UN chief vows to fight terrorism

United Nations (PTI): Expressing concern over the rising incidents of terror attacks on civilians, UN chief Ban Ki Moon has said that it cannot be justified for any reason and should be prevented.
Moon, however, declined to comment on whether the United States' military operations against militants in Pakistan territory, without the permission of Islamabad, constituted threat to world peace and security.
"I think this is something that I need to mention. I am not in a position to make any comment on that," Moon said while talking to the reporters here.
Pakistan Army Chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, had lashed out at the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan over the cross-border raids in its tribal belt and vowed to defend the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity "at all cost".
Moon said the United Nations is doing all it can to mobilise firm political will of international community to fight terrorism. "Protecting civilians in particular is very important priority for us."
The world body, he said, is firmly committed to fighting terrorism in all in its forms and manifestations.

Walcott on song as England stuns Croatia

LONDON: Teenager Theo Walcott scored a hat-trick as England beat Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb on Wednesday to avenge the two defeats that cost it a place at Euro 2008.
Miroslav Klose also hit a hat-trick for Germany but his goals only salvaged a 3-3 draw for a side which was just seven minutes from losing to Finland for the first time in 85 years.
Most of the other teams expected to reach the 2010 World Cup in South Africa came through the second round of qualifiers in five days unscathed. World champion Italy beat Georgia 2-0 in Udine and World Cup runner-up France beat Serbia 2-1 in Paris.
European champion Spain maintained its perfect start in Group 5 with a 4-0 win over Armenia in Albacete.

Gilani backs Kayani’s salvo against U.S. operations

Bush nod to strikes in Pakistan without Islamabad’s permission upsets Army
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday hastened to assure that Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had not opened a front against the government with his strongly-worded statement asking foreign troops to keep off amid reports of a secret understanding between the government and the Bush administration for U.S. troops to carry out attacks on Pakistani territory.
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Mr. Gilani saying the Army chief’s statement “was reflective of government policy”. He told journalists that the government had “the same views” as General Kayani on defending the sovereignty.
Pakistan’s corps commanders also met on Thursday in Rawalpindi in a show of solidarity with their chief after his unprecedented outburst, which was aimed at the U.S. but also appeared intended as a message to the new government not to get too close to the U.S.

“Israeli annexation larger than perceived”

DUBAI: An Israeli human rights group has said Israel’s illegal annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank is much larger than is perceived.
According to the group, B’Tselem, the size of Israeli settlements has more than doubled because of unofficial annexations. It points out that thousands of hectares, adjoining the West Bank barrier that the Israelis have been building has been taken over.
All settlements on Palestinian land that Israel occupied during the 1967 war are illegal under international law. Israel has, however, settled 4,50,000 in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Israel has also justified the construction of the West Bank barrier, which it says has been built to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers. But in an advisory ruling issued four years ago, the International Court of Justice said barrier violated international law. It recommended that the separation wall should be abolished.

Khaleda Zia freed from jail

DHAKA: The former Bangladesh Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader, Khaleda Zia, was released from prison on Thursday. She was arrested last year on graft charges.
After her release, Ms. Zia said her party would join the talks with the caretaker government to hold the next elections. To the utter surprise of her party-workers, Ms. Zia said her elder son Tarique Rahman — a senior joint secretary-general of BNP and who was released last week — would stay away from politics for two years, until he recovers from illness.
Ms. Zia has been released two months after the release of the former Premier, Sheikh Hasina, chief of the Awami League (AL). Ms. Hasina is now in the U.S. for medical treatment. Earlier in the day, Ms. Zia was greeted by party-workers as she stepped out of the special jail in the Parliament complex. After visiting Mr. Rahman, who has been admitted to a hospital, Ms. Zia went to the party headquarters, which has remained shut since an Emergency was imposed in January 2007.

Yankee hegemony finished: Chavez

MOSCOW: Russian nuclear-capable bombers have arrived in Venezuela for unprecedented joint exercises in the Caribbean, which would later be joined by Russian warships, including nuclear submarines.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he had ordered strategic bombers to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Two Tu-160s, the world’s biggest long-range bombers, landed in Venezuela on Wednesday in the first Russian military foray into the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War ended.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the bombers flew to Venezuela on a training mission and would conduct training flights over neutral waters before returning to Russia next Monday.
“The Yankee hegemony is finished,” said Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez in a televised speech announcing the arrival of Russia’s warplanes. Mr. Chavez, a former Air Force pilot, said he would pilot one of the Russian planes over Cuba to please his friend, the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Russia’s Navy plans to send a nuclear cruiser flagship, submarines and anti-ship aircraft to Venezuela for joint naval manoeuvres later this year.

Malaysian Army: we’ll keep off politics

SINGAPORE: The Malaysian military has “no intention of interfering in the country’s politics,” according to the Defence Forces Chief, Abdul Aziz Zainal.
He told journalists in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that Malaysia’s professional armed forces would “leave” the domestic controversies to “the political leadership.” However, it was appropriate to advise the people against propagating racial sentiments in multi-cultural Malaysia, and there was no veiled message behind such counsel, he said.
These comments are considered significant in the present context of heightened political activity in Malaysia. The ruling United Malays National Organisation has taken action against a party activist for his comments on the status of the ethnic Chinese minority. People of Indian origin constitute the other significant minority in Malaysia.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi renewed his call for racial harmony in this new situation. And, on the wider political front, leader of the opposition Anwar Ibrahim said he was on course to unseat the Prime Minister and lead a new government.

Colombo takes exception to Ban's remarks

COLOMBO: Colombo on Thursday took serious exception to the remarks made by the UN Secretary-General on the situation in the north and complained that they could be "used to advantage" by the LTTE. Meanwhile, the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) condemned the government directive to the UN and other International and National NGO’s to move out of Tiger occupied areas.
In a statement here, the Sri Lankan Peace Secretariat said it viewed "with some astonishment" the UN Secretary-General's remarks. "Though ostensibly his worries are for civilians, the exhortations about ‘the principal of proportionality and the selection of targets’ seem intended to send a message", it said.
It contended that since there had been hardly any civilian casualties during the recent offensives, it is possible that the Secretary-General was "prompted by reports of large numbers of civilian casualties in other theatres of war, which misled him" into believing that all forces fighting terrorism are alike.