Ten Afghans killed in Taliban ambush on Nato convoy

HEART: At least 10 Afghan security guards were killed Thursday when Taliban militants ambushed a logistics convoy destined for US-led Nato forces in western Afghanistan, a local official said. The guards were securing the convoy when they came under attack in Bakwa district of Farah province, on the main highway connecting the west to the volatile south, said Naqibullah Farahi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. “Ten security guards have been killed and seven others injured in the Taliban ambush,” Farahi said, adding that the militants also torched nine trucks carrying the supplies for foreign troops. A spokesman for Afghan police in the west of the country, Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, said police were immediately deployed to the area...

Read more »

Posted in: INTERNATIONAL

Man angry about food prices slaps Indian minister

NEW DELHI: A man slapped India’s agriculture minister in the face on Thursday, apparently to draw attention to rising food prices and corruption. Sharad Pawar was talking to reporters at a political function when the man attacked him. TV news reports said the man was shouting slogans about inflated food prices and graft. Television footage showed the man brandishing a knife as he was dragged away by security officials and Pawar’s aides. “Don’t you know why I hit him? The common man is distressed. Am I wrong?” he shouted as he was being taken away. CNN-IBN TV reported that the man was detained by police. Pawar was not seriously hurt. “You are all corrupt… People are fed up,” the man said, adding that the Indian government must adopt...

Read more »

Posted in: INTERNATIONAL

Arab ministers gather to discuss Syria sanctions

CAIRO: Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo on Thursday to discuss imposing sanctions on Syria for failing to implement an Arab League plan to end a crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad. The League, which for decades has spurned ordering action against a member state, has suspended Syria and threatened unspecified sanctions for ignoring the deal it had signed up to. Syria has turned its tanks and troops on civilian protesters, as well as on armed insurgents challenging Assad’s 11-year rule. The United Nations says more than 3,500 people have been killed. “Syria has not offered anything to move the situation forward,” said a senior Arab diplomat at the League, adding that it was considering what kind of sanctions...

Read more »

Posted in: INTERNATIONAL

Afghan president names new central bank governor

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has nominated a US-educated banker as the new governor of the country’s central bank, his spokesman said Thursday. Presidential spokesman Hamid Elmi named the candidate as Noorullah Delawari. His nomination comes after a five month vacancy in the post caused by turmoil in Afghanistan’s banking system due to the near-collapse of the Kabul Bank, once the country’s largest private financial institution. Parliament is expected to discuss its approval of the appointment on Saturday, said lawmaker Gul Pacha Majeidi. Delawari is a former central bank governor who now sits on the institution’s governing board. He will replace Abdul Qadir Fitrat, who fled to northern Virginia in late June after claiming to...

Read more »

Posted in: INTERNATIONAL

Afghan war success may not be known until 2020: UK military chief

LONDON: Britain will eventually be proud of its role in the Afghanistan war but it could be another decade before its gains are realised, the head of Britain’s armed forces said in an interview published in Thursday’s Times. General Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, admitted tactical mistakes had been made but that he had “every expectation” history would judge the war positively. “At the end of the day, we won’t know (if it has succeeded) until 2018, ’19, ’20,” he told the British newspaper. “I have every expectation that we will all agree in ten years’ time that this was a necessary war and we’ve come out of it with our heads held high,” he added. Richards admitted last month that public support for the Afghanistan...

Read more »

Posted in: INTERNATIONAL

Egypt military apologises for protest deaths

CAIRO: Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces apologised on Thursday for the deaths of demonstrators during six straight days of anti-military rallies, in a statement on their Facebook page. “The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces presents its regrets and deep apologies for the deaths of martyrs from among Egypt’s loyal sons during the recent events in Tahrir Square,” it said. The central Cairo plaza was the epicentre of the 18 days of protests that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February and has become an icon of the Arab Spring. “The council also offers its condolences to the families of the martyrs across Egypt.” The statement comes after a speech by SCAF head Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi which was aimed...

Read more »

Posted in: INTERNATIONAL