Earthquake kills 13 in central Asia

Afp, Tashkent

A major 6.2 quake in Uzbekistan killed at least 13 people and injured 86 others, when it struck on the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border in the remote Fergana Valley region, Uzbek officials said.
The quake struck at 1:35am (with the epicentre just inside neighbouring Kyrgyzstan but 42 kilometres southwest of the Uzbek city of Fergana, the US Geological Survey said.
"As a result of the earthquake, some old buildings were destroyed in the Fergana region," the Uzbek emergencies ministry said.
It said that the quake registered 5.0 even in the capital Tashkent, some 235 kilometres away from the epicentre.

UN declares famine in southern Somalia

Afp, NairobiUN's definition of famine:
--Acute malnutrition of more than 30 percent of children
--Two deaths per 10,000 people a day
--Access to less than four litres of water and 2,100 kilocalories a day
--Complete loss of assets or income
--Large-scale displacement of people and civil strife
The UN officially declared famine in two parts of southern Somalia yesterday as the world slowly mobilised to save the 12 million people battling hunger in the region's worst drought in 60 years.
The United States urged the al-Qaeda-inspired rebels controlling the area to allow the return of the relief groups they expelled two years ago while aid groups warned many would die without urgent action and funding.
"The United Nations declared today that famine exists in two regions of southern Somalia: southern Bakool, and Lower Shabelle," a statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Somalia said.
The region is Somalia's breadbasket and the UN said that an estimated 3.7 million people -- or nearly half of the war-torn country's population -- were facing a food crisis.
"If we don't act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks," UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia Mark Bowden told reporters.
"If we are not able to intervene immediately, tens of thousands more Somalis may die," the UN added.
Somalia, which has been affected by almost uninterrupted conflict for 20 years and become a by-word for "failed state", is the worst affected nation but parts of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti are also hit.
Famine implies that at least 20 percent of households face extreme food shortages, acute malnutrition in over 30 percent of people, and two deaths per 10,000 people every day, according to UN definition.
Malnutrition rates in Somalia are currently the highest in the world, with peaks of 50 percent in certain areas of southern Somalia, Bowden said.
Over 78,000 Somalis have fled to seek refuge in neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya in the last two months.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation appealed yesterday for $120 million for the 12 million drought victims in the Horn of Africa.
Aid group Oxfam said only $200 million of the needed one billion had been provided.
UN agencies will hold a meeting Monday in Rome over the drought-sparked humanitarian crisis.

Hillary urges India to play lead role in Asia

Afp, ChennaiUS Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged India yesterday to be more assertive in Asia, reflecting US desire for New Delhi to emerge as a counter-weight to Chinese power.
Speaking in the Indian city of Chennai -- a southern trading port looking out towards east Asia -- Clinton argued that India needed to play a bolder leadership role in building security and prosperity in the region.
"India's leadership has the potential to positively shape the future of the Asia-Pacific... and we encourage you not just to look east, but continue to engage and act east as well," she said in Chennai.
Washington has actively courted India, regarding the country as a natural ally because of the two countries' shared belief in democracy, human rights and market-oriented economic policies.
China, militarily and economically superior to India, is Asia's dominant power and has been spreading its influence into India's immediate neighbourhood, notably in Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Beijing has also been involved in several incidents in the disputed South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas, leading to fears it is prepared to assert its power more forcefully.
Clinton stressed that India should play a role as a US ally in regional forums such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a planned East Asia Summit later this year.
She made only one explicit mention of China in the speech, saying that she was "committed to a strong, constructive relationship" between Washington, New Delhi and Beijing.
But alongside the praise and advocacy for India, Clinton returned to the issue of New Delhi's stance on human rights abuses in Asia, which was also highlighted by US President Barack Obama in his visit to the country last year.
India has formed close ties with military-ruled Myanmar, a northeastern neighbour, and the US believes New Delhi should exert more pressure on its generals over the country's record.
On Tuesday, Clinton met Indian leaders in New Delhi including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister SM Krishna to push for easier access to the country's nuclear market and closer security cooperation.
She stressed that the US-India relationship, which President Barack Obama described as the "defining partnership of the 21st century", had made great progress in recent years, but was yet to fulfill its potential.

Taliban deny Mullah Omar death claim

Afp, Kandahar

The Taliban said yesterday that their reclusive one-eyed leader Mullah Omar was alive and accused the United States of hacking their mobile phones to claim that he was dead.
A text message sent to media from a phone belonging to a spokesman for the Islamists said: "Leadership council of IEA announces that Ameer-ul-Mumineen (Mullah Omar) has passed away. May mighty God bless him."
The IEA is the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the name the Taliban gave themselves while in power from 1996 to 2001.
Some journalists also received an email, also seemingly from the Taliban, saying Omar had died from a heart condition, giving a lengthy obituary and naming his successor as Gul Agha, described as a close aide.
But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied Omar's demise and said his phone -- where the text message appeared to come from -- had been hacked.
"We strongly reject this claim. We are not aware of such news. Americans have hacked our mobile phones with advanced technology and sent the message to the media," said Mujahid.
A second Taliban spokesman, Qari Yosuf Ahmadi, told AFP by telephone that the messages were false and made up by Westerners to "deceive the Afghan people".
In a subsequent email he denounced the hacking as "technical larceny" and claimed the Taliban's own technical wizards were on the case.