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Egypt crisis: Military steps in, presses for dialogue
Won’t cede an inch of Palestine to Israel, says Hamas leader
Kate hoax presenters off show until further notice
Obama seeks $60.4 bn for Sandy repairs
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Doha climate talks extend Kyoto accord to 2020
Share info about spy chief bomber, Pak tells Karzai
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Egypt crisis: Military steps in, presses for dialogue Cairo, December 8 A statement by the military spokesman read on state media made no mention of President Mohamed Mursi, but said a solution to the political crisis roiling the most populous Arab nation should not contradict "legitimacy and the rules of democracy". Egypt has plunged ever deeper into crisis since Mursi, who was freely elected in June, decreed himself wide powers on November 22 and pushed ahead with plans for a referendum next Saturday on a Constitution drafted by an Islamist-dominated assembly. The army's duty was to protect national interests and secure vital state institutions, the military said. Egyptians could express their views "far from all displays of violence". The statement, the army's most direct remarks so far on the political confrontation between the Islamist president and his liberal opponents, was issued while protesters were still camped out by the gates of the Presidential Palace. But it did not appear to indicate that the army, which ran Egypt for months after Hosni Mubarak's overthrow last year, was planning to retake control of the country or its turbulent streets. A military source said the statement did not signal any plan for a intervention in politics or a broad role on the streets. A senior Muslim Brotherhood official welcomed the army's remarks as "balanced" and neutral. Former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, now an opposition leader, said the army was simply responding to an "enormously dangerous situation". The military was the power behind all previous presidents and an army council temporarily took over after Mubarak's fall. However, Mursi pushed the generals aside in August and they had shown little appetite to intervene in Egypt's latest crisis. "The armed forces affirm that dialogue is the best and only way to reach consensus," the statement said. "The opposite of that will bring us to a dark tunnel that will result in catastrophe and that is something we will not allow." The state-run daily al-Ahram earlier reported that Mursi would soon authorise the military to help police keep order and give it powers of arrest under a decree approved by the cabinet. It did not say when the decree would be issued. The instability in Egypt worries the West, especially the United States, which has given Cairo billions of dollars in military and other aid since it made peace with Israel in 1979. The tens of thousands of Mursi foes who surged past tanks and barbed wire to reach the palace gates on Friday night had dispersed, but a hard core stayed overnight in a score of tents. —Reuters Militaryspeak
Islamists reject delay to referendum Egypt's main Islamist parties, including President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, on Saturday rejected opposition demands to delay a referendum on a new Constitution. The 13 parties insist that the referendum on the constitution take place on December 15, with no modification or delay.
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Won’t cede an inch of Palestine to Israel, says Hamas leader
Gaza City, December 8 Politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, who arrived from Egypt yesterday, was on his first visit to Gaza and his first to the Palestinian territories since 1975. The celebrations
come just over two weeks after an Egyptian-brokered truce ended eight days of bloodshed with Israel which left 174 Palestinians dead. Light rain in the early morning did not deter thousands of Gazans -- most of them women -- from turning out well before the noon start of the main event in the Al-Qatiba complex, west of Gaza City. Parallel rallies were being held across the Gaza Strip. The security forces were out in strength, closing off nearby roads from the early hours. Dozens of masked members of Hamas military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, kept watch from surrounding rooftops. Two large empty chairs were placed on the main stage to commemorate Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, assassinated by Israel in 2004, and Hamas military commander Ahmed Jaabari, assassinated by Israel on November 14. Between the chairs was placed a model of an M75 rocket of the sort fired at Israeli cities during last month's conflict that began with Jaabari's assassination. On the backdrop was a model of Jerusalem's golden-domed Al-Aqsa mosque, which appears on the Hamas symbol. Head of Hamas public activity Ashraf Abu Zaed said he expected more than 2,00,000 people to participate in the anniversary celebrations. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said at least 3,000 persons from Arab and Islamic states had arrived in Gaza in recent days to attend the events. — AFP
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Kate hoax presenters off show until further notice Sydney, December 8 "Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) and 2Day FM are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha from King Edward VII's Hospital and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and all that have been affected by this situation around the world," the station said in a statement on its Facebook page. It said the presenters, Mel Grieg and Michael Christian, "are both deeply shocked" over news of the nurse's death. "SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy," the statement said. The presenters had faced growing calls for their dismissal, with hundreds of angry comments posted on 2Day FM Facebook page while an online petition calling for them to be sacked for "gross misconduct" has already attracted more than 1,300 signatures. Greig and Christian apologised after an uproar in Britain over the hoax but the station milked the publicity as the "biggest royal prank ever". — AFP
Nurse’s kin distraught
Bangalore: Last Christmas Benedict Bamzoo had come down from the UK to his home at Shirva in Udupi district of Karnataka with his wife Jacintha and his two teenage children. He has been struck a cruel blow as his wife killed herself. Speaking from her Shirva home, Jacintha’s mother-in-law Carmine Saldanha said neither her daughter-in-law nor son Benedict had told her about the prank call that allegedly pushed Jacintha to suicide.
—TNS
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Obama seeks $60.4 bn for Sandy repairs New York/Washington, Dec 8 Officials from storm-battered New York, New Jersey and Connecticut had said they needed at least $82 billion combined to make emergency repairs and upgrade infrastructure. New York and New Jersey lawmakers said they expected Obama would seek more aid as the extent of Sandy's damage became clearer. The two states were hit the hardest by the storm on October 29. “This is a very good start, and while $60 billion doesn't cover all of New York and New Jersey's needs, it covers a large percentage," said Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey. —Reuters
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Doha climate talks extend Kyoto accord to 2020 Doha, December 8 Delegates from nearly 200 nations spent hours pouring over a package deal put forward by the host OPEC member Qatar that would also postpone until 2013 a row over demands from developing nations for more cash to help them cope with global warming. Developing nations were divided over the deal that all sides said fell short of recommendations by scientists for tougher action to try to avert more heat waves, floods, droughts and rising sea levels. "They face two unpalatable options -- accept a weak text or risk the collapse of the entire talks," said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists. The draft deal would extend the Kyoto Protocol for eight years. It had obliged about 35 industrialised nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of at least 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels during the period from 2008 to 2012. Kyoto will expire at the end of 2012 if it is not extended and has been weakened by the withdrawals of Russia, Japan and Canada. The United States never ratified it, and its backers, led by the European Union and Australia, account for just 15 per cent of world greenhouse gas emissions. — Reuters
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Share info about spy chief bomber, Pak tells Karzai
Islamabad, December 8 "Before levelling charges, the Afghanistan Government would do well if they shared information or evidence with the Government of Pakistan that they might have with regard to the cowardly attack on the head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS)," Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan said in
a statement. Khan further said the Afghanistan authorities should also probe possible lapses in the security for spy chief Assadullah Khalid, who was attacked in Kabul on Thursday by a Taliban suicide bomber posing as a peace envoy. "They (the Afghanistan Government) would also do well by ordering an investigation into any lapses in the security arrangements around the NDS chief," Khan said. The Pakistan Government is "ready to assist any investigation of this criminal act", he said. Pakistan yesterday condemned the attack on the Afghanistan spy chief and reiterated its commitment to efforts to usher in peace and stability in war-torn Afghanistan. Pakistan had also said yesterday that it would "continue to work closely with Afghanistan to eliminate" terrorism. Karzai said earlier today that the suicide bombing that injured the spy chief was planned in Pakistan. He said Afghanistan
officials were certain the suicide bomber came from Pakistan. Karzai further said he would raise the issue when he meets Pakistani leaders at a trilateral summit in Turkey next week but stopped short of blaming the Pakistan Government. Karzai did not provide any evidence to support his allegations. —
PTI
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N Ireland flag riots spread ‘Political deadlock will end’ Spy chief bomber from Pak Typhoon Bopha to return Berlusconi to rerun for PM
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Tens of thousands of Palestinians massed in Gaza today for a rally marking the 25th anniversary of Hamas to be addressed by the ruling Islamist movement's
leader-in-exile.
