UK could leave Iraq next year: Talabani
* Iraqi President warns immediate withdrawal would be ‘catastrophic’
* Calls for a gradual pullout
LONDON: Iraqi forces will probably be ready to replace British troops in one year and allow the British to return to home, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in an interview to be broadcast... 
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Australia says pullout would not reduce terrorist threat
SYDNEY: Prime Minister John Howard said pulling Australian troops out of Iraq will not lessen the terrorist threat against his country, and reiterated his commitment to the US-led war on terror. Howard told the Nine television network’s “60 Minutes” programme, broadcast Sunday, that Australia was a...
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Australian Islamic leader rejects call to ‘spy’ on Muslims
SYDNEY: A top Australian Islamic leader on Sunday rejected a call by Prime Minister John Howard for “perverted, fanatical” Muslims to be reported to police. The head of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ameer Ali, made the comment in the wake of the arrest last week of 18 alleged Muslim...
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Palestinians will seek UN probe into Arafat’s death
DAMASCUS: The Palestinians will ask the UN Security Council to set up an international commission to investigate the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a senior Palestinian official said.
Farouk Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s mainstream Fatah faction, made...
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Prince Charles blasted Chinese officials in HK handover journal
LONDON: Scathing remarks against the Chinese government by Britain’s Prince Charles made during the 1997 handover of Hong Kong were revealed in a British newspaper on Sunday. In his journal of the handover, at which he represented his mother Queen Elizabeth II, heir-to-the-throne Charles allegedly described...
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Jordan identifies four Iraqis as attackers
* Deputy PM says would-be female suicide bomber still in custody
AMMAN: The Jordanian government on Sunday gave the names of three Iraqi men and an Iraqi woman who took part in the suicide attacks against luxury hotels in Amman.
Deputy Prime Minister Marwan al-Muasher said the...
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Japan proposes new format for North Korea talks
TOKYO: Japan, involved in a long and bitter row with North Korea over Pyongyang’s abductions of Japanese nationals decades ago, has proposed formally restarting talks aimed at normalising diplomatic relations, Kyodo news agency said on Sunday. Japan and North Korea held two days of talks in Beijing...
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Rice urges Saudis to do more to fight terrorism
* US and Saudi Arabia announce six working groups to improve ties
JEDDAH: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday urged Saudi Arabia to do more to fight terrorism and prevent incitement but the kingdom said it was doing everything it could to fight the scourge.
After a...
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China develops own anti-bird flu drug
BEIJING: China has developed what it calls the equivalent of the anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu in preparation for a feared pandemic if the virus begins spreading among humans. Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, was quoted in the Information Times newspaper as saying...
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Saddam’s lawyers to boycott trial
BAGHDAD: Saddam Hussein’s defence team has insisted it will not take part in the deposed Iraqi leader’s trial to protest what it calls a lack of adequate protection following the murder of two lawyers.
“Because of the murders of members of the collective who carry out their work in a professional...
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Thousands of South Koreans protest against APEC
SEOUL: Thousands of South Koreans joined a labour union-organised protest on the streets of the capital on Sunday against the coming summit of Pacific Rim leaders including US President George W Bush. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit opens this week in the South Korean port city...
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Blair admits facing ‘very rough ride’
LONDON: Prime Minister Tony Blair, battling to maintain his authority after being defeated in parliament over new anti-terrorism powers, admitted he now faced a “very rough ride” pushing through reforms.
But he firmly believed he was right in seeking powers to let police hold terrorist suspects...
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Israel’s political crisis deepens
By Jeffrey Heller
The ‘political bargaining period’ within Israel could make it harder for the United States to push a peace agenda
ISRAEL’S march towards what appears to be an inevitable early election picked up speed on Sunday after new Labour Party leader Amir Peretz threatened...
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R E G I O N: Iran rejects fresh US claim on atomic weapons work
* Foreign Ministry calls claim laughable
* Dismisses allegations as a mere pressure tactic
TEHRAN: Iran on Sunday dismissed fresh US allegations about its atomic ambitions in a bid to blight a crucial meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog later this month.
US officials said new...
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Azerbaijan’s opposition rallies for new elections
BAKU: Thousands of opposition supporters in former Soviet Azerbaijan gathered in the capital Baku on Sunday demanding a re-run of disputed parliamentary elections.
Protestors - many waving orange flags to evoke the ‘Orange Revolution’ which forced new presidential elections in Ukraine last year...
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Prominent Kazakh opposition figure found dead
ALMATY: An outspoken critic of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev was found shot dead late on Saturday, a killing the opposition said clearly had political overtones in the run-up to next month’s presidential election.
Zamanbek Nurkadilov, a 61-year-old former close friend of Nazarbayev,...
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India pressures Nepal king to restore democracy
* King Gyanendra says he is ready to work with political parties
DHAKA: India on Sunday renewed pressure on Nepal’s King Gyanendra to speedily restore multi-party democracy in the Himalayan nation struggling to tackle a violent Maoist revolt and pro-democracy campaigns.
The comments...
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Clarke awarded Sri Lanka’s highest honour
COLOMBO: British science fiction guru, Arthur C Clarke, who had made Sri Lanka his adopted home, has been awarded the island’s highest national honour, a press report said on Sunday.
Clarke, who turns 88 in December, has been honoured with ‘Sri Lankabhimanya,’ and the investiture ceremony will...
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Thousands protests over media curbs in Nepal
KATHMANDU: About 2,000 Nepali journalists, lawyers and teachers marched through Kathmandu on Sunday to protest against a law imposing fresh curbs on the media already restricted since King Gyanendra seized power nine months ago.
The protesters, many with placards in their hands, shouted slogans...
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Delhi police get bomb threat
NEW DELHI: Emergency services on Sunday rushed to Delhi’s police headquarters following a bomb alert which came amid reports of a breakthrough in the probe into blasts which killed 62 shoppers in the Indian capital.
Explosives experts scoured the headquarters as fire trucks raced to the cordoned-off...
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Shoot-on-sight orders intact as Bihar goes to polls
PATNA: Indian police issued shoot-on-sight orders and sounded a red alert in the lawless state of Bihar on Sunday as millions turned out to vote amid fears of attacks by Maoist rebels opposed to the provincial polls.
Some 73,000 paramilitary troopers backed police in the eastern state to guard...
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Sri Lankan vote campaign winding down peacefully
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Sunday banned liquor sales and political rallies ahead of this week’s presidential vote as monitors described campaigning so far as the most peaceful in decades.
The government announced that bars would remain shut for four days before and one day after Thursday’s election...
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Indian crackdown on satellite TV irks foreign channels
NEW DELHI: Stringent new rules imposed by India on international satellite television broadcasters have sparked anger in the industry, where hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake.
The government on Friday unveiled the measures which ban overseas news and sports channels from targeting...
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| Sunday, May 20, 2007
