World Information Wednesday

Turmoil puts Kabul at centre of White House campaign Agence France-Presse . Washington
Fresh carnage in Kabul and a rising death toll among US troops are thrusting once-forgotten Afghanistan into the thick of the intensifying White House showdown between John McCain and Barack Obama. Democratic presumptive nominee Obama is promising to redeploy large numbers of US combat troops from Iraq to Afghanistan if he is elected president in November, in an effort to quell resurgent militant activity. Republican John McCain however maintains Iraq is the central front of the ‘war on terror,’ adding that a US withdrawal would embolden terrorists and US enemies and that the two wars cannot be seen in isolation. With a surge in the death toll among US and allied troops battling al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, Afghanistan moved to centre stage in the campaign last week – even before Monday’s suicide car bombing at the Indian embassy in Kabul, which killed at least 41 people in the deadliest attack since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. The security situation in Iraq meanwhile appears to be improving, following a US troop ‘surge’ anti-insurgent strategy launched last year. Obama argues that the huge US troop presence in Iraq is draining resources from the anti-terror effort in Afghanistan. The Kabul bombing ‘is one more indication of the severe deterioration that we’ve seen in the security situation in Afghanistan,’ Obama said Monday. ‘I have consistently stated that one of other reasons for us to begin a careful phased deployment out of Iraq, is that we are under-manned in Afghanistan,’ he said. ‘And as president of the United States I will do everything that we can to stabilise the situation in Afghanistan and go on the offensive against al-Qaeda, who have reconstituted themselves, he added.’ ‘It is absolutely critical for us to go on the offensive.’ The Illinois senator will lay out his plan for both conflicts in visits to Iraq and Afghanistan expected later this month, details of which have yet to be released for security reasons. Democrats have long argued that the Bush administration took its eye off the search for al-Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden, and the battle with the Taliban by invading Iraq in 2003. Obama’s foreign policy advisor Susan Rice last week accused McCain of fully supporting Bush administration policy on Iraq, which she said had dangerously distracted attention from the anti-terror fight in Afghanistan. ‘Every day, there’s a new report that underscores the reality that Afghanistan is sliding toward chaos,’ Rice told reporters on a conference call. Obama has vowed to get most combat troops out of Iraq at the rate of one or two brigades a month, a process which he says should be complete within 16 months. But McCain says such a plan would imperil gains made from the surge and argues that Obama’s solution is too simplistic. ‘To somehow think it is an either-or situation, either Afghanistan or Iraq, is a fundamental misreading of the situation in the Middle East,’ McCain told reporters last week. ‘What happens in Iraq matters in Afghanistan,’ McCain said. ‘If we had failed in Iraq if we had pursued the policies vociferously advocated by Senator Obama, we would have risked a wider war. ‘We need to succeed in Iraq, and I am confident we can succeed in Afghanistan, but it’s not just a matter of more troops.’ The dispute over Afghanistan reflects differing political perceptions of the war on terror launched after the September 11 attacks in 2001. The issue has moved to the forefront due to the death toll among international troops in the two wars: it is rising in Afghanistan, but decreasing in Iraq.
Suspects quizzed over blasts in Karachi Agence France-Presse . Karachi
The Pakistani police questioned several suspects Tuesday over multiple blasts in Karachi which killed one person and wounded 37, the second attack in as many days to hit the key ally in the ‘war on terror’. The string of six explosions in the volatile southern port city came a day after a suicide bombing in the capital Islamabad killed 19 people near a rally marking the first anniversary of a bloody government raid on a radical mosque. Pakistan’s new government is facing growing unrest despite beating embattled president Pervez Musharraf’s allies in elections in February, with Islamist violence on the rise and political divisions growing. Five men were being questioned on Tuesday after they were arrested in connection with the blasts, said Babar Khattak, the police chief of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. ‘We have detained five people from different parts of the city after our investigators got some leads about their involvement in the blasts,’ Khattak said. ‘We cannot disclose to which group they belong or what we have recovered from them,’ he said. City police chief Wasim Ahmed said ‘a few’ more suspects had been arrested in addition to the five seized earlier and that jihadi materials had been confiscated from them. ‘We have seized hate literature in books and CDs,’ Ahmed said. An uneasy calm hung over the city of 12 million people with most gas stations closed because of fears of possible riots. Traffic was thin and attendance at government offices was slim, witnesses said. The provincial chief minister, Qaim Ali Shah, said Monday evening’s bombs were meant to ‘destabilise the coalition government’ which won the national elections, state media said. The government comprises the party of former premier Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December, and the grouping of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. There was no claim of responsibility for the blasts but television channels quoted Shah as saying that authorities had been forewarned about Taliban militants from the northwestern border with Afghanistan. The police said that the blasts were likely to be an attempt to stir up ethnic tensions in the troubled city because most happened in areas populated by Pashtuns, who originally hail from the northwestern frontier with Afghanistan. Investigators were meanwhile trying to establish who was behind Sunday’s blast in Islamabad, which hit police guarding a protest by Islamists against the deaths of more than 100 people in the siege and storming of the Red Mosque.
‘Insurgents must stop brutal killings in south Thailand’ Agence France-Presse . Bangkok
A leading rights group spoke out Tuesday over the targeting of civilians and brutal killings in Thailand’s restive south, warning that beheadings, live burnings and torture were becoming common. More than 3,300 people have been killed since separatist unrest broke out in January 2004, and militants’ tactics have become increasingly gruesome. ‘Insurgent groups continue to unleash brutality on civilians to demonstrate their power and weaken the credibility of Thai authorities,’ Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement. ‘Retaliating against government abuses does not provide any excuse for killing civilians. Their tactics are illegal and cannot be justified in any circumstances.’ Insurgents have shot dead four people in Pattani province since Monday, in two separate attacks. On Tuesday, a couple employed as construction workers were shot on their way to work before their bodies were set alight, the police said. Two army rangers were also shot dead as they escorted a school bus on Monday afternoon. Three students were injured in the ambush, the police said. On July 4, insurgents beheaded Khan Sangthong, a 55-year-old Buddhist, in nearby Yala province. He was shot, burned and had nails hammered through his hands before being beheaded. His severed head was placed on a bridge yards from his body. Human Rights Watch said more than 20 Buddhist Thais have been beheaded by insurgents across the southern border provinces in the last four years.
Rights group slams S Arabia slave treatment of migrant women Agence France-Presse . Jakarta
Saudi Arabian families are abusing female migrant workers to the point of slavery and Riyadh needs to respond with sweeping labour and justice reforms, a major rights group said Tuesday. US-based Human Rights Watch said in a new report released in Indonesia that many Saudis believed they ‘owned’ their foreign domestic workers and treated them like slaves. ‘Saudis treat them like chattel, slaves, like cattle. A domestic worker is like a slave and slaves have no rights,’ the report quoted a ‘senior consular official’ with a foreign embassy in the kingdom as saying. The 133-page report entitled ‘As If I Am Not Human’: Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia,’ was compiled after two years of research, the group said. The work included 42 interviews with domestic workers, officials, and labour recruiters in Saudi Arabia and the workers’ countries of origin, it said. Out of 86 domestic workers interviewed, HRW concluded that 36 faced abuse that amounted to forced labour, trafficking or slavery-like conditions. Some of the cases were horrific. ‘For one year and five months... no salary at all. I asked for money and they would beat me, or cut me with a knife, or burn me,’ Sri Lankan domestic worker Ponnamma S was quoted as telling the rights group. Haima G, a Filipina domestic worker, said her employer called her into his bedroom one day soon after she had arrived and told her she had been ‘bought’ for 10,000 riyals (2,670 dollars). ‘The employer raped me many times. I told everything to madam. The whole family, madam, the employer, they didn’t want me to go. They locked the doors and gates,’ she was quoted as saying. Nour Miyati, an Indonesian domestic worker, had her fingers and toes amputated due to daily beatings and starvation. Charges against her employers were dropped after a three-year legal process, despite a confession. ‘Employers often take away passports and lock workers in the home, increasing their isolation and risk of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse,’ HRW said in a statement. It said Saudi labour laws excluded domestic workers, so many were forced to work 18 hours a day, seven days a week – often without pay – for years. Sleeping quarters included closets and bathrooms. Nisha Varia, HRW’s senior women’s rights researcher, said that in the worst cases the women were ‘treated like virtual slaves.’
More mortar fire after Israel reopens Gaza crossings Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem
Gaza militants fired a mortar on Tuesday just hours after Israel reopened crossing points into the Hamas-ruled territory that it closed in response to an earlier violation of a three-week-old truce. The Israeli military said a mortar round struck an uninhabited area of southern Israel without causing casualties or damage. Israel has responded to previous attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip by sealing the border, but it gave no immediate indication that it planned to do so again following the latest incident. ‘I am not aware of any decision to close the crossing points,’ military spokesman Peter Lerner said. Israel closed crossings into Gaza on Tuesday morning after a mortar round was fired at southern Israel the previous day, but reopened them several hours later. ‘Following a special request by the Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the defence minister, Ehud Barak, ordered the reopening of the crossings at around noon (0900 GMT),’ Barak’s office said. Egypt played a key role in mediating the Gaza truce between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas, which went into effect on June 19. Suleiman, Egypt’s pointman for Palestinian affairs, was due to hold talks on the fragile truce with a Hamas delegation that travelled to Cairo on Tuesday.
Full ratification of ASEAN charter expected in August: chief Agence France-Presse . Manila
A landmark charter aimed at giving the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations a legal framework is likely to be fully ratified next month, the bloc’s chief said Tuesday. ‘I’m hoping that in Bangkok we will be able to celebrate full ratification,’ the ASEAN secretary general, Surin Pitsuwan, told reporters in Manila. ASEAN’s charter, signed in Singapore last year, aims to commit the region’s disparate nations to promote human rights and democratic ideals, and sets out the principles and rules for members. It also transforms ASEAN, formed in 1967, into a legal entity, a move that will give the group greater clout in international negotiations. Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have so far ratified the charter, while Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand are in the process of doing so, Surin said. ‘In the case of Thailand, a piece of legislation is needed (to ratify the charter). I have no reservation in believing that Thailand will be delivering the ratification. It will come some time in August,’ Surin said. The Philippines president, Gloria Arroyo, said in November last year that her country would not ratify the charter if Myanmar refused to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and reject calls for democratic reforms.
Ex-Thai speaker stripped of office for bribery Agence France-Presse . Bangkok
Thai election officials Tuesday stripped the former parliamentary speaker of his seat for handing out bribes, paving the way for an investigation which could see the ruling party dissolved. The Election Commission found Yongyut Tiyapairat guilty of bribing local officials in northern Thailand while campaigning for his People’s Power Party ahead of December elections. ‘There is evidence to believe that Yongyut has violated election law leading to an election which was not free and fair,’ the verdict said. ‘The court rules to withdraw his political rights for five years and orders a by-election in constituency 3 in Chiang Rai.’ Yongyut, a close ally of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, immediately cancelled a planned press conference on hearing the verdict. He had denied the charges and now faces a criminal investigation. PPP spokesman Kuthep Saikrajang said the party would accept the verdict. ‘The party, however, is upset that the judgement bans Yongyuth from political activities for 5 years,’ Kuthep said, adding that the current political climate is too unstable. ‘But, we will be patient and continue fighting because this is just the beginning,’ he said. The conviction opens the door to a broader probe into the operations of the PPP itself that could lead to the dissolution of the party, which rallied Thaksin’s supporters in the elections late last year.
Iran to hit Tel Aviv, US ships if attacked Reuters/bdnews24.com . Tehran
Iran will hit Tel Aviv, US shipping in the Gulf and American interests around the world if it is attacked over its disputed nuclear activities, an aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader was quoted as saying on Tuesday. ‘The first bullet fired by America at Iran will be followed by Iran burning down its vital interests around the globe,’ the students news agency ISNA quoted Ali Shirazi as saying in a speech to Revolutionary Guards. The United States and its allies suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear bombs. Tehran says its program is peaceful. ‘The Zionist regime is pressuring White House officials to attack Iran. If they commit such a stupidity, Tel Aviv and US shipping in the Persian Gulf will be Iran’s first targets and they will be burned,’ Shirazi was quoted as saying. Shirazi, a mid-level cleric, is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative to the Revolutionary Guards. ‘The Iranian nation will never accept bullying. The Iranian nation is a nation of believers which believes in jihad and martyrdom. No army in the world can confront it,’ he added. In Jerusalem, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s spokesman, Mark Regev, declined to comment on the threat to hit Tel Aviv, saying only: ‘Shirazi’s words speak for themselves.’ Israel, believed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed power, has vowed to prevent Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb. The United States says it wants to resolve the dispute by diplomacy but has not ruled out military action. Shirazi’s comments intensified a war of words that has raised fears of military confrontation and helped boost world oil prices to record highs in recent weeks. ‘We will make the enemy regret threatening Iran,’ Mohammad Hejazi, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency on Tuesday. Tel Aviv is an Israeli coastal metropolis of about 2 million people. It was hit in 1991 by Scud missiles launched by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during a US-led war with Baghdad. Unlike other major Israeli cities such as Jerusalem and Haifa, it is home to relatively few Arabs. Iran has previously threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the sea channel which flows along its coastline at the entrance to the Gulf, if it comes under attack. The strait is the world’s most important waterway because it is the conduit for roughly 40 per cent of globally traded oil. The Revolutionary Guards’ commander of artillery and missile units, Mahmoud Chaharbaghi, said 50 brigades of his forces had been equipped with what he called smart cluster munitions. ‘All our arms, bullets and rockets are on alert so that we would defend the Islamic Republic’s territory with the most modern arms we have at our disposal,’ the moderate Hemayat newspaper quoted him as saying. Senior officials from six world powers held a conference call on Monday to discuss Iran’s response to a revised package of incentives to curb its nuclear activities. The United States, France, Britain, China, Russia and Germany offered Iran the new package last month and said Tehran must suspend its uranium enrichment work before formal talks could start on implementing it. The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said on Monday his country would not stop enriching uranium and rejected as ‘illegitimate’ a demand by major powers that it do so.
Iraq demands pullout timetable in US defence pact talks Agence France-Presse . Baghdad
The Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, said on Monday he is negotiating a deal with Washington that will for the first time set a timetable for a withdrawal of foreign forces as part of a framework for a US troop presence into next year. The White House, however, said no ‘hard date’ for the withdrawal of US forces was contemplated and US officials suggested that any timetable would be dependent on conditions on the ground. Nevertheless, it was the first time that Baghdad’s Shia-led government has made a timetable for a US pullout a condition for a promised new agreement with the United States for a troop presence into 2009. ‘The direction we are taking is to have a memorandum of understanding either for the departure of the forces or to have a timetable for their withdrawal,’ a statement from Maliki’s office quoted him as telling Arab ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates. ‘The negotiations are still continuing with the American side, but in any case the basis for the agreement will be respect for the sovereignty of Iraq,’ he added. The US president, George W Bush, has repeatedly refused to set a timetable for a US withdrawal, and administration officials linked any change to conditions on the ground. ‘It is important to understand that these are not talks on a hard date for a withdrawal,’ said White House spokesman Scott Stanzell.
US pushing 2-way pacts with EU members on personal data Agence France-Presse . Washington
Washington is pursuing bilateral agreements with several European countries on sharing personal data in terrorist or criminal investigations that could be less strict than an EU-US pact currently under negotiation, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The Post said that several newer members of the European Union are being offered visa-free entry into the United States for their citizens in exchange for deals to share not only fingerprint and DNA data but information on the ethnicity, religion and political beliefs of suspects. Citing unnamed US and European officials, the newspaper said that the United States was now holding negotiations with Estonia, Hungary and the Czech Republic in pursuit of data-sharing agreements. The agreements allow the countries to share, on request, ‘personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinion or religious or other beliefs, trade union membership or information concerning health and sexual life’ where the data could be relevant, the Post said. ‘Senior Bush administration officials said the data exchange is crucial for spotting dangerous people before they enter the United States and for furthering criminal and terrorist investigation,’ the Post said. But rights activist are raising alarms about the breadth of the pacts. ‘We seem to be opening the floodgates left, right and centre,’ Netherlands EU parliament member Sophie in’t Veld told the Post. ‘It seems to me there are hardly any restrictions left,’ she said. The agreements, which are modelled in part on a US-Germany preliminary personal data access agreement reached in March, require the parties to ‘take suitable safeguards’ to protect the data being shared. Stewart Baker, the assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security, told the Post that the restrictions mean that the United States would share with another country personal information that is important for an investigation. For example, a suspect’s religion would be relevant in an investigation into a Muslim extremist plot, according to Baker. Baker also told the Post that the United States has agreed to limit the use of the data, not to share it onward with other governments, and not to retain data no longer useful. But German data protection commissioner Peter Schaar expressed concerns to the newspaper that Washington has no independent supervision of data protection and privacy rights.
Obama to propose overhauling bankruptcy laws Reuters/bdnews24.com . Atlanta
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will propose overhauling US bankruptcy laws on Tuesday to ease their impact on people unable to pay their bills because of medical expenses or military service. ‘I’ll reform our bankruptcy laws to give Americans who find themselves trapped in debt a second chance,’ Obama will say in prepared remarks for a town hall in Powder Springs, Georgia, which is outside of Atlanta. ‘While Americans should pay what they owe and we should be fair to those creditors who were fair to their borrowers, we also have to do more for the struggling families who need help most,’ he added. Obama, an Illinois senator, and Republican John McCain, an Arizona senator, have been squaring off this week over the economy as they court voters who are increasingly anxious over soaring energy costs and a deteriorating jobmarket. McCain and Obama will face each other in the November election. Obama took aim at a 2005 overhaul of bankruptcy laws that was strongly supported by credit card companies and other consumer lenders which made it tougher for people facing personal bankruptcy to discharge debt. Obama said about half of all personal bankruptcies result in part from the burden of high medical expenses. He said he would change the law so that Americans who can prove that their bankruptcies resulted from high medical costs could get some relief from their debts. Obama would also create a ‘fast-track’ bankruptcy process for people serving in the military and their families who get behind on expenses because of long deployments, repeated moves and predatory lenders.
Church of England faces split after women bishops approved Agence France-Presse . London
The Church of England was facing a serious split Tuesday after its ruling General Synod voted to allow women bishops despite threats by more than 1,300 clergy that they would quit over the issue. The Synod, the church’s legislative body, voted late Monday to press ahead with the ordination of women bishops and rejected the legal safeguards demanded by traditionalists. The Synod members voted to approve the drawing-up of a statutory national code of practice to accommodate parishes and clergy who object to women bishops on grounds of conscience. That fell short of demands by traditionalists, who had wanted new dioceses to be created for parishes and clergy opposed to women bishops. The Synod also rejected compromise proposals to create a new order of three male ‘super bishops’ to cater for objectors. The crunch vote at the University of York in northern England followed a passionate six-hour debate which pitched conservatives against liberals and ended with one bishop in tears as he said he was ‘ashamed’ of the Church of England. The Rt Rev Stephen Venner, the Bishop of Dover in southeast England, who supports women bishops, said the failure to agree to create ‘super bishops’ meant that every opportunity to allow objectors to ‘flourish’ with the Church had been blocked. ‘I have to say, Synod, for the first time in my life, I feel ashamed,’ he said. Bishops voted to bring forward legislation to ordain women bishops by 28 to 12, clergy were in favour by 124 to 44 and lay people by 111 to 68. The Church of England, led by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, is the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which has about 77 million followers. It first ordained women priests in 1994 amid a storm of controversy. For conservatives, women and gay clergy – an issue which has also caused bitter splits in the church in recent years – cast doubt on the interpretation of Christianity’s sacred text, the Bible.
Kenyan FM resigns over hotel scandal Agence France-Presse . Nairobi
The Kenyan finance minister, Amos Kimunya, on Tuesday announced he had tendered his resignation from the government over suspicion of corruption in the sale of a luxury Nairobi hotel. Speaking to reporters in Nairobi, the minister said he was pulling out of the cabinet to allow for an investigation into his role in the sale of the Grand Regency hotel last month. ‘I have requested his excellence the president to be allowed to step aside to facilitate this enquiry,’ Kimunya said at a press conference. ‘I have had several conversations with the president on the issue of the disposal of the Grand Regency hotel.
Guest talks too much, German woman calls police Agence France-Presse . Berlin
A desperate German woman finally called emergency services to rescue her after a friend visiting her at her apartment talked for 30 hours straight, authorities said Tuesday. A police spokesman in the western city of Speyer confirmed reports about the case, in which the guest rambled on about personal problems and became increasingly intoxicated until the 48-year-old dialled the emergency hotline. ‘After an unbelievable 30 hours and failed attempts to encourage the guest to leave last Saturday, the woman did not know what else to do but to call an ambulance,’ the police said. When the paramedics refused to carry the guest out of the apartment, the woman called the police, who picked up the friend and drove her home. The spokesman said the guest would face no criminal charges.
Ice dam to break prematurely on Argentine glacier Agence France-Presse . Buenos Aires
A huge ice dam on Argentina’s Perito Moreno glacier will break apart for the first time in the southern hemisphere winter, likely as a result of global warming, scientists and environmentalists said Monday. The 60-meter high wall of ice holding back a portion of Lake Argentina breaks apart spectacularly in cycles of one year to several years, but always in summer, and is one of Patagonia’s top tourist attractions. ‘This is the first time the glacier breaks up in winter. It could be related to global warming as rising temperatures affects ice friction,’ said Los Glaciares National Park director Carlos Corvalan. The Perito Moreno glacier, one of the world’s largest, measuring 275 square kilometres and five kilometres wide at its mouth, is located 2,800 kilometres southeast of Buenos Aires.
UNHCR calls EU pact on immigration positive Agence France-Presse . Geneva
The United Nations Refugee Agency on Tuesday said it found a proposed European Union pact on immigration and asylum positive and that it was ready to work with the EU to achieve its objectives. ‘The strengthening of practical cooperation among member states and the creation of a European Asylum Support Office are positive proposals, and we are ready to cooperate with the EU to meet these goals,’ Jennifer Pagonis, spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told reporters. EU nations on Monday welcomed sweeping new guidelines for controlling immigration and are on track to sign the pact in October, the EU’s French presidency said. The UNHCR, however, also reiterated a call it made last week for the EU to allow for more refugees to be permanently settled in the bloc. ‘We welcome the reference made in the pact to refugee resettlement but would like to see further steps taken to increase the participation of EU member states in worldwide refugee resettlement efforts,’ said the UNHCR.