By Abdi Guled and Ibrahim Mohamed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Washington has sent weapons to Somalia`s government to thwart Islamist insurgents, who cut hands and feet off thieves on Thursday and paraded the severed limbs in the streets of Mogadishu.
Somalia`s al Shabaab insurgents are seen as a proxy for al Qaeda and Western nations fear they could destabilize the region and provide safe havens for hardline Islamists from elsewhere.
When a moderate Islamist was elected president in January, there was hope he could end nearly two decades of bloodshed in Somalia by reconciling with hardliners who want to impose a strict version of Islamic law across the country.
But Osama bin Laden declared President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed an enemy in an audiotape released in March. He called on the insurgents to topple the government and for Muslims around the world to join their jihad.
A U.S. official said the United States had sent arms and ammunition to Somalia`s government in a move signaling President Barack Obama`s desire to shore up the "fragile" government and thwart the hardliners.
"The State Department is providing ... weapons and ammunition to try to help them deal with al Shabaab and other extremists," the official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, said, confirming a report in The Washington Post.
"The government is in a very fragile state," he said, adding the United States wants Eritrea to stop supporting the insurgents. The top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Johnnie Carson, hopes to visit Eritrea soon, U.S. officials said.
Eritrea denies arming and training the insurgents.
A U.S. official, and an international security source, said the United States was providing the weaponry in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions.
"It`s confirmed. They received approval from the U.N. Security Council," the international security source said.
While the United Nations has had a long-standing arms embargo on Somalia, a May Security Council resolution urged member states to train and equip government security forces as long as a U.N. embargo monitoring committee had no objections.
Another foreign security source said weapons had come into Somalia for the government via Uganda, which provides half the 4,300 African Union troops protecting key sites in Mogadishu.
"The prospect of the government collapsing is sending alarm bells ringing in Western capitals, but whether this latest move will succeed remains to be seen," said Rashid Abdi, analyst at International Crisis Group.
"Going further than providing arms to actually sending in more foreign forces would be a mistake," he said. "The government would then play right into the hands of the militants, who would accuse them of accepting foreign meddling."
LIMBS ON TREES Continued...
Original article
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Ten dead in Czech floods, central Europe on alert
NOVY JICIN, Czech Republic (Reuters) - At least 10 people died in flooding in the eastern Czech Republic, and rising river levels prompted flood warnings across central Europe following heavy rains this week.
The 10 Czechs died near the country`s border with Poland and Slovakia, with most of the damage near the town of Novy Jicin, 260 km (160 miles) east of Prague.
Officials said at least six people were drowned late on Wednesday and four more died when medical teams were unable to reach them.
Rescuers evacuated hundreds of people from wrecked houses and buildings threatened by high water, and the government moved to deploy up to 1,000 soldiers to help.
"The situation is bad, although somewhat stabilized," said Tomas Vindis, a council member in Novy Jicin, a town of 27,000.
"The water is not a threat at the moment... but the forecast is not exactly favorable, so everybody is worried a bit that it could come back."
The flooding is the central European country`s worst natural disaster since heavy floods in 2002, when 17 people died and water ravaged the historic center of Prague, costing the state around $3 billion in repair costs.
The governor of the hardest hit region, Jaroslav Palas, said the damages now would run into the tens of millions of dollars.
In Austria, the river Danube has risen this week after some of the heaviest rainfalls in 50 years. The water level was expected to peak in Vienna Thursday as rainfalls ebbed.
Vienna`s Albertina Museum, home to landmark impressionist works by Monet and Renoir, started evacuating 950,000 artworks Thursday from its leaking underground depot.
Around 13,000 police, firefighters and soldiers worked to stem the floods Wednesday. Some villages along rivers flowing toward the Danube were cut off and cellars and roads were underwater, mainly in the region west of the Austrian capital.
Bratislava declared a second-degree alert in western Slovakia, where the Danube was expected to crest later in the day.
Hungary put first or second degree alerts in place for the upper section of the Danube. Budapest has called the highest alert for the lower section of the northwestern Raba river.
The Polish National Security Center said rivers topped warning levels in 43 places and alarm levels in another 20. Flood alarms were introduced in parts of southern Poland.
Czech meteorologists forecast more rain into the weekend.
(Additional reporting by Robert Mueller in Prague and Reuters bureaux in Vienna, Budapest, Warsaw and Bratislava, writing by Jason Hovet and Peter Laca; editing by Michael Roddy)
Original article
Risks battle rewards as Iraq opens up its oilfields
By Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - For the first time since the U.S. invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, global oil firms will have a run at Iraq`s vast oil resources when Baghdad auctions off contracts in its biggest fields this month.
The June 29-30 tender for service contracts in six already producing oilfields and two undeveloped gas fields is fraught with risk following a revolt in the state-run oil industry, and amid violence and political uncertainty.
Oil companies say they have no choice but to bid -- the allure of the world`s third largest oil reserves, and of greater riches down the road from Iraq`s under-exploited and under-explored oil resources is just too great.
"These fields are the jewels of the Iraqi oil industry," a senior executive at an international oil company planning to bid told Reuters. "Of course we`ll be there. But it`s a big risk to take. We can win the contract, but can we execute it? Who will approve the deals? Will the local partners cooperate?"
In addition to the revolt, semi-autonomous Kurds have warned they could make it difficult for companies to work around the disputed northern city of Kirkuk, while Iraq`s parliament has insisted it must approve every deal.
"A huge controversy has surrounded this first licensing round since before it even began," said former oil minister Esam al-Chalabi. "As expected, the process will not be safe and the foreign companies will face inevitable problems ahead."
When former President George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, critics charged it was because the United States wanted to get its hands on Iraq`s 115 billion barrels or more of reserves.
Eyebrows may be raised if oil companies from nations that took part in the invasion, like Britain, walk away winners.
But on the face of it, it is Iraq that is calling the shots.
The contracts are 20-year service deals, which offer payment based on a fixed fee for additional output. Oil firms prefer production sharing deals that allow them to book some of the reserves and take a share of the profit.
Winning firms must pay the Iraqi Oil Ministry $2.6 billion in signature bonuses and cover Iraq`s 25-percent share of development costs, which it will pay back in oil.
"ECONOMY IN CHAINS"
Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, summoned before parliament, insisted the deals were in Iraq`s interests, and would earn the country $1.7 trillion over the next two decades in additional oil revenues.
The first auction aims to add 1.5 million barrels per day to Iraq`s output of 2.4 million barrels per day -- lower than before the invasion. A second round at year-end for undeveloped fields could add 2.5 million barrels per day, helping boost output above 6 million barrels per day in five years.
Dependent on crude exports for 95 percent of state revenues, Iraq desperately needs cash to rebuild after years of sectarian war between once dominant Sunni Muslims and majority Shi`ites. Continued...
Original article
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - For the first time since the U.S. invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, global oil firms will have a run at Iraq`s vast oil resources when Baghdad auctions off contracts in its biggest fields this month.
The June 29-30 tender for service contracts in six already producing oilfields and two undeveloped gas fields is fraught with risk following a revolt in the state-run oil industry, and amid violence and political uncertainty.
Oil companies say they have no choice but to bid -- the allure of the world`s third largest oil reserves, and of greater riches down the road from Iraq`s under-exploited and under-explored oil resources is just too great.
"These fields are the jewels of the Iraqi oil industry," a senior executive at an international oil company planning to bid told Reuters. "Of course we`ll be there. But it`s a big risk to take. We can win the contract, but can we execute it? Who will approve the deals? Will the local partners cooperate?"
In addition to the revolt, semi-autonomous Kurds have warned they could make it difficult for companies to work around the disputed northern city of Kirkuk, while Iraq`s parliament has insisted it must approve every deal.
"A huge controversy has surrounded this first licensing round since before it even began," said former oil minister Esam al-Chalabi. "As expected, the process will not be safe and the foreign companies will face inevitable problems ahead."
When former President George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, critics charged it was because the United States wanted to get its hands on Iraq`s 115 billion barrels or more of reserves.
Eyebrows may be raised if oil companies from nations that took part in the invasion, like Britain, walk away winners.
But on the face of it, it is Iraq that is calling the shots.
The contracts are 20-year service deals, which offer payment based on a fixed fee for additional output. Oil firms prefer production sharing deals that allow them to book some of the reserves and take a share of the profit.
Winning firms must pay the Iraqi Oil Ministry $2.6 billion in signature bonuses and cover Iraq`s 25-percent share of development costs, which it will pay back in oil.
"ECONOMY IN CHAINS"
Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, summoned before parliament, insisted the deals were in Iraq`s interests, and would earn the country $1.7 trillion over the next two decades in additional oil revenues.
The first auction aims to add 1.5 million barrels per day to Iraq`s output of 2.4 million barrels per day -- lower than before the invasion. A second round at year-end for undeveloped fields could add 2.5 million barrels per day, helping boost output above 6 million barrels per day in five years.
Dependent on crude exports for 95 percent of state revenues, Iraq desperately needs cash to rebuild after years of sectarian war between once dominant Sunni Muslims and majority Shi`ites. Continued...
Original article
Jerusalem gay parade ends peacefully
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A gay pride parade in Jerusalem ended peacefully on Thursday but the planned opening of a municipal parking lot on the Jewish sabbath will test the delicate balance between religious and secular Jews in the city.
The annual parade has touched off anti-gay protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews in the holy city in the past. But this year they limited their protest to holding street prayers wearing brown sacks in line with a biblical mourning tradition.
Police deployed some 1,500 officers -- albeit far fewer than in recent years -- along the route, which avoided neighborhoods where traditionally black-garbed ultra-Orthodox Jews live.
Many devout Jews, Muslims and Christians view homosexuality as an abomination. In 2005, an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed and wounded three participants in the gay march. He is serving a 12-year sentence.
Amit Lev, a spokesman for the gay rights group behind the parade, said organizers had negotiated with ultra-Orthodox leaders in Jerusalem after "long years of silence" between the two communities.
"We`ve agreed that violence doesn`t serve any of us or any of our goals," he said.
But tensions have been stirred in the city over plans by Jerusalem`s Israeli mayor, Nir Barkat, to reopen a public parking lot on Saturday, a move that could draw more traffic into the city on the Jewish sabbath.
Jewish religious law bans travel on the sabbath, and Jerusalem`s ultra-Orthodox community has negotiated with city authorities arrangements that limit or ban traffic in their neighborhoods on Saturdays.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews held stone-throwing protests three weeks ago when the municipal parking lot was last opened on a Saturday and authorities fear a repeat of the violence this weekend.
(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Michael Roddy)
Original article
The annual parade has touched off anti-gay protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews in the holy city in the past. But this year they limited their protest to holding street prayers wearing brown sacks in line with a biblical mourning tradition.
Police deployed some 1,500 officers -- albeit far fewer than in recent years -- along the route, which avoided neighborhoods where traditionally black-garbed ultra-Orthodox Jews live.
Many devout Jews, Muslims and Christians view homosexuality as an abomination. In 2005, an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed and wounded three participants in the gay march. He is serving a 12-year sentence.
Amit Lev, a spokesman for the gay rights group behind the parade, said organizers had negotiated with ultra-Orthodox leaders in Jerusalem after "long years of silence" between the two communities.
"We`ve agreed that violence doesn`t serve any of us or any of our goals," he said.
But tensions have been stirred in the city over plans by Jerusalem`s Israeli mayor, Nir Barkat, to reopen a public parking lot on Saturday, a move that could draw more traffic into the city on the Jewish sabbath.
Jewish religious law bans travel on the sabbath, and Jerusalem`s ultra-Orthodox community has negotiated with city authorities arrangements that limit or ban traffic in their neighborhoods on Saturdays.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews held stone-throwing protests three weeks ago when the municipal parking lot was last opened on a Saturday and authorities fear a repeat of the violence this weekend.
(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Michael Roddy)
Original article
U.S. adviser hails Pakistani attack on militants
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. National Security Adviser Jim Jones on Thursday hailed Pakistani military action against militants, while Pakistan asked the United States for help to resolve a long dispute with India over the Kashmir region.
The Pakistani military is nearing the end of an offensive in the Swat valley, northwest of the capital, that was launched in early May after Taliban gains raised fears for Pakistan`s future and for the safety of its nuclear arsenal.
U.S. President Barack Obama has put Afghanistan and Pakistan at the center of his foreign policy agenda and has launched a new strategy aimed at defeating al Qaeda and stabilizing Afghanistan, where thousands of extra U.S. soldiers are arriving.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate approved tripling aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for each of the next five years, as part of the U.S. plan to fight extremism with economic development.
Jones held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, a day after arriving from Afghanistan, and reaffirmed Obama`s desire to have long-term, multifaceted and strategic cooperation with Pakistan, Gilani`s office said.
"He lauded the Pakistan army`s successful operation against terrorists," Gilani`s office said in a statement.
Pakistan said it has killed about 1,600 militants in the offensive in the former tourist valley of Swat and is in the final stages of securing the region. Independent casualty figures are not available.
The army is preparing an all-out assault against Pakistani Taliban leader and al Qaeda ally Baitullah Mehsud in his stronghold of South Waziristan, on the Afghan border.
The military has been launching air strikes on Mehsud`s bases for more than a week while soldiers have been securing main roads and sealing off his stronghold.
KASHMIR DISPUTE
On Tuesday, a pilotless U.S. drone aircraft killed about 70 of Mehsud`s militant followers in an air strike after a funeral for a militant killed earlier, Pakistani officials said.
Pakistan officially objects to such U.S. strikes on its territory saying they violate its sovereignty and complicate its efforts to win people over to the government side.
In their talks, Gilani also called upon the world, and especially the United States, to help resolving a decades-old dispute with India over the Kashmir region.
India broke off talks with Pakistan after militant attacks on the city of Mumbai in November. India blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based militants and wants Pakistan to act against them.
"The U.S. government would help in every possible way for the resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India and for resolution of the core issues," Gilani`s office cited Jones as saying. Continued...
Original article
American intruder "key player" in Suu Kyi case, police say
YANGON (Reuters) - The American who swam to the home of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was the "key player" in the case against her and may not have been working alone, the country`s police chief said Friday.
Brigadier General Khin Yi said John Yettaw, whose May 4 visit to Suu Kyi`s home could see her jailed for five years, was a man of "high intelligence" who may have received outside support.
"It is quite clear, without a shadow of a doubt, that Mr. John William Yettaw is the key player in this incident," Khin Yi told a news conference.
"There might have been some people who pulled the strings behind the scenes, gave instructions and even provided him with financial and material assistance," he said.
"Necessary investigations are still going on to expose who and which organizations they are."
Suu Kyi is charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest by allowing Yettaw to stay at her home for two days. She has blamed security guards for the breach.
The trial of the Nobel laureate, which is due to resume on Friday, has sparked outrage around the world and critics say the case is an attempt by Myanmar`s military rulers to keep her out of planned multi-party elections next year.
"SENT BY GOD"
Yettaw, 53, who is charged under the same law as Suu Kyi, has told the court that God sent him to warn her she was going to be assassinated by "terrorists."
Khin Yi said Yettaw had shown no signs of mental illness and the way in which he was able to breach security and swim to Suu Kyi`s home showed he was a highly competent individual.
With the courts known to bend the rules to suit the military, which has ruled the former Burma for nearly 50 years, a guilty verdict for the charismatic National League for Democracy (NLD) Party leader is widely expected.
Suu Kyi is being charged under Section 22 of a security law protecting the state against "subversive elements," but her lawyers say the case should be dropped because the legislation is now obsolete.
Khin Yi said an investigation into Yettaw`s past and his activities in neighboring Thailand showed he was poor and unable to afford accommodation or pay for air tickets from the United States without outside financial help.
"There is a lot of food for thought behind the fact that such an unemployed person who does not have any regular income came to Thailand and Myanmar and spent months there at a high cost," he said.
Suu Kyi`s lawyer, Nyan Win, dismissed the police chief`s comments and said his client had no interest in Yettaw`s background. Continued...
Original article
Israel army to curtail operations in four West Bank cities
By Adam Entous
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Thursday it would curtail its military activities in four West Bank cities to help a U.S.-backed move to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The announcement, that will give Palestinian security forces a free hand to operate in the cities, coincided with efforts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ease tensions with U.S. President Barack Obama over stalled peacemaking with the Palestinians.
A senior Palestinian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed the move as a public relations "sham." He said Israel should halt incursions without exception.
Israel has rebuffed U.S. calls for a halt to Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank. On Monday Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will meet Obama`s Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, in Washington to try to narrow differences.
"As of today, Palestinian security forces will be able to operate freely in the cities of Qalqilya, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho," an Israeli military official said.
The official said Israeli troops would still be able to operate within those cities, battlegrounds during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, "in cases of urgent security need." Abbas`s Western-backed government is based in Ramallah.
More than 1,600 security men loyal to Abbas have undergone U.S.-funded training since January 2008. They are derided as collaborators by Hamas Islamists who seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after routing Abbas`s forces there.
Israel has slowly come to back the U.S. training program as a test of Abbas`s ability to rein in militants, as demanded in a 2003 peace "road map" for establishing a Palestinian state.
Abbas has ruled out resuming peace talks with Israel until it halts settlement activity, also required under the road map.
SECURITY RESPONSIBILITY
An Israeli security source said the army would "act as little as possible to allow the Palestinians to take more initiative and responsibility over their own security."
Israeli forces would stay out of the four cities except "in circumstances of `ticking bombs`, or a planned attack" against Israelis, the Israeli security source said.
The senior Palestinian security official countered: "If there is to be a change, they (Israeli troops) should stop the incursions, not enter under the pretext of `ticking bombs`."
The changes set out by Israel fell far short of Palestinian demands it pull its forces back to positions they held before the outbreak of the uprising.
Israel has been reducing its presence in parts of the West Bank, where anti-Israeli violence has declined. But the army still carries out routine patrols and occasional arrest raids. Continued...
Original article
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Thursday it would curtail its military activities in four West Bank cities to help a U.S.-backed move to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The announcement, that will give Palestinian security forces a free hand to operate in the cities, coincided with efforts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ease tensions with U.S. President Barack Obama over stalled peacemaking with the Palestinians.
A senior Palestinian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed the move as a public relations "sham." He said Israel should halt incursions without exception.
Israel has rebuffed U.S. calls for a halt to Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank. On Monday Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will meet Obama`s Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, in Washington to try to narrow differences.
"As of today, Palestinian security forces will be able to operate freely in the cities of Qalqilya, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho," an Israeli military official said.
The official said Israeli troops would still be able to operate within those cities, battlegrounds during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, "in cases of urgent security need." Abbas`s Western-backed government is based in Ramallah.
More than 1,600 security men loyal to Abbas have undergone U.S.-funded training since January 2008. They are derided as collaborators by Hamas Islamists who seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after routing Abbas`s forces there.
Israel has slowly come to back the U.S. training program as a test of Abbas`s ability to rein in militants, as demanded in a 2003 peace "road map" for establishing a Palestinian state.
Abbas has ruled out resuming peace talks with Israel until it halts settlement activity, also required under the road map.
SECURITY RESPONSIBILITY
An Israeli security source said the army would "act as little as possible to allow the Palestinians to take more initiative and responsibility over their own security."
Israeli forces would stay out of the four cities except "in circumstances of `ticking bombs`, or a planned attack" against Israelis, the Israeli security source said.
The senior Palestinian security official countered: "If there is to be a change, they (Israeli troops) should stop the incursions, not enter under the pretext of `ticking bombs`."
The changes set out by Israel fell far short of Palestinian demands it pull its forces back to positions they held before the outbreak of the uprising.
Israel has been reducing its presence in parts of the West Bank, where anti-Israeli violence has declined. But the army still carries out routine patrols and occasional arrest raids. Continued...
Original article
U.S. sends arms to Somalia, rebels amputate limbs
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Washington has sent weapons to Somalia`s government after a green light from the U.N. Security Council to prevent rebels seen as a proxy for al Qaeda overrunning the Horn of Africa nation, sources said on Thursday.
When a moderate Islamist was elected president in January, there was hope he could end nearly two decades of bloodshed in Somalia by reconciling with hardliners who want to impose a strict version of Islamic law across the country.
But Osama bin Laden declared President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed an enemy in an audio tape released in March. He called on the insurgents to topple the government and for Muslims around the world to join their jihad.
The Washington Post said on Thursday arms and ammunition had been sent to the government in a move signaling that President Barack Obama`s administration wanted to thwart the hardliners.
"It`s confirmed. They received approval from the U.N. Security Council," an international security source said.
While there is a U.N. arms embargo on Somalia, the source said the Security Council had agreed to a waiver procedure for the new weapons and ammunition.
Another foreign security source said arms had come into Somalia for the government via Uganda, which provides half the 4,300 African Union troops protecting key sites in Mogadishu.
"The prospect of the government collapsing is sending alarm bells ringing in Western capitals, but whether this latest move will succeed remains to be seen," said Rashid Abdi, analyst at International Crisis Group.
"Going further than providing arms to actually sending in more foreign forces would be a mistake," he said. "The government would then play right into the hands of the militants, who would accuse them of accepting foreign meddling."
DOUBLE AMPUTATION
The al Shabaab group, which has foreign fighters in its ranks and is accused of close ties to al Qaeda, stepped up its attacks in early May. It now controls most of southern Somalia and all but a few blocks of the capital Mogadishu.
On Thursday, the insurgents used long knives to cut off a hand and a foot each from four young men in Mogadishu as punishment for theft, witnesses said.
It was the first double amputation in Somalia.
The men screamed in pain, and some spectators vomited.
Al Shabaab has carried out executions, floggings and single-limb amputations before, mainly in the southern port of Kismayu. Movies and soccer games are banned in areas it controls while men and women cannot travel together on public transport. Continued...
Original article
Lebanon assembly re-elects Hezbollah ally speaker
By Tom Perry
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon`s parliament Thursday elected Nabih Berri as speaker for the coming four years, extending his 17-year leadership of the chamber in a vote that underlined improved ties between rival politicians.
Berri, an ally of the military and political movement Hezbollah, stood uncontested for the post, reserved for a Shi`ite Muslim according to a sectarian power-sharing system.
Ninety of parliament`s 128 members voted for the 71-year old, including the Future Movement of Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri, one of Berri`s main opponents during a crisis that pushed Lebanon to the brink of civil war last year.
Hariri`s "March 14" coalition won a parliamentary majority in a June 7 election, defeating a rival alliance including Berri`s Amal movement and Hezbollah, which between them dominate Shi`ite representation in Lebanon.
Hariri, 39, is a frontrunner to head the new government. His decision to back Berri is seen as supportive of Lebanon`s stability and a further sign of improved ties between Syria and Saudi Arabia, whose rivalry was viewed as a major cause of the country`s crises in recent years.
Saudi Arabia and western countries including the United States have been major supporters of Hariri and his allies in their power struggle with rivals backed by Syria and Iran.
Addressing parliament after his election, Berri called on Lebanon`s politicians to seize "the regional and international moment ... to strengthen Lebanon`s peace and stability."
"This requires us to facilitate the establishment of a national government," said Berri, viewed as one of Syria`s closest allies in Lebanon.
Speaking after a meeting with Berri Wednesday, Hariri said voting for the Amal leader was a decision that would "strengthen national unity and preserve civil peace."
President Michel Suleiman is expected to hold consultations with parliamentarians in the coming days over their choice for prime minister. He is obliged to designate the most popular choice, widely expected to be Hariri.
Hezbollah had called for the formation of a national unity government with veto power for the minority alliance after the parliamentary election, though the group has not repeated the demand since the vote.
Original article
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon`s parliament Thursday elected Nabih Berri as speaker for the coming four years, extending his 17-year leadership of the chamber in a vote that underlined improved ties between rival politicians.
Berri, an ally of the military and political movement Hezbollah, stood uncontested for the post, reserved for a Shi`ite Muslim according to a sectarian power-sharing system.
Ninety of parliament`s 128 members voted for the 71-year old, including the Future Movement of Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri, one of Berri`s main opponents during a crisis that pushed Lebanon to the brink of civil war last year.
Hariri`s "March 14" coalition won a parliamentary majority in a June 7 election, defeating a rival alliance including Berri`s Amal movement and Hezbollah, which between them dominate Shi`ite representation in Lebanon.
Hariri, 39, is a frontrunner to head the new government. His decision to back Berri is seen as supportive of Lebanon`s stability and a further sign of improved ties between Syria and Saudi Arabia, whose rivalry was viewed as a major cause of the country`s crises in recent years.
Saudi Arabia and western countries including the United States have been major supporters of Hariri and his allies in their power struggle with rivals backed by Syria and Iran.
Addressing parliament after his election, Berri called on Lebanon`s politicians to seize "the regional and international moment ... to strengthen Lebanon`s peace and stability."
"This requires us to facilitate the establishment of a national government," said Berri, viewed as one of Syria`s closest allies in Lebanon.
Speaking after a meeting with Berri Wednesday, Hariri said voting for the Amal leader was a decision that would "strengthen national unity and preserve civil peace."
President Michel Suleiman is expected to hold consultations with parliamentarians in the coming days over their choice for prime minister. He is obliged to designate the most popular choice, widely expected to be Hariri.
Hezbollah had called for the formation of a national unity government with veto power for the minority alliance after the parliamentary election, though the group has not repeated the demand since the vote.
Original article
Roadside bomb kills five policemen in Iraq
A string of attacks has cast doubt on the ability of Iraqi forces to keep the lid on a stubborn insurgency after U.S. combat troops withdraw from towns and cities at the end of this month.
Police in Falluja in Anbar province, once the heartland of the rebellion against U.S. troops and government forces, said Thursday`s blast destroyed a police vehicle and killed all five policemen inside, including a lieutenant.
It came hours after an explosion tore through a busy second-hand market in eastern Baghdad`s Sadr City slum, killing 72 people just four days after U.S. forces handed security of the Shi`ite Muslim area to Iraqi troops and police.
Saturday, a massive truck bomb killed 73 people near the northern city of Kirkuk. That and the Sadr City market bombing were the bloodiest attacks in the country for more than a year.
Violence has dropped sharply across Iraq over the past year, but militants including Sunni Islamist al Qaeda continue to launch car and suicide bombings aimed at undermining the Shi`ite Muslim-led government and reigniting sectarian conflict.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a member of Iraq`s Shi`ite majority, has urged Iraqis not to lose heart if insurgents take advantage of the U.S. military drawdown to step up attacks.
Analysts say attacks are also likely to intensify ahead of a parliamentary election in January that will be a test of whether the country`s feuding factions can live together after years of sectarian slaughter unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion.
(Reporting by Fadel Al-Badrani; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Sophie Hares)
Original article
Iran's opposition vows to go on challenging poll
Demo detainees aired on Iran TV
Play Video
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's reformist opposition leaders vowed to press on with legal challenges to an election they say was rigged, even as the hardline leadership appeared on Thursday to have largely crushed mass street protests.
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
The unrest has exposed unprecedented rifts within Iran's clerical establishment, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who normally stays above the political fray, siding strongly with anti-Western President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The turmoil in Iran has also put back prospects for U.S. President Barack Obama's hoped for engagement with Tehran over its nuclear program, with Ahmadinejad's government blaming Britain and the United States for fomenting violence.
Iran's tough security crackdown has also led Obama to ramp up his previously muted criticism of Iran, with the president saying he was "appalled and outraged" by the violence.
Khamenei has declared the result of the June 12 presidential election that returned Ahmadinejad would stand and said opposition leaders would be held responsible for any bloodshed.
Some 20 protesters have been killed in the demonstrations, but police and militia have largely succeeded in taking back control of the streets this week after the most widespread anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Riot police swiftly dispersed a group of 200 demonstrators with teargas on Wednesday, but the protest was a far cry from the marches last week that attracted tens of thousands.
Protest cries of Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) were heard from Tehran rooftops again overnight, but were much more short-lived than on previous evenings in the capital.
But opposition leaders, though they appeared to have lost the weapon of public protest, were still unbowed.
Reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who came last in the election, called the new government "illegitimate" and the wife of Mirhossein Mousavi, who says he won the poll, said it was a "duty to continue legal protests to preserve Iranian rights."
Mousavi is backed by influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatist who favors a less confrontational foreign policy who heads a council of clerics which in theory at least has the power to depose Khamenei.
Mousavi and Rafsanjani met senior parliamentarians on Wednesday. The semi-official Fars news agency said only that the "election and latest developments" were discussed and it was not clear whether the pair were trying to make peace with the hardline-dominated parliament or trying to win support.
Having lost the avenue of street demonstrations, Mousavi supporters said they planned to release thousands of balloons on Friday imprinted with the message "Neda you will always remain in our hearts" -- a reference to a young woman killed last week whose image has become an icon of the protests.
PRESSURING IRAN Continued...
Source: Reuters
Netanyahu says hopes for U.S. settlement understanding
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan
PARIS (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he hoped to reach an understanding with Washington over Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but an Israeli official predicted the dispute would be hard to resolve.
Echoing U.S. President Barack Obama, France's Nicolas Sarkozy urged Netanyahu to build up trust with the Palestinians by ordering a "complete freeze on settlements," a statement from the French president's office said.
After meeting Sarkozy in Paris, Netanyahu reiterated his intention to continue to build within existing settlements in the West Bank to accommodate the "natural growth" of families.
Netanyahu, who heads a right-leaning government that could be fractured if he agrees to a settlement halt, told reporters differences could occur "among the best of friends."
Western diplomats said the abrupt cancellation of Netanyahu's planned meeting in Paris on Thursday with Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, underscored the difficulty both sides faced in narrowing the rift.
Mitchell will meet instead with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Washington next Monday. "I asked for the postponement of the meeting," Netanyahu said about the talks he had planned to hold with Mitchell in the French capital.
"Mr. Mitchell agreed immediately. We believed we had to clarify several issues and statistics. The defense minister will do this on Monday in the United States," Netanyahu said.
"We will continue the contacts, with goodwill and with the intention of reaching understanding that will advance a peace process -- a diplomatic process between us and the Palestinians, and I hope between us and the rest of the Arab world."
Senior Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu sought understanding with the Obama administration that would allow construction already under way in settlements to go forward.
One senior official who traveled with Netanyahu to Paris said "a lot of hard work" would be necessary to reach common ground with the United States, which also advocates creation of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu says such a country must be demilitarized and recognize Israel as a Jewish state, conditions Palestinians reject.
"JOINT DECISION"
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the Mitchell-Barak meeting was a "joint decision" and talks between Netanyahu and the envoy had not yet been rescheduled.
The rare clouds in the U.S.-Israeli relationship seemed to overshadow Netanyahu's three-day visit to Europe, which also included talks in Rome, where Italian leaders prodded him to resolve the dispute.
In lieu of a full settlement freeze, Netanyahu has said he would not build additional enclaves in the territory, captured by Israel in a 1967 war and which Palestinians seek for a state. Continued...
Source: Reuters
U.S. urges China to scrap Internet filter plan
By Chris Buckley and Doug Palmer
BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. officials urged China to abandon its controversial plan requiring all new personal computers to be sold with Internet filtering software from next week, warning the step could violate world trade rules.
The row has become another irritant in bilateral ties at a time when governments are looking to the United States and China to help drag the world economy out of its slump.
The United States and the European Union said on Tuesday they were taking a complaint to the World Trade Organization over China's export curbs on some industrial raw materials. China rejected those charges, saying its policies were in line with WTO rules.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk voiced their concerns over the "Green Dam" software in a joint letter to their Chinese counterparts.
"China is putting companies in an untenable position by requiring them, with virtually no public notice, to pre-install software that appears to have broad-based censorship implications and network security issues," Locke said in a statement on Wednesday.
China says the filtering software is needed to protect children from pornographic and violent images and has insisted the deadline of July 1 for all new computers to be sold with Green Dam will not change.
Critics have said the software, sold by Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co, is technically flawed and could be used to spy on Internet users and to block other sites that Beijing considers politically offensive.
"Protecting children from inappropriate content is a legitimate objective, but this is an inappropriate means and is likely to have a broader scope," Kirk said.
"Mandating technically flawed Green Dam software and denying manufacturers and consumers freedom to select filtering software is an unnecessary and unjustified means to achieve that objective, and poses a serious barrier to trade," Kirk added.
The proposed new rules raised fundamental questions regarding the transparency of China's regulatory practices and concerns about compliance with WTO rules, the U.S. officials said.
They said they had heard numerous complaints from global technology companies, Chinese citizens and the worldwide media about the stability of the software, the scope and extent of the filtering activities and its security weaknesses.
Some Chinese Internet users are calling on fellow web surfers to stay offline on July 1 in a low-key protest against the filter.
GOOGLE BLOCKED
The software plan coincides with a campaign by China's Internet watchdog against Google and disruptions to the U.S. company's websites in China.
The watchdog last week ordered the world's biggest search engine to stop overseas websites with "pornographic and vulgar" content from being accessed through its Chinese-language search engine. Continued...
Source: Reuters
BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. officials urged China to abandon its controversial plan requiring all new personal computers to be sold with Internet filtering software from next week, warning the step could violate world trade rules.
The row has become another irritant in bilateral ties at a time when governments are looking to the United States and China to help drag the world economy out of its slump.
The United States and the European Union said on Tuesday they were taking a complaint to the World Trade Organization over China's export curbs on some industrial raw materials. China rejected those charges, saying its policies were in line with WTO rules.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk voiced their concerns over the "Green Dam" software in a joint letter to their Chinese counterparts.
"China is putting companies in an untenable position by requiring them, with virtually no public notice, to pre-install software that appears to have broad-based censorship implications and network security issues," Locke said in a statement on Wednesday.
China says the filtering software is needed to protect children from pornographic and violent images and has insisted the deadline of July 1 for all new computers to be sold with Green Dam will not change.
Critics have said the software, sold by Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co, is technically flawed and could be used to spy on Internet users and to block other sites that Beijing considers politically offensive.
"Protecting children from inappropriate content is a legitimate objective, but this is an inappropriate means and is likely to have a broader scope," Kirk said.
"Mandating technically flawed Green Dam software and denying manufacturers and consumers freedom to select filtering software is an unnecessary and unjustified means to achieve that objective, and poses a serious barrier to trade," Kirk added.
The proposed new rules raised fundamental questions regarding the transparency of China's regulatory practices and concerns about compliance with WTO rules, the U.S. officials said.
They said they had heard numerous complaints from global technology companies, Chinese citizens and the worldwide media about the stability of the software, the scope and extent of the filtering activities and its security weaknesses.
Some Chinese Internet users are calling on fellow web surfers to stay offline on July 1 in a low-key protest against the filter.
GOOGLE BLOCKED
The software plan coincides with a campaign by China's Internet watchdog against Google and disruptions to the U.S. company's websites in China.
The watchdog last week ordered the world's biggest search engine to stop overseas websites with "pornographic and vulgar" content from being accessed through its Chinese-language search engine. Continued...
Source: Reuters
Bomb kills at least 72 in Baghdad's Sadr City
Baghdad hit by bombings
Play Video
By Sattar Rahim
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A bomb killed at least 72 people on Wednesday at a busy market in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City slum, police said, six days before U.S. combat troops are due to withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities.
About 127 people were wounded by the blast in the poor, mostly Shi'ite Muslim area. A witness said the explosion tore through a part of the Mraidi Market where birds are sold, setting stalls ablaze.
Bloodshed has dropped sharply across Iraq in the past year, but militants including Sunni Islamist al Qaeda continue to launch car and suicide bombings aimed at undermining the government and reigniting sectarian conflict.
Wednesday's market bombing came four days after the U.S. military formally handed control to local forces in Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces fought fierce battles against Shi'ite militiamen in the spring of 2008.
Raad Latif, who owns a shop near the blast site, said the bomb appeared to have been on a trailer attached to a motorcycle.
"The blast was very big and loud. After we heard it, we closed our shops and rushed to help the injured," Latif said. Initially the security forces kept residents back to allow ambulances and police vehicles into the area, he said.
"After a while they came to their senses and allowed us to help as much as we could ... the scene was horrific," he said.
The office of the Baghdad security spokesman said 62 people had died and 150 were wounded in the explosion.
Three school students died in another bombing in Sadr City on Monday, one of a string of blasts that killed 27 people across Iraq that day. On Saturday, at least 73 people died in a suicide truck bombing outside a mosque in Kirkuk province.
High death tolls remain common despite the fall in overall violence. Two female suicide bombers killed 60 people outside a Shi'ite shrine in the capital this April, just days before twin car bomb blasts killed 51 people in Sadr City.
JUNE 30 DEADLINE APPROACHES
Such attacks cast doubt on the ability of local security forces, rebuilt from the ground up after they were dissolved by U.S. officials in 2003, to vanquish a stubborn insurgency on their own.
"This cowardly act will not shake the determination of our people and armed forces to take over security responsibility and defeat terrorist schemes," Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a minority Kurd, said in a statement following the attack.
Sadr City is a bastion of support for fiery anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia. The Mehdi Army has frozen most activities in the past year and Iraqi government forces have retaken control of the area.
Analysts say attacks are likely to intensify ahead of a parliamentary election in January that will be a crucial test of whether Iraq's feuding factions can live together after years of sectarian slaughter unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion. Continued...
Source: Reuters
"Cultural shift" needed in Afghan combat: commander
Scots soldiers lead Taliban assault
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By Jonathon Burch
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan said on Wednesday foreign troops need to make a "cultural shift" away from conventional warfare and focus on winning the support of Afghans.
General Stanley McChrystal, who took charge of some 90,000 international troops in Afghanistan last week, said most forces were designed for conventional "high intensity" combat aimed at "destroying the enemy" and using "every asset" available.
"This is appropriate for the conventional battlefield where it is army against army, but not appropriate for the COIN (counter-insurgency) battlefield," McChrystal said on a visit to the new U.S. Marine base in southern Helmand Province.
"In my view what we've really got to do is make a cultural view," he told reporters.
McChrystal is meeting commanders around the country as part of a "listening tour" and is expected to release "within days" new guidelines for troops aimed at limiting civilian deaths that have put their mission at risk and have outraged Afghans.
A U.S. military report issued last week found air strikes by U.S. B1 bombers in May that killed dozens of civilians had violated orders already in place at the time and recommended drawing up new guidelines soon.
"INFORMATION CAMPAIGN"
McChrystal said that while everyone knew "academically" how to conduct a counter-insurgency campaign, the problem was getting the message to soldiers on the ground who often reverted to "automatic reflective responses" of conventional warfare.
"What I'm trying to do is help everybody shape their behavior and understand that. It's going to be almost the equivalent of an information campaign," McChrystal said.
"I've learnt ... that if you feel very strongly about certain things you have to say them very clearly, you have to say them very often, and you have to repeat the same thing over and over again," he said.
The U.S. military is to publish an unclassified version of its new guidelines to show the public the steps it has taken to minimize civilian casualties.
McChrystal said the new directive would not amount to a surrender to the insurgents.
"You surrender to the Taliban when you give up the fight for the support of the people. That's the decisive terrain. We are going to do counter insurgency here in an offensive manner."
(Editing by Jon Hemming)
Source: Reuters
U.S. sees multinational approach to North Korea ship
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will likely agree with other countries about whether to contact a North Korean ship being monitored by the U.S. Navy, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said there has been no decision yet to hail the Kang Nam, the first North Korean ship to be monitored under a new U.N. security resolution that bars Pyongyang from exporting weapons including missile parts and nuclear materials.
"That is a decision I think we will likely take collectively with our allies and partners out there and make a determination about whether we choose to hail and query this particular ship. And if we make that decision, when and where to do so," Morrell told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
"That is not a decision that's been made yet and I don't get the sense that it is imminent."
Morrell did not say which countries would be party to any decision. The U.N. sanctions, adopted this month in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test in May, authorized U.N. member states including South Korea, Japan and China to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo.
Separately on Wednesday, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy said in Beijing that the United States had assured China it would implement the U.N. resolution fully, responsibly and in concert with other nations in the region.
U.S. officials have not said why the Navy is monitoring the Kang Nam, which left a North Korean port a week ago. South Korean media reports have said the ship, a known North Korean weapons trader, is probably heading for Myanmar, while other media outlets have named Singapore as a possible destination.
Singapore's government said on Saturday it would take action against the North Korean ship if the vessel heads to its port with a cargo of weapons.
Morrell declined to discuss the ship's location or possible destination.
U.S. military officials have said the U.N. resolution would allow the Navy to search a ship only with its flag country's consent. But Morrell stressed that Washington has a common interest with countries in the region.
"The U.N. authorized all of us who have an interest in deterring North Korea from proliferating banned weapons," he said.
"And so it's not just us who have this authority or this responsibility. All members of the United Nations have that authority and responsibility. And it's not just us who are interested in North Korean ships."
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
Source: Reuters
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said there has been no decision yet to hail the Kang Nam, the first North Korean ship to be monitored under a new U.N. security resolution that bars Pyongyang from exporting weapons including missile parts and nuclear materials.
"That is a decision I think we will likely take collectively with our allies and partners out there and make a determination about whether we choose to hail and query this particular ship. And if we make that decision, when and where to do so," Morrell told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
"That is not a decision that's been made yet and I don't get the sense that it is imminent."
Morrell did not say which countries would be party to any decision. The U.N. sanctions, adopted this month in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test in May, authorized U.N. member states including South Korea, Japan and China to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo.
Separately on Wednesday, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy said in Beijing that the United States had assured China it would implement the U.N. resolution fully, responsibly and in concert with other nations in the region.
U.S. officials have not said why the Navy is monitoring the Kang Nam, which left a North Korean port a week ago. South Korean media reports have said the ship, a known North Korean weapons trader, is probably heading for Myanmar, while other media outlets have named Singapore as a possible destination.
Singapore's government said on Saturday it would take action against the North Korean ship if the vessel heads to its port with a cargo of weapons.
Morrell declined to discuss the ship's location or possible destination.
U.S. military officials have said the U.N. resolution would allow the Navy to search a ship only with its flag country's consent. But Morrell stressed that Washington has a common interest with countries in the region.
"The U.N. authorized all of us who have an interest in deterring North Korea from proliferating banned weapons," he said.
"And so it's not just us who have this authority or this responsibility. All members of the United Nations have that authority and responsibility. And it's not just us who are interested in North Korean ships."
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
Source: Reuters
Poor nations plead for money at U.N. crisis meeting
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Developing countries had a clear message Wednesday for a U.N. meeting on the global financial crisis -- we need money.
Planning for the three-day conference has been fraught with difficulties. It was first scheduled for June 1-3 but U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto postponed it to this week when it became clear negotiators had no agreement on a set of draft proposals for reforming the global financial system.
Although the meeting has been billed as a summit, no Western leaders are attending. Only a dozen presidents and prime ministers, mostly Latin American and Caribbean, showed up. Others taking part have sent lower-level delegates.
On the first day, speakers from developing countries made clear that they saw their nations as victims of a financial crisis they did not cause and pleaded with the world's wealthy nations to help them.
"We don't have the surpluses and we don't have the foreign exchange reserves that fiscal expansion in our import-dependent economies would require," Dean Barrow, prime minister and finance minister of Belize, told the 142 participants.
"If further devastation in our developing countries is to be averted, specific arrangements for the flow of resources to governments ... need to be put in place immediately."
Zimbabwe's Vice President Joice Mujuru pleaded for a "financial stimulus package" for her country's devastated economy, saying lack of foreign support imperiled a recovery plan drawn up by the unity government.
BROKEN PROMISES
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon backed the plea by poor countries for more financial aid. He said the world faced "the worst ever global financial and economic crisis since the founding of the United Nations more than 60 years ago."
He also chided the world's wealthy nations for reneging on pledges to boost aid to Africa.
"Surely if the world can mobilize more than $18 trillion to keep the financial sector afloat, it can find more than $18 billion to keep commitments to Africa," Ban said.
D'Escoto, the General Assembly president, warned against building "a Noah's Ark only to save the existing economic system, leaving the vast majority of humanity to their fate."
World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the conference: "We are in the midst of a development crisis of immense proportions."
A set of draft proposals, which delegates plan to adopt by Friday, calls for increased aid and debt relief for poor nations, boosting representation of developing states at the International Monetary Fund and more supervision of hedge funds. It also warns against national trade protectionism.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said Washington supports increased emergency IMF aid to the neediest countries as well as more U.S. aid. She said the United States had "a share of responsibility" for the current crisis. Continued...
Source: Reuters
Kyrgyzstan agreed U.S. base deal with Russia-source
By Oleg Shchedrov
CAIRO (Reuters) - A Kyrgyzstan deal with the United States to keep open a U.S. air base in Central Asia was agreed with Russia, a Kremlin source said on Thursday, but a newspaper report said Moscow had been thrown off balance by the move.
The United States has agreed to pay $180 million to Kyrgyzstan to keep open the last remaining U.S. air base in Central Asia, a key refueling point for U.S. aircraft in NATO operations against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
Washington had been haggling to keep the base open since February, when the former Soviet republic announced its closure after securing pledges of $2 billion in aid and credit from Russia.
When asked about the deal, a Kremlin official accompanying Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Egypt told Reuters that Kyrgyzstan had agreed its decision with Moscow.
"Kyrgyzstan agreed its decision (on the base) with Russia," the source said. "We support all steps aimed at stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan."
But Russia's Kommersant newspaper quoted an unidentified Russian diplomat as saying that Moscow felt it had been tricked by Kyrgyzstan over the base and that Russia would make an "adequate response" to the deal.
"The news about keeping the base was a very unpleasant surprise for us -- we did not expect such a trick," the diplomat was quoted as saying by Kommersant.
"The real character of the U.S. military presence in Central Asia has not changed, which goes against Russian interests and our agreement with the Kyrgyz leadership," the Russian diplomat was quoted as saying.
Kyrgyzstan's ruling party said on Wednesday it had approved the agreement with the United States to keep the Manas air base open.
"Kyrgyzstan can not step aside from fighting terrorism," said Kabai Karabekov, a member of Ak Zhol party led by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Karabekov said the deal would probably be approved by parliament on Thursday.
The surprise decision to close the base -- announced by Bakiyev in Moscow alongside Kremlin chief Medvedev -- provoked speculation that Russia was trying to use the issue as a bargaining chip in U.S. relations.
The Kremlin says it is ready for cooperation with Washington on fighting the Taliban and Afghanistan is likely to be on the agenda when U.S. President Barack Obama visits Moscow in July.
(Additional Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek and Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Charles Dick)
Source: Reuters
Nations fail to reach compromise at whaling talks
By Shrikesh Laxmidas
FUNCHAL, Portugal (Reuters) - The International Whaling Commission failed to find a compromise between whaling and anti-whaling nations on Wednesday in a serious blow to its authority as a regulator.
Instead of coming up with a deal, IWC delegates agreed to extend the deadline for a compromise for a year. The commission is seeking to marry the views of anti-whaling nations such as Australia and pro-whaling countries Japan, Norway and Iceland.
"The IWC is at a crossroads beset by fundamental disagreements as to its nature and purpose," the international body said, referring to the failure of the panel to reach agreement.
A moratorium on commercial whaling was agreed in 1986 at the IWC, but Japan continues to skirt it for scientific research, while Iceland and Norway simply ignore it and harpoon whales for commercial use. That situation has left the IWC logjammed.
Japan said failure to reach agreement could eventually lead to a collapse of the IWC.
"Essentially what you are looking at is that if is not resolved you are looking at the total and utter collapse of the IWC," a spokesman for the Japanese delegation told Reuters.
He said Australia, a key anti-whaling nation, had "brought nothing to the table and all it has done is dig its heels in on scientific whaling."
Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett said talks on the future of the IWC could not go on forever and he did not rule out legal action against pro-whaling nations.
"What we've always said is that the option for legal action remains, we will give consideration to the progress that's been made at this IWC meeting and we will take a view about that option in due course," he told journalists.
Last week Garrett said Australia would oppose a deal which would allow Japan to resume coastal whaling in return for scaling back its annual whale hunt near Antartica, saying it was not the right means to advance whale conservation.
An international convention was signed in 1946 on regulating whaling and the IWC was created as part of that convention. Most commercial whaling ended during the 1960s and 1970s but some countries insist on their continued right to carry out the practice in a limited way.
(Editing by Axel Bugge and Philippa Fletcher)
Source: Reuters
FUNCHAL, Portugal (Reuters) - The International Whaling Commission failed to find a compromise between whaling and anti-whaling nations on Wednesday in a serious blow to its authority as a regulator.
Instead of coming up with a deal, IWC delegates agreed to extend the deadline for a compromise for a year. The commission is seeking to marry the views of anti-whaling nations such as Australia and pro-whaling countries Japan, Norway and Iceland.
"The IWC is at a crossroads beset by fundamental disagreements as to its nature and purpose," the international body said, referring to the failure of the panel to reach agreement.
A moratorium on commercial whaling was agreed in 1986 at the IWC, but Japan continues to skirt it for scientific research, while Iceland and Norway simply ignore it and harpoon whales for commercial use. That situation has left the IWC logjammed.
Japan said failure to reach agreement could eventually lead to a collapse of the IWC.
"Essentially what you are looking at is that if is not resolved you are looking at the total and utter collapse of the IWC," a spokesman for the Japanese delegation told Reuters.
He said Australia, a key anti-whaling nation, had "brought nothing to the table and all it has done is dig its heels in on scientific whaling."
Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett said talks on the future of the IWC could not go on forever and he did not rule out legal action against pro-whaling nations.
"What we've always said is that the option for legal action remains, we will give consideration to the progress that's been made at this IWC meeting and we will take a view about that option in due course," he told journalists.
Last week Garrett said Australia would oppose a deal which would allow Japan to resume coastal whaling in return for scaling back its annual whale hunt near Antartica, saying it was not the right means to advance whale conservation.
An international convention was signed in 1946 on regulating whaling and the IWC was created as part of that convention. Most commercial whaling ended during the 1960s and 1970s but some countries insist on their continued right to carry out the practice in a limited way.
(Editing by Axel Bugge and Philippa Fletcher)
Source: Reuters
Somali legislators flee abroad, parliament paralyzed
By Abdiaziz Hassan
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Scores of Somali legislators have fled violence at home to the safety of other countries in Africa, Europe and the United States, leaving the nation's parliament without a quorum to meet.
Violence from an Islamist-led insurgency has worsened this month, with a minister, the Mogadishu police chief, and a legislator all killed. The government, which controls little but a few parts of the capital, has declared a state of emergency.
With reports of foreign jihadists streaming into Somalia, Western security services are frightened Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network may get a grip on the failed Horn of Africa state that has been without central government for 18 years.
Needing two-thirds of legislators present to meet, Somalia's 550-seat parliament has not convened since April 25.
Officials said on Wednesday that 288 members of parliament (MPs) were abroad, with only about 50 on official visits.
The rest were in neighbors Kenya and Djibouti, European nations such as Sweden, Britain, the Netherlands and Norway, and the United States, the officials said.
"I cannot be a member of a government that cannot protect me," Abdalla Haji Ali, an MP who left for Kenya last week, told Reuters. "In Somalia, nobody is safe."
Parliament speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Madobe has urged the MPs to return, and Somalia's Finance Ministry has blocked the salaries of 144 legislators abroad, officials said.
In Nairobi on Wednesday, plenty of Somali MPs could be seen sipping tea and talking politics in various hotels and cafes.
"As legislators, we have responsibility and every one of us should perform his duty in Mogadishu," one legislator who has stayed in Mogadishu, Sheikh Ahmed Moalim, told Reuters.
"Before you decide to flee, you have to resign officially if you realize that you cannot work in this environment."
"GOVERNMENT FIDDLES, SOMALIA BURNS"
Islamist rebel leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys held a news conference in Mogadishu to denounce the government's call at the weekend for foreign forces to come to its aid.
The African Union has a 4,300-strong force guarding government and other installations in Mogadishu, but has been unable to stem violence and has been targeted by the rebels.
Kenya has said it supports international efforts to get more troops into Somalia, but Aweys thanked Nairobi for declining to send its soldiers across the border. "If they deal with us well, we will deal with them well as a good neighbor," he said. Continued...
Source: Reuters
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Scores of Somali legislators have fled violence at home to the safety of other countries in Africa, Europe and the United States, leaving the nation's parliament without a quorum to meet.
Violence from an Islamist-led insurgency has worsened this month, with a minister, the Mogadishu police chief, and a legislator all killed. The government, which controls little but a few parts of the capital, has declared a state of emergency.
With reports of foreign jihadists streaming into Somalia, Western security services are frightened Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network may get a grip on the failed Horn of Africa state that has been without central government for 18 years.
Needing two-thirds of legislators present to meet, Somalia's 550-seat parliament has not convened since April 25.
Officials said on Wednesday that 288 members of parliament (MPs) were abroad, with only about 50 on official visits.
The rest were in neighbors Kenya and Djibouti, European nations such as Sweden, Britain, the Netherlands and Norway, and the United States, the officials said.
"I cannot be a member of a government that cannot protect me," Abdalla Haji Ali, an MP who left for Kenya last week, told Reuters. "In Somalia, nobody is safe."
Parliament speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Madobe has urged the MPs to return, and Somalia's Finance Ministry has blocked the salaries of 144 legislators abroad, officials said.
In Nairobi on Wednesday, plenty of Somali MPs could be seen sipping tea and talking politics in various hotels and cafes.
"As legislators, we have responsibility and every one of us should perform his duty in Mogadishu," one legislator who has stayed in Mogadishu, Sheikh Ahmed Moalim, told Reuters.
"Before you decide to flee, you have to resign officially if you realize that you cannot work in this environment."
"GOVERNMENT FIDDLES, SOMALIA BURNS"
Islamist rebel leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys held a news conference in Mogadishu to denounce the government's call at the weekend for foreign forces to come to its aid.
The African Union has a 4,300-strong force guarding government and other installations in Mogadishu, but has been unable to stem violence and has been targeted by the rebels.
Kenya has said it supports international efforts to get more troops into Somalia, but Aweys thanked Nairobi for declining to send its soldiers across the border. "If they deal with us well, we will deal with them well as a good neighbor," he said. Continued...
Source: Reuters
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