Three Turkish soldiers killed in PKK attack – TV

July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 6 (Reuters) – Kurdish guerrillas killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded three in an attack on a military outpost in southeast Turkey overnight, broadcaster CNN Turk reported on Tuesday.

It said the attack by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas occurred in the Semdinli district of Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq.

Officials were not immediately available for comment on the report.

The PKK has stepped up attacks against the military in southeast Turkey after ending a 14-month ceasefire at the start of June.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in a conflict that began in 1984 when the PKK took up arms against the state with the aim of creating a separate Kurdish homeland. (Reporting by Daren Butler)

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Saudi spends $1.6 billion to house displaced near Yemen

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has allocated 6 billion riyals ($1.6 billion) to build 6,000 houses for citizens who were displaced from areas bordering Yemen after a two-month conflict with Yemeni Shi’ite rebels.

World

The official SPA news agency said the money would also fund the construction of basic educational and health infrastructure at five sites in the southern Jazan province.

Citizens who have been living in areas bordering Yemen would be housed in these new developments, SPA added.

The Saudi army started in November a campaign against what it said were intrusions into its territory by Yemeni Shi’ite rebels who were accusing Riyadh of letting Yemeni troops use its territory to attack them.

At least 113 Saudi soldiers were killed in the fighting which ended with a truce in January.

Western diplomats have been expecting Riyadh to provide adequate housing for thousands of citizens who live in the relatively poor southern region along the porous border with Yemen, some of whom rely on smuggling for their subsistence.

Before the conflict with the Yemeni rebels, Saudi Arabia started laying out basic infrastructure for the so-called Jazan Economic City in the hope of attracting $30 billion in investments to create an industrial hub that would create much-needed jobs for the population there.

(Reporting by Souhail Karam)

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Saudi spends $1.6 bln to house displaced near Yemen

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 20 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has allocated 6 billion riyals ($1.6 billion) to build 6,000 houses for citizens who were displaced from areas bordering Yemen after a two-month conflict with Yemeni Shi’ite rebels.

The official SPA news agency said the money would also fund the construction of basic educational and health infrastructure at five sites in the southern Jazan province.

Citizens who have been living in areas bordering Yemen would be housed in these new developments, SPA added.

The Saudi army started in November a campaign against what it said were intrusions into its territory by Yemeni Shi’ite rebels who were accusing Riyadh of letting Yemeni troops use its territory to attack them.

At least 113 Saudi soldiers were killed in the fighting which ended with a truce in January.

Western diplomats have been expecting Riyadh to provide adequate housing for thousands of citizens who live in the relatively poor southern region along the porous border with Yemen, some of whom rely on smuggling for their subsistence.

Before the conflict with the Yemeni rebels, Saudi Arabia started laying out basic infrastructure for the so-called Jazan Economic City in the hope of attracting $30 billion in investments to create an industrial hub that would create much-needed jobs for the population there. (Reporting by Souhail Karam)

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McChrystal expects Afghan progress by year-end – Gates

June 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, expects to make solid progress in the conflict across the country by the end of this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday. Speaking at the end of a gathering of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Gates said the road ahead would be “long and hard” but said progress in the offensive so far was sustainable.

“General McChrystal told the ministers that he is confident that he will be able to show progress in the south and across the country and that the strategy is working by the end of the year,” Gates told reporters.

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Taliban in secret unofficial talks over Afghanistan in Maldives?

May 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 21(ANI): The Taliban is reportedly holding secret unofficial talks over Afghanistan at an undisclosed location in the Maldives.

It is not clear whom the Taliban are talking to, but a Maldivian Government statement has indicated that it might be with the officials not directly connected with the Afghanistan Government.

“We cannot disclose the location of the talks, although we can confirm that they are not being held in Male or other population centres,” ABC quoted the statement, as saying.

“Afghanistan’s stability affects the peace and security of our region. The government of Maldives supports efforts to bring a resolution to the conflict in Afghanistan,” the statement added.

The Afghan administration of President Hamid Karzai had earlier made it clear that it would like to negotiate with the Taliban, and the subject of negotiations was one of the prime topics discussed when Karzai met with U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this month.

However, talking over the speculations, Afghan Government Media Center Deputy Director, Sedeqi, denied that Afghanistan Government is participating in the negotiations.

“We aren’t involved in these talks,” Sedeqi said.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley also supported the claim and said: “The Afghan Government has told us that it is aware of the unofficial talks being reported today… and according to the Afghan Government these talks do not include official representatives of the Government of Afghanistan.” (ANI)

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Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren ‘to share joint custody of kids’

May 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New York, May 11 (ANI): Tiger Woods and his estranged wife Elin Nordegren have decided not to have a custody battle over their children, even if they divorce, sources say.

According to RadarOnline, the pair will share joint custody of daughter Sam, 2, and son, Charlie, 14 months.

“They have not been getting along as a married couple but there has been no conflict over the children. They both want what”s best for the kids.” the New York Daily News quoted a source, as saying.

The golfer’s extra-marital affairs have wrecked his marriage with the Swedish model, but “the kids are close to both of them and neither Tiger nor Elin wants a battle.”

The insider added: “The marriage doesn”t look like it”s going to make it but at least there”s not going to be a custody battle.

“When they are both home, they pass the kids back and forth without any arguing. They”ve both done everything they can to make it as easy as possible on the children.” (ANI)

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Bihar Human Rights Commission issues notice to Nitish Government

May 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Patna, May 7 (ANI): The Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) has issued notice to the Nitish Kumar led Government on an issue related to amending the rules of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The BHRC has asked the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) Principal Secretary to appear before it on May 18.

A division bench of the Commission, comprising its chairman Justice S N Jha and Justice Rajendra Prasad sent the notice on Thursday after it prima facie found the second provision to Rule 3 (2) (ii) of the Bihar Right to Information Rules 2006.

The Bihar State RTI Act was amended by a notification on November 19, 2009.

The Act was in conflict with the corresponding provision of the Centre’s RTI Act.

As per the amendment in the Bihar Right to Information Rules, information can be supplied to persons belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) free of cost up to ten pages and for additional pages fee was payable as per rules.

There is no ceiling on the number of pages in the RTI Act. (ANI)

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Sly kills Rambo 5 plans

May 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 04 (ANI): Action hero Sylvester Stallone has killed plans of starring in the fifth Rambo movie, insisting it would be seen as “mercenary”.

Stallone, 63, who first starred as troubled Vietnam veteran John Rambo in 1982, had previously hinted that the next Rambo adventure would see the hero take on a “slightly different genre,” reports the Daily Express.

He told: “Yeah, we are doing another Rambo but the conflict is whether to do it in America or a foreign country.”

But now, it appears that Stallone has abandoned the previously announced project even after the fourth Rambo effort in 2008 made 74 million pounds worldwide.

He says that despite the critical and commercial success of the iconic character of boxer Rocky Balboa in 2006, he’s gone off the idea of playing Rambo again.

He says: “I think Rambo’s pretty well done, I don’t think there’ll be any more. I’m about 99 per cent sure. I was going to do it. I said I’d never talk about this but I feel that with Rocky Balboa, that ­character came complete circle. He went home.

“But for Rambo to go on another adventure might be, I think, misinterpreted as a mercenary gesture and not necessary. I don’t want that to happen.”

“I’m very happy with the last episode because I didn’t pull any punches on it. So where do you go from there?” he added. (ANI)

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Elephants make ”beware of the bees” alarm calls

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, April 27 (ANI): A new study has shown that elephants utter a distinctive rumble in response to the sound of bees, signalling troop members to flee their attackers.

According to researchers, this is the first time elephants have been found to make specific sounds to warn of particular threats, although they have also been observed ‘roaring’ when threatened by lions.

“Six out of 10 elephant families fled from the loudspeaker when we played the ”bee rumble” compared to just two when we played a control rumble and one with the same call shifted to a different frequency,” New Scientist quoted Lucy King of the University of Oxford, who heads a team in Kenya investigating the meanings of elephant vocalisations, as saying.

The fleeing elephants also shook their heads violently, as if trying to deflect bees.

The new study opens up the possibility of using recordings of the ‘bee rumble’ as a deterrent as well, helping to prevent potential conflict between humans and elephants.

Elephants are terrified of bees because they can crawl into their trunk and sting them from inside it. They also sting around the animals” eyes, leaving painful welts that take weeks to disappear.

According to the researchers, the rumbles alert both the elephant”s family and neighbouring herds to the threat, and may teach young elephants that bees are dangerous.

The study has been published in the Journal PLoS ONE. (ANI)

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Booth votes against Green-Labor deal

April 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Tasmanian Greens have revealed one of their members tried to block a power-sharing deal with Labor.

Bass MHA Kim Booth has indicated he did not want any of the five Greens MPs in Cabinet after years of conflict with Labor.

The Greens say the offer of a ministry for Mr McKim and cabinet secretary post for Ms O’Connor is basically the same offer made by the Premier last Friday.

The two Greens will be expected to vote with the Government on the floor of Parliament unless they absent themselves from Cabinet solidarity on certain issues.

Mr McKim says Mr Bartlett made yesterday’s follow up offer.

Mr Booth voted against it saying his conscience would not allow him to enter any agreement with the Bartlett Government after years of what he called corruption and dishonesty from certain members.

But Mr Booth says he has accepted the party’s decision and will co-operate for the sake of stable government.

The two Greens members will be sworn in tomorrow with the rest of Cabinet.

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Obama administration says ‘conflict’ with Karzai resolved

April 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 20(ANI): The Obama administration has said that its issues with Afghan President Hamid Karzai are a thing of the past, and announced that Karzai will visit Washington next month.

“In terms of our relationships with the government of Afghanistan, we feel they are in good shape. There was a period where the waters got roiled a little bit, but that period is over,” The Washington Post quoted Richard C. Holbrooke, the US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, as saying.

Holbrooke further said the reports of friction between him and the Afghan leader were overblown, and his two-hour visit with Karzai last week in Kabul was “the longest, most sustained and most focused” of five meetings this year alone.

Earlier, the White House had said that it would consider cancelling Karzai’s visit, if he continued to make controversial accusations against Western interference in Afghanistan.

Tensions between the West and Karzai flared up last month, when Karzai accused the West and the United Nations of perpetrating fraud in the August presidential election and described the Western military coalition as coming close to being seen as invaders who would give the insurgency legitimacy as “a national resistance.”

Karzai is scheduled to visit Washington on May 10 to May 14 for meetings at the White House and with the administration’s top national security officials. (ANI)

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Asif-Veena reach out of court settlement over all issues

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Lahore, Apr.17 (ANI): The conflict between Pakistan fast bowler Mohammed Asif and his estranged girlfriend Veena Malik seems to be over with both of them reaching an out of court settlement over all issues between them.

Malik, a famous television actress, told Geo News that matters between her and Asif have been resolved as both have decided to end the muddle amicably.

“Matters between Mohammed Asif and me have been decided and we have reached an agreement. We had two-day long talks to reach a deal,” Malik said.

She, however, refused to divulge details about the ‘agreement’ between the two.

Malik said a mutual friend, Zahid Yusuf, mediated between them following which they decided to call-off the tussle.

However, there has been no confirmation of a settlement from Asif’s side.

Earlier, Malik had asked the concerned authorities to register a case against Asif for giving her ‘fake’ cheques.

In her plea, Malik claimed that she had given 10 million rupees to Asif, and the cheque that the fast bowler had given her to return the money had bounced.

Malik claimed that she had supported Asif both ”emotionally” and ”financially” during his bad days, and now she ‘at least’ wants her money back.

Asif was romantically linked to Malik, and there were rumours last year that both got secretly married in London, which has been denied by both of them.

However, Asif got married to a girl from Lahore, Hina, recently. (ANI)

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Tougher laws urged for company administrators

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A Senate inquiry has been told it should be made illegal for administrators to also act as liquidators of a company because they have a vested interest in failures.

Lawyer Steve McNamara told the hearing in Adelaide that administrators can make more money from liquidations which means there is little incentive for them to save companies from collapse.

He told the Senate Economics Committee legislative change is needed so different companies are forced to handle the processes.

“There is a huge conflict that the administrator has because an administration generally they’ll earn between five at the low end up to maybe $30-40,000 but if they sit there and look at the company and see what sort of asset backing it has it is their utmost incentive to put that company into liquidation,” he said.

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Boer War to be remembered on Anzac Parade

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Canberra is a step closer to having a memorial to the Boer War on Anzac Parade.

The National Boer War Memorial Association has launched a design competition for architects and sculptors.

Association chairman retired Colonel John Haynes says the Boer War is Australia’s forgotten conflict.

He says the soldiers who died there deserve recognition.

“I think it’s not known very well at all,” he said.

“We lost nearly 1,000 soldiers over there, which is incredible to think.

“We lost more there than we’ve lost ever since World War II. We sent nearly 23,000, so it was a big war.”

He says he hopes the monument will help to raise awareness of the Boer War and what it means to Australia.

“I think it will complete the military commemoration precinct in Anzac Parade, because we have memorials there to all the other wars,” he said.

“But we don’t have one to our first war, which was the Boer War.”

“That will complete the display if we have a site dedicated and signposted there.”

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Taliban wants ‘normal’ relations with India when back in power in Afghanistan

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Mar.27 (ANI): Defending the February 26 attack on a couple of hotels in Kabul, in which seven Indians were killed, the Taliban has said that it favours neither Pakistan nor India, but would like to maintain a ‘normal’ relation with India.

In an interview with the Outlook magazine, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said his outfit does not want India out of Afghanistan, but also criticised New Delhi for supporting the western forces in the war tattered country.

“If the Taliban returns to power, we would like to maintain normal relations with countries, including India. It’s possible for the Taliban and India to reconcile with each other,” Mujahid told the magazine in the interview, which can be described as self-contradictory.

“India’s role is different from those countries that sent troops to occupy Afghanistan,” he added.

The Taliban spokesman pointed out that both Kabul and New Delhi have had good relations in the past, and that it was difficult to ask India to leave Afghanistan.

“We are not saying that India should be out of Afghanistan. Nor can India be completely expelled from Afghanistan. The Taliban aren’t in any direct conflict with India. India troops aren’t part of NATO forces, they haven’t occupied Afghanistan,” Mujahid said.

Responding to a question regarding last month’s Kabul attack, which was believed to have been primarily targeted at Indians, Mujahid claimed that the Taliban had attacked the two hotels, as there was information that some agents of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) were holding a meeting there.

He, however, criticised India for backing international forces fighting against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in the country and the Karzai government.

“India backed anti-Taliban forces of the Northern Alliance (NA) and refused to do business with our government. Our complaint is India backed the NA (Northern Alliance), and is now supporting the Karzai government,” Mujahid said.

When reminded that India has undertaken several developmental works in Afghanistan worth millions of rupees, Mujahid said : “If India were so fond of the Afghan people, why did it not undertake development projects under Taliban rule?” (ANI)

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Sister’s sorrow and remorse over stabbing death

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A court has heard that a Sydney woman who stabbed her 18-year-old sister to death would take it back if she could.

Kathleen Worrall, 22, was charged with murdering her sister Susan in their Strathfield home in October 2008.

The prosecution accepted her guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter due to mental illness.

During sentencing submissions, her mother Maureen has broken down in the Supreme Court while speaking of her daughter’s sorrow and remorse.

She said her daughter would “take it all back in a moment” if she could.

The court heard that when Kathleen Worrall killed her sister she had a hormonal condition – congenital adrenal hyperplasia – but had stopped taking medication for it.

A forensic psychiatrist said suddenly stopping the medication could produce very high levels of testosterone.

The court heard the sisters argued about access to the internet.

It heard Kathleen Worrall attacked her younger sister one week after an argument about a hair straightener.

The court heard that Worrall had brought knives and had researched stabbings on the internet.

Worrall sat in the dock looking across at her family and shaking her head, at times crying.

Justice Elizabeth Fullerton noted that, although she had an underlying mood disorder, the degree to which her mind was impaired at the time of the attack needs to be considered in sentencing.

The judge said Worrall had written her a letter talking about the unqualified love she had for her sister and how close they were.

But Justice Fullerton pointed out that some of the contents of the letter were in conflict with what Worrall had told a doctor about her relationship with her sister.

She said Worrall told a psychiatrist her sister was “Miss Cute and Popular” but people who knew her knew it was not true.

The judge said the 22-year-old told the doctor that her sister Susan was callous, had threatened her and that they did not get along.

Documents tendered show that Susan Worrall had 50 stab wounds. Her older sister was found with three knives.

Kathleen Worrall is expected to be sentenced in June.

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Britain outlaws cluster bombs

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Britain is banning the use of cluster bombs by its armed forces, and has undertaken the destruction of its entire stockpile.

All of Britain’s major political parties agreed the armed forces should be banned from using cluster bombs because of their horrific impact – often long after a conflict has ended.

The munitions throw out dozens and sometimes even hundreds of tiny bombs over a wide area.

Often they are not detonated until people, including children, pick them up.

The government says a third of the victims are thought to be children.

The new law commits Britain to destroy its entire stockpile.

So far more than a third of its cluster munitions have been destroyed.

The United States, Russia, China, Pakistan and Israel are refusing to join the ban.

- BBC

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Evans urges Afghan focus to stop asylum seekers

March 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Immigration Minister Chris Evans has suggested Australia do more to assist with the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan as a way to stop boats of asylum seekers.

The number of people seeking asylum in Australia last year increased by 30 per cent and Senator Evans says that is largely because of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott challenged Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to a debate on asylum seekers.

Mr Rudd declined the invitation.

Senator Evans says there are no clear answers to the problem of boat arrivals, but he says the Government must explore what more it can do.

“We obviously need to be working more strategically in that region to assist reconstruction,” he said.

“To see what we can do to develop safer environments and access to livelihoods and how we might collaborate with the provincial reconstruction teams in the region to address these issues.

“For instance, currently we know that a large proportion of arrivals from Afghanistan have left one region.

“We obviously need to be working more strategically in that region to assist reconstruction.”

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the Government’s softened stance on border protection is behind the rise.

“Clearly we have an Australian problem here and it’s a product of Australian policy forces,” he said.

But Senator Evans rejected the Opposition’s claims.

He says the conflict in Afghanistan is to blame and that Australia’s proportion of the world total is still very low.

“We’re getting less than 2 per cent of those fleeing to industrialised countries, but we are seeing increased arrivals from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka,” he said.

“While the situation in those countries remains difficult, we’ll continue to see people arrive.”

The United Nations report revealed Australia received 6,170 asylum applications in 2009.

That is 1.6 per cent of the total around the world, where 50,000 applications were made to the United States and 42,000 to France.

Australia is ranked 16th out of 44 industrialised nations in terms of how many asylum seeker applications are received.

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Charges over forest protest

March 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A Tasmanian conservationist involved in a forest protest near Picton in the Huon Valley has been charged with trespassing.

The Huon Valley Environment Centre says the man, in his 20s, spent the day atop a tripod on a new forestry road.

Up to 20 people were involved in the protest.

Police say they have charged the man by summons.

Tasmania’s Forest Industries Association is suspicious about the timing of the protest.

FIAT’s Julian Amos has questioned why the forest issue has re-emerged so soon after the state election.

“Nothing in terms of forest activities for the duration of the election campaign…and three days after the election here we are back in the same old conflict environment,” he said.

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Ben Affleck launches aid foundation in Congo

March 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar 24 (ANI): Actor Ben Affleck has established a new aid foundation to help women and children affected by rape and sexual violence in the troubled region of eastern Congo.

Affleck, 37, spent five days in the Central African nation last week meeting with former child sex slaves and rape survivors, as well as male prisoners convicted of sex crimes, to gain a better understanding of the issues facing locals.

Now he is using his new found knowledge to benefit the Eastern Congo Initiative, a foundation he launched on March 22, that will provide support and grants to those left traumatised by the country’s years of conflict to help turn their lives around.

The organisation also aims to improve access to healthcare.

“The situation in eastern Congo has been neglected for far too long – it is one of the worst humanitarian tragedies in the world,” the Daily Express quoted Affleck as saying in a statement.

“Right now, the attention paid to this crisis doesn’t match the needs of those affected by it.

“We will raise that attention level, and work with the extraordinary Congolese people who are making a positive difference in their own communities,” he added.

The actor founded the initiative with Howard G. Buffett, the son of American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett. (ANI)

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