News

Thai political deadlock after red street parade (AFP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AFP - Politically riven Thailand was in a stalemate Saturday as protesters, buoyed by a huge parade across the capital, refused talks with the government announced earlier by the prime minister.

>> read more

Taliban adjust, wage bomb attacks in Afghan town (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - Explosions rumble through this former Taliban stronghold three or four times a day — an ominous sign that the insurgents have not given up despite losing control of this town to U.S. and Afghan forces about two weeks ago.

>> read more

Afghanistan says Taliban arrests had 'negative impact' (AFP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
Please note: This feed entry is invalid.
>> read more

Gunmen kill seven in SW Pakistan: police (AFP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AFP - Gunmen have shot dead seven people in separate incidents in Pakistan's restive southwest, police said Saturday.

>> read more

Huge sandstorm covers Beijing, turns sky orange (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - Tons of sand turned Beijing's sky orange as the strongest sandstorm this year hit northern China, a gritty reminder that the country's expanding deserts have led to a sharp increase in the storms.

>> read more

Pakistan tribal council: Army must destroy Taliban (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - Hundreds of tribesmen from Pakistan's semiautonomous regions near the Afghan border ended a rare tribal council meeting Saturday with a declaration calling for the army to crush the Taliban.

>> read more

Pakistan appeals against Davis Cup tie switch (AFP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AFP - Pakistan has appealed against its Davis Cup Asia Oceania tie being switched to New Zealand over security fears, demanding it should be played at a neutral venue, officials said Saturday.

>> read more

Norway take sledge hockey bronze (AFP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AFP - Norway clinched the men?s sledge hockey bronze at the Vancouver Paralympics when the tournament?s number two seed beat Canada 2-1 to leave the hosts out of the medals.

>> read more

Strong quake hits off Papua New Guinea: geologists (AFP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AFP - A strong 6.2 magnitude quake struck off Papua New Guinea's coast on Saturday, US geologists said, but there was no tsunami warning and the epicentre's depth lessened the likelihood of damage.

>> read more

Sharks on the menu at wildlife trade meet (AFP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AFP - Four rapidly dwindling shark species prized in Asia for fins and in Europe for meat will be swimming against the current at a UN wildlife trade meet days after an attempt to protect tuna was crushed.

>> read more

Nepal leader who helped end king's rule dies at 86 (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - Nepal's former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who served five terms, led mass protests that ended the king's authoritarian rule and was a key figure in peace negotiations with communist rebels, died Saturday. He was 86.

>> read more

Thai protesters' caravan wends through capital (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - A crimson tide of protesters snaked its way through the streets of the Thai capital Saturday, traveling in a caravan of thousands of cars, trucks and motorbikes to drum up support for their campaign to oust a government they call illegitimate.

>> read more

US official: India to question US terror convict (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - Indian investigators will be able to question a Chicago man who pleaded guilty to scouting targets for the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.
>> read more

Tokyo marks 15th anniversary of subway gas attack (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - Tokyo subway workers observed a moment of silence Saturday to mark the 15th anniversary of a nerve gas attack by a religious cult, Japan's deadliest act of domestic terrorism.

>> read more

Cambodia to build memorial for slain journalists (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - Cambodia will erect a memorial to nearly 40 foreign and Cambodian journalists who died covering a savage five-year war that ended with the triumph of the Khmer Rouge 35 years ago, a government official said Saturday.
>> read more

Aust. state named disaster zone as cyclone nears (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - The premier of Australia's Queensland state has declared parts of its coast a disaster zone as a tropical cyclone approaches.
>> read more

NKorean loggers in Russia making defection bids (AP) (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
AP - The North Korean's note, scrawled in pen, was simple: "I want to go to South Korea. Why? To find freedom. Freedom of religion, freedom of life."

>> read more

An up close look at the military life in Marjah (AP) (Fri, 19 Mar 2010)
AP - EDITOR'S NOTE — Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder was embedded with U.S. forces during the offensive in Marjah, Afghanistan. Here is his account of some of the photos he made of the soldiers' daily lives.
>> read more

Pakistan arrests halt UN contacts with Taliban (AP) (Fri, 19 Mar 2010)
AP - The arrests of top Taliban figures in Pakistan abruptly halted secret U.N. contacts with the insurgency at a time when the efforts were gathering momentum, the U.N.'s former envoy to Afghanistan said Friday.

>> read more

Marine patrols still meet snipers in Afghan town (AP) (Fri, 19 Mar 2010)
AP - The first shots came from the north, sending Marines ducking into the nearest ditch — some filled with putrid water. More shots rang out from the southwest: a possible ambush from two sides.

>> read more

Quartet ''strongly supports'' aim for Palestinian state: Ban (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
RAMALLAH: UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday that the Middle East Quartet "strongly supports" Palestinian efforts to establishing their own state. "The Quartet has sent a clear and strong message: we are strongly supporting your efforts to establish an independent and viable Palestinian state," the visiting Ban told Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad.
>> read more

British Airways strike cause massive disruption (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
LONDON: British Airways said it would fly more than 60 percent of passengers with flights booked for this weekend despite a three-day cabin crew strike that risks hurting the Labour government weeks before an election. The walkout over pay and jobs which began at midnight will disrupt travel for thousands after talks between the Unite union and management collapsed. A further four-day strike is planned later this month. The Unite union said support for the action had been strong and that the situation would be worse than BA had hoped. "The severity of the disruption will get worse day by day as crews from overseas come back and then don''t come back out," a spokesman said. A witness at London Heathrow''s Terminal 5, the airport''s main hub for BA flights, said dozens of security guards and customer service staff were posted at entrances. However, the airline''s warnings and contingency plans appeared to be working as there were only a few people queuing for information about the strike. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for both sides to resolve their differences without delay, as political opponents sought to capitalise from Unite''s position as his party''s biggest single financial backer. The prospect of the first national rail strike for 16 years added to the government''s problems after signal workers voted for industrial action on Friday, although peace talks were due to be held next week. Labour has strong union ties that go back to its foundation in 1900. The political director of Unite, Britain''s largest union, is Brown''s former spokesman. The opposition Conservatives, favourites to win an election expected on May 6, called on Brown to sever financial links with the union during the dispute. "Labour''s dependence on funding from Unite is compromising their ability to stand up to the unions and stand up for the interests of passengers," Conservative transport spokeswoman Theresa Villiers said. BA, which has 12,000 cabin crew, wants to save an annual 62.5 million pounds to help cope with a fall in demand, volatile fuel prices and increased competition from low-cost carriers. BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh apologised for the disruption to passengers in a video on the carrier''s website. "We are going to fly as many of our customers as possible. We are going to fly you safely in secure conditions and we are going to fly you in comfort," Walsh said. The airline has retrained 1,000 staff to stand in as temporary cabin crew, found passengers flights on rival airlines and chartered aircraft and crew to fulfil other routes. Many crews, including those working on long haul flights from London Gatwick airport and all flights from the smaller London City airport, will not take part in the action as they have already agreed to proposed changes. The airline normally transports 70,000 passengers daily, and hopes to fly 49,000 a day during the weekend strike.
>> read more

Obama to Iran: U.S. offer of dialogue still stands (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama renewed his administration''s offer of dialogue and diplomacy with Tehran on Saturday, a year after his offer of a new beginning with Iran failed to achieve concrete results. Obama, who addressed Iranians in a new videotaped appeal to mark the observance of Nowruz -- an ancient festival celebrating the arrival of spring -- has pledged to pursue aggressive sanctions to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. "We are working with the international community to hold the Iranian government accountable because they refuse to live up to their international obligations," Obama said in the address, according to excerpts released by the White House. "But our offer of comprehensive diplomatic contacts and dialogue stands," he said. Iran, which has refused to halt its uranium enrichment program, denies it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb and says its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity. Obama said Washington was committed to a "more hopeful" future for the Iranian people despite U.S. differences with Iran''s government. During his first year in office, Obama marked Nowruz with a then-unprecedented message offering Iran a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement with the United States. But Tehran rebuffed Obama''s gesture and relations soured further when Iranian authorities cracked down on opposition protesters after a disputed election last June, drawing U.S. condemnation. "Over the course of the last year, it is the Iranian government that has chosen to isolate itself, and to choose a self-defeating focus on the past over a commitment to build a better future," Obama said. "Even as we continue to have differences with the Iranian government, we will sustain our commitment to a more hopeful future for the Iranian people," he said. Obama said the United States was increasing opportunities for educational exchanges for Iranian students to study at U.S. colleges and universities as well as working to increase access to Internet technology so Iranians could "communicate with each other, and with the world, without fear of censorship." Obama''s openness to engaging diplomatically with Iran if it "unclenched its fist" broke with the previous administration''s policy of seeking to isolate the Islamic Republic, which President George W. Bush branded part of an "axis of evil." Obama has not ruled out any options in dealing with Iran, the world''s fifth-largest crude oil exporter, but U.S. officials have repeatedly made clear that their preferred option is diplomacy, given the difficulty of enforcing sanctions and the risk that military action could cause wider conflict. The United States has agreed with Britain, France and Germany on a draft proposal for a fourth round of sanctions that would place new restrictions on Iranian banks and target the Revolutionary Guard and firms linked to it. Washington has been struggling to win over China and Russia, both veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council and key allies of Iran, to agree to more aggressive sanctions. In a development on Friday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Russian support for a new U.N. sanctions resolution was possible. The United States, anxious not to undermine growing domestic opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad''s government, has emphasized that any sanctions will be aimed at Iran''s government, not its people. "I want the Iranian people to know what my country stands for. The United States believes in the dignity of every human being, and an international order that bends the arc of history in the direction of justice," Obama said. He said the United States wanted "a future where Iranians can exercise their rights, to participate fully in the global economy, and enrich the world through educational and cultural exchanges beyond Iran''s borders. That is the future that we seek. That is what America is for."
>> read more

Putin offers U.S. hints of support (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
MOSCOW: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered hints he could support the United States on two key issues -- an arms pact and Iran -- after a meeting on Friday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. An aide to Putin said a major nuclear weapons reduction pact between Russia and the United States could be signed in April, and suggested Russia might back new sanctions on Iran despite misgivings, Russian news agencies reported. Yuri Ushakov''s remarks, which followed Putin''s first meeting with Clinton since she became the top U.S. diplomat, were inconclusive and did not go beyond what other Russian officials -- including President Dmitry Medvedev -- have said. However Putin, who steered his protege into the Kremlin in 2008 but is seen as the dominant partner in Russia''s ruling tandem, has clouded prospects for cooperation on Iran and the arms deal with challenging statements in the past. "Maybe in April," a local news agency quoted Ushakov, Putin''s deputy chief of staff, as saying when asked when Medvedev and President Barack Obama would sign a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1). The arms pact, under negotiation since last year, is a crucial part of efforts to get Russian-American ties on track after years of growing animus when Putin and George W. Bush were the presidents. Mending relations is a key goal for Obama, as he seeks Russian support for his efforts to defeat the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, rein in Iran''s nuclear ambitions and move toward a world without nuclear weapons. But negotiators on the arms pact missed an initial target of December 5, when START 1 expired, and have yet to produce a deal. Putin raised doubts in late December by suggesting Moscow wanted U.S. concessions on missile defense -- an issue Washington acknowledges is linked to the offensive arms covered by START but says should be addressed in detail separately. He has made no significant public comment since, but analysts say his approval is crucial. "Putin has made clear it won''t happen without his consent," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. Clinton said on Friday that the sides were "on the brink" of a pact and that only technical issues remained to be agreed. Ushakov mentioned no specific date but said the pact would likely be signed in Europe rather than in Washington, where Obama is holding a nuclear security summit in mid-April. His remarks left plenty of room for further delay on the arms treaty -- and left the door wide open to disagreement on a fresh sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Putin told Clinton a new U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution was "possible" but stressed sanctions "do not always help to resolve such an issue and that sometimes they can have a counterproductive impact," the news agency quoted Ushakov as saying. Putin also issued a mixed assessment of the efforts to improve Russian-U.S. ties, which Clinton symbolically launched in March 2009 by presenting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a box with a red button marked "reset." "The United States is a key partner," Putin told Clinton. "And despite some differences on particular issues, we have been able to reach agreement on most important ones." But he complained about "drastically" decreased trade and U.S. sanctions against some Russian companies, and warned that full cooperation was contingent on stronger U.S. support for Russia''s bid to enter the World Trade Organization. "This question depends on the political will of the Washington administration," Ushakov was quoted as saying. Clinton''s visit was built around a meeting on Friday of the quartet of Middle East peace mediators -- Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union. She held talks with Medvedev later Friday. But Putin overshadowed his successor and exerted influence throughout the visit -- even when he was far from Moscow. On Thursday, while Clinton was entering talks with Lavrov, Putin told a meeting in a southern city that the nuclear reactor Russia is building in Iran would be switched on this summer. Clinton said that launching the reactor would be "premature" and send the wrong signal as global powers, including Russia, press Iran for assurances it is not seeking nuclear weapons. Putin also left it unclear whether he would even meet with Clinton until Thursday, when Friday''s talks were tacked onto the tail end of her schedule.
>> read more

Seven years on Iraq war (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
BAGHDAD: The seventh anniversary of the start of the Iraq war dawned today with very little notice in the media--but at the start of the war, many more newspapers opposed it than we now remember. Americans believed Saddam had WMD--and no wonder, given the deceitful propaganda from the Bush administration--and that they backed an invasion if it came to that. But most surveys also showed a clear split between those who wanted to go to war soon, and those who wanted to wait for more diplomacy or to give the United Nations inspectors more time to work (remember, they had found nothing and then were withdrawn by the president). Perhaps more important in the minds of many Iraqis was the ongoing wait for final results from the country’s second nationwide parliamentary election. The milestone will determine who will oversee Iraq as U.S. forces go home, but could also point the direction the fragile democracy will take down the road — deeper into the sectarian divide that followed Saddam’s fall, or toward a more secular, inclusive rule. Many blame the U.S. for the sectarian violence that erupted after the invasion. While violence has dropped since the height of the bloodshed in 2006 and 2007, attacks continue, although in smaller numbers. Many Iraqis view the U.S. withdrawal with concern that the lull in violence may break and killing return. Others think the violence will dissipate after the U.S. pulls out.
>> read more

Sandstorms blanket Beijing in yellow dust (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
BEIJING: The residents woke up Saturday to find the Chinese capital covered in a film of yellow dust, as sandstorms caused by a severe drought in the north of the country and Mongolia swept into the city. The storm, which earlier lashed parts of northeastern China, brought strong winds and cut visibility in the capital. Authorities issued a rare level five pollution warning, signalling hazardous conditions, and urged residents to stay indoors. Dust storms frequently hit the arid north of China in the spring, when temperatures start to rise, stirring up clouds of dust that can travel across China, to South Korea and Japan and even as far as the United States. Scientists blame a combination of deforestation and prolonged drought in northern China for the phenomenon. Saturday''s storm was expected to last until Monday, the meteorological agency said in a statement on its website. The dust blanketed streets in the capital and covered parked vehicles in a fine yellow coating. "I was amazed to see the ground had turned yellow overnight," Beijing salesman Li Ming told a local news agency. "It reminds me of the dirt road of my rural hometown." Another resident said the storm was worse than those in recent years. "Severe sandstorms like this happened very often in the 1980s and 1990s," Beijing retiree Song Xiurong said. "It hasn''t been that serious in the recent two or three years, as far as I remember." Meanwhile in the southwest of the country, drought had now left 16 million people with a shortage of drinking water, according to a statement issued by the State Commission of Disaster Relief. Since late last year, the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou, have received only half their annual average rainfall, leaving water supplies severely depleted. More than four million hectares (10 million acres) of land were affected and 4,000 troops have been deployed to help distribute emergency water supplies, the news agency said.
>> read more

British boy receives pioneering stem cell surgery (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
LONDON: British and Italian doctors have carried out groundbreaking surgery to rebuild the windpipe of a 10-year-old British boy using stem cells developed within his own body, they said. In an operation Monday lasting nearly nine hours, doctors at London''s Great Ormond Street children''s hospital implanted the boy with a donor trachea, or windpipe, that had been stripped of its cells and injected with his own. Over the next month, doctors expect the boy''s bone marrow stem cells to begin transforming themselves within his body into tracheal cells -- a process that, if successful, could lead to a revolution in regenerative medicine. The new organ should not be rejected by the boy''s immune system, a risk in traditional transplants, because the cells are derived from his own tissue. "This procedure is different in a number of ways, and we believe it''s a real milestone," said Professor Martin Birchall, head of translational regenerative medicine at University College London. "It is the first time a child has received stem cell organ treatment, and it''s the longest airway that has ever been replaced." More clinical trials were needed to demonstrate that the process worked, he said, but if it did, it could lead to other organs such as the larynx or oesophagus being transplanted in hospitals around the world. The boy, who has not been named, was born with a life-threatening condition called long segment tracheal stenosis, which meant he had a tiny windpipe that would not grow -- described by the team as like breathing through a straw. Although he received various treatments, his condition deteriorated in November and his doctors called in Professor Paolo Macchiarini, a stem cell pioneer at the Careggi University Hospital in Florence. Macchiarini led the surgery in Spain two years ago on 30-year-old Claudia Castillo, the first person to receive a transplant organ created from stem cells. In her case, the new tissue was developed outside her body, but it is far less complicated to grow it within the body. The boy is only the second patient and the first child to have such a procedure. Cardiothoracic surgeon Professor Martin Elliott, director of tracheal services at Great Ormond Street, said the boy was recovering well. "The child is extremely well. He''s breathing completely for himself and speaking, and he says it''s easier for him to breathe than it has been for many years," Elliott said.
>> read more

All night rain adds to misery for Haitians living in camp (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
PORT-AU-PRINCE: All-night rain made life even tougher on Friday for Haitians living in the many tent camps scattered around the capital Port-au-Prince. It was the heaviest rainfall since a January 12 earthquake that killed more than 217,000 according to latest figures from Haitian President Preval. One million lost their homes and are now living in tents or makeshift shelters. ''''It rained all night last night and we had to stay up all night. If you look here, you have mud, dirty water, garbage everywhere,'''' a woman said. ''''I am under the rain, all wet, I have a small child sick in my arms, I don''t even have a tarpaulin,'''' another one said. International aid donors, the U.S. military and the United Nations have provided tents and plastic sheeting. The prospect of more rains calls for longer term solutions. The government said it wanted to relocate the homeless into four to five large camps that should be better equipped against the rain. In some areas, neat encampments of uniform foreign-provided tents have begun to sprout but the majority of the survivors'' camps are still sprawling squalid affairs, with most of the crude shelters hastily constructed from any scrap of fabric or plastic the occupants have been able to lay hands on. They are packed together haphazardly, often close to raw open sewers and many lacking even basic sanitation.
>> read more

Israeli aircraft hit disused Gaza airport, 11 hurt (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
JERUSALEM: Israeli aircraft hit a disused airport in southern Gaza on Friday night, injuring 11 people, two of them seriously, Palestinian medical officials and witnesses said. Four missiles hit the site, the witnesses said. The injured were all in the vicinity of the airport, near the town of Rafah. The facility itself has long been closed. An Israeli military statement described the target as "a terror site" and said pilots confirmed that it was hit. It was the second night of Israeli raids since a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip killed a worker on an Israeli farm on Thursday. Another rocket was fired into Israel earlier on Friday. The cross-border exchanges came as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was headed for a weekend visit to Gaza, the West Bank and Israel and as the United States sought to get Palestininans and Israelis talking peace.
>> read more

Israeli aircraft hit disused Gaza airport; 3 hurt (Sat, 20 Mar 2010)
JERUSALEM: Israeli aircraft hit a disused airport in southern Gaza on Friday night, injuring three people, Palestinian medical officials and eyewitnesses said.
>> read more