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Peace talks to resume under cloud of Israeli construction
Construction in progress at Pisgat Zeev, a settlement in an area Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, on Tuesday. — AFP
Militants kill 44 in Nigerian mosque
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INS Vikrant not to trigger’ India, China arms race
Modi gets invite to visit Britain
Taliban warn Pak not to execute militants
Buses parked at an inter-district bus terminal in Dhaka during a nationwide strike on Tuesday. — AFP Anna Hazare to lead I-Day parade in New York
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Peace talks to resume under cloud of Israeli construction
Jerusalem, August 13 Israel has just approved plans for 3,100 new homes on the territory it seized in the 1967 Middle East war. The non-stop building on the land that is at the heart of the conflict raises serious doubts about whether the latest round of US-brokered talks can result in a deal to create an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. US Secretary of State John Kerry agrees it is a major problem, but says there is time for a final push. After an initial round of meetings in Washington at the end of last month, the real discussions start on Wednesday, with Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni facing Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat in Jerusalem's King David Hotel. The negotiations will be moderated by US envoy Martin Indyk, with the next encounter already pencilled in for later this month in the West Bank city of Jericho. Bowing to a Palestinian condition to get the talks going, and eager not to antagonise an anxious Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to the staggered release of 104 Palestinian prisoners, many convicted of murder. The first 26 are due to go free early on Wednesday, and political analysts say the recent splurge of settlement moves was a bid by Netanyahu to placate his legion of supporters who reject the so-called two-state solution.
— Reuters Mixed signals
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Militants kill 44 in Nigerian mosque
Abuja, August 13 Militants believed to be linked to Boko Haram sect opened fire on people worshipping inside the mosque in Konduga near Nigeria's restive city of Maiduguri on Sunday, security officials said yesterday. At least 44 worshippers have been shot dead, they said. For Islamic state
Also, a member of a vigilante group said that some of its members were gunned down by the rampaging terrorists when they tried to respond to a distress call. It was not immediately clear why the mosque in Konduga was targeted, but Boko Haram has in the past attacked mosques whose clerics have spoken out against religious extremism. The group also has attacked Christians outside churches and teachers and schoolchildren, as well as government and military targets. Nigeria declared a state of emergency in three northeastern states in May as it fights Islamist militants. Boko Haram aims to establish an Islamic caliphate in the oil-rich country and more than 2,000 persons have died since it commenced killings and bombings mostly in the northern part of the country. Nigeria's 150 million people are evenly distributed among Christians and Muslims.
— PTI |
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INS Vikrant not to trigger’ India, China arms race
Beijing, August 13 “China is a late comer among big powers in terms of developing domestic aircraft carriers. Even India has moved ahead of us,” an editorial in the state-run Global Times said, making a strong case for Chinese military to develop aircraft carriers to add to the first one launched last year. A commentary by official Xinhua news agency ruled out any arms race as result of the launch of
Vikrant. “Pundits obsessed with geopolitical rivalry wasted no time in hyping the Indian feat as a threat to China, fanning speculations the two Asian neighbours would slide deeper into an arms race aimed at regional supremacy,” it said. “However, such conflict-obsessed fear-mongers have apparently ignored the larger picture. For starters, China and India, the world's top two developing countries, have vast interests in common.” “It is true India, already a regional heavyweight, has always held the dream of becoming a global power. It has been the world’s largest importer of weapons over the past few years,” it said. “Doomsayers also point to the high-profile support from the US, which they assume is bent on containing China's rise,” it said referring to the visit of US Vice President Joe Biden during which he suggested India to play a bigger role in the Asia-Pacific region. “Underneath the gloomy prophecy also lies the increase in the number of carrier-equipped naval forces in the region. Just days before the Vikrant's launch, Japan launched a new helicopter carrier,” it said.
— PTI |
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Modi gets invite to visit Britain
London, August 13 The ball was set rolling by the Opposition party's Labour Friends of India when its chairman, Barry Gardiner, MP, sent a letter to Modi last week inviting him to the House of Commons to speak on 'The Future of Modern India'. "The invitation is a culmination of several years of engagement between senior representatives of the Labour Party and Narendra Modi," the Labour MP for Brent North said. "I am sure people in the UK and indeed the international community would be very interested to meet and hear what Narendra Modi has to say first hand. He is a politician who cannot be ignored. “I believe it's in Britain's best interests that we engage with him as both the Chief Minister of Gujarat and also potential Prime Minister," he added.
— PTI
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Taliban warn Pak not to execute militants
The outlawed Punjabi
Taliban, an offshoot terrorist organisation of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP), has warned the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government of dire consequences if it carries on with its plan of executing some convicts on death row.
In a pamphlet distributed in southern Punjab and South and North Waziristan tribal agencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, the terrorist outfit said that the government would be considered at war with them if it goes on to execute their colleagues currently serving jail terms and are on death row. Pakistani authorities on Thursday said they would hang four convicts on death row later this month, ending a five-year stay on the execution of death sentences ordered by the outgoing President. The pamphlet also warned the
PML-N government to be wary of blindly following the Pakistan army as it said the armed forces use political forces for their own gains. “Remember what happened to Awami National Party
(ANP)...No one would now go to them even for condolences,” said the pamphlet. |
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40 hurt as Jamaat members clash with police in B’desh
Dhaka, August 13 The police had to fire rubber bullets and teargas canisters to disperse the unruly activists. The protesters exploded 15 cocktail bombs in Rajshahi, Barisal, Bogra and Chittagong and blocked different roads to observe the shutdown. They also torched and vandalised at least 34 vehicles in Comilla, Rajshahi, Pirojpur and Chittagong. Jamaat had called the nationwide shutdown protesting what it called "government repression, persecution and plot to eliminate the party".
— PTI |
Nine killed in Iraq violence; oil pipeline bombed
Mursi supporters hold fresh protests 4 dead in French Alps accidents Wife of Indian found dead calls for re-probe Seven killed in Nepal landslides
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A 10-minute drive from where negotiators will sit down on Wednesday to resume long-stalled Middle East peace talks, Israeli bulldozers are busy reshaping land that Palestinians want for their future state.
