KABUL: Afghanistan's ruling Taliban Islamic militia has sent a senior delegation to Turkmenistan for talks aimed at strengthening bilateral relations, the official Radio Shariat said here on Thursday.The delegation, led by Taliban Deputy Foreign Minister Maulvi Abdur Rahman Zahid, arrived in the Turkmen capital, Ashkabad, on Tuesday.The delegation will discuss reconstruction of Afghanistan's electric power installations, highways and airline routes between the two countries, the official radio said.

Schroeder goes to US

BERLIN:The German Chancellor Schroeder flew to the US on Thursday with a number of contentious items on his agenda for discussion with US officials.They included the crisis in the Serbian province of Kosovo, compensation by German firms for slave labourers forced to work for them during World War II, and the future of the archives of the former East German secret police being held by the US, which Germany wants returned. Schroeder has also appealed for twoGerman brothers, due to be executed for murder in Arizona in the next two to three weeks, to be spared.

Designs on Vatican

BEIJING: China today asked Vatican to snap diplomatic relations with Taiwan if it wants to `improve' relations with Beijing. ` The Vatican must sever diplomatic ties with taiwan, promise not to interfere in China's internal affairs and not attempt to interfere through religious channels,'' Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said here spelling out the details of Beijing's conditions for establishing diplomatic ties with Vatican. Zhang said she was unaware of a recent report saying the Vatican plans to open an office in the Chinese capital.

Clashes in Bangla

DHAKA: Normal life in Bangladesh remained disrupted for the third day today as toll in the violence related to the three-day opposition-led general strike rose to four. While an activist of the ruling Awami League's youth wing, was killed in a bomb attack on an anti-strike rally in south-westerndistrict of Khulna, another was killed in a blast in Dhaka when he was allegedly preparing bombs late on Wednesday. More than 400 persons have been injured in different parts of the country since Tuesday following the strike, sponsored by the opposition alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former premier Khaleda Zia.

New smart tyre

London: Engineers in the US have designed a new smart tyre that will tell drivers when it is going flat or needs to be replaced, New Scientist magazine has said. The smart tyre, developed by researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company, uses tiny temperature and pressure sensors with microscopic components. ``Each tyre also contains an id chip that helps tyre makers keep track of their stock. To identify a tyre, or read its temperature of pressure, a radio signal is sent out by a transmitter built into a vehicle or a hand-held scanner,'' the magazine said. Although Goodyear has alreadysuccessfully tested the sensor in truck tyres the company has not announced when it will be available in cars.Rushdie: Envoy clarifies

DUBAI: INDIA'S ambassador to Iran R S Rathore confirmed he had met Iranian foreign ministry officials this week to discuss the issuance of visa to author Salman Rushdie but declined to reveal anything on the talks. ``I have given a detailed report to the External Affairs Ministry and you may ask any information from them,'' Rathore said over phone from Tehran.A news agency quoting daily `Sobh-e-Emrooz' had reported that Iran had summoned Rathore demanding India's explanation why it issued a visa to Rushdie against whom the late Ayatollah Khomeini had issued a death decree in 1989 for allegedly blaspheming Islam in the novel `The Satanic Verses'.