W O R L D

Moscow Metro blast claims 40 lives
Moscow, February 6
Forty persons were killed and over 70 injured today in a suicide bomb attack in a moving Moscow Metro train during the morning rush hour, officials said.

An injured person is led by a rescue worker from the Avtozovodskaya metro station in Moscow after an explosion on a commuter train on Friday. — Reuters photo

Musharraf asks media to exercise restraint
Islamabad, February 6
Irked by media reports linking the army to nuclear proliferation, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has turned the heat on former army chiefs and local media, saying that their speeches and write-ups harmed the country. 

Petition filed against Khan’s ‘detention’
Islamabad, February 6
A motion was filed to a Pakistani court today against the “detention” of the country’s top nuclear scientist, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was pardoned after he admitted his involvement in the export of nuclear technology.

• Pallone for UN monitoring of Pak N-programme

A woman walks past newspapers with stories on President Pervez Musharraf pardoning top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan in Islamabad on Friday. Musharraf on Thursday pardoned the scientist who leaked nuclear weapons secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, and said Pakistan would not allow UN supervision of its nuclear programme. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Members of the Chinese National Circus perform during the debut of their spectacle entitled "ZENsation" in Mallorca, Spain, on Friday. — Reuters

EARLIER STORIES Pervez hopeful of Kashmir solution by year-end February 6, 2004 Bush, Annan discuss India, Pak dialogue February 5, 2004 Khan names Musharraf February 4, 2004 General Niazi dead February 3, 2004 China shuts poultry units in bird-flu-hit areas February 2, 2004 3 US troops among 13 killed in bomb attacks February 1, 2004 Jindal to run for US Congress January 31, 2004 10 die as suicide bomber blows himself up January 30, 2004 India to quicken issue of visas for Pak businessmen January 29, 2004 Indo-Pak thaw: Powell for US-Russian efforts January 28, 2004

2 more die of bird flu in Vietnam
Hanoi, February 6
Two more persons died in Vietnam due to bird flu, pushing up the toll in the country to 13, officials said today. A six-year-old girl from southern Dong Nai province, who died on Tuesday, tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, said Phan Van Tu of the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute. A 24-year-old man from central Lam Dong province, who died on Monday, was also confirmed as a bird flu victim.


Vietnamese patient Le Thi Huong, 20, who has been confirmed as infected by bird flu, reads a newspaper on her bed at a hospital in Hanoi on Friday. Huong is one of Vietnam's five living H5N1 carriers and is about to be discharged. — Reuters photo

Jagjit Singh to sing in Pakistan Islamabad, February 6 After years of discord, Indian ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh will arrive in Pakistan tomorrow to sing songs of harmony and brotherhood. The ghazal king has been advocating reciprocal visits for artistes of the two countries and vociferously opposed the promotion of Pakistani singers in India on the ground that artistes from his country were earlier not allowed to perform in Pakistan.

Video

Indian doctors bring relief and hope to Bam quake survivors. (28k, 56k)

 

 

 

Moscow Metro blast claims 40 lives
Vinay Shukla

Moscow, February 6
Forty persons were killed and over 70 injured today in a suicide bomb attack in a moving Moscow Metro train during the morning rush hour, officials said.

According to the Emergency Situations and Disaster Management Department, the blast took place at 8.40 am (10.10 am) IST in the second coach of the train going from Paveltskaya station in the centre of the city to Avtozavodskaya.

Forty persons have died and more than 70 injured in the blast, Moscow Ambulance Service officials said. Earlier, Russian Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin had put the death toll at 30.

Fifteen persons have been hospitalised with serious injuries, the police said adding more than 50 passengers have been discharged from hospital after first aid.

Police spokesman Kiril Mazurim said the blast was the result of a suicide bomb attack. However, he said it was difficult at the moment to ascertain whether the bomber was a male or a female. Forensic and explosive experts are investigating the blast, he said.

About 700 passengers have been evacuated during the massive rescue operation, ITAR-TASS reported.

A fire followed the blast and smoke bellowed out of Avtozavodskaya station as about 50 ambulance vans arrived to carry the victims to hospitals. — PTI

Musharraf asks media to exercise restraint
K.J.M. Varma

Islamabad, February 6
Irked by media reports linking the army to nuclear proliferation, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has turned the heat on former army chiefs and local media, saying that their speeches and write-ups harmed the country. He has asked them to refrain from doing so in national interest.

“These people want to come in limelight so that people realise their importance. But they say baseless things,” a stern looking Musharraf said at a briefing of editors here.

Reading out the headlines in local newspapers, he said persistent write-ups accusing the army of involvement in proliferation did a dis-service to Pakistan.

The President said the media should not write about it in national interest even if such allegations were true. “Stop writing this. You do not know what would be result of this reckless implication of every institution in the proliferation issue,” he asserted.

“The UN Security Council will immediately impose sanctions against us, next we will be asked to sign the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty); then we will be declared a rogue state and finally our vital interests would come under imminent physical danger,” he warned last night.

General Musharraf referred to former army chief Aslam Beg as “pseudo-intellectual” for his admission in recent press interviews that uranium enrichment was scaled down drastically in 1989 after a decision by the National Command Authority in order to escape the allegations of proliferation. — PTI

Petition filed against Khan’s ‘detention’

Islamabad, February 6
A motion was filed to a Pakistani court today against the “detention” of the country’s top nuclear scientist, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was pardoned after he admitted his involvement in the export of nuclear technology.

Ehsamul Haq, brother of Dr Khan’s ex-Principal Secretary, filed a habeas corpus petition today in the country’s Lahore High Court, demanding the scientist should not be handed over to any other country.

“We have filed the petition because we have been denied access to him (Khan). If the government is honest then they should let him speak his conscience,” said Haq, whose elder brother, retired Major

Islamul Haq, is among the six detained scientists and officials from Kahutta Research Laboratories (KRL).

Families of four other officials have already filed similar petitions. The hearing will be held on February 9. Haq’s lawyer, Mohammed Ikram Chaudhary, said he requested the court to take Dr Khan’s plea on the same date. — DPA

Pallone for UN monitoring of Pak N-programme

Washington, February 6
Concerned over Pakistani scientists providing nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone has called for US and international monitoring of Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

A former co-chair of the India Caucus, in a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, said US must work with the UN to monitor Pakistan’s nuclear programme. — PTI 

2 more die of bird flu in Vietnam

Hanoi, February 6
Two more persons died in Vietnam due to bird flu, pushing up the toll in the country to 13, officials said today.

TAIPEI: Taiwan will slaughter all 2.3 lakh chickens in eight poultry farms on the island to halt the spread of the H5N2 strain of avian flu virus. The government on Thursday discovered the less-virulent disease in chicken farms in the counties of Tainan, Changhwa, Miaoli, Taoyuan and Nantou, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement. — Agencies

Jagjit Singh to sing in Pakistan

Islamabad, February 6
After years of discord, Indian ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh will arrive in Pakistan tomorrow to sing songs of harmony and brotherhood.

Noted director Prakash Mehra and his wife, Geeta Rani will be in Lahore as guests of a private television channel. — UNI

BRIEFLY

22 killed in Papua quake
JAKARTA: A series of powerful earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 6.9 struck Indonesia’s remote Papua province today, killing up to 22 persons, injuring as many as 600 and destroying hundreds of houses, the authorities said. The quakes hit hardest in the town of Nabire, damaging the local airport, a bridge, roads and buildings, said Margiono, a seismologist with the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency in the provincial capital, Jayapura. — AP

Barrymore named ‘friend of UN’
UNITED NATIONS: Actress Drew Barrymore became the first person to be named “A Friend of the UN” by a new organisation called “Artists for the UN.” “We wake up every morning thinking, like, what more can we do in this world to make it a better, happier, more peaceful and beautiful place,” Barrymore told a standing-room-only crowd at a UN news conference on Thursday. — Reuters

‘Speaking roses’ for Valentine’s Day
SINGAPORE: “Speaking roses” available at a Singapore flower shop make cards unnecessary for Valentine’s Day, the florist said on Friday. New technology prints messages on the petals such as, “I Love You,” “Happy Valentine’s Day,” or messages created by the sender, said June Sun at the Katong Flower Shop. — DPA

19 rebels killed in Nepal clash
KATHMANDU: At least 19 Maoist rebels were killed when the Nepali army raided a guerrilla camp on Friday, an army spokesman said, the highest toll in a single incident in about two months. — Reuters