New Iran launchpad for missile tests
London, August 8
Iran has developed a second rocket-launching facility which is likely be used to test ballistic missiles, a London-based defence analysis group said today.

Islamabad, August 8
Thirty-eight persons, including three senior police officers, were killed and 50 others injured when a suicide bomber targeted the funeral of a slain policeman in Quetta city of south-west Pakistan today.

The bomber struck as hundreds of people, including top police officers of Balochistan province, were attending the funeral of police station chief Mohib Ullah, who was gunned down today morning.

The attacker detonated his explosive vest when he was stopped by guards at the gate of a mosque within the Police Lines in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan.

"It was a suicide attack and the attacker blew himself up at the entrance where he was intercepted by the policemen on duty," city police chief Mir Zubair said.

Thirt-eight persons, mostly policemen, were killed and 50 others injured, Deputy Superintendent of Police Wahid Baksh said.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Fayyaz Sumbol, Superintendent of Police Ali Mahar and a Deputy Superintendent of Police Shams-ur-Rehman were among the dead, officials said.

Over 300 senior and lower rank police officials and local people were present for the funeral when the suicide attack took place.

"It is a major attack on the police and at least 8kg of explosive device was used in the suicide attack," Zubair said.

The provincial police chief and city police chief had a narrow escape. Several children were among the injured.

The bomber carried out the strike despite extensive security arrangements within the Police Lines. The police cordoned off the area and launched a rescue and search operation. The victims were taken to a military hospital due to fears that civilian hospitals might be attacked. After a recent bombing at a women's university in Quetta, militants attacked the hospital where the injured were taken.

The number of casualties in the attack are expected to raise as condition of some of the injured was critical, doctors said.

Earlier in the day, police station chief Mohib Ullah was killed and his four children and a driver were injured when unidentified gunmen attacked his car at the Alamu Chowk in Quetta.

Mohib Ullah was going to the market with his children when he was attacked.— PTI

Amman, August 8
Syrian rebels said on Thursday they targeted President Bashar al-Assad's motorcade heading to a Damascus mosque to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid-ul-Fitr, but state television showed him unharmed and the government denied he had been attacked.

The Tahrir al-Sham rebel brigade, a unit of the Free Syrian Army, said it fired several artillery shells towards Assad's convoy in the heart of the capital and that at least some hit their target.

If confirmed, the attack would be one of the most direct against Assad in two years of conflict which have pitched mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against the Alawite president. Rebels have targeted Assad's residences in Damascus and a bombing in the capital last year killed four of his inner circle, but there have been no reports of Assad himself coming under fire.

Video footage distributed by the Tahrir al-Sham rebels showed smoke rising from what it said was the Malki district, where Assad and his close aides have homes. Other activists also reported rocket fire into the area.

Syria's government denied the reports. "The news is wholly untrue," Information Minister Omran Zoabi said. — Reuters

London, August 8
Iran has developed a second rocket-launching facility which is likely be used to test ballistic missiles, a London-based defence analysis group said today.

IHS Jane's said it had pinpointed the site outside the city of Shahrud, around 350 km east of Tehran, near the Caspian Sea and the Turkmenistan border.

By analysing satellite imagery, Jane's said the construction began at the site between May and September 2010 — around the same time as the expansion of Iran's existing launchpad in Semnan.

Iran's missile programme, along with its space projects, has been a mounting source of concern in the West.

Western governments fear Tehran is developing a ballistic capability to enable it to launch atomic warheads which they suspect Iran is seeking to develop under the cover of its civil nuclear programme.

Tehran denies any such ambition. — AFP

Washington, August 8
A senior lawmaker from President Barack Obama's Democratic party has compared US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden with Mahatma Gandhi, saying the controversial whistleblower was engaged in a "non-violent" act of "civil disobedience".

John Lewis, one of America's most revered civil rights leaders, says Snowden, who has come in for some harsh criticism from the Obama Administration for leaking details of classified surveillance programmes, was continuing the tradition of civil disobedience.

"In keeping with the philosophy and the discipline of non-violence, in keeping with the teaching of Henry David Thoreau and people like Gandhi and others, if you believe something that is not right, something is unjust, and you are willing to defy customs, traditions, bad laws, then you have a conscience. You have a right to defy those laws and be willing to pay the price," Lewis said told the Guardian newspaper.

His comments came on the same day Obama cancelled his scheduled meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after Moscow granted temporary asylum to the 30-year-old former CIA contractor.

Lewis, the man whom Obama called the 'conscience of the US Congress', said Snowden could claim he was appealing to "a higher law" when he disclosed top secret documents showing the extent of NSA surveillance of both Americans and foreigners.

The Congressman and one of the last surviving lieutenants of Martin Luther King said Snowden was "engaged in an act of civil disobedience". — PTI

Yangon, August 8
Thousands massed in Yangon today marking the anniversary of a bloody crackdown on Myanmar rallies 25 years ago, in a historic commemoration urging further democratic reform.

Over 5,000 people crammed into a convention centre and thousands more watched large television screens outside to witness a landmark ceremony recalling the huge 1988 student protests that were brutally crushed by the then junta.

The event, attended by members of the opposition and ruling parties, diplomats and Buddhist monks, comes amid sweeping changes in Myanmar since the end of outright military dictatorship two years ago.

Activists expressed jubilation at the scale of the event, but urged even more people to join in.

"The 8888 (as the anniversary is known) is the biggest milestone in our history. It's unforgettable," Aye Myint, who joined in the protests in 1988, told AFP.

Myanmar has undergone sweeping political changes since a quasi-civilian regime replaced junta rule in 2011.

Reforms have included the freeing of hundreds of political prisoners, including many jailed for their roles in the 1988 rallies and the welcoming of democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi and her party into Parliament. She took part in today's commemorations. — AFP