LIVE! Destruction of Syria's chemical weapons begins

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Sun, 06 October 2013

Destruction of Syria's chemical weapons begins

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20:51 Destruction of Syria's chemical weapons begins

Experts began overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons on Sunday under the terms of a UN resolution that will see Damascus relinquish the banned arms, an official told AFP.

The source in the international mission said experts had begun verifying details turned over by the Syrian government about the arsenal and destroying weapons and production facilities.

The team faces the daunting task of disposing of an estimated 1,000 tonnes of the nerve agent sarin, mustard gas and other banned arms at dozens of sites in Syria by mid-2014.

Suicide car bombers attacked an elementary school and a police station in a small northern Iraqi village today while another on foot detonated his payload among Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, killing at least 27 people including children, officials said.

The attacks are the latest in a relentless wave of killing that has made for Iraq's deadliest outburst of violence since 2008.

World powers negotiating with Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme must come up with new proposals before talks in Geneva on October 15-16, Iran's foreign minister said.

The United States wants Iran to respond to proposals made by world powers in February as a starting point for talks. If the parties cannot even agree on how to start the negotiations, it is less likely a resolution can be agreed within the six months in which Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says he wants a deal.

Opposition parties including the Left today slammed Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh for saying that government was ready to privatise Air India and accused him of selling public asset without bringing a civil aviation policy.

Warning the Minister against making any "off-the-cuff" remark, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said there must be a proper discussion on the issue.

Experts today began the process of destroying Syria's chemical weapons arsenal under the terms of a UN resolution that will see Damascus relinquish its banned weapons, an official said.

The source in the international mission said the experts would verify details of the arsenal turned over by the Syrian government and start the process of destroying the weapons and production facilities.

Sri Lanka's first elected Tamil chief minister C V Wigneswaran will be sworn in by the President tomorrow after his party secured an emphatic victory in the historic provincial polls in the former LTTE stronghold last month.

Wigneswaran, 73, will take the oath of office at the residence of Mahinda Rajapaksa here, despite the pressure from his Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to boycott the ceremony.

15:43 Queen Elizabeth II invites Malala to palace

Impressed by the bravery of Pakistani girls' education campaigner Malala Yousafzai, Queen Elizabeth II has invited her to the Buckingham Palace.

The news of the invitation has increased speculation that the 16-year-old may be named as the youngest winner of the Nobel peace prize later this week.

The Queen has been very impressed by her bravery and also asked Pakistan's high commissioner to the UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, about her recovery, the 'Sunday Times' reported today.

Members of an alleged London cell of the Al Shabaab terrorist group, behind the recent shopping mall siege in Kenya, have secretly been stripped of British citizenship.

At least four men with links to the group behind the Nairobi massacre have had their British passports removed by UK Home Secretary Theresa May on national security grounds.

A fifth man from London with terrorist links is using human rights legislation to block his deportation to his native Ethiopia, the 'Sunday Times' reported here today.

The ongoing diplomatic efforts to normalise the frozen ties between the US and Iran are being watched keenly by the state-run general insurers, who are currently wary of providing cover to companies dealing with Iranian oil imports.

"We are closely watching the events. Any kind of positive outcome will be favourable for the industry," a top official of New India Assurance told PTI over the weekend.

Violence including an attack on Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad has killed at least 73 people across Iraq, among them two journalists gunned down in the north, officials said.

Violence is at a level unseen since 2008, and there are persistent fears that Iraq will relapse into the kind of intense Sunni-Shiite bloodshed that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands of people.

13:31 Train journey to cost more from tomorrow

Travelling by train will become costlier from tomorrow with the revised fare structure coming into effect.

Passengers will have to shell out Rs 95 more for travelling to Bangalore from Delhi in AC First Class in Rajdhani as Railways has increased the fare by about 2 per cent for all classes, including Sleeper and AC, from Monday.

13:23 Pak high commissioner denies incursions

Pakistan High Commissioner Salman Bashir has called reports of incursions baseless.

He also said that Pakistan has great respect for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Bashid denied Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif comparing Dr Singh to a rural woman.

A two seater Indian Air force plane made an emergency landing in the Shastri park area of North East Delhi on Sunday. No one has been injured in the incident.

The pilots landed the plane at a ground near the new Usmanpur police station. The aircraft flown by Wing Commander Vidyut Ghosh and Squadron leader Sumit had taken off from the Hindon Air Base.

Fresh sexual assault complaints have been registered against controversial self-styled godman Asaram Bapu and his son Narayan Sai here after two sisters accused the duo of abusing them.

The Pentagon is ordering most of its approximately 400,000 furloughed civilian employees back to work. The decision announced yesterday by Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel is based on a Pentagon legal interpretation of a law called the Pay Our Military Act.

That measure was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama shortly before the partial government shutdown began Tuesday.

11:18 Tropical Storm Karen poised to make landfall

Tropical Storm Karen, swirling offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, was on track to make landfall in the US state of Louisiana, forecasters said. While weakening overnight, the storm is still expected to bring rain and some coastal flooding as it moves toward Mississippi and Alabama, according to the National Hurricane Center.

At 1800 GMT, Karen was located about 205 kilometre south-southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, packing maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour.

Curfew has been imposed in Vizianagaram town with police given the orders to shoot at sight in the wake of large-scale violence by anti-bifurcation agitators, police said.

Vizianagaram, a town in coastal Andhra, has been roiling since the Union Cabinet's decision to create the state of Telangana out of the existing state of Andhra Pradesh.

11:14 US raids terror leaders in Somalia, Libya

US forces struck two militant targets in Africa on Saturday, snatching a top Al-Qaeda suspect from the streets of Tripoli and launching a pre-dawn raid against a Shebab leader's home in Somalia.

In Libya, US forces seized a militant known as Abu Anas al-Libi, along-sought Al-Qaeda operative indicted in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

A separate raid in the southern Somali port of Barawe failed to capture the senior militant and it was unclear whether he had been killed, but a US official said several Shebab members were killed.

BJP leader L K Advani today appeared to be on the same page as Narendra Modi, a rarity since the acrimony over naming PM candidate, as he endorsed the Gujarat Chief Minister's view that there that there should be compulsory voting along with the None-of-the-Above option.

In his latest blog posting, Advani welcomed the Supreme Court suggestion that people should have the option of a negative vote. However, he added that along with this provision voting should be made mandatory.

Cooking gas (LPG) will now be available at selective petrol pumps in metro cities from Saturday as the Oil Ministry has allowed sale of small 5-kg cylinders at retail outlets.

Consumers can also opt for the distributor of his choice within a cluster of LPG distributors in the vicinity and across the oil companies from today.

Presently, an LPG consumer is attached to a distributor and cannot change his distributor even if he is unhappy with the service.

LPG 5-kg cylinders will be available at company-owned- company-operated (COCO) petrol pumps, which make up for just 3 percent of over 47,000 petrol pumps in the country.

Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily will launch the sale of 5-kg cylinder at Bangalore today. Initially, LPG cylinder sale will be restricted to COCO petrol pumps in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru.

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram turned emotional on Saturday while inaugurating a branch of Indian Bank at his birthplace Kanadukathan in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu, recalling his grandfather was one of the founders of the bank.

"I am proud and happy about inaugurating the branch.. This is my mother's native place and my birthplace also," he said while inaugurating the 2132nd branch of the Bank at the village, 40km from here.

Noting that his grandfather was one of the founders of Indian Bank, he said, "After opening 2,131 branches allover the world, the bank, founded by my grandfather, had come to this place. There is already one Indian Overseas Bank branch here but it needed one more bank for development.. Because of my attachment to this place, I am moved today."

The Union Minister said the credit-deposit ratio of Indian Bank in Tamil Nadu was as high as 92 per cent where in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh it was around 45 per cent. The CDR reflected the development of the state and people's willingness to start industries.

The Australian cricket team led by George Bailey arrived in Mumbai on Saturday night for the seven-match ODI series against India that will be preceded by the lone T20 game at Rajkot on October 10.

The ODI rubber commences on October 13 in Pune and concludes in Bangalore on November 2.

Five Australian squad members -- Shane Watson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Johnson, James Faulkner, Glenn Maxwell -- are currently playing in the ongoing Champions League T20 in India.

The visiting team would have a thee-day practice session at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) from October 6 to 8 before leaving for Rajkot for the opening T20 game.

The team from Down Under is without regular skipper Michael Clarke and T20 captain George Bailey is to lead the side in the former's absence.

Clarke was ruled out of the tour due to a nagging back injury.

A few moments after crossing 50,000 runs in competitive cricket across all formats, Sachin Tendulkar called himself "a little superstitious" and said he was not aware of the impending landmark till it beamed on the big screen at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on Saturday night.

Senior batsman Tendulkar reached the coveted landmark when he tucked one towards midwicket for a single off left-arm spinner Yannick Ottley, as Mumbai Indians defeated Trinidad & Tobago to make the final of the Champions League Twenty20.

Coming into this match, he needed 26 runs to reach the landmark.

"I wasn't aware that I was close to 50000, I only saw it on the big screen when I was two runs short," Tendulkar said after the semifinal match.

Talking about the match, he said, "It was a good performance by us after (Dwayne) Smithy gave us a good start. Overall, a terrific performance. It's fun to watch him hit those balls hard. I told him I am not backing up too far as I might get hit by his shots."

00:40 Top headlines at this hour

Mumbai Indians rout Trinidad to set up CLT20 final against Rajasthan

Another record for Tendulkar as he scales 50,000-run mark in cricket

Hyderabad an Indian city; belongs to no region: Jaipal Reddy

Congressmen face Seemandhra fury; power crisis looms

Jagan fasts for united Andhra, claims Sonia paving Rahul's PM path

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