US denies helicopters fired on in Pakistan :

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon on Monday denied that US-led coalition helicopters based in Afghanistan were fired on in Pakistan and forced to turn back.

The incident "did not happen" said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, adding that after studying the facts, a statement by a Pakistani security official "didn't appear to be accurate."Earlier there were conflicting reports that shots were fired when US-led coalition helicopters based in Afghanistan neared the border with Pakistan. The gunfire was said to have broken out late Sunday about 100 metres (yards) from the South Waziristan tribal area, where Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are believed to be sheltering. There were no casualties.

Lehman bankruptcy shakes world financial system :

NEW YORK: Lehman Brothers declared itself bankrupt Monday and Wall Street rival Merrill Lynch had to be taken over in a new financial earthquake that sent global markets into a slump and panicked central banks.

The US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England injected tens of billions of dollars into money markets after the fall of the finance titans under the weight of the massive financing of bad loans. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Monday after a frantic weekend of negotiations failed to arrange a rescue. In the fallout, Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch in a 50 billion dollar deal, insurance giant AIG was reported to have sought a massive emergency loan to head off its own crisis and a group of banks set up a 70-billion-dollar global emergency fund."You've probably seen more in one day of financial history than we've seen since the great crash of 1929," Macquarie Private Wealth associate director Marcus Droga said.

Iran's IAEA envoy says it will continue uranium enrichment :

TEHRAN: Iran's ambassador to the UN atomic watchdog said on Monday that his country would continue enriching uranium in defiance of UN Security Council demands, the state-run news agency reported.

"Stating that Iran did not obey the United Nations Security Council resolution asking it to halt uranium enrichment shows this reality -- that Iran found no logical and legal reasons for doing so," Ali Asghar Soltanieh said. "Therefore it cannot give up its undeniable right under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) charter," agency quoted him as saying. The IAEA on Monday accused Tehran of continuing to stall over a UN probe into its disputed nuclear programme, refusing to provide access to documentation, individuals or sites which could reveal the true nature of its activities.

Dr. Aafia’s son Ahmed handed over to Pakistan :

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan government handed over custody of Dr. Aafia’s son Muhammad Ahmed to Pakistani authorities in Kabul on Monday.

According to foreign ministry sources, officials of Pakistan and Afghanistan met today in Kabul after which Afghanistan’s interior ministry official Daud Panj Sheri handed over Muhmmad Ahmed to Pakistani ambassador Asif Durrani. It may be mentioned here that US officials claimed to have arrested Dr. Aafia and her three children from Ghazni in 2003. One of the three children had already died while there was no information about her daughter whether she would be handed over to Pakistani official or not. It is expected that Muhammad Ahmed will be sent to Pakistan by the first available flight.

US to boost military presence in Afghanistan by 1,800 :

WASHINGTON: The US military presence in Afghanistan will grow by a maximum of 1,800 troops by the end of January, foreign media has calculated, based on figures provided by the Pentagon Monday.

A Marine Air-Ground Task Force of "up to approximately 2,000 Marines" will be deployed in November, a Department of Defense statement said. Meanwhile, Marines sent in April -- up to 3,900, according to the Pentagon -- are finishing their deployment in November and leaving Afghanistan.

That means the total US contingent of some 33,000 soldiers -- according to the latest Pentagon figures -- will shrink slightly before it grows with the arrival of reinforcements in early 2009. In January, a US army combat brigade of some 3,700 soldiers, originally destined for Iraq, will be sent to Afghanistan to serve under the command of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), according to the DoD statement. In total, 5,700 US soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan and 3,900 will be withdrawn -- a net increase of 1,800, bringing the total US presence close to 35,000.

Petrol price down Rs5, diesel up Rs3.50 :

ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has revised petroleum prices whereby petrol price has been slashed by Rs5 per litre while rates of High Speed Diesel and koresene oil have been raised by Rs3.5 per litre.

The new petroleum prices will remain effective for next 15 days. According to sources, the government is still giving a subsidy of Rs. 10 per litre on diesel. The new prices, which will be effective from Tuesday, will help cut gross sub ... Full Story