Tripoli, March 03: Stepping gingerly over an anti-personnel mine left on the floor of a weapons bunker, a rebel guard casually points out the anti-tank missiles, piled haphazardly on top of each other.
It was these bunkers which Libyan pilots attempted to bomb three days ago – but missed – when Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the country’s embattled leader, embarked on an offensive into rebel-held territory in eastern Libya.
Baghdad, March 03: The United Nations says it’s concerned about reports of human rights violations during nationwide protests in Iraq.
U.N.’s Special Representative to Iraq Ad Melkert said in a statement on Wednesday that reported violations included “disproportionate” use of force by security forces against protesters.
Melkert has also voiced concern over restrictions on the media and arrests of journalists across the country.
Thousands of Iraqis have been taking to the streets in protests fueled by anger over corruption, chronic unemployment and shoddy public services.
New York, March 03: The cost of military health care, up 300% in the past decade, is eating a giant hole in the Pentagon’s budget, according to a report released Monday by a group of defense experts.
The Defense Department expects to spend $52.5 billion on health care in 2012, a 300% increase since 2001, the report says. By 2015, health care will account for 10% of the Pentagon budget.
The eye-popping numbers have set alarm bells ringing inside the Pentagon.
Frankfurt, March 03: A lone gunman killed two American servicemen and wounded at least two others on a U.S. military bus outside Frankfurt Airport in what officials described as a possible terrorist attack.
The shooting was the first deadly assault on U.S. military personnel in Europe in years.
German police, aided by an American serviceman not injured in the assault, apprehended a suspect at the scene whom authorities described as a 21-year-old Kosovo native of Albanian descent. The suspect’s name wasn’t disclosed.
New York, March 03: British magazine Private Eye reported in its latest edition that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed a Jewish conspiracy was attempting to discredit the organization. Assange denied the report, accusing Private Eye editor Ian Hislop of manufacturing comments attributed to him.
Private Eye published a report saying that one of Assange’s associates in Russia, Israel Shamir, was a Holocaust denier. In response, the magazine reported, the WikiLeaks founder claimed there was a campaign by Jewish journalists in Britain to discredit the organization.
New York, March 03: Julian Assange’s Swedish lawyer Björn Hurtig is under investigation by the Swedish Bar Association following accusations made by a British judge during the WikiLeaks founder’s extradition trial.
In releasing his ruling last week that Assange should be extradited to Sweden, District Judge Howard Riddle, accused Hurtig of deliberately misleading the court, calling him “unreliable”.
Riyadh, March 03: Saudi activists alleged Wednesday that state security shot dead a leading online activist, who was calling for a ‘Day of Rage’ on March 11 in the oil-rich kingdom.
Faisal Ahmed Abdul-Ahadwas, 27, was believed to be one of the main administrators of a Facebook group that is calling for protests similar to that have swept North Africa and the Middle East.
Manama, March 03: Though the violent crackdown on public protesters early on hasn’t been repeated, the Bahraini regime and the mostly Shi’ite protesters seem to be just as far apart as ever, and the regime warning that its “patience” is wearing thin with the protesters.
The protesters initially started with a demand for some modest reforms, and complaining that the Sunni monarchy discriminates against the nation’s Shi’ite majority. Since the violence crackdowns, however, many of the protesters are demanding the full ouster of the regime.
Islamabad, March 03: Pakistan’s only Christian cabinet minister, Minister of Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, was assassinated today in Islamabad, when he was attacked in his car. The gunmen sped away from the scene but left pamphlets behind.
According to the pamphlets the attack was a joint operation by the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Fidayan-e-al-Qaeda, and they assassinated the minister because of his public opposition to Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law.
New York, March 03: The US Army has brought an additional 22 charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning related to the WikiLeaks releases, including allegations of transmitting classified documents for release to “the enemy.”
The charge of “aiding the enemy,” which interestingly enough provides no indication of who “the enemy” actually is, could theoretically net Manning the death penalty, satisfying a number of Congressmen demanding his execution. Army prosecutors, however, say they don’t intend to seek the death penalty in this case.
Tel Aviv, March 03: A veteran diplomat says he has resigned from his post because he had a hard time defending the policies of Israel’s current government, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday.
Ilan Baruch says he quit because “Israel’s foreign policy is wrong,” pointing to the Palestinian issue.
Should this trend continue, he warned, Israel will turn into a pariah state and face growing de-legitimization.
Baruch told Israel TV Wednesday that Israel’s standing was in danger because of its policies, which he said were “difficult to explain.”
New York, March 03: A plurality of U.S. voters think the Arab world’s growing unrest makes it unlikely U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by the year’s end as planned, poll indicates.
Rasmussen Reports of Asbury Park, N.J., reported Tuesday its nationwide telephone survey indicated 19 percent of “likely U.S. voters” believe the upheaval in the Middle East and Africa will improve the situation in Iraq, 40 percent think it will worsen things there, 18 percent believe it will have no effect, but almost a quarter of the voters aren’t sure what impact the events will have.
Diyarbakir, March 03: Sultan Quyun, 58, longs for the day when the decades-long conflict between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Turkish security forces will come to an end. For her, the end of violence does not just hold the promise of a possible resolution of the Kurdish issue in the country, but would bring about, she hopes, a much-awaited reunion with her son.
Baghdad, March 03: Ayad Allawi, the former Prime Minister of Iraq and current leader of the nation’s largest political faction, Iraqiya, announced today that he will not accept the position of chairman of the National Council on Strategic Policies, the position he was promised under a “power-sharing” deal with the other major factions.
Sanaa, March 03: The weeks of public protests against the dictatorship of Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen appeared to gain a significant boost on Sunday, when members of the political opposition announced they were officially supporting the protest movement for the first time.
The move swelled the protests when they first started marching on Monday and Tuesday, but it also sparked concerns amongst the students that the political faction would “hijack” the revolution to their own ends.
Kabul, March 03: General Davis Petraeus today announced that the US is “deeply sorry” for yesterday’s air strike in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan, a strike which killed nine children who were collecting firewood.
“These deaths should never have happened,” Petraeus insisted in the wake of angry condemnation from President Hamid Karzai and public protests on the streets of the Kunar Province, where there was already anger about a NATO offensive which killed 65 other civilians last month.
Harare, March 03: Zimbabwe’s veteran President Robert Mugabe has called for people in South Africa to take over British companies and boycott their products.
Speaking at a public meeting, Mugabe asked the European Union and United States to remove the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe or face the consequences.
“It is not enough to speak against sanctions…We can’t keep hosting more than 400 British firms here, including mines,” he said. It is “now time to take measures against them.”
Srinagar, march 03: Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was detained by police at the Srinagar airport and put under house arrest soon after his arrival from New Delhi.
In the national capital, the chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference was questioned by the Delhi Police in connection with a hawala case.
“He was detained at the airport and put under house arrest soon after his arrival from Delhi,” amalgam spokesman Ayaz Akbar said here.
Baghdad, March 03: A bomb blast has reportedly rocked the western Iraqi city of Haditha north of Baghdad, killing at least ten people most of them government soldiers.
The Thursday explosion, which took place at a state-owned bank in, also wounded at least 26 others, Reuters said.
Police Lieutenant Ali al-Ubaidi said, “There was a group of Iraqi Army soldiers standing in front of the bank to collect their salaries,” when the incident happened.
“The death toll is 10 killed, including eight soldiers, and 26 wounded, including 20 soldiers,” he said.
New Delhi, March 03: The Budget session of Parliament could conclude on March 25, a month ahead of schedule, due to assembly elections in five states.
A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled tomorrow when a decision on the issue is expected, government sources said.
A senior minister said demands have been made by several parties, including the Left, DMK, AIADMK and Trinamool Congress, to cut short the session so that they could devote full time for the polls.
New Delhi, March 03: Bollywood actor-producer Arbaaz Khan, who has been on a high ever since his debut production Dabangg turned out to be a blockbuster, will now take the reigns as the director for the sequel of the masala action movie.
Director Abhinav Kashyap, who helmed Dabangg, has decided against directing the sequel, for reasons unknown.
“Hey guys it true, I will be directing the sequel of Dabangg. Abhinav for some personal n professional reasons opted out (sic),” Arbaaz posted on his Twitter page on Thursday.
It’s true, I will direct ‘Dabangg’ sequel: Arbaaz
Nairobi, March 03: The head of a private security company says his guards retook a yacht from Somali pirates after the Dutch couple on board locked themselves in a safe room.
Thomas Jakobsson of Naval Guards said Thursday that six of his guards were accompanying the Capricorn yacht on a separate motorboat. Six armed pirates were able to get aboard the Capricorn but the Dutch couple barricaded themselves in the boat.
Jakobsson says his men had a brief exchange of fire with the pirates before retaking the Capricorn with no casualties on either side.
Srinagar, March 03: Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was detained by police at the Srinagar airport and put under house arrest soon after his arrival from New Delhi.
In the national capital, the chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference was questioned by the Delhi Police in connection with a hawala case.
“He was detained at the airport and put under house arrest soon after his arrival from Delhi,” amalgam spokesman Ayaz Akbar told PTI here.
Bangalore, March 03: Janata Dal-Secular legislator Sanganna Karadi Thursday quit the Karnataka assembly and his party, indicating he would join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The resignation of Karadi, elected from Koppal, about 380 km from Bangalore, brings down the JD-S strength in the assembly to 26. Speaker K.G. Bopaiah’s office said Karadi’s resignation had been accepted.
Karadi told reporters that he would discuss the issue of joining the BJP with his supporters.
Colombo, March 03: Pakistan were all out for 184 in 43 overs against Canada in a World Cup Group A match here Thursday.
Umar Akmal top scored with 48 runs after Pakistan chose to bat.
For Canada, Harvir Baidwan took 3/35.
——IANS