Chinese report sparks India anger

The Indian foreign ministry has dismissed a suggestion by a Chinese think tank that the country should be broken up into 30 independent states.

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It said that the proposal was the view of an individual and did not accord with the official position of China.
The report was written by the China International Institute of Strategic Studies in July.
It argues that a fragmented India would be in China's interests and would also lead to prosperity in the region.
The article was available online until recently but it has now been removed. Even so, it has received extensive coverage in the Indian press.....Full Story

Calls flood in about swine flu

RIYADH: The Ministry of Health’s toll-free swine flu hotline has been receiving about 3,000 inquiries a day, according to the ministry’s spokesman.
“The center is inundated with calls from people from all walks of life,” Dr. Khalid Al Mirghalani told Arab News on Tuesday.
The hotline (800-249-4444) is available to respond to queries from the public on matters related to swine flu. Fifteen specialists are manning the phones during weekday working hours at a call center near the Riyadh Airbase.....more

Kuwait foils Al-Qaeda plot

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwaiti authorities announced Tuesday they have arrested an Al-Qaeda-linked group that was planning to attack a key US military base in the emirate.
The Interior Ministry said in a brief statement that State Security detained a “terrorist network” of six Kuwaitis who gave “detailed confessions” about plans to bomb Camp Arifjan, the main US base in the country, as well as the headquarters of the country’s security agency, in addition to other facilities it did not name.....Full Story

US Marines launch operation in southern Afghanistan

KABUL: U.S. Marines have mounted a helicopter assault to seize the Taliban-held town of Dahaneh in southern Afghanistan and are fighting gain control of the area ahead of next week's presidential elections. The assault began before dawn Wednesday, with Marines entering the town as others battled militants in the surrounding mountains. A foreign news agency reported that Marines were met with small arms, mortar and rocket propelled grenade fire. Fighting is still under way hours later, with U.S. Marine Harrier jets streaking over the town and dropping flares in a show of force. Marines have captured several suspects and seized about 66 pounds (30 kilos) of opium...O B News

Six Pakistani gunned down in Somalia

MOGADISHU: Six Pakistanis were killed by unidentified gunmen on in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, witnesses said. Two other people were wounded in the attack at a mosque inGalkayo, residents said, adding that the foreigners came from Pakistan on Tuesday and were dressed as Islamist preachers. "Masked gunmen opened fire in the mosque, killing six Pakistanis and injured two others," resident Sheikh Abdiqadir Ali told foreign news agency. "Puntland forces have reached the mosque to carry away the dead bodies," the elder Mohamed Hussein told the agency by phone from Galkayo. "These foreigners, mostly Pakistanis, were 25 in number and arrived from Pakistan yesterday."

O B News

Indonesia confirms militant alive

DNA tests show that a man killed in a weekend raid was not Noordin Mohammed Top, one of the region's most wanted men, Indonesian police say.

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The dead man - killed at the end of a siege at a remote farmhouse in Central Java on Saturday - was named instead as a suspect in two 17 July bomb attacks.
Police sources had earlier said they had killed Malaysian-born Noordin.
He has been blamed for a number of attacks, including the July hotel bombs in Jakarta and the 2002 Bali blasts.
"The dead body is Ibrohim... We tried to match the DNA with the sample from Johor [Noordin's son] and it didn't match," police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told a news conference....Full Story