Political Briefs At 5: Musharraf-US pact; nuke deal; Left setback

[K.Karthik Raja]

Political Briefs At 5: Musharraf-US pact; nuke deal; Left setback
Wednesday, Jul 2
Developments today at home and abroad - updates at 12PM and 5PM

TOP NEWS
--------
SECRET PACT? US has an agreement with President Musharraf to launch
direct
attacks targeting elusive Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan
without
prior permission from Islamabad, reports said today.
.
.
THE HOME FRONT
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NEW ALLY: In a strong hint the Congress has indeed got Samajwadi Party
on
board, the National Security Advisor will brief the SP on US nuke deal
at 5PM
today. The Left sticks to its threat of pulling out if the deal is
done.
.
LEFT SETBACK: After last month's panchayat poll, the CPI(M) in West
Bengal
suffered yet another setback today, losing three of 13 municipalities
to
Trinamool Congress and another to Congress in the civic elections.
.
JAMMU VIOLENCE: Ten people were injured when protesters, opposing
revocation
of land transfer to Amarnath shrine board, clashed with police in
several
places in the Jammu region despite curfew.
.
TRUCKERS' STIR: Millions of truckers have gone on an indefinite
nationwide
strike today to protest higher taxes and rising fuel bills. Truckers
unions
are meeting the government today on their demands.
.
.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TERROR HUB: Vowing to root out extremism, ruling PPP's chief Zardari
today said
Pakistan is now the "petri dish of international terrorism", blaming
the West
for using the country for short-term gains.
.
MONGOLIA EMERGENCY: Soldiers today patrolled Ulan Bator, Mongolia's
capital
after a state of emergency was declared to quell deadly protests that
erupted
amid outrage over disputed national elections.
.
ZIMBABWE DIALOGUE: An African Union summit Tuesday adopted a
resolution calling
for dialogue between Zimbabwe's political foes and a national unity
government
following President Mugabe's widely discredited re-election.
.
.
OF INTEREST
-----------
GANDHI SPEECH: A recording of a historic speech by Mahatma Gandhi, one
of the
only two of him speaking in English, made a few months before his
assassination
has been found in Washington, preserved by a veteran journalist.
.
(Compiled by Ranjana Chauhan from NW18, newspaper Web sites, agency,
and
television reports)


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