Reuters South Asia News highlights 1200 GMT November 25

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ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security agencies have detained a former army officer for possible links with two men arrested in Chicago on terrorism charges, an army spokesman said on Wednesday.

David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana were arrested last month and accused of planning an attack on Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which ran cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in 2005, sparking protests by Muslims in several countries.

Rana is a Pakistan-born Canadian citizen while Headley is an American citizen who had spent time in Pakistan, which is under U.S. pressure to crack down harder on militants along the border with Afghanistan to help it put down a Taliban insurgency there. [ID:nISL487968]

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QUETTA, Pakistan - Separatist rebels in Pakistan's gas-rich Baluchistan province dismissed on Wednesday proposed reforms for ending their decades-old insurgency as insignificant and a trick.

The government's proposals, unveiled in parliament on Tuesday, are aimed at ending grievances in the southwestern province as security forces grapple with a growing Taliban insurgency on the Afghan border in the northwest.

The proposals include the cessation of military operations against the rebels, the release of detained activists -- except those involved in "terrorism" -- and payment to the province of $1.4 billion over 12 years in gas royalties.

"Our struggle isn't for such peanuts," Sher Mohammad Bugti, a spokesman for the rebel Baluch Republican Party, said by telephone from an undisclosed location. [ID:nSP537714]

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MUMBAI - The paramilitary troops outside the Trident and Taj Mahal hotels suggest a higher level of security a year after militants laid siege to Mumbai, but it may all be a mirage as the country still remains very vulnerable.

While some improvements in security have meant there has not been another attack by Islamist militants since Mumbai, the country's many chaotic cities and its 1.2 billion people make it almost impossible to plug all security loopholes.

"I can't say there won't be another attack or a blast," said D. Sivanandan, Mumbai's police chief. "But if something happens, our response will be quicker and better." [ID:nBOM373635]

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KATHMANDU - At least 15,000 buffalo and "countless" goats and birds were sacrificed in a temple in southern Nepal, organisers said on Wednesday, a ritual billed as the single biggest animal slaughter on earth.

Hindus in Nepal routinely offer animals for sacrifice to appease deities, Especially power goddesses, for good luck and prosperity.

But the festival held every five years at the Gadhimai temple in southern Nepal was condemned this year by animal rights activists, including French actress Brigitte Bardot, who called for an end to the centuries-old ritual of slaughtering animals. [ID:nDEL255809]

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DHAKA - Bangladesh unveiled on Wednesday additional stimulus measures worth 10 billion taka ($145 million) to help exporters weather the impact of global economic recession, the finance minister said.

The impoverished country's economy has been resilient during the global crisis, but lower exports and a slowdown in remittances growth, two mainstays of its economy, could dampen growth prospects, analysts have warned.

Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the previous stimulus package of $500 million will continue as usual. [ID:nDHA534023]

(Compiled by Jijo Jacob; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

((Bangalore Editorial Reference Unit; RM: jijo.jacob.reuters.com@reuters.net, +91 80 4135 5839, fax +91 80 4135 5001))