Australia PM challenges opposition over allegation

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Sunday demanded opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull resign if he failed to produce an email at the heart of allegations that Rudd misled parliament.
The email relates to accusations Rudd sought special government treatment for a friend under a scheme to help struggling businesses find finance during the global financial crisis. The opposition has demanded both Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan quit over the affair.
The controversy comes at the mid-point of Rudd's three-year term in office, just as the government is struggling to drive legislation through a hostile upper house of parliament and amid speculation that Rudd might want an early election.
"If when parliament resumes in 24 hours, Mr Turnbull fails to produce this email, this email upon which his entire case against the government is based, for authentication he has no alternative but to stand in the parliament, apologize and to resign," Rudd said. "These are most serious matters."
The email allegedly came from Rudd's office, but the government says it has failed to locate the document on its computers and Saturday called in police to investigate. Turnbull has previously denied he has a copy.
The row stems from Rudd's friendship with a Queensland car dealer and accusations that he asked Treasury officials to help the man's company gain access to a government program.
It is the first such storm to engulf Rudd personally since he won office in late 2007, and comes two weeks after the defense minister resigned over accusations that his office helped arrange meetings for his brother with defense officials.
However, Rudd remains well ahead in opinion polls, despite the slowing economy and political setbacks as he battles to push his program, including plans for an emissions trading scheme, through an opposition-dominated Senate.
Rudd would normally face an election in late 2010, but may have a trigger to go in December this year or early 2010 if the Senate continues to reject his carbon trade plan.
Rudd has previously told parliament his office did not ask Treasury officials to help the car dealer access to the OzCar scheme.

Source: Reuters

Nigeria militants say attack two Shell oil pipelines

By Nick Tattersall
LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's main militant group said Sunday its fighters had attacked two Royal Dutch Shell oil pipelines in Rivers state, taking its latest offensive to the eastern Niger Delta for the first time.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it had attacked Shell's pipelines at Adamakiri and at Kula, both in Rivers, early Sunday, as part of a series of strikes it has dubbed "Hurricane Piper Alpha."
"Piper Alpha unleashed its fury in Rivers state today... leaving in its wake two battered oil installations," the group said in a statement.
There was no immediate confirmation from Shell or from the Nigerian military.
The attacks are the first to strike Rivers state, the easternmost of the three main states in the Niger Delta, since the militants launched their latest campaign of sabotage following a military offensive in the western delta last month.
Persistent acts of sabotage by MEND over the past three years have cut oil output in the OPEC member, the world's eighth biggest crude oil exporter, to less than two thirds of its installed capacity of 3 million barrels per day (bpd).
The group first burst onto the scene in late 2005, knocking out more than a quarter of Nigeria's oil output -- then around 2.4 million bpd -- in a matter of weeks.
But the latest campaign has nibbled further at production.
Italian energy firm Agip said Friday an attack claimed by MEND on one of its oil and gas pipelines in Bayelsa state had halted production of around 33,000 barrels of oil and 2 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Shell said Thursday some oil production had been halted following an attack on the Trans Ramos pipeline late on Wednesday at Aghoro-2 community in Bayelsa.
U.S. energy firm Chevron shut down its operations around Delta state after MEND's first pipeline attack in its latest campaign on May 24, halting around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of output.
MEND has dubbed its offensive "Hurricane Piper Alpha" after the North Sea oil platform that blew up in July 1998, the worst ever offshore oil disaster, and warned that it might attack deep-water facilities off the Nigerian coast.
Security sources say some oil firms have been removing non-essential personnel from some offshore sites.
(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: Reuters

Mousavi calls for purge of "lies"

Teargas fired on streets of Tehran
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By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said the Islamic Republic must be purged of what he called lies and dishonesty, sending out a direct challenge to conservative rulers after a day of unrest across Tehran.
(EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.)
State television aired interviews with critics of the protests, urging Iranians to unite behind the government and suggesting only the West gained from Iran's troubles.
Helicopters criss-crossed the city and ambulance sirens wailed into the night after streets emptied of protesters who had defied Friday's stern warning from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against further demonstrations.
Riot police had deployed in force, firing teargas, using batons and water cannon to disperse groups of several hundred Iranians who had gathered across the city. There were fears of further violence on Sunday in the country, a major oil and gas producer.
Government restrictions prevent correspondents working for foreign media attending demonstrations to report, and the scale of any injuries or arrests was unclear.
Mousavi, focus of the biggest protests since the Islamic Revolution ousted the U.S.-backed Shah in 1979, said June 12 elections that delivered an overwhelming victory to hardline anti-Western President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were fraudulent and must be annulled. He said the fraud was months in the planning.
Mousavi, who claims victory in the poll, told supporters he was "ready for martyrdom," according to an ally. But he said he did not seek confrontation with the authorities.
"We are not against the Islamic system and its laws but against lies and deviations and just want to reform it," he said in a statement posted on his website at the end of a tumultuous day.
He said if authorities refused to allow peaceful protests they would face the "consequences" -- an apparent rejoinder to Khamenei's warning that opposition leaders would be held responsible for any bloodshed resulting from protests.
"The people expect from their officials honesty and decency as many of our problems are because of lies...The Islamic revolution should be the way it was and the way it should be," Mousavi said.
"LISTEN TO THE LEADER"
State television said rioters smashed windows of banks and burned buses. They also aired interviews with people critical of the demonstrations that have racked Iran since the announcement of the election results on June 13.
"We all should listen to our leader (Khamenei) and preserve calm," said one unnamed woman, aged around 40. "Otherwise we will make our enemies (the West) happy."
Mousavi is himself a product of the Islamic establishment that has dominated Iran since 1979 and the robes of regime opponent may sit uneasily on his shoulders. But the demonstrations of the last week, swelling to hundreds of thousands, appear to have acquired a powerful momentum. Continued...
Source: Reuters

South Africa urges Madagascar crisis talks

By Agnieszka Flak and Alison Raymond
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Southern African leaders will speed up their efforts to help restore political order in Madagascar after internationally mediated talks on the island collapsed.
Southern African Development Community Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao said on Sunday the group had appointed former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano to lead the dialogue, involving the SADC, the African Union, the United Nations, the International Organization of the Francophonie (IOF) and all the Malagasy political actors.
Southern African leaders suspended Madagascar from the SADC in March, saying they would not recognize Andry Rajoelina, who took power in a move condemned as a coup by the international community.
Rajoelina, 35, came to power in March when President Marc Ravalomanana stepped aside after pressure from the opposition and army chiefs.
Ravalomanana, who fled to southern Africa and was present at the summit venue, insists he remains the legitimate leader of the Indian Ocean island and has rejected sharing power with Rajoelina.
The African economic bloc COMESA said earlier this month a military intervention to restore constitutional order on the island could be an option but SADC said it would insist on a peaceful solution to the situation.
"The route we are trying to pursue is to get everyone to talk and then finally come to a conclusion...let's keep a peace process ... we are using other strategies to move faster," Swaziland's King Mswati III said.
SADC chairman, South African President Jacob Zuma, said on Saturday the grouping was hopeful of a resolution to political turmoil, which has wrought havoc on the island's $390-million-a-year tourism sector and unnerved foreign companies investing in its booming oil and mineral sectors.
"We believe that peace will be achieved if all parties to the conflict are committed to the process," Zuma said.
SADC mediators reported back during the course of the meeting after the African Union and United Nations suspended talks indefinitely citing a lack of political will.
"The summit expressed serious concern on the deteriorating political situation in Madagascar mainly characterized by exacerbating hostility among the different political groups," Salomao said, citing the final communique.
U.N. mediator Tiebile Drame said the summit had managed to bring the process a step forward.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe also attended the event, but the question of Zimbabwe did not feature on the agenda.
"Zimbabwe is on the right track and things are moving in the right direction," King Mswati III said.

Source: Reuters

Two British hostages feared dead in Iraq

By Peter Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters) - Two Britons taken hostage in Iraq in 2007 were feared dead after bodies were handed to British officials in Iraq and three others still missing were in "grave danger," the British government said on Saturday.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the remains passed to them by Iraqi authorities had yet to be formally identified, but the hostages' families will "fear the worst."
"We know only that late last night we received the bodies of two hostages," he said. "Our immediate priority is obviously to liaise with the families and to work on the identities of these men.
"If any proof was needed of the grave danger that those hostages face, it is the appalling news that has come through today. The threat to all those taken hostage in Iraq remains very high indeed."
The Britons, computer instructor Peter Moore and his four bodyguards, were seized by a Shi'ite militant group from inside an Iraqi finance ministry building in Baghdad in May 2007.
Britain was an ally of the United States in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but has now withdrawn all but about 500 troops from the country.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said: "Our information is that the two bodies were handed last night to the British authorities and we believe they are from among the British hostages."
A spokesman for Canadian security company GardaWorld, which employed Moore's four British bodyguards, said he was waiting for more information before commenting.
"We are obviously anxious to learn more as to what the situation is," he said.
Several videos of the hostages have surfaced since they were kidnapped. In March, Channel 4 News television said a video showed a healthy-looking Moore.
In February 2008, another video featuring Moore was aired by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television in which he called on British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to free nine Iraqis in return for their freedom.
A video released in December 2007 showed another of the captives who identified himself as Jason saying the militants holding the Britons would kill one of the five unless Britain withdrew its troops from Iraq.
Miliband said the government was "working intensively" toward securing the release of the hostages, but warned: "I also have to say that the threat to them remains very high indeed."
He said the government would not give in to the hostage-takers' demands.
"We cannot get into a position where the British government starts making concessions for hostage taking," he said. "The only result of that would be more hostage taking. What we can do is use all of our links to the government of Iraq."
The British Embassy in Baghdad had no immediate comment.

Source: Reuters

Suicide truck bomber kills 67 in northern Iraq

Scores die in Iraq suicide blast
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By Khalid al-Ansary
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 67 people on Saturday as they left a mosque, shortly after the prime minister urged Iraqis not to lose faith if a U.S. military pull-back sparked more violence.
Almost all U.S. soldiers will leave urban centers by June 30 under a bilateral security pact signed last year and the entire force that invaded the country in 2003 must be gone by 2012.
Saturday's attack was the deadliest in more than a year.
"Don't lose heart if a breach of security occurs here or there," Nuri al-Maliki told leaders from the ethnic Turkmen community, reiterating a warning that insurgents were likely to take advantage of the U.S. pull-back to launch more attacks.
Analysts warn there may also be a spike in violence by mainly Sunni Islamist insurgents, including al Qaeda, and other violent groups ahead of a parliamentary election next January.
Hours after Maliki spoke, a suicide bomber detonated a truck filled with explosives as crowds of worshippers left a Shi'ite Muslim mosque near Kirkuk, a northern city contested by Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds that sits over vast oil reserves.
Sixty-seven people died, including women and children, and more than 200 were wounded as about 30 homes made of clay bricks disintegrated in the blast zone around the al-Rasul mosque in Taza, said Kirkuk governor Abdul Rahman Mustafa.
"This is a catastrophe for Kirkuk province and especially the town of Taza," Mustafa said.
It was the worst bombing in Iraq since 68 people were killed in a twin bomb attack in Baghdad in March last year.
Such high death tolls remain stubbornly common in Iraq despite a sharp fall in overall violence. Sixty people were killed by two female suicide bombers outside the Shi'ite Iman Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in Baghdad this April, and 50 died in a suicide bomb blast in a restaurant near Kirkuk in December.
"I was sitting in my house when suddenly a powerful blast shook the ground under me," said Hussain Nashaat, 35, his head wrapped in white bandages. "I found myself covered in blood and ran outside in a daze. My lovely neighborhood was just rubble."
There was chaos at Kirkuk's Azadi Hospital, where sirens wailed as workers rushed blood-splattered civilians into the wards. Outside, security officials brandished assault rifles to stop traffic as pick-up trucks raced through the gates.
NEW TACTICS
The attacks cast doubt on the ability of Iraqi security forces to take over after U.S. troops leave. But a string of devastating bomb attacks in April was followed by what in Iraqi terms was a relative calm in May and June.
It is not clear if that is due to the efforts of Iraqi police and soldiers or if it means insurgent groups, beaten back over the past two years in most of Iraq, now lack the organization and support to keep up the momentum. Continued...
Source: Reuters