Kabul, July 10: Fighting overnight between international troops and Taliban militants in central Afghanistan has left as many as 22 insurgents dead, police said Friday.
The clashes came as Britain’s Defense Ministry announced two more deaths, bring the country’s toll to nine dead in southern Afghanistan in as many days.
Kabul, July 10: Fighting overnight between international troops and Taliban militants in central Afghanistan has left as many as 22 insurgents dead, police said Friday.
The clashes came as Britain’s Defense Ministry announced two more deaths, bring the country’s toll to nine dead in southern Afghanistan in as many days.
Kabul, July 10: The Afghanistan Government has revised a law that drew international condemnation for condoning marital rape, but the reformed version still requires a woman to satisfy her husband’s sexual desires, reported.
The law governing family relations for Afghanistan’s Shia minority triggered protests and widespread indignation when it was passed in March.
Articles in the original version required a wife to submit to her husband’s advances every four days and stated that she could not leave the house without his permission.
Cairo, July 10: The Suez Canal is a vital maritime transport link
Egyptian officials say 25 militants suspected of having al-Qaeda links have been arrested for plotting attacks on ships in the Suez Canal.
The interior ministry said the alleged militant cell was led by a Palestinian and the other members were Egyptians.
The group planned to use explosives fitted with mobile phone-activated detonators against shipping in the canal, the statement said.
It said that most of those arrested were engineers or technicians.
Baghdad, July 10: Bombs killed more than 50 people in Iraq on Thursday in the worst violence since US combat troops withdrew from urban areas last week. The most lethal attack was in the northern city of Tal Afar, where women sat in the street amid torn and bloodied bodies in the aftermath of suicide bombings, wailing and beating their chests in grief. Several men crouched and wept into their hands. Others rushed the wounded to ambulances; some used a bed sheet as a makeshift stretcher.
Alkhobar, July 10: The power grids of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain will be linked later this month, the body overseeing interconnection said Tuesday.
Gulf Arab countries hope the $1.4 billion power connection project will help them meet rapidly rising power demand and avoid power outages.
The United Arab Emirates would hook up to the grid in 2011, the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) said in a statement. That would be a year later than previously expected. Oman was also expected to join the project.
Woman drowns in Corniche accident
Jeddah, July 10: An 18-year-old woman was reported drowned in the Red Sea off Jeddah’s Corniche Thursday morning. The body has not been found and a search operation continued late into the evening.
“We received a distress call at 10 a.m. from a bystander who was on the sidewalk saying a person was drowning in the sea,” said Lt. Saleh Al-Sheri of the Border Guard.
Jerusalem, July 10: One of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest advisers has declared that ‘there is no Palestinian leadership’ to act as partner in peace talks.
Netanyahu’s national security adviser, Uzi Arad, questioned whether Israel’s government has a Palestinian negotiating partner who can deliver peace.
“I … do not see a Palestinian leadership or a Palestinian regime, but a disorderly constellation of forces and factions,” Arad said on Thursday indicating deep skepticism about prospects for peace.
Ramallah, July 10: A high-ranking Egyptian delegation has arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah in an attempt to push for unity talks between rival Palestinian factions.
The delegation arrived in Ramallah on Thursday and will meet with Palestinian authority officials, including acting Prime Minister Salam Fayad, during their two-day visit.
The Egyptian delegation is headed by the Egyptian Intelligence Chief deputy Mohammad Ibrahim who will also meet with Hamas, Fatah and leaders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
Tehran, July 10: Fresh unrest broke out on the streets of Iran yesterday when opposition protesters defied a ban on public gatherings and police fired shots in the air to disperse them.
Nearly a month after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was returned to power in disputed elections, provoking the worst upheaval since the 1979 Islamic revolution, an uneasy calm has returned to the capital. But that was broken as hundreds of people gathered at Enghelab Avenue near Tehran University to commemorate the anniversary of student uprisings in 1999.
Baghdad, July 10: Bombs killed nearly 60 people in Iraq on Thursday in the worst violence since U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban areas last week, and American forces released five Iranian officials suspected of aiding Shiite insurgents.
U.S. officials said they believe the Iranians, detained in northern Iraq in January 2007, had facilitated attacks on American-led forces but handed them over to the Iraqi government at its request because they were obliged to do so under a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement.
Cairo, July 09: The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak holds Tel Aviv responsible for the breakdown of a deal which could result in the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
On Thursday, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) released parts of Mubarak’s interview with the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot to be published on Friday.
Shalit was about to be transferred to Egypt when Israel changed its terms for a planned prisoner swap, Mubarak says in the interview.
Ankara, July 10: A Turkish civilian has been killed in a blast carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in Turkey’s eastern province of Siirt.
The explosion took place at Gorendoruk Village in the Eruh town of Siirt province late on Wednesday, the Turkish military said, Xinhua reported.
The military has adopted tougher actions against the PKK, especially in eastern and southeastern Turkey, after the country’s legislature extended a government mandate to launch cross-border operations against the rebels in northern Iraq.
Baghdad, July 10: Bombs killed nearly 60 people in Iraq on Thursday in the worst violence since U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban areas last week, and American forces released five Iranian officials suspected of aiding Shiite insurgents.
U.S. officials said they believe the Iranians, detained in northern Iraq in January 2007, had facilitated attacks on American-led forces but handed them over to the Iraqi government at its request because they were obliged to do so under a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement.
Tehran, July 10: Thousands of protesters streamed down avenues of the capital Thursday, chanting “death to the dictator” and defying security forces who fired tear gas and charged with batons, witnesses said.
Turning garbage bins into burning barricades and darting through choking clouds of tear gas, the opposition made its first foray into the streets in nearly two weeks in an attempt to revive mass demonstrations that were crushed in Iran’s postelection turmoil.
Dubai, July 10: No travel restrictions will be imposed on pilgrims heading for Umrah or Haj due to H1N1 (swine flu). This follows World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday, adding that an awareness campaign for pilgrims will be launched soon.
The ministry, has, however, advised children, the elderly, and pregnant women to avoid travel since their weak immune systems could put them at risk of contracting the disease.
Sharjah, July 10: The Sharjah-based environmental company, Bee’ah, is set to launch by September a material reclamation facility (MRF) in the Saja’a industrial area for recycling of paper, plastic, glass and metals, said a representative on Wednesday.
At present, Sharjah does not have any recycling facility and the waste generated is being put into landfills.
Sharjah currently generates approximately 1,000,000 tonnes of waste each year, said James Hartnell, marketing director, Bee’ah.
Dubai, July 10: A United Arab Emirates (UAE) based computer literacy certification body has introduced a special programme that meets the needs of the physically challenged people, WAM news agency reported on Thursday.
The International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) programme, introduced by the ICDL Gulf Cooperation Council (ICDL GCC), empowers individuals with the concepts of computer science and practical use of desktop applications.
Riyadh, July 10: A human rights group has accused Saudi Arabia of not living up to a commitment to end the tradition of male guardianship of women.
The system makes women dependent on men to manage their most basic affairs.
Human Rights Watch says women are still being prevented from travelling or receiving medical treatment without a male guardian’s permission.
Saudi authorities say male guardianship is not a requirement of Islam and they are working towards ending it.
Jeddah, July 09: Saudi Arabia has attracted 37 new international retailers – 12 of which are in the luxury segment – in 2008, according to latest industry reports.
Dammam,July 09: The two and one half year ordeal of an Indian expatriate involved in a traffic accident which killed a six-year-old Saudi boy finally ended here on Tuesday when he was released from jail.
The accident took place in January 2007, and since then Samir Hassan Khan had been languishing in jail after the court found him 25 percent responsible for the death of the boy. Khan was ordered to pay SR25,000 as blood money to the bereaved family.
Riyadh, July 09: A specialized penal court has passed preliminary verdicts in trials of detainees charged with links to Al-Qaeda and its terrorist activities and posing a threat to national security.
The verdicts were the first against suspects detained for Al-Qaeda’s bloody 2003-2006 campaign of terrorist attacks inside the Kingdom.
Justice Ministry spokesman Sheikh Abdullah Al-Sa’adan told Saudi Television Channel 1, Wednesday, that the trials involved 179 cases against 330 detainees.
Tehran, July 09: Hundreds of young men and women chanted “death to the dictator” and fled baton-wielding police in the capital on Thursday as opposition activists sought to revive street protests despite authorities’ vows to “smash” any new marches.
For days, supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been calling for new protests in Tehran and other cities today, their first significant attempt to get back on the streets since security forces crushed massive demonstrations nearly two weeks ago in Iran’s post-election turmoil.
Abu Dhabi, July 09:The second UAE relief plane, carrying the Emirates Medical Emergency Response team, has arrived in south Sudan capital, Juba.
As per the instructions of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Representative of Ruler in Western Region and Chairman of the Red Crescent Authority, the team composed of 14 administrators and technicians, was dispatched to Juba to prepare Emirates World Humanitarian Mobile Hospital to provide curative, surgical, preventive services to the patients and needy in Sudan for four months.
Kabul, July 09: A huge explosion in a truck Thursday killed 24 people south of Kabul, including 16 schoolchildren, 4 policemen and 4 bystanders, local officials said, as the death toll among foreign soldiers fighting in Afghanistan rose.
The explosion, which also wounded five civilians, happened in Logar Province when a truck loaded with wood turned over.
When police arrived , militants apparently detonated explosives in the vehicle, causing a blast that scattered debris almost a mile from the scene, officials said.