W O R L D

Massacre of 16 civilians by US Soldier
After Taliban warning, probe team attacked
Kabul, March 13
Suspected insurgents fired on an Afghan government delegation on Tuesday investigating the massacre of 16 civilians by a US soldier, officials said.
An Afghan delegation walks with locals after a gathering for a memorial ceremony at a mosque in Kandahar province on Tuesday. — AFP

US drone strikes kill 15 in NW Pakistan
Pakistan, March 13
 US drone aircraft struck twice in Pakistan's unruly tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 15 suspected militants, including two senior commanders of the Pakistan Taliban, security and intelligence officials said.

  
phone hacking scandal
Brooks, husband arrested
London, March 13
In an early morning swoop, media baron Rupert Murdoch's aide and the former editor of the News of the World, Rebekah Brooks, and her husband were arrested today along with four others in connection with the widening probe into the phone hacking scandal here.


A file photo of media baron Rupert Murdoch and his aide Rebekah Brooks. — AFP

Gaza militants, Israel call truce
Gaza, March 13
An Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and militant groups in the Gaza Strip began to take hold on Tuesday after four days of violence in which 25 Palestinians were killed and 200 rockets were fired at Israel.

 

35 killed as ferry capsizes Rescue workers recover body of a drowned child after a ferry carrying more than 250 people sank in river Meghna in Bangladesh after colliding with a barge. At least 35 drowned and scores are feared trapped. The country has witnessed a spate of boat tragedies in recent times. — AFP.

Massacre of 16 civilians by US Soldier
After Taliban warning, probe team attacked

Kabul, March 13
Suspected insurgents fired on an Afghan government delegation on Tuesday investigating the massacre of 16 civilians by a US soldier, officials said, hours after the Taliban threatened to behead American troops to avenge the killings.

Two of President Hamid Karzai's brothers, Shah Wali Karzai and Addul Qayum Karzai, were with senior defence, intelligence and interior ministry officials travelling to the scene of the massacre in Najiban and Alekozai villages, in Kandahar's Panjwai district, when insurgents opened fire.

Karzai's brothers were unharmed in the brief gunbattle during meetings at a village mosque, but a soldier was killed and a civilian was wounded. The area is a Taliban stronghold and a supply route.

"The Islamic Emirate once again warns the American animals that the Mujahideen will avenge them, and with the help of Allah will kill and behead your sadistic murderous soldiers," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, using the term with which the Islamist group describes itself.

As the first protest broke out in Jalalabad city over the weekend shootings, the Taliban said Afghan government demands for an open trial of the US Army staff sergeant being held for the slayings would not blunt civilian hostility towards Western combat troops.

The unnamed US soldier — said to have only recently arrived in the country — is accused of walking off his base in Kandahar province in the middle of the night and gunning down at least 16 villagers, mostly women and children.

A US official said the accused soldier had suffered a traumatic brain injury while on a previous deployment in Iraq.

The shootings, which came just weeks after deadly protests across the country over the inadvertent burning of copies of the Quran by US soldiers, triggered a protest by around 2,000 students in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

The demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and demanded Afghan President Hamid Karzai reject plans to sign a strategic pact with Washington that would allow US advisers and possibly special forces to remain in the country beyond the planned withdrawal in 2014.

US President Barack Obama, speaking after a phone call with Karzai — who is said to be furious over the latest deaths — said the shootings had only increased his determination to get American troops out of Afghanistan.

However, Obama cautioned there should not be a "rush to the exits" for US forces who have been fighting in Afghanistan since late 2001 and that the drawdown set for the end of 2014 should be done in a responsible way. — Reuters

US drone strikes kill 15 in NW Pakistan

Pakistan, March 13
US drone aircraft struck twice in Pakistan's unruly tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 15 suspected militants, including two senior commanders of the Pakistan Taliban, security and intelligence officials said.

In the first strike, a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in the Birmal area of the South Waziristan tribal region, killing eight.

Among the dead were Shams Ullah and Amir Hamza, ‘commanders’ of a faction of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) led by Maulvi Nazir, one of the most influential militant leaders in the region.

Seven suspected militants were killed in the second attack later in the day, when a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in Sara Khawra area, which straddles the border between North Waziristan and South Waziristan. Several militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and Al Qaida, operate in Pakistan's semi autonomous border regions, taking advantage of a porous border with Afghanistan. — Reuters

US, Russia spar over Syria

United Nations, March 13
Bitter wrangling between the US and Russia dominated a high-level meeting of the UN Secutiy Council on Syria as the two sides differed sharply over who is to blame for the violence in that country, and what should be the international community's approach in dealing with Bashar Al Assad's regime.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the powerful 15-nation Council that while America believes firmly in the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, "we do not believe that sovereignty demands that this council stand silent when governments massacre their own people, threatening regional peace and security in the process".

Clinton said it is critical that the Assad government end the violence against its own people, adding that it is not right to expect that the "defenceless citizens" of Syria should not defend themselves in the face of artillery assaults unless there is a commitment by the Assad regime to stop the violence.

"There must be a cessation of violence by the Syrian regime first and foremost. Then we can move toward asking others, who will no longer need to defend themselves because we will be in a political process, to end their own counter-violence.

"And we reject any equivalence between premeditated murders by a government's military machine and the actions of civilians under siege driven to self-defence," Clinton said at a UNSC meeting yesterday on the situation in the Middle East.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov however said while Russia agrees that Syrian authorities "bear a huge share of responsibility", opposition fighters and extremists including al-Qaeda are also responsible for the violence in Syria. — PTI

phone hacking scandal
Brooks, husband arrested

London, March 13
In an early morning swoop, media baron Rupert Murdoch's aide and the former editor of the News of the World, Rebekah Brooks, and her husband were arrested today along with four others in connection with the widening probe into the phone hacking scandal here.

43-year-old Brooks and her millionaire racehorse trainer husband, Charlie, were arrested at their home in Chipping Norton in a series of dawn raids by Metropolitan Police officers.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said, "Police have today arrested six people at addresses in London, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Hertfordshire. The co-ordinated arrests were made between 5am and 7am this morning by officers from Operation Weeting, the MPS inquiry into the phone-hacking of voicemail boxes.

"All six — five men and one woman — were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice," he added. — PTI

Gaza militants, Israel call truce

Gaza, March 13
An Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and militant groups in the Gaza Strip began to take hold on Tuesday after four days of violence in which 25 Palestinians were killed and 200 rockets were fired at Israel.

The number of Palestinian rocket attacks dropped sharply after the ceasefire went into effect overnight, and no major towns in southern Israel were targeted. The Israeli military said six projectiles had hit, causing no casualties, and that there had been no Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip.

Previous ceasefire deals after earlier rounds of fighting have often got off to a slow start, with guns gradually falling silent within a day or two.

A senior Egyptian security official in Cairo told Reuters by phone that both sides had agreed "to end the current operations", with Israel agreeing to "stop assassinations" and an overall deal "to begin a comprehensive and mutual (period of) calm".

The truce agreement followed appeals from world powers — the United States, the United Nations, France, the European Union and the Arab League — for both sides to exercise restraint.

Gaza's Hamas Islamist leadership has kept out of the fighting and seemed eager to avoid a larger conflict with Israel.

"We expect this ceasefire to continue but we cannot be sure so our forces...are ready to continue if it will end up being necessary," Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, visiting southern Israel, told reporters.

"It was a successful round," he said, citing the deaths of 20 militants among the 25 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks and what he termed the "impressively effective" Iron Dome rocket interception system. — Reuters