Month: May 2010

United Nations, May 06: The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China voiced support on Wednesday for making the Middle East a nuclear-weapons-free zone, which would ultimately force Israel to scrap any atomic arms it has.

The move, in a joint statement, reflected U.S. concern to win Arab backing for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program by offering a concession over its ally Israel, but Washington says the zone cannot be actually established yet.

Toronto, May 06: Devinder Shory, Canada’s newest MP of Indian origin, has been named in a $120 million mortgage fraud.

Shory, 51, who was elected to the Canadian parliament for the first time in 2008, is one of the nine MPs of Indian-origin in the House of Commons.

A practising lawyer in Calgary, Shory was elected from Calgary Northeast, beating two fellow Indo-Canadians – Satnam Kang of the Liberal Party and Vinay Dey of the New Democratic Party (NDP).

Washington, May 06: Investigators were questioning the alleged Times Square bomber yesterday over possible links with other terrorist groups. But they also were seeking an answer to perhaps the biggest riddle of all: why does a young man with a wife, two young children, a newly acquired US citizenship and a good job throw away everything to stage a potentially lethal attack against his country of adoption?

Washington, May 06: “Does talking to the Taliban or other extremist groups lead to peace?” is the topic on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul’s Facebook discussion page this week.

The embassy does not give its view — toeing the line that talks must be Afghan-led and not dictated by Washington — but it is an issue President Hamid Karzai is expected to hammer out in meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama next week.

Washington, May 06: Authorities shut down a major New York City bridge briefly late Wednesday and sent bomb squad investigators after an abandoned truck was reported, but found no explosives, police said.

Lieutenant Mike Wysokowski said no bomb was found on the truck abandoned on the Robert F Kennedy Bridge, also known as the Triboro Bridge.

The brief scare came just days after a failed bomb attack in Times Square raised fears of a new terror attack on the city, prompting a massive manhunt that led to the arrest of a Pakistani-American suspect.

Washington, May 06: The White House said on Wednesday Al-Qaeda was turning to smaller, “less sophisticated” attacks as its capacity to mount September 11-style spectaculars had been undermined by US action.

Several recent thwarted attacks, including the failed bid to bring down a US airliner on Christmas Day, and Saturday’s foiled car bombing in New York, have seen extremists employ smaller-scale operations.

Abuja, May 06: Nigerian president Umaru Yar’Adua died late on Wednesday aged 58 after a long battle with kidney and heart ailments, paving the way for the most hotly contested succession since the country’s return to democracy a decade ago.

Acting president Goodluck Jonathan — who has been running Africa’s most populous nation for months during Yar’Adua’s illness — is expected to be quickly sworn in as head of state and appoint a new deputy, according to the constitution.

Washington, May 06: US envoy George Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have held a first round of “good and productive” talks on Middle East peace, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in Washington on Wednesday.

Mitchell, Washington’s Middle East envoy, who arrived in the region on Monday, held several hours of talks in Jerusalem with Netanyahu Wednesday on the planned start of indirect talks with the Palestinians.

Washington, May 06: US President Barack Obama is “getting closer” to making his pick for a new Supreme Court justice, the White House said Wednesday, as expectations rose over a possible announcement within days.

Obama, who has the chance to place his second stamp on the court, following the retirement of veteran liberal Justice John Paul Stevens, is going through a short-list and interviewing candidates, officials said.

London, May 06: Party leaders rushed across Britain in a frantic final day of campaigning Wednesday as they battled to win over undecided voters, before what is expected to be the tightest election contest in decades.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, David Cameron of the main opposition Conservatives and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats all acknowledged that Thursday’s election was still up for grabs.

The urgency of the last-minute campaigning was underlined by a poll showing that nearly four in 10 voters were yet to decide who to back.

Dublin, May 06 Ireland said its airports would reopen on Thursday after the latest aerial shutdown caused by ash from an Icelandic volcano which sparked air travel chaos in Europe last month.

Britain’s flight ban on Northern Irish and some Scottish airspace remained in place until the end of Wednesday, but authorties were optimistic conditions would improve the following day.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said Wednesday restrictions would be lifted progressively from 4:00 am (0300 GMT) on Thursday, with Dublin airport among the first to start up flights again.

Shanghai, May 06: Police said Thursday they have detained two men suspected of threatening children following a wave of attacks at schools in China that prompted orders for police and security guards to watch over students as they enter and leave schools.

Liu Yongche, 39, was detained on May 2, a week after a local elementary school in Wuxi, west of Shanghai, received an anonymous letter demanding 100,000 yuan (about $14,700). It threatened to harm students and teachers if the money was not paid, said the deputy director of the Wuxi Public Security Bureau, who gave only his surname, Chen.

Athens, May 06: A general strike paralysed Greece on Wednesday in the first major test of the socialist government’s resolve to push through unprecedented austerity cuts needed to avert a fiscal meltdown.

Protest fever swept the country with public transport paralysed, ferries holding at docks and air traffic grounded as unions went on the warpath against the latest wave of spending cuts and tax hikes.

Washington, May 06: US lawmakers are threatening to punish Japan unless it works to reunite hundreds of children with foreign parents, accusing Tokyo of violating human rights through its custody laws.

As Japan celebrated its annual Children’s Day on Wednesday, lawmakers gathered near the US Capitol with a handful of tearful fathers who held up pictures of their half-Japanese children to whom they have no access.

Japanese courts almost never award child custody to foreign parents. Activists say thousands of Japanese have spirited children home, denying access to the foreign parents.

Beijing, May 06: At least 23 people were killed and more than 160 injured when a tornado struck China’s southwestern mega-city of Chongqing Thursday, smashing homes and destroying crops, state media reported.

The tornado hit two rural counties in the giant municipality at around 2:00 am (1800 GMT Wednesday), Xinhua news agency said, citing government sources.

The number of dead and injured were still being tallied, the report said.

Power outages were reported in at least two towns in the wide disaster zone, it said, noting that the strong tornado was accompanied by hailstorms.