W O R L D

Syrian Oppn accuses govt of staging blast
Beirut, January 7
Crowds waving Syrian flags and pictures of President Bashar al-Assad gathered today to bury 26 persons who the authorities said were killed by a suicide bomber at a busy Damascus crossroads.

India issues travel advisory

11 die in NZ balloon crash
Wellington, January 7
A hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed in New Zealand today after hitting a power line, killing all 11 persons on board as their families watched on in horror.

'Musharraf will be arrested on arrival'
Islamabad, January 7
Former President Pervez Musharraf will be arrested on returning to Pakistan as an anti-terrorism court has declared him a “proclaimed offender” or a fugitive, a top prosecutor said today.

US Navy rescues Iranian fishing boat
Washington, January 7
Amidst the political tensions between the US and Iran over transit in and around the Persian Gulf, a US Navy ship rescued an Iranian fishing boat that had been commandeered by suspected Somali pirates in Arabian Sea.

Syrian Oppn accuses govt of staging blast

People pray in a mosque over the flag-draped caskets of some of the 26 persons killed in Fiday’s suicide bomb attack in Damascus, on Saturday. — AFP

Beirut, January 7
Crowds waving Syrian flags and pictures of President Bashar al-Assad gathered today to bury 26 persons who the authorities said were killed by a suicide bomber at a busy Damascus crossroads.

The opposition Syrian National Council has accused the government of staging Friday’s explosion to try to bolster its contention that it is fighting foreign-backed “terrorists”, not a popular pro-democracy movement.

A cortege of ambulances, lights flashing, bore the flag-draped coffins of victims to a Damascus mosque after driving through streets lined with mourners, state television showed. Crowds chanted “The people want Bashar al-Assad!” and “One, one, one, the Syrian people are one!”.

The blast, which also wounded 63 persons, occurred before an Arab League committee meets in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the future of an Arab monitoring mission that has spent two weeks checking whether Syria is keeping its pledge to halt a 10-month crackdown on opponents of four decades of Assad family rule.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who heads the committee, told Al Jazeera TV the monitors should not stay to “waste time” since Syria was not implementing the deal.

He said the Syrian army had not left cities as required and the killing had not stopped since the observers began work on December 26. “With great regret, the news is not good,” he added.

Security forces trying to crush anti-Assad protests around Syria killed four civilians in Homs on Saturday, and three people died in Harasta from wounds inflicted on Friday, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

It also said security forces had killed 20 civilians and three army defectors on Friday. Scores of people have been reported killed since the observers arrived, adding to a death toll that the United Nations says has already topped 5,000 since the uprising erupted in March, inspired by Arab revolts elsewhere.

Despite the Qatari leader’s criticism, Arab League sources said Arab foreign ministers were likely to reaffirm support for the monitors, resisting calls to end what Assad’s foes say is a toothless mission that only buys time for him to repress them.

The head of the monitoring operations room at the League’s headquarters in Cairo, Adnan al-Khudeir, said no one should “rush to verdicts” on the mission’s achievements.

Qatar is proposing to invite UN technicians and human rights experts to help Arab monitors assess whether Syria is implementing the League’s plan, sources at the Arab League said.

A source said the ministers meeting on Sunday might request that UN staff helping the mission be Arabs. League sources said the foreign ministers, who will consider an initial report by the monitors, would also discuss measures to allow the mission to operate more independently of the Syrian authorities. — Reuters

India issues travel advisory

New Delhi: With Syria being in turmoil, India on Saturday issued a travel advisory asking its nationals to avoid non-essential travel to that country, a day after suicide bomber blew himself up in Damascus. "In view of the situation prevailing in parts of Syria, Indian nationals are advised to avoid all non-essential travel to Syria for the present," said the advisory issued by the External Affairs Ministry. About 1,000 Indians are staying in Syria, most of them in and around the capital Damascus. — PTI

11 die in NZ balloon crash

People mourn the loss of their friends and relatives when their hot air balloon hit power lines in Carterton, near Wellington, on Saturday. — AFP

Wellington, January 7
A hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed in New Zealand today after hitting a power line, killing all 11 persons on board as their families watched on in horror.

The balloon came down in calm weather near Carterton, a small town north of the capital Wellington and a popular area for ballooning, in New Zealand’s worst aviation disaster in more than 30 years.

As the balloon was preparing to land, it hit power lines, causing sparking in the basket carrying the pilot and 10 passengers, police inspector Brent Register said.

“At this point, two of the 11 persons onboard, believed to be a male and a female, appear to have jumped from the basket,” he said.

Register said the balloon then made a sharp ascent, a fire ignited on board and the balloon plummeted into a paddock. There were no survivors. — AFP

'Musharraf will be arrested on arrival'

Islamabad, January 7
Former President Pervez Musharraf will be arrested on returning to Pakistan as an anti-terrorism court has declared him a “proclaimed offender” or a fugitive, a top prosecutor said today.

Musharraf is a “proclaimed offender” who will be arrested on his arrival in the country and there is no need of any warrant for making the arrest, Federal Investigation Agency prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told reporters.

The former military ruler, currently living in Dubai and London in self-exile, has said he plans to return to the country on January 25 or 27 to lead his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party.

Musharraf was declared a fugitive last year by the Rawalpindi-based court conducting the trial of those charged with involvement in the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The court issued the order after the former chief of the Pakistan Army spurned several orders to cooperate with investigators probing the assassination on December 27.

In a related development, Musharraf’s wife Sebha today challenged the court’s order declaring him a proclaimed offender.

She said in a petition filed in the court that Musharraf had gone abroad before the case related to Bhutto’s assassination was initiated.

Wrong sections of the law were invoked in declaring him a PO and the process was completed in a faulty manner, she said. — PTI

US Navy rescues Iranian fishing boat

Guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd responds to a distress call from the master of the Iranian-flagged fishing dhow Al Molai in the Arabian Sea. — AP/PTI

Washington, January 7
Amidst the political tensions between the US and Iran over transit in and around the Persian Gulf, a US Navy ship rescued an Iranian fishing boat that had been commandeered by suspected Somali pirates in Arabian Sea.

Thirteen Iranians were rescued by a US Navy destroyer on Thursday, more than 40 days after their boat was commandeered by suspected Somali pirates in the northern Arabian Sea.

“This is an incredible story. This is a great story,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters. The rescue came just days after Iranian leaders warned the US to keep its warships out of the Persian Gulf.

“The very same ship and set of vessels that the Iranians protested on its last voyage through Hormuz, the John C Stennis Carrier Strike Group, just rescued this Iranian dhow from pirates,” she said.

According to US Navy, on January 5 afternoon Seahawk from the guided-missile destroyer detected a suspected pirate skiff alongside the Iranian-flagged fishing dhow Al-Molai.

Simultaneously, a distress call was received from the master of the Al-Molai claiming he was being held captive by pirates.

A Visit, Board, Search and Seizure team from the Kidd boarded the Al-Molai and detained 15 pirates who had been holding the 13 Iranians hostage for several weeks. — PTI

Iran denies central bank resignation rumour

Tehran, January 7
A senior Central Bank of Iran official has denied rumours that the bank's governor has resigned, the ISNA news agency reported on Saturday, in a week when the currency hit a record low amid rising inflation and concerns about tighter economic sanctions.

"Mr (Mahmoud) Bahmani will remain firmly in his job and whoever has published this false report has made a mistake," ISNA quoted a deputy central bank governor, Ebrahim Darvishi, as saying.

ISNA did not specify where the rumour had been published.

Bahmani has been at odds with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the appropriate policies to control inflation, and has been unable to counter political resistance in order to raise interest rates on bank deposits that were lowered to below-inflation levels in April.

With Iranians pulling out their savings and seeking to buy foreign currencies, Iran has been unable to preserve the value of the rial, which has been under pressure since the rate cut.

New U.S. sanctions approved by President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve caused a fresh run on the rial, pushing it down to 18,000 to the dollar on Tuesday from around 13,500 rials in December.

The central bank injected more dollars into the market on Wednesday, aiming to rein it back to 14,000 rials, but on Saturday it was back close to 16,000 rials on the open market. — Reuters

Kenya admits terror attack risks as UK warns its nationals

Nairobi, January 7
Kenya admitted today the threat from Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents from neighbouring Somalia was not "totally neutralised," as Britain warned its nationals of a heightened risk of attack.

The British Foreign Office said it believed there was a heightened threat of "terrorist attacks" in the Kenyan capital and that attacks "may be in the final stages of planning." Kenyan police spokesman Eric Kiraithe admitted that despite a boost in security the threat remained, urging shopping malls to remain vigilant and to "do more" to prevent attacks.

"We don't believe that Al-Shebab activities are totally neutralised," Kiraithe told reporters today, but added that police had thwarted several recent attacks.

"We are denying those with wicked plans to operate freely," Kiraithe said.

Nairobi sent troops into Somalia to battle Shebab rebels in October after several attacks, including the kidnapping of a French woman and a British tourist -- and the killing of her husband -- damaged its key tourism industry.

The Shebab, who deny involvement in the coastal attacks, in turn vowed to attack Kenya. — AFP