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    InternationalEvents: November 2010Terrorism: Yemen not for foreign forces role

    Faced with mounting international pressure to do more, the leadership in Yemen is

    sending out a message that it will not allow the West to run its counter-terror drive againstAl-Qaeda.

    Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh stressed that Sana'a would not permit foreign

    forces to undertake counter-terrorism operations on Yemeni soil.

    The press conference was held after two parcel bombs apparently originating from

    Yemen and bound for religious centres in Chicago were recovered on separate flights in

    Dubai and East Midlands airport in Britain.

    Medvedev's Kuril islands visit angers Japan

    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev becoming the first Russian leader to visit the Kuril

    archipelago in the Pacific Ocean and reassert Russia's sovereignty over the islands

    claimed by Japan.

    Mr. Medvedev flew to Kunashir, one of four islands that Japan calls its Northern

    Territories, on the way back from Vietnam. He toured the island, telling its residents that

    Russia would invest heavily to develop the islands.

    Japan demands the return of four sparsely populated islands in the Kuril archipelago,

    which Russia took under its control during World War II. In 1956 Russia agreed to handback two of the islands but Japan rejected the compromise. Russia's new leadership has

    ruled out the return of any Kuril islands to Japan.

    Brazil fetes woman President-elect

    Brazilians celebrated the election of their first-ever woman President, Dilma Rousseff,

    who pledged to extend policies implemented by popular outgoing leader Luiz Inacio Lula

    da Silva, her mentor.

    Mr. Lula's tireless backing of Ms. Rousseff delivered her 56 per cent of the ballots in arunoff against opposition challenger Jose Serra, the former Governor of Sao Paulo state

    who scored 44 per cent.

    While Mr. Lula (65) is required to hand over power in two months' time, after completing

    the two consecutive terms.

    Ms. Rousseff (62), an economist who served as Mr. Lula's Cabinet chief before he

    handpicked her as his successor, swore she would make eradication of poverty her

    priority in government as she sought to honour the trust voters had shown her.

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    Her biggest challenge will be preparing the country to host the 2014 football World Cup

    and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, both awarded under Mr. Lula's deft lobbying.

    U.K., France sign historic nuclear deal

    Setting aside their historic rivalry, Britain and France signed an unprecedented 50-year

    nuclear deal that would see them share nuclear facilities and jointly develop technology,

    marking what British Prime Minister David Cameron described as a new chapter in thenow-on-now-off Anglo-French relations.

    They also agreed to create a joint rapid reaction force of up to 5,000 troops deployable at

    short notice and to cooperate in a range of other defence-related areas.

    Swraj Paul quits as Deputy Speaker of Lords

    Labour peer Swraj Paul resigned as Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords following his

    suspension from the House over his expenses claims.

    Lord Paul and two others Baroness Manzila Pola Uddin and Lord Amir Bhatia were suspended last month on the recommendations of the House of Lords Committee

    for Privileges and Conduct which inquired into allegations that they wrongly claimed

    parliamentary expenses.

    Lord Paul was suspended for four months, Baroness Uddin until Easter 2012 and Lord

    Bhatia for eight months.

    The claims relate to the peers' entitlement to a second home allowance if their main

    residence is outside London.

    Vietnam gets aid for nuclear power plants

    The civil nuclear energy option has come into sharp focus in Southeast Asia, with

    Vietnam firming up foreign aid and Singapore evincing interest.

    Meanwhile, Russia and Japan agreed, independently, to help Vietnam in the civil nuclear

    sector.

    The dual breakthrough was announced by the Vietnamese leaders after they held different

    meetings with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto

    Kan in Hanoi.

    Blasts in Greece

    A parcel bomb burst into flames at the Swiss embassy in Athens and controlled explosions were

    carried out on packages at the Russian and Bulgarian embassies, Greek police said, a day after

    intercepting several similar packages.

    Police said a total of five parcel bombs had been discovered in the capital, just days before local

    elections, following similar packages addressed to three other embassies and President Nicolas

    Sarkozy .

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    Obama suffers setback as Republicans wrest House

    Republicans captured the House of Representatives and expanded their voice in the

    Senate, riding a powerful wave of voter discontent as they dealt a setback to President

    Barack Obama two years after his triumphal victory.

    When last results came in Democrats had won 185 seats and Republicans 239 in theelection to the Lower House. For the Senate, Democrats won 51 and Republicans 46.

    Nikki Haley elected Governor

    Having gone from state legislature to Governor of South Carolina in a span of just six

    years, Nikki Randhawa Haley is being hailed as a rising star on the American political

    horizon.

    Daughter of Punjabi Sikh immigrants from Amritsar, Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley

    (38) has become the first Indian-origin woman, and second Indian-American after

    Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, to become the Governor of a U.S. state. Another

    Indian-American Kamala Harris won the election for Attorney-General of California.

    Five other Indian-Americans, all Democrats, bit the dust in the face of an anti-

    establishment vote.

    Kamala Harris wins California poll

    Indian-American Kamala Harris won the election for Attorney-General of California. Ms.

    Harris will be the first woman to hold the office.

    Daughter of an Indian mother and African-American father, Ms. Harris is the DistrictAttorney for San Francisco.

    Huge volcanic blast in Indonesia

    A deadly Indonesian volcano spewing lava and smoke for more than a week erupted with its

    biggest blast yet, shooting searing ash kilometres into the air as soldiers hastily evacuated villages

    and emergency shelters.

    Warm welcome for Hu Jintao in France

    French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla themselves went to the airport toreceive Chinese President Hu Jintao a rare honour as Paris rolled out the red carpet

    for a three-day visit that is expected to culminate in several lucrative contracts for French

    companies including the sale of EPR nuclear reactors by nuclear giant Areva.

    The chapter of its strained relations with Beijing caused by the demonstrations in Paris

    when the Olympic flame passed through the French capital enroute to the Beijing games

    and the 2008 handshake between Mr. Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama albeit on Polish soil.

    The China Southern airline has announced its intention of buying 36 Airbus planes

    valued at 2.6 billions. China will also be purchasing two more EPR nuclear reactors in

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    addition to the two it has already bought (estimated cost 10 billions). And Areva is likely

    to sell another 3 billions worth of uranium to the Chinese utility CGNPC. The Franco-

    American telecom company Alcatel-Lucent will sign three contracts with China Mobile,

    China Telecom and China Unicom worth 2 billions.

    Volcano death toll climbs to 136

    The tiny hospital at the foot of Mount Merapi struggled to cope with victims brought inafter the fiery volcano unleashed its most powerful eruption in a century some with

    burns covering 95 per cent of their body.

    Indonesia's most volatile mountain unleashed a surge of searing gas, rocks and debris that

    raced down its slopes at highway speeds, torching houses and trees and incinerating

    villagers caught in its path.

    Power-sharing deal in Iraq

    Amid a fraying security situation eight months after parliamentary elections, Iraq appears

    set to acquire a national unity government.

    The incumbent Prime Minster, Nouri al-Maliki, who belongs to the main Shia bloc, is

    expected to continue for a second term. There has been a power sharing agreement in

    principle with the rival Iraqiya formation, led by the former interim Prime Minister, Iyad

    Allawi, over the composition of the new government, Iraqi officials said.

    Protests over nuclear waste train in Germany

    Protesters delayed a train hauling nuclear waste to a storage site in northern

    Germany,rappelling off a 75-metre-high bridge to dangle over it and blocking the tracks,police said.

    Near Dannenberg, riot police tried to stop some 3,000 protesters making their way onto

    the tracks. Activists maintain that neither the waste containers nor the Gorleben site, a

    temporary storage facility, are safe.

    Though protests have been muted in recent years, Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to

    extend the life of Germany's 17 atomic power plants by an average of 12 years has

    breathed new life into the anti-nuclear movement.

    Israel gave settlers land deals in east Jerusalem'

    The Israeli government sold or leased property in Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem to Israeli

    settlers at exceptionally low prices, helping them cement a Jewish presence there, court

    documents published show.

    The Arab neighbourhoods are part of east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War

    and claimed by the Palestinians as a future capital. Expanding Israeli enclaves in these

    neighbourhoods would make a partition of Jerusalem along ethnic lines as part of any peace deal

    exceedingly difficult.

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    The documents were released to anti-settlement activists who sought a comprehensive accounting

    of the government's deals with two settler groups, Elad and Ateret Cohanim

    Violence rocks Myanmar

    Deadly clashes erupted between Myanmar troops and ethnic minority rebels, prompting

    an exodus across the border in the wake of an election that the junta's proxies looked sureto win.

    At least three civilians were killed when heavy weapons fire hit the town of Myawaddy

    in Karen State,

    Zipporah Sein, Thailand-based general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU),

    said there had been fighting between government forces and Democratic Karen Buddhist

    Army (DKBA) troops in the two areas.

    Tory office stormed over fee hike

    Thousands of angry university students stormed the Conservative Party headquarters in

    Central London smashing windows and hurling burning objects into the building as a

    protest against planned cuts to higher education funding and increase in tuition fee turned

    violent. Several people, including one policeman, have been taken to hospital with minor

    injuries.

    The Millbank Tower, where the Conservative Party offices are located, was virtually

    taken over by slogan-shouting demonstrators some of whom climbed on to the roof of the

    building amid fears that violence could spread.

    In the Commons, Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was

    involved in angry exchanges with the opposition Labour Party over the proposed fee

    increase. Mr Clegg who opposed tuition fee in opposition was accused of opportunistic u-

    turn for supporting the increase.

    China's rare feat in space

    China has pulled off a tricky and uncommon feat in space flight, manoeuvring one of its

    satellites to within about 300 metres of another while they were orbiting Earth, space

    analysts say.

    China is not saying why it conducted the August manoeuvre, but it comes as the nation is

    ambitiously expanding its space programme, including building a space station and

    conducting lunar missions. It is expected to launch the first module of its space station

    next year, followed by a manned spacecraft to dock with it.

    Using unclassified tracking data from the U.S. military, space-watchers calculated that

    China manoeuvred its SJ-12 satellite close to its SJ-06F satellite on about August 19.

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    Manoeuvring an unmanned orbiting vehicle from a control room on Earth is extremely

    difficult because of the distance and because data on the location of the vehicle can be off

    by hundreds of metres.

    Support for U.S. Fed policy draws criticism in China

    Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's apparent support for the U.S. Federal Reserve's

    controversial policy to pump $600 billion into the economy has not gone down well in

    China, days ahead of a crucial G20 meeting in South Korea.

    The Fed's bond-buying move, which will likely devalue the dollar, has been strongly

    criticised by China, Germany and Brazil in recent days. China has argued that the policy

    will reduce the competitiveness of emerging nations' exports, as well as exacerbate

    economic imbalances.

    China's currency valuation is bone of contention, with Washington threatening trade

    action if China did not further appreciate its yuan, which, many countries say, has been

    devalued to support exports.

    G20 meet in Seoul agrees to curb trade imbalances

    Leaders of the world's biggest economies agreed to curb persistently large imbalances

    in saving and spending but deferred until next year tough decisions on how to identify

    and fix them.

    The agreement, the culmination of a two-day summit meeting of leaders of the Group of

    20 industrialised and emerging powers, fell short of initial U.S. demands for numericaltargets on trade surpluses and deficits. But it reflected a consensus that longstanding

    economic patterns in particular, the United States consuming too much, and China too

    little were no longer sustainable.

    G20: norms to identify imbalances by mid-2011

    Leaders of the Group of 20 industrialised and emerging powers largely endorsed an

    approach to imbalances that Finance Ministers, including U.S. Treasury Secretary

    Timothy F. Geithner, hammered out last month at a meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea,

    but added a timetable.

    The Ministers, along with the heads of central banks like the Federal Reserve, are to

    agree by mid-2011 on indicative guidelines for identifying big, persistent imbalances,

    and Chinese President Hu Jintao said China would host meetings to establish those

    guidelines.

    The International Monetary Fund will then conduct an analysis of the root causes of the

    imbalances and the damage that they cause, by the next G-20 leaders' meeting, to be

    hosted by France late next year.

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    Aung San Suu Kyi walks free

    Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's celebrated pro-democracy leader and a political prisoner

    of global stature, was set free from house arrest in Yangon.

    Hundreds supporters waited for her at the Yangon headquarters of the recently-

    derecognised National League for Democracy (NLD), which she still leads.

    World leaders hailed her in comments on the release, which was ordered before the juntacould transfer power to an ostensibly civilian government following the November 7

    general election.

    Myanmar's military establishments have subjected Ms. Suu Kyi to four terms of house

    arrest and at least two spells in prison, for about 15 years in all, since 1989. She led the

    NLD to a landslide victory in the country's free elections in 1990 but was not allowed to

    lead a civilian government.

    U.S.-China row rumbles on at Apec summit

    U.S. President Barack Obama used a Pacific Rim summit to press China on its flood of

    exports aided by a cheap yuan, but President Hu Jintao said Beijing would make reforms

    at its own pace.

    The competing visions of the two economic giants were laid out a day after the Group of

    20 knocked back U.S. proposals for binding targets to address global trade imbalances

    and curbs on currency manipulation proposals effectively aimed at China.

    Mr. Obama also made an appeal to tear down trade barriers as the 21 members of the Asia

    Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum kicked off a summit in Japan, clouded by

    tensions between its biggest economies.

    Washington has urged Beijing to allow its yuan to rise, claiming it is undervalued to

    create an unfair trade advantage although the United States has been accused of

    doing the same by diluting the value of the greenback with a $600-billion cash injection

    announced this month.

    U.S. likely to end Afghan mission by 2014

    The United States government is set to announce a plan to end its combat mission in

    Afghanistan by 2014, a goal that will require the gradual transfer of responsibility forsecurity operations to Afghan forces over the next 18 to 24 months.

    A similar announcement by the Obama administration, to begin a troop drawdown in

    Afghanistan by July 2011, came in for a barrage of criticism on the grounds that it could

    strengthen the hands of militants who might regroup.

    Kickbacks paid in France-Pakistan deal'

    A former French Defence Minister has told a judge in Paris that reverse kickbacks or what the

    French term retro-commissions were in fact paid in the 1995 deal to sell six Agosta Class

    submarines to Pakistan.

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    The judge is enquiring into the causes of the 2002 blast that killed 11 French naval engineers sent

    to Karachi to oversee the assembling of the Agosta submarines. The former Minister's

    declarations corroborate a 2002 French secret service report which was kept under tight wraps by

    the authorities and which became public only in 2008 when it was leaked by the media.

    Until then it had been alleged that the engineers were killed by the Taliban or by Islamist

    extremists. Sources close to the enquiry in France say the Pakistan Army and the ISI engineered

    the blast in reprisal against the non-payment of commissions in the Agosta deal.

    Singapore to host oil and gas expo

    OSEA2010, an oil and gas exhibition, will be held in Singapore from November 30 to December

    3. The expo will feature 1,500 international exhibitors over 24,000 sq. metres. The expo is

    expected to see the participation of over 22,000 business and thought leaders, industry

    professionals and government officials from 60 countries and regions.

    China's assurance to neighbours over Brahmaputra, Mekong dams

    The Chinese government mounted a defence of its dams on the Brahmaputra and Mekong

    rivers, assuring its seven neighbours, including India, who have voiced concerns about

    the projects that downstream flows will remain unaffected.

    Besides India, which raised the construction of a 510 MW dam on the Brahmaputra in

    talks with the Chinese leadership,Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia had expressed

    similar concerns over eight dams being built on the Mekong River.

    China has stressed that its eight dams would help, and not hinder, flood management, the

    Mekong River Commission (MRC) represented by Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and

    Cambodia has called on China to share more data and be more transparent about its

    plans. China has been reluctant to join the MRC.

    In talks in Beijing this week, India voiced similar concerns, calling on China to continue

    sharing data regarding its plans for the Brahmaputra, or the Yarlung Tsangpo as it is

    known in Tibet. While India and China have set up a joint expert-level group to exchange

    hydrological data, the absence of a water-sharing treaty means the exchange of

    information is limited.

    Hambantota port opened

    Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the island nation would like to be a part ofthe radically progressing Asia led by China and India

    Speaking at a function to mark the berthing of the first vessel at the Magama Ruhunupura

    Mahinda Rajapaksa Port in Hambantota built with Chinese assistance.

    Phase One of the new Hambantota port was constructed by the China Harbour

    Engineering Company at a cost of $360 million and includes provision for a high-quality

    passenger terminal, cargo handling, warehousing, bunkering, provisioning, maintenance

    and repair, medical supplies and customs clearing facilities.

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    The $1.5-billion port is being marketed by Sri Lanka as a mega infrastructure project

    which would transform the economy of the country. The port is located just 10 nautical

    miles from one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, used by up to 200 cargo vessels

    every day and can handle vessels of up to 100,000 DWT..

    Russia, Iran discuss nuclear programme

    Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev met his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

    on the sidelines of a Caspian forum in Baku, Azerbaijan, to discuss the Iranian nuclear

    programme and bilateral relations.

    We are interested in pursuing trade, economic and other contacts that are not covered by

    the Security Council sanctions, Mr. Medvedev's aide added.

    It was the third meeting between Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Ahmadinejad.

    The first two were on the sideline

    1,500 tourists rescued near Mt. Everest

    The Nepalese authorities rescued 1,500 tourists with the help of helicopters and airplanes after

    they were stranded at Lukla, the gateway to Mt. Everest, for more than a week.

    NATO pact on missile defence

    U.S. President Barack Obama and his NATO allies agreed to shield Europe's peoples

    from rogue rocket attacks with a screen of interceptor missiles, and to invite Russia to

    take part.

    The deal commits NATO members to deploy a phalanx of anti-missile batteries to shoot

    down incoming missiles and urges Moscow to link its own defensive systems to the grid.

    Winning agreement on the shield also gave the NATO leaders a boost as they prepared

    for the second day of their Lisbon summit .

    But the 28 NATO powers hope President Dmitry Medvedev can be won over at the first

    such meeting between NATO and the Kremlin chief since Moscow waged a war in

    Georgia in 2008.

    NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he expected Russia and the Allies to begin a

    joint study of how Russia could be included in the missile defence system, which would

    be a significant softening of Moscow's position.

    Russia, Iran to step up civil nuclear cooperation

    Russia and Iran have agreed to step up civil nuclear cooperation despite the international

    sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear programme.

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    The agreement was reached at a meeting between President Dmitry Medvedev and his

    Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of a Caspian summit in

    Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.

    Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr built with Russian assistance would be started

    soon. Mr. Medvedev used the meeting to try and re-engage Tehran, which had angrily

    reacted to Moscow's support for U.N. Security Council sanctions earlier this year and the

    cancellation of a deal to sell Russian air-defence systems.

    Unesco dissociates itself from World Philosophy Day events

    The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has decided to

    dissociate itself from the World Philosophy Day events scheduled to be held in Iran.

    The Day has been celebrated by the UN body every year since 2002, on the third Thursday of

    November, both at the Unesco headquarters in Paris and in other cities around the world. The

    General Conference of Unesco established the World Philosophy Day in 2005.

    2014 deadline for NATO in Afghanistan

    NATO and Afghanistan agreed to the goal of a phased transfer of security responsibility

    to the Afghan government by the end of 2014, but acknowledged that allied forces would

    remain in Afghanistan at least in a support role well beyond that date.

    NATO and U.S. officials also warned that if Afghanistan had not made sufficient progress

    in managing its own security, 2014 was not a hard-and-fast deadline for the end of

    combat operations.

    We will stay after transition in a supporting role, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the

    Secretary-General of NATO, said at a news conference after meeting with PresidentHamid Karzai of Afghanistan.

    North Korea has new nuclear plant: U.S. scientist

    In secret and with remarkable speed, North Korea has built a new, highly sophisticated

    facility to enrich uranium, according to an American nuclear scientist, raising fears that

    the North is ramping up its atomic programme despite international pressure.

    The revelation could be designed to strengthen the North Korean government as it looks

    to transfer power from leader Kim Jong Il to a young, unproven son. As Washington and

    others tighten sanctions, unveiling the centrifuges could also be an attempt by Pyongyang

    to force a resumption of stalled international nuclear disarmament-for-aid talks.

    Bailout sinks Ireland into crisis

    Ireland, already teetering on the brink of an economic collapse, was plunged into a

    political crisis after the government's decision to accept a European Union financial

    bailout triggered calls for a snap election and Prime Minister Brian Cowen's resignation.

    The Green Party, a partner in Mr. Cowen's Fianna Fail-led coalition, said the people of

    Ireland felt betrayed and the situation demanded political certainty. With six MPs, the

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    party holds the balance of power in Mr. Cowen's fragile coalition and were it to pull out

    the government could fall.

    Mr. Cowen, who had previously insisted that the country could manage the crisis on its

    own, confirmed he had agreed to a joint EU/IMF package and a formal process of

    negotiations would commence.

    China plans S-E Asia rail links

    China will, in coming months, accelerate plans for high-speed rail links with Myanmar,

    Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, as part of a wider effort to deepen engagement with its

    Southeast Asian neighbours.

    In two months, work will begin on a 1,920-km high-speed rail line connecting south-

    western Yunnan province with Yangon in Myanmar, with trains running at over 200 km/h,

    studies were also under way to link Yunnan's capital Kunming with Cambodia, Laos and

    Vietnam. In August, the Ministry of Railways also sent a team to Thailand to explore

    investing in a $ 25.6-billion, 240-km high-speed railway and rail network.

    Beijing's increased infrastructure investment in Southeast Asia, analysts say, is part of a

    larger effort to expand economic and strategic influence in the region. Beijing hopes the

    investment will also ease anxieties among its ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian

    Nations) neighbours over the impact of China's rising economic influence.

    While China became the first country to ratify an ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA),

    a fast-widening trade imbalance in China's favour, in part fuelled by the flooding of theASEAN market with Chinese goods, has led to strains in commercial relationships with

    many ASEAN countries. The trade deficit grew to $21.6 billion last year. A number of

    countries have also voiced concern over the pattern of Chinese investments, which have

    generally targeted resources such as oil and minerals.

    China has also recently proposed a $15-billion fund for infrastructure-building in ASEAN

    countries.

    In recent years, China has increasingly begun to explore expanding its domestic high-

    speed rail network, which is already the world's biggest, beyond its western and southernborders. In the west, China has, so far, reached agreements to build railway lines from its

    Xinjiang region to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

    The national network will reach 120,000 km by 2020, and 60 per cent of the railway lines

    will be located in China's western regions, which have historically lagged the coastal east

    on most development indicators.

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    North Korea and South Korea exchanged several rounds of artillery fire across the

    disputed Yellow Sea, leaving at least two South Korean marines killed and 16 others

    injured in shelling by the North on a populated island.

    The South Korean government blamed the North for starting the exchange, saying dozens

    of rounds of artillery shells were fired at its Yeonpyeong Island, which lies along the

    disputed maritime border off the western coast of the Korean Peninsula. It is inhabited by

    around 1,600 people.

    The South accused the North of violating the 1953 Armistice Agreement and responded

    by putting its military on the highest level of non-wartime alert, even readying F-16

    fighter jets.

    The North Korean government, however, disputed this version, saying its firing was in

    response to live-ammunition military drills that the South has been conducting in recent

    days

    The exchange has further heightened tensions in the region and reduced the likelihood ofresumption of the stalled Six Party Talks, which the North quit two years ago after

    conducting several missile tests.

    Recent revelation that the North had opened a new uranium enrichment facility that had

    already strained ties between the neighbours in recent days. And, in March, the North was

    widely condemned for the torpedoing of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, which

    left 46 sailors dead. The North has denied responsibility for the attack.

    The recent resurgence in tensions takes place amid political uncertainties in Pyongyang,

    with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il preparing for the succession of his 26-year-old sonKim Jong-un.

    Tensions are unlikely to subside in coming days, with the South's military drills in the

    Yellow Sea, involving around 70,000 troops, scheduled to continue till November 30.

    Cambodian festival stampede leaves 380 dead

    Frantic relatives scoured makeshift morgues in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh after over 380

    revellers perished in a stampede on an overcrowded bridge, turning a water festival into a tragedy.

    Prime Minister Hun Sen described the disaster as the country's worst tragedy since the KhmerRouge's 19751979 reign of terror, which left up to a quarter of the population dead. He declared

    a national day of mourning.

    Israel's new law draws fire

    The Palestinians and Iran have slammed Israel's new law which will make it harder for

    Tel Aviv to withdraw from the annexed territories of East Jerusalem and the Golan

    Heights.

    The Israeli Parliament passed a law under which withdrawal from East Jerusalem or

    Golan Heights would be possible only on the basis of a two-thirds approval from

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    Parliament. In case a super-majority in Parliament fails to approve the withdrawal, a

    referendum will be held on the proposal.

    Palestinians who want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state have rejected the

    Israeli move.

    Cap on non-EU migration

    The UKGovernment announced plans to sharply reduce the number of skilled migrantsfrom India and other non-European Union countries who would be allowed to enter

    Britain from next April when a new cap on annual migration would kick in.

    The cap would not apply to intra-company transfers following protests from

    multinational corporations, some of whom threatened to close their British plants if such

    transfers were included in the cap. But the exemption would apply only to those earning

    more than 40,000 a year.

    Putin offers Russia's tigers to revive species

    Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has offered to share his country's growing tiger

    population with other countries to help save the big wild cat from extinction.

    Tiger families from Russia could start the process of reviving tiger populations where

    they have completely disappeared, in such countries as Kazakhstan and Iran, said Mr.

    Putin, addressing the Tiger Summit in St. Petersburg.

    Enrichment plan not affected, says Iran

    Iran has rejected western media claims that it temporarily halted uranium enrichment due

    to technical problems and asserted it had successfully fought off a serious cyber attack onits industrial and personal computers.

    Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Ali Akbar Salehi described as lies media

    reports that said technical difficulties temporarily paralysed thousands of centrifuges used

    for the enrichment of uranium.

    Mr. Salehi said Iran's enemies had during the last year-and-a-half failed to infect

    industrial and personal computers with malicious malware. Iran had earlier

    acknowledged that its industrial computers had been targeted by the Stuxnet virus, which

    attacks Siemens supervisory control software used for managing water supplies, oil rigs,and power plants.

    Wave of student protests in U.K.

    For the second time in two weeks, Britain was hit by a wave of angry student protests

    marred by clashes with police and sporadic incidents of violence resulting in injuries to at

    least 11 people.

    The protests were against the proposed cuts in higher education funding and increase in

    university tuition fees.

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    Putin for joint projects in SCO

    Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called for creating a 10-year economic road map for

    the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) focused on launching large-scale joint projects.

    We propose creation of a road map of joint actions for the coming decade where we would

    define concrete steps on implementation of trade and economic cooperation, said Mr. Putin,

    addressing a meeting of the Prime Ministers of the SCO in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

    The SCO has six full members Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and

    Uzbekistan , as well as four observer-states India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan.

    Region on brink of war, warns North Korea

    Tensions have risen in the Korean Peninsula ahead of planned joint military exercises by

    South Korea and the United States, with the North warning that the region was inching

    closer to the brink of war.

    Sounds of artillery fire were heard on South Korea's Yeongpyeong Island on the Yellow

    Sea, the site of shelling by the North which left four people dead and at least 18 injured.

    The South Korean military said two explosions were heard, triggering fresh panic among

    residents, and it was verifying the source of the sounds.

    The U.S., which has 28,000 troops in South Korea, has dispatched the aircraft carrier,

    USS George Washington, to the region.

    The latest round of tensions comes as the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il prepares forthe succession of his 26 year-old son Kim Jong-un, about whom little is known. The two

    Kims are on an inspection tour of the North along with the country's top military

    officials.

    Bushehr nuclear plant fuelled: Iran

    Head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi said that the fuelling of the

    country's first nuclear power plant has been completed.

    All fuel assemblies have been loaded into the core of the reactor, Iran's Student News

    Agency (ISNA) quoted him as saying. All we have to do now is to wait for the water

    inside the reactor's core to warm gradually, and carry out another series of tests. Mr.

    Salehi observed that it would now take around two months for the plant to join Iran's

    national power grid.

    Mr. Salehi said Iran was set to import from Russia, radio-medicine required for the

    treatment of cancer. Iran had in October commenced loading nuclear fuel rods into the

    core of its Russia built power reactor in Bushehr, clearing the last major hurdle in the way

    of the completion of the long delayed project.

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    WikiLeaks takes cloak off U.S. diplomacy

    The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis with the leaking to

    the Guardian and other international media outlets of more than 250,000 classified cables

    from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.

    At the start of a series of daily extracts from the U.S. embassy cables many of which

    are designated secret the Guardian can disclose that Arab leaders are privately

    urging an air strike on Iran and that U.S. officials have been instructed to spy on the

    U.N.'s leadership.

    These two revelations alone would be likely to reverberate around the world. But the

    secret dispatches which were obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistleblowers' website, also

    reveal Washington's evaluation of many other highly sensitive international issues.

    Low turnout in Egypt

    Egyptians in modest numbers headed for polling stations amid tensions following a government

    crackdown on the main opposition party ahead of the parliamentary polls.

    A total of 41 million registered voters were eligible to elect candidates for 508 seats. However the

    turnout, as polling progressed during the day, was low. In the 2005 elections, only 22 per cent

    voters cast their ballot, according to official records.

    Pakistan's offer to Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka and Pakistan agreed to expand their relations from defence cooperation to an

    overall comprehensive engagement involving trade, communications and culture.

    Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari had a one-on-one meeting with his Sri Lankan

    counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa.

    He is on a four-day visit to Sri lanka.

    Iran's scientist killed in blast

    Assailants on motorcycles attached magnetised bombs to the cars of two nuclear scientists as theywere driving to work in Tehran, killing one and wounding the other, said Iranian officials.

    The President accused Israel and the West of being behind the attacks.

    Iran's nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the man killed was involved in a major project with the

    nuclear agency, though he did not give specifics. Some Iranian media reported that the wounded

    scientist was a laser expert at Iran's Defence Ministry and one of the few top specialists in nuclear

    isotope separation.

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