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Militants seize gas-rich town in Iraq
US top court puts curbs on Prez’s powers
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‘MH370 was on autopilot when crashed’
UK honours first World War Indian heroes
Thai junta challenges Thaksin to return
Indian family racially abused in Australia
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Militants seize gas-rich town in Iraq
Baghdad, June 26 Iraq’s presidency said a session of Parliament would be held on July 1, the first step to forming a new government that the international community hopes will be inclusive enough to undermine the insurgency. The overnight offensive included Mansouriyat al-Jabal, home to the gas fields where foreign companies operate, security forces said. The fighting threatens to rupture the country two and a half years after the end of US occupation. The insurgents, led by the hardline Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but also including other Sunni groups, blame Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for marginalising their sect during eight years in power and he is fighting for his job. Three months after elections, a chorus of Iraqi and international voices have called for the government formation process to be started, including Iraqi's most influential Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The presidency issued a decree on Thursday for a Parliament session on July 1, state television said. Parliament will then have 30 days to name a president and 15 days after that to name a prime minister although the process has been delayed in the past, taking nine months to seat the government in 2010. Maliki has dismissed the call of mainly Sunni political and religious figures, some with links to armed groups fighting Maliki, for a “national salvation government” that would choose figures to lead the country and, in effect, bypass the election. Sadr vows to ‘shake ground’
Iraq’s Shi'ite religious cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a foe of Maliki’s, called for all Iraqis to deplore the Sunni insurgency and rally behind the army but said that a new government was needed “with faces from all spectrums and away from sectarian quotas.” Head of the Mehdi Army, a Shi'ite militia which fought US troops in Baghdad, Sadr vowed in a speech on Wednesday night to “shake the ground under the feet of ignorance and radicalism just as we did under the feet of the occupier.”
Iraqi security forces launched an air-borne assault today on the militant-held city of Tikrit, seizing control of its strategically located university, officials said. Security forces members flew in by a helicopter and clashed with the militants before seizing the university, in an operation aimed at opening the way for the city to be retaken. — Agencies
Suicide bomber kills 19 |
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US top court puts curbs on Prez’s powers
Washington, June 26 In a ruling that will constrain future presidents, the court held on a 9-0 vote that the three appointments Obama made to the US National Labour Relations Board in 2012 were unlawful. The decision limits the ability of presidents to make so-called recess appointments without Senate approval. Although the court was unanimous on the outcome, the nine justices were divided 5-4 on the legal reasoning. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a fiery opinion, joined by his conservative colleagues, saying he would have gone further in limiting the recess appointment power. Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court's regular swing vote, joined liberal colleagues in the majority. — Reuters |
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Kerry tells Russia to disarm Ukraine rebels
Paris, June 26 Washington and other Western powers have stepped up pressure on Russia to take concrete action to defuse the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where a ceasefire between Russian-speaking rebels and government forces has appeared to be crumbling. “We are in full agreement that it is critical for Russia to show in the next hours, literally, that they’re moving to help disarm the separatists, to encourage them to disarm, to call on them to lay down their weapons and to begin to become part of a legitimate process,” Kerry told reporters in Paris. He said EU leaders would discuss possible sanctions on Russia at their summit in Belgium on Friday. Washington has said it also has new sanctions ready to go, but Kerry said the United States would prefer not to be in “sanctions mode” and wanted Russia to take action without pressure. “We would like to see a cooperative effort between the US, Europe and Russia and the Ukrainians,” Kerry added. — Reuters
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‘MH370 was on autopilot when crashed’
Sydney, June 26 The new analysis comes more than 100 days after the Boeing 777, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared on March 8 shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing. Investigators say what little evidence they have to work with suggests the plane was deliberately diverted thousands of kilometres from its scheduled route before eventually plunging into the Indian Ocean. The search was narrowed in April after a series of acoustic pings thought to be from the plane’s black box recorders were heard along a final arc where analysis of satellite data put its last location. But a month later, officials conceded the wreckage was not in that concentrated area, some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) off the northwest coast of Australia, and the search area would have to be expanded. “The new priority area is still focused on the seventh arc, where the aircraft last communicated with satellite. We are now shifting our attention to an area further south along the arc,” Australian Deputy PM Warren Truss said in Canberra. — Reuters
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UK honours first World War Indian heroes
London, June 26 The commemorative plaque will now be shipped to India to find a permanent home in the country as a symbol of Britain’s gratitude. As part of the UK’s ongoing First World War Centenary programme, the Indian plaque forms a set of 11 commissioned in honour of a total of 175 overseas war heroes who fought for the British during the Great War. The VC is Britain’s highest award for gallantry in the battlefield and the six Indians honoured include Risaldar Badlu Singh, Sepoy Chatta Singh, Naik Darwan Singh Negi, Rifleman Gabar Singh Negi, Lance-Daffadar Gobind Singh and Lance-Naik Lala. “These extraordinary men were awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest award for valour for their actions during the war. We shall honour them by engraving their names on bronze memorial plaques, to be presented to their home countries, sending out a powerful message that people of all backgrounds and faiths can unite in the name of a common cause,” said Sayeeda Warsi, senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) minister, at a special unveiling ceremony in London. She singled out Gobind Singh, who is recorded to have saved hundreds of lives in 1917 by offering to deliver messages back and forth in the midst of battle fire. “All these men are true heroes and we must ensure that future generations never forget that without them we would not have the rights and freedom we enjoy today,” Warsi added. Besides six VCs from India, the 11 countries covered by the special plaques include Pakistan, Nepal, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, US , Denmark, Belgium and Ukraine. — PTI
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Thai junta challenges Thaksin to return
Bangkok, June 26 “We would like to see him come back and fight the legal charges against him. If he is confident he can win, he will be able to return to politics,” said Gen Chatchalerm Chalermsukh, who is the army deputy chief of staff and a member of the National Council for Peace and Order that now governs Thailand. He told BBC that Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid prison for a corruption conviction, and his family could still return to Thai politics. “Everyone who is Thai and is qualified can take part in that election — even the family of Thaksin Shinawatra.” “You will see the way we run things — we are not hunting Thaksin, as we did before. He is free to do anything,” the general said. He also refuted claims by Suthep Thaugsuban, the leader of mass protests which crippled the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, that he discussed overthrowing the government with Gen Prayuth many times in recent years. — PTI
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Indian family racially abused in Australia
Melbourne, June 26 Raj Sharma, owner of the restaurant Indian Mehfil, along with his wife and two children, was racially abused and spat on by two men outside his restaurant in Ipswich locality in the Australian state of Queensland. The police identified the two suspects for the attack, one of whom was arrested and charged with public nuisance offence. A youth (22) has been arrested for the attack on the family and is due to appear in court on July 16. The man was later granted watch house bail. A second man was issued with an infringement notice, The Queensland Times reported. Ipswich Councillor Andrew Antoniolli said the attack was unacceptable. “Clearly they're copping abuse from the church garden on a regular basis," he said, adding that "This incident is quite disturbing from the point of view of the racism, the language and the abuse." Sharma said three men were sitting on the hill started racially abusing his
family who were on the veranda outside Indian Mehfil. — PTI |
Pak clashes: 4 militants, three security men killed BBC ex-presenter Savile ‘interfered with dead bodies’
Al-Shabaab insurgents attack hotel in Somalia Ferry disaster: S Korea to retain Hong-Won as PM Deadly attacks, low turnout mar Libya election Indian man jailed for hitting mother in Singapore |
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