Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Germany urges Pakistan to attend Afghan talks

8:42 AM McGhori

BERLIN: The German government has urged Pakistan to reverse its decision not to attend international talks on Afghanistan in Germany next week as a result of a cross-border Nato air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, a German official said on Wednesday. “Pakistan itself has a big interest in the Afghan conference being a success,” foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke told a regular German government news conference. The Pakistan government said on Tuesday it was pulling out of the Dec. 5 conference on the future of Afghanistan in Bonn, “but at the same time they have not yet formally withdrawn from the conference”, Peschke said. He said Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and the diplomats organising the talks...
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Turkey says imposing economic sanctions on Syrian regime

6:01 AM McGhori

ANKARA: Turkey has decided to impose economic and financial sanctions on the Syrian regime over its bloody crackdown on the opposition, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday. He said the Syrian regime was “at an impasse” and “prefers to repress its people rather than engage in democratic reforms.” Davutoglu announced an immediate ban on transactions with the Syrian government and central bank and a freeze on Syrian government assets in Turkey. Similar measures will be taken against “some well-known businessmen who are strong advocates of the Syrian regime,” he added. Further measures include a ban on Syrian officials visiting Turkey and halting the transfer of arms and military equipment to the Syrian army. Turkey...
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Two million strike in Britain over pension changes

5:59 AM McGhori

LONDON: Two million public sector workers in Britain went on strike on Wednesday over changes to their pensions in the biggest walkout for decades, which is expected to cause widespread disruption. Three-quarters of schools were closed, hospitals were only ensuring emergency care, local authorities were paralysed and airports and ports were expected to be badly affected. Striking workers picketed public sector buildings in central London and more than 1,000 demonstrations were expected to take place across Britain in scenes reminiscent of the 1970s. Passengers arriving at London’s Heathrow airport, one of the world’s busiest air hubs, have been warned to expect delays of up to three hours to have their passports checked...
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FO has no record of alleged memo: FM Khar

2:09 AM McGhori

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday said there was no record of the alleged memo with the foreign office, FTNews reported. She further said that American officials never mentioned the existence of the said memo either privately or through official channels. Briefing the Senate’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Khar said the army and the ISI had been targeted in the alleged memo. She said the time when the memo was supposedly sent was not one when the government was facing any kind of threat from the army and nor was it facing any threat presently. Khar as the government only had as much information about the alleged memo as the media has been providing. She moreover stressed that demanding...
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Seventy-nine injured in skirmishes in Cairo’s Tahrir

2:07 AM McGhori

CAIRO: Clashes between protesters and street vendors in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square injured some 79 people overnight, the health ministry said on Wednesday. The skirmishes erupted when protesters occupying the square for nearly two weeks tried to expel the peddlers, but the fighting quickly degenerated into clashes with both sides lobbing rocks and molotov cocktails, witnesses said. The violence took place hours after Egyptians wrapped up two days of peaceful polling in the first phase of multi-stage elections for a new parliament. Most of the injuries were treated on the spot but 27 people were admitted to hospital, the health ministry said. Protesters have been occupying the square to demand the ouster of the military...
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Bomb in India’s restive northeast kills one

2:03 AM McGhori

GAUHATI: Police say a bomb explosion has killed at least one person in India’s violence-wracked northeast. A police official says the blast occurred Wednesday near a large fairground in Imphal, the capital of Manipur state. The area is near a convention center that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to visit Saturday. The police official says the victim appeared to have been carrying the bomb. The official did not identify himself, citing department policy. Few other details were immediately available. Separatist groups in the region claim the local population is ignored by the federal government. Most residents are ethnically closer to groups in Myanmar and China than the rest of Indi...
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Five dead in Mogadishu military bomb blast: officials

1:58 AM McGhori

MOGADISHU: Five people died in a blast on Wednesday including a suicide bomber after he detonated an explosive device at the gates of a military base in the Somali capital, officials and witnesses said. “The suicide bomber tried to enter the compound but guards stopped him, when he then detonated his bomb, killing three people on the spot including himself,” said Farah Barre, a government security official. “Two more people died soon after from their wounds,” he said, adding the attack on Wednesday morning took place at Villa Baidoa, a government military base near the busy K4 roundabout in central Mogadishu. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a string of blasts including roadside bombs...
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Britain pulls embassy staff out of Iran: sources

1:57 AM McGhori

TEHRAN: Britain has evacuated all its diplomatic staff from Iran, Western diplomatic sources told Reuters on Wednesday, a day after protesters stormed and ransacked its embassy and a residential compound. Britain said it was outraged by the attacks and warned of “serious consequences”. The UN Security Council condemned the attacks “in the strongest terms”. US President Barack Obama called on Iran to hold those responsible to account. No comment was immediately available from the British government on the reported withdrawal of embassy staff from Iran. On Tuesday, Iranian protesters stormed two British diplomatic compounds in Tehran, smashing windows, torching a car and burning the British flag in protest against new sanctions...
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US prepares to vacate Pakistan air base

1:51 AM McGhori

The United States is preparing to accede to Pakistani demands that it vacate a remote air base in Pakistan used for drone flights, but the move is not expected to have a significant impact on operations against militants, US government sources say. Washington is treading lightly not to aggravate an already fragile relationship that was bruised further by a Nato attack on a Pakistani military outpost last weekend that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghanistan border. Pakistan demanded that the United States leave the Shamsi Air Base within 15 days and blocked ground supply routes through Pakistan to US forces in Afghanistan. Three sources, who declined to be identified because of the issue’s sensitivity, said US planning...
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US urges Pakistan to reconsider Bonn talks boycott

1:47 AM McGhori

WASHINGTON: The United States urged Pakistan on Tuesday to reconsider its decision to boycott a conference on Afghanistan in Germany next week, saying it plays a key role in the future of its war-torn central Asian neighbour. Pakistan decided earlier Tuesday to boycott the December 5 Bonn conference as it widened its protest over lethal cross-border Nato strikes on Saturday that have exacerbated a deep crisis in US ties. “It’s important to note that this conference is… about Afghanistan, about its future, about building a safer, more prosperous Afghanistan within the region,” State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. “It’s very much in Pakistan’s interest to attend this conference,” Toner said. Toner, who declined...
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Germany hopes Pakistan will still attend Afghanistan meet

1:46 AM McGhori

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she was “very sorry” about Pakistan’s announced boycott of a Bonn conference next week on the future of Afghanistan and would try to convince it to attend. Merkel said Germany would “see what could be done to change” Islamabad’s decision to stay away from the meeting in the western German city. “We are both interested in constructive development of Afghanistan,”Merkel, who will open the Bonn conference, told reporters flanked by visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan. “Which is why I consider the conference hosted by the (German) foreign minister to be very important. We always said that conflicts can only be resolved in the region and Pakistan is part of this region which...
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