United Kingdom to add 700 troops in Afghan

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday afternoon announced that the country would boost its soldiers in Afghanistan to 9,000 while explaining his government’s new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the House of Commons.

Britain will send 700 extra troops to temporarily join the 8,300 already on the ground.

They are part of 5,000strong Nato reinforcement to provide extra security for Afghanistan’s presidential election in August.

Mr Brown, who visited Afghanistan and Pakistan this week, unveiled the Af-Pak strategy which will focus on areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan where Al Qaeda and the Taliban operate.

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As swine flu spreads, India alerts airports

The Indian government raised surveillance at nine major international airports across the country to screen passengers from infected regions as the swine flu epidemic, originating in Mexico, continued to spread around the world, with new areas affected on Tuesday including Israel and New Zealand.

In Goa, the authorities were making frantic efforts to trace 500 British tourists who had come in on a charter flight after the outbreak.

Special quarantine areas would be set up at the nine airports, including those in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, where passengers would be kept segregated if needed.

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Lanka halts combat ops, airstrikes; it’s not truce

Under mounting international pressure, including from India, Sri Lanka on Monday said it would immediately stop airstrikes and the use of heavy weapons in the war zone, but President Mahinda Rajapakse made it clear that it was not a ceasefire.

“It is not a ceasefire. Freeing the people who are kept there as hostages is my duty... Till the last hostage who is there is out from LTTE hold, we will continue... We are not bothered or worried about Prabhakaran (LTTE supremo) or any other person,” Mr Rajapakse said.

India had initially interpreted the Sri Lankan announcement that the combat operations have reached their conclusion and that the forces would not use heavy calibre guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons as a “cessation of hostilities”.

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Asia on alert as swine flu spread

Governments around Asia rushed on Sunday to check the spread of a new type of swine flu that has killed up to 81 people in Mexico and infected around a dozen in the US.

Mexicans huddled in their homes while US hospitals tracked patients with flu symptoms and other countries imposed health checks at airports as the World Health Organisation warned the virus had the potential to become a pandemic.

The epidemic has snowballed into a monster headache for Mexico and has quickly become one of the biggest global health scares in years. A new pandemic would deal a major blow to a world economy already suffering its worst recession in decades.

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55 percent turnout, repolling ordered at 146 stations

Round two of the poll battle ended on Thursday with the Naxals managing to strike once again despite heavy deployment of security forces. Late on Thursday night news filtered in of five policemen being killed in a landmine blast in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

The voter turnout was an estimated 55 per cent though the Election Commission was quick to caution that it was only a projected estimate and not the final one. Nearly 140 parliamentary constituencies across 12 states sealed the fates of candidates in the fray on Thursday. The EC, battle-scarred after stage one, described Thursday’s polling as “incident free” and “satisfactory”. It also announced a re poll in 146 polling stations in Bihar and 58 in Jharkhand on April 28.

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Varun: Not afraid of going to jail again

BJP leader Varun Gandhi has said that he is not afraid of returning to jail. Mr Gandhi, while addressing a meeting before filing his nomination papers from Pilibhit on Wednesday, said that he would continue to fight for the cause of farmers and the poor.

"I will continue to fight for you honor. I am not afraid of going to jail. I am a follower of the policy of non-violen-ce and will continue to work for the humanity," he said.

Continuing in the same vein, he said, "My individual self respect is not important but the respect of the country and its people is. I will never be able to tolerate if the nation’s respect is dealt a blow."

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Girl dies at hostel, kin allege ragging

On a day when the government announced the setting up of a central agency to prevent incidents of ragging, a 19 year-old girl fell to death from the terrace of a nursing institute’s hostel in Gujarat and her family members alleged she was a victim of ragging.

The police said Ankita Vegda, a student of first year B.Sc. at the Singhi Institute of Nursing, died after she fell from the terrace of her hostel building on Monday morning.

However, the girl’s father Ganpat Vegda alleged she was a victim of ragging.

“My daughter was ragged and I believe that was the cause of her death,” Vegda told media persons.

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Devils make short work of Kings XI

Daniel Vettori at his canny best is a difficult customer to negotiate. The Kiwi left-armer gave further reason to believe that spinners will have a major role in IPL-2. Coming on to bowl after Kings XI Punjab had rattled up 67 off the first six overs, Vettori struck with his first ball and more importantly gave only one run in that over to pull things back for the Delhi Daredevils.

From a promising start Punjab stuttered to 104 in their allotted 12 overs. It was a target that looked small right from the moment Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag strode confidently to the middle.

Any shortened game suits the team chasing. If the match is truncated further and made into a 12-over-a-side contest, it can become a near hopeless situation for the team batting first. Mohali paid heavily for losing the toss.

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French Rafale is out of Indian Air Force mega-fighter race

French vendor Dassault, manufacturer of the Rafale fighter aircraft, has been knocked out of the Rs 42,000-crore “request for proposal” (RFP) process for acquisition of 126 multirole medium combat aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force, sources in the defence ministry confirmed to this newspaper on Thursday. There were a total of six vendors to whom the RFPs were issued in 2007, and now five remain in the race.

The French aircraft Rafale was eliminated from the race during the technical evaluation process, which has now been completed. The fighter aircraft trials are expected to begin within the next three months, MoD sources said. “Rafale is out of the race since it failed to meet the specific qualitative and operational requirements. The conclusion was reached on examination of several factors,” the sources added, without divulging the exact reasons. There is speculation that the cost of the aircraft could have been one of the reasons. Rafale was among the most expensive of the aircraft bidding for the contract.

The Indian Air Force had submitted its technical evaluation report to the MoD in January this year. This report was subsequently vetted by the MoD.

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Poll day threat to Mumbai

The anti-terrorism squad of the Mumbai police is processing intelligence inputs obtained through wiretaps that indicate that Kashmiri militants, who failed to impact polling in the Valley, have now decided to target Mumbai on election day.

The ATS recently procured some telephonic intercepts from Kashmir in which plans to attack polling stations in Mumbai were discussed by separatists. While the police will now take preventive action on local criminals before polling day, the ATS will be on its toes. When contacted, director-general of pol ice (state elections) Suprakash Chakravarty said, “Our anti-terror apparatus has been briefed to prevent any kind of eventuality on that day. The anti-terrorism squad officers are exclusively on standby to meet any threat perception. However, I would not like to divulge the specifics of our intelligence input at this juncture.”

Meanwhile, ATS chief K.P. Raghuvanshi remained non-committal. “We will keep extra vigil this voting day,” was all he said.

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Pinto in world’s most beautiful women list

Indian actress Freida Pinto is now being feted as a modern “Helen of Troy” by Vanity Fair magazine which is conducting a poll to find the world’s most beautiful woman. The magazine has given out a list of 19 names, out of which one will be adjudged the world’s most beautiful woman.

Although names of Hollywood superstars like Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman are missing, debutante Pinto has found a place on the list.

“Of the billions of women on this planet, only 19, we believe, could start wars. These modernday Helens of Troy come from both hemispheres and include legends and ingenues,” said the Vanity Fair magazine about it’s chosen list.

The list is a eclectic mix of personalities.

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48-hour ceasefire begins in Lanka

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday announced a 48-hour ceasefire beginning midnight amid fears that an estimated 100,000 civilians trapped in the crossfire in the northeast could be in deep danger with the troops literally breathing down their refuge in a state-declared “no fire zone”, looking for the remaining Tiger cadres and their elusive chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

A statement from the President’s office said he had ordered the armed forces “to remain defensive” during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebrations starting Monday. Government sources said the ceasefire would be in operation for 48 hours but the troops would retaliate if the Tigers fired at them.

The state-run Sunday Observer newspaper in Colombo claimed that Prabhakaran had agreed to a “rescue mission by a Western country” to evacuate the trapped civilians. Quoting diplomatic sources, the paper said the Tiger chief “has apparently agreed to a rescue mission by a Western country...

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Joint India-Japan-United States wargames April-end

Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta will leave shortly on a visit to China, even as the Indian Navy is gearing up for the Malabar naval exercises with the US and Japan to be held at the end of this month. The Malabar exercises — which will be trilateral this year — will be held off the Japanese coast, defence sources confirmed. In another development, Admiral Mehta also met visiting US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Admiral Mehta will participate in a symposium being held in the Chinese port city of Qingdao that will be on the theme of “harmonious” seas. The symposium is being organised on the occasion of the international fleet review that will be held in Qingdao. Indian naval ships from its eastern fleet will also participate in the international fleet review at Qingdao.

The visit of Navy Chief to China comes just two months after a controversy wherein the Chinese media had accused an Indian submarine of stalking a Chinese naval destroyer vessel in the Gulf of Aden in February.

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Protesters trap Thailand Prime Minister inside a beach hotel

Hundreds of protesters trapped Thai Premier Abhisit Vejja jiva inside a beach hotel for several hours on Tuesday, raising tensions ahead of a key Asian summit being held here later this week.

About 400 red-clad supporters of fugitive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra surrounded the hotel in the resort town of Pattaya where Mr Vejjajiva was holding a Cabinet meeting amid tight security, an AFP reporter said.

Mr Vejjajiva had moved the Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting to Pattaya because Mr Shinawatra loyalists have blockaded the main government offices in Bangkok for nearly two weeks to press for fresh elections. The protesters dispersed and allowed Mr Vejjajiva to leave after about three hours, but the incident further upped the ante in a long-running feud between Mr Shinawatra’s loyalists and Mr Vejjajiva’s nearly four-month-old government.

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Taliban warn of 2 attacks per week

A suicide bombing at a crowded Shia mosque south of Pakistan’s capital killed 26 people, the latest evidence of how security in the US-allied nation is crumbling well beyond the Afghan border region where Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters thrive. The violence came on Sunday as a senior Pakistani Taliban commander said his group was behind a deadly suicide bombing the night before in Islamabad and promised two more attacks per week in the country if the US does not stop missile strikes on Pakistani territory.

Sunday’s suicide bomber set off his explosives at the entrance to a mosque in Chakwal city in Punjab province, some 80 km south of Islamabad, said Nadeem Hasan Asif, a top security official in the province. The death toll from the explosion rose to 26 on Monday as at least four people died in hospitals overnight, said Chaudhry Zulfiqar, chief investigator in Chakwal. He said the police has tightened security in the city to prevent any violence during a collective funeral planned for the victims later in the day.

A little-known group believed linked to the Pakistani Taliban claimed it staged the attack. Pakistan also has a history of sectarian violence, often involving Sunni extremists targeting minority Shia Muslims.

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Blair highest paid public speaker

Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who represents the Quartet of the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia as a special envoy in West Asia, has become most expensive public speaker in the world.

Mr Blair, 55, received almost £400,000 for two half-hour speeches at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. He has earned more than £15 million for public speaking in 21 months since leaving Downing Street, according to a report in the Sunday Times.

Mr Blair, who quit as Prime Minister in June 2007, earned more than £6,000 a minute for his two speeches. Mr Tony Blair was paid £182,000 for a talk entitled, The Leader as Nation Builder in a Time of Globalisation, said Manny Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT, a telecoms company that sponsored the speech.

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Top Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam men among 57 killed in clashes

Intensifying their offensive to push the Tamil Tigers out of their last stretch of land, the Sri Lankan troops killed at least 57 rebels, including two top commanders, and captured a strategic area in Pudukudiyirippu, officials said.

Two top LTTE commanders, Gobith and Amuthab, were killed in fierce fighting. The battle in the forests near the eastern district of Ampara was fiercely fought for hours.

The LTTE had been putting up a stiff resistance to prevent the Army from taking over the village which was its last road link for bringing in supplies and logistics. Police commanders attacked a group of Tigers in Sri Lanka’s east killing 13 rebels.

The battle in the forests near eastern Ampara district was fiercely fought for hours.

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Pranab’s daughter stalked, cops alert

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter is being stalked by a person for the past few months after which her security has been enhanced by the police, sources said. Sharmishta Mukherjee has been provided with three security officers since March 9. —PTI The daughter of external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee was stalked by a person for the past few months after which her security has been enhanced by Delhi police, official sources said on Thursday.

Sharmishta Mukherjee has been provided with three personal security officers since March 9 after the Union home ministry directed the Delhi police to provide security to the well known Kathak dancer, the police sources said.

“The minister’s daughter has been provided X-category security cover after the home ministry and the intelligence bureau reviewed the threat perception,” a top Delhi police official said.

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Here’s how April Fool’s Day began

Although April Fool’s Day is not an official holiday but plenty of pranksters and joke-lovers dupe friends and loved ones throughout the day. However, no one knows exactly when or how this tradition began.

It is believed that the day coincided with the coming of spring since the time of the Ancient Romans and Celts, who celebrated a festival of mischief-making.

The first mentions of an All Fool’s Day (as it was formerly called) came in Europe in the Middle Ages, reports Live science.

According to some people, the fun-loving day can be traced back to Roman mythology, particularly the story of Ceres, Goddess of the harvest, and her daughter, Proserpina. However, the most widespread theory of the origin of the day is the switch from the old Julian to the Gregorian calendar in the late 16th century.

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Mehsud threat to White House

Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, claiming responsibility for Monday’s terror attack on the police academy in Lahore, on Tuesday threatened to launch an “amazing” strike on Washington, and to blow up the White House, in retaliation for a series of attacks by US military drones in Pakistan’s tribal areas where his men hold sway.

Mehsud, Pakistan’s most wanted man who is also believed to have engineered the December 27, 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, has a US bounty of $5 million on his head. Pakistan’s intelligence agencies warned on Tuesday that he might be planning more strikes within Pakistan, with Islamabad and Karachi as his prime targets. He had earlier demanded that the Islamabad government withdraw its troops from tribal areas and force the US to call off its drone attacks in the North-West Frontier Province.

Mehsud told Peshawar-based Dewa Radio on Tuesday: “The next attack will amaze the world. It will be an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world. We will target the White House and bring it down.”

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