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Asia Bizz: Taliban States New Militia By US, Plan To Split Afghanistan

Taliban has made a statement saying that the new militias created by the US troops in Afghanistan, like the new police unit, is a move by the Americans to separate. Recently President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan accepted the proposal of creating a controversial Police unit that would be used to specially tackle the Taliban rebels.

The Interior Ministry of Afghanistan has decided the Local Police Force (LPF) would be helping the Afghani National Police in protecting the rural areas of Afghanistan from rebellion attacks. The Taliban stated in their website that the LPF that has been formed is an intimate move by the Americans do divided Afghanistan before they exit next year.

They also stated that the Foreign forces in the country have witnessed a shameful defeat and as they move out it is a move to keep the Afghan land into a continuous war situation.

The Afghanistan Government has not yet decided on what would be done with the LPF, but this move has come when the year has been the bloodiest year for the foreign forces in the Middle East, and the upcoming Parliamentary elections in September.

The foreign forces have lost more than 2000 men in Afghanistan since 2001. US has decided to slowly start moving out of the country of Afghanistan from the mid of 2011, and completely hand over the country to the Afghanistan forces by 2014.

The U.S. stock index on Wall Street has opened on a lower note today as investors have taken a break, after last week showed strong earnings on the index. At 05.00 A.M. ET, the S&P 500 fell by 0.2, Dow Jones by 0.3 and Nasdaq100 fell by 0.1. Stocks of the European origin, during the opening in the morning, following the stress test conducted on European banks last week.

BP gained on the opening today as it went up 1.6%. Changes came because of the announcement of the arrival of a new chief in the company since Tony Hayward exits. He will be replaced by Bob Dudley, an American executive who is handling the response operation of the Gulf Oil Spill. (Reuters)

U.S. stocks had risen on Friday, as GE had announced of making an increase in its dividends, this helped change the mindset of the investors. Overall Dow Jones had an earnings of 102.32 points which is an equivalent to 0.99% gain and NASDAQ had an earning of 23.58 points which is 1.02% in gain.

Asia Bizz: North Korea May Threaten US-South Korea Naval Exercises Off South Korean Coast

South Korea and the US began a series of Naval exercises in the sea off the coast of South Korea, with the US Navy nuclear powered aircraft carrier moving out in the open seas. North Korea has warned that it would retaliate strongly against the US if it fears of any threatening situation against it.

This situation clearly reflects that tense situation between the two countries in the divided region of Korea, since 1953. The tensions took a new toll again in the month of May this year, when a South Korean naval ship was torpedoed and sunk. UN, US and investigators from all over the world came to the conclusion that North Korea sunk the ship.

Last week, South Korea and the US had placed a new set of sanctions on the North Koreans, which the North Koreans stated as unfair. North Korea has vowed that it will start a ‘Sacred War’ against the two nations “any time necessary”, or whenever they feel the situation is threatening to N.Korea. Resources also state that North Korea has put its people and the military on high alert, for the country may enter into a disturbing situation at any time.

Asia Bizz: Veteran Journalist Daniel Schorr Dies At 93

Renowned journalist for the CBS News, who had brought us news straight out of the cold war to scandals like the Watergate incident, has passed away at a ripe age of 93. He died in Washington, at the Georgetown University Hospital, on Friday.

For more than 60 years, Schorr lived in the profession of Journalism, as he had begun his career as stringer on the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times In Europe.

Schorr was a child of Russian immigrants who had settled in the US. He had favored journalism at a very young age. When he was of the age of 12, he had called the police as a woman fell and died front the roof of the building, plus he also called the Bronx Home News, who had paid him a $5 tip, for providing the news.

Many people have stated about Schorr, that he had understood the power of media, that this could change people’s minds and had the responsibility of presenting the truth.

Source-USA Today

Asia Bizz: Mass Grave With 50 Bodies Found in Nuevo Leon, Mexico

A grave, with as many as 50 bodies, was found by Mexican soldiers in the Northern State of Nuevo Leon. The police officials have found petrol traces and believe the spot might be used for victimizing people.

Pic: Reuters UK

The investigation results claim that this area would have been used for torturing and killing of people by some drug gangs.
The police informed that information from an unknown source led them to this spot.

The probe by the Crime Scene Investigators is on. The bodies that were found were highly decomposed and hence could not be identified. They are searching for more bodies by digging the area more. Alejandro Garza, the Nuevo Leon State Attorney General informed that the investigating officials still have to find for three such pits more.

Two more such graves were found in Nuevo Leon, a battlefield for the rival drug gangs.

BBC reports that more than than 200 people have vanished in the border state in the past three years.

Asia Bizz: North Korea To Begin a Sacred War Against US and South Korea In Response To Military Exercises

North Korea on Saturday stated that it will begin a ‘Sacred War’ against the US and South Korea, if it feels that there is any fear from its allies nuclear arsenal. The Korean peninsular has not been is such pressure before, as N. Korea was accused of sinking the South Korean Naval warship, which had killed 46.

Pic Courtesy: Reuters

The panic from the North Korean side came when, its southern ally agreed to take part in a massive military drill with the U.S. The US and South Korea have begun a massive naval and aerial exercise in the residing region, with another planned military exercise in August.

The N.Korean have warned the countries that it would start a sacred war, a retaliatory step, with nuclear deterrence, any time if it would be necessary, pushing all the three nations into the brink of a war. The North Korean Commission stated, that these drills and exercises by its allies are nothing but outright provocation to stifle N.Korean with arms to all intents and purposes.North Korea on Saturday stated that it would begin a ‘ Sacred War’ against the US and South Korea, if it feels that there is any fear from its allies nuclear arsenal. The Korean peninsular has not been is such pressure before, as N. Korea was accused of sinking the South Korean Naval warship, which had killed 46.

Asia Bizz: BP Rig Engineer States Main Rig Arm Was Disabled Before Explosion

One of the BP engineers, Mike Williams, who was on board of the sunken Transocean Rig of BP, stated to the press that before the accident took place, one of the key arms of the rig had been intentionally disabled. He stated that the night of the 20th of April, an alarm had been triggered, and it was found that a flammable gas called methane had spread over the rig’s deck. The rig officials didn’t want to wake up the crew at three o’clock in the night.

Williams statement was shocking for on the 20th April, the rig caught fire. The Transocean rig was drilling a well a mile below the sea surface, and it was under the license of London based oil giant, BP. Williams also stated, that the rig had hundreds of individual alarms, which would go off intentionally to see if they were in good condition.

At a hearing before a joint US panel of US Coast Guards and The Internal Department Bureau Of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, the Transocean officials who were on the rig that day stated that they were 43 days behind schedule in drilling the Macondo Well, which was due to mechanical problems faced on the rig.

Williams has filed a suit against Transocean, stating that the main monitoring computer called “A Chair”, used to be frequently offline due to mechanical issues. The officials had named it the ‘blue screen of death’, for it would often turn into a blue screen and would not show any data.

Asia Bizz: White Apple iPhone 4 Launch Rescheduled To The End Of 2010

Apple has announced that the launch of the white iPhone 4 model, which was scheduled in the month of July, has been rescheduled to be launched at a later part of this year. Reports say that it has been facing challenges in manufacturing the gadget, and hence the date had to be rescheduled. There has been no exact date decided or announced by Apple for the gadget’s launch.

Apple’s statement has come only one month after the launch of the iPhone in the market, and now it has said that it is finding difficulty in the manufacturing of the product, as the ongoing issues of the antenna and reception are still hovering over the company.

But, Apple has not explained what challenges they are facing in manufacturing, or it may be just to compromise the flow of demands from the black iPhone 4 in the market. It is noticed that Apple has been having grave problems from the time the iPhone has been launched, what they had previously termed it as the most successful product launch ever.

Asia Bizz: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Announces The Discontinuation Of All Ties With Colombia

The Venezuelan government has officially announced that it has discontinued all diplomatic relations with its neighbor Colombia. After the announcement, it has reports say that it requested all the Colombian officials residing in Venezuela, that to return to their country by Sunday.

President Hugo Chavez (Pic Courtesy: Telegraph)

This move came, after Colombia blamed Venezuela for being a hub for local Guerrillas. This accusation has been strictly denied by Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. He has also reportedly ordered the army to be on high alert along the border of Venezuela.

Colombian Foreign Minister stated that they were also considering discontinuing all commercial flights and trade relations with Venezuela.

The statement of discontinuation of ties with Colombia, came after the meeting of the Organization of States in Washington, where, Colombia provided videographic and photographic evidence that the Marx Farc and ELN rebellions have their bases situated in Venezuela.

President Chavez also stated that the evidence provided by Colombia is fake, and the Venezuela is already trying their best to stop rebels from entering their country. He also added that the President of Colombia is “madman, a mafia boss and a criminal”.

Asia Bizz: Iranian Nuclear Scientist Shahram Amiri Reports Sensitive Information About The CIA

The Iranian Nuclear scientist who had reached his motherland, Iran, last week after staying for years in exile, is reported to have provided valuable and sensitive information of the CIA, stated a local news agency in Iran. Some sources have also stated that the stay of Shahram Amiri, in the U.S. was a picture perfect plan made by the Iranian Intelligence agency.

Pic Courtesy: AP

To prove that Amiri had been with the CIA, he provided the proof of two CIA vehicles number plates. There has been no immediate response from the CIA on this topic. And in honor of Amiri, the Iranian film studio is about to make a movie which shows that Amiri was kidnapped by the U.S. officials. Amiri was a hero when had come back home.

Amiri had been issued $5 million in exchange of valuable information from Iran and its Nuclear program. These reports have been published by Iranian news agency Fars on Wednesday.