Taliban suicide blast in Kabul kills 30

News Clip, Afghanistan -

A Taliban suicide bomber wearing an Afghan army uniform set off a huge explosion Saturday while trying to board a military bus in the capital, killing 30 people, most of them soldiers, officials said. Hours later, the Afghan president offered to meet personally with the Taliban leader for peace talks and give the militants a position in government.

Strengthening a call for negotiations he has made with increasing frequency the last several weeks, President Hamid Karzai said he was willing to meet with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and factional warlord leader.

"If I find their address, there is no need for them to come to me, I'll personally go there and get in touch with them," Karzai said. "Esteemed Mullah, sir, and esteemed Hekmatyar, sir, why are you destroying the country?"

Karzai said he has contacts with Taliban militants through tribal elders but that there are no direct and open government communication channels with the fighters.

"If a group of Taliban or a number of Taliban come to me and say, 'President, we want a department in this or in that ministry or we want a position as deputy minister ... and we don't want to fight anymore... If there will be a demand and a request like that to me, I will accept it because I want conflicts and fighting to end in Afghanistan," Karzai said.

"I wish there would be a demand as easy as this. I wish that they would want a position in the government. I will give them a position," he said.

Four employees with the International Committee of the Red Cross, kidnapped earlier this week while negotiating the release of a German hostage, were freed in good health Saturday, said Mohabullah, the police director of criminal investigations of the Sayad Abad district where the four were taken. He had no news about the German.

The number of kidnappings in Afghanistan has spiked in recent months after the Taliban secured the release of five insurgent prisoners in exchange for a captive Italian journalist in March — a heavily criticized swap that many feared would encourage abductions.

The Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans in July, a hostage crisis that scored the militants face-to-face talks with South Korean government delegates. Two of the Koreans were killed; 21 were eventually released.

Karzai earlier this month renewed a call for talks with the Taliban, and a spokesman for the militant group initially said the fighters might be open to negotiations. But spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi later said foreign troops must first leave the country — a demand Karzai said Saturday he would not meet.

"It should be very clear until all our roads are paved, until we have good electricity and good water, and also until we have a better Afghan national army and national police, I don't want any foreigners to leave Afghanistan," he said.

He said he still wanted negotiations with Taliban militants of Afghan origin "for peace and security." He ruled out talks with al-Qaida and other foreign fighters.

NATO and the United Nations have said an increasing number of Taliban fighters are interested in laying down their arms. NATO's ambassador to Afghanistan, Daan Everts, said this month that NATO would look into the possibility of talks.

More than 4,500 fighters have taken part in a two-year reconciliation process, but the Taliban have launched more than 100 suicide attacks this year, a record pace.

Saturday's explosion ripped off the roof of the bus and tore out its sides, leaving a charred hull of burnt metal. It was reminiscent of the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 — when a bomber boarded a police academy bus at Kabul's busiest transportation hub in June and killed 35 people.

Dozens of civilians and police officers searched for bodies. Police and soldiers climbed trees to retrieve some body parts. Nearby businesses also were damaged.

"For 10 or 15 seconds, it was like an atom bomb — fire, smoke and dust everywhere," said Mohammad Azim, a police officer who witnessed the explosion.

Karzai said 30 people were killed — 28 soldiers and two civilians. The Health Ministry said another 30 were wounded.

"It was a terrible tragedy, no doubt an act of extreme cowardice," Karzai said. "Whoever did this was against people, against humanity, definitely against Islam. A man who calls himself Muslim will not blow up innocent people in the middle of Ramadan," the Muslim holy month.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed the militant group was responsible for the blast in a text message to The Associated Press. Mujahid said the bomber was a Kabul resident named Azizullah.

The bus had stopped in front of a movie theater to pick up soldiers when a bomber wearing a military uniform tried to board around 6:45 a.m. local time, army spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.

"Typically there are people checking the IDs of soldiers who want to board the bus," Azimi said. "While they were checking the IDs the bomber tried to get on the bus and blew himself up there."

News Clip Courtesy : Associated Press reporters Rahim Faiez, Amir Shah and Alisa Tang.

In Pawar land, cricketers get preference over farmers

News Clip, New Delhi:

While money is pouring in for our cricketers, it's quite the opposite for the farmers in Maharashtra'a Kohlapur district. In union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar's home state, farmers were attacked and beaten up by local goons on Friday.

The reason – the farmers had asked for their dues from a local sugarcane cooperative. The farmers allege that the cooperative refused to pay them the second installment for their produce.

The goons were allegedly hired by the sugarcane cooperative factory who beat up farmers in the presence of the police. Farmers say no FIR was registered despite protests.

One of the farmer's unions - Shetkari Sanghatana has now organised protests all over the district and has demanded severe action be taken against the attackers. Reportedly, Congress MLA Prakash Avade was also present at the site.

Indian news broadcasters form new association

Major news broadcasters in India have formed the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) to address problems of radio and television news broadcasters. The broadcasters who have formed the association include TV Today Network, NDTV Limited, Times Global Broadcasting Company, TV18 Group, Star News, India TV and Zee News.

The President of the Association, G Krishnan, said the Association has been set up to address issues that are specific to news broadcasters in radio and television who work in a 24×7 environment and cannot necessarily be addressed by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation.

The Indian government's recent draft proposal for a Content Code has been strongly opposed by the broadcasters.

News Clip Source: Commonwealth Broadcasting Association

Funds available for business writers from developing world

The Reuters Foundation is offering full bursaries for journalists from developing countries to attend training on business writing. The course is scheduled for November 5 to 16 in London.

Application deadline: September 10.

The bursaries include travel costs, lodging and a modest living allowance. Partially funded bursaries are also available for journalists at organizations with little or no resources for training.

The course provides training on international standards of reporting and writing about business news and issues. Applicants must be working journalists with at least two years of professional experience and good spoken and written English.


Application details and online form:
http://www.reuterslink.org/courses/wbn_london_nov07.htm


For more information, contact: foundation@reuters. com



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Plastic Surgery Miracles

Three Texas plastic surgeons were playing golf together and discussing surgeries they had performed.

One of them said, "I'm the best plastic surgeon in Texas. A concert pianist lost 7 fingers in an accident, I reattached them, and 8 months later he performed a private concert for the Queen of England."

One of the others said. "That's nothing. A young man lost both arms and legs in an accident, I reattached them, and 2 years later he won a gold medal in 5 field events in the Olympics."

The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago a cowboy who was high on cocaine and alcohol rode a horse head-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the horse's ass and a cowboy hat.

Now he's President of the United States."

Shoppers nightmare

How does it feel when visiting a store and trying to reach something, and the whole lot cames tumbling down all over the floor.

Obviously, everybody stares, and you better come up with a "melon anyone" or something even better...... until someone laughs....after which the situation calms down.....

It would have been even more hilarious....... if you were embarrassed.

So the best solution.....

If no one was near and the staff are not suspicious to find who the culprit was......just feign ignorance and leave quickly...

Amen.....

Need some answers.......

Had a couple of thoughts that I would need some answers for.....

Do illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
How does Santaclaus get into a house that doesn't have a chimney?
If you get cheated by the better business bureau, whom do you complain to?
If you're in hell, and you are mad at someone, where do you tell them to go?
What would Geronimo say if he jumped out of an airplane?
What would Cheese say if they got their picture taken?
Why are turds pinched off at the end? [sorry]
You can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but can you just be just whelmed?
If you take an oriental person and spin him around, does he become disoriented?
How come overtones and undertones are the same thing?
What would you use to dilute water?
What should one call a male ladybird?
How can military troops be deployed if they have never been ployed to begin with?
If you lived in Siberia and you wronged the government, where would they send you?
Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?
Can atheists get insurance for acts of God?
Can you get arrested for running into a Fire House yelling "Movie" "Movie" ?
Did you ever notice when you blow in a dog's face he gets mad at you?
But when you take him in a car, he sticks his head out the window!

And finally, why is it called an asteroid when its outside, but called a hemorrhoid when its in your ass?

Any thoughts on these would be appreciated......

Nokia ties up with Malayala Manorama to launch news portal on mobile

Nokia ties up with Malayala Manorama to launch news portal on mobileexchange4media

Nokia has announced the launch of the industry's first vernacular newsportal with Malayala Manorama.

With this offering, all Nokia GPRS enabled handsets users in Kerala will be able to get national and international news in Malayalam across various categories of news likesports, travel, music, astrology and movies, among others.

Speaking at the launch of this service, Devinder Kishore, Director-Marketing, Nokia India, said, "Ease of use is a key Nokia proposition. As the leader, we are continuously working towards providing featuresand services that simplify the lives of our users. We have once againlaunched a path breaking application -- vernacular news portal -- amobile newspaper in the palm, that enables users to view news updatesin there native languages at their convenience. "Kishore added, "Currently, the Internet penetration is still very low,especially in smaller cities and rural areas.

Services such as themobile newspaper will ride on the larger penetration of mobile phonesand bring the Internet revolution to the masses. With the launch ofthis service, we are transcending the language barriers and extendingthe benefits of the Data services over mobiles to the people who arenot conversant with English."Mariam Mammen Mathew, COO, Manorama Online, said "As the industryl eader in this category, we are pleased to partner with Nokia for thisinitiative.

We are committed to provide our readers newer and innovative way to consume news, and this will help us to further our bond with our consumers. True to the Manorama tradition, we will strive to reach out to all Malayalis, wherever they are -- inside or outside India, on a desktop or on the move.

Additionally with the launch of this mobile newspaper' Nokia bringsthe benefits of all value-added services for the first time in 10 vernacular languages. These include Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya,Assamese, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, in association with leading media houses across India.

This application also supports'search' and 'mobile advertising' , while making the Internet and the'search' facility available to the non-English literates for the first time in the country.

News Clip