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Turkey’s PM warns of crackdown

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 31 Mei 2014 | 21.51

ANKARA: On Saturday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that police would clamp down on anyone defying a ban on demonstrations at Istanbul's Taksim Square on the anniversary of a wave of mass protests last year.

"If you go there, our security forces have received clear-cut instructions and will do whatever is necessary from A to Z," Erdogan told thousands of supporters at an Istanbul rally.

"You will not be able to take to (Taksim) like you did last year because you are obliged to abide by the laws ... If you do not; the state will do whatever is necessary for its security."


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West Africa seeks regional effort against Boko Haram

ACCRA: The West African bloc announced plans on Saturday to increase cooperation with Central African states in the battle against "terrorism", amid fears of Boko Haram's insurgency spreading across the region.

Nigeria has repeatedly said that it needs more help from its central African neighbours — including Chad, Cameroon and Niger — to end the brutal five-year insurgency being waged by the Islamists.

In the final communique of an extraordinary security summit, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said that it would "establish a high level partnership with Central African States to effectively combat terrorism".

Nigeria insists that Boko Haram fighters escape military pursuit by fleeing across the porous borders of its northeastern neighbours and some analysts believe senior Boko Haram commanders are in fact based in Cameroon.

Nigeria's presidency has accused Cameroon of not doing enough to help defeat Boko Haram.

The call at the West Africa summit follows a joint declaration of war against Islamist insurgents by Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger at a meeting in Paris.

On Mali, ECOWAS urged the United Nations to strengthen its peacekeeping force deployed in the country, which is known as MINUSMA.

It also asked the UN security council to consider imposing "targeted sanctions against the armed groups or individuals who impede the peace process" in Mali.

The security council had earlier this week urged Mali to implement complete ceasefire between the government and armed rebel groups following fresh fighting in the northern desert town of Kidal.

Mali was plunged into chaos in January 2012, when the Tuareg separatists launched a string of attacks in the north, which the army was ill-equipped to defend.

A coup in Bamako led to chaos, and militants linked to Al-Qaida overpowered Tuareg to seize control of Mali's northern desert.

A French-led military operation launched in January 2013 ousted the extremists, but sporadic attacks have continued and the Tuareg demand for autonomy has not been resolved.


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Syrian rebels kill 20 troops in tunnel blast

BEIRUT: Syrian activists have said that rebels have blown up a tunnel packed with explosives in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 20 pro-government fighters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the blast took place on Friday near the Zahrawi market not far from the citadel in Old Aleppo. It also said that clashes followed the explosion.

A powerful rebel alliance called the Islamic Front claimed responsibility for the blast. In a tweet, it said that it killed at least 40 government gunmen.


The Islamic Front also tweeted a video of the explosion. It shows a massive blast erupting from a skyline of rooftops and satellite dishes, throwing chunks of brick and a huge cloud of dust into the air.

The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other Associated Press reporting.


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UAE launches polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 28 Mei 2014 | 21.51

ISLAMABAD: On the directive of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE Project to Assist Pakistan (UAE PAP) has announced the launch of a vaccination campaign against polio in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other tribal areas in Pakistan.

The campaign, under the slogan 'Health for All — Better Future', was launched during a press conference in Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

"The launch of the UAE vaccination campaign came as per the directives of His Highness the Head of State to provide humanitarian and development assistance to the friendly people of Pakistan," Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli, director of UAE PAP, said.

"It also comes as part of the initiative of His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to eradicate polio in the world."

He pointed out that the UAE campaign is a humanitarian initiative aimed at vaccinating 3.643 million Pakistani children against polio over a period of three months — June, August and September, 2014.

Sheikh Mohamed had previously donated 440 million (around $120 million) as contribution in support of the global effort to eradicate polio by 2018, with special focus on Pakistan and Afghanistan.

This contribution is the second one to be provided by Sheikh Mohamed for delivering life-saving vaccines to children all over the world.

In 2011, Sheikh Mohamed and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a strategic partnership according to which a total amount of $100 million, divided equally between the two parties, was presented for the purchase and delivery of vital vaccines for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Also, the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi in 2013 saw the announcement of the 2013-2018 Strategic Plan which aims to completely eradicate polio, which would cost the international community $5.5 billion.


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Key Pak Taliban faction breaks away

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday suffered a major setback after a powerful faction split from it citing the umbrella organisation's involvement in criminal activities and bombing of public places, complicating the already-fragile peace dialogue with the government.

The 'Khan Sajna' group has parted ways from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) led by Maulana Fazlullah due to its involvement in criminal activities and policy of bombing public places, Azam Tariq, former TTP spokesman and a member of its powerful shura (council), said.

"We announce our defection from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, we have chosen our Khalid Mehsud as the new leader for South Waziristan," Tariq said.

"The TTP leadership has fallen into the hands of a bunch of conspirators, the umbrella organisation is involved in criminal activities like robbery and extortion," he said in a statement.

"Khalid Mehsud" known as "Khan Said Sajna" was a contender for the TTP's leadership after its former chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike last year.

The break-away faction belongs to the Mehsud tribe, considered to be one of the most important and powerful of the various groups that comprise the TTP.

Tariq said there were differences within the rebels over the issue of peace talks with the government, which are currently stalled. He said the TTP needs reforms.

The split has come at time when the Taliban are facing aerial strikes by the government forces and their leader Fazlullah, hiding in Afghanistan, is trying to assert his authority.

He had removed Sajna as chief of South Waziristan over fighting with another group led by Shehyar Mehsud but Sajna refused to relinquish his position.

More than 50 rebels were killed due to fighting between Sajna and Shehyar groups in the previous weeks.

It is not know whether intelligence agencies had a hand in the split.

Pakistani air force jets last week pounded Taliban targets in the country's restive tribal region near the Afghan border.

The death toll in the air strikes and targeted on ground offensives has crossed 80, with over 75 militants and four security personnel among those killed.


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US poet Maya Angelou dies at 86

WASHINGTON: Maya Angelou, who rose from poverty, segregation and the harshest of childhoods to become a force on stage, screen, the printed page and the inaugural dais, has died. She was 86.

Her death was confirmed in a statement issued by Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she had served as a professor of American Studies since 1982.

Tall and regal, with a deep, majestic voice, Angelou defied all probability and category, becoming one of the first black women to enjoy mainstream success as an author and thriving in virtually every artistic medium. The young single mother who performed at strip clubs to earn a living later wrote and recited the most popular presidential inaugural poem in history. The childhood victim of rape wrote a million-selling memoir, befriended Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, and performed on stages around the world.

An actress, singer and dancer in the 1950s and 1960s, she broke through as an author in 1970 with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", which became standard (and occasionally censored) reading, and was the first of a multipart autobiography that continued through the decades. In 1993, she was a sensation reading her cautiously hopeful "On the Pulse of the Morning" at former President Bill Clinton's first inauguration. Her confident performance openly delighted Clinton and made the poem a bestseller, if not a critical favourite. For former President George W Bush, she read another poem, "Amazing Peace", at the 2005 Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the White House.

She remained close enough to the Clintons. In 2008, she supported Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy over the ultimately successful run of the country's first black president, Barack Obama. But a few days before Obama's inauguration, she was clearly overjoyed. She told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette she would be watching it on television "somewhere between crying and praying and being grateful and laughing when I see faces I know".

She was a mentor to Oprah Winfrey, whom she befriended when Winfrey was still a local television reporter, and often appeared on her friend's talk show program. She mastered several languages and published not just poetry, but advice books, cookbooks and children's stories. She wrote music, plays and screenplays, received an Emmy nomination for her acting in "Roots" and never lost her passion for dance, the art she considered closest to poetry.

"The line of the dancer: If you watch (Mikhail) Baryshnikov and you see that line, that's what the poet tries for. The poet tries for the line, the balance," she told The Associated Press in 2008, shortly before her birthday.

Her very name as an adult was a reinvention. Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St Louis and raised in Stamps, Arkansas, and San Francisco, moving back and forth between her parents and her grandmother. She was smart and fresh to the point of danger, packed off by her family to California after sassing a white store clerk in Arkansas. Other times, she didn't speak at all: At age 7, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend and didn't speak for years. She learned by reading, and listening.

"I loved the poetry that was sung in the black church: 'Go down Moses, way down in Egypt's land'," she told the AP. "It just seemed to me the most wonderful way of talking. And 'Deep River.' Ooh! Even now it can catch me. And then I started reading, really reading, at about 7 1/2, because a woman in my town took me to the library, a black school library. ... And I read every book, even if I didn't understand it."

At age 9, she was writing poetry. By 17, she was a single mother. In her early 20s, she danced at a strip joint, ran a brothel, was married (to Enistasious Tosh Angelos, her first of three husbands) and then divorced. By her mid-20s, she was performing at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, where she shared billing with another future star, Phyllis Diller. She spent a few days with Billie Holiday, who was kind enough to sing a lullaby to Angelou's son Guy, surly enough to heckle her off the stage and astute enough to tell her: "You're going to be famous. But it won't be for singing."

After renaming herself Maya Angelou for the stage ("Maya" was a childhood nickname), she toured in "Porgy and Bess" and Jean Genet's "The Blacks" and danced with Alvin Ailey. She worked as a coordinator for the civil rights group Southern Christian Leadership Council, and lived for years in Egypt and Ghana, where she met Malcolm X and remained close to him until his assassination, in 1965. Three years later, she was helping King organize the Poor People's March in Memphis, Tennessee, where the civil rights leader was slain on Angelou's 40th birthday.

"Every year, on that day, Coretta and I would send each other flowers," Angelou said of King's widow, Coretta Scott King, who died in 2006.

Angelou was little known outside the theatrical community until "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" which might not have happened if James Baldwin hadn't persuaded Angelou, still grieving over King's death, to attend a party at Jules Feiffer's house. Feiffer was so taken by Angelou that he mentioned her to Random House editor Bob Loomis, who persuaded her to write a book.

Angelou's memoir was occasionally attacked, for seemingly opposite reasons. In a 1999 essay in Harper's, author Francine Prose criticized "Caged Bird" as "manipulative" melodrama. Meanwhile, Angelou's passages about her rape and teen pregnancy have made it a perennial on the American Library Association's list of works that draw complaints from parents and educators.

"I thought that it was a mild book. There's no profanity," Angelou told the AP. "It speaks about surviving, and it really doesn't make ogres of many people. I was shocked to find there were people who really wanted it banned, and I still believe people who are against the book, have never read the book."

Angelou appeared on several TV programs, notably the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries "Roots". She was nominated for a Tony Award in 1973 for her appearance in the play "Look Away". She directed the film "Down in the Delta", about a drug-wrecked woman who returns to the home of her ancestors in the Mississippi Delta. She won three Grammys for her spoken-word albums and in 2013 received an honorary National Book Award for her contributions to the literary community.


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Putin accuses Prince Charles of 'unroyal behaviour'

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 25 Mei 2014 | 21.50

ST PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Britain's Prince Charles on Saturday of unacceptable and unroyal behaviour by comparing him with Adolf Hitler over Russia's stance in Ukraine.

Putin said he had not heard the comment, made by the prince to a Jewish woman who fled Poland during World War II, but asked reporters to pass on a message to the heir-to-the-British throne and the country's Prime Minister David Cameron.

"This is not royal behaviour," Putin told journalists from Reuters and other international news agencies at the Konstantinovsky Palace, built in the 18th and 19th centuries on the coast of the Gulf of Finland outside St Petersburg, Russia's former imperial capital.

"If you are angry, this means you are wrong. I have not heard this remark. If (it was said), then it is unacceptable. I think he himself realises that. He is a well-brought-up person.

"I know him and other members of the royal family personally. But I have got used to all kinds of things over the years."

According to a British newspaper, the 65-year-old prince made the comment earlier this week during a tour of Canada.

Charles told the woman, who lost relatives during the Holocaust and was recounting how she had fled Poland, that "Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler".

Putin's response came after Russia's foreign ministry had criticised Charles for his remarks, saying they did not reflect well on a future British monarch and were an "unacceptable" attempt to spread propaganda against Russia over Ukraine.

The Soviet Union lost more than 20 million people in the war and the victory over Nazi Germany is celebrated across Russia as a national triumph.

Putin, a former KGB spy, has repeatedly spoken about the sacrifices of what Russians call the Great Patriotic War and he himself lost a brother in the Nazi siege of Leningrad.

The palace where Saturday's interview took place, where G20 leaders met last September, was itself seriously damaged between 1941 and 1944 by the German armed forces.

However, Russia's annexation of Crimea has led to some in Ukraine and a few Western politicians to liken the incursion by Putin to the actions of Hitler.

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had to clarify remarks in March suggesting Putin's justification for his actions over Crimea to protect ethnic Russians was reminiscent of claims made by Hitler over foreign territories.

The prince's office and Cameron, who has scolded the Kremlin for annexing Crimea and supporting pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, have declined to comment on Charles's reported remarks because they had been made during a private conversation.

However, the comments have raised some eyebrows in Britain as the royal family is not expected to voice political views publicly and the head of state is merely a constitutional figurehead.

Queen Elizabeth, Charles's 88-year-old mother, has never aired such emotive sentiments during her long reign.

"In constitutional monarchy policy and diplomacy should be conducted by parliament and government," opposition Labour lawmaker Mike Gapes wrote on Twitter. "Monarchy should be seen and not heard."


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Iran court convicts editor of banned daily

TEHRAN: An Iranian court convicted on Sunday the editor and a contributor of a banned newspaper over a series of charges, including lying about Islam and spreading anti-regime propaganda, reports said.

The media watchdog banned the reformist Bahar daily in October, 2013 after it published an article the authorities deemed as an insult to Shia Islam for questioning one of its core beliefs.

Its editor-in-chief, Saeed Pourazizi, who was detained and released on bail following the closure, was on Sunday convicted of "propaganda against the establishment and spreading lies and rumours," ISNA news agency reported.

The Tehran criminal court found Ali Asghar Gharavi, the article's author, guilty of writing "against the standards of Islam" and "spreading lies and rumours," the agency added.

The court also ruled the newspaper was guilty of spreading "propaganda against the establishment and insulting Islam and its sanctities."

The decision could see Bahar permanently banned, while Pourazizi and Gharavi now have to wait for the court's ruling on their sentences.

President Hassan Rouhani, a self-declared moderate who has pledged to implement more freedom, has said the closure of newspapers must be taken as "a last resort".

But three reformist dailies have so far been banned by the press watchdog since he took office in August.


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Pope pushes for Middle East peace

BETHLEHEM (Palestinian Territories): Pope Francis invited Israeli President Shimon Peres and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas on Sunday to his home in the Vatican for a "heartfelt prayer" for peace.

"I wish to invite you, president Mahmud Abbas, together with President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace," he said at the end of an open-air mass in Manger Square in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

"I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer," he said.

"Building peace is difficult, but living without peace is a constant torment. The men and women of these lands, and of the entire world, all of them, ask us to bring before God their fervent hopes for peace."

As Francis entered the square to conduct the mass outside the Basilica of the Nativity, he was welcomed by 10,000 cheering pilgrims, who waved flags and sang hymns and carols as he drove up in a white open jeep.

Earlier, he urged an end to the "increasingly unacceptable" Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling on leaders to show "courage" to achieve a peace based on a two-state solution.

"The time has come for everyone to find the courage... to forge a peace which rests on the acknowledgement by all of the right of two states to exist and to live in peace and security within internationally recognised borders," he said on meeting Abbas at his presidential palace.

Last month, US-led peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators collapsed in bitter recriminations. That ended a nine-month bid to reach a solution and left no political initiative on the horizon.


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China launches anti-terror drive after bombing

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 24 Mei 2014 | 21.50

URUMQI (China): Authorities announced a security crackdown on Saturday in China's Muslim northwest after a deadly bombing raised questions about whether tightening Beijing's grip might be feeding anti-Chinese anger and a rise of organized terrorism.

Thursday's bombing at a morning street market selling vegetables and other produce in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, killed at least 43 people and left the region's ethnic Chinese on edge.

"We don't know why there have been explosions, but we are definitely worried about personal safety," said Luo Guiyou, a member of China's Han ethnic majority who manages an auto parts store.

Police announced names of five people blamed for the attack and said they were part of a "terrorist gang." Based on their names, all appeared to be Uighurs, the region's most populous Muslim minority. Police said four were killed in the bombing and the fifth captured Thursday night.

An anti-terrorism campaign with Xinjiang "as the major battlefield" will target religious extremist groups, underground gun workshops and "terrorist training camps," the official Xinhua News Agency said. "Terrorists and extremists will be hunted down and punished."

Beijing blames unrest on extremists with foreign ties, but Uighur activists say tensions are fueled by an influx of migrants from China's dominant Han ethnic group and discriminatory government policies.

"The violence is an indication that people are willing to take more drastic measures to express their opposition," said David Brophy, a Xinjiang historian at the University of Sydney.

A heavy-handed response might backfire by inciting sympathy from Central Asian radicals about "the plight of Muslims in Xinjiang," said Ahmed AS Hashim, a terrorism expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technical University.

"In fact, groups like al-Qaida and others are now beginning to think that China could be a new oppressor of the Muslim world," he said.

In Beijing, the nation's capital, police announced that they were canceling vacations for officers and would step up patrols at train stations, schools, hospitals and markets.

A measure under which passengers at stations in central Beijing are required to undergo security checks will be extended to three additional stations, the city government said. Passengers at all stations already are required to submit handbags and parcels for X-ray examination under rules imposed ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Thursday's violence was the deadliest single attack in Xinjiang's recent history, and the latest of several that have targeted civilians in contrast to a past pattern of targeting police and officials. It was the highest death toll since several days of rioting in Urumqi in 2009 between Uighurs and members of China's dominant Han ethnic group left nearly 200 people dead.

On Saturday, paramilitary police with rifles stood every 20 meters (70 feet) along the streets around where the bombing had taken place. The street where the market had been was closed to vehicle traffic.

Li Shengli, who was in Urumqi on a business trip from Shanghai, brought three stems of yellow chrysanthemums.

"I am here to remember the dead," he said. He was quickly pulled away by a propaganda official who warned him not to talk to reporters.

The family of one victim, Lu Xiangwang, a 58-year-old driving teacher, said they were waiting to receive his body.

In his parents' apartment near the market, Lu's mother sat sobbing on a couch, surrounded by relatives. A neighbor, Ji Jinzhu, said Lu spent the night before the attack at the apartment to look after his ill father.

"He was hit by an explosive just moments after he stepped outside this residential compound into the street," Ji said. "The father is feeling very guilty because had it not been for his illness, his son would not have had to come to take care of him."

Ji, 80, said he was shopping in the crowded market Thursday morning with his wife when the two off-road vehicles raced into the street.

"When they passed me, I heard explosions and saw flames going up into the sky and smoke filling up the air," he said.

An Associated Press reporter who visited a Uighur neighborhood was escorted away by 11 uniformed police officers and street wardens.

The influx of ethnic Han Chinese has left Uighurs feeling marginalized in their homeland and excluded from decision-making.

Beijing has responded with an overwhelming security presence and additional restrictions on the ability of Uighurs to travel and on their culture and religious practices.

Recent attacks show increased audaciousness and deliberateness. They are aimed at the public instead of police and government targets. But their planning and weapons still are relatively simple, suggesting a lack of foreign support.

"I don't think there's any doubt that these acts qualify as acts of terrorism," said Brophy, the Xinjiang historian. "But there's still very little hard evidence that would allow us to describe a terrorist network or a terrorist organization operating in Xinjiang."

Security was tightened still further after a bomb attack at an Urumqi train station as Chinese President Xi Jinping was visiting the region last month. Three people were killed, including two attackers, and 79 were injured.

Prior to the train station attack, Urumqi had been relatively quiet since the 2009 ethnic riots. The city's population of more than 3 million people is about three-fourths Han Chinese.

In March, 29 people were slashed and stabbed to death at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming. That attack was blamed on Uighur extremists.

On Friday evening, some major roads in Urumqi were closed while more than 100 army trucks and police vehicles drove down them in a show of force, according to state media.

One banner carried by a vehicle read: "Fighting against violent crime according to law to resolutely safeguard social stability."

Beijing says an organized militancy with elements based overseas is behind the attacks. However, little evidence has been provided to back up the claim and many analysts doubt such an organization exists.

Xinhua, the government news agency, said the group blamed for this week's attack "took part in illegal religious activities, watched and listened to terrorist violence video and audio materials."

Beijing promotes the notion of a "terrorism movement" in Xinjiang to justify heavy security while avoiding foreign criticism and possible damage to relations with Islamic nations, said Hashim, the terrorism expert.

A handful of Uighur activists might be veterans of fighting in Afghanistan, he said.

"They seem to be getting better at what they are doing in terms of causing violence," Hashim said. "But it's still, from my perspective, not the dire threat that China wants to paint it to the outside world."


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Somali parliament under attack by al-Shabaab

MOGADISHU: Somalia's Shabaab rebels launched a major attack on the national parliament on Saturday, setting off a car bomb and penetrating the building with suicide commandos, police and witnesses said.

A huge car bomb went off outside the gates of the parliament in central Mogadishu shortly before midday, and a string of smaller blasts followed by intense gunfire were also heard coming from inside the complex.

Police said at least four attackers were killed, and AFP reporters at the scene also counted four dead security guards, adding that a number people had also been wounded. Exchanges of gunfire could still be heard coming from inside the building more than an hour after the attack started.

"There is an attack near the parliament building. There was a car bomb explosion and gunfire broke out," police official Husein Ise told AFP.

Witnesses said Shabaab militants, the al-Qaida-linked group fighting to overthrow Somalia's internationally-backed government, stormed into the complex while MPs were meeting inside, and a spokesman for the militants confirmed they were behind the attack.

"The so-called Somali parliament is a military zone. Our fighters are there to carry out a holy operation," Shabaab's military spokesman, Abdulaziz Abu Musab, told AFP by telephone.

"We shall issue a comprehensive report after the conclusion of the operation," he added.

Recent Shabaab attacks have targeted key areas of government, or the security forces, in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities that they are winning the war against the Islamist fighters.

The parliament attack appeared to be a repeat of an assault on February against the heavily-fortified presidential palace, which saw a car bomb go off at the gates of the Villa Somalia followed by an attack by suicide gunmen which left at least 16 dead including the attackers.

In that attack, the Shabaab gunmen were dressed in police and military uniforms.

Last month two Somali MPs were also assassinated by the Shabaab in shooting and bomb attacks inside Mogadishu, and the Shabaab said they hoped to kill all MPs "one by one".

The Shabaab, who also claimed responsibility for the September 2013 attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall in which at least 67 people were killed, have also carried out a string of other high-profile attacks in Mogadishu this year.

Hardline Shabaab insurgents once controlled most of southern and central Somalia, including large parts of the capital, but were driven out of fixed positions in Mogadishu and Somalia's major towns by a 22,000-strong African Union force.

AU troops launched a fresh offensive in March against Shabaab bases, and although they seized a series of towns, the insurgents are thought to have fled in advance and suffered few casualties.


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Ex-Thai PM to be held for a week; Senate dissolved

BANGKOK: Thailand's coup leaders said on Saturday that they would keep former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, cabinet members and anti-government protest leaders detained for up to a week to give them "time to think" and to keep the country calm. Outspoken academics were also summoned to report to the junta.

The ruling military council also dissolved the country's senate on Saturday, stripping away the last democratic institution in the country.

The moves appear aimed at consolidating power and preventing any high-profile figures from rallying opposition to the military, which seized power on Thursday after months of sometimes violent street protests and deadlock between the elected government and protesters supported by Thailand's elite establishment.

For a second day, hundreds of anti-coup protesters defied the military's ban on large gatherings, shouting slogans and waving signs on Saturday outside a Bangkok cinema before moving on to Victory Monument, a major city landmark several kilometers (miles) away.

The demonstrators briefly confronted rows of soldiers and police who were lined up with riot shields on a road leading to the monument, with a few scuffles breaking out before most of the protesters broke away. They were later seen streaming onto the city's Skytrain elevated transit system, apparently riding over police lines to the monument.

By late afternoon, about 500 demonstrators had gathered at Victory Monument. Army and police presence was low key.

Most of Bangkok, however, remained calm on Saturday, and there was little military presence on the streets.

Deputy army spokesman Col Weerachon Sukondhapatipak said that all those detained by the junta were being well-treated and that the aim of the military was to achieve a political compromise. He said later that "at least 100" people were in military custody, but he could not provide exact numbers or names.

"This is in a bid for everybody who is involved in the conflict to calm down and have time to think," Weerachon said. "We don't intend to limit their freedom, but it is to relieve the pressure."

The military leaders also summoned 35 other people, including more politicians, political activists and, for the first time, outspoken academics, to "maintain peace and order." It was not immediately clear whether they would be detained.

One of those on the list, Kyoto University professor of Southeast Asian studies Pavin Chachavalpongpun, said by phone from Japan that he would not turn himself in. He said the summons meant the junta felt insecure.

"The military claiming to be a mediator in the Thai conflict, that is all just nonsense," he said. "This is not about paving the way for reform and democratization. We are really going back to the crudest form of authoritarianism."

The junta announced in a televised statement Saturday evening that it would assume all lawmaking power and that the Senate would be dissolved.

It had left the Senate in place when it suspended the constitution and dissolved the lower house of Parliament on Thursday, presumably in hopes that the upper house might later approve some of its measures and provide a vestige of democracy. The reason for Saturday's about-face was not known.

Several nations have condemned the coup. The United States, a key ally of Thailand, suspended $3.5 million in military aid on Friday, and recommended that Americans reconsider any non-essential travel to the Southeast Asian country.

The army says it launched the coup to prevent more turmoil after two days of peace talks in which neither political faction would agree to back down from its stance in the ongoing crisis. It was the 12th time in eight decades that Thailand's powerful military has seized power.

For months, anti-government protesters linked to Thailand's royalist establishment had blocked streets in Bangkok, demanding that the government step down over allegations of corruption and ties to Yingluck's brother, exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was himself deposed in a 2006 military coup.

Populist parties affiliated with the Shinawatras have won every election since 2001 in Thailand. Thaksin still wields enormous influence over the country's political affairs and remains at the heart of the ongoing crisis.

The protesters have been demanding that the government resign in favor of an unelected council, while the government said it was elected by a clear majority in 2010 and could not step down. An election was held in February, but it was invalidated by a court after violence disrupted voting.

It was unclear on Saturday exactly how many political leaders were being detained by the army.

Known to be among them were two former prime ministers: Yingluck, who was removed from office by a court earlier this month on nepotism charges, and her temporary replacement, Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan.

Several cabinet members as well as leaders of the anti-government protests have been held since Thursday's coup.

UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay urged Thailand to "ensure respect for human rights and a prompt restoration of the rule of law in the country." Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, criticized the detentions of political leaders.


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Somali extremist threatens US, Kenya with attacks

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 22 Mei 2014 | 21.50

MOGADISHU, Somalia: Making a rare threat against the United States, a senior member of Somalia's Islamic insurgent group that has carried out terrorist attacks abroad said on Thursday that holy war will come to America and that Islam's flag will one day fly over Washington.

The al-Shabab fighter, who has a $5 million US bounty on his head, said in a speech broadcast on the rebels' radio station that al-Shabab fighters would carry out jihad, or holy war, in Kenya and Uganda "and afterward, with God's will, to America."

"America is waging a war in the Horn of Africa because they are responsive to the Quran verses saying that the Islamic flag will fly in every corner of the world," Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, also known as Fuad Shongole, said, referring to Islam's holy book.

US officials have long feared that any of the several dozen Somali-Americans who have left the US to join the extremist fighters could travel back to the United States to carry out terror attacks. Senior al-Shabab leaders have rarely, if ever, publicly threatened to carry out attacks in the US.

The threat comes amid a heightening of security by the US embassy in neighboring Kenya.

The US ambassador in Nairobi, in a letter sent to embassy employees last week, said that he has requested additional Kenyan and American security personnel and is reducing the size of the embassy staff because of an increase in terrorist threats in Kenya. The letter said additional police are already patrolling around the embassy and that more assets would arrive from Washington.

US ambassador Robert Godec called the number of recent terror attacks, threats and warnings in Kenya "deeply concerning."

Al-Shabab carried out multiple suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda during the 2010 World Cup final, killing 70 people. Al-Shabab gunmen in September attacked Westgate Mall in Nairobi, killing at least 67 people.

The US embassy in Nairobi, which was relocated after al-Qaida's 1998 bombing attack on both the facility and the embassy in Tanzania, killing 224 people in total, sits far off the road and is surrounded by thick walls. Armed marines have recently begun patrolling the grounds wearing bullet-proof vests and helmets.

The US treasury department in 2010 imposed sanctions on Shongole, which froze any assets he had in US jurisdictions. Shongole sought asylum in Sweden in the 1990s and has Swedish citizenship. He returned to Somalia in the mid-2000s to fight with the Islamic courts union, a militant group that preceded al-Shabab.

In his radio message, Shongole also threatened to launch more attacks in Kenya and Uganda. Both countries contribute troops to the African Union force waging war against al-Shabab inside Somalia.

"We swear by the almighty Allah that we'll move the war into Kenya, so let's see who suffers most," said Shongole, who spoke before a noisy crowd of supporters. "If one Somali girl is killed by their soldiers in Somalia, we shall murder their girls at home."


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11 Ukrainian troops dead, 33 wounded by rebels

BLAHODATNE, Ukraine: Three days before Ukraine holds a presidential vote, pro-Russia insurgents attacked a military checkpoint on Thursday in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 11 troops and wounding at least 33 others in the deadliest raid yet in weeks of fighting.

A rebel group who claimed responsibility for the attack said one of their own was also killed.

AP journalists saw 11 dead Ukrainian soldiers scattered around a checkpoint near the village of Blahodatne, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the major city of Donetsk. Witnesses including a medical worker said 33 Ukrainian troops were wounded in the attack and that some of them were in grave condition. All the wounded were being treated at nearby medical facilities.

The Ukrainian defense ministry confirmed the attack but wouldn't comment on casualties.

Ukraine's acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in televised comments blamed Russia for backing the rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which have declared independence from the government in Kiev.

Thursday's carnage cast a shadow over Ukraine's upcoming presidential vote on Sunday, which separatists in the east have pledged to derail. Authorities in Kiev see the vote as a chance to defuse tensions and stabilize the country. Even so, they have admitted it will be impossible to stage the vote in some eastern areas where election officials and voters have faced intimidation and sometimes death threats from the rebels.

Three charred Ukrainian armored infantry vehicles, their turrets blown away, and several burned trucks were seen at the site in the Donetsk region. A military helicopter landed, carrying officials who inspected the area.

Residents said attackers used an armored bank truck, which the unsuspecting Ukrainian soldiers waved through, and then mowed them down at point-blank range. Their account couldn't be independently confirmed.

In the town of Horlivka, a masked rebel commander claimed responsibility for the raid and showed an array of seized Ukrainian weapons.

"We destroyed a checkpoint of the fascist Ukrainian army deployed on the land the Donetsk Republic," said the commander, who wore a balaclava and identified himself by his nom de guerre, "Bes," Russian for "demon." He said one of his men also was killed.

"The weapons you see here have been taken from the dead, they are trophies," the rebel commander said, showing automatic and sniper rifles, rocket grenade launchers and bulletproof vests in the courtyard of the occupied Horlivka police headquarters.

"People living in western Ukraine: Think about where you are sending your brothers, fathers and sons, and why you need any of this," he added.

Many in the east resent the government in Kiev, which came to power after a pro-Russian president fled in February following months of protests, seeing it as nationalists bent on repressing Russian-speakers. But many locals also have grown increasingly exasperated with the rebels, whom they blame for putting civilians in the crossfire.

In the village of Semenovka on the outskirts of Slovyansk, artillery shelling badly damaged several houses on Thursday.

Zinaida Patskan, 80, had her roof torn away by an explosion that also shattered a wall. She said she was hiding under a kitchen table with her cat, Timofey, when the shelling came.

"Why they are hitting us?" she said, bursting into tears. "We are peaceful people!"

About 100 Semenovka residents later vented their anger against the central government, demanding that Ukrainian forces cease their offensive against the separatists and withdraw from the region. Speakers at the rally also urged residents to boycott the presidential vote.

While fighting raged in Ukraine, Russia's Defense Ministry said Thursday its forces were leaving the regions near Ukraine as part of a massive military pullout ordered by President Vladimir Putin. It said four trainloads of weapons and 15 Il-76 heavy-lift transport planes had already left the Belgorod, Bryansk and Rostov regions.

Nato had estimated Russia has 40,000 troops along the border with Ukraine.

Gen. Philip Breedlove, Nato's supreme commander in Europe, told reporters in Brussels that some Russian military movements had been detected but it was too early to assess their size or importance. He said a very large and capable Russian force still remained close to Ukraine.

In Kiev, Yatsenyuk described Russia's announcement of troops pull-out as "bluffing." "Even if the troops are withdrawing, Russian authorities are still assisting the armed terrorists who were trained in Russia," he said.

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich on Thursday rejected Yatsenyuk's claims of Russian interference in the east as unfounded.

Putin's pullout order and his remarks welcoming Ukraine's presidential election Sunday reflected an attempt to ease tensions with the West over Ukraine and avoid a new round of Western sanctions. He has ignored the plea of some of the rebels in eastern Ukraine to join Russia.

The United States and the European Union imposed travel bans and asset freezes on members of Putin's entourage after Russia annexed Crimea in March. The U.S. and EU have warned that more crippling sanctions against entire sectors of the Russian economy could follow if Russia tries to grab more land from Ukraine or attempts to derail Ukraine's election.

Russia has pushed for guarantees that Ukraine will not join Nato and has advocated constitutional reforms that would give broader powers to Ukraine's regions, which would maintain Moscow's clout in the Russian-speaking eastern regions that form the nation's industrial heartland.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, angrily protested the detention of journalists working for Russian media outlets in Ukraine. Graham Phillips, a Briton working for state-controlled English language television station RT, was detained earlier this week by Ukrainian forces, but was released Wednesday.

Two correspondents with the Moscow-based Life News television, who were also detained, have remained in Ukrainian custody and face accusations of aiding armed insurgents _ a claim Putin has dismissed as "rubbish and nonsense."


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Ex-Venezuela President Lusinchi dies at 89

CARACAS, Venezuela: Former Venezuelan President Jaime Lusinchi, who struggled to tame an economic crisis sparked by plunging oil prices in the late 1980s and then saw his reputation tarnished by allegations of corruption after leaving office, has died at age 89.

His death in Caracas on Wednesday was confirmed by members of his Democractic Action party. He had been hospitalized for lung infection.

Lusinchi entered politics at a teenager in the 1930s as an opponent to the political heir of military strongman Juan Vicente Gomez, who lorded over Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935.

After the overthrow of the country's first democratically elected leader in 1948, he joined the political underground led by Democratic Action that organized marches, strikes and other actions against the 1950-1958 dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez.

For his activities he was jailed in 1952 and later went into exile in Argentina, Chile and eventually New York. While in the Chilean capital of Santiago, he became close with prominent local politicians, including democratic Socialist Salvador Allende, who later governed his country from 1970 until his removal in a military coup three years later.

A surgeon by training, Lusinchi as president struggled with an economic crisis marked by galloping inflation and a plunge in the currency that made it impossible for Venezuela to service a foreign debt that had rose sharply as a result of profligate spending during the 1970s oil boom.

Lusinchi tried to recover some of his popularity toward the end of his 1984-1989 rule by boosting salaries, imposing price caps on basic goods and expanding state subsidies. But the populist measures only exacerbated inflation, which soared to over 80 per cent, and drained the country's foreign currency reserves to a historic low.

His reputation was tarnished after he left office by allegations of corruption. In 1991, Venezuela's Congress, dominated by members of his party, voted to condemn Lusinchi after lawmakers discovered he had used his position to dish out to associates dollars tightly guarded by the nation's currency regulator. He was also accused of stealing state funds from the National Horse Racing Institute to promote the candidacy of his party's charismatic leader, Carlos Andres Perez, who succeeded Lusinchi as president for the second time.

Two years later, the Supreme Court stripped the then senator for life of his immunity from prosecution and opened a formal probe. Before being arrested, he fled to Miami and then Costa Rica, where he took up residency with his former private secretary and longtime lover, Blanca Ibanez. The two were later married.

Charges were later dropped after courts ruled that the statute of limitations had run out.

But at the urging of then-President Hugo Chavez, the high court in 1999 revived the case against Lusinchi and a separate probe against Perez. Lusinchi charged that the investigation was part of a politically motivated campaign by Chavez to persecute his opponents.

Lusinchi returned to Caracas in 2009 from Miami after suffering complications from a gastric ulcer that had forced him to undergo an emergency treatment in the American city. A sign of how far in disrepute he had fallen after leaving office, he refused almost all contact with the press for the last two decades of his life.


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Pak jets kill 60 militants in tribal region

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 21 Mei 2014 | 21.51

ISLAMABAD: At least 60 militants were killed today in precision bombing by air force jets on Taliban targets in Pakistan's restive tribal region on the Afghan border, military officials said.

Air force bombers pounded rebel positions in North Waziristan, which is one of seven tribal agencies where the al-Qaida-linked Pakistani Taliban have strongholds.

A military official said on condition of anonymity that there were confirmed reports about the presence of the militants in the targeted areas.

"As per reports so far, 60 hardcore terrorists including some of the important commanders and foreigners were also killed in the strikes and around 30 were injured," the official said.

He said, a huge cache of arms and ammunition including IED-making explosive material has also been destroyed in the strikes.

"There are confirmed reports that terrorists involved in recent attacks including IDP (internally displaced people) camp blast in Peshawar, IED (improvised explosives device) attacks in Mohmand and Bajaur killing innocent civilians and security forces and IED attacks at security forces convoy in NWA (North Waziristan Agency), were hiding in these hideouts," said the official.

There was no independent confirmation of the reported strikes and death toll as the areas are remote and out of reach of the news media.

Pakistan's army has adopted a policy of aerial strikes in response to bombings by the Taliban.

General Raheel Sharif since taking over as army chief last year has announced tough measures in response to Taliban attacks on security forces and civilians.

Use of aerial strikes was put on hold after announcement of talks by the government in January but negotiations are stalled and the Taliban have resorted to bombings, forcing the army to launch new air attacks.


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Two Boko Haram attacks kill 30

KANO (Nigeria): Two attacks by Boko Haram gunmen killed 30 people near Chibok, the northeast Nigerian town where the Islamists kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls last month, witnesses said on Wednesday.

The first attack on Monday afternoon killed 10 in the village of Shawa, some seven kilometres (4.3 miles) from Chibok, a number of residents told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Gunmen then stormed the nearby village of Alagarno late Tuesday and stole food, razed homes and fired on fleeing civilians.

"It was a sudden attack," said resident Haruna Bitrus, in an account supported by other locals.

"They began shooting and set fire to our homes. We had to flee to the bush. They killed 20 of our people," he added.

Many of those who fled the Alagarno attack ran to Chibok, where Boko Haram seized 276 schoolgirls on April 14.

The military said it had deployed heavily to the area to find the 223 girls who remain in captivity.

Major world powers including the United States are offering varying levels of assistance with the rescue mission.

Bitrus said that despite claims of a military build-up in the area, troops had not responded to the latest attack.

"While the gunmen were fleeing, three of their vehicles broke down and they have stayed behind to fix them. They were there up to this morning" with no response from the military, he said.


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'Violin kept in closet could fetch $10 million'

HONG KONG: A Stradivarius violin kept in a closet for the past 25 years could fetch as much as $10 million next month, Christie's auction house said Wednesday, in an auction preview in Hong Kong.

The instrument was once owned by French musician Rodolphe Kreutzer, one of Europe's leading concert violinists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and was crafted in 1731 by famed Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari.

"It's a magnificent instrument, it's a great piece of sculpture," Christie's international specialist head of musical instruments Kerry Keane said.

The instrument was "the one violin that Kreutzer held most special to him and would retain it throughout his life," Christie's added in a statement, describing the violin as "exceptional".

It has belonged to the family of wealthy 19th-century American entrepreneur and politician William Andrews Clark for almost 100 years.

"For the past 25 years, it's lived in a closet," Keane said.

The violin was unveiled at Hong Kong's convention centre as part of Christie's spring sales preview and will go under the hammer in June in New York as part of an auction entitled "An American Dynasty: The Clark Family Treasures".

Hong Kong Philharmonic's concertmaster, Jing Wang, played two pieces by Bach on the prized violin in front of reporters.

"It's a very intimate instrument, it's very warm," he said.

Christie's said the "Kreutzer" is expected to fetch between $7.5 million and $10 million. The record price for a Stradivarius violin is $16 million, achieved at auction in London in 2011.

A rare Stradivarius viola valued at $45 million could become the most expensive musical instrument ever sold when it is auctioned by Sotheby's later in June.

Other items previewed in Hong Kong Wednesday for Christie's spring sales included a large Golconda diamond necklace, expected to fetch as much as HK$80 million ($10 million) and influential Chinese ink painter Xu Beihong's work "Eagle", forecast to sell for up to HK$20 million.


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Record Balkan floods lead to Bosnia landslides

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 18 Mei 2014 | 21.51

SARAJEVO (Bosnia): Landslides triggered by unprecedented rains in Bosnia have left hundreds of people homeless, officials said on Sunday, while thousands more have fled their homes in neighboring Croatia and Serbia as Balkan countries battle the region's worst flooding since modern records began.

Throughout hilly Bosnia, floods are triggering landslides covering roads, homes and whole villages. About 300 landslides have been reported, and stranded villagers often are being rescued by helicopter.

"The situation is catastrophic," said Bosnia's refugee minister, Adil Osmanovic.

Three months' worth of rain fell on the region in a three-day burst, creating the worst floods since rainfall measurements began 120 years ago.

Observed from the air, almost a third of Bosnia chiefly in the northeast resembles a huge muddy lake, with houses, roads and rail lines submerged. Officials say about a million people — more than a quarter of the country's population — live in the worst-affected areas.

The hillside village of Horozovina, close to the northeastern town of Tuzla, was practically split in two by a landslide that swallowed eight houses. More than 100 other houses were under threat from the restless earth. Residents told stories of narrow escapes from injury or death.

"I am homeless. I have nothing left, not even a toothpick," said one resident, Mesan Ikanovic. "I ran out of the house barefoot, carrying children in my arms."

Ikanovic said 10 minutes separated him and his family from likely death. He carried his 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son to safety.

Ikanovic said he secured a mortgage and moved in only last year. "Now I have nothing," he said, adding, "Where will I go now? Where will we live?"

Semid Ivilic's house in the lower part of the village was still standing. But as he looked upward at the mass of earth and rubble that engulfed his neighbors' homes, Ivelic said he was worried.

"Nobody is coming to help us," he said.

Ivilic described the moment when, sitting inside his home, the terrain outside begun to slide. "It sounded like a huge explosion. People started running out of houses, screaming," he said.

While water levels are receding in some parts of Bosnia, land flanking the Sava River remains submerged, and water levels there are still rising in many areas. Hundreds of people have been plucked by rescue helicopters from flooded towns and villages.

The mayor of Orasje made a special appeal for help. The town is caught between the Sava on one side and another flooding river, the Bosna, on the other.

More than 10,000 already have been rescued from the town of Bijeljina, in northeast Bosnia. Trucks, buses and private cars were heading north with volunteers and tons of aid collected by people in cities outside the disaster zone.

In Sarajevo, volunteers went from door to door collecting whatever people would donate.

The Bosnian army said it was evacuating people with helicopters and has 1,500 troops helping on the ground. But many roads remain closed by floods and hundreds of landslides. Bridges have been washed away and this has left many towns and villages completely depending on air lifts.

Helicopters from the European Union, Slovenia and Croatia also are aiding rescue efforts. They are deployed in areas around five cities in central and northeastern Bosnia where the situation is considered the most dangerous.

In the eastern sections of neighboring Croatia, two people are missing and hundreds have fled their homes as the Sava River also breached flood barriers there. The overflowing river rolled over villages and farm land in the relatively flat terrain.

In Serbia, more than 20,000 people have been forced from their homes. Officials there fear more flooding later Sunday as floodwaters travel down the Sava and reach the country.

Serbian officials said that the flood wave might be lower than initially expected, because the river broke barriers upstream in Croatia and Bosnia. Experts said they expect Sava floodwaters to rise for two more days, then subside.

"What happened to us happens not once in 100 years, but once in 1,000 years," Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said at a government meeting broadcast live on Serbian television. "But it should be over by Wednesday."

At least 25 people have died in the Balkan floods.


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Vietnam clamps down on anti-China protests

HANOI: Vietnam smothered anti-China protests on Sunday with a massive security clampdown after deadly riots triggered by a territorial dispute with Beijing spooked foreign investors and the country's authoritarian leadership alike.

As patrol ships from both countries remained locked in a standoff close to a Chinese oil rig in a disputed patch of the South China Sea, Beijing said it had evacuated 3,000 nationals from Vietnam and was sending the first of five ships to pull out others wanting to leave.

China also said that it would suspend some of its bilateral exchange plans with Vietnam and that it was advising Chinese not to visit the country.

China's decision to deploy the massive oil rig on May 1 has been widely seen as it one of its most provocative steps in a campaign to assert its sovereignty in the waters. It triggered fury in Vietnam and the worst breakdown in ties between Hanoi and Beijing in years.

Tensions have been mounting between the two countries despite their sharing of a political ideology. Both nations are run by communist regimes that since the 1990s have embraced free market capitalism while retaining large state sectors and powerful internal security systems.

Last weekend, Vietnam permitted anti-China protests that drew thousands of people, a rare step that allowed it to amplify state anger against Beijing. Doing so was risky for authorities: Dissident groups joined the protests, and by Tuesday and Wednesday, the rallies had morphed into riots targeting factories believed to be owned by Chinese companies, though many of those hit were Taiwanese. Two Chinese nationals were killed and more than 100 wounded.

Vietnam's state-security apparatus on Sunday ensured no one was able to protest, with thousands of police and security officers flooding southern Ho Chi Minh City and the capital, Hanoi. Police were posted outside well-known dissidents' houses, preventing them from leaving, according to activists.

In Ho Chi Minh City, police detained several demonstrators after dragging them from a park close to the city's cathedral. Authorities in Hanoi closed off streets and a park close to the Chinese Embassy, while police barking into bullhorns shoved journalists and protesters away.

"I want to send a message that if we don't stop China today, tomorrow it will be too late," said demonstrator Dao Minh Chu, as he was pushed away from the park near China's embassy, where last week around 500 people gathered without interference from authorities. Those protests were covered enthusiastically by state media, a clear sign of state sanction.

China has loudly demanded that Hanoi protect Chinese people inside Vietnam, which is heavily dependent on Beijing economically. Hundreds of Chinese have left by commercial flights and across the land border into Cambodia, although there has been calm since Thursday.

On Sunday, China said it dispatched to Vietnam a passenger ship capable of carrying 1,000 people, the first of five vessels it planned to send to complete an evacuation on top of 3,000 nationals who had left earlier.

With Chinese traveling in increasing numbers, Beijing is under pressure to protect them overseas.

China's foreign ministry said Sunday that the government would suspend some of its bilateral exchange plans with Vietnam and that it was advising Chinese not to visit the country.

In a statement posted on the ministry's website, spokesman Hong Lei said the violence that has resulted in Chinese casualties and property losses had "damaged the atmosphere and conditions for exchanges and cooperation between China and Vietnam."

For the time being, China is advising its citizens not to travel to Vietnam and has suspended some bilateral exchange plans, and will take further measures if necessary, Hong said.

No details were given on the bilateral exchange plans.

A Taiwanese steel mill attacked on Wednesday employed 1,000 Chinese workers, who can be cheaper to hire and easier to manage than Vietnamese laborers.

Yang Yang, a political scientist at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, said there were so many Chinese working in Vietnam that sending ships might be more practical than planes. "It can also appease the unhappiness of the Chinese public over the violence against Chinese nationals in Vietnam," he said.

In recent years, foreign companies attracted by low wages and a reputation for safety have flocked to Vietnam, opening factories making everything from sneakers to smartphones. The government is aware that last's week violence threatens that vital economic cog, while also chipping away at its authority by showing it can't keep order — an important part of its compact with a population denied basic rights.

On Saturday, top Vietnamese security official Lt Gen Hoang Kong Tu vowed to ensure the safety of all foreign investments and citizens in the country, including those from China. More than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, which authorities have blamed on "extremists."

While China and Vietnam have growing business links and share a political ideology and a commitment to authoritarianism, they also have a long history of bad blood. Many Vietnamese harbor deep resentment over what they see as China's bullying and economic exploitation of Beijing's far smaller neighbor.

China has been much more assertive in pressing its territorial claims in recent years, often bringing into it into dispute with Vietnam and the Philippines. Spats have broken out over fishing rights and oil exploration missions in recent years, but the placement of the rig 220 kilometers (136 miles) off the coast of Vietnam was considered especially provocative.

Hanoi sent patrol ships to confront the rig and scores of Chinese vessels protecting it, and they remained locked in a tense standoff. Neither side has shown any sign of withdrawing their ships or willing to compromise.

Vietnam's government routinely arrests free speech activists and others challenging one-party rule. Anti-China protests are one of the few opportunities for public gatherings in Vietnam and also attract dissident groups, who often claim Hanoi is too soft on Beijing.

Several well-known activists said they had been prevented from leaving their homes on Sunday.

"I think the best way is to allow people to protest," said La Viet Dung, a frequent anti-China protester, adding that police visited him late Saturday asking him not to attend. "They say they are preventing people from protesting because they are worried about extremist actions and violence, but that is not logical."


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Syria general killed in combat near Damascus: Security

DAMASCUS: The chief of Syria's air defence forces, General Hussein Isaac, has been killed in combat near Damascus, a security official said on Sunday.

The general died of wounds suffered in fighting at Mleiha, a key battleground southeast of the capital, making him one of the few top-ranking officers whose deaths have been announced during Syria's three-year war.

The air defence forces' headquarters is in Mleiha, a key flashpoint in current fighting around Damascus.

Because the rebels do not have an air force, the forces under Isaac's command have rarely been deployed for air defence.

"The regime's air defence force is to face a possible US attack, but in this war it is using its firepower against the rebels," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

The army's entire arsenal and forces are deployed in Damascus's war against rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime brands the uprising as a foreign-backed "terrorist" plot.

Abdel Rahman called Isaac's death an "important psychological blow" to the regime.

For more than a month, the army backed by Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah has been battling to recapture Mleiha, a strategic rebel bastion.

It has been under siege for more than a year, and under near-constant bombardment for more than a month.

The Observatory said that despite initial regime advances in Mleiha, the rebels have recovered ground, retaking several buildings around the central town hall.

While the army is squarely in control of Damascus, rebels still hold a number of towns and villages on the outskirts, despite a suffocating blockade and frequent air strikes and shelling.


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African leaders work to counter Boko Haram

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 17 Mei 2014 | 21.50

PARIS: Hours after yet another attack in a Boko Haram stronghold, leaders from five African nations gathered in Paris on Saturday for a summit with Western officials in hopes of coordinating actions against the Islamic extremist group holding more than 200 girls captive.

The militants, who claim to be fighting a holy war in Nigeria, move freely across the border into neighboring Cameroon, where a Chinese company's camp came under attack late Friday.

The leaders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin were meeting on Saturday with French, US and British officials in hopes of coordinating strategy and sharing intelligence to find the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.

Boko Haram has offered to exchange the 276 girls who remain captive for jailed insurgents, and threaten otherwise to sell the the girls into slavery.

Officials have said there will be no Western military operation. British officials say Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who has reluctantly accepted outside help, has ruled swapping prisoners for the girls.

On Friday, Jonathan canceled a trip to the town where the girls were seized, apparently due to security concerns.

Signs are growing that some Nigerian troops are near mutiny, complaining they are overwhelmed and outgunned by Boko Haram insurgents. Soldiers have told Associated Press that some in the ranks actually fight alongside the group. Last year, Jonathan said he suspected that Boko Haram members and sympathizers had infiltrated every level of his government and military, including the Cabinet.

That complicates attempts to share intelligence. The US, France and Britain have all sent experts to help find the girls, but French and American officials have expressed concerns about how any information might be used.

The northeastern region where the girls were kidnapped has suffered five years of increasingly deadly assaults by Boko Haram. Thousands have been killed, including more than 1,500 civilians this year alone.

Cameroon, which borders the region, has begun to take the threat more seriously after years of dismissing it as a Nigerian problem, French officials have said.

France has negotiated the release of citizens held by Boko Haram in Cameroon and officials are hoping that Saturday's summit will force a more international approach.

Chinese state media reported that 10 people were missing in the Friday night attack on the camp in a region where Boko Haram has previously abducted foreigners, including a French family of seven and a priest. The report gave no details about the company.

China is a major investor in Cameroon, helping build infrastructure, public health projects and sports facilities and importing crude oil, timber and cotton.


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Record Balkan floods claim at least 20 lives

BELGRADE: Tens of thousands fled their homes on Saturday in Bosnia and Serbia, evacuated by boat or helicopter as rising waters surged into villages and towns. Authorities said the record flooding killed at least 20 people and the death toll could rise further.

Meteorologists say the flooding is the worst since records began 120 years ago and is due to a three-month amount of rain that fell on the region in just three days. Goran Mihajlovic from Serbia's weather center told Associated Press that such a rainfall happens once in 100 years.

In the eastern Bosnian town of Bijeljina, some 10,000 people were being evacuated Saturday after the rain-swollen Sava River pushed through flood defenses. Mayor Mico Micic appealed for help, saying "we need everything, we are under water."

Officials in Bosnia say 12 people died and more bodies could emerge as water recedes from the dozens of cities flooded in the past three days. In some places, floodwaters had reached the second floor of people's homes and they had to be rescued by helicopter from their roofs.

In Serbia, which saw eight deaths, emergency crews and soldiers were using boats and helicopters to rescue thousands trapped in the town of Obrenovac, near Belgrade. Officials said more than 15,000 people have been evacuated so far from the flood-hit regions, most of them finding shelter in schools and sports halls.

The flooding in Obrenovac is threatening the Nikola Tesla power plant, Serbia's biggest. Plant capacity had already been cut after a nearby coal mine was flooded.

The rain eased in some parts Saturday but Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference that new flood wave on the Sava River will hit Sunday evening.

"Our primary concern is to protect the power plant," said Vucic. "We are doing all we can."

Thousands of volunteers have responded to government's appeal to help build up flood defenses along the Sava. Bused in from all over the country, the volunteers spent the night building sandbag barricades with soldiers and emergency crews.

One volunteer from Belgrade, Nemanja Radovic, came to Sremska Mitrovica, a town on the Sava.

"I've come here to help these people to save their homes," he said.

Both Serbia and Bosnia have appealed for international help. A Russian team has joined rescue efforts in Serbia and many European Union countries have sent in equipment and emergency crews.

In Bosnia, many lost homes they had only just rebuilt after the 1992-95 war, which claimed 100,000 lives and devastated the impoverished country. Scores of landslides hit as sodden hills gave way, also presenting a huge problem.

"They come unannounced in just a few seconds," said Fahrudin Solak, civil protection official, said of the landslides.

Residents in both countries have mobilized through Facebook or other social media, collecting tons of food, blankets and clothing for the crisis-hit areas.


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3 Brazil cities at higher dengue risk during World Cup

PARIS: Three Brazilian host cities — Fortaleza, Natal and Recife — are at higher risk than the other nine of a dengue fever outbreak during the World Cup, scientists said on Saturday.

In absolute terms, the risk is low in all event venues, but comparatively greater in the three northeastern cities and authorities should beef up steps to prevent an outbreak, they said.

A potentially dangerous fever caused by a virus for which there is no vaccine or cure, dengue is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito when it takes a blood meal.

Doctors last year sounded the alarm over dengue at the June 12-July 13 tournament. The disease is endemic in Brazil, which is expected to lure hundreds of thousands of football visitors.

Writing in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, a team of European and Brazilian experts crunched the numbers to pinpoint areas of risk.

They looked at real-time weather patterns provided by four meteorological agencies, particular rainfall which affects mosquito breeding.

They matched these against 13 years of data from prior dengue outbreaks in the month of June in 553 "microregions" of Brazil, including the 12 tournament host cities.

The researchers factored in the dynamics of how a dengue outbreak builds up.

It takes between seven and 14 days for a mosquito to become infectious with the virus it has picked up from a human. And when the insect bites another human, the virus needs four to seven days to incubate.

Visitors are not expected to stay in the same city for more than two or three weeks, which means an epidemic must already be well underway for large numbers to be vulnerable in June.

"Our forecasts for June 2014 showed that dengue risk was likely to be low in the host cities Brasilia, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo," wrote the team.

"The risk was medium in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and Manaus. High-risk alerts were triggered (in the study) for the northeastern cities of Recife, Fortaleza and Natal."

It added: "efforts to reduce dengue incidence and severity should be concentrated in these cities."

Potential measures include attacking mosquito breeding sites in stagnant pools of water and rubbish.

"The risk is more likely to be low in all 12 host venues," lead author Rachel Lowe from the Catalan Institute of Climate Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, told AFP by email.

The three northeastern cities and Manaus are considered to be comparatively more at risk because the Amazon region had heavier-than-usual rainfall in the 2013-14 southern hemisphere summer.

The south and southeast of the country had an atypically hot and dry summer, which reduced mosquito infestation in Porto Alegre, Curitiba and Sao Paulo.

Dengue incidence rates are considered "high" by the Brazilian ministry of health when they exceed 300 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, said Lowe.

The team added a large margin (18 per cent) to this threshold for their World Cup forecast, given that short-range predictions can be prone to greater error, she explained.

Fortaleza and Natal had a higher probability than Recife of exceeding the benchmark.

About 80 per cent of people infected with the dengue virus develop no symptoms, but about five per cent develop severe illness and for a further one per cent, it is life-threatening.

So far this century, Brazil has recorded more cases of dengue than any other country in the world, with more than seven million cases between 2000 and 2013, the study said.


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The story of Homs, written in graffiti

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 16 Mei 2014 | 21.50

HOMS (Syria): The writing is on the walls of Homs, telling the story of the siege of this central Syrian city once dubbed the "capital of the revolution" against President Bashar al-Assad.

In the devastated formerly rebel-held Old City, graffiti scrawled by rebels adorns gutted storefronts and walls riddled with bullets.

For two years, Assad's forces bombarded insurgents holed up inside the city before the siege was finally lifted at the beginning of May.

The last rebel holdouts left the area under an evacuation deal that handed the Old City back to the government, granting it a symbolic victory.

In the early days of protests that became an uprising, the revolutionary spirit dominated, with demonstrators chanting anti-regime slogans before Assad's security forces launched a bloody crackdown on dissent.

Now his soldiers stroll indifferently past graffiti such as "Assad traitor", "Free Homs" and "Long live a free Syria without Assad".

Old inscriptions honouring "eternal leader" Hafez al- Assad, the late president and Bashar's father, overlap with "Down with the Assad regime" or "God damn your soul, Assad" a favoured insult of regime critics.

More than two years of bombardment and fighting resulted in at least 2,200 people killed in the city's Hamidiyeh, Jib al-Jandali, Bab Dreib, Bustan al-Diwan, Al-Safsafa and other districts.

"Freedom is won with the blood of martyrs," reads one slogan. In a shelter where both anti-regime fighters and residents had sought refuge, beside a pile of mattresses, on a wall is written "Martyrdom or victory".

What is written reflects different beliefs and allegiances among the various rebel groups, labelled by the regime as "terrorists" financed mainly by Gulf states.

Revolutionary slogans are painted alongside those put up by Islamist movements at the heart of the insurrection.

"Welcome to the people of jihad" proclaims one, while others plainly state the aims of those who wrote them: "The advent of the Caliphate is at hand" and "We demand an Islamic state".

"The Islamic state will stand against all" refers to the most radical jihadist group fighting in Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Dreaded shabiha regime militiamen, accused of abuses against civilians and ransacking areas retaken by the army, come in for particular mention: "Shabiha — we'll meet you where you live."

Treachery is not forgotten: "Free us from collaborators" reads one plea about rebels suspected of being in the pay of the regime.

The human misery of an extended siege results in the plaintive "The people are hungry".

Other slogans take the leaders of rebel groups to task, accusing them of preventing civilians from getting out of the areas under siege, or even of hoarding whatever rations there were for themselves.

"Abu Rateb, Abu Azzam — let the families go" and "We want to eat, you thieves".

In the final days of the siege, some sought to justify the fact that they had finally accepted to pull out of their strongholds.

"We signed the deal so we could eat," someone wrote. But it is not just words left behind in the rubble: makeshift graves can be seen in gardens and around mosques.

In the courtyard of the ravaged al-Kamel mosque in Bustan al-Diwan, a fly-covered hand pokes out of a pit amid a nauseating stench.

An improvised inscription gives the name of a deserter killed on April 29, in the very last days of the siege. Close by, another sign reads "Cemetery of the hero martyrs".

Despite the success of the regime's military's siege tactics, some slogan writers express their determination to return.

"For two years we didn't leave Homs. We'll be back."


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UK congratulates once-boycotted Modi

LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron congratulated Narendra Modi on Friday on his victory in Lok Sabha elections, saying he wanted to work with the Hindu nationalist who was boycotted by London for a decade.

Britain effectively imposed a diplomatic freeze on Modi for 10 years over anti-Muslim violence in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, but reinstated relations with him in 2012 as part of a general bid to boost ties with India.

"Congratulations @ narendramodi on victory in India's elections. Keen to work together to get the most from UK-India relationship," the official Twitter account for Cameron's 10 Downing Street office quoted the prime minister as saying.

British foreign secretary William Hague also sent congratulations to Modi and said he would "look forward to forging an even closer partnership with India in the months ahead."

"The UK has strong ties with India and the British Government looks forward to working with the new Indian government to build on this relationship and deliver security, growth and prosperity for both our nations," Hague said in a statement.

Modi's hardline Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looked set for a first single party parliamentary majority in India for 30 years, after apparently wiping out current premier Manmohan Singh's Congress party in the polls.

He was boycotted by the US and European powers over the 2002 Gujarat riots that left around 1,000 dead.

But Britain, which is the former colonial power in India and has a large Indian-origin ethnic population, sent its ambassador to India to meet Modi in October 2012, saying that "active engagement with Gujarat" was the way to boost relations.


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Hundreds of British tourists evacuated from Kenya

LONDON: Around 400 British tourists are being evacuated from the Kenyan resort of Mombasa after Britain stepped up travel warnings following a wave of terror attacks, travel agents said on Friday.

Thomson and First Choice, which are owned by London-listed TUI Travel, Europe's biggest tour operator, said they had also decided to cancel all flights to the coastal city until November.

Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) warned on Wednesday against "all but essential" travel to Mombasa, citing "recent terrorist attacks and the continuing terrorist threat in the area"

"As a result of the change in FCO advice, the decision has been taken to cancel all our outbound flights to Mombasa, Kenya up to and including 31 October," Thomson and First choice said in a statement.

"As a precautionary measure, we have also taken the decision to repatriate all customers currently on holiday in Kenya back to the UK."

A spokeswoman told AFP that Thomson and First Choice had around 400 customers currently on holiday in Mombasa.

"Some arrived home on a flight home this morning, some will arrive on a flight this evening, and the rest on Monday," she said.

Britain's foreign office said it was not involved in pulling tourists out of the area.

"We are not assisting with the evacuations, it is entirely down to the travel companies," a foreign office spokeswoman told AFP.

Four people were killed in twin bomb attacks in Mombasa earlier in May.

Australia and France also updated their travel advice for Mombasa this week.

Kenya has been targeted by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shebab rebels since it sent troops to war-torn Somalia in 2011 to fight them, and it suffered a major blow in September 2013 with the deadly attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.


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'Friends of Syria' hold London talks

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 15 Mei 2014 | 21.50

LONDON: US secretary of state John Kerry and foreign ministers from Western and Arab nations met on Thursday to discuss new ways of supporting the Syrian opposition.

The Friends of Syria group gathered in London just days after UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi stepped down after almost two years of fruitless efforts to end the war.

State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "There is broad agreement we need to redouble our efforts in Syria."

"And whether that is providing more assistance to the opposition, addressing the humanitarian crisis or putting more pressure on the Syrian regime — it is going to take the weight of the international community — today is an opportunity to discuss."

The Friends of Syria group is made up of Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Kerry said before leaving Washington for his latest diplomatic offensive that Brahimi "did not fail".

The top US diplomat blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "who will not negotiate, who absolutely refused to negotiate at every single session."

Kerry said Assad was "clinging to power" and described him as a leader "who is willing to drop barrel bombs on his people, to gas them, to shell artillery on innocent civilians, to starve people in their homes, and somehow claim a right to be able to run a country".

British Prime Minister David Cameron took a similar position earlier this week, reiterating that "Assad can't be part of Syria's future."

The London talks are also likely to underline the group's rejection of the presidential elections being organised by the Syrian regime on June 3.

Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba also took part after attending a week of high-level meetings in Washington in a bid to strengthen US support for the rebels in their battle against Assad.

Specifically Jarba pleaded for anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down regime aircraft which are dropping deadly barrel bombs on Syrian civilians.

"Keeping the pressure on the regime will increase the chances of finding a political solution," Jarba said in a statement.

In a sign of the deep divisions within the rebel movement, the US government officially designated two officials of rival jihadist groups in Syria as "global terrorists" Wednesday, and warned other rebel groups to stay away from both men.

The US Treasury added Saudi-born Abd Al-Rahman Muhammad Zafir Al-Dubaysi al-Juhni and Iraq native Abd Al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

The two were cited for their ties to al-Qaida operations in Syria, and Qaeda breakaway group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Al-Juhni is part of a group of senior Qaida operatives in Syria formed to attack Western targets outside the country and also to mediate tensions between ISIL and the Al-Nusra Front, the local Qaeda affiliate, the Treasury said.


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Turkey mine disaster: PM's adviser kicks protester

A shocking image has emerged appearing to show the moment the Turkish Prime Minister's adviser kicked a protester being restrained on the ground during anti-government demonstrations following an explosion in a coal mine that left 282 dead and scores injured.

Breaking news feed Report Turk told The Independent the picture was taken in Soma, the town where the mine collapsed after the explosion on Tuesday.

It said witnesses at the scene claimed the person being restrained by parliamentary police in the image was in fact a relative of one of the dead miners, although this has not been confirmed.

The photo caused outrage after it was shared across social media thousands of times and Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet, Milliyet and others on Thursday printed photographs they said were of an Erdogan aide kicking a protester.

Mr Erdogan's adviser Yusuf Yerkel confirmed in a telephone conversation that he was the man in the image seen about to kick a protester and said he would release a statement on the incident "as soon as possible", the Hurriyet Daily News has reported.

Mr Yerkel is listed as a former student of London's SOAS university.

The incident came as hopes faded for the 150 miners still trapped in the town of Soma.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Mr Erdogan was heckled as he visited the town and spoke during a news conference, where he defended Turkey's mining safety record by saying: "These are ordinary things. There is a thing in literature called `work accident'... It happens in other work places, too."

Protesters shouted "murderer!" and "thief!" and Mr Erdogan was forced to seek refuge in a supermarket, surrounded by police. Demonstrations took place across Turkey throughout yesterday and continued on Thursday.

In Turkey's capital Ankara police fired water cannons and tear gas at 800 protesters marching to the energy ministers office and the town's ruling party offices were also attacked.

Rescue operations were brought to a halt for several hours on Thursday morning to allow high concentrations of gas underground to be cleared. Officials said 363 miners had been evacuated, but no survivors have been brought out since Wednesday morning. There were 787 people inside the mine at the time of the explosion, approximately four miles from the entrance and two miles underground.

Energy minister Taner Yildiz told reporters that rescue efforts are now focusing on two areas inside the mine where a blaze is still raging and hindering the operation.


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Blast kills 29 near Syria-Turkey border

BEIRUT: A car bomb killed at least 29 civilians and wounded dozens more on the Syrian side of the Bab al-Salama border crossing with Turkey on Thursday, a monitoring group said.

Five women and three children were among the dead in the blast in an area used as a car park, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Gruesome photographs posted online by activists showed shocked men standing over charred, blackened bodies, some missing limbs.

A video of the scene posted on YouTube showed smoke rising from the tangled remains of a blown-up car and luggage lying abandoned amid the chaos.

The area around the crossing has been targeted by car bombs before. In February, a blast on the Syrian side killed six people and wounded 45.

The Syrian side of the crossing is under the control of Islamist rebels who have been battling jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant since early January.

Other border crossings between Turkey and Syria have also been targeted, including the Bab al-Hawa post in the northwest, where two suicide bombers killed 16 people in January.


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Italian diplomat denies child abuse in Philippines

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 14 Mei 2014 | 21.51

MANILA (Philippines): An Italian diplomat facing human trafficking and child abuse allegations in the Philippines denied any wrongdoing to prosecutors on Wednesday.

Daniele Bosio, who has been suspended as Italy's ambassador to Turkmenistan, submitted an affidavit denying the criminal complaints and spoke briefly to reporters for the first time since his arrest April 5 while vacationing in the Philippines.

Prosecutors will review the evidence against Bosio and determine if there is enough to charge him in court.

"I did not do anything wrong and I hope this will be cleared," he told reporters.

He has been detained in a municipal jail in Laguna province south of Manila since being arrested in the company of three boys aged 9-12 at a local resort.

Child rights activists who saw him at the resort with the boys reported it to police in Binan township.

Tears came to Bosio's eyes on Wednesday when more than a dozen children from a Christian school in Manila arrived to show support for him. He has been giving financial support to the school for several years.

The children from the Breakthrough Christian Academy held up placards saying, "We love you Bro. Daniele" and "We support you Bro. Daniele."

Bosio's lawyer, Romeo Lumagui, said "it is just so unfortunate that a person who was sincerely trying to help is now being charged."

An earlier police statement said the diplomat told investigators the boys were street children he had brought from Manila and their parents had been informed about the trip.

The statement said the boys told police that the diplomat also took them to his house where he "personally bathed and scrubbed their naked bodies and afterwards gave them money and food."

The Philippine anti-trafficking law sets a penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of at least 2 million pesos ($44,500) if the victim is a child.

Child abuse carries a prison term of up to 40 years.


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Sept 11 Museum displays heart-wrenching artifacts

NEW YORK: New York's new Sept 11 museum is a monument to how the terror attacks that day shaped history, from its heart-wrenching artifacts to the underground space that houses them amid the remnants of the fallen twin towers' foundations. It also reflects the complexity of crafting a public understanding of the terrorist attacks and reconceiving ground zero.

The National September 11 Memorial Museum was set to be dedicated on Thursday and open to the public May 21.

The museum faced financing squabbles and construction challenges. Conflicts over its content underlined the sensitivity of memorializing the dead while honoring survivors and rescuers, of balancing the intimate with the international.

Holocaust and war memorials have confronted some of the same questions. But the 9/11 museum exemplifies the work it takes to "develop a museum program amidst this range of powerful feelings and differing individuals and issues that get raised," said Bruce Altshuler, the director of New York University's museum studies program. He isn't involved in the Sept. 11 museum.

The museum harbors both personal possessions and artifacts that became public symbols of survival and loss. There is the battered "survivors' staircase" that hundreds used to escape the burning skyscrapers, the memento-covered last column removed during the ground zero cleanup and the cross-shaped steel beams that became an emblem of remembrance. (An atheists' group has sued, so far unsuccessfully, seeking to stop the display of the cross).

Portraits and profiles describe the nearly 3,000 people killed by the Sept 11 attacks and the 1993 trade center bombing. Nearly 2,000 oral histories give voice to the memories of survivors, first responders, victims' relatives and others. In one, a mother remembers a birthday dinner at the trade center's Windows on the World restaurant the night before her daughter died at work at the towers.

The museum also looks at the lead-up to Sept 11 and its legacy.

Members of the museum's interfaith clergy advisory panel raised concerns that it plans to show a documentary film, about al-Qaida, that they said unfairly links Islam and terrorism. The museum has said the documentary is objective and its scholarship solid.

While some Sept 11 victims' relatives have embraced the museum, others have denounced its $24 general-public ticket price as unseemly and its underground location as disrespectful, particularly because unidentified remains are being stored in a private repository there. Other victims' families see it as a fitting resting place.

The museum and the memorial plaza above it cost a total of $700 million to build. They will cost $60 million a year to run, more than Arlington National Cemetery and more than 15 times as much as the museum that memorializes the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Sept 11 museum organizers have noted that security alone costs about $10 million a year.


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Turkey coal mine explosion: Death toll rises to 238 | In pics

SOMA, Turkey: (AP) Women wailed uncontrollably, men knelt sobbing and others just stared in disbelief outside a coal mine in western Turkey as rescue workers removed a steady stream of bodies on Wednesday from an underground explosion and fire that killed at least 238 workers. The fate of an estimated 120 miners remained unclear in one of Turkey's worst mining disasters.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan postponed a foreign trip and visited the mine in Soma, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul. The deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.

Erdogan said the tragedy would be investigated to its "smallest detail" and "no negligence will be ignored." He discussed rescue operations with authorities, walked near the entrance of the mine and also comforted two crying women. Earlier, Erdogan declared three days of national mourning, ordering flags to be lowered to half-staff.

Energy minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine in Soma at the time of Tuesday's explosion and 363 of them had been rescued. Scores were injured, Yildiz told reporters in Soma, where he was overseeing operations by more than 400 rescuers.

The last worker rescued alive emerged from the mine around dawn, a government official said on condition of anonymity because she didn't have prior authorization to speak publicly to journalists about the issue. As of 3:30 p.m., it had been about 10 hours since anyone had been brought out alive.

"Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing," Yildiz said before Erdogan's visit.

Erdogan said there were an estimated 120 workers still inside the mine.

"Our hope is that, God willing, they will be brought out," he said. "That is what we are waiting for."

Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners stood outside the mine. The crowd shouted at officials, including when Yildiz passed by, and some wailed each time a body was brought up. A heavy police presence was in place around the mine.

The explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, officials said, which likely raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside than usual.

Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Turkey's worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

In Istanbul, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the headquarters of the company which owns the mine, Soma Holding. In the capital, Ankara, police dispersed a group who tried to march to the energy ministry to protest the deaths, the Dogan news agency reported.

Erdogan warned that some radical groups would try to use the disaster to discredit the government.

Turkey's labor and social security ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, including in March of 2014, and that no issues violating work safety and security were detected. The country's main opposition party said Erdogan's ruling party had recently voted down a proposal for the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry into a series of small-scale accidents at mines around Soma.

Rescue workers emerged at a slow pace from the mine with stretchers carrying bodies, which were covered in blankets. The corpses' faces were blackened like the coal.

One man, who declined to be named, said he had led a 10-man team about a kilometer (half-mile), or halfway, down the mine into the tunnels and had recovered three bodies.

But the men had to flee because of smoke from coal that had been lit by the explosion, he said. Another man walked down the stairs from the mine's entrance weeping, with a look of dejection. Behind him, two groups bearing heavy stretchers pushed through the crowd like caterpillars.

As bodies were brought out on stretchers, rescue workers pulled blankets back from the faces of the dead to give jostling crowds of anxious family members a chance to identify victims. One elderly man wearing a prayer cap wailed after he recognized one of the dead, and police restrained him from climbing into an ambulance with the body.

An injured rescue worker who emerged alive was whisked away on a stretcher to the cheers of onlookers. Yildiz said rescue operations were hindered because the mine hadn't been cleared of gas.

Authorities say the disaster followed an explosion and fire caused by a power distribution unit.

Yildiz said earlier that some of the workers were 420 meters (460 yards) deep inside the mine. News reports said the workers couldn't use elevators to escape because the explosion had cut off power.

Overnight, people cheered and applauded as some trapped workers emerged. But others were consumed by grief.

Emine Gulsen, part of a group of women who sat wailing near the entrance to the mine, chanted, "My son is gone, my Mehmet." Her son, Mehmet Gulsen, 31, has been working in the mine for five years.

Mehmet Gulsen's aunt, Makbule Dag, held out hope. "Inshallah" (God willing), she said.

Police set up fences and stood guard around Soma state hospital to keep the crowds away.

SOMA Komur Isletmeleri A S, which owns the mine, said the accident occurred despite the "highest safety measures and constant controls" and added that an investigation was being launched.

"Our main priority is to get our workers out so that they may be reunited with their loved ones," the company said in a statement.


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