Tuesday, December 27, 2011

One dies as gunman fires on Syrian students: reports

4:43 AM McGhori

DAMASCUS: A gunman shot dead at least one student and wounded four others at Damascus University on Sunday, Syrian state media reported, in an attack activists blamed on pro-regime students. The assailant, identified as student Ammar Balush, went on the shooting spree with a handgun during exams at the biomedical faculty, said the official Sana news agency. One of those wounded was in a critical condition, Sana’s report said, adding Balush had “deliberately” targeted the five students, indicating the motive for the shooting was personal rather than political. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the shooting was carried out by a pro-regime gunman, and said the number of casualties was four wounded...
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Iran signs fuel deal with Afghanistan: media

2:24 AM McGhori

TEHRAN: Iran has signed a deal with Afghanistan to supply its neighbour with a million tons of fuel oil, petrol and aviation fuel a year, Iranian media reported Tuesday without putting a value on the agreement. The accord was signed Monday by the Afghan trade and industry minister, Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady, and Iran’s deputy oil minister, Alireza Zeyghami. Two-thirds of the export deal was for fuel oil, a category that includes diesel and fuel for agricultural, industrial and heating uses, according to Zeyghami. A quarter was for petrol and around 10 per cent was jet fuel, he said. The agreement was announced as Iran is subject to Western sanctions against its oil and gas sectors over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme....
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US urges Pakistan to share border-post map

2:20 AM McGhori

WASHINGTON: The head of the US Central Command is urging Pakistan to share a map of its facilities and installations near the Afghan border to help avert episodes like the one that killed 24 Pakistani forces last month. US Marine Corps General James Mattis, the commander, said in a statement on Monday that the strike’s chief lesson was that “we must improve border coordination and this requires a foundational level of trust on both sides of the border.” Separately, the US Central Intelligence Agency has held off for about six weeks on drone missile strikes in Pakistan against low-ranking militants suspected of mounting cross-border raids. The undeclared suspension, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, reflects a mix of...
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Arab monitors head to Syria, opposition skeptical

2:16 AM McGhori

BEIRUT: The Arab League sent monitors to Syria on Monday even though President Bashar Assad’s regime has only intensified its crackdown on dissent in the week since agreeing to the Arab plan to stop the bloodshed. Activists say government forces have killed several hundred civilians in the past week. At least 23 more deaths were reported on Monday from intense shelling in the center of the country, just hours before the first 60 monitors were to arrive. The opposition says thousands of government troops have been besieging the Baba Amr district of in the central city of Homs for days and the government is preparing a massive assault on the area. France expressed strong concerns about the continued deterioration of the situation...
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