Kosi Barrage, Sept 5: Engineers working at the Kosi Barrage in Nepal have said that the river would continue to change its course if heavy silt deposits are not removed.

A dam on the river in Nepal breached earlier this month causing the Kosi to change its course, swamping hundreds of villages in Bihar and destroying more than 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of farmland.

Till date, the river has breached its embankment 8 times in a span of just 50 years and government officials as well as the engineers are being blamed for the catastrophe said to largely manmade.

Over the last 250 years, the river has shifted its course over 160 kilometres from east to west.

Islamabad, Sept 5: Pakistan has reportedly offered to open intra-Kashmir trade, i. e between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, as soon as possible and hold a meeting in Islamabad in this regard.

According to Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir extended the proposal to Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal in a meeting held at the Foreign Office last evening.

“Pakistan's proposal is in pursuit of the agreement-in-principle already reached at the foreign secretary-level talks on July 21, 2008 held in New Delhi,” The News quoted the spokesman as saying.

Peshawar, Sept 5: The Pakistani unit of Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) has reportedly warned a pro-Pakistan Government tribe in the Bajaur Agency to stop co-operating with the government or face militant action.

According to sources in the Salarzai Tribe, Bajaur Agency Taliban commander Faqir Muhammad last evening warned them (Salarzai Tribe) to stop co-operating with the government or face militant action.

Asian stocks were trading lower on Thursday due to weak market sentiment. Technical Analysts blame global slowdown for the recent drop in stock markets.

Kabul - In the most recent clashes in volatile southern Afghanistan at least 36 Taliban militants were killed, officials said Wednesday.

A group of Taliban militants attacked a convoy of Afghan and US-led coalition forces in Faizabad area of Nawbahar in southern Zabul province on Tuesday, sparking a three-hour gun battle in the area, Ghulom Jailani Farahi, provincial security chief, said.

The combined forces called in air support and as a result 21 Taliban militants were killed, he said, adding that no Afghan or coalition soldiers were killed or wounded in the firefight.

Peshawar, Sept 3: The Pakistan unit of the Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) claimed to have kidnapped two Chinese telecommunications engineers and two Pakistanis, as a mark of protest against federal government’s attacks on militants.

They said that such abductions would continue until the government stopped attacking militants.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the two Chinese engineers, their guard and driver were in the custody of his colleagues. He said the four were in good health. “Our aim is to hit the government’s interests wherever they are. We kidnap everyone irrespective of whether he’s Pakistani or Chinese and we’ll continue to do this until they stop killing our people,” the Daily Times quoted Khan as saying.