London, March 19, IRNA – MPs, including former ministers, have joined trade unions and numerous organisations in condemning the latest anti-Muslim protest being held by the right-wing English Defence League (EDL) on Saturday.

Stop the War Coalition, Britain’s main peace group network, is also leading a counter-demonstration against the provocative march planned in Bolton, north-west England.

“The EDL is a group of racists and football hooligans with close links to the fascist British National Party,” the MPs said in a joint statement obtained by IRNA.

By IANS,

New Delhi: In a "significant movement forward" after a five-year hiatus, India and Bangladesh have agreed to expeditiously finalise an agreement on sharing waters of the Teesta river.

The two sides exchanged their draft documents after the two-day ministerial-level water talks that concluded here Friday.

By IANS,

Islamabad: Pakistan faces a staggering 4,500 MW power shortfall, leading to outages of up to 16 hours in rural areas.

On Friday, the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) said that the total demand was for 13,026 MW, while only 9,426 MW could be supplied across the country.

The gap between demand and supply could rise due to water shortage in reservoirs and this would severely affect consumers, The News Saturday quoting a source in PEPCO as saying.

By Rabbi Naftali Rothenberg

By DPA,

Dhaka : Bangladesh has suspended operations of three private phone operators in less than a week for allegedly running unlicenced phone services, a spokesman of the telecom regulatory body said Friday.

The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission closed the offices of Ranks Telecom Ltd, or RanksTel, a private firm licensed in 2004 as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), as the government was convinced that the operator runs an illegal business using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), for which it is not licenced.

By IANS,

Islamabad : At least 21 militants were killed in a clash with tribesmen in northwest Pakistan, sources said Friday.

Xinhua news agency reported that during a Jirga (tribal council meeting) Thursday in Nekah Ziarat area of Kurram tribal agency, pro-government tribesmen opened fire on militants of the Pakistani Taliban, killing 21 and injuring several more.

The Taliban militants have an active presence in Pakistan's northwest where the security forces regularly conduct search and clearance operations in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

By IANS,

Abu Dhabi : The rich tradition of Islamic embroidery, from Pakistan to Morocco, will be showcased at an exhibition starting April 6 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital, WAM news agency said Friday.

The exhibition, "A Story of Islamic Embroidery in Nomadic and Urban Traditions", will bring together more than 200 rare and majestic textiles, including a wealth of embroideries from Central Asia that have never been exhibited before in the region.

By DPA,

Moscow : Leaders of the so-called Middle East Quartet of the UN, US, European Union and Russia are meeting in Moscow Friday for talks on the way forward in the impasse on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

However the talks come against a backdrop of strained US-Israeli relations after the announcement of new Jewish settlement building in East Jerusalem, and overnight Israeli bombing raids against targets in Gaza.

By IANS,

Islamabad: India is facing an internal divide on the issue of talks with Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said here Thursday.

Talking to journalists ahead of the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue in Washington March 24, Qureshi asserted that there was no clarity in India over effective engagement with Pakistan.

"Pakistan is a responsible country and we have no need for any certificate," he said.

By IRNA,

Tehran : The UN World Food Program announced Thursday that it has contracted eight mills in Pakistan’s conflict-affected Swat Valley to produce fortified wheat flour in a bid to boost the local economy and make food more easily accessible to families in the area.