Kandahar, July 12
President Hamid Karzai’s powerful half brother, a lightning rod for criticism of deep-rooted corruption within the Afghan government, was assassinated today by a highly-trusted bodyguard at his home in southern Afghanistan.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar provincial council, was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest, according to hospital officials.

The motive of the killing has not been established, but his death served a new blow to US-coalition efforts to curb violence and the government’s quest to gain control of this Taliban stronghold. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assassination.

A person who witnessed the killing said a member of Wali Karzai’s private security team killed him with an AK-47. The individual, who declined to be identified, said that other bodyguards quickly gunned down the assassin.

Wali Karzai, who was in his 50s, was seen by many as a political liability for the Karzai government after a series of allegations, including that he was on the CIA payroll and involved in drug trafficking. He denied the charges.

The President repeatedly challenged his accusers to show him evidence of his sibling’s wrongdoing, but said nobody ever could.

Wali Karzai remained a key power broker in the south, helping shore up his family’s interests in the Taliban’s southern heartland, which has been the site of numerous offensives by US, coalition and Afghan troops to root out insurgents. Militants have retaliated by intimidating and killing local government officials or others against the Taliban.

The killing came just hours before the President held a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarzoky.

“This morning my younger brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was murdered in his home,” the Afghan President said. “Such is the life of Afghanistan’s people. In the houses of the people of Afghanistan, each of us is suffering and our hope is that, God willing, to remove this suffering from the people of Afghanistan and implement peace and stability.”

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the killing in a statement, calling it an “act of cowardice” and offering his condolences to the President.

Members of the international community had urged the President to remove his brother from his powerful provincial position, saying that it was essential if he was to prove to the Afghan people that he was committed to good governance. — AP

Kabul, July 12
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said during a visit to Afghanistan today that France would pull out 1,000 troops by the end of 2012, as it speeds up its withdrawal alongside the United States.

In a surprise five-hour trip, Sarkozy met Afghan President Hamid Karzai, had a working lunch with General David Petraeus, the top US commander in the country, and visited French troops in the region of Surobi, east of Kabul.

Sarkozy, who followed US President Barack Obama’s June announcement of faster troop withdrawal, said France’s remaining soldiers would be based in Kapisa province and that all combat units would be brought home by the end of 2014. After that, some soldiers would remain in Afghanistan to train Afghan forces. “You have to know how to end a war,” Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy’s third trip to Afghanistan since he came to power in 2007 coincided with the killing of Karzai’s influential brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, who was apparently shot by one of his bodyguards.

French soldiers have been involved in the US and NATO-led Afghanistan operation since 2001 and 64 soldiers have been killed, including a soldier killed on Monday by an accidental shot from his own camp in Kapisa.

The quicker pullout could give Sarkozy a boost ahead of the April 2012 presidential election, where he faces a tough battle from the left-wing opposition to win a second term. — Reuters

London, July 12
Rupert Murdoch and two senior executives have been called before an influential British parliamentary committee that scrutinises the media to answer questions about the growing phone-hacking scandal that has shaken his UK newspaper group, a panel member said today.

Labour lawmaker Tom Watson, who sits on Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said the panel wanted to speak to News Corp boss Murdoch, his son James and Rebekah Brooks, who runs News Corp's British newspaper arm News International, at a session next week.

They would be asked about the phone-hacking crisis that led to the closure of Murdoch's best-selling News of the World Sunday newspaper and about allegations that some of his staff may have paid police officers for information, he added.

"We have got a number of questions we want to ask the three of them," Watson told BBC Radio 4. "We have invited them and we want them there next Tuesday."

In a statement, News International, part of News Corp, said it would "co-operate" with the request. A News International spokeswoman declined to elaborate and would not say if that means the three will go before the committee.

Asked if the committee could compel the three executives to attend, Watson told BBC radio: "There is lots of arcane procedure as to this, but we will be sitting next Tuesday and we expect them to be there.” — Reuters

London, July 12
Rupert Murdoch's media empire sank into deeper controversy with former British PM Gordon Brown accusing newspapers from the group of using 'known criminals' to hack into his personal information.

It is not only Brown but other ministers and lawmakers who are up in arms against the 80-year-old media baron and spate of allegations against the group have plunged BSkyB shares six days in running.

Brown told BBC that he was in tears after 'The Sun' published details about his son's illness in 2006 and then editor of News International Rebekah Brooks had phoned him to say that they were running a story.

"They accessed my building society account, my legal files and I was shocked to find that this happened because of their links with the criminals, who were hired by investigators working with the Sunday Times," Brown said. — PTI