London, August 11
As riot-hit cities of England limped back to normalcy, British Premier David Cameron today announced a slew of measures to bring back complete order on the streets, promising new powers to police and strong state support to help victims recover losses incurred in the mayhem.

Making a statement during an emergency recall of the parliament, the Prime Minister admitted there were “far too few” police on the streets and their tactics had initially not worked, but added this was a new and unique challenge for them.

Over 1,300 persons have been arrested so far in connection with the violence of over past five days, during which hooded youth and gangsters ran amok, ransacking stores, vandalising cars and robbing whatever came their way.

Describing the violence as not a matter of politics or protest but “theft”, Cameron said the police and the intelligence agencies were scurrying through CCTV footage to track down all those responsible for the lootings and arson.

“The government will ensure that the police has funds they need to meet the cost of any legitimate claims... The Association of British Insurers has said they expect the industry to be paying out in excess of 200 million pounds,” Cameron told lawmakers.

He said the police would now be authorised to order people to remove facemasks and their powers to impose curfew would be reviewed.

“So I can announce today that we are going to give the police the discretion to remove face coverings under any circumstances where there is reasonable suspicion that they are related to criminal activity,” he said. — PTI 

Islamabad, August 11
Twin attacks, including one by a burqa-clad woman suicide bomber, targeted security personnel in Peshawar today, killing seven persons and injuring 37 others in the first deadly strikes in the region during the month of Ramzan.

This was only the third occasion when a woman was involved in a suicide strike.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks. In the first attack, a bomb hidden in a cart parked along the roadside near Lahori Gate was detonated by remote control as a police van carrying 20 personnel was passing the area around 7 am. A group of schoolboys was passing through the area when the bomb went off.

Five policemen and a 12-year-old boy were killed in the blast. The police van was destroyed, the police officials said. Hours later, a woman suicide bomber lobbed a grenade at a police check post located at a short distance from the site of the first blast and then blew herself up.

DIG Shafqat Malik of the bomb disposal squad said the bomber’s suicide vest malfunctioned and only part of it went off. The blast killed the bomber and a 60-year-old woman, the police said. Police officials said the suicide bomber appeared to be about 16 or 17 years old. Though initial reports said the second woman was also a suspected suicide bomber, police officials later confirmed that no explosives were found on her body and that she was a passerby.

Police officials said the woman suicide bomber was unable to get close to any potential targets as security forces had cordoned off the Lahori Gate area after the first blast. — PTI 

Damascus, August 11
Syrian forces killed five persons today as they stormed another two towns in pursuit of anti-regime protesters, defying Western calls for action after a “chilling” UN Security Council briefing.

The killings occurred soon after columns of tanks entered the town of Qusayr in the central province of Homs early today, sending residents fleeing, a rights activist in the town said.

“Residents fled into the fields and all communications have been cut with the town,” the activist said, adding that security forces had later killed at least five residents and wounded 10.

“The security forces opened fire on residents who tried to flee to the Al-Basateen district, killing at least five,” the activist added.

Tanks, troop carriers and buses transporting security force members also sped soon after dawn today into the town of Saraqeb in the northwestern Idlib province bordering Turkey, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“Shooting was heard soon afterwards in the town, where protests demanding the fall of the regime have been staged every day after the evening (Muslim) prayers,” the Britain-based group said in a statement.

Later, the rights advocacy group reported that security forces were “raiding homes and carrying out arrests, rounding up more than 100 people, including 35 children.”

“Army troops were smashing the doors of shops owned by activists in search of them, and they have cut off electricity in the town,” a statement said.

Yesterday security forces reportedly shot dead 18 persons in the Baba Amro neighbourhood of the city of Homs, according to the latest toll provided by the Syrian Observatory.

The latest assault comes after UN Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco yesterday briefed the 15-member Security Council about events in Syria in the week since the council called for an “immediate” halt to the violence.

Taranco, who spoke behind closed doors, was quoted as saying there had been no letup in the deaths of protesters while UN officials had met Syrian diplomats to try to get accurate information.

Taranco’s briefing had been “depressing and chilling”, Britain’s deputy UN ambassador Philip Parham later told reporters. — AFP

Washington, August 11
Oscar famed Hollywood filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow, making a movie about the hunt and killing of the world’s biggest terrorist Osama bin Laden, may have been been given confidential access by the Obama Administration for the venture, prompting a US lawmaker to question the move.

Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, the award winning team behind the Iraq war film “The Hurt Locker” have been developing a project on the search for bin Laden since 2008.

Boal, a former magazine journalist who spent time with US forces in Iraq, wants to depict decade-long secret operations to kill or capture the Al-Qaida leader.

Drawing attention of the administration to a media report that the Sony Pictures and Bigelow have been given access to confidential information, New York Republican Congressman Peter T King has said it is the duty of the authorities to inform public and lawmakers before declassifying such matters.

He called on the Pentagon and the CIA to investigate, saying that he was worried about the possibility that classified information was leaked to Bigelow and the Sony Pictures, which have acquired distribution rights to the movie.

“Administration’s first duty in declassifying material is to provide full reporting to Congress and the American people, in an effort to build public trust through transparency of government,” King, who is also the chairman of Committee on Homeland Security, said in a letter to the Defence Department Inspector General Gordon Heddell and CIA Inspector General David Buckley.

King also cited reports that Bigelow had attended a CIA ceremony in honour of the team that carried out the raid, an accusation that was described as "false" by the Hollywood producer.

The film is scheduled for release before 2012 presidential election. — PTI