W O R L D

Arab League suspends Syria
Cairo, November 12
The Arab League today suspended Syria until President Bashar al-Assad implements an Arab deal to end violence against protesters, and called for sanctions and transition talks with the opposition.

27 killed in Iran military base blast
Tehran, November 12
A massive explosion at a Revolutionary Guards base just west of the Iranian capital today killed 27 members of the elite force, officials said. "Twenty-seven personnel were killed in the explosion," a spokesman for the force, Commander Ramezan Sharif, told state television, adding that some of those injured were in critical condition.

Roadside bomb kills 8 Afghan civilians
Asadabad, November 12
Eight civilians, including a newly wed groom, were killed today by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, a local officials said. "The latest reports show that eight persons, including a woman, a child and a groom were killed in the blast," said Laghman provincial spokesman Faizanullah Patan. The victims were killed in the eastern province of Laghman when their car was blown up as they returned home after the man's wedding party late yesterday.

Arab League suspends Syria
Wants Prez Assad to implement Arab deal to end killings, calls for sanctions

Pro-democracy protesters burn a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a demonstration outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Saturday. — AFP

Cairo, November 12
The Arab League today suspended Syria until President Bashar al-Assad implements an Arab deal to end violence against protesters, and called for sanctions and transition talks with the opposition.

A statement, read by Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, said the Arab League decided “to suspend Syrian delegations’ activities in Arab League meetings” if it continued to stall the Arab plan and to implement “economic and political sanctions against the Syrian government.” It also called for the withdrawal of Arab ambassadors from Damascus, but left the decision to each Arab state.

Sheikh Hamad said at a press conference the decision would take effect on November 16.

The statement warned that Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi would contact international organisations concerned with human rights, “including the United Nations,” if the bloodshed continued.

It called for a meeting in Cairo with Syrian opposition groups in three days to “agree a unified vision for the coming transitional period in Syria.”

A week of deadly violence in city of Homs had overshadowed the meeting, in which Arab ministers appeared divided on what measure to take but eventually voted by majority on the final statement.

Assad’s regime agreed on November 2 to an Arab roadmap, which called for the release of detainees, the withdrawal of the army from urban areas and free movement for observers and the media, as well as negotiations with the opposition.

Instead, human rights groups say the regime has intensified its crackdown on dissent, especially in flashpoint Homs, killing at least 125 people in the city since signing onto the League’s deal.

“Homs is a microcosm of the Syrian government’s brutality,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of Human Rights Watch, which accused the regime of crimes against humanity based on its systematic abuses against civilians.

Human Rights Watch, like protesters and Syrian opposition leaders, urged the Arab League to suspend Syria’s membership of the pan-Arab bloc as punishment for its brutal eight-month crackdown on dissent.

At least 23 people were killed in violence in Syria on Friday alone, most of them civilians in Homs, which an opposition group declared a “humanitarian disaster area” earlier this week.

With NATO ruling out operations and UN Security Council sanctions unlikely because veto-wielding permanent members Russia and China are allies of Assad’s regime, regional actors have come to represent the best avenue to pressure Damascus. — AFP

27 killed in Iran military base blast

Smoke billows out of an ammunition depot on the outskirts of Tehran following an explosion on Saturday. — AP/PTI

Tehran, November 12
A massive explosion at a Revolutionary Guards base just west of the Iranian capital today killed 27 members of the elite force, officials said. "Twenty-seven personnel were killed in the explosion," a spokesman for the force, Commander Ramezan Sharif, told state television, adding that some of those injured were in critical condition.

An emergency official, Majid Khaled, quoted by the Mehr news agency, said 23 persons were injured in the blast and taken to nearby hospitals. The explosion hit an ammunition depot at the base in Bid Ganeh, near the town of Malard on the western outskirts of Tehran, some 20 km from the city centre, according to media reports.

It shattered the windows of residential neighbourhoods in the western suburbs of Tehran, witnesses told AFP. It was heard in the city centre.

"Initial investigations show the blast occurred as ammunition was being moved," Sharif said earlier.

The deputy head of the national security commission, Esmaeel Kosari, said Parliament would open a probe into the blast, the ISNA news agency reported. — AFP

Roadside bomb kills 8 Afghan civilians

Afghans stand around wreckage of a car, which was hit by a roadside bomb in Laghman on Saturday. — AP/PTI

Asadabad, November 12
Eight civilians, including a newly wed groom, were killed today by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, a local officials said. "The latest reports show that eight persons, including a woman, a child and a groom were killed in the blast," said Laghman provincial spokesman Faizanullah Patan.

The victims were killed in the eastern province of Laghman when their car was blown up as they returned home after the man's wedding party late yesterday.

Laghman province is located towards the border with Pakistan. It has long been troubled by insurgents, particularly the Hezb-e-Islami faction led by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

"They had a wedding party last night and were going to their home" when the blast struck in the district of Alingar at around 10am (0530 GMT), he added.

The United Nations has said the number of civilians killed in the first half of this year rose 15 per cent to 1,462, with insurgents responsible for 80 per cent of the deaths. Last week, Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar issued a statement to mark Eid al-Adha calling on insurgents to reduce civilian casualties. — AFP

Gunshots heard near White House
AK-47 recovered from abandoned car

Washington, November 12
Gunshots were heard on a street near the White House today following which an AK-47 was recovered from an abandoned car but the suspect remained at large. US President Barack Obama is out of town. He is currently in California on his way to Hawaii to attend the APEC Summit. The US Secret Service said the security of the White House was not compromised and it was not in danger.

“We received a call of shots fired near 16th Street and Constitution Avenue, which is between the White House and the Washington Monument, at about 9:30 pm last night (8:00 am IST today), US Park Police spokesman Sgt David Schlosser said.

The police is looking for bullet holes, he said, adding they have not yet confirmed that shots were actually fired.

There has been no report of any injury so far, Schlosser said, adding the suspect was last seen running across 23rd street and Roosevelt Bridge in Washington DC, several blocks away from the White House. “A rifle was recovered” from an abandoned mid-size car, which has been taken into custody, Schlosser said. A Secret Service spokesman said the rifle was AK-47.

“Not found anybody attached to it,” Schlosser said, when asked if any arrest has been made so far. — PTI

Eye on luxury tourism, China starts selling islands

Beijing, November 12
China has started selling small uninhabited islands to private developers to promote tourism in a big way, in a sharp turn around by the world’s leading Communist nation. The first of the islands off the country’s east coast was auctioned yesterday for $3.2 million to a developer eyeing yacht recreation.

The auctioned island, Dayangyu, is located 300 metres off the coast of Ningbo city, Zhejiang province, with an area of 0.258 sq km and a sprawling coastline.

The Communist government is proposing to sell many more such islands and has compiled a list of 176 uninhabited islands for development.

Ningbo Gaobao Investment Co. Ltd. won the land use rights of Dayangyu for 50 years with an offer of 20 million yuan ($3.2 million).

In China, land is owned by the state and the buyers can get only the rights to use the land. “Our company plans to invest 500 million yuan to develop the island,” said Yang Weihua, Ningbo Gaobao’s manager.

“We are going to turn the island into a high-end tourism and recreation destination with a focus on yachting,” state-run news agency Xinhua quoted him as saying. Hu Zhaohui, an official of the islands management office, said the auction represented a good start for the development of uninhabited islands in China.

These islands dot China’s eastern and southern coasts. — PTI