UAE sentences 69 Islamists in coup plot trial
Dubai, July 2
A top UAE court today sentenced 69 Islamists for up to 15 years in jail for plotting to overthrow the rulers of the oil-rich Gulf nation.

Moscow, July 2
Countries in Latin America, Asia and Europe spurned asylum requests by Edward Snowden today, despite a call by Venezuela for the world to protect the former US spy agency contractor wanted by Washington for espionage.

Snowden, who revealed the secret US electronic surveillance programme Prism, has applied for political asylum in more than a dozen countries in his search for safety from prosecution in the United States.

The 30-year-old American is in legal limbo in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, unable to fly out because he has no legal travel documents and also has no Russian visa to leave the airport.

On Monday, he broke a nine-day silence since arriving in Moscow from Hong Kong, challenging Washington by saying he was free to publish more about its programmes and that he was being illegally persecuted. That ruled out a prolonged stay in Russia, where a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said Snowden had withdrawn his request for asylum after the Russian leader said he should stop "harming our American partners".

But while country after country denied his asylum requests on technical grounds, Venezuela, part of an alliance of Leftist governments in Latin America, said it was time to stop berating a man who has "done something very important for humanity".

"He deserves the world's protection," President Nicolas Maduro told Reuters during a visit to Moscow for a meeting of gas exporting countries. "He has a right to protection because the United States in its actions is persecuting him ... Why are they persecuting him? What has he done? Did he launch a missile and kill someone? Did he rig a bomb and kill someone? No. He is preventing war." Maduro said he would consider an asylum application. He later had talks with Putin but neither leader said whether they had discussed Snowden.

The American's request for safety in Ecuador, which has sheltered the founder of antisecrecy group WikiLeaks Julian Assange in its London embassy, has seemingly ended. Bolivian President Evo Morales, also in Moscow for the gas conference, told Russia's RT television that his country would consider an asylum request but had not yet received one.

US President Barack Obama has made clear to a number of countries that granting him asylum would carry costs. — Reuters

Dubai, July 2
A top UAE court today sentenced 69 Islamists for up to 15 years in jail for plotting to overthrow the rulers of the oil-rich Gulf nation.

The UAE State Security Court jailed 56 of the 94 Emiratis for between seven and 10 years while jail terms of 15 years were handed down to eight tried in absentia, the state-run news agency WAM reported.

Five have been handed sentences between three to seven years. Another 25 persons, including 13 women, were acquitted.

The convicted were members of now-disbanded Al Islah Society, an Emirati-based Islamist group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

During the hearings, the public prosecution had called on the court of justice Falah Al Hajiri to apply the maximum sentence of 15 years against the defendants.

The prosecution had argued that the main goals of the organisation "was to infiltrate the country's educational and social institutions" and "seeking to oppose the basic principles of the UAE system of governance and to seize power". — PTI

prison terms 56 jailed of the 94 Emiratis between seven and 10 years 15 years were handed down to eight tried in absentia Five have been handed sentences between three to seven years 25 persons, including 13 women, acquitted

New Delhi, July 2
Three Indians were killed in a Taliban suicide attack on a NATO supply company’s compound in Kabul today.

The three were working in a housing compound, when the Taliban attack began with a suicide bomb in a large truck. Two or three insurgents fought guards for around 30 minutes before all attackers were killed.

"The Indian Mission is providing assistance in the completion of legal formalities for the repatriation of bodies of the Indians killed in the Kabul attack," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.

The Taliban truck bomb and gun attack left at least nine dead. The entrance to the NATO supply company compound was destroyed in the assault. The group provides NATO bases with food, water, fuel and other supplies.

A British national was among the dead. Media reports said some other foreigners were also killed.

The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack. — PTI

An anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi has directed authorities to ensure personal appearance of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on July 9 after he failed to attend a hearing in the Benazir Bhutto murder case citing security reasons on Tuesday.

The court adjourned the hearing till July 9. Musharraf has been declared main accused in the case.

In its report submitted with the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court-I on June 25, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) held the former dictator responsible for the breach in the security of Benazir Bhutto that resulted in her assassination outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh in December 2007.

According to the report that was submitted by Deputy Director Khalid Rasool, head of FIA’s joint investigation team, Musharraf allegedly wanted to kill the chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party to secure his rule.

Musharraf, who returned from four years of self-imposed exile in March, has been under house arrest at his plush farmhouse on the edge of Islamabad since April 19.

He has been facing a slew of charges, including the proclamation of emergency rule on November 3, 2007 when he suspended the Constitution and put superior court judges under house arrest.

SLC orders probe Media reports said a drunken Lankan cricketer caused panic on a packed British Airways flight when he tried to open the cabin door at 35,000ft ESPN Cricinfo revealed the name of the players on their Twitter page as 21-year-old Sri Lanka A opening batsman Ramith Rambukwella The SLC has ordered a probe based on the manager's report

Colombo, July 2
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has ordered an inquiry into reports that a member of the country's A team caused a mid-air panic in an inebriated state while on a British Airways flight.

The SLC has not named the cricketer, but according to ESPN Cricinfo, the concerned player was 21-year old opening batsman Ramith Rambukwella. "...Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that it is disappointed to hear of such an incident and SLC will discuss with the Manager of Sri Lanka 'A' Team. An inquiry will be conducted based on the Manager's report and disciplinary action will be taken on the player concerned if found guilty," a SLC statement said.

Media reports said a drunken Sri Lankan cricketer caused panic on a packed British Airways flight when he tried to open the cabin door at 35,000ft.

The Sri Lanka A team was on a tour of the West Indies playing two four-day 'Tests' and 50-over and Twenty20 internationals.

ESPN Cricinfo revealed the name of the players on their twitter page. "SLC names Ramith Rambukwella as the Sri Lanka A player who mistook the airplane exit as a toilet door "due to the dim lights in the cabin"," the tweet said.

Later, former Sri Lankan player Russel Arnold also tweeted, saying that the young cricketer had realised his mistake and apologised. — PTI

Vatican City, July 2
The Vatican congregation in charge of examining candidates for sainthoods has recognised a second miracle by John Paul II, leaving just a papal signature necessary to authorise the former Pope's canonisation, Italian news agency ANSA reported today.

The Polish Pope is likely to be canonised by the end of the year in a ceremony which could take place in December, the agency said.

Vatican theologians in June had attributed a second miracle to John Paul II, which Vatican sources had said would "amaze the world", the report said.

The long road to sainthood requires two "confirmed" miracles, the first of which is necessary for beatification, a hurdle the Polish Pope cleared just six months after his death in 2005.

That was the healing of a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, whose recovery from Parkinson's disease after praying for the late John Paul II's "intercession" had no medical explanation.

The second miracle reportedly took place on the very day that John Paul II was beatified in a lavish ceremony in St Peter's Square on May 1, 2011, and was the healing of a woman from Costa Rica. — AFP

Baghdad, July 2
Insurgents unleashed a new wave of attacks today in Iraq, killing at least 47 persons, officials said. Also, seven militants were killed.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, mostly car bombs in Shiite areas. Al-Qaida's Iraq branch has been targeting Shiites, security forces and civil servants in an effort to undermine the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

The deadliest attack was in Baghdad's northern Shaab neighbourhood. Two parked car bombs targeted car dealers and a commercial area, killing nine persons, including a policeman, a police officer said. He said 24 others were wounded.

In Baghdad's northern Shula neighbourhood, a bomb exploded in an open-air market, followed by a second blast after rescuers rushed to the scene, killing four civilians and two policemen. Eighteen people were wounded.

Five civilians were killed and 16 wounded in a car bomb explosion in a market in Baghdad's eastern suburb of Kamaliya.

A car bomb ripped through a commercial area in the capital's southern Dora neighborhood, killing four and wounding 15, police said.

In the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Amiriyah, two civilians were killed and 12 wounded in a car bomb explosion. Three others were killed and 13 wounded in another car bomb explosion in the northern Hurriyah neighbourhood.

Also today, clashes erupted at dawn between security forces and militants in Baaj, a remote northwestern town near the Syrian border, and left four policemen dead and five wounded. The police said seven militants were killed. In another attack, a government-allied, anti-Al-Qaida Sunni militiaman was killed and two others wounded when a bomb attached to their car exploded in the western Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib, the police said. — AP