The Nation : International News

World powers accept warming limit at G8

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

Developed and developing nations have agreed that global temperatures should not rise more than 2C above 1900 levels, a G8 summit declaration says.
That is the level above which, the UN says, the Earth�s climate system would become dangerously unstable.
US President Barack Obama said the countries had made important strides in dealing with climate change. But the G8 failed to persuade developing countries to accept targets of cutting emissions by 50% by 2050.
On

Gaza war rubble will take a year to clear: UN

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian workers will need one year to clear a half million tonnes of concrete rubble from Gaza Strip districts bombed and bulldozed by Israeli forces during their winter offensive, the UN said on Thursday.
The United Nations Development Programme was beginning its rubble removal project six months after the 3-week war ended on Jan. 18, with still no idea of when organised reconstruction could begin, said the UNDP�s Jens-Anders Toyberg-Frandzen.
�At the

Netanyahu's adviser raises �MAD� N-scenario

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel must have �tremendously powerful� weapons to deter a nuclear attack or destroy an enemy that dares to launch an atomic strike, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted on Thursday as saying.
National security adviser Uzi Arad, in comments to Haaretz newspaper, appeared to allude to what is widely believed to be Israel�s own nuclear arsenal and a standing policy of �mutually assured destruction� (MAD). He warned other countries

China holds security grip on Urumqi

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

URUMQI (AFP/Reuters) - Riot police and soldiers kept a strong presence in China�s Urumqi city Thursday after days of unrest as taxis returned to the streets and some businesses re-opened in tentative signs of normality.
But the capital of China�s restive Xinjiang region remained divided, with security forces separating Han Chinese districts from Muslim Uighur areas following unrest that began on Sunday and left at least 156 people dead.
Urumqi�s mayor said late Wednesday the

UN to Israel: Tear down that barrier

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations has called on Israel to dismantle its West Bank separation barrier as it marked the 5th anniversary of the International Court of Justice's verdict declaring the barrier illegal and a violation of Palestinian rights.
The barrier separates Israel from the West Bank and in places cuts into Palestinian territory and severely restricts the movement of tens of thousands of people, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Office said Thursday.

Iran enemies 'obliged' to deal with me, says Nejad

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran�s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the �enemies� of the Islamic republic were �obliged� to deal with his government, which had been returned to power with a thumping victory.
�Today, the enemies of the Iranian people are very angry because despite their propaganda the government is back in power with the support of 40 million votes,� a defiant Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
�We will not give these oppressive

Bootleg liquor kills 71 in India

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The death toll from a case of mass poisoning involving home-brewed alcohol in the western Indian state of Gujarat jumped to 71 on Thursday, police said.
The number of deaths rose from 25 on Wednesday. A police officer in the state�s largest city Ahmedabad told AFP that another five people were seriously ill in hospital after consuming the contaminated liquor at a party on Sunday.
The Press Trust of India reported six police officers in the city had been

US frees five Iranian diplomats in Iraq

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The US military has handed Iraqi authorities five Iranians it had been holding in Iraq, and Iraqi officials said the men would be delivered to Iran on Thursday.
The capture of the Iranians, who include officials US forces accused of arming the militias at the height of Iraq�s sectarian war, stoked tension between Tehran and Washington, also at odds over Iran�s disputed nuclear programme.
�In compliance with the US-Iraq security agreement, the US has

US lawmakers accuse CIA of lying

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

WASHINGTON - CIA Director Leon Panetta has testified that the spying agency frequently has misled Congress since 2001, a letter from seven US House Democrats to Panetta said.
In addition, the chairman of the House intelligence committee accused the CIA of lying to the panel in a classified matter, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Congressman Silvestre Reyes, a Democrat, in a letter to House leadership, said CIA officials �affirmatively lied� to the committee when notifying

Lanka asks aid agencies to cut Op

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

COLOMBO (AFP) - The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday it had been ordered by Sri Lanka to scale down relief operations in the island where it has been helping civilian war victims.
As a result, the ICRC said it was withdrawing expatriate staff from the battle-scarred northeast which was the focus of the final government offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels that ended in outright victory in May.
�Following the cessation of active hostilities between the

US, South Korea hit by more cyber attacks

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

SEOUL (Reuters/AFP) - A fresh wave of cyber attacks that slowed US and South Korean websites this week hit more targets on Thursday, a Web security firm said, while the South�s spy agency has said the hacking may be linked to North Korea.
The impact of the attacks, aimed so far at dozens of sites including the White House and the South�s presidential office, was seen as negligible, experts said, but served as a reminder that Pyongyang has been planning for cyber warfare.

French tourists world�s worst

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

PARIS (Reuters) - French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant, according to a survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world.
They finish in last place in the survey carried out for internet travel agency Expedia by polling company TNS Infratest, which says Frech don't speak local language.
�It�s mainly the fact that they speak little or no English when they�re abroad, and they don�t speak much of the local

HRW demands probe into torture by spy agencies

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

LONDON - Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based organisation of human rights on Thursday claimed that officials in Pakistani Intelligence services have confirmed that their agents were encouraged to torture prisoners on behalf of Britain.
Two senior members of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) have privately told the researchers of the international campaign group that their colleagues acted as �torturers by proxy�. According to the whistleblowers, the two country�s

Bootleg alcohol kills 71 in India

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

The death toll from a case of mass poisoning involving home-brewed alcohol in the western Indian state of Gujarat jumped to 71, police said. The number of deaths rose from 25 on Wednesday. A police officer in the state's largest city Ahmedabad told a foreign news agency that another five people were seriously ill in hospital after consuming the contaminated liquor at a party on Sunday. The Press Trust of India reported six police officers in the city had been suspended and transferred

Blast outside school in Afghanistan kills 25

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0600

An explosion outside a school south of the Afghan capital on Thursday killed at least 25 people, including 12 students, officials said. It was the latest incident in an escalation of violence across Afghanistan since U.S. Marines launched a new offensive a week ago in the Taliban bastion of Helmand. That assault, Operation Strike of the Sword, is the first major operation under U.S. President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan. The