W O R L D

Protesters celebrate departure of Saleh
Sanaa, June 5
Protesters danced, sang and slaughtered cows in the central square of Yemen's capital today to celebrate the departure of the country's authoritarian leader for medical treatment after he was wounded in a rocket attack on his compound.

Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh (left) underwent a surgery on Sunday to remove shrapnel from his chest at a Saudi Arabian medical facility. During his absence from the country, Vice-President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi (right) will hold the fort.

German hospitals swamped with E coli victims
Hamburg, June 5
German hospitals are struggling to cope with the flood of E coli victims, health minister Daniel Bahr said today, as scientists remain puzzled by the deadly bug that has killed 19 and infected 1,700 people across Europe.

Chinese scientists find drug resistance genes in E coli A petri dish with colonies of the virulent E coli bacteria

NATO blasts shake Tripoli Benghazi, June 5 NATO today pounded Tripoli hours after Britain's top diplomat met rebel chiefs in Libya and Russia voiced concerns the alliance's military operation is sliding towards a land campaign.   Smoke billows from Tajura, a suburb of Tripoli, after NATO warplanes launched air raids on it. — AFP

Pak nukes 200% safe, says Malik
Islamabad, June 5
Asserting that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are “200 per cent safe” despite a series of terror attacks on military installations, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said the country has strong monitoring and control mechanisms in place to protect its atomic programme.

15 killed in Pak bakery blast
Islamabad, June 5
Fifteen person were killed and nearly 30 others injured when a blast ripped through a military-run bakery in Nowshera cantonment in northwest Pakistan today, officials said. The blast in the A-1 Bakery triggered a major fire that resulted in the explosion of several gas cylinders. A spokesman for the Al-Khidmat Foundation, a rescue service, said 15 persons were killed. Nearly 30 injured were taken to different hospitals in Nowshera, 40 km from Peshawar. — PTI

Volcano erupts in southern Chile
Santiago, June 5
A volcano in southern Chile has erupted violently, billowing smoke and ash high into the sky and prompting more than 3,500 persons living nearby to evacuate and forcing cancellation of flights. Ash and gas continued to billow from the earth today. There were no reports of injuries from yesterday's eruption. A column of gas rose from Puyehue-Cordon Caulle complex, according to Chile's National Geology and Mining Service. — AP

Protesters celebrate departure of Saleh
Yemen Prez in Saudi Arabia for treatment z Saudis broker ceasefire

A Yemeni soldier along with anti-government protesters celebrate Saleh’s departure, in Sanaa on Sunday. — AP/PTI

Sanaa, June 5
Protesters danced, sang and slaughtered cows in the central square of Yemen's capital today to celebrate the departure of the country's authoritarian leader for medical treatment after he was wounded in a rocket attack on his compound.

Yemeni ruling party official Tareq al-Shami said Saleh would return to the country within days, but uncertainty about whether he would be able to maintain his grip after months of protests meant the risk of further turmoil remained high.

Some Yemenis celebrated what they hoped would be Saleh's permanent departure, but the jubilation was mixed with firefights and explosions in Sanaa, and gunbattles broke out in the city of Taiz, about 200 km south of the capital.

"People are worried about what will happen after Saleh's departure. They're most worried about a military coup or struggles for power within the army," Farouq Abdel Salam, a resident in the southern port city of Aden, said.

There was no official announcement on who was acting as head of state. But under Yemen's constitution, the Vice-President takes over for up to 60 days when the head of state is absent. Vice-President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi met today with the US ambassador, the strongest indication yet that he is in charge.

Worries are mounting that Yemen, already on the brink of financial ruin and home to Al-Qaida militants, could become a failed state that poses a threat to the world's top oil exporting region and to global security.

Saleh has exasperated his former US and Saudi allies, who once saw him as a key partner in efforts to combat Yemen-based Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, by repeatedly reneging on a Gulf-brokered deal for him to quit in return for immunity.

US President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism aide spoke on Saturday to the Yemeni Vice-President, the White House said, giving no details. Washington has called on Saleh to quit. "I think this is just about the end of his match," Khalid al-Dakhil, a Saudi political analyst, said. "The Saudis are not going to bargain with him."

Saudi Arabia, which shares a 1,500-km border with Yemen, has led efforts to negotiate a peaceful handover to fractious opposition groups. But a Saudi-brokered ceasefire between rival clans and political elites appeared to break down on Sunday as heavy gunfire and explosions rang out in the capital Sanaa. — Agencies

German hospitals swamped with E coli victims
Authorities racing to track down source of rare bacteria

Hamburg, June 5
German hospitals are struggling to cope with the flood of E coli victims, health minister Daniel Bahr said today, as scientists remain puzzled by the deadly bug that has killed 19 and infected 1,700 people across Europe.

Hospitals in the northern port of Hamburg, epicentre of the outbreak that began three weeks ago, have been moving out patients with less serious illnesses to handle the surge of people stricken by a rare, highly toxic strain of the bacteria.

“We’re facing a tense situation with patient care,” Bahr told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday. He added hospitals outside Hamburg could be used to make up for “insufficient capacity” in Germany’s second largest city.

Authorities in Germany are racing to track down the source of the pathogen, which has infected people in 12 countries, all of whom had been travelling in northern Germany. Officials believe people were made ill by eating lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers or other raw salad vegetables in Germany. Scientists suspect the source of the contamination may have been poor hygiene at a farm, in transit, or in a shop or food outlet.

Many of those infected have developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a potentially deadly complication attacking the kidneys.

The rare strain of E coli has the ability to stick to intestinal walls where it pumps out toxins, sometimes causing severe bloody diarrhoea and kidney problems. Some patients have needed intensive care, including dialysis. It has hit women more than men, and most of those who have died were elderly. — Reuters

Eleven killed as Israeli troops fire on Palestinians

Jerusalem, June 5
Israeli forces opened fire at hundreds of Palestinians gathered at the Israel-Syria frontier in the occupied Golan Heights today, killing 11 protesters in their attempts to break the demonstration marking the 44th anniversary of the occupation of the territory.

Syrian media reported the death of 11 protesters allegedly in Israel Defence Forces’ sniper fire after hundreds marched towards the fenced border between Israel and Syria at the ceasefire line, on ‘Naksa Day’.

Palestinians from Syria tried to cross the ceasefire line with the Golan Heights, one of the territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war.

Medical officials told Damascus TV that Israeli soldiers “are shooting live rounds and aiming for the abdomen, chest and head”. The Red Cross Ambulances evacuated the injured, they said. At least 13 persons were wounded, Syrian media said.

IDF spokesman, Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai wondered if this was an attempt by the Syrian government to divert attention from the crisis at home. — PTI

NATO blasts shake Tripoli

Benghazi, June 5
NATO today pounded Tripoli hours after Britain's top diplomat met rebel chiefs in Libya and Russia voiced concerns the alliance's military operation is sliding towards a land campaign.

Warplanes launched intensive air raids on the Libyan capital and its eastern suburbs, where several explosions were heard, as NATO kept up its pressure on strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

British Foreign Minister William Hague yesterday met leaders of rebels who have been fighting to oust Gaddafi after NATO deployed attack helicopters for the first time.

"We are here today for one principal reason-to show our support for the Libyan people and for the National Transitional Council, the legitimate representative of the Libyan people," Hague said in a statement. Hague, accompanied by international development minister Andrew Mitchell, held talks with the head of the rebel National Transitional Council Mustafa al-Jalil. — AFP

Pak nukes 200% safe, says Malik

Islamabad, June 5
Asserting that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are “200 per cent safe” despite a series of terror attacks on military installations, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said the country has strong monitoring and control mechanisms in place to protect its atomic programme.

Though the recent attack on the PNS Mehran naval airbase in Karachi and detection of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad triggered fears that there could be rogue elements in Pakistani military, Malik told Newsweek magazine that the country’s “nuclear weapons are 200 per cent safe.”

“The assets are well protected and tightly monitored. We should be wary of the disinformation being spread against our nuclear programme, including the suggestion that the US may move to denuclearise Pakistan,” he said. US Senator John Kerry, during a recent visit to Pakistan, addressed this “misperception and categorically denied any intention on the part of the US” to take any step against the country’s nuclear assets, Malik said. — PTI