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Friday, March 20, 2009
US Navy sub and vessel collide near Iran
'Taliban rockets' hit Pakistan town
Ten civilians have been killed and at least 38 others injured by rockets fired into the main town in Pakistan's tribal Khyber area. Rashid Khan, a local government official, said suspected Taliban fighters fired three rockets near the town of Landi Kotal, just west of the Afghan border, late on Thursday. He said one of the rockets, aimed likely at the security forces' base, hit the town's commercial area where 10 civilians were killed and 38 others injured. A timber yard and 20 nearby shops were set ablaze. Khan said troops were searching the area on Friday to track and capture the attackers. The Khyber region is on the route for lorries carrying supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan. Fighters have staged regular attacks in the area in recent months, targeting Nato supply depots. Hundreds of vehicles and containers have been torched. US and Nato officials say the attacks have little impact on their operations in Afghanistan, but have acknowledged they are investigating alternative ways to deliver supplies.
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China to make 'Little Mermaid' stand-in: official
A "modern" Chinese interpretation of the Little Mermaid will overlook Copenhagen's port while the iconic fairytale sculpture is in Shanghai for next year's World Expo, according to an official. The Chinese version will stand in while the Danish national treasure makes its controversial trip as the centrepiece of the country's pavilion, said Jing Ipland, the liaison officer for Denmark's Expo Secretariat. "The Little Mermaid has decided to come to Shanghai, but it might be disappointing for all the tourists to Denmark and to the Danish people," Ipland said. "So the idea came up that it would be good to have this exchange sculpture from China," she said, adding that the new-look statue would be an "extraordinary surprise." Copenhagen's city council last week approved sending the Danish sculpture to China from April to November 2010 in the face of vocal opposition, with prominent officials arguing the move could hurt tourism. A recent poll indicated 60 percent of Danes opposed allowing the statue, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairytale, to leave the city. In Shanghai, the sculpture will be set in the centre of a large pool of water from the Copenhagen port to show it is clean enough for swimming, Danish officials have said. Ipland said several Chinese artists have submitted proposals but no decision had been made on the final design. She was coy about how the Chinese Little Mermaid might look. "It will be an extraordinary surprise to everyone," she said. "It will have new, modern ideas in it." Danish Crown Prince Frederik will visit Shanghai in May to unveil the Chinese design, she said.
Photo Allegedly Shows Putin in Disguise During Reagan Visit
The identity of the man on the left of the photo — complete with camera round his neck — was later revealed and "verified" to Souza as none other than Putin. The planting of KGB officers as bystanders was a common practice in Soviet times. During the tense stand-off of the Cold War, they would be used to challenge foreign leaders during visits to Russia. But, while acknowledging this practice, a Russian political analyst and author of books on Vladimir Putin dismissed Souza's claims as "nonsense." "Vladimir Putin was a major serving in Dresden and he wasn't important enough at that time to be brought to Moscow,"said Andrey Piontkovsky.
Eight killed as militants attack army base
LANDI KOTAL, Pakistan Suspected Taliban militants fired a rocket that killed eight people in a northwest Pakistan town Thursday, in an attack targeting security forces near a key supply route for international forces in Afghanistan, an official said.The militants fired three rockets near a base used by security forces in the town of Landi Kotal, about 10 kilometers west of the Afghan border, said Rashid Khan, an area government administrator. One of them hit the town's commercial area, killing at least eight people, injuring more than 30 and setting fire to a timber yard and a string of nearby shops, Khan said. The other two struck villages outside town, and it was not immediately known if there were casualties there. ‘The death toll could rise because we are still searching through the rubble in the dark,’ Khan said. Soon after the attack the security forces resorted to heavy firing and artillery shelling targeting suspected locations of the militants. The town lies in tribal region on a key road where militants have carried out a wave of attacks on trucks carrying supplies to US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. The security forces had launched an operation on Dec 28, 2008, in the agency which was extended to Landi Kotal in Jan last. A local militant Hazrat Ali, brother of a radical cleric Hazrat Nabi alias Tamanche Mullah, had accepted responsibility of the earlier attacks. He is also suspected of being involved in attacks on the container-trucks passing through the area while carrying goods for Nato forces in Afghanistan.