W O R L D

S Africa police kills 36 striking miners
Johannesburg, August 17
In one of the deadliest protests since the end of the apartheid era, at least 36 striking South African miners were shot dead by the police at a platinum mine, sending shock waves across the country.

A SCENE FROM POST-APARTHEID ERA: Policemen stand near the bodies of miners killed in police firing near a platinum mine in Marikana. — AFP

Plagiarism: Time, CNN lift Zakaria’s suspension
Washington, August 17
Time magazine and CNN today revoked the suspension of noted Indian-American writer and journalist Fareed Zakaria, who had admitted to plagiarism, saying that it was an "unintentional error".

Ahmadinejad spews venom against Israel
Tehran, August 17
Israel is a "cancerous tumour" that will soon be finished off, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today told demonstrators holding an annual protest against the existence of the Jewish state.



Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses a ‘Quds Day’ rally in Tehran on Friday. — AFP

Airbase Attack
Pak sounds red alert at its airports
Lahore, August 17
Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority has sounded a red alert at all airports across the country following the terrorist attack on Kamra airbase, a senior official said today.

Pak begins probe into Taliban attack on airbase
Islamabad, August 17
The Pakistan Air Force today launched an investigation into a Taliban attack on a key airbase that left two security personnel and nine militants dead, officials said.

Russia’s punk band members get 2-yr jail
Moscow, August 17
Three women from Russian punk band 'Pussy Riot' were sentenced to two years in jail on Friday for their protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church, an outcome supporters described as the Kremlin leader's "personal revenge".

Members of the female punk band 'Pussy Riot' sit in a glass-walled cage during a hearing in Moscow. — Reuters

Algeria’s Brahimi to replace Annan as peace envoy
United Nations, August 17
The United Nations today announced the appointment of former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi as the Joint Special Representative for Syria, a post from which former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had resigned after his efforts to restore peace in Syria failed.

S Africa police kills 36 striking miners
Says it opened fire in self-defence Brutal images rekindle memories of country’s racist past 

Johannesburg, August 17
In one of the deadliest protests since the end of the apartheid era, at least 36 striking South African miners were shot dead by the police at a platinum mine, sending shock waves across the country.

Newspaper headlines screamed "Bloodbath", "Killing Field" and "Mine Slaughter", with graphic photographs of heavily armed white and black police officers walking casually past the bloodied corpses of black men lying crumpled in the dust.

The images, along with Reuters television footage of a phalanx of officers opening up with automatic weapons on a small group of men in blankets and t-shirts, rekindled uncomfortable memories of South Africa's racist past.

The police in bulletproof vests, some on horseback, fired at a crowd of workers armed with spears, clubs and machetes, with some gunfire also heard from the workers' camp.

The miners at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana have been demanding a three-fold salary hike, refusing an order by their union to return to work so that employers could enter into negotiations.

The police said they fired after several unsuccessful attempts to disperse protesters with water cannons, tear gas and stun grenades. Senior police officials showed photographs to prove that the police acted in self-defence.

The incident was roundly condemned by all sectors of society, including all political parties and religious leaders.

The bloodshed prompted President Jacob Zuma to cut short a trip to neighbouring Mozambique for a summit of regional leaders. He is set to visit the troubled North West province where the mine is located.

Zuma said he had instructed law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to bring the situation under control and to bring the perpetrators of the violence to book.

As an uneasy calm descended on the area with loved ones made their way to morgues to identify the dead.

The Azanian People's Organisation likened the violence in Marikana to the Sharpeville and Soweto shootings of the apartheid era, when police, acting on the instructions of the white minority government, opened fire on innocent protesters, killing scores of people including young schoolchildren.

Besides the wage demand, the violence at the mine is also believed to be the result of rivalry between members of the National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union over recognition agreements at the mine.

In a statement, Lonmin chairman Roger Phillimore said: "We are treating the developments around police operations... with the utmost seriousness.

It was one of the worst police shootings in South Africa since the end of the apartheid era, and came as a rift deepens between the country's governing African National Congress and an impoverished electorate confronting massive unemployment and growing poverty and inequality. — Agencies

Plagiarism: Time, CNN lift Zakaria’s suspension

Washington, August 17
Time magazine and CNN today revoked the suspension of noted Indian-American writer and journalist Fareed Zakaria, who had admitted to plagiarism, saying that it was an "unintentional error".

Following a review of the allegations of plagiarism, for which Zakaria has apologised, CNN and Time in separate statements said that his suspension has been lifted.

This comes a day after The Washington Post apologised to Zakaria after the daily wrongly accused him of another instance of plagiarism. CNN and Time announced that his popular column and the Sunday talk show would now resume.

"We have completed a thorough review of each of Fareed Zakaria's columns for Time and we are entirely satisfied that the language in question in his recent column was an unintentional error and an isolated incident for which he has apologised," Time's statement read.

"We look forward to having Fareed's thoughtful and important voice back in the magazine with his next column in the issue that comes out on September 7," it said.

The CNN followed suite. "CNN has completed its internal review of Fareed Zakaria's work for CNN, including a look back at his Sunday programmes, documentaries, and CNN.com blogs. The process was rigorous. "We found nothing that merited continuing the suspension”. — PTI

Assange can get consular assistance, says Australia

Melbourne, August 17
Australia today said that consular assistance is still available to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who was granted asylum by Ecuador and is currently holed up in the South American country's embassy in London.

"Julian Assange is an Australian citizen ...if he wants consular support, it's offered, it's available," the Environment Minister Tony Burke said today.

According to an AAP report, Burke said consular assistance would still be available to the 41-year-old Assange if he asked for it. "The offer of consular assistance is still there," he said. The minister further said that Assange, however, had not contacted the officials.

The Australian government had not yet had any contact with Ecuadorian officials about the diplomatic stand-off, he said.

Meanwhile, Assange's defence team member Geoffrey Robertson told local media here that Australia should help him in escaping Ecuador's London embassy. — PTI

Ahmadinejad spews venom against Israel

Tehran, August 17
Israel is a "cancerous tumour" that will soon be finished off, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today told demonstrators holding an annual protest against the existence of the Jewish state.

"The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumour. Even if one cell of them is left in one inch of (Palestinian) land, in the future this story (of Israel's existence) will repeat," he said in a speech in Tehran marking Iran's Quds Day that was broadcast on state television.

"The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists in the Palestinian land.... A new Middle East will definitely be formed. With the grace of God and help of the nations, in the new Middle East there will be no trace of the Americans and Zionists," he said.

The diatribe took place amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

The Jewish state has in recent weeks intensified its threats to possibly bomb Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent it having the capability to produce atomic weapons.

Iran, which is suffering under severe Western sanctions, denies its nuclear programme is anything but peaceful. Its military has warned it will destroy Israel if it attacks.

State television showed crowds marching under blazing sunshine in Tehran and other Iranian cities to mark Quds Days, whose name, derived from Arabic, designates the city of Jerusalem, the disputed future capital of both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Demonstrators held up Palestinian flags and pictures of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and banners reading "Death to Israel" and "Death to America." A group in Tehran was shown burning an Israeli flag. — AFP

Airbase Attack
Pak sounds red alert at its airports

Lahore, August 17
Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority has sounded a red alert at all airports across the country following the terrorist attack on Kamra airbase, a senior official said today.

"Due to the present uncertain situation in the country, all airports have been put on red alert," said Hamid Gardezi, Principal Director of Airport Services.

He directed all airport managers to beef up security and ensure full coordination with security agencies and the local administration. "The managers of airports used by both civilian flights and military aircraft should coordinate with concerned authorities for enhancing security arrangements," he said.

Gardezi further directed authorities to step up surveillance and vigil at the entry and exit points of airports, terminal buildings, car parks, navigational aids, and areas around the runways. — PTI

Pak begins probe into Taliban attack on airbase

Islamabad, August 17
The Pakistan Air Force today launched an investigation into a Taliban attack on a key airbase that left two security personnel and nine militants dead, officials said.

An investigation committee led by Air Marshal Athar Hussain Bukhari had formally started a probe into yesterday's attack on the Kamra airbase in Punjab province, said PAF spokesman Group Captain Tariq Mahmood.

The committee visited the Karma airbase today as part of its investigation, Mahmood said.

A group of heavily armed terrorists yesterday launched a pre-dawn attack on the airbase at Kamra, 60 km northwest of Islamabad.

In a separate development, PAF chief Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt today visited the Kamra airbase, including the portion where the security forces fought the terrorists. — PTI

Russia’s punk band members get 2-yr jail
Trial causes international outcry, protests abroad

Moscow, August 17
Three women from Russian punk band 'Pussy Riot' were sentenced to two years in jail on Friday for their protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church, an outcome supporters described as the Kremlin leader's "personal revenge".

The band's supporters burst into chants of "Shame" outside the Moscow courthouse and said the case showed Putin's refusal to tolerate dissent. The U.S. embassy in Moscow said the sentence appeared disproportionate to what the defendants did.

The women have support abroad, where their case has been taken up by a long list of celebrities including Madonna, Paul McCartney and Sting, but opinion polls show few Russians sympathise with them.

"The girls' actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church's rules," Judge Marina Syrova told the court as she spent three hours reading the verdict while the women stood watching in handcuffs inside a glass courtroom cage.

She declared all three guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, saying they had deliberately offended Russian Orthodox believers by storming the altar of Moscow's main cathedral in February to belt out a song deriding Putin.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Marina Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich giggled as the judge read out the sentences one by one. They have already been in jail for about five months, meaning they will serve another 19. — Reuters

Algeria’s Brahimi to replace Annan as peace envoy

United Nations, August 17
The United Nations today announced the appointment of former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi as the Joint Special Representative for Syria, a post from which former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had resigned after his efforts to restore peace in Syria failed.

"The violence and the suffering in Syria must come to an end. Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) appreciates Brahimi's willingness to bring his considerable talents and experience to this crucial task for which he will need, and rightly expects, the strong, clear and unified support of the international community, including the (UN) Security Council," Ban's deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said.

Brahimi has vast experience as a conflict troubleshooter. The veteran diplomat had served as the UN special representative for Afghanistan and Iraq. Before his appointment in 2001 by then Secretary-General Annan, he had served the UN as special representative to Haiti and to South Africa.

Buey said diplomacy to promote a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Syria remains a top priority for the United Nations.

"More fighting and militarisation will only exacerbate the suffering and make more difficult the path to a peaceful resolution of the crisis which would lead to a political transition in accordance with the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," he said. — PTI