|
|
|
|
|
Militants attack Iraq air base
Taliban battle Afghan forces for control of southern dist
Russia revokes right to send troops into Ukraine
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ferry survivors return to school amid tears, grief
Students who survived the April 16 ferry disaster make their way back to school in Ansan on Wednesday. Reuters LeT behind Herat strike: US US names JuD as terror outfit, sanctions two LeT leaders
|
|
Militants attack Iraq air base
Baghdad, June 25 Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is fighting for his job and is under international pressure to create a more inclusive government, said he supported starting the process of forming a new government within a week. In northern Iraq the Sunni militants extended a two-week advance that has been led by the hardline Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but also includes an amalgam of other Sunni groups angered by Maliki's rule. They blame him for marginalising their sect during eight years in power. The fighting threatens to rupture the country two and a half years after the end of US occupation. US Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Iraqi officials to form an "inclusive" government during a visit this week and urged leaders of the autonomous Kurdish region to stand with Baghdad against the onslaught. A parliament session is planned within a week that will start the process of forming a new government based on the results of elections held in April. "We will attend the first session of parliament," Maliki said on state television, adding the commitment stemmed from "loyalty to our people" and respect for a call by Iraq's foremost Shi'ite clergy. On Friday, Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most respected cleric among Iraq's Shi'ite majority, called for the government formation process to begin. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed during the Sunni insurgents' advance in Iraq, spearheaded by Al-Qaida offshoot ISIL. The figure includes unarmed government troops machine gunned in mass graves by insurgents, as well as several reported incidents of prisoners killed in their cells by retreating government forces. US President Barack Obama has offered up to 300 American advisers to Iraq, about 130 of whom have now been deployed. Meanwhile, Militants overran the Ajeel oil site, 30 km east of Tikrit, which contains at least three small oilfields that produce 28,000 barrels per day, an engineer working at the field said. The engineer said local tribes had taken responsibility for protecting the fields after police withdrew but that they also left after the nearby town of al-Alam was seized by militants. Ajeel is connected to two pipelines, one running to Turkey's Ceyhan port and the other to the Baiji oil refinery, which remained a frontline early on Wednesday. — Reuters The helping hand
* An initial group sent to establish an operations centre included intelligence analysts, logistics experts and special operations forces. *
Another 50 US military personnel working in the region are expected to arrive within the next few days to create four additional assessment teams *
US military personnel are also flying regular manned and unmanned reconnaissance flights over Iraq *
Pentagon advisers met with Baghdad’s operations commander and agreed to set up a joint operation command |
|
|
Taliban battle Afghan forces for control of southern dist
Lashkar Gah, June 25 The Taliban launched its summer offensive in the middle of May and has ramped up attacks across the country, a major concern for the government, as most foreign troops leave by the end of the year. As many as 800 Taliban fighters have targeted government offices and police outposts in the Sangin district of Helmand province, said provincial government spokesman Omar Zwak. “Hundreds of fresh (Afghan) troops have arrived and a full-scale battle is going on,” said Zwak. At least 13 policemen, eight army soldiers and 100 Taliban fighters were killed in five days of fighting, said provincial police chief Abdul Qayum Baqizoy. He could not confirm the exact number of civilian casualties, but said they stood at around 40. A Taliban spokesman was not immediately available for comment. — Reuters |
|
|
Russia revokes right to send troops into Ukraine
Moscow, June 25 A senior lawmaker said the move, which Putin had requested, should be seen as an act of goodwill to help facilitate peace efforts in Ukraine, where Moscow sees itself as the defender of the rights of the large Russian-speaking minority. But he said the authority could be reinstated at short notice. The decision, effective immediately, was taken by 153 votes in favour to one against, with no abstentions. Russia’s Parliament rarely deviates from the line taken by Putin. After the vote, the Speaker of the chamber asked whether the lawmaker who voted against had accidentally pressed the wrong button. But his assertion of Russia’s responsibility to defend the rights of Ukraine’s Russian speakers, notably by annexing Crimea, have significantly boosted Putin’s wider popularity, helped by highly favourable reporting by state-controlled broadcasters. Western powers have accused Russia of allowing pro-Russian fighters to cross into eastern Ukraine along with heavy weaponry to confront government forces, and have threatened to toughen existing sanctions if Moscow does not do more to end the conflict. The Ukraine’s government has agreed a limited ceasefire with some of the Russian-speaking rebel groups to allow peace talks. However, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has threatened to end the truce early because of rebel attacks. — Reuters
|
|
|
Ferry survivors return to school amid tears, grief
Ansan, June 25 Some of the 73 students, wearing white and black uniforms and carrying book bags, bowed their heads as they cried and walked slowly from a bus to the school entrance. Some stopped to hug the parents of their friends, who caressed their hair and faces. Adults carried banners of encouragement. One read: “We pray the dead will rest in peace.” Another simply said: “I love you.” The anger, grief and deep remorse at Danwon High School in Ansan, outside of Seoul, was a reflection of what many South Koreans have felt since the April 16 sinking that left more than 300 people dead or missing. Of the 325 students on a class trip to the southern holiday island of Jeju, 75 were rescued, 245 died and 5 are still missing. Two of those rescued had already returned to school, officials said. The return to classes of the survivors, who had been staying at a facility in Ansan where they had classes and therapy sessions, comes amid court hearings for the ferry crew and the officials from the company that owned it. Many South Koreans also fault the government, the coast guard and even society for failing the victims. “We ask for a thorough investigation to find out why our friends and teachers had to become victims and why the rescue efforts didn’t proceed properly and led to more victims,” one of the surviving students, Shin Young-jin, said in an emotional address. — AP |
|
|
Washington, June 25 "The LeT was responsible for the May 23, 2014, attack on the Indian Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan," the State Department said today while announcing additional sanctions against LeT affiliates and leaders. The attack on the Indian Consulate in Herat on May 23, three days before the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was apparently part of an effort of the LeT to derail his SAARC initiative. Modi had invited the heads of the states of the South Asian nations including Pakistan for his swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi on May 26. On the eve of the swearing-in ceremony, Afghan President Hamid Karzai had told an Indian news channel that LeT was responsible for the terrorist attack. The Indian consulate in Herat was attacked on May 23 by four heavily-armed gunmen, who were subsequently killed in an encounter as India attributed the pre-dawn strike to terror elements "beyond the borders" of the war-torn country. Since its inception, the LeT has been focused on carrying out major terrorist attacks inside India. The LeT claimed responsibility for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed at least 166 persons. In 2011, the LeT was responsible for multiple terror attacks, mostly in Jammu and Kashmir, and in 2012, the LeT claimed responsibility for an attack against an Indian army convoy in Kashmir that killed one civilian and injured two others, the State Department said. The LeT was designated as a terrorist organisation in December 2001. Since the original designation, LeT has repeatedly changed its name in an effort to avoid sanctions. More specifically, the LeT created Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a front organisation, claiming that the group was an "organization for the preaching of Islam, politics, and social work", the State Department said. Al-Anfal Trust, Tehrik-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool, and Tehrik-e-Tahafuz Qibla Awwal are also LeT front organisations. — PTI The bigger plan
* The attack on the Indian Consulate in Herat on May 23, three days before the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was apparently part of an effort of the LeT to derail his SAARC initiative *
Modi had invited the heads of the states of the South Asian nations including Pakistan for his swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi on May 26 *
Since its inception, the LeT has been focused on carrying out major terrorist attacks inside India. The LeT claimed responsibility for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed at least 166 persons |
|
|
US names JuD as terror outfit, sanctions two LeT leaders
Washington, June 25 The State Department has amended Lashkar-e-Taiba's designations to add the aliases: Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Al-Anfal Trust, Tehrik-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool and Tehrik-e-Tahafuz Qibla Awwal, an official statement said. Simultaneously, the Department of the Treasury targeted the financial and leadership networks of LeT by designating Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry (Ahmad) and Muhammad Hussein Gill as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). Ahmad and Gill are being designated for acting for or on behalf of LeT, a terrorist organisation based in Pakistan. Treasury and the Department of State have designated 22 individuals and four entities associated with LeT. LeT was responsible for the deadly November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai. The group's leader is Hafiz Saeed is also a designated terrorist leader. — PTI |
UN names Lanka rights probe panel
Indian-origin judge is Singapore Attorney General Scotland Yard to interview Rupert
Murdoch: Report Rival nations mark 64th anniversary of Korean War Ship with 16 Indians stranded off Dubai for a year Court moves closer to indicting Spanish princess
|
||||||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
one of the Iraq's largest air bases and seized control of several small oilfields on Wednesday as US military experts arrived to set up an operations centre to help Iraqi security forces counter a mounting Sunni insurgency.
Russian Parliament on Wednesday revoked the right it had granted President Vladimir Putin in March to order a military intervention in Ukraine, where Kiev is struggling with a rebellion by Russian speakers in the east.
Ansan, June 25
