Shorttakes
Afghan investigating team confirms killing 90 civilians
The Afghan Government’s investigating team into the case of killing
civilians by U.S. air strikes in western Herat province has found that
90 non-combatants were killed in the raids on Aug. 22, a statement
released by the Presidential Palace Sunday said.
The Minister for Haji and Religious Affairs and head of the
investigation team Nimatullah Shahrani said that the air strikes left 90
civilians dead and injured six others while presenting his report to
President Hamid Karzai. Xinhua
Owner of Russian opposition website killed
An opposition Internet news site owner in Russia’s troubled
Ingushetia region was fatally shot on Sunday soon after being detained
by police, and his colleagues called for a rally to protest his death.
Yevloyev, owner of the www.Ingushetiya.ru website, was a vocal critic
of the region’s Kremlin-backed administration, accused by opponents of
crushing dissent and free speech.
Reuter.
China plans to beat own fastest train service record
China plans to beat its own record for the world’s fastest train
service when a new link between Beijing and Shanghai opens by 2012, a
state newspaper reported on Monday. The domestically developed train
would run at 380 kpk (236 mph), slicing five or more hours off the
current journey to just four hours, the official China Daily quoted
Zhang Shuguang, the Ministry of Railways’ deputy chief engineer, as
saying.
China already claims the record for the fastest train service in the
world, for the Beijing-Tianjin line, though there are trains in France
which have higher operational speeds.
“It is possible that we can start to manufacture 380-kph trains in
two years’ time, and put them into service on the Beijing-Shanghai
high-speed railway,” Zhang added.
Reuters
Chinese paper lashes out at India-U.S. nuclear deal
China’s top newspaper called a nuclear agreement between India and
the United States a “major blow” to non-proliferation, raising pressure
as the deal faces opposition in an international atomic cartel.
The commentary on Monday in the People’s Daily, the ruling Chinese
Communist Party’s official paper, was a rare public response from
Beijing on the controversial U.S. proposal to lift a ban on nuclear
trade with India.
Diplomats in Vienna said on Sunday that a revised U.S. proposal to
lift the ban did not sufficiently ease fears the move could compromise
efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
Reuters
Fire kills 20 cats and dogs
A suspicious fire at a rural home in Hong Kong on Monday killed 20
cats and dogs, the government said.
Government spokesman Lam Tsz-wai said the animals were locked up in
four cages in a 30 foot by 13 foot (9 meter by 4 meter) space.
Lam said the fire was suspicious because it broke out in several
locations at the house in Hong Kong’s suburban New Territories. Police
said it was being investigated as a suspected arson case.
Lam did not say how many cats and how many dogs were in the cages,
but just that there were 20 animals in total.
Radio RTHK quoted the animals’ owner as saying most were strays.
AP
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