W O R L D

61 dead as car bombs target Iraq police
14 car bombs wreak havoc on security personnel whose ability to protect the country is under close scrutiny as US forces withdraw.
Baghdad, August 25
More than a dozen apparently coordina- ted car bombs targeting Iraqi police and other attacks killed 61 persons today, just days before the US military officially ends its combat mission here.

A site of a bomb attack in Basra on Wednesday. — Reuters

Iran test-fires Fateh 110
Tehran, August 25
Iran has test-fired its home-built surface-to- surface Fateh 110 missile, state television reported today, less than a week after a similar test was carried out on another missile.

This photo released by the Iranian Defence Ministry on Wednesday claims to show the launch of the Fateh-110 short-range surface-to-surface missile. — AFP

People pelt each other with tomatoes during the “Tomatina” Festival in Bunol, Spain, on Wednesday. Thousands of revellers from around the world participate in the world-famous festivities. — AFP

Oz teacher asks students to plan terror attack!
Melbourne, August 25
A high school teacher in Australia created ripples when she assigned her class to plan a terrorist attack using chemical or biological warfare. Students at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School in Western Australia were set a task by their environment teacher last week to pretend as if they were terrorists planning to make a political statement by releasing a chemical or biological agent on “an unsuspecting Australian community”.

Sanctions slapped against Osama’s son-in-law
Washington, August 25
Directly targeting the world’s most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden, the US today slapped sanctions against his son-in-law Muhammad Abdallah Hasan Abu al-Khayr, who is now considered as the key leader of the Al-Qaida’s finance network.

Angelina’s Pak aid exceeds Zardari’s
Islamabad, August 25
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has contributed $100,000 (about Pakistani Rs 8.5 million) for flood-ravaged Pakistan, a move that surpasses President Asif Ali Zardari's Rs 5 million donation, and the help extended by most other politicians.

WikiLeaks to release CIA paper today
Stockholm, August 25
WikiLeaks is preparing to release a leaked CIA paper sometime today, the whistleblower website said.

 

52 dead as car bombs target Iraq police

Baghdad, August 25
More than a dozen apparently coordinated car bombs targeting Iraqi police and other attacks killed 61 persons today, just days before the US military officially ends its combat mission here.

The trail of bloodshed started in the capital Baghdad before stretching to the north and south of the country, hitting 10 cities and towns in quick succession in tactics that bore the hallmark of Al-Qaida.

Some 180 persons were also wounded, security officials said, as a total of 14 car bombs wreaked havoc on police and soldiers whose ability to protect the country is under close scrutiny as US forces withdraw.

In the worst attack, a car bomb at a passport office in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, killed 20 persons, including 15 police, and wounded 90 others, most of them police, Lieutenant Ali Hussein said.

In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle at a police station in the northeastern suburb of Qahira, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more, security and medical officials said.

The attack in the mixed Sunni-Shiite neighbourhood took place at around 8 am (0500 GMT), according to an interior ministry official who gave the toll. "The victims include policemen and civilians," he said.

A doctor at Medical City Hospital said they had received the bodies of two women, two children and two police officers, and that 44 other people were receiving treatment.

A spike in unrest over the past two months has triggered concern that Iraqi forces are not yet ready to handle security on their own, and with no new government formed in Baghdad since a March 7 general election. — AFP

Iran test-fires Fateh 110

Tehran, August 25
Iran has test-fired its home-built surface-to-surface Fateh 110 missile, state television reported today, less than a week after a similar test was carried out on another missile. State television showed a sand-coloured missile being launched from a vehicle and blasting into the sky from a desert terrain, leaving behind a thick plume of smoke. It did not say when the missile was fired.

Iran’s English-language Press TV said the Fateh 110 (Conqueror) missile is 29-ft-long and weighs 3,500 kg.

The channel’s website quoted Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying that the third generation Fateh 110 was a “single stage solid propellant” missile with a longer range.

He did not specify the range of the missile but Iran has previously paraded a version of Fateh 110, which it said could travel between 150 and 200 km.

Vahidi said the latest version of Fateh 110 was “more accurate.” The launch of Fateh 110 follows an announcement by Vahidi on Friday that Iran had successfully test-fired its Qiam (Rising) short-range missile, which was propelled by liquid fuel.

The test firing of Fateh 110 comes two days after Iran began mass-producing two high-speed variants of missile-launching assault boats, the Seraj and Zolfaqar.

On Sunday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled Iran’s home-built bomber drone, which he described as an “ambassador of death” to Iran’s enemies. The military announcements come as Iran marks its annual “government week,” during which it flaunts its latest achievements in various fields. — AFP

Oz teacher asks students to plan terror attack!

Melbourne, August 25
A high school teacher in Australia created ripples when she assigned her class to plan a terrorist attack using chemical or biological warfare. Students at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School in Western Australia were set a task by their environment teacher last week to pretend as if they were terrorists planning to make a political statement by releasing a chemical or biological agent on “an unsuspecting Australian community”. “Your goal is to kill the most innocent civilians to get your message across,” she told the students in a written assignment form, The West Australian newspaper reported.

The students were told that as terrorists they could choose the best time to attack and decide where to release their weapons and what effects it would have on the human body. And they were told marks would be allocated on their ability to analyse information they had learnt on terrorism and apply it to real life scenario.

Most of the students were “horrified” at the exercise they had been given and refused to hand in their assignments. As the word spread, Principal of the school Terry Martino intervened to get the assignment withdrawn. “The teacher is relatively inexperienced, made a well-intentioned but misguided attempt to engage the students in an assignment on contemporary conflict,” Martino said.

The Principal said he highly regarded teacher and felt she was not promoting terrorism, but had just made a mistake. — PTI

Sanctions slapped against Osama’s son-in-law

Angelina’s Pak aid exceeds Zardari’s

WikiLeaks to release CIA paper today

Stockholm, August 25
WikiLeaks is preparing to release a leaked CIA paper sometime today, the whistleblower website said.

“WikiLeaks to release CIA paper tomorrow,” it said in a Tweet late yesterday also posted on its website, which is already locked in a dispute with the Pentagon over the leaking secret military documents on the Afghan war. It published nearly 77,000 classified US military documents on the war in Afghanistan on July 23 and has said it would publish another 15,000 within the next couple of weeks. — AFP

Assange cleared of allegations

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange no longer faces sex abuse charges in Sweden after a prosecutor decided on Wednesday to investigate only one of two complaints against him, and not as a sexual offense.