W O R L D

US declares Afghanistan major non-NATO ally
Washington, July 7
US President Barack Obama designated Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally Friday, paving the way for the two countries for future military cooperation beyond 2014, when US and NATO forces transfer security responsibilities to Kabul.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Saturday. — AP

US drone strike kills 21 militants in Pakistan
Islamabad, July 7
A US drone targeted a militant compound in the restive North Waziristan tribal region, killing at least 21 insurgents in the first such attack since Pakistan reopened NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

Suicide bomber kills 7 of his own family in Iraq
Baghdad, July 7
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged belt at a gathering of his own family in western Iraq, killing his pro-government cousin and six other relatives, officials said. 

Sarabjit’s counsel appeals to Zardari again
Counsel of Indian national Sarabjit Singh has again appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to convert Sarabjit’s death sentence to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds.

Sarabjit Singh

US declares Afghanistan major non-NATO ally

Washington, July 7
US President Barack Obama designated Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally Friday, paving the way for the two countries for future military cooperation beyond 2014, when US and NATO forces transfer security responsibilities to Kabul.

The move was announced in a memorandum released by the White House. Afghanistan is the first major non-NATO ally declared in the Obama presidency.

The decision to designate Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally was already announced to the press during Obama's trip to Afghanistan in May, in the lead-up to the NATO summit in Chicago.

According to the White House at that time, the designation would "provide a long-term framework for security and defence cooperation." — ANI

Bombs, rocket kill 11 Afghan civilians

Kabul: Bomb blasts and a rocket attack have killed 11 civilians including at least four children in the space of 24 hours in southern Afghanistan, officials said today. A roadside bomb ripped through a pickup truck today in the Chora district of Uruzgan province killing six people, provincial police spokesman Jawed Faisal told AFP. "All six civilians on board were killed and their vehicle was destroyed," he said. — AFP

US drone strike kills 21 militants in Pakistan

Islamabad, July 7
A US drone targeted a militant compound in the restive North Waziristan tribal region, killing at least 21 insurgents in the first such attack since Pakistan reopened NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

The CIA-operated spy plane fired two missiles at the compound in Datta Khel area near Afghan border. News channels quoted sources as saying 21 militants were killed. Foreign fighters were among the dead. The strike destroyed the compound, witnesses said.

Datta Khel is considered a stronghold of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, the commander of a Taliban faction accused of sending militants across the border to fight foreign troops in Afghanistan. This was the first US drone strike since Pakistan restored supply lines for NATO troops in Afghanistan on Tuesday. — PTI

Khar: NATO supply routes’ reopening to benefit AfPak
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said the reopening of the NATO supply route was not only in the interest of Pakistan but also of benefit to Afghanistan.

In an interview, Khar said it was in the interest of Pakistan that Afghanistan remained peaceful and stable. The stability of both countries is interlinked, she observed.

The foreign minister said Pakistan-US ties had earlier remained shrouded in non-transparency but the Pakistan government was now determined to discard such diplomacy once for all.

Right-wing religious and political parties and groups are bracing up for a massive long march from Lahore to Islamabad on Sunday to protest against the resumption. Government insists it has been done in accordance with the resolution of the parliament and only “non-lethal” supplies are being allowed.

First Libyan polls since Gaddafi’s fall

Tripoli, July 7
Jubilant Libyan voters marked a major step toward democracy after decades of erratic one-man rule, casting their ballots today in the first parliamentary election after last year's overthrow and killing of longtime leader Moammar Gaddafi. But the joy was tempered by boycott calls, the burning of ballots and other violence in the country's restive east.

In the capital Tripoli, residents turned out in droves to cast votes for the 200-seat legislature. Lines began to form outside polling centers more than an hour before they were scheduled to open. Policemen and soldiers were guarding the centers, searching voters as well as election workers.

"I have a strange but beautiful feeling today," said dentist Adam Thabet, waiting outside a polling center. "We are free at last after years of fear. We knew this day was coming, but we were afraid it could take long to come." Speaking to reporters after casting his ballot in a station in the capital, Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib said: "We are celebrating today and we want the whole world to celebrate with us." Libya's election is the latest fruit of Arab Spring revolts against authoritarian leaders. It is likely to be dominated by Islamist parties of all shades, a similar outcome to elections held in the country's neighbors Egypt and Tunisia, which had had their own, though much less bloody, uprisings.

There are four major contenders in the race, ranging from a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated party and another Islamist coalition on one end of the spectrum to a secular-minded party led by a Western-educated former rebel prime minister on the other. — AP

Pak police seizes Buddhist relics worth millions
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

The country’s north-west was once part of Gandhara, an ancient Buddhist kingdom that stretched across modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan and reached the zenith of its glory from the first to the fifth century. 

Floods kill 99 in southern Russia 

Moscow, July 7
Severe flash floods in Russia's southern Krasnodar region have killed at least 99 people and affected nearly 13,000 in the area's worst natural disaster in decades, officials said today.

Residents were caught completely by surprise by the force of the waters, which ripped up paving and traffic lights and flooded the ground floors of houses within minutes, witnesses and officials said.

One woman reportedly had to spend a night up a tree before being rescued from the floods caused by exceptionally heavy rainstorms.

In the district of Krymsk, the area worst hit by the disaster, officials had already discovered 88 bodies including that of a 10-year-old child, regional police spokesman Igor Zhelyabin told AFP. Officials have not been able to explain the large number of deaths, except by saying that the disaster struck while residents were asleep. "Everything happened at night and very quickly," the regional administration said in a statement. — afp

Another woman in terror-linked arrest in UK

London, July 7
A woman was arrested here today on suspicion of terrorism offences as part of an intelligence- led operation in which six persons were held on Thursday, but police said the drill was not linked to the upcoming Olympics in the British capital.

Scotland Yard said that the officers from the Counter Terrorism Command this morning arrested the 22-year-old woman at a residential address in the London borough of Hackney.

The woman was held "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism." On Thursday, five men and a woman were arrested from west and east London, including from a residential area near the Olympics stadium. The arrests came ahead of the July 27 to August 13 Olympic Games in the UK. — PTI

Suicide bomber kills 7 of his own family in Iraq

Baghdad, July 7
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged belt at a gathering of his own family in western Iraq, killing his pro-government cousin and six other relatives, officials said. 

The blast targeting a leader in the Sahwa militias in the city of Ramadi is a reminder of how extremism still divides Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, with some working with Al-Qaida-linked insurgents against others who support the Shiite-led government. — AP

Sarabjit’s counsel appeals to Zardari again
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Counsel of Indian national Sarabjit Singh has again appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to convert Sarabjit’s death sentence to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds.

Sarabjit had been given death sentence by Pakistani courts on charge of spying and three terrorist attacks that killed 14 persons.

Addressing a press conference at Lahore Press Club, Sarabjit’s counsel Owais Shaikh said that he would conduct a joint press conference on August 15 with Bheem Singh, attorney of Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails.

He said that he would also meet the Pakistani prisoners in India.

Shaikh said the government should follow the Indian goodwill gesture of ailing Pakistani doctor Khalil Chishtie’s release and release Sarabjit.

Pakistani authorities had changed their stance at the last moment and released Surjeet Singh instead of Sarabjit last week after initial confusion that the President has ordered the release of the latter. Sarabjit has been in jail for the past 22 years but claims he is a victim of mistaken identity.