Month: July 2009

Washington, July 31: The United States stood firm on seeking to revive six-nation talks with North Korea and pressed ahead with sanctions, despite an appeal by the UN chief to switch to negotiating.

North Korea, which in recent months has tested a nuclear bomb and missiles, said this week it was open to a “specific and reserved” dialogue on its nuclear program — but warned against any push to restart six-way talks.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was encouraged by the statement and urged the United States to pursue a direct dialogue with the North.

Bern, July 31: A woman with multiple sclerosis has made legal history by winning her battle to have the law on assisted suicide clarified.

Debbie Purdy wanted to know if her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her end her life in Switzerland.

Five Law Lords ruled the Director of Public Prosecutions must specify when a person might face prosecution.

Ms Purdy, 46, from Bradford, said she was “ecstatic” at the ruling and she had been given her life back.

London, July 31: The British government did not do enough to support frontline troops in the first years of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the defence minister said in an interview published Friday.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said service personnel had been justified in their anger at a lack of interest in their efforts, from both the government and the wider public, in the early stages of the conflicts.

But Ainsworth also told the Daily Telegraph that improvements had been made over the last two years to recognise and support the armed services.

Bloomberg, July 31: British forces in Afghanistan suffered more casualties in the first two weeks of July than in any month since the war began in 2001, government figures show. Fifty-seven British troops were wounded in action between July 1 and July 15, compared with 46 in June and 24 in May, the Ministry of Defence said today. There were 16 serious injuries.

Tel Aviv, July 31: Israel has admitted to using white phosphorus during its war on the Gaza Strip earlier this year, but says it did so in accordance with international law.

The admission came in a 163-page document published by the Israeli foreign ministry on Thursday ahead of a UN report next week.

The Israeli army “used munitions containing white phosphorus” in Gaza, the document said, but it denied violating international law, saying it had not fired such weapons inside populated areas.

Amman, July 31: Jordan’s influential Muslim Brotherhood movement on Thursday accused the administration of the US President Barack Obama of showing ‘complete bias’ towards Israel, and warned Arab countries against bowing to Washington pressure to normalize ties with the Jewish state.

‘The pressures reportedly put by Obama on Arab countries to normalize ties with the Zionist entity is evidence that this administration is fully biased with the aggressors against the victims,’ the movement’s leader Hammad Saeed said in a statement.

Seoul(South Korea), July 31: North Korea was silent Friday about four South Korean fishermen seized off the east coast after their boat strayed into northern waters a day earlier at a time of tension on the divided peninsula.

The 29-ton boat drifted into North Korean waters Thursday after its satellite navigation system apparently malfunctioned. North Korean soldiers towed the vessel to the eastern port of Jangjon, just north of the border, South Korean officials said Friday.

Guantanamo Bay, July 31: A US judge has ordered the release of a person detained at the naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after declaring that he is being held illegally.

Judge Ellen Huvelle on Thursday granted a “writ of habeas corpus” concerning Mohammed Jawad, whose lawyers say he was 12 years old when arrested in Afghanistan in 2002.

She gave the US government until August 24 to complete a report to congress about any national security risks that Jawad may present, as well as to finalise diplomatic arrangements for his release.

Myanmar, July 31: The Myanmar court scheduled to deliver a verdict in the high-profile trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday it was not yet ready to make a decision and adjourned until Aug. 11, diplomats said.

The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by harboring an American man who swam to her house uninvited. She faces up to five years in prison.