ID :
124769
Fri, 05/28/2010 - 17:21
Auther :

Indian train collision death toll rises to 25

..

NEW DELHI, May 28 (Itar-Tass) -- The death toll of a train collision
in eastern India rose to 25 on Friday.
The tragedy occurred after a blast derailed a passenger train which
was hit by an oncoming cargo train in an area known to be a stronghold of
Maoist militants.
The blast derailed 13 coaches and the cargo train rammed into them.
The passenger train was going from Mumbai to the eastern Kolkata in
West Bengal state. The incident occurred in Jhargram area.

.Russia to help US with bin Laden, wants help with Umarov.

WASHIGNTON, May 28 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia and the United States are
mounting cooperation in the fight against terrorism and Moscow is
assisting in the search for Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and wants
Washington's help against North Caucasus terrorist Doku Umarov.
"I definitely know that we assisted and continue to provide concrete
assistance in the search for and capture of Osama bin Laden. Specifically
in the search," Russian presidential envoy for international cooperation
in the fight against terrorism and transnational organized crime Anatoly
Safonov told Tass on Thursday.
He said Russia would like the United States to include the Caucasus
Emirate of Doku Umarov into the list of terrorist organizations.
"The issue will be discussed on Friday," said Safonov who co-chairs
the bilateral group on the fight against terrorism.
The U.S. Helsinki Commission urged the State Department to formally
designate Umarov's Caucasus Emirate as a foreign terrorist organization.
It said the group is responsible for recent attacks on the Moscow subway
that killed at least 39 people and is behind more than 60 acts of
terrorism in Russia's North Caucasus in the past three months and trained
20 suicide bombers in 2009. "The Caucasus Emirate cooperates with al-Qaeda
and has declared jihad on the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom,
and Israel", the commission said.
Safonov said the United States has several times informed Moscow about
terrorist acts planned on the Russian territory. "That is a reality, which
is not one-time and fragmentary. It is developing into ongoing practice,"
he said.
Russia and the United States have jointly cut short financing of
terrorist activities by international and American organizations,
according to the envoy who gave no details.
Safonov said the two countries also successfully cooperate in the
fight against the smuggling of radioactive materials and in Afghanistan.

.Medvedev to meet United Russia activists.

MOSCOW, May 28 (Itar-Tass) -- President Dmitry Medvedev will meet over
a hundred activists of the ruling United Russia Party on Friday.
"We shall speak about the work of the party, what it is doing, which
projects is implementing and how it works with supporters," a party
official told Tass.
The party planned to hold a forum on "social dimension of
modernization" on May 31, but postponed it indefinitely because of the
meeting with Medvedev.
"We shall definitely discuss the modernization, but it will not be
the main issue," the official said.
Medvedev is regularly meeting with party representatives. Last year
the United Russia was the first followed by other political parties.

.Putin to promote Customs Union creation.

ST. PETERSBURG, May 28 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin will meet his Belarussian and Kazakh counterparts, Sergei Sidorsky
and Karim Masimov, on Friday to discuss the issues of Customs Union
start-up that remained unresolved since last week meeting.
"It is expected that the prime ministers of the three countries will
continue negotiations on a number of documents regulating the work of the
Customs Union," the Russian government press service said adding experts
carried out "substantive work" in the past week and its results will be
discussed by the prime ministers.
A week ago Putin said "there are sensitive issues for the economies of
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan" and listed car and aircraft production,
customs duties, and consumer goods carried by citizens for personal use.
"We agreed to continue the process of Customs Code ratification,"
Putin said.

.Stavropol mourns terrorist act victims.

STAVROPOL, May 28 (Itar-Tass) -- Stavropol mourns on Friday the
victims of the blast that killed at least seven and wounded over 40 people
on Wednesday.
According to a resolution of regional Governor Valery Gayevsky, flags
will fly at half mast and TV companies and cultural facilities will cancel
all amusements.
The blast occurred 15 minutes before a concert of the Chechen Vainakh
ensemble in the Culture and Sport Palace of the city.
Two women and a 12-year girl were already buried in their native
Chechnya on Thursday.
-0-nec

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