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Syrian council sees transitional govt while Assad still in power
UN arms trade talks end without deal
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Report: US shares Iran attack plan with Israel
Titanic menu sold for £46,000
3 Hindu traders abducted in Pak
Drone strike kills 6 in Pak
US, Pak officials spar over Taliban terror sanctuaries
PPP committed to Punjab bifurcation, says Zardari
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Syrian council sees transitional govt while Assad still in power
Dubai, July 29 Abdelbasset Sida, president of the SNC, said such a government would run the country between Assad's ousting and democratic elections. Most of its members would be drawn from the opposition, but some members of the current Assad government might also be included, he added. "This government should come about before the fall (of Assad) so that it presents itself as an alternative for the next stage," Sida told Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia television in an interview broadcast on Sunday. "The committees that we have set up have their own schedules. Obviously, the matter should be concluded within weeks." "There are some elements in the current regime who are not bloodstained, who were not part of major corruption cases. We will discuss (including them) with other parties, but there should be a national consensus to accept them." However, criticism about the SNC's legitimacy may complicate its efforts to form a transitional government. It clearly backs the Free Syrian Army, despite having not always overtly supported it in the past. But it has sometimes struggled to overcome internal divisions and critics have accused the Istanbul-based organisation of being out of touch, overly influenced by Turkey, and not fully representative of the opposition. Visiting Abu Dhabi to meet United Arab Emirates officials, Sida did not say when exactly a transitional government might be formed, telling a news conference in the early hours of Sunday that he had discussed the idea with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan, UAE's foreign minister. The SNC has set up two committees to discuss the idea; the first will communicate with the Free Syrian Army, the major rebel military group, while the second will deal with all other opposition groups, said Sida. Last week, Brigadier General Manaf Tlas, one of the most senior defectors to flee Syria, said he would try to help unite Syria's fragmented opposition inside and outside the country in order to agree a roadmap for a power transfer. Sida said he welcomed Tlas' defection, but said the general could not be involved in the early stages of organising a transitional government. "The dialogue and coordination have to first be with the Free Syrian Army and the various members of the Syrian opposition movements, and after that if there are some roles to be played by members who have defected, then so be it, but with the condition that there is an agreement between the Syrians about that." Sida also ruled out the possibility of Tlas becoming head of a transitional government. "This has to be a person who can lead a national government and who has been committed to the revolution since the beginning," he said. — Reuters
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UN arms trade talks end without deal
United Nations, July 29 UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "disappointed" that member states failed to clinch an agreement after several years of preparatory work and four weeks of negotiations, calling it a "setback." But he vowed "steadfast" commitment to obtaining a "robust" arms trade treaty, noting that countries had agreed to pursue negotiations. "There is already considerable common ground and states can build on the hard work that has been done during these negotiations," he added. Some diplomats said Washington had refused to vote on the proposed text, saying it needed more time before the midnight deadline and was worried about a pushback from the US Congress. Russia and other countries followed suit. "It's the fault of the United States that we failed," a Western diplomat said, requesting anonymity to speak freely about the subject. "They derailed the process and we will have to wait for the US presidential elections" in November to get out of the impasse, the diplomat added. But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, in a written statement issued late yesterday, that the United States supported a second round of negotiations, conducted on the basis of consensus, on the treaty next year. Conference chairman Ambassador Roberto Garcia Moritan of Argentina acknowledged that some countries had objected to the final treaty draft. The UN General Assembly, which begins its new session in late September, will decide whether and when there will be more negotiations. In the end, 90 countries-including all European Union members, and states from Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa-signed the text, saying they were "disappointed but... not discouraged" and vowing to soon finalise a treaty based on Moritan's draft. A consensus of all 193 countries involved in the talks had been required to agree on the accord. "We always thought this was going be difficult and that this outcome was a possible one," said Moritan.
— AFP arms trade treaty
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Report: US shares Iran attack plan with Israel
Jerusalem, July 29 US National Security Adviser Don Donilon shared the details with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his recent visit to Jerusalem two weeks ago, an American officials told daily Ha'aretz on condition of anonymity. Netanyahu is said to have hosted Donilon at a three-hour dinner when Israel's NSA, Yaakov Amidror, is also said to have been present for part of the time. Renewing the US commitment to Israel's security, Donilon is said to have conveyed to the hawkish Israeli Premier that reports of such preparations by the US is "not just a way to assuage Israel's concerns" but Washington is "seriously preparing for the possibility that negotiations will reach a dead end and military action will become necessary," the daily said. The US official reportedly said that Donilon shared information on Washington's weaponry and military capabilities for dealing with Iran's nuclear facilities, including those deep underground. The United States NSA's talks in Jerusalem, coming ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to Israel, were kept under the wraps for a while. However, another US official involved in the talks told the same Israeli daily that "based on the intelligence we have, we think there is still time for diplomacy, and the time for a military operation against Iran has not yet come." A spokesman for the US National Security Council, Tommy Vietor, declined to comment on the details of a private conversation between Netanyahu and
Donilon. — PTI Romney backs Israel to the hilt
Looking to woo pro-Israel and Jewish voters back home, White House hopeful Mitt Romney took an aggressive stand against Iran, calling it an "incomparable" threat to the world and suggesting he would even back Israel's unilateral strike against the country. In Israel to present his foreign policy credentials, Romney strongly backed the Jewish state contention that a nuclear Iran led by an Ayatollah regime is the greatest danger facing the world.
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Titanic menu sold for £46,000
It was among 400 items being auctioned in Wiltshire in South West England as part of the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking in the Atlantic Ocean, the 'BBC news' reported. The affluent menu is dated April 10, 1912, three days before the liner hit an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank, killing 1,522 persons. "Menus from the Titanic are among the most sought after memorabilia from the doomed liner," Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers, said. The menu itself was the property of Charles Caswell, a first class steward, aged 34, from Southampton. Caswell sent the menu to his wife Hilda when Titanic stopped at Queenstown, but he later died when the ship sank. Also featured in the sale was a gold medal awarded to the rescue ship Carpathia's Second Officer James Bisset. He later became Commodore of the Cunard line. "After the survivors of the Titanic disaster were picked up by the Carpathia, a committee was formed by a group of surviving First class passengers to reward the crew of the Carpathia and the Captain Sir Arthur Rostron with the silver loving cup and medals for all of the crew," said Aldridge. "This is only the second gold Carpathia medal to be offered in the last 25 years and is thought to be the most senior officer's medal to ever to go under the auctioneers hammer," Aldridge added.
— PTI
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3 Hindu traders abducted in Pak
Islamabad, July 29 The traders-Denesh Kumar, Retesh Kumar and Ratan Kumar-were kidnapped at a spot about 140 km from provincial capital Quetta on Friday night. The incident triggered protests against the government's continued inability to provide any sort of safety to residents of the province, The Express Tribune reported today. A protest by a representative body of Hindus was widely supported by political parties and business associations. The kidnapped men belong to the same family. The traders were abducted while they were on their way back home from a family function. Their van was intercepted by unidentified men at Jiwa intersection of the RCD Highway in Kalat district. The men took the traders hostage at gunpoint, Balochistan Levies official Abdul Rahim said. "The kidnappers came in two black four-wheel-drive vehicles and a white sedan," he said. Though no one has approached the relatives of the abducted men, it is believed they were being held for ransom. "It could be a case of kidnapping for ransom," Rahim said. Mukesh Kumar, the brother of Ratan Kumar, is convinced they were kidnapped for ransom. He said the Hindu community is an easy target for criminals. He added that "no one had called to make any demands yet."
— PTI
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Drone strike kills 6 in Pak
Islamabad, July 29 Reports said the men killed in the attack were Uzbek militants. The village is located 35 km from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, which is considered a safe haven for Taliban and al Qaeda elements. This was the first US drone strike since the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramzan. The strike occurred shortly after authorities clamped a curfew in the region for the routine movement of security forces.
— PTI
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US, Pak officials spar over Taliban terror sanctuaries
New York, July 29 President Barack Obama's top adviser on Afghanistan and Pakistan Douglas Lute and Pakistan's Ambassador in Washington Sherry Rehman traded strong words during a conference, a report in the New York Times said. Rehman, speaking on video conference from Washington, said Pakistani Taliban fighters, who have taken refuge in two remote provinces in eastern Afghanistan, were increasingly carrying out rocket attacks and cross-border raids against Pakistan. "These are critical masses of people that come in; this is not just potshots," Rehman said. Lute, a retired three-star Army general and deputy national security adviser, immediately retorted. Known not to speak much in public, Lute said, "There's no comparison of the Pakistani Taliban's relatively recent, small-in-scale presence inside Afghanistan to the decades-long experience and relationship between elements of the Pakistani government and the Afghan Taliban," he said.
— PTI
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PPP committed to Punjab bifurcation, says Zardari
Islamabad, July 29 Zardari made the commitment to a PPP delegation from southern Punjab led by Minister for Textile Industries Makhdoom Shahab-ud-Din, who met him here. Zardari, the co-chairman of the ruling party, said making South Punjab a separate province was part of nation building process envisioned by the PPP and the party would endeavour to honour its commitment, according to a report in APP.
— PTI
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London, July 29