Algiers, February 11
A military aircraft crashed in Algeria's mountainous northeast today killing all 103 people on board, a security source said, in what would be its deadliest air disaster since independence five decades ago.

The C-130 Hercules aircraft, which was flying to the city of Constantine crashed “in poor weather conditions” in Oum El Bouaghi, some 380 km east of the capital, Algerian radio said.

The plane was carrying 99 passengers — soldiers and their families -- as well as four crew members, the source told AFP.

“There were no survivors,” the source added, although army spokesman Lahmadi Bouguern said he could not confirm that all on board had perished.

The plane was travelling from the desert garrison town of Tamanrasset in the deep south, and crashed into Mount Djebel Fertas in the Oum El Bouaghi region, official media quoted Colonel Bouguern as saying. Preliminary reports indicated that poor weather was to blame, with heavy snow and strong winds sweeping the region in recent days.

The crash reportedly took place just as the aircraft began its descent into Constantine, when the plane lost contact with the control tower.

Military and civilian personnel were deployed for a search and rescue operation, with hospitals in Constantine and nearby Ain M'Lila placed on alert in case there were any survivors, the independent El Watan newspaper reported.

Tamanrasset, in the far south of Algeria, near the border with Mali, is the main base for the country's southern military operations. Extra troops and equipment have been stationed there in recent months as part of efforts to beef up surveillance of Algeria's frontiers with Mali and Libya, following a deadly hostage-taking by Islamist militants at a desert gas plant in January last year.

A military official, Colonel Lahmadi Bouguern, told the APS state news agency the death toll was "yet to be determined”

The city lies 1,500 kilometres from Constantine, and was the site of the last major plane crash in Algeria, in March 2003.

In that disaster, an Air Algerie passenger plane crashed on take off, after one of its engines caught fire, killing all but one of 103 people aboard, among them several French nationals. — AFP

Country's worst air disaster in 50 yrs

n Tuesday's disaster, a security personnel said, is Algeria's deadliest air disaster since independence five decades ago

n The C-130 Hercules aircraft was carrying 99 passengers - soldiers and their families - as well as four crew members to the city of Constantine from

n Preliminary reports indicated that poor weather was to blame, with heavy snow and strong winds sweeping the region in recent days

n In March 2003, an Air Algerie plane crashed on take off, after one of its engines caught fire, killing all but one of 103 people aboard, among them several French

Dubai, February 11
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hit out on Tuesday at Western assertions that a military solution to a nuclear dispute with Tehran remained an option and pledged that Tehran would press on "forever" with what he called peaceful atomic research.

In a speech marking the 35th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Rouhani also attacked economic sanctions imposed by the West as "brutal, illegal and wrong" and said countries in the region had nothing to fear from Iran.

Iran's military test-fired two new domestically made missiles on Monday, a gesture of national resolve ahead of talks next week with world powers to try to reach an agreement on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme.

Rouhani said Western officials continued to argue that if such efforts came to nothing, there was always the option of using military force against its nuclear facilities. "I say explicitly to those delusional people who say the military option is on the table, that they should change their glasses ... Our nation regards the language of threat as rude and offensive," he said.

"I want to expressly announce that the movement of the Iranian nation towards the peaks of scientific and technical progress and advancement, including peaceful nuclear technology, will be forever," he added.

Iran and six world powers struck an interim deal in November under which Tehran agreed to limit parts of its nuclear work in return for the easing of some international sanctions.

Hardliners, unsettled by the foreign policy shift since Rouhani was elected in June, have repeatedly criticised the agreement.

Iran's most powerful authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has so far backed the deal. Iran and the six powers will start negotiating a full agreement in Vienna on February 18. Easing of sanctions, imposed on Iran over its nuclear activities, began in late January.

In recent weeks Iranian officials have repeatedly criticised US Secretary of State John Kerry for speaking about a potential military option, something his counterparts in several other Western countries have continue to do.

Kerry told Saudi-owned al Arabiya television on January 23 that if Tehran did not keep abide by the interim deal "the military option of the United States is ready and prepared to do what it would have to do". — Reuters

BEIJING, February 11
China and Taiwan, at odds for more than six decades, agreed to historic talks on Tuesday to set up representative offices as soon as possible, though sensitive political issues like a formal peace treaty were not up for discussion.

The talks between Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Minister Wang Yu-chi and China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun, who heads the Taiwan Affairs Office, were the first since the 1949 creation of the People's Republic of China. They mark a big step towards expanding cross-strait dialogue beyond economic and trade issues. China's ruling Communist Party considers Taiwan a renegade province and has never ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its wing after taking control of the mainland at the end of a civil war. But economic ties have grown considerably in recent years.

Taiwan's Wang described his meeting with Zhang, in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, as "an unimaginable occasion in earlier years," China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

"Being able to sit down and talk is a really valuable opportunity, considering that the two sides were once almost at war," Wang said. — Reuters

Geneva, February 11
Several hundred men evacuated from besieged opposition-held areas of the Syrian city of Homs have been detained for interrogation by government forces, the UN's refugee agency said today.

Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the UNHCR, told reporters in Geneva that 336 male evacuees aged between 15 and 55 had been taken in for questioning.

A total of 42 were released, but the remainder were still in the hands of the authorities, she said. They were being held at a school near Homs. UNHCR staff were at the building but not present during the interrogation sessions, Fleming said.

After the questioning, the aid workers were able to speak to the men, who wanted to be allowed to join the women and children who have been evacuated. — AFP

No progress in talks

Geneva: Peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition are not making much progress, international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday after a face-to-face meeting of the warring parties in Geneva. As negotiations intended to end Syria's war concluded the second day , both sides had no advances to report.