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| April 21, 2006 | Friday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 22, 1427 |
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Military shift to Pacific a ‘hedge’ against China: Pentagon explains strategy
WASHINGTON, April 20: The United States is equipping its forces for high-tech expeditionary warfare, in part as a hedge against the uncertainties posed by China’s military build-up, a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday.... 
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Hu assures US of trade concessions: Bush seeks help over N. Korea
WASHINGTON, April 20: Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged to President George Bush on Thursday that China would make its currency more flexible and take other steps to reduce a huge trade surplus with the United States....
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Spectre of failed state looms over Hamas
RAMALLAH, April 20: A massive fiscal squeeze on the Hamas-led government has led to warnings that the Palestinian people could become residents of a failed state even before they achieve independence....
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US ready to call for cut in UN aid to Iran
VIENNA, April 20: The United States will call for the UN atomic agency to cut off technical assistance to Iran if diplomatic efforts falter in getting Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment, diplomats said on Thursday....
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MPs reject five of Karzai’s nominees
KABUL, April 20: Afghanistan’s parliament on Thursday rejected five of President Hamid Karzai’s 25 proposed ministers in a secret ballot....
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US expenses in Iraq double: study
WASHINGTON, April 20: By this spring America’s annual war expenditures in Iraq will have nearly doubled since the US invasion more than three years ago, say two separate reports by an official and a private research organisations....
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US not to wait for consensus, says Rice
CHICAGO, April 20: US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice expressed confidence on Wednesday that a diplomatic solution will be found to the Iranian nuclear crisis, but warned that military options remain...
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US attack on Iran plausible: analysts
PARIS, April 20: As East and West stand divided over how to respond to Iran’s nuclear programme, analysts warned on Thursday that a US-led military strike had become a plausible outcome to the crisis....
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Annan asks Iran to help resolve crisis
UNITED NATIONS, April 20: Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for a ‘negotiated solution’ of the Iran crisis....
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9/11 victims kin support Moussaoui
ALEXANDRIA, April 20: Defence lawyers called more relatives of Sept 11 victims on Thursday to testify for Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, hoping to influence the jury who will be asked within days whether he should be put to death....
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51 drown in Assam bus accident
GUWAHATI, April 20: At least 51 people were killed on Thursday when a bus carrying a wedding party skidded off the road and slid into a pond in India’s northeast, police said....
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US intent on punishing Palestinians
LONDON: Monday’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv rightly drew international condemnation, yet criticism of Israel’s relentless shelling of civilian population centres in the occupied Gaza Strip has been blocked by the US at the UN Security Council....
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China’s influence in S. E. Asia growing
WASHINGTON: As the world’s most populous country and the fourth largest economy, China has undeniable global influence. Chinese President Hu Jintao’s meeting in Washington with US President George W....
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Somaliland — a beacon of stability in Africa
HARGEISA: It was the little things: smiles; handshakes; driving from the airport without an armed escort; seeing a traffic warden, a public library, a government ministry building; not seeing a gun or hearing a gunshot....
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Iraqis turn to internet blogs
BAGHDAD: Zeyad is a 27-year-old dentist. He works for a government clinic with broken dental chairs and no anaesthetics. At home, when gunfire rattles his neighbourhood, Zeyad’s family cowers in one room while he types away on his computer....
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The failure of French socialists
PARIS: The leftwing coalition was jubilant. The right-of-centre government had been defeated, the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, humiliated and the already weakened president, Jacques Chirac, given another damaging kick while he was down....
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