The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Russia, Ukraine move closer to resuming truce after Berlin talks

BERLIN/KIEV, July 2
The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine agreed in Berlin today to hold three-way talks involving pro-Moscow rebels by Saturday to pave the way for a new ceasefire, despite continued fighting that Kiev says has now killed 200 of its troops.

"It is a clear commitment to a multilateral ceasefire," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier after talks with Russia's Sergei Lavrov, Ukraine's Pavlo Klimkin and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Russia and Ukraine continued to blame each other for the violence that marred the 10-day ceasefire, which Kiev declared over on Monday before resuming its military offensive against separatists in the east, many of whom had ignored the truce.

But Lavrov told a joint news conference alongside Klimkin and the two others that they had agreed to work for a "stable, long-term truce".

"We propose to achieve this through a meeting soon of the Contact Group, which - we hope - will hold a meeting in coming days and agree on the conditions for truce that would satisfy all sides," said the Russian minister.

That group, representing Ukraine, Moscow and the rebels, with Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mediation, should meet "no later than July 5th with the goal of reaching an unconditional and mutually agreed sustainable ceasefire", said a document agreed by all four ministers.

Klimkin added a note of caution, saying hostages must be released and Ukraine allowed to control its borders to stop the rebels receiving fresh fighters and weapons. The document said Russia made a commitment to allow Ukrainian border guards across checkpoints in Gukovo and Donetsk to control this.

"The de-escalation of the situation will happen when the peace plan of the Ukrainian president is respected in its totality," said Klimkin.

Lavrov said Ukrainian President Poroshenko's decision to end the ceasefire had cost "people's lives and serious destruction of civilian infrastructure ... but better late than never".

Threat of sanctions

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had warned Moscow shortly before the talks that economic sanctions remained an option unless it backed peace efforts.

"Regarding sanctions against Russia, we have so far reached level two and we cannot rule out having to go further," Merkel added, referring to measures against Russian officials and firms the West accuses of undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The European Union has threatened to ratchet up sanctions against the Russian economy unless it reins in the separatists in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies supporting them.

Russia to issue banknote dedicated to Crimea

ST PETERSBURG: Russia plans to issue a banknote dedicated to Crimea, a senior central bank official said on Wednesday, the latest expression of national pride over Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine. "We plan to issue a banknote dedicated to Crimea, but it will be a banknote of the denominations already in circulation," Georgy Luntovsky, the bank's first deputy chairman, told journalists at a banking conference in St Petersburg.

Attack on military bus kills 8 in Kabul

probing blast: Officials investigate at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul on Wednesday. Reuters

Kabul, July 2
A Taliban suicide bomber in Kabul killed eight military officers today in an attack on an air force bus, Afghan officials said, in the latest strike against the national security forces as US troops withdraw.

The Afghan capital has been relatively peaceful since the presidential election on June 14, though there have been street demonstrations as politicians are locked in a dispute over vote fraud.

"As a result of a suicide attack this morning on an ANA (Afghan National Army) air force bus in (west) Kabul, eight army officers were martyred and 13 wounded," defence ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi said in a statement.

"The wounded personnel have been taken to hospital." Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the interior ministry, told AFP that five civilians were also wounded in the attack that targeted the bus as it took military staff to work.

The Taliban used a recognised Twitter account to claim responsibility for the blast, adding that the suicide attacker approached the vehicle on foot before detonating his explosives-packed vest.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that at least 25 people had been killed on the bus, though the insurgents regularly exaggerate death tolls after attacks. — AFP

Syria weapons moved onto US ship for destruction

Rome, July 2
A Danish ship carrying some of Syria’s most dangerous chemical agents began transferring them on Wednesday onto an American cargo vessel equipped with special gear to neutralise them at sea, officials said.

The pier-side handover in southern Italy came after a series of delays in the internationally-backed plan to destroy the Damascus government’s stock of toxic arms. Denmark’s Ark Future, which had brought the agents from Syria, started offloading the first containers in the port of Gioia Tauro, said the police and officials from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

They were taken to the converted US container ship Cape Ray which will sail them into the middle of the Mediterranean over the next few days and start transforming them into a much less poisonous soup of chemicals, ready for disposal back on land, the officials said.

Experts have said the process could take between 60 to 90 days, depending on the weather. The Damascus government, fighting rebels for more than three years, agreed to hand over its stockpile, which includes precursors for deadly nerve agent sarin gas, under a deal backed by Washington and Moscow in September.

The agreement averted US military strikes after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack in the outskirts of Syria’s capital, Damascus. Last month, Syria handed over the remaining 8 percent of the 1,300 tonnes it declared to the OPCW, which is monitoring the process.

The Syrian government had said fighting delayed the transfer of the last parts of its stockpile. The Cape Ray had been docked in southern Spain for weeks. — Reuters

Sarkozy charged with corruption

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves his home in Paris on Wednesday. AFP

Paris, July 2
France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy has been charged with corruption and influence peddling, French prosecutors said today, a dramatic move in a criminal probe that could wreck his hopes of a political comeback.

The decision came after Sarkozy was questioned for 15 hours, marking the first time a French ex-head of state had been taken into custody in a criminal investigation.

The right-wing leader had been detained at a police station in a Paris suburb in connection with a suspected attempt to illegally influence judicial proceedings in one of a raft of colourful corruption cases he is implicated in.

Sarkozy turned up at the station in Nanterre in a black saloon car with tinted windows at 8 am (0600 GMT).

After the lengthy questioning, the former president was taken in the early hours of today to appear before a judge, where he was charged with corruption and influence peddling, the prosecution said in a statement to AFP.

If convicted of those charges, he could face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. — AFP

Pak’s new law gives security forces shoot-at-sight powers
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Afzal Khan in Islamabad
Amid an all-out military operation against the Taliban in North Waziristan, Pakistan's Parliament on Wednesday passed a controversial anti-terror law, giving security forces unbridled powers, including shoot-at-sight suspects involved in terrorism, arson and murder.

The "Protection of Pakistan Bill 2014" empowers an official of grade 15 (Non Gazetted Officers/Junior Officers/ JCOs) and above to issue such orders.

It also allows a suspect to be kept under detention for a period of 60 days after getting judicial remand. Under the act, security forces can conduct search operations without securing warrant from a judicial officer.

To allay apprehensions of rights groups, it envisages detention centre under the supervision of courts and provisions for judicial inquiry, if anyone was killed by security agencies under its ambit. Another important feature is the imprisonment for at least 20 years for those convicted of militancy.

Cybercrimes and offences related to information technology, as well as the crossing of national boundaries illegally have been included in the list of scheduled offences. Punishments under these offences can be extended to 20 years.

The bill was adopted with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) voting in favour of the resolution. It will remain in force for two years.

The draft bill was introduced in the National Assembly or lower house, by Minister of Science and Technology Zahid Hamid on behalf of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

Earlier on Monday, the Senate or upper house had unanimously approved the bill. Hamid said the bill was of "utmost importance" due to the military operation in North Waziristan, to enable security forces to take prompt action against the rebels.

(With inputs from PTI)

The Protection of Pakistan Bill, 2014

It empowers an official of grade 15 (Non Gazetted Officers/Junior Officers/ JCOs) and above to issue shoot-at-sight orders

It also allows a suspect to be kept under detention for a period of 60 days after getting judicial remand

Under the act, security forces can conduct search operations without securing warrant from a judicial officer

Another important feature is the imprisonment for at least 20 years for those convicted of militancy.

Iraq turmoil deepens, House session ends in disarray

Baghdad, July 2
Iraq’s leadership was under increased pressure today to form a new government to deal with a Sunni militant onslaught that has threatened to tear the country apart, after Parliament’s first session ended in disarray.

Following a break called to calm soaring tempers, so many Sunni and Kurdish deputies stayed away from the session yesterday that the quorum was lost and a Speaker could not be elected.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s bid for a third term has been battered by the jihadist-led offensive that has seized large chunks of five provinces, adding fuel to dissatisfaction over persistent allegations of sectarianism and monopolising power.

The crisis has alarmed world leaders, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and polarised Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish populations. That disunity quickly manifested itself in what was the opening session of a Parliament elected in April.

Kurdish lawmaker Najiba Najib interrupted efforts to select a new Speaker, calling on the government to “end the blockade” and send withheld budget funds to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

Kadhim al-Sayadi, an MP in Shiite premier Maliki’s bloc, responded by threatening to “crush the heads” of the country’s autonomous Kurds, whose regional leader Massud Barzani told the BBC they would hold a referendum on independence within months. Some Sunni MPs walked out at the mention of the Islamic State, the jihadist group leading the anti-government offensive, and enough Sunnis and Kurds did not return following the break that the session was without a quorum. — AFP

Maliki offers amnesty to tribes

Iraq PM Nuri al-Maliki offered an amnesty on Wednesday to tribes who fought the government, but excluded those who had "killed and shed blood." "I announce the offer of the amnesty pardon for all tribes and for all people who were involved in acting against the state to return to their sanity, and they are welcome. We will not exclude anyone except those who killed and shed blood," Maliki said in his weekly televised address. — Reuters.