Tehran, July 20: Iran’s supreme leader told politicians Monday not to disturb the country’s security in a strong warning to the opposition to back down after one of its top figures called for a referendum on the government.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed “Iran’s elite” and warned them to be cautious in the positions they take on the turmoil that has shaken the country since the disputed presidential election on June 12.
Kabul, July 20:Eleven civilians including a woman and a child were killed in a bomb blast in southwestern Afghanistan, while NATO-led German forces killed three civilians after mistaking them for Taliban militants in the northern region, officials said Monday.
The 11 civilians were travelling in a minibus in Gulistan district of Farah province Sunday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, spokesman for police forces in the western region, said.
Tehran, July 20: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday warned the country’s opposition against provoking further unrest and decried alleged foreign interference following the June 12 presidential election.
“Our scholars should be careful what they say and what they do not say,” the ayatollah said in a meeting with state officials, carried by state television.
Tehran, July 20: An entry on the website of Iran’s newly appointed acting president Monday denied a local television report about his resignation.
Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie’s website categorically denied the earlier resignation reports as a lie by enemies aimed at tarnishing the new government’s image.
He was appointed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week as first vice- and de facto acting president.
Baghdad, July 20: Political insiders say reports that an Iranian-backed militant has been arrested in Iraq are designed to divert attention from the US role in regional violence.
An Iraqi police official told the Associated Press on Sunday that a member of an Iranian-backed militia has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a terrorist attack that killed three US soldiers on Thursday,.
Baghdad, July 20: A car bomb killed two Iraqi policemen in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Monday, police there said, raising concerns that insurgents in the Sunni heartland may be regrouping.
Police said three civilians and one other policemen were wounded in the attack, which took place on the road leading to the seat of al-Anbar’s provincial government around the time that the city’s mayor, Qassim Mohammed, normally goes to work.
Tehran, July 20: Amid Iran’s efforts to settle disputes over its nuclear activities, Foreign Ministry spokesman has explained details about the country’s new package to be proposed to the West.
“The proposed package will definitely include Iran’s nuclear issue based on an international approach,” Hassan Qashqavi told IRIB Sunday.
He said that the “comprehensive and updated” package aims to prepare a ground for Iran to have more fluid interaction with the West.
Baghdad, July 20: A US marine has been killed in the western Iraqi province of Al-Anbar in the latest in a series of incidents against US troops in the country.
A brief US military statement said Sunday that the soldier died as “a result of enemy action” without giving further details about the incident.
The attack, which came three days after three US soldiers were killed in an attack on their base in the southern Iraqi province of Basra, brought to 4,327 the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
Kabul, July 20: A NATO aircraft crashed Monday morning in southern Afghanistan, slightly injuring two crew members, an alliance spokesman said.
The plane crashed during take-off at Kandahar air base, a NATO spokesman in Kabul said, adding that the two crew members were treated at the base’s hospital for slight injuries.
“We can rule out any insurgent action,” the spokesman said.
The crash occurred a day after a Russian-owned helicopter crashed at the same Kandahar base, killing 16 civilians aboard.
—–Agencies
Kabul, July 20: US-led German troopers in troubled Afghanistan have killed two civilians and wounded two others seriously, a statement from the German military says.
The military claimed the infantrymen opened fire at a van, carrying six people, that was speeding towards them ignoring warning shots in the west of Chahar Dara district on Sunday.
“According to the information we have, the soldiers could only
consider they were being attacked,” it said.
Tehran, July 20: Iran will put into effect a recently passed law which aims at reducing cybercrimes and providing surfers with more security in cyberspace.
The law, which has been ratified by the Parliament (Majlis) and approved by the Guardian Council as well, stipulates punishments for specified illegal activities in cyberspace.
Ankara, July 20: Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed PKK, will soon reveal a four-step ‘road map’ that would solve the Kurdish issue, his lawyers say.
Ocalan will propose that Turkey create ‘strategic alliances’ with the Kurds, his lawyers told the Hürriyet daily on Saturday in an interview that was published on Sunday.
The plan, expected to be unveiled by mid August, is an answer to the Kurdish question, which is going to leave the government in a state of ‘uncomfortable curiosity’, the lawyers said.
Astana, July 20: Thousands of ethnic Uighurs stage a rally in Kazakhstan, to express their anger at Beijing’s crackdown in the neighboring Chinese region of Xinjiang.
Nearly 5,000 Uighurs gathered in a Soviet-era congress hall in Kazakhstan’s biggest city, Almaty, on Sunday.
Protest leaders demanded a United Nations-led investigation into China’s crackdown in its northwestern Muslim region.
“China may not let anyone in (to conduct such an investigation) but we must do everything possible. It may be just a cry of despair.”
Dhaka, July 20: Bangladesh’s elite anti-crime force arrested 44 top leaders and activists of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, amid fears that the banned Islamist militant organisation was trying to regroup, a news report said on Sunday.
According to an official of the anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), they have arrested a total of 44 leaders and cadres of JMB during last six months, Bangladesh’s national news agency said today.
Moreover, the headquarters and its 12 battalions so far have arrested 475 JMB cadres in the country from 2005 to 2008, the report said.
Cairo, July 20: The Egyptian health ministry reported on Sunday that a woman returning from a pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia has become Egypt’s first swine flu death.
A ministry spokesman, Abdel Rahman Shahin, said Samah Al Seyyed Salim died on Sunday, three days after returning from Saudi Arabia.
She had also been suffering from some heart and blood problems which might have complicated her condition.
The number of cases of swine flu cases in the Arab countries has been growing, with Saudi Arabia recording the highest number of cases.
-Agencies
Kabul, July 20: Fifteen people were killed when a Russian (Mi 8) helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, the aviation agency said.
Interfax news agency quoted an agency source as saying the helicopter, which has 17 people on board, crashed in Afghanistan’s Kandahar region killing 15 of them.
A Russian-Afghan committee was formed to investigate the causes of the crash. The helicopter, said the source, was providing aid to peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan.
The source did not mention nationalities nor names of those killed.
-Agencies
Tehran, July 20: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, already at the center of a post-election crisis, came under criticism from his own hard-line supporters for appointing a first vice president who once caused an outcry by saying Iranians were friends of Israelis.
Riyadh, July 20: Saudi Arabia’s only film festival has been halted before it even opened, festival sources said, as powerful Islamic conservatives battle a popular push for more entertainment.
Organisers of the Jeddah Film Festival were told late by the city authorities that they could not go ahead with Saturday’s opening, even though the event had been heralded as a highlight of the city’s summer festival, which began on Thursday.
Kuala Lampur, July 20: The Global Muslim Women’s Shura Council meeting in Malaysia launched an initiative called “Jihad Against Violence.”
200 Muslim women from all over the world are taking part in the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) conference in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. The participants include women rights activists, religious scholars, lawyers and community leaders.
The Global Muslim Women’s Shura Council is an all-women’s advisory council that aims to promote women’s rights within an Islamic framework.
Tehran, July 20:Iran Sunday freed a British embassy staffer, the last of nine arrested on suspicion in fomenting dissent after alleged fraud in Iran’s June 12 presidential elections.
Hossein Rassam, chief analyst of the British embassy, had been detained for more than three weeks. He was released on a bail amounting to almost $100,000.
Rassam was picked up from the notorious Evin prison in northern Tehran by his wife and lawyer.
Rassam told his wife that he was well and happy to get back home.
Tehran, July 20: Iran Sunday freed a British embassy staffer, the last of nine arrested on suspicion in fomenting dissent after alleged fraud in Iran’s June 12 presidential elections.
Hossein Rassam, chief analyst of the British embassy, had been detained for more than three weeks. He was released on a bail amounting to almost $100,000.
Rassam was picked up from the notorious Evin prison in northern Tehran by his wife and lawyer.
Rassam told his wife that he was well and happy to get back home.
Tehran, July 19: The election sparked weeks of protests by critics of President Ahmadinejad
Iran has released on bail the last of the British embassy employees arrested in Tehran in connection with last month’s election protests.
He was one of nine local embassy staff originally held, and has been charged with inciting the unrest over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.
The man – the embassy’s chief political analyst – is due to stand trial soon.
Britain has denied Tehran’s accusations that embassy staff had been involved in instigating mass demonstrations.
Abu Dhabi, July 19: India’s Essar Group is exploring possibilities for investing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Dhabi Group’s telecom business in Africa, the WAM news agency reported Sunday.
Dhabi Group chairman Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan and Essar Group chief executive Prashant Ruia signed an agreement here Sunday to start discussions in this regard.
Dhaka, July 19: Bangladesh’s elite anti-crime force arrested 44 top leaders and activists of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, amid fears that the banned Islamist militant organisation was trying to regroup, a news report said on Sunday.
According to an official of the anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), they have arrested a total of 44 leaders and cadres of JMB during last six months, Bangladesh’s national news agency said today.
Moreover, the headquarters and its 12 battalions so far have arrested 475 JMB cadres in the country from 2005 to 2008, the report said.
Kabul, July 19: A civilian helicopter crashed at southern Afghanistan’s largest NATO base Sunday, military officials said. Russia’s air transportation agency reported 15 people died. NATO and U.S. officials did not immediately confirm the death toll. Russian news agencies Interfax and RIA Novosti reported that the Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter crashed on takeoff.
Interfax said there were 20 people aboard and that the survivors included the three crew members and two passengers. Both agencies cited an unidentified source in the Federal Air Transport Agency.