5 Americans arrested for terror ask for special trial
Wednesday March 10, 2010: A Pakistani court on Wednesday directed police to produce the confessional statements of five American Muslims arrested for alleged terror links and accepted a request from the accused to hold their trial within a jail due to security reasons.
Ramy Zamzam, 22, Waqar Hussain Khan, 22, Ahmed Abdullah Minni, 20, Iman Hasan Yemer, 17 and Omar Farooq, 24, have been booked for planning terror attacks in Pakistan and for planning to travel to Afghanistan to fight US-led forces.
They were arrested from Sargodha in Punjab province in December last year.
An anti-terrorism court in Sargodha which is conducting the trial of the Americans today directed police to submit their confessional statement during the next hearing on March 17.
"The police challan (chargesheet) is incomplete," the judge observed.
The judge further directed police to make arrangement for court proceedings in Sargodha jail after accepting a request from the Americans that their trial should be conducted in the prison for security reasons.
The accused are currently being held in Sargodha jail. The judge also directed prison authorities to allow the accused to meet their lawyers whenever they wished to do so.
Russia sees over USD 10 bln in deals with India
Moscow, March 10, 2010: Russia plans to sign over $10 billion worth of deals with India during the visit of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin later this week, Putin's deputy, Sergei Sobyanin, told Reuters in an interview.
The deals will range from contracts for the joint design of a fifth-generation fighter jet and production of multi-purpose transport planes to agreements to supply Russian mineral fertilisers and build new nuclear reactors.
"I believe the overall volume of trade and economic agreements will exceed $10 billion," Sobyanin, who chairs the Russian-Indian inter-government commission, said in comments e-mailed to Reuters on Wednesday.
He also said Indian energy firm ONGC had expressed interest in participating in the development of oil and gas fields on the Yamal peninsula in the Russian Arctic.
Earthquake hits eastern Turkey, leaves 57 dead
Tuesday 09 March, 2010: A strong earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6, hit eastern Turkey Monday, killing 57 people and knocking down houses in at least six small villages.
The temblor struck six villages in Elazig province, toppling stone or mud-brick homes and minarets of mosques.
The worst-hit area was the village of Okcular where some 17 people were reported killed and homes crumbled into piles of dirt. Another 13 people were killed in the village of Yukari Demirci, Gov. Muammer Erol said.
The government's crisis centre said around 100 people were also injured in the quake, which occurred at 4:32 a.m. (0232 GMT) in Elazig province, about 550 kilometres east of Ankara, the capital.
The earthquake, which caught many people in their sleep, was centred near the village of Basyurt. It was followed by more than 30 aftershocks, the strongest measuring 5.5, the Kandilli seismology centre said.
Emergency workers were trying to rescue people from debris, Gov. Muammer Erol told.
"Everything has been knocked down, there is not a stone in place," said Yadin Apaydin, administrator for the village of Yukari Kanatli, where he said at least three villagers died.
Ban Ki-moon writes to military junta to release Suu Kyi
Tuesday 09 March, 2010: With the elections in Myanmar likely to take place later this year, UN Chief Ban Ki-moon has asked for the release of all political prisoners including detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a letter to top leader, Senior General Than Shwe, the Secretary-General emphasised that without the participation of all parties the elections will not be inclusive.
"Most importantly, all the political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, should be released as soon as possible, so that all of them can take part in elections. That would make the elections inclusive and credible," Ban told journalists in United Nations, noting that the letter was sent ten days ago.
"I repeatedly emphasised that without the participation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all key political prisoners, the elections would not be inclusive," he added.
No date for the poll has been set, but the ruling generals have promised that it will be sometime this year.
Critics say the elections, the first to be held in Burma for 20 years, will be a sham designed to entrench the military's grip on power.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, 64, has been under detention for most of the past two past decades.
She is the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the national elections in 1990.
In February, the United Nations' special envoy on human rights in Burma,Tomas Ojea Quintana, was again denied a meeting Suu Kyi.
Last year, Suu Kyi , was sentenced to 18 months of house detention for violating terms of her detention after an uninvited American swam ashore to her house where she was already being held.
Her lawyer appealed against the decision in November, and now turning down her appeal will prevent her from running in the first elections in almost 20 years scheduled for 2010.
Last month, Tin Oo, 82, the deputy leader of the NLD was released after six years in detention.
Ban underlined that the letter to General Than underlined the "lack of progress" being made and the need for elections to be carried out in an inclusive manner.
"For that purpose, there should be administrative measures taken," he said.
Regarding the recent announcement of election laws by the regime, Ban said, "That is what I had been urging the Myanmar authorities to do as soon as possible".
On Tuesday, Myanmar released the first of five of these laws by announcing the criteria of the forming of an election commission.(
US to take H-1B applications from April 1
Washington, March 09, 2010: The United States will start accepting applications for 65,000 H-1B visas for skilled professionals coveted by Indian techies for fiscal 2011 from April 1.
"Cases will be considered accepted on the date that it takes possession of a properly filed petition with the correct fee; not the date that the petition is postmarked," the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced.
The first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals who have earned a US master's degree or higher are exempt from the Congressionally mandated cap of 65,000.
If needed, USCIS will randomly select the number of petitions required to reach the numerical limit from the petitions received on the final receipt date, it said.
Petitions for new H-1B employment are exempt from the annual cap if the beneficiaries will work at institutions of higher education or related or affiliated non-profit entities, non-profit research organizations or governmental research organisations.
US businesses use the H-1B programme to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields, such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.
