FBI gets Pak nod to grill 26/11 suspects

NEW DELHI: The Pakistani government has given the nod to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. investigative agency, to grill the suspected terrorists of Mumbai attacks, an Indian newspaper reported.

It said that the FBI team will interrogate the suspects within Pakistan however an other FBI team is questioning Ajmal Kasab and other suspects in India.

Pakistan agreed to take the step after the killing of six US citizens including two FBI officials in Mumbai attacks, it said, adding that India and US will share the probe outcome owing to their joint anti terror mechanism.

Pakistan UN official abductors extend deadline

CHAGAI: The hostage takers of UNHCR official John Solecki have extended their deadline of killing the hostage for few days.

Meanwhile, the security forces continued their hunt to recover the kidnapped UN official in Afghan refugees Gardi Jangal camp in Chagai.

The forces have arrested a suspect during the operation and transferred to him to an undisclosed location. The number of the persons arrested during the operation has reached to five.

The forces have also sealed the Pak-Afghan border and stepped up patrolling in the region.

All markets in the Gardi Jangal refugee camp have also been closed.

Pakistan Musharraf opposes Swat peace deal

ISLAMABAD: Former President General (r) Pervez Musharraf Monday criticized government over its peace deal with local Taliban insurgents engaged in Swat, terming it "ridiculous".

“Its really ridiculous to sign a deal with those who killed hundreds of army personnel in Swat,” an apparently-charged Musharraf told media persons in a press conference here Monday, his first official-media appearance since his resignation last year.

He said he had been facing severe hardships during his tenure saying Pakistan Army and Air force had suffered 1500 causalities while combating in terror war.

Drug giant pledges cheap medicine for poor

LONDON: The head of British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said in a British newspaper Saturday he would cut prices for medication in developing countries and share knowledge of patented treatments.

Andrew Witty told the Guardian he believed pharmaceuticals companies had an obligation to help the poor receive treatment and he challenged his rivals to follow GSK's example.

He said: "We work like crazy to come up with the next great medicine, knowing that it's likely to get used an awful lot in developed countries, but we could do something for developing countries."

Are we working as hard on that? I want to be able to say yes we are, and that's what this is all about -- trying to make sure we are even-handed in terms of our efforts to find solutions not just for developed but for developing countries.

"Witty said GSK, the world's second largest pharmaceutical company, would cut its prices in the 50 least developed countries to no more than 25 percent of the levels in Britain and the United States.

He also said any chemicals and processes owned by GSK under patent would be shared with other researchers and 20 percent of the company's profits in the developing world would be re-invested in hospitals and clinics.

Charities such as Oxfam have highlighted the fact that drug patents prevent the poor from obtaining cheaper, generic versions of the same medicine.GSK said this month it would cut jobs, without saying how many, under plans to slash annual costs by 1.7 billion pounds (1.9 billion euros, 2.4 billion dollars) by 2011.

Oil prices rebound in Asia

SINGAPORE: Oil prices rebounded in Asian trade on Wednesday after data showed a decrease in US oil stocks.

New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, gained 40 cents to 37.95 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for March jumped 50 cents to 45.11 ahead of the contract's expiry on Thursday.

Prices rose after the American Petroleum Institute (API), the industry trade association, reported early Wednesday a two-million-barrel drop in oil inventories in the United States.

Market reaction to stockpiles data typically develops only after the US Department of Energyreports its figures, which were due later Wednesday, but the API figures may be evidence that output cuts by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are starting to take effect, Pervan said.

Prices recovered in Asia after plunging during US trading hours on Tuesday over a lack of market confidence in a massive US financial recovery plan that reignited fears over saggingdemand in the world's biggest oil consuming nation, analysts said.

Asia stocks fall amid skepticism over US bank plan

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets dropped today following a steep sell-off on Wall Street. Investors reacted with skepticism to the U.S. government's latest plan to rescue the ailing financial industry with as much as $2 trillion.

One analyst says not even the colossal amounts of money announced in the U.S. are likely to make up the funding shortfall created by risky loans and other distressed assets the banks are holding.

Japan's markets were closed for a holiday while all other major Asian indexes fell. Further weighing on the region were figures showing China's exports plunged 17.5 percent in January -- the sharpest drop in more than a decade -- amid the global slowdown. Wall Street futures were up modestly, suggesting U.S markets could recover some at the open.

Pak to issue Mumbai findings next week: PM

LAHORE: Pakistan will publish findings of its investigation into November's militant attacks in Mumbai early next week, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Friday.

Gilani also said newly appointed U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke would be visiting Pakistan on Monday.

Relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have been strained since militants killed 179 people in Mumbai.

"We will publish a report ... by Monday or Tuesday on the information given in their dossier," Gilani told reporters in Lahore.

India said the dossier contained the confession of a surviving attacker, satellite phone intercepts between the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan, and a list of Pakistani-made weapons used by the militants.

Gilani, announcing that Holbrooke would be visiting on Monday, said there was confusion over the envoy's mandate.

Pakistan had expected the United States to appoint an envoy for South Asia as a whole, including India and the divided Kashmir region, the core dispute between India and Pakistan.

But India objects to any outside effort to get involved in Kashmir, which both Pakistan and India claim in full but rule in part.

"There is still confusion (over) whether he is in charge of the region or he is only confined to Afghanistan and Pakistan," Gilani said, adding terrorism was a regional problem and should be dealt with regionally.

"We welcome Richard Holbrooke for special envoy to Pakistan, Afghanistan and for the region ... and we will discuss with him our regional problems related to terrorism and extremism."

Holbrooke, a foreign policy veteran appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama last month, is also due to visit Afghanistan and India on what a U.S. State Department spokesman said this week would be "an orientation trip".