Vol. 5 Num 234 Tue. January 18, 2005       Home  News Today's Index Front Page Business Sports Point-counterpoint Metropolitan National International Culture General Views Editorial Letters to Editor Write to Editor Sections Others About Us Contact Advertisement Supplements Archives International   Abbas asks forces to prevent attacks 2 Palestinians shot dead, Hamas rejects PLO call New Palestinian President Mah-moud Abbas ordered security forces yesterday to prevent all attacks on Israel by militants who have defied his calls for calm, a cabinet minister said.   Politics, bureaucracy and fatigue hit tsunami aid effort Three weeks after one of the worst natural disasters in global memory, survivors of the Asian tsunamis grappled with bureaucracy and politicking Monday as the world's attention turned elsewhere.   Second Term Domestic, foreign policy challenges to haunt Bush President Bush will be confronted by strong domestic and foreign policy challenges as he begins a second term this week that will go a long way toward determining his place in the pantheon of American   US pulls back aid supply ships from Lanka Tigers take flak over child soldiers The US yesterday pulled back two military supply ships deployed for tsunami-relief operations in Sri Lanka even as Canada vowed a long-term commitment of its troops to help the island get back on itsfeet.   Rice hearing to lay out US foreign policy The Bush administration begins to lay out its second term foreign policy agenda this week when Condoleezza Rice undergoes two days of hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.   US not rushing to leave Iraq: Bush President Bush says the US military will pull out of Iraq "as quickly as possible," but he is not endorsing Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement that troops could begin returning home this year.   Underground trains collide in Bangkok: 100 injured Over 100 people were injured in rush-hour crash when an empty underground train collided with another crowded train parked at Thai Cultural Centre station in Bangkok at 9:20 am last morning, Transport   Purged Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang dies Zhao Ziyang, who was ousted as China's Communist Party leader after sympathising with the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests and became a symbol of the era's shattered hopes, died yesterdayafter   Second terms often marked by scandal Every two-term presidency since World War II has been tainted by scandal.   India to appoint body on Kashmir autonomy India said yesterday it would appoint a committee to examine the issue of granting disputed Indian Kashmir more regional autonomy, the United News of India agency reported.     Advertisement