** Daily News **

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Researchers who launched an experimental cyber attack caused a generator to self-destruct, alarming the federal government and electrical industry about what might happen if such an attack were carried out on a larger scale. Sources said the same attack scenario could be used against huge generators that produce the country’s electric power. full story

Viggo Mortensen is known for doing extensive research on his characters — work that comes in handy when he’s playing, say, a Russian gangster in “Eastern Promises.” He’s also found a simpatico collaborator in director David Cronenberg. full story

An Iraqi police colonel was gunned down near his home in Afak on Sunday, marking the third government official killed in the Iraqi Shiite town in five weeks, an Interior Ministry official said. full story

A Thai airliner crashed killing 87 people Sunday as it tried to land in bad weather at Phuket airport in southern Thailand, health ministry officials said. A further 43 survived with many suffering injuries. full story

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Benchmarks on national Iraqi political progress remain very important despite America’s current emphasis on local successes, the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said on Friday.(More)

Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo revealed he nearly quit football after he was bullied over his accent.

 The Portuguese star claims he was bullied at Sporting Lisbon’s academy after leaving his native Madira at the age of 12, and says he often used to cry down the phone to his mother.

“As soon as I opened my mouth, they immediately started laughing and mocking. I was traumatised. I felt like a clown. I cried with shame,” he revealed. Continue Reading »

The militant Islamic groups banned in Pakistan include several groups which have been often blamed for a stream of sectarian violence in the country.

Tariq took charge of Sipah-e-Sahaba after the death of Jhangvi

The Islamic Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Shia Tehrik-e-Jafria have been accused of attacking followers of the rival sects.

The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is another Sunni group accused of violence.

President Pervez Musharraf says about 400 people were killed in the country in sectarian violence last year.

Sipah-e-Sahaba

Sipah-e-Sahaba - or the Army of Prophet Mohammad’s companions - is a radical group from the majority Sunni sect of Islam.

The group was founded by a Sunni cleric - Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi - in the early 1980s to block the influence of the Iranian Shia revolution in Pakistan.

The next two decades saw an explosion of sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni extremist groups and the death of hundreds of people. Continue Reading »

Ms Bhutto says Pakistan needs “internal reconciliation”

Pakistani ex-PM Benazir Bhutto will return from self-imposed exile on 18 October, despite no power-sharing deal with the government, her party says. A top member of her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) told journalists in Islamabad that Ms Bhutto would “bring back true democracy to Pakistan”.

Ms Bhutto, who has failed to reach a deal with President Musharraf, could face corruption charges on her return.

She says that Gen Musharraf cannot be both president and head of the army.

The BBC’s Barbara Plett, in Islamabad, says Ms Bhutto’s negotiations with the weakened military ruler are unpopular with both her party and with many Pakistanis.

Our correspondent says it is not yet clear whether she will return as the general’s opponent or his main political support. Continue Reading »

TO experience one earthquake is hard enough. But three? Twenty-year-old Vijaya Kumaran Selvarajan testifi ed to such a harrowing experience since he arrived in Indonesia three weeks ago. Vijaya, from Klang, is a fi rstyear medical student at the Universitas Andalas in Padang, Sumatra.

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full story

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