Almaty (Kazakhstan), Aug. 25: If there are places to assimilate the impact of multi-culturalism and modernisation, Almaty, the "Apple City" of Kazakhstan should make the list in more ways than one.

At least that is the first impression that one gets on seeing the city, widely regarded as the cultural and business capital of Kazakhstan, for the first time.

Islamabad - At least 10 people were killed on Saturday as pro-Taliban militants attacked the residence of a member of parliament in North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP), officials said.

Dozens of heavily-armed militants targeted the house of Waqar Ahmad Khan with several rockets in Kabal area of the restive Swat valley.

Waqar was not in the house when the attack took place but his brother Iqbal Khan died as did his two nephews. Seven bodyguards were also killed in the raid, police said.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan/Moscow - At least 65 people are believed dead in the crash of an Itek Air Boeing 737 passenger liner shortly after takeoff from Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, the Kyrgyz authorities said early Monday.

The ill-fated airliner, bound for Tehran, was completely consumed by fire, according to the Civil Defence Ministry.

Tokon Mamitov, an advisor to Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev, announced the revised death toll, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported.

Lahore, Aug 23: Pakistan’s Indus Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah has alleged that India was filling the Baglihar Dam in clear violation of the Indus Basin Water Treaty, bringing the inflow in Chenab River down to a historic low of 20,000 cusecs.

This has forced Pakistan to launch a protest with India’s Indus Commissioner, he added.

“Although the Indians can fill the dam between June 21 and Aug 31, they can only do so by releasing at least 55,000 cusecs downstream. We made a call to the Indian Indus Basin Water Treaty Commissioner who promised to get back after checking the facts from irrigation authorities in occupied Kashmir,” the Dawn quoted Ali Shah as saying.

New Delhi, Aug. 22: At least three people were killed by a 5.9-magnitude tremor in China’s Yunnan Province.

According to a China View report, two quakes were recorded in Yingjiang, a county on the Sino-Myanmar border, on Thursday: one 4.9-magnitude event at 8:20 p. m. and another 5.9-magnitude quake four minutes later.

Provincial officials said 106 people were injured, including 24 seriously. They also said that about 120,000 people had to be evacuated.

There was also damage to transport, power, water and communications infrastructure, as well as education and health facilities.

Blackouts were reported in the county seat of Yingjiang and some of its townships. Some areas got their power back by
10:20 p. m. on Thursday.

Beijing - About 1,200 people were evacuated Wednesday after an earthquake measuring 5 on the Richter scale damaged homes in China's south-western province of Yunnan, the government and state media said.

The State Seismological Bureau said it recorded the quake at 5:35 am (2135 GMT Tuesday) with an epicentre in Yunnan's Yingjiang county and a depth of about 10 kilometres.

Many homes collapsed in towns and villages close to the epicentre and about 1,200 people were evacuated, the official Xinhua news agency quoted local authorities as saying.