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12 car bombs hit Iraq, 69 dead
Appropriate to reassess bilateral relations with Russia, says Obama
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Differences stay, but Syrian peace talks on track
Washington, August 10 The US and Russia have agreed to reconvene the much delayed peace talks on Syria as soon as possible in Geneva, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov said. “Our opinions are very much the same, and what may we need to convene as soon as possible - Geneva II meeting in accordance with the US-Russian initiative that was formulated on the outcome of John Kerry’s visit to Moscow on July 7,” Lavrov told reporters after the conclusion of the talks with his US counterparts here.
UK Sikhs oppose proposed meat plant near gurdwara
20 killed in air strikes by Syrian army
Indian-origin man gets life for murder in US
Furore over parking ban in US
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12 car bombs hit Iraq, 69 dead Baghdad, August 10 The death toll in today's attacks is the highest since July 20, when brazen assaults on two prisons near Baghdad plus other attacks left 71 dead. Violence has been on the rise across Iraq since a deadly crackdown by government forces on a Sunni protest camp in April, and attacks against civilians and security forces notably spiked during Ramadan. The surge of attacks has sparked fears that the country could spiral into a new round of widespread sectarian bloodshed similar to that which brought the country to the edge of civil war in 2006 and 2007. The police said the deadliest of today's attacks took place when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a residential area in the town of Tuz Khormato, killing eight persons and wounding dozens, Mayor Shalal Abdool said. The town is about 200 km north of the Iraqi capital. The police said a car bomb exploded near an outdoor market in the Baghdad's southeastern suburbs of Jisr Diyala shortly before sunset, killing seven persons and wounding 20. Also in southeastern Baghdad, officials said a car bomb went off inside a parking lot in the mainly Shiite New Baghdad neighbourhood, killing three persons. Saif Mousa, the owner of a shoe store in New Baghdad, said he was sitting inside his shop when he heard the explosion. "My shop's windows were smashed and smoke filled the whole area," Mousa said. "I went outside of the shop and I could hardly see because of the smoke. ... At the end, we had a terrible day that was supposed to be nice" because of the holiday. Another car bomb exploded in a busy street in the Shiite neighbourhood of Amil, killing three people and wounding 14, authorities said. They said another car bomb in Amil killed 3 persons and wounded 14. In the holy Shiite city of Karbala, the police said four persons were killed in a car bomb attack near a cafe at night. Karbala is 80 km south of Baghdad. The police said four persons were killed and 15 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a cafe in Baghdad's Shiite neighbourhood of Abu Dashir. In northern Baghdad, a car bomb hit a restaurant in the Shiite area of Khazimiyah, killing five persons and wounding 14, authorities said. Police also said that five people were killed when a car bomb exploded near a cafe in Baghdad's southwestern neighbourhood of Baiyaa. — Agencies
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Appropriate to reassess bilateral relations with Russia, says Obama
Washington, August 10 As such Obama justified his decision to cancel his one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month in the aftermath of the Moscow’s decision to grant temporary asylum to the former CIA contractor Edward Snowden, who is sought in the US on espionage charges. “It is probably appropriate for us to take a pause, reassess where it is that Russia’s going, what our core interests are, and calibrate the relationship so that we’re doing things that are good for the United States and, hopefully, good for Russia as well but recognising that there are just going to be some differences, and we’re not going to be able to completely disguise them,” Obama told reporters at a news conference yesterday. However, Obama would be travelling to St Petersburg in Russia to attend the G-20 Summit. “That’s important business in terms of our economy and our jobs and all the issues that are of concern to Americans,” he said and added that his decision to not to meet Putin is not because of Snowden episode. Noting that he has a good personal relationship with Putin, Obama said the Snowden episode is just one more in a number of emerging differences that has been experienced between the two. “Keep in mind that our decision to not participate in the summit was not simply around Snowden, it had to do with the fact that, frankly, on a whole range of issues where we think we can make some
progress, Russia has not moved. And so we don't consider that strictly punitive,” he said. “We’re going to assess where the relationship can advance the US interests and increase peace and stability and prosperity around the world. Where it can, we’re going to keep
on working with them, where we have differences, we're going to say so clearly.
— PTI ‘Putin like a bored kid in the classroom’ President Barack Obama on Friday denied he had poor relations with Vladimir Putin after canceling their Moscow talks, but said the Russian President could sometimes appear “like a bored kid in the back of the classroom.” At a White House news conference, he said: “I know the Press likes to focus on body language, and he's got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom. — Reuters
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Differences stay, but Syrian peace talks on track
Washington, August 10 “Our opinions are very much the same, and what may we need to convene as soon as possible - Geneva II meeting in accordance with the US-Russian initiative that was formulated on the outcome of John Kerry’s visit to Moscow on July 7,” Lavrov told reporters after the conclusion of the talks with his US counterparts here. “We agreed that we need to implement the task that was set forth in Lough Erne to make sure that opposition and government forces unite to eradicate terrorism in Syria and force terrorists out of the Syrian republic. For that to happen, political opposition and government need to come to a principal agreement,” he said. “Regarding the transition period that was agreed upon in Geneva communique last year, all of that should be done on the basis of agreement between government and the opposition delegation. That's what we agreed, that Russian and US experts will meet yet again to discuss specific aspects for the preparation for the next conference. The meeting will be held at the end of this month,” Lavrov told reporters speaking through an interpreter. Later a Senior Administration confirmed the agreement reached with the Russians in this regard.
— PTI Common ground
On Syria, both sides agree that they remain committed to holding a Geneva 2 conference at the earliest, both stressing the belief that a political settlement is the only way to prevent sort of institutional collapse and
further instability in Syria
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N Ireland clashes leave 56 cops hurt
Belfast, August 10 Many of the injuries were minor, but four officers were taken to hospital after the clashes late on Friday, during which police fired plastic bullets and water cannon after being pelted with missiles for a second successive night. Belfast remains divided between pro-British Protestants and Catholics who generally favour unification with Ireland, despite a 1998 peace and power-sharing deal that put an end to the worst of the so-called "troubles" in the British province. "Last night's violence and attacks on police officers were shameful," Britain's minister for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, said in a statement. "Disorder on the streets is a hugely regrettable step backwards." Protestants had opposed a march on Friday evening along the city's main thoroughfare - Royal Avenue - by the nationalist side of the community, and when police moved in to clear them, they threw bricks, bottles and fireworks. Burnt out cars and rubble littered central Belfast and shop fronts were damaged, as the cleanup work began on Saturday. The Catholic parade, marking the anniversary of the 1971 introduction of internment without trial by British authorities, eventually had to pass along a different route.
— Reuters Bone of contention
Belfast remains divided between pro-British Protestants and Catholics who generally favour unification with Ireland, despite a 1998 peace and power-sharing deal that put an end to the worst of the so-called "troubles" in the British province
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UK Sikhs oppose proposed meat plant near gurdwara
London, August 10 But Bradford’s Sikh community fears the redevelopment could mean the smell of meat wafting into the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara building. “Many of our people are strict vegetarians and the notion of meat being so near to the gurdwara is disrespectful and insensitive,” Kuldip Kaur Bharj, secretary of the Board of Bradford gurdwaras, told the Bradford Telegraph. “The analogy of putting a pork butcher beside a mosque or synagogue is a good one. Although we do not eat halal meat, we do not condemn it as repugnant because we do respect other religions. It is really that the smell of meat is very offencive for people who don’t eat it,” Bharj said. In a letter to the local council planning officer, gurdwara president Kuldeep Duley wrote: “A butchery plant should be on an industrial estate rather than next to a place of worship where people will be exposed to the disgraceful smell.” “We would never dream of doing anything that might cause offence to our
neighbours and many of our customers are Sikhs,” Pakeezah director Tariq Haq stressed.
— PTI Sikh family alleges bias A Sikh family in California is contemplating a lawsuit against an amusement centre after it stopped them from using a go-kart track because of their turbans. The Singh family of Alameda county in the San Francisco Bay Area has alleged that staff at Boomer's, the amusement centre at Livermore city, stopped four of them from using the track on July 28. — PTI
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20 killed in air strikes by Syrian army
Beirut, August 10 Abdel Rahman said 10 of those killed were believed to be civilians, although many of the bodies were so badly disfigured that it was not immediately possible to identify them. At least six of those killed were Syrian rebel fighters, while four were foreign volunteers, he added. “The number of deaths is expected to rise because of the number of wounded and those in serious condition among them,” he said. Latakia province is a stronghold of the Alawite minority of President Bashar al-Assad. In recent days, rebel forces have captured a number of villages in the Jabal Akrad, a mountainous district in the north of the province.
— AFP
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Indian-origin man gets life for murder in US
Washington, August 10 Gurpreet Singh Gosal, 28, was sentenced for the second degree murder of 26-year-old Parmjit Singh Pamma outside the Bradshaw gurdwara in Sacramento during a Sikh sports festival on August 31, 2008. Gosal was convicted by the jurors of Sacramento Superior Court. He apologised to the victim's family through his attorney on hearing the sentence, local news portal News10.net reported today. The shooting was the result of an argument between Singh and Gosal, detectives said. Witnesses held Gosal until sheriff's deputies arrested him. — PTI
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Furore over parking ban in US
Houston, August 10 The posters, which read “No Muslim parking in the Westview Shopping Center,” were seen in recent days outside the mall, which sits across the street from a mosque, a local television station reported. — PTI
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