KABUL: Anti-Taliban troops in northwestern Afghanistan are bracing for a militia counter attack after securing a 70 km strip of highway, the opposition said on Monday. Opposition spokesman Abdullah said Faryab was entering a lull after more than a week of battles with the religious militia. ``It is quiet and at the moment we believe the Taliban are regrouping to stage an attack on the area,'' he said. Abdullah said troops of opposition commander Ahmad Shah Masood now occupy the Morghab road from just outside the provincial town of Maimana to Quromgol in the north.VLADIVOSTOK: Helicopters and boats rescued more than 100 Russian anglers from the ice floe off the Pacific island of Sakhalin on Monday after it broke away from the shore, an emergency services spokesman on the island said. He was unaware of others still missing. Around 30 were able to save themselves when the ice was washed back to shore. Earlier reports had put the number of those adrift at 400. Fishing through holes cut in the iceis a popular pastime in Russia and the deaths and accidents are frequent.KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyers for Malaysia's ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim on Monday filed a defamation suit against Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad seeking 100 million ringgit ($26.3 million) in damages. Karpal Singh, one of Anwar's lawyers, said additional defamation suits were also being prepared against a Malaysian daily along with the Atlanta-based Cable News Network (CNN) and the weekly magazine Newsweek. ``This is certainly not a publicity stunt. It is a very serious matter. Severe humiliation has been subjected upon him and his family,'' he told reporters. A statement said Mahathir allegedly defamed his former deputy in remarks made at a news conference on September 22, two days after Anwar was arrested following a massive rally calling on the prime minister to step down. The announcement came ahead of the resumption of Anwar's corruption trial, which enters its 13th week on Tuesday.BEIJING: Chineselawmakers will take up later this week a proposal by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) to amend the country's existing constitution, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. The unspecified amendments to the 1982 constitution will be taken up by the Chinese parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), here on Friday, Xinhua said. It gave no other details about the proposed changes. The amendments were proposed last week at a meeting of a standing committee of the congress presided over by Chairman Li Peng, Xinhua said. The proposed amendments are expected to be passed at the forthcoming congress session, given the Communist Party's overwhelming dominance in the legislature.
