Digest of int'l news for the week Feb 26-Mar 5

Saturday  

Washington: The US categorically tells Pakistan that it will not get any atomic power plant or civilian nuclear deal on the lines of the one signed with India.  

Santiago: A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Chile killing at least 78 people, collapsing buildings and setting off a tsunami.  

Sunday  

Tokyo: Japan and Russia go on alert, clearing tens of thousands of people out of vulnerable coastal areas as a tsunami triggered by Chile's massive killer quake powers across the Pacific.  

Riyadh: Stoking another controversy, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor says Saudi Arabia can be a "valuable interlocutor" between India and Pakistan but quickly clarifies he does not mean Riyadh should be a mediator.  

Monday  

Riyadh: India and Saudi Arabia vow to jointly combat terrorism and money laundering as they sign an Extradition Treaty and several agreements to raise their cooperation to a strategic partnership covering security, economic, energy and defence areas.  

Peshawar: Two Sikhs, abducted by Taliban, have been rescued by security forces in the restive Khyber tribal region in northwest Pakistan, a week after two members of the community were beheaded by the militants, a military spokesman says.

Tuesday  

Melbourne: In a fresh incident of violence against Asians in Australia, a Sri Lankan man and his Indian wife are attacked and racially abused by a group of drunken men at their home here.  

Washington: A NASA radar aboard India's maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 detects craters filled with thick deposits of ice near the moon's north pole.  

Wednesday

Washington: Amid indications emerging of Pakistan-based LeT's involvement in the attack on Indians in Kabul, the top US envoy for the region cautions against jumping to conclusions, says Indian facility was not the target.  

Islamabad: Twenty men, who allegedly helped plan and facilitate the Mumbai attacks including several LeT members, figure in a list of 119 most wanted terrorists in Pakistan.  

Thursday  

Islamabad: With India asking Pakistan to hand over JuD chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Mohd Saeed, the Foreign Office here says that it is not aware of any such demand from New Delhi.  

Melbourne: Foreign Minister Stephen Smith's unexpected meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi is termed as a "positive sign" by the government in Australia's efforts to deal with the issue of attacks on Indians.

Friday  

Washington: A man calmly walks up to the Pentagon's screening area opened fire at the metro station entrance, wounding two police officers before being shot at and critically injured.  

Islamabad: A fresh dossier on the Mumbai attacks provided by India is handed over to Interior Minister Rehman Malik by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir.