakistan in 2011.

The Obama Administration is helping both civilian government and the Pakistani army to grapple with flood recovery challenge, Holbrooke

US talks with Pakistan over new military assistance

WASHINGTON: The United States said Tuesday it was in talks with Pakistan about new military assistance as part of a partnership against Islamic extremism, in a step sure to trigger unease in India.

The United States and Pakistan on Wednesday open their latest “strategic dialogue,” an initiative by President Barack Obama’s administration to show Pakistan’s skeptical public it is ready to take up its concerns.

Frank Ruggiero, the US deputy special representative on Pakistan and Afghanistan, said the Pentagon and the Pakistani military have been talking about a framework for security assistance.

“We specifically worked with the Pakistanis over the summer to identify what would be the types of military equipment and so on,” Ruggiero told reporters. “That will be a topic of discussion at the strategic dialogue.”

The US Congress last year approved a

Iran Guards fire five missiles: TV

TEHRAN: Iran”s elite Revolutionary Guards fired five missiles on Sunday as part of an ongoing military drill in the strategic Strait of Hormuz oil route, state television reported.

The shore-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles struck at a single target simultaneously, the report said without offering further details.

The Guards have been conducting a military drill since Thursday in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, the narrow strategically located waterway through which 40 percent of world”s seaborne oil supplies pass.

The missile programme of Iran, which boasts of having projectiles that can hit targets in arch-foe Israel, has raised concerns in the West which is already at loggerheads with Tehran over its controversial nuclear project.

New warnings for tourists in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: Australia and Britain on Thursday warned tourists of the increased risk of militant attacks in New Delhi, joining Canada and the US, which have urged foreigners to avoid parts of the Indian capital.

The United States said Wednesday it had information of a “specific” threat to half-a-dozen of the city”s shopping areas and markets which it described as “especially attractive targets.”

The Canadian government said on its website that an attack could be carried out “in the following days or weeks in market areas” of Delhi frequented by foreigners, specifically in the Chandni Chowk area in Old Delhi.

Following this new advice, the Australian High Commission in New Delhi said Thursday it “strongly” advised Australians “to minimise their presence in market areas of New Delhi.”

The advisories were upgrades to previous general advice warning of attacks on prominent business and tourist locations such as Western-owned hotels.

A statement from the British High Commission on Thursday warned that “there are increased indications that terrorists are planning attacks in New Delhi.”

In February, a bomb ripped through a crowded restaurant popular with travellers in the western city of Pune, killing 16 people, including five foreigners.

It was first major incident since the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 10 Islamist gunmen launched an assault on multiple targets in India”s financial capital, killing 166 people.

The last major attack in New Delhi was a series of bomb blasts in busy, upmarket shopping areas in September 2008 that killed 22 people and wounded 100 more.

Iran begins war games in Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN: Iran”s state television says the country”s elite Revolutionary Guard has started large-scale war games in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The Thursday report says naval, air and ground units from the Guard will participate in the three-day games codenamed “The Great Prophet.””

Iran annually holds military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which some 40 percent of the world”s oil and energy supplies pass through, to show off its military capabilities.

This year”s war games, however, could heighten tension at a time when the West is at a deepening standoff with Iran over its nuclear program. The West suspects the program conceals a nuclear arm production drive, a charge that Iran denies.

US base to remain in Kyrgyzstan: Otunbayeva

BISHKEK: A US airbase in Kyrgyzstan vital to the NATO campaign in Afghanistan will remain open, the newly-appointed interim leader of the strategic ex-Soviet republic, Roza Otunbayeva, said here Thursday.

“Nothing will be changed” regarding the agreement between Kyrgyzstan and the United States on the presence and operations of the Manas airbase on the outskirts of Bishkek, Otunbayeva said at a press conference.

Rehman Malik Confirms Hakeemullah’s Death

Karachi, Pakistan News: Interior Minister Rehman Malik has confirmed the, Broke the other day, regarding the death of Hakeemullah Mehsud today.
The minister said that Hakeemullah has reached his logical end. He ruled out any plans vis-a-vis talks with the Taliban, saying that talks could be initiated if they lay down arms and surrender. Talking to media after attending the AD&SJ court in Peshawar, Rehman said that he also has the news about the death of Qari Hussain. He noted, “Fazaullah is not in our custody, nor anything has been concealed from media”. Replying to a question, the minister said that he respected the judiciary, but parried the question regarding his cases. He assured that targeted killing would not occur in Karachi any more.

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Rehman Malik Confirms Hakeemullah’s Death was first posted on February 10, 2010 at 3:06 pm.

160 Bodies Recovered From Afghan Avalanche Site

KABUL : A total of 160 bodies have been recovered from an area hit by avalanches in a treacherous mountain pass in northern Afghanistan, a provincial governor said on Wednesday.

“Since yesterday, we have recovered a total of 160 bodies,” Abdul Basir Salangi, governor of Parwan province, where the Salang Pass is located.

He said 84 people have been injured in the avalanches that struck the busy road connecting the capital Kabul to the north of the country Monday, burying people in vehicles on the strategic pass.

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160 Bodies Recovered From Afghan Avalanche Site was first posted on February 10, 2010 at 4:29 pm.