W O R L D

Russia, Georgia allege new attacks
Moscow, August 11
Russia and Georgia today traded accusations of launching new military strikes on each other as foreign diplomats pressed two sides for a ceasefire in the armed conflict between the two former Soviet republics over the Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Putin flays US over S. Ossetia
Moscow, August 11
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sharply criticised the US today, saying its support for Georgia in the conflict over the separatist region South Ossetia displayed a cynical cold war mentality. Putin says Washington was helping to bring Georgian troops from Iraq to fight at home.

Russian troops move along a road near the border between North and South Ossetia on Monday. Moscow insisted it had not moved its troops beyond the territory of South Ossetia and the second separatist region, Abkhazia. — Reuters photo

US Aid: No fraud, says Musharraf
Spokesman for President Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi has strongly refuted PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari’s allegation that Musharraf syphoned hundreds of millions of dollars off the annual billion-dollar payment made by the US to fund the Waziristan operation.

Russia, Georgia allege new attacks

Moscow, August 11
Russia and Georgia today traded accusations of launching new military strikes on each other as foreign diplomats pressed two sides for a ceasefire in the armed conflict between the two former Soviet republics over the Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Moscow said Georgian attacks on the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali killed three of its peacekeepers while Tbilisi said up to 50 Russian fighter jets attacked targets inside Georgia overnight, with targets around the Georgian capital.

However, dismissing Georgia’s charges of air strikes on Tbilisi’s airstrips, Russia’s state Russia Today TV channel showed pictures of ‘bombed’ airport welcoming French and finnish foreign ministers yesterday.

The images showed no sign of damage to the building or its airstrips. Earlier, Georgia claimed Russian warplanes bombed the capital’s airport.

In another development, the Georgian government has backtracked on an earlier accusation that Russian planes bombed two military bases near Tblisi last night. A new statement from the ministry of internal affairs said bombs were dropped on uninhabited areas.

After three days of fighting, Tskhinvali has been left devastated. Refugees from South Ossetia are currently taking shelter in hospitals and schools in the neighbouring Russian republic of North Ossetia, it said.

Thousands of refugees are taking shelter in hastily organised camps. Schools and kindergartens are among the places turned into temporary shelters.

Meanwhile, Georgia and Russia finally reached an agreement to open a humanitarian corridor, a safe exit out of Tshinvali. South Ossetian officials plan to use this route to evacuate 3,000 persons today.

Thousands of evacuees now face an uncertain future with their homes and livelihoods destroyed.

Elsewhere, US President George W. Bush criticised Russia’s response, while the EU diplomats headed to Moscow for talks.

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, who met Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili yesterday, said he was seeking a “controlled withdrawal of troops” from the conflict zone.— UNI

Putin flays US over S. Ossetia

Moscow, August 11
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sharply criticised the US today, saying its support for Georgia in the conflict over the separatist region South Ossetia displayed a cynical cold war mentality. Putin says Washington was helping to bring Georgian troops from Iraq to fight at home.

In an emotional speech to the senior government officials, Putin said some US politicians still had a cold war mentality. — Reuters

Nepal to elect PM on August 15

Kathmandu, August 11
The Constituent Assembly (CA) of Nepal will elect a new Prime Minister this week, an official said on Monday, a post that is likely to go to the chief of the former Maoist rebels, Prachanda.

The Maoists won a special Assembly election in April but failed to win parliamentary majority, sparking a power tussle that has left Nepal struggling to form a new government four months after the polls.

“The new Prime Minister will be elected on Friday,” Mukunda Prasad Sharma, a spokesman for the Assembly said.

He said nominations by political parties must be filed on Thursday.

The Prime Minister will be elected by a simple majority in a house that now has 595 members, another official said. The Maoists hold 227 seats in the Assembly.

The election of the Prime Minister will set the ball rolling for the formation of a government expected to be headed by the Maoists.

The Maoists say they are still in talks with different groups to cobble together a coalition government but have failed to strike a deal with other political parties, which say the former rebels must first completely eschew violence.

The parties also want the Maoists to return the property and land they seized during the war in line with their commitment in a 2006 peace deal.

The Maoists waged a decade-long civil war from 1996, which killed more than 13,000 persons, before signing a peace deal in which the government agreed to abolish monarchy.

The special Assembly, which is also meant to write a new Constitution within two years, abolished monarchy in April and declared Nepal a republic. — Reuters

US Aid: No fraud, says Musharraf
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Spokesman for President Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi has strongly refuted PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari’s allegation that Musharraf syphoned hundreds of millions of dollars off the annual billion-dollar payment made by the US to fund the Waziristan operation.

Qureshi said the entire money paid by the US was accounted for and there was no basis in the accusations of any misappropriation.

The PPP co-chairman told Sunday Times in an interview that “our grand old Musharraf had not been passing on all the $ 1 billion a year that the US had been giving for the armed forces.”

He said the army had been getting $ 250 million-300 million reimbursement for what they do. “But where’s the rest? He asked. They claim it’s been going in budget support but that’s not the answer, he added. We’re talking about $ 700 million a year missing. The rest has been taken by ‘Mush’ for some scheme or other and we’ve got to find it.”

He also detailed for the first time Musharraf’s attempts to sabotage his government, which, he said, forced him to take the drastic step of demanding his impeachment.

Zardari claimed the US aid might had gone to fund rogue members of the military intelligence, the ISI, who were last week accused by Washington of assisting the Taliban and other groups rather than rooting them out.

Zardari also accused the President of economic sabotage and fomenting conflict in Balochistan and the tribal areas. “I know I’m in danger. “Whoever killed her (Benazir Bhutto) wants to kill me,” he said.

Zardari warned against a possible sacking of Parliament by Musharraf, saying: “If he does it, it will be his last verdict against the people, the people’s mandate and against Pakistan.