Thursday, May 7, 2009

N Korea preparing for more nuclear tests: Reports

Seoul, May 7: Days after threatening to conduct another nuclear test, heightened activity has been reported from the nuclear test site in North Korea as per a media report released on Thursday, May 6.

South Korea's mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the South Korean authorities have detected 'brisk' activities of personnel and vehicle movements at the North's nuclear site in the northeastern county of Kilju.

The paper quoted an unnamed government source saying that N Korea is preparing for a Nuke test. But, it did not state how the counrty obtained the intelligence.

However, the South Korea's Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry and the National Intelligence Service, the country's main spy agency said they cannot confirm the report.

Another singer slashed on 'Idol,' leaving 3

LOS ANGELES -"American Idol" finalist Allison Iraheta has a reason to cry.
The flame-haired 17-year-old high school student from Los Angeles, who crooned Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby" for her rock performance this week, was revealed Wednesday to have received the fewest viewer votes, leaving three singers in the popular Fox singing competition.
Iraheta seemed to take her dismissal in stride, belting out an energized "Cry Baby" reprise then razzing the last three dudes standing — Kris Allen, Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert. Throughout the competition, judge Simon Cowell chided Iraheta for not showing off more of her personality, but she finally lashed back at the acerbic British judge on Tuesday.
"He was asking for it," she said.
Before the results were revealed, the final four were joined by this week's mentor, former Guns 'N Roses guitarist Slash, for a frantic rendition of Alice Cooper's "School's Out." Also taking the "Idol" stage — for the first time ever! — was judge Paula Abdul in a smokey pre-taped performance of her new single, "I'm Just Here for the Music."
Tuesday night's pre-show drama didn't seem to linger during the lead-up to Iraheta's elimination. The behemoth "Idol" logo which toppled over was back — and glowing — in place above the audience. And that moving staircase was also operational Wednesday after a crew member was sent to the hospital following a reported 20-foot fall from the top Tuesday.
However, Seacrest still seemed a little shaken up following all of the tumultuous tumbling, especially after No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani strutted down the steps, behind the judges' table and through the crowd while belting out "I'm Just a Girl" for an elimination episode performance. Seacrest joked she was making him nervous running around the stage.
"It's been a high-risk place this week," he said.
The finalists left in contest are Lambert, a 27-year-old theater actor from San Diego; Gokey, a 29-year-old church music director from Milwaukee; and Allen, a 23-year-old college student from Conway, Ark.
This week, the three singers will travel to their hometowns before performing two songs next week: one of their choosing, another from the show's judges.
The next "Idol" will be crowned May 20.

Millions of kids begin returning to Mexico schools

SAN MIGUEL TOPILEJO, Mexico -As if marshaling for war, Mexico's government mobilized thousands of education officials and parents across the country to swiftly disinfect schools and monitor millions of returning students for signs of swine flu.
High schools and universities open Thursday after a two-week closure intended to curb the spread of the virus. Younger children were ordered back to class on Monday.
Secretary of Public Education Alonso Lujambio called on Mexicans to show "strength of spirit," trying to assuage worries that it's too early to reopen schools after the flu outbreak that killed 42 people in Mexico and sickened more than 1,100.
Parents expressed relief that their children, shuttered too long in homes, could return to class. But they also worried that the virus could surge back once 40 million young people gather in groups again.
"My 17-year-old daughter is afraid. She knows she must go back but doesn't want to," said Silvia Mendez as she led her 4-year-old son, Enrique, down a narrow street in San Miguel Topilejo, a town perched in forested mountains near the capital.
Mendez and her son wore masks as they walked to the tiny roasted chicken restaurant she owns. Enrique spoke adoringly of his teacher and seemed impatient to get back to kindergarten.
Working parents have struggled to provide child care during the shutdown. It forced many to stay home from work, bring their youngsters to their jobs, or leave them at home.
Isabel Garcia had to leave her 11-year-old son, Charlie, behind while she sold vegetables below a red-domed church in San Miguel Topilejo's central plaza.
"I'm nervous about him going back to school on Monday. But he will wear a mask and I have instructed him to stay away from any children who appear sick," Garcia said as customers squeezed past her stall, a colorful tableau of radishes, carrots, green onions and other fresh produce.
This swine flu seems to have a long incubation period — five to seven days before people notice symptoms, according to Dr. Marc-Alain Widdowson, a medical epidemiologist from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now tracking the flu in Mexico City. And that means the virus can keep being spread by people who won't know to stay home.
Government-mandated "filter" teams, composed of parent volunteers and school officials, will check the returning students for any respiratory ailments.
"If the least suspicion exists, the boy or girl can't remain and the Health Department will be notified," Cecilia Landerreche Gomez Morin, director-general of Mexico's Family Welfare Agency, announced Wednesday.
The government also created an online manual, "What to do to restart classes without risk?"
It calls for parents and school employees to clean classrooms, cafeterias and other areas with water, soap and chlorine, and to provide running water for hand-washing.
Each school, Mexican officials said, must be cleaned and inspected this week. Complicating the task: Many schools are primitive buildings with dirt floors and lack proper bathrooms. It was unclear how students attending those schools, especially in outlying regions of the country, could adhere to the government's strict sanitary conditions.
The government promised detergent, chlorine, trash bags, anti-bacterial soap or antiseptic gel and face masks to state governments for delivery to public schools. But some local districts apparently didn't get the word.
Guillermo Narro Garza, acting secretary of education for Ciudad Juarez, along the border with Texas, said only chlorine would be used — and that parents have to supply it.
"We're trying to follow what's happening through newspapers and radio," said an administrator of a school in San Miguel Topilejo.
Mexico's public education department said students must complete the yearly requirement of 800 hours in class, but did not say if the term would be extended because of the shutdown.
U.S. health officials are no longer recommending that schools close because of suspected swine flu cases since the virus has turned out to be milder than initially feared. But many U.S. schools have done so anyway, including the school of the Texas teacher who just died.
In a tentative first step toward normalcy, Mexicans returned to work Wednesday after a five-day shutdown which the government said reduced the spread of the virus.
The capital's health secretary announced later that all places of business — including sports arenas, dance halls, movie theaters and restaurants — will be allowed to operate Thursday.
But establishments must follow government-ordered hygiene rules including screening for any sick people and making surgical masks mandatory for employees and customers alike.
Deaths have slowed as the country mobilized an aggressive public health response to the epidemic that has sickened thousands in 24 countries. Sweden and Poland were the latest countries to confirm swine flu cases, both in women who had recently visited the U.S.
The fear of contagion was so great that even impoverished Haiti refused to accept a Mexican navy ship carrying 77 tons of rice, fertilizer and emergency food kits, said Mexico's ambassador, Zadalinda Gonzalez y Reynero.
In San Diego, Calif., the U.S. Navy canceled the deployment of the USS Dubuque, an amphibious transport ship, after a crew member was confirmed to have swine flu. About 50 others were suspected cases, and all crew members were being treated with antiviral drugs.
In Washington, CDC officials said they identified genetic characteristics of the virus and were in position to produce a vaccine if one is needed. Dr. Dennis Carroll, a special adviser on pandemics with the U.S. Agency for International Development, said investments to stave off an avian flu epidemic aided the quick swine flu response.
Canada, meanwhile, said researchers at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, genetically sequenced three samples of the virus from Mexico and Canada, a breakthrough they hope will answer questions about how it spreads and mutates.

Obama applauds Afghan and Pakistan cooperation

WASHINGTON -President Barack Obama is applauding Pakistan and Afghanistan for their commitment to helping the U.S. fight terrorists holed up in their territory, but he also is cautioning that the path to success is slow and unsure.
"The road ahead will be difficult," Obama said Wednesday after a series of meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that yielded few announced new commitments. "There will be more violence, and there will be setbacks."
Obama added, "The United States has made a lasting commitment to defeat al-Qaida, but also to support the democratically elected sovereign governments of both Pakistan and Afghanistan. That commitment will not waver, and that support will be sustained."
Obama's national security adviser, Gen. Jim Jones, told reporters later that Obama was clear in his support for Zardari, who has come under heavy U.S. criticism for doing too little to combat a Taliban insurgency. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, for example, told Congress last week that Pakistan was "abdicating" to the Taliban extremists.
"The president pledged to do whatever we could, to do what we can as quickly as possible to help the Pakistani government, and said this type of aid would not just be restricted to military," Jones said. "Miracles will not happen, so this won't happen quickly. But with a common focus, we can make strides hopefully in the near future."
Wednesday's meetings, which began at the State Department and then moved to the White House, had the added complication of reports that U.S. airstrikes on Sunday had killed dozens of civilians in western Afghanistan. The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan suggested that the Taliban might be to blame, but Obama and Clinton felt compelled to respond sympathetically.
Obama expressed U.S. regret, promising to "make every effort" to avoid further tragedies as allied forces press the fight against a rising Taliban insurgency.
Obama also used the occasion to laud "unprecedented cooperation" between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which share a long, poorly demarcated and porous border.
"Along the border, where insurgents often move freely, we must work together with a renewed sense of partnership to share intelligence and to coordinate our efforts to isolate, target and take out our common enemy," Obama said in a statement delivered at the White House with Karzai and Zardari at his side.
Obama took no questions from reporters and neither of the other leaders spoke. Obama met separately with Karzai and Zardari, followed by a three-way session.
The latest report of Afghan civilian casualties came at an especially awkward time for the administration, which is stepping up its military campaign inside Afghanistan while also seeking to emphasize the importance of nonmilitary efforts to stabilize the country. The administration has pledged, for example, a major increase in civilian expertise in farming and other specialties.
Obama's strategy, unveiled in late March, already is threatened by setbacks to his goal of strengthening a shaky Pakistani government, eliminating al-Qaida and Taliban sanctuaries on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border and fighting Afghan government corruption. Claims of U.S. culpability for civilian deaths in Afghanistan are an added burden.
Jones told reporters that the president began his meeting with Karzai by addressing the reported civilian deaths Sunday. Jones said Obama commented "with great sympathy" and expressed regret for the loss of innocent life. Earlier, before her meetings with Karzai and Zardari at the State Department, Clinton said the U.S. "deeply, deeply" regrets the loss of civilian lives.
Both Obama and Clinton stopped short of accepting U.S. blame for the deaths.
Obama told Karzai that investigations "will be pursued aggressively with full intent to discover what in fact did happen, how it happened and how we can make sure that things like that do not happen again. And it was clear that President Karzai was moved by that ... and he thanked the president for starting off the meeting with that expression of condolence."
Karzai did not ask that U.S. airstrikes be suspended or reduced in intensity pending the outcome of the investigation, Jones said.
Nor did Zardari raise an equally sensitive topic on his side of the border — the use of U.S. Predator aircraft to attack extremist targets, Jones said. Pakistanis have strongly protested those attacks, saying they have killed innocent civilians.
In Afghanistan, the U.S. forces commander said it wasn't a certainty that Sunday's deaths were a result of U.S. military action. Gen. David McKiernan said American forces came to the aid of Afghans who may have been ambushed by the Taliban. He said the Taliban beheaded three civilians, perhaps to lure police.
"We have some other information that leads us to distinctly different conclusions about the cause of the civilian casualties," McKiernan said. He would not elaborate.
Karzai, whose public criticism of U.S. airstrikes has grown increasingly indignant, thanked Clinton politely for her concern.
"We appreciate that," Karzai said.
In his remarks at the White House, Obama emphasized the progress he said was achieved in the Washington meetings.
"We have advanced unprecedented cooperation," Obama declared. "We will work for the day when our nations are linked not by a common enemy but by a shared peace and prosperity."
Veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke, the administration's point man for Afghanistan and Pakistan and a participant in the meetings, was upbeat in brief remarks after Obama summarized the day's talks. "It was a day that exceeded our expectations," Holbrooke said. "We turned a corner" in improving coordination with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The stakes couldn't be higher, Obama said.
"We have learned time and again that our security is shared," the president said. "It is a lesson that we learned most painfully on 9/11, and it is a lesson that we will not forget."

Associated Press writers Anne Gearan, Jennifer Loven and Ben Feller contributed to this report.

Taliban trap civilians in Pakistani war zone

MINGORA, Pakistan -Taliban militants blocked roads with rocks and trees, preventing terrified civilians from fleeing a Pakistani valley Thursday as the army stepped up a ground and air assault on the guerrillas that has been applauded by the U.S., witnesses said.
Destabilizing violence is flaring in Pakistan just as its embattled president is appealing in Washington for more help to reverse the extension of Taliban-held territory to within 60 miles (100 kilometers) of the capital. The U.S. is particularly concerned by the unrest because its troops are fighting an increasingly virulent insurgency in Afghanistan fed from militant havens in Pakistan's lawless border area.
Officials are bracing for a mass exodus from the Swat Valley, a former tourist destination where fighting has resumed after the breakdown of a controversial peace deal earlier this week. The military claimed to have killed more than 80 militants in the region on Wednesday. There has been no official word on civilian casualties.
More than 500,000 Pakistanis driven out by fighting in other regions of the northwest are already living in makeshift camps or with relatives, adding a growing humanitarian crisis to the country's daunting security, economic and political problems.
With Taliban militants roaming the streets of Mingora, Swat's main town, on Thursday and troops launching artillery and airstrikes on militant targets from helicopter, many residents hunkered down in their homes.
The army announced it was relaxing its blanket curfew in the area, but some of those who tried to make a swift exit said militants blocked their way.
Ayaz Khan, a 39-year-old from the Kanju area of Swat, said he loaded his family into his car early Thursday but that rocks, boulders and tree trunks has been laid across the roads, forcing him to turn back.
"I am helpless, frustrated and worried for my family," he told an Associated Press reporter by telephone from his home. He appealed to authorities to clear the barriers and let people move to safety.
A health worker living in Mingora said militants had warned her to stay in her home.
"During the whole of last night, I heard firing, and again this morning," said the woman, who would only give her first name, Maryam, for fear she could be targeted for speaking with a reporter.
"I don't know when some weapon will hit our home and kill us," she said.
Washington has said it wants to see a sustained operation in Swat and surrounding districts, mindful of earlier, inconclusive offensives elsewhere in the Afghan border region. Eight years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the area remains a haven for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters blamed for spiraling violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But uprooting the insurgents from the valley will mean civilian casualties, property damage and massive disruption which could sap the resolve of the government, which is struggling to convince the nuclear-armed Muslim nation that fighting the militants is in its interests as well as those of the U.S.
President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met Wednesday in Washington to explore ways to boost the country's antiterror fight, seen by many as the most pressing foreign policy issue facing the U.S. administration.
"Pakistan's democracy will deliver," Zardari said in Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the military offensive against the Taliban was a positive sign.
"I'm actually quite impressed by the actions the Pakistani government is now taking," she said. "I think that action was called for, and action has been forthcoming."
The Swat accord began unraveling last month when Taliban fighters moved from the valley into the nearby district of Buner, even closer to Islamabad, prompting an operation that the military says has killed more than 150 militants but has yet to drive them out.
The Swat Taliban are estimated to have up to 7,000 fighters — many with training and battle experience — equipped with rocket-propelled grenades, explosives and automatic weapons. They are up against some 15,000 troops who until recent days had been confined to their barracks under the peace deal.

Matthew Lee in Washington and an AP reporter in Mingora who was not identified for security reasons contributed to this report.

Tamils should get separate Eelam in Lanka: MK

Chennai, May 7: Now the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) supremo and the Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi joined the bandwagon of leaders demanding separate 'Eelam' for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

On Wednesday, May 6 to match his competing rivals Karunanidhi said that he would make all efforts for the creation of a separate homeland for Tamils in the island nations. "We have ensured a fair quantity of relief for Sri Lankan Tamils. As a next step, they should get Eelam and I assumed responsibilities of making all efforts to ensure that 'Eelam' is created", he said in an appeal to DMK workers.

Taking a dramatic U-turn opposition party AIADMK's Jayalalithaa had earlier pitched for a separate homeland for Tamils in Lanka and assured to send Indian army to Sri Lanka to create 'Eelam' if she was voted to power.

Manipur Tired of Militancy

People of Imphal were angered by the bomb attack on the residence of an Executive Engineer in Manipur. The protest was organised under the aegis of Model Club, was held at Chingmakha Community Hall in Imphal.

Unidentified persons attacked the residence of L. Gourakishore, an Executive Engineer in Minor Irrigation Department.


Last year too, this engineer’s house was attacked twice by bombs.

People of Imphal are agitated that in spite of the tight security, militants continue lobbing grenades and attacking people when their monetary demands are not met.

The explosions at the residence of Gourakishore has created fear about personal safety among engineers who engaged in building the infrastructure in the State.

“We are supposed to implement new projects and plan development works. We are keen to take up new technologies, but very frankly we are unable to do so. All the time we are concerned about our safety .We often hear that our staff have been threatened at gunpoint, which creates tension ” said L. Gourakishore Singh, Executive Engineer, Manipur.

“We are even scared to go out. We fear that if any unknown person enters the house, something might happen. We are always tensed,” said Thokchom Kamla Devi, wife of engineer.

Though security forces have been conducting regular combing operations to check and prevent such incidents in the state, engineers are soft targets and are attacked by militants in Manipur when their extortion demands are not met.

People of the state are coming out openly against such attacks and they want an end to such activities.

“We are protesting against the gun culture in the state and we want an end to this. Throwing of bombs has become very common in all parts of the state. We are really unhappy and do not want this to happen,” said S. Shyama Devi, local resident of Manipur.

“The public has suffered a lot in the past. There is a limit to our patience A time will come when the public might react mot in a peaceful manner but in a violent way,” said L. Sangita Devi, local resident in Manipur.

Delhi's turn in Indian election

Polling is under way in the fourth stage of India's marathon five phase general election with the capital, Delhi, one of the key battlegrounds.

Millions of voters in 85 constituencies across seven states and in Delhi are casting ballots on Thursday.

Neither the ruling Congress nor main opposition BJP are expected to win outright and other parties could play a key role after counting on 16 May.

The fourth phase voting has seen no major incidents of violence so far.

However, clashes in West Bengal have left six people injured.

Early turnout in most of the areas voting was reported to be fairly strong.

Shutdown

Delhi has all seven seats up for grabs on Thursday. Congress won six of them last time.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in the suburb of Gurgaon says that many of the bankers and IT staff who work there have not registered to vote, but villagers queued up early at booths.

Initial reports from Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, were of deserted streets amid an election boycott call by separatists who argue that the vote legitimises Indian rule.

The call was generally being heeded, although the BBC's Altaf Hussain said that at one polling booth in the Repora area voting was very brisk and the atmosphere almost festive.

There had been a two-day shutdown ahead of the vote in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.

However, in state elections in Jammu and Kashmir last year many voters defied a boycott call and cast ballots in unexpectedly large numbers.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did well in Rajasthan in 2004's general election, winning 21 of the 25 seats but analysts say that in a tight battle nationwide the switch of even a few seats could be crucial in the coalition talks that are sure to follow the election.
The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in the suburb of Gurgaon says that many of the bankers and IT staff who work there have not registered to vote, but villagers queued up early at booths.

Initial reports from Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, were of deserted streets amid an election boycott call by separatists who argue that the vote legitimises Indian rule.

The call was generally being heeded, although the BBC's Altaf Hussain said that at one polling booth in the Repora area voting was very brisk and the atmosphere almost festive.

There had been a two-day shutdown ahead of the vote in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.

However, in state elections in Jammu and Kashmir last year many voters defied a boycott call and cast ballots in unexpectedly large numbers.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did well in Rajasthan in 2004's general election, winning 21 of the 25 seats but analysts say that in a tight battle nationwide the switch of even a few seats could be crucial in the coalition talks that are sure to follow the election.

Pakistan pounds Taleban positions

Pakistani helicopter gunships and warplanes have been bombing suspected Taleban militants in the north-western Swat Valley, the military says.

Thousands of civilians continue to flee the area, with fighting especially heavy in the town of Mingora.

A son of the cleric who brokered a deal aimed at ending clashes is reported killed in shelling in a nearby area.

On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama vowed to "defeat al-Qaeda" and its allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He was speaking after talks in Washington with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

'Mortar'

Cleric Sufi Mohammed acted as a mediator between the government and Taleban forces in the north-west.


See a map of the region

He organised a recent peace deal in the Swat valley which has now broken down amid heavy fighting.

Family members say that Kiffayatullah was killed in the Daro area of Lower Dir late on Wednesday night.

"My brother was in his house when a mortar fell on it and he was killed," another son, Zia ul-Islam, told the BBC.

Sufi Mohammed's son-in-law was also injured in the attack.

There has been no word from the military or the Taleban in relation to the death.

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says that the death of Kiffayatullah is likely to exacerbate an already tense situation in the north-west.