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9 children among 30 killed in Israeli attacks
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Bush, Putin laud India’s nuclear obligations
Protests across Arab world
Gas price: Iran acts tough
Stabbed to death for family honour
Iraq Olympic committee chief among 50 abducted
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9 children among 30 killed in Israeli attacks
Beirut, July 15 An Israeli missile wrecked a van near the southern port of Tyre, killing 18 passengers, including nine children, and wounding six, the police said. The van was carrying families fleeing the village of Marwaheen after Israeli loudspeaker warnings to leave their homes. Israeli aircraft also bombed a Hizbollah office in southern Beirut's Haret Hreik district, and attacked roads, bridges and petrol stations in north, east and south Lebanon, killing at least 12 persons and wounding 32, security sources said. The Israeli military, meanwhile, has recovered the body of one of four sailors reported missing after the warship was hit. Israeli military commander Brigadier-General Ido Nehushtan said the body was found at sea and that the military was searching for the other missing sailors. He said Hizbollah had launched an Iranian-made missile at the vessel. Israeli aircraft attacked the Palestinian Economy Ministry and a house in Gaza today. One Hamas militant was killed in the strike on the house and eight persons were wounded. Syria’s ruling Baath Party said it would support Hizbollah and Lebanon against the “barbaric Israeli aggression”.
— Reuters
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WTO talks: US, Russia disagree
St Petersburg, July 15 The Bush-Putin talks, following a more casual dinner between the two men and their spouses yesterday night, will set the tone for the weekend summit at which West Asia violence and the standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions will also loom large. But a US trade spokesman said Russian and US trade negotiators had failed to strike a bilateral deal to open the way for Russian entry to the World Trade Organisation. “A final agreement has not been reached, but significant progress was made,” he said. Meanwhile, Bush and Putin announced the launch of a plan to combat the global threat of nuclear terrorism and invited other countries to join them. “We have come up with a joint statement about the importance of fighting acts of nuclear terrorism,” Putin told a joint news conference.
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Bush, Putin laud India’s nuclear obligations
St. Petersburg, July 15 After their summit near here today, the Presidents of Russia and the US, Vladimir Putin and George W Bush welcomed the steps undertaken by India in the field of non-proliferation. “We welcome the important non-proliferation obligations which India has taken on her, as well as India’s closer involvement in the basic efforts in the field of non-proliferation,” Bush and Putin said in a statement here. The two leaders, who held talks ahead of the G-8 meet tonight, also expressed their desire to actively interact with New Delhi to meet its growing energy requirements. India and the US have signed a nuclear deal which opens doors for American companies to the Indian nuclear power generation sector, while Russia is already building two 1000 MW each light water reactors at Kudankulam Atomic Power Station in Tamil Nadu. Iran and North Korea’s controversial nuclear programs were among the key issues addressed at the Bush-Putin summit near here.
— PTI
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Protests across Arab world
Cairo, July 15 Ministers from the 22-member Arab League met in a closed session in Egypt’s capital as Israeli forces hit targets in Gaza and Lebanon after the capture of three Israeli soldiers. Nearly 5,000 people rallied nearby at Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, the most prominent institution in the Sunni Arab world, chanting anti-Israel slogans and carrying banners that read “No to Israel” and “Hey Arab leaders, you should be united”. Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush said Syria should persuade Hizbollah to stop cross-border attacks from Lebanon’s mainly Shi'ite Muslim south. “The best way to stop the violence is for Hizbollah to lay down its arms and to stop attacking. And therefore I call upon Syria to exert influence over Hizbollah,” Bush said. WASHINGTON: The United Nations Security Council has welcomed Secretary General Kofi Annan’s decision to send a three-man team, led by his special political adviser Vijay Nambiar, to try and defuse the West Asia crisis. The diplomatic team yesterday began its week-long mission in Cairo, meeting Egyptian officials and Arab League representatives. They are also expected to travel to Israel soon.
— Agencies
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Gas price: Iran acts tough
Dubai, July 15 Speaking to reporters, Iran’s Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said the price proposed by India and Pakistan is based on their domestic prices. He said the agreement with India about transferring gas had not been finalised yet. “If the Indian side is not ready to buy our gas at its real price, we have no obligation to sell it at the price lower than the real one,” he said. India and Pakistan should forget buying Iran’s gas at the low price, he said. Iran’s pricing strategy is to wait and see the results of the next round of the talks that are to resume in August, an official said. India has said the August meeting, to be attended by the three nations’ deputy Oil and Energy Ministers, would be the last session of the talks over the gas deal. India is keen to buy 90 million cubic metres of gas per day from Iran to be transferred through a 2,100-km pipeline and Pakistan has put its daily demand at 60 million cubic metres.
— UNI
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Stabbed to death for family honour
SAMAIRA Nazir was the brightest of her family. Articulate and well-educated, she graduated from university before taking a directorship in their recruitment business. Salman Mohammed's life had been less smooth. Desperate to flee Afghanistan, he was smuggled into Britain in the back of a lorry and made a living selling phone cards from a market stall.
But when the pair met they fell in love, and for years conducted a secret affair before finally defying her family and announcing their wedding plans. It proved a fatal move and led to Samaira's death in a so-called "honour" killing. It was Samaira's brother, Azhar Nazir, 30, who introduced them. And five years later it was Nazir who would wrench them apart, savagely murdering his sister when he learnt of her "unsuitable" engagement. Yesterday Nazir, along with a 17-year-old cousin, Imran Mohammed, real name Kashif Rana, were jailed for life for the "barbaric" murder of the 25-year-old businesswoman. Ordering that Nazir serve at least 20 years and Mohammed 10, Judge Christopher Moss described how Samaira fought desperately for life, adding: "She suffered a brutal, gruesome and prolonged death in her own home." To Nazir, he continued: "You were Samaira's judge and jury. You may not have been alone in that respect. You claimed you loved your sister dearly when you orchestrated her murder." The Old Bailey trial heard how the pair repeatedly knifed the young woman as in a "prolonged and frenzied attack". As she screamed for help a neighbour banged on the door, but the father emerged claiming that his daughter was having a fit. Another neighbour spotted Samaira's bloodsoaked arm emerging from the front door before she was dragged back inside. As they heard her begging for help, her last words were for Mrs Begum: "You are not my mother any more." Nazir's two daughters, aged two and four, were spattered with blood as they stood just feet away ---- forced to watch, police fear, the killing of a rebellious sister. Her mother stood nearby. Samaira's father fled to Pakistan after being charged. His family claim he has died, though police are still trying to track him down. Charges against her mother were later dropped. The case, which ended yesterday, will reignite the debate over so-called honour killings in Britain.
— By arrangement with The Independent, London.
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Iraq Olympic committee chief among 50 abducted
Baghdad, July 15 The police said the body of one of the guards was found dumped in a street in Karrada in central Baghdad shortly afterwards, not far from the conference centre where the officials had been meeting. The guard had been shot in the head. Iraqiya state television said those abducted also included Faleh Francis, a well-known doctor who was the physician of the national soccer team for many years. Iraq’s Olympic Committee was dominated by Saddam Hussein’s son Uday until the U.S. invasion in 2003.
— Reuters
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