Rejecting American pressure, Russia announced the planned launch this summer of Iran’s first, Russian-built nuclear power plant.

Russian Premier Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would start up Tehran’s first and only nuclear power plant this summer. Moscow has been helping Iran build the Bushehr facility since 1995, but work has been delayed several times.

The statement of Russian Premier came at a time when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is in Moscow for talks on the Middle East and a stalled US-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty. Russia’s foreign minister, gave Mrs Clinton short shrift and argued that making Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant operational would keep Tehran engaged with the international community.

A Soyuz TMA-16 spaceship carrying two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) has successfully landed in Kazakhstan, the Russian space agency’s mission control center outside Moscow said Thursday.

After more than three hours of automatic flight, the spacecraft’s reentry vehicle landed as scheduled at around 2:25pm Moscow time (1125 GMT) near the Kazak town of Arkalyk.
The spaceship undocked from the station at 11:03 Moscow time (0803 GMT), with Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev and US astronaut Jeff Williams on aboard.

Surayev and Williams parachuted to the designated landing site in the reentry vehicle, said the NAST website. After preliminary medical examinations, they are to fly to Moscow to meet coworkers and families.
It was the first time in almost ten years for a landing capsule to bring back only two astronauts rather than three. The third vacancy seat has taken some additional cargoes from the ISS.
The two astronauts, who have been on a space mission for about 169 days, received two U.S. space shuttles and two Russian cargo spaceships. Surayev also performed one space walk together with his Russian colleagues.

Russian Oleg Kotov, Japanese Soichi Noguchi and American Timothy Creamer will continue to work in orbit, until a Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft delivers three more astronauts to the ISS on April 2.

National Folk Puppet Festival would start from March 24 in Lahore.
During a press conference, Faizan Pirzada said the International Puppet Day would also be celebrated during the festival, adding that Indian artists hailing from Rajhistan would also participate in the event.

He noted that this year theme of the festival is village culture.

KABUL AFGANISTAN: Two suicide attackers dressed in burqas were shot dead Wednesday as they attempted to enter the compound of a US-linked aid organisation in a southern Afghan town, officials said.

The male bombers were wearing explosives-packed vests beneath traditional women’s all-covering dress and opened fire on guards at the gates of International Relief and Development (IRD) in Lashkar Gah, the officials said.

“The two suicide bombers were shot and killed by the IRD guards, luckily their explosives did not explode,” provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP.

Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, is 20 kilometres (12 miles) away from a major US-led offensive testing a new counter-insurgency strategy aimed at wiping out the Taliban and drug-trafficking cartels.

The interior ministry said no one else was killed or harmed in the thwarted attack, which happened around 9.45 am (0515 GMT).

But Ahmadi said two people employed by IRD were wounded.

The would-be suicide bombers had opened fire on police guarding the IRD gates, he said.

“In the exchange of fire, a woman and a man working for IRD were wounded,” he said.

There were no details on whether the wounded included foreigners.

The interior ministry said in a statement: “Two (male) suicide bombers… started firing on the police guards and in a return of fire by the national police within moments, both suicide attackers were killed.

“In this incident no harm was caused to anyone else and only the suicide attackers were killed,” it said, adding that police seized two assault rifles and two suicide vests filled with explosives.

IRD implements projects on behalf of the US Agency for International Development, Ahmadi said, including helping farmers market their products, improving food security and other agriculture-related projects.

Helmand is a hotbed for the Taliban, who have been waging an increasingly virulent insurgency since their regime was overthrown in the 2001 US-led invasion following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The United States and NATO are raising to 150,000 the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan by August under a strategy marrying military and civilian efforts to eradicate the militant presence and establish Afghan sovereignty.

The strategy is currently being tested in Helmand’s Marjah and Nad Ali districts, where poppy-production is controlled by Taliban and drug traffickers in areas that have long been outside government control.

Operation Mushtarak, “Together” in Dari, is regarded by military planners as an initial success, but a Western official told AFP that it will be many months yet before it is clear if the Taliban have receded for good.

NATO said two foreign soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan by a crude bomb on Tuesday, although it did not say where.

The bombs, known as IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, are the main weapon used by Taliban rebels, though suicide attacks are becoming more common.

On Saturday, 35 people were killed in the southern city of Kandahar in one of the biggest coordinated suicide assaults claimed by the Taliban since their insurgency began more than eight years ago.

The militia said the attack was a pre-emptive response to plans by Afghan and NATO forces to widen anti-insurgent operations in Kandahar.

The general in charge of the US operations in Afghanistan General David Petraeus has warned this year will be difficult and will bring periodic setbacks for allied forces.

General David Petraeus, briefing Congress on the prospects in Afghanistan, said 2010 will be a tough year. The going is likely to get harder before it gets easier, he said.

As we seek to expand security for the people and to take from the Taliban control of key areas, the enemy will fight back. General Petraeus says the international forces will not see the dramatic reduction in violence that occurred six months after a similar surge began in Iraq. But he told the Senate panel he still expects 40,000 fewer US forces to be in Afghanistan by the end of August.

BEIJING: China showed no sign Tuesday of throwing its support behind new sanctions against Iran following talks with Britain’s foreign minister, who had hoped to persuade Beijing to join a growing international consensus for more stringent measures.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi maintained that sanctions weren’t the solution to disagreements over Iran’s nuclear program and that more talks were the way forward.

“Sanctions do not provide a fundamental solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. Ultimately, this issue has to be appropriately resolved through peaceful negotiations,” Yang said at a joint news conference with Britain’s David Miliband following their discussions in Beijing.

With Russia appearing to move closer to supporting new sanctions, China — which depends on Iran for much of its energy needs — would be the only one of five veto-wielding permanent U.N. Security Council members opposed to the measures.

Further punishment of Iran is among a host of issues dividing the nations, whose relations deteriorated badly last December after China ignored personal appeals from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to execute 53-year-old Akmal Shaikh for drug smuggling.

Shaikh’s family said he was mentally unstable and was lured to China from a life on the street in Poland by men playing on his dreams to record a pop song for world peace.

Brown said he was “appalled” by the execution — China’s first of a European citizen in nearly 60 years — prompting a warning from Beijing that such comments threatened to damage ties.

Even before that exchange, the two had clashed over who was to blame for the failure to reach a binding agreement on emissions reductions at December’s U.N.-sponsored Copenhagen climate talks.

Neither Yang or Miliband offered indications of a clear improvement in ties following the discussions.

However, a state television report about Miliband’s courtesy call on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was somewhat more upbeat.

China “highly values” relations with Britain and invites British companies to explore opportunities in the booming Chinese economy, CCTV quoted Wen as telling Miliband.

Miliband said rights dialogue was a part of Britain’s “strategic partnership” with China and indicated Beijing’s diplomatic disputes with Europe were not seen as part of a larger rivalry.

“I don’t believe China is a political competitor of the European Union,” he said.

On Iran, Miliband said international concern was rising over its nuclear intentions, citing Iran’s refusal to agree to stop processing uranium and instead accept shipments of nuclear fuel processed overseas and the U.N.’s inability to exclude the possibility of military dimensions to the Iranian nuclear program.

Without mentioning sanctions directly, Miliband said China and other nations remained united behind the goal of ensuring Iran does not become a nuclear weapons state.

“The fact that we have a shared goal leads me to believe that we can find the tactics to achieve it,” Miliband said.

JERUSALEM : Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with police in mainly Arab east Jerusalem on Tuesday amid heightened tensions in the Holy City where Israel vowed to expand Jewish settlements.

Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at protesters who hurled rocks at security forces in the Shuafat refugee camp. The Palestinians dispersed after security forces moved in.

Similar clashes broke out in other parts of mainly Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.

Police said two officers were injured, but did not mention Palestinian casualties. Several people were arrested, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

A heavy security presence was evident around the Old City, and police said they deployed 3,000 officers in Jerusalem.

Israel’s announcement last week of plans to build 1,600 new Jewish settler homes in mainly Arab east Jerusalem infuriated not only the Palestinians, but also the US administration which had sent Vice President Joe Biden to the region to promote new Middle East peace talks.

Mitchell on Tuesday postponed a visit to region, the Israeli president’s office said, without giving further details.

Earlier this month, the Palestinians reluctantly agreed to hold indirect talks with the Israelis after a 14-month hiatus in negotiations, but the outlook for a resumption soon of the peace process looks bleak.

The reopening of a twice-destroyed synagogue in Jerusalem’s walled Old City on Monday further fuelled tensions.

Many Palestinians view Israeli projects near the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound — Islam’s third holiest site — as an assault on its tense status quo or a prelude to the building of a third Jewish temple there. Jews call the compound Temple Mount and consider it their holiest site because their second Temple stood there before Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.

Rival Palestinian factions united in condemning the high-security opening of the landmark synagogue, which had last been destroyed 62 years ago in fighting with Jordan.

FBI 10 Most Wanted, The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949, during a game of hearts between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson,  International News Service (the predecessor of the United Press International) Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the FBI’s “toughest guys”. This discussion turned into a published article, which received so much positive publicity that on March 14, 1950, the FBI officially announced the list to increase law enforcement’s ability to capture dangerous fugitives.

Individuals are removed from this list if the fugitive is captured, killed, or if the charges against them are dropped; they are then replaced by a new entry selected by the FBI. In five cases, the FBI removed individuals from the list after deciding that they were no longer a “particularly dangerous menace to society”.Donald Eugene Webb, added to the list in 1981, was on the list longer than anyone, at 25 years, 10 months, and 27 days. Billie Austin Bryant spent the shortest amount of time on the list, being listed for two hours in 1969.On rare occasions, the FBI will add a “Number Eleven” if that individual is extremely dangerous but the Bureau does not feel any of the current ten should be removed.

The list is commonly posted in public places such as post offices. In some cases, fugitives on the list have turned themselves in on becoming aware of their listing. As of November 1, 2009, 494 fugitives have been listed (eight of them women), and 463 (94%) captured or located, 152 (33%) of them due to public assistance.[8] The FBI maintains other lists of individuals, including the Most Wanted Terrorists, along with FBI Crime Alerts, Missing Persons, and other fugitive lists. The most recent Ten Most Wanted Fugitives to be captured are Emigdio Preciado, Jr., who was apprehended in Mexico on July 17, 2009,[10][11][12] Edward Eugene Harper, who was arrested six days later in Wyoming, and Jorge Lopez-Orozco who was captured by authorities in Mexico on October 7, 2009.

The head of the International Monetary Fund says the world needs to prepare for the next economic crisis, even as it begins to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, speaking to business students at a Johannesburg university Tuesday, expressed concern that recovery could mean leaders will feel less pressure to pursue such reforms as tightening regulation and supervision of financial markets.

Strauss-Kahn says he cannot not predict the timing or the nature of the next crisis, but that he is sure it will come.

Strauss-Kahn is on an African tour that started in Kenya and will take him to Zambia from South Africa.

You see me’ by Salvo Riggi is the latest hit in town. Salvo Riggi, the star actor of “Ship wrecked” has indeed done a marvelous job. ‘You see me’ is a mind blowing single that is made to capture the hearts of people and is climbing up the London charts. Salvo Riggi, has much acclaimed fame from his previous acting ventures. His solo song has swayed away people’s hearts. His original fans were always there to praise him but now music lovers have also come into the picture. This man has created lovers and fans for himself very fast indeed. Salvo Riggi Media is managed by Media Split.

The man I am, from A.J. records studios in London who already supports other worldwide hits including Kylie Minogue, Jamiroquai and many others. In pure house minimal style, “You see me” is an explosive single capable of dragging the listener into a new world of shimmer and glamour, and yes shimmer and glamour make up only one man, Salvo Riggi.

A star and a man who is exclusive and truly eye capturing has stunned everybody with his acting abilities already on television and the big screen. Staring in Spot Nokia N90, a small part in Batman Begins and then making a glorious appearance with is unbeatable acting skills in “Ship wrecked” has made his path towards fame and a huge fan following just already.

With such a starry appearance and enviable television presence, a DJ, A musician, a dancer, he truly is multi-talented man. He does everything to make those astounding performances; challenges don’t hold him back and his electrifying personality keeps us all going.

‘You see me’ from Riggi’s latest album Resuscitation is the number that is surely going up the ladder on the international hit parade. The album is produced by Riggi himself and coproduced and mixed by T.M.I.A.

‘Resuscitation tour 2010’ is planned and will be shown on the best music clubs all around the world. This incredible show is a much awaited event for which the fans are already filled with queries. A huge number, a big album gets you on your feet and makes you all filled with exuberance.

‘You See Me’ is the hit number already but be sure to check out all the numbers in the album as they will set you dancing. The album on the whole is not only rocking but is mixed with all kinds of emotions. Riggi has done a marvelous job. He is bent to drive you all even crazy about him as he did with his protagonist role in “Ship Wrecked”. “You see me’ is all about it- a protagonist hero with a dazzling appearance and a heart throbbing voice mixed with smashingly exciting music- Salvo Riggi is the man to go for.

“You see me” is available on I-Tunes and on all top virtual music stores. So stay tuned and stay upbeat!