Jakarta - Going home for Eid al-Fitr is seen as an obligation for Muslims, but when you live in Indonesia - the world's fourth most-populous nation which is also the world's most-populous Muslim country - the journey can be a logistical nightmare.

The obstacles do not daunt millions of Muslims who have just completed the Ramadan month of fasting - during which they are barred from eating, drinking or having sex from dawn to dusk - and are now ready to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, or what the locals call Lebaran.

"Going home for Eid al-Fitr celebration is quite an exhaustive journey. But we're happy," claims Sungkono, the father of three. "It's an occasion of double joy - and a double headache."

Lahore, Sept 25: NWFP Governor Owais Ghani has said that the US should talk to Mullah Omar in order to negotiate peace in Afghanistan. Further elaborating his suggestion, he said that the West must hold talks with the Taliban as “Al Qaeda was regrouping from Iraq to Afghanistan”.

Urging the US to ‘talk’ to militant commanders in Afghanistan to establish peace, Ghani said: “They have to talk to Mullah Omar, certainly – not maybe, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Jalaluddin Haqqani group.”

Lahore, Sept 25: The Fidayeen-e-Islam (FI), a terrorist outfit which claimed responsibility for the Marriott Hotel suicide blast in Islamabad last Saturday killing 60 people, has reportedly threatened to target every person facilitating the US Army in Pakistan.

In a message received by an Arab TV office in Islamabad, the FI rejected the Pentagon’s claim that only two US marines had been killed in the Marriott blast, reported the Daily Times.

Beijing  - At least one person died and tens of thousands were evacuated Wednesday as Typhoon Hagupit brought gales and torrential rain to much of southern China.

The storm first hit the Philippines, where rescuers struggled to save 13 miners trapped for two days in a flooded shaft as the nation's death toll from Hagupit rose to eight, officials there said.

The rescue operation was slowed down by floodwaters inside the mineshaft in the northern town of Itogon in Benguet province, 225 kilometres north of Manila, said Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin, a regional police chief.

Islamabad, Sept 23: On Monday, the first working day in Pakistan after Saturday’s hotel blast claiming 60 lives, streets and shopping centres wore a deserted look and fear was still visible on people’s faces.

All major shopping areas, including Aabpara Market, Melody Market, Super Market, Jinnah Super Market and hotels in Blue Area, which used to be lousy with shoppers from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and other suburban areas, gave the look of some “one-horse town”, reported the Daily Times.

Islamabad, Sept 23: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation, which was in Islamabad to hold technical consultations with the Pakistani authorities on the macro-economic stabilisation plan, has reportedly cut short its visit due to "security reasons" after Saturday's hotel blast killing 60 people.

The delegation, which was to stay in Pakistan till Wednesday, flew back to Washington on Monday due to "security reasons", reported the Daily Times.