High Security alert in India

Helicopters are keeping watch overhead and authorities have urged calm amid fears the ruling could spark unrest.
The Allahabad High Court will decide who owns land where Hindu mobs tore down a 16th Century mosque in 1992.
Hindus claim the site of the Babri Masjid is the birthplace of their God, Rama, and want to build a temple there.

The destruction of the mosque led to widespread rioting between Hindus and Muslims in which some 2,000 people died.

It was some of the worst religious violence since the partition of India in 1947.
Peace appeal The high court ruling in the Ayodhya case is due to be announced in the city of Lucknow, in Uttar Pradesh state, on Thursday at 1530 local time (1000 GMT).
Of the three judges who will give the verdict, two are Hindu and one is Muslim.
The BBC's Soutik Biswas in Delhi says whichever way the ruling goes, it will be a test for India's secular identity.
Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Wednesday that there would be 190,000 security personnel on duty in the state for the ruling.
Mobile phone text message services have been temporarily banned in an attempt to prevent anyone from inciting violence and a media watchdog has appealed to broadcasters to avoid showing inflammatory images, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi reports.
"The central government has taken adequate measures and has deployed adequate forces to assist state governments in maintaining peace," Mr Chidambaram told a press conference in Delhi.
"I once again appeal to the people to maintain peace."

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INDIA'S LONG-RUNNING DISPUTE

• Ayodhya dispute centres around land 130ft (40m) x 90ft (27m) where the mosque stood
• Court cases over the issue date back to 1949 - so far 18 judges have heard the case
• A 1992 report blamed top Hindu nationalist politicians for a role in the demolition
• A key issue is whether the temple was demolished on the orders of Mughal emperor Babar in 1528
• Other questions are whether the mosque was built according to Islamic law and whether idols were put inside it by Hindus in 1949

• Timeline: Ayodhya holy site crisis

Mr Chidambaram said all state governments had been "advised to be firm and maintain public peace and order and I'm sure they will do it".

Correspondents say the authorities are anxious as the legal decision could have potentially explosive consequences.
An appeal for peace, signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has appeared in several Indian newspapers urging people to respect the rule of law and abide by the court order.
Correspondents say the Ayodhya ruling could not have come at a worse time for the authorities - they already have their hands full dealing with security preparations for the Delhi Commonwealth Games which begin on Sunday.
Moreover, many troops are engaged in fighting Maoist rebels across vast tracts of India and the worsening situation in Indian-administered Kashmir has added to security problems.
The court ruling was due last Friday but the Supreme Court deferred the decision, saying it wanted to give Hindus and Muslims more time to resolve the dispute amicably. On Tuesday it said the high court could proceed.
Correspondents say Thursday's ruling is unlikely to be final and it is expected that the judgement will be appealed.

www.bbc.co.uk

U.N. delegates walk out during Iranian president`s speech

United Nations: Delegates from the United States and other nations walked out of the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a fiery speech that criticized Washington, capitalism and the world body itself.

Though incendiary statements from Ahmadinejad are nothing new, tension in the hall grew as the Iranian leader recounted various conspiracy theories about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

"Some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack," Ahmadinejad told the General Assembly. He followed with the claim that the attacks were aimed at reversing "the declining American economy and its scripts on the Middle East in order to save the Zionist regime. The majority of the American people, as well as most nations and politicians around the world, agree with this view."

That appeared to be the last straw for many of the diplomats. Representatives from the United States, Britain, Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Uruguay and Spain walked out while Ahmadinejad asserted that U.S. government was involved in the attacks or allowed them to happen as an excuse to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Video: Former Diplomat: Iran regime not valid

President Barack Obama already had delivered his address to the General Assembly and had left the grounds before Ahmadinejad spoke. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president "found the comments to be outrageous and offensive, given how close we are to ground zero," the New York site of the attacks.

And Mark Kornblau, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N., said in a statement, "Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people, Mr. Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable."

A European Union diplomat said that all 27 member nations had agreed to walk out if Ahmadinejad made inflammatory statements during his address.

The exits did not deter the Iranian leader from his line of attack, however. Ahmadinejad went on to compare the death toll in the September 11 attacks to the casualty count in the wars in Afghanistan in Iraq.

"It was said that some 3,000 people were killed on September 11th, for which we are all very saddened," he said. "Yet, up until now in Afghanistan and Iraq, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, millions wounded and displaced, and the conflict is still going on and expanding."

Ahmadinejad also continued the attack on capitalism that he began during a Monday address at the Millennium Global Development Summit. He linked the U.S.-led conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan with wars for colonial expansion in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The Iranian president also touched on the recent controversy over a Florida pastor`s plans to burn copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, by waving copies of a Bible and a Quran as he declared his respect and reverence for both. And he concluded his address with a defense of Iran`s nuclear ambitions, discussing a recently submitted statement to the U.N.`s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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