Dunya TV
Dunya TV |
- 9 killed in 3 apparent drug attacks in Mexico
- Nisar terms Salman Khurshid's remarks baseless
- Pak-India dialogues should be conducted in New Delhi: Khursheed
- ISI, Pak Army try to sabotage peace efforts, blames Indian minister
- Jailed Russian tycoon is honoured by Poland
- US acts against fake online products reviews
- Nairobi: Terrorists quizzed victims to spare Muslims
- Russia jails 7 more Greenpeace crew
- Home improvement stores in France opened on Sunday
- Boko Haram gunmen kill 28 school students in Nigeria
- Syria airstrike hits school, killing 12
- Syria: UN experts set to launch most perilous mission
- Hagel in South Korea for security talks
- Hezbollah hands over 2 checkpoints to Lebanon army
- Militants kill 6 in Kurdish region of Iraq
| 9 killed in 3 apparent drug attacks in Mexico Posted: MEXICO CITY (AP) - Shootings erupted over the weekend in three Mexican cities where drug gangs are fighting turf battles, killing at least nine people and wounding six more, officials said Sunday.Gunmen on motorcycles arrived at a bar in the resort city of Cuernavaca and opened fire, killing three young men and a 22-year-old woman, the Morelos state prosecutor's office said. The attack near midnight Saturday also injured four people, who were recovering in local hospitals under police guard, a common practice when officials consider victims' lives still in danger.In the northern city of Fresnillo, a group of armed men shot three people dead Saturday afternoon outside a convenience store.Federal and local police launched a wide search in the city of about 230,000 people that sits on a main drug trafficking route, but the attackers were still at large, the Zacatecas state attorney general's office said in a statement.In the northern industrial hub of Monterrey, attackers shot at a group standing outside a bar in the early hours of Sunday, killing two men and wounding two. The shooting came three days after two masked gunmen killed four people and wounded two others inside a bar in a nearby suburb. Authorities have not said whether the shooting were related, but the assailants in both attacks arrived in taxis.The weekend bloodshed raised fears that drug cartel violence may stir up again in areas where authorities had already applauded a reduction in drug-related homicides.Meanwhile, the gangs continue to plot new ways to take over corridors into the United States.Authorities in the northern state of Coahuila said over the weekend that police detained nine boys, two young women and 12 men who had arrived from different cities in northern Mexico on behalf of the violent Zetas cartel seeking to seize control of a city near Monterrey from a rival gang. Police confiscated 17 high-caliber weapons and ammunition.In his first state-of-the-nation address earlier this month, President Enrique Pena Nieto reported a significant drop in drug-related killings, citing Monterrey and Torreon, a city in Coahuila state, as examples. Many experts have expressed skepticism about the statistics used by the president.Violence in Monterrey and in Fresnillo stems from a fight between the Zetas and the Gulf cartels, which were allies until they fell out in 2010. Cuernavaca, a retreat for U.S. retirees and favorite weekend getaway for Mexico City residents, has seen drug gang shootings involving remnants of the Beltran Leyva cartel.  |
| Nisar terms Salman Khurshid's remarks baseless Posted: ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan has strongly reacted to Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshids remarks about Pakistan Army and ISI.Ch Nisar termed Khurshids statement as unwarranted and against the norms of diplomacy. He said there is a complete harmony between PML-N government and Pakistan Army.He urged the Indian government to end their atrocities against the innocent Kashmiris instead of leveling allegations against Pakistan.Earlier, Indian Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid has accused that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan and Pak Army are trying to sabotage Sharif government’s efforts to make peace with India.  |
| Pak-India dialogues should be conducted in New Delhi: Khursheed Posted: SUKKUR: The opposition leader in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah has said that Pak-India dialogues should be conducted in New Delhi instead of New York.Talking to the media in Sukkur on Sunday, Shah said that they want continuation of this regime and would not allow to derail it.“We have given our written permission to the regime that all decision must be taken by you and we would back those but suffering of public by terrorism should not continue,” added Shah.  |
| ISI, Pak Army try to sabotage peace efforts, blames Indian minister Posted: NEW YORK (Web Desk) - Indian Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid has accused that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan and Pak Army are trying to sabotage Sharif government’s efforts to make peace with India.His statement comes hours ahead of a meeting between both the leaders on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly.According to Indian media reports, Khurshid said that while the Prime Minister Sharif was making the right noises, it was imperative for the civilian government of Pakistan to find a way to keep the army and the ISI under control.Weve been told that all the government agencies are on the same page, Khurshid said, but if they were, the things that are happening would not be happening.Salman Khurshid was referring to the recent attacks in Indian Held Kashmir that led to the deaths of over 10 people.The minister defended Manmohan Singhs strong criticism of Pakistan in the UN General Assembly address on Saturday morning as legitimate grievances.The Indian Prime Minister had blamed Pakistan for cross-border terrorism and said that the epicenter of terrorism is in Pakistan.Referring to the recent violence on the Line of Control (LoC) Khurshid questioned the notion it could be the work of non-state actors without support from the ISI, adding that if Pakistan could not control non-state actors on its territory it should seek Indias help.We expect them to handle non-state actors if they are non-state actors, Khurshid said. He also said that India had on several occasions provided evidence of the involvement of state actors in attacks on India, including the voice samples of the control room that handled the Mumbai attacks.We cant go into Pakistan and pick out the guy whos voice it is, Pakistan government has to help us do it. So were saying either give the guy to us, or take action against him.”Khurshid, though, welcomed the mention of a new beginning in India-Pakistan relations by the Pakistani premier, but he also said that based on past experiences India needed to trust but verify that Pakistan was serious about peace.As per media reports amongst the top issues the Indian premier will raise with his Pakistani counterpart in Sundays meeting is Pakistans failure to bring the planners and executioners of the Mumbai attacks to justice.According to India, several people who should be behind bars are roaming free while the ones that are under arrest have yet to finish their trials or face punishments.We need some accountability, or at least the beginning of accountability, only then we can start afresh, said Khurshid.  |
| Jailed Russian tycoon is honoured by Poland Posted: GDANSK (AP) - A son of Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky received a $100,000 human rights award on behalf of his imprisoned father on Sunday during a ceremony in Poland conducted by Solidarity founder Lech Walesa.The award, announced on Thursday, was bestowed in recognition of the tycoons efforts to build a free economy and a civil society in Russia.In the ornate 14th-century Artus Court in Gdansk, Walesa gave the award to 28-year-old Pavel, Khodorkovskys eldest child, who read his fathers letter of thanks in English.In his speech, he said the award is a great encouragement to his father at a time when he needs it and a sign that Europe are standing on his side, said Pavel Khodorkovsky who lives in New York and heads The Institute of Modern Russia think tank.Walesa said he hopes that our recognition for suffering and struggle will bring effects.Once Russias richest man, Khodorkovsky has been convicted in two separate trials in Russia of evading taxes, stealing oil from his own company and laundering the proceeds. He has spent nearly 10 years in prison and is due for release in 2014.At the time of his arrest in 2003 most Russians were pleased to see Putin reining in the oligarchs, who had gained fantastic wealth and political influence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But Khodorkovskys demeanor during his trials and his writings from prison earned him much respect.His case is seen as Putins punishment for his political ambitions and support for the opposition. Amnesty International had declared Khodorkovsky a prisoner of conscience.Gdansk shipyard electrician Walesa received the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize for founding Solidarity, the Polish freedom movement that grew out of worker discontent. In 1989 it peacefully ousted communism from Poland and the following year Walesa became Polands first popularly elected president.He has since withdrawn from active politics but continues to support pro-democracy efforts around the world, including the Lech Walesa human rights award that he founded in 2008.Walesa turned 70 on Sunday, and the award-giving ceremony began with presents, flowers and good wishes for him.  |
| US acts against fake online products reviews Posted: WASHINGTON (AFP) - But a recent crackdown by authorities in New York could be the shock needed for the online sector to clean up its act.The New York state attorney generals office recently ordered 19 companies to halt these practices and pay fines totaling $350,000 to settle charges of manipulating online reviews for sites such as Yelp, Google and others.The settlement stemmed from an undercover investigation in which officials created a fake yogurt shop in Brooklyn and sought help in marketing from so-called search engine optimization firms that work to boost a companys online presence.The investigators discovered online ads such as this one: Hello... We need someone to post 1-2 reviews daily on sites like: Yelp, Google reviews, Citysearch and any other similar sites. We will supply the text/review... We are offering $1.00 dollar for every post.The companies hired writers from as far away as the Philippines, Bangladesh and Eastern Europe, according to the investigators.Consumers rely on reviews from their peers to make daily purchasing decisions on anything from food and clothing to recreation and sightseeing, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.This investigation into large-scale, intentional deceit across the Internet tells us that we should approach online reviews with caution. While the extent of fake reviews is not clear, a 2012 report by the research firm Gartner concluded that between two and six percent of online reviews are fake or deceptive, and predicted this will grow to around 10 percent by 2014.The prevalence of fake reviews is due to the high stakes involved.The Gartner report said some 31 percent of consumers use online review because they find the opinions of a person like themselves to be more credible than advertising.Gartner said studies from a number of university researchers suggest that positive reviews can provide a shot in the arm for many kinds of businesses, from hotels to restaurants to doctors or lawyers.Sussin said fake reviews can be used by small family operations to Fortune 500 companies. In addition to positive reviews, some fakes are negatives, often aimed at driving business to a competitor.She said the review business has turned into a cottage industry, with writers in places such as India or the Philippines paid as little as $1 to $5 per review. In other cases, some employees or customers are offered incentives such as gift certificates for reviews, which is also considered deceptive or illegal.Duncan Simester of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Eric Anderson of Northwestern University found that five percent of reviews for a major apparel maker came from people with no record of purchasing that product.Google recently stopped allowing anonymous reviews, in part due to concerns about fakery.But Dartmouth University marketing professor Yaniv Dover said there is a downside to ending anonymity, arguing that people may take fewer risks when their identities are known.When you kill anonymity and force these social dynamics, you kill some of the truth, Dover said.People tend to be more positive (if they are not anonymous). They dont want to be perceived by their friends as negative.While fake reviews are not always easy to spot, there are warning signs.Sussin says that for hotels and restaurants, a lack of detail about the location could be a sign for caution.A reviewer who comments on multiple, unrelated products or services can also be suspicious. Excessive use of superlatives can also be a sign of faking, Gartner said.Websites often raise flags when they get large numbers of reviews at one time, or if one IP address is tied to multiple reviews in a short time period.Despite the apparently large numbers of fake reviews, most researchers say the system still works fairly well.  |
| Nairobi: Terrorists quizzed victims to spare Muslims Posted: NAIROBI (AP) - The turbaned gunmen who infiltrated Nairobis Westgate mall arrived with a set of religious trivia questions: As terrified civilians hid in toilet stalls, behind mannequins, in ventilation shafts and underneath food court tables, the assailants began a high-stakes game of 20 Questions to separate Muslims from those they consider infidels.A 14-year-old boy saved himself by jumping off the malls roof, after learning from friends inside that they were quizzed on names of the Prophet Muhammads relatives. A Jewish man scribbled a Quranic scripture on his hand to memorize, after hearing the terrorists were asking captives to recite specific verses. Numerous survivors described how the attackers from al-Shabab, a Somali cell which recently joined al-Qaida, shot people who failed to provide the correct answers.Their chilling accounts, combined with internal al-Shabab documents discovered earlier this year by The Associated Press, mark the final notch in a transformation within the global terror network, which began to rethink its approach after its setbacks in Iraq. Al-Qaida has since realized that the indiscriminate killing of Muslims is a strategic liability, and hopes instead to create a schism between Muslims and everyone else, whom they consider kuffar, or apostates.What this shows is al-Qaidas acknowledgment that the huge masses of Muslims they have killed is an enormous PR problem within the audience they are trying to reach, said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization. This is a problem they had documented and noticed going back to at least Iraq. And now we see al-Qaida groups are really taking efforts to address it.The evolution of al-Shabab is reflected in a set of three documents believed to be written by the terrorist group, and found by the AP in northern Mali earlier this year.They include the minutes of a conference of 85 Islamic scholars, held in December 2011 in Somalia, as well as a summary of fatwas they issued last year after acceptance into the al-Qaida fold.Baptized with the name al-Shabab, meaning The Youth, in 2006, the group began as an extremist militia, fighting the government of Somalia. As early as 2009, it began courting al-Qaida, issuing recordings with titles like, At Your Service Osama.Until the Westgate attack, the group made no effort to spare Muslim civilians, hitting packed restaurants, bus stations and a government building where hundreds of students were awaiting test results. And until his death in 2011, Osama bin Laden refused to allow Shabab into the al-Qaida network, according to letters retrieved from his safehouse in Pakistan. The letters show that the terror leader was increasingly troubled by regional jihadi operations killing Muslim civilians.In a letter to Shabab in 2010, bin Laden politely advised the Somali-based fighters to review their operations in order to minimize the toll to Muslims. Shabab did not get the green light to join al-Qaida until February 2012, almost a year after bin Ladens death.In an email exchange this week with The Associated Press, it made its intentions clear: The Mujahideen carried out a meticulous vetting process at the mall and have taken every possible precaution to separate the Muslims from the Kuffar before carrying out their attack. However, even at Westgate, al-Shabab still killed Muslims, who were among the more than 60 civilians gunned down inside.Their attack was timed to coincide with the highest traffic at the upscale mall after 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 21, a Saturday.More than 1,000 people, including diplomats, pregnant women with strollers and foreign couples, were inside when the fighters armed with grenades and AK-47s burst in and opened fire. At first the attack had the indiscriminate character of all of Shababs previous assaults.Rutvik Patel, 14, was in the aisles at Nakumatt, the malls supermarket which sells everything from plasma TVs to imported kiwis, when he heard the first explosion. They started shooting continuously, and whoever died, died, he said. Then it became calm and they came up to people and began asking them some questions. If you knew the answer, they let you go, he said. They asked the name of the Prophets mom. They asked them to sing a religious verse.Just across from the Nakumatt supermarket, a 31-year-old Jewish businessman was cashing a check inside the local Barclays branch when he, too, heard the shooting. The people there ran to the back and shut themselves in the room with the safe, switching off the lights. They learned, via text messages, that the extremists were asking people to recite an Arabic prayer called the Shahada.One of the women who was with us got a text from her husband saying, theyre asking people to say the Islamic oath, and if you dont know it, they kill you, said the businessman, who insisted on anonymity out of fear for his safety.He threw away his passport. Then he downloaded the Arabic prayer and wrote it on his palm.Al-Shababs attempts to identify Muslims are clear in the 16-page transcript from the conference of Islamic scholars held in the Somali town of Baidoa, an area known to be under Shabab control in 2011, according to Somalia specialist Kenneth Menkhaus, a political science professor at Davidson College in North Carolina. The scholars issued several fatwas defining exactly who was a Muslim and who was an apostate.The document states it is halal, or lawful, to kill and rob those who commit crimes against Islam: The French and the English are to be treated equally: Their blood and their money are halal wherever they may be. No Muslim in any part of the world may cooperate with them in any way. ... It leads to apostasy and expulsion from Islam, it says. Further on it adds: Accordingly, Ethiopians, Kenyans, Ugandans and Burundians are just like the English and the French because they have invaded the Islamic country of Somalia.Former FBI supervisory special agent Ali Soufan, who investigated the bombing of the United States embassies in East Africa as well as the attack on the USS Cole, said that the gathering of dozens of religious scholars in an area under Shabab control harkens back to an al-Qaida conference in Afghanistan around 1997.That conference defined America as a target, Soufan said, leading to the bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.You see something very similar here, said Soufan. Its the same playbook.In a second document dated Feb. 29, 2012 just two weeks after al-Shabab joins al-Qaida the organization warns Muslims to stay away from buildings occupied by non-Muslims, chillingly predicting and justifying the death of Muslims at Westgate.And so all Muslims must stay far away from the enemy and their installations so as not to become human shields for them, and so as not to be hurt by the blows of the mujahedeen directed at the Crusader enemies, it says. There is no excuse for those who live or mingle with the enemies in their locations.Yet at the same time it says: The mujahideen are sincere in wanting to spare the blood of their brother Muslims, and they dont want a Muslim to die from the bullets directed at the enemies of God.  |
| Russia jails 7 more Greenpeace crew Posted: MOSCOW (AFP) - A Russian court on Sunday ordered seven more crew members of a Greenpeace ship to be detained for two months over an open sea protest against Arctic oil drilling, as part of a probe into alleged piracy.The court in the northern city of Murmansk on Thursday had already ordered the two-month detention of 22 Greenpeace activists pending the investigation into suspected piracy after a protest at a Gazprom oil rig on September 18.The same Lenin district court in the city above the Arctic Circle nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) north of Moscow had also remanded in custody eight crew members for 72 hours until a new hearing on Sunday.The judge has ordered seven of those activists including Dmitri Litvinov, a Greenpeace spokesman and a Swedish-American dual citizen of Russian origin, to remain in pre-trial detention for nearly two months.Ruslan Yakushev, a Ukrainian cook from Greenpeaces Arctic Sunrise icebreaker, Sini Saarela, a Finnish activist who tried to scale the platform, and Frank Hewetson from Britain were among the crew members ordered to remain in detention until November 24, a Greenpeace representative, Andrei Petrov, told AFP from Murmansk.The hearing on the detention of the eighth activist was still continuing.The court was on Sunday holding simultaneous hearings in several different courtrooms to decide whether to extend the detention for the activists.The hearings were running behind schedule, and Greenpeace said there were problems with English and Dutch translation.Diplomats from several countries were in attendance.The total of 30 detained crew members of Greenpeaces Dutch-flagged Arctic Sunrise icebreaker include six British citizens, four Russians and nationals of 16 other countries including Argentina, Italy, France and Australia.Russian investigators have accused the activists of piracy after Saarela and another activist tried to scale state energy giant Gazproms Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Barents Sea.The group has denied committing piracy and accuses Russia of illegally boarding its ship in international waters.President Vladimir Putin has said that the activists are of course not pirates but stressed they had broken international law by getting dangerously close to the oil rig.Charges of piracy carry a maximum prison term of 15 years but the Investigative Committee said that the charge against the group could be reduced in the course of the probe.Among those detained for two months is the vessels captain, Peter Willcox, who was also the skipper of Greenpeaces Rainbow Warrior ship, which French secret services bombed and sank in New Zealand in 1985.Another is photographer Denis Sinyakov, a former staff photographer at AFP and Reuters who was working for Greenpeace as a freelancer.The Netherlands government called on Moscow to release the activists immediately and said it was considering legal action.The arrests also sparked outrage from Russian and international rights activists, with Reporters Without Borders saying Russian investigators were criminalising both journalists and environmental activists.Cellmate with Russians accused of robberyFourteen of the 22 detained are being held in a pre-trial detention centre in Murmansk, while the other eight have been transferred to the nearby city of Apatity.In violation of the law according to which foreign suspects should be held separately from Russian nationals, a British activist is being held with two Russians suspected of robbery, said Irina Paikacheva, the head of a state-connected regional prisoner rights watchdog.  |
| Home improvement stores in France opened on Sunday Posted: PARIS (AFP) - Braving a court ban, 14 home improvement stores in France opened to the public Sunday in an increasingly bitter tug of war with the government over a law prohibiting trading on the traditional day of rest.The move comes amid intense debate over Frances labour practices.The government is seeking to continue a long tradition ruling out Sunday and late-night work, but at a time of record high unemployment, many employees regard the ban as antiquated.Last week, both Leroy Merlin and Castorama, two home improvement chains, were ordered by a court to stop opening their stores in the Paris area on Sundays or face a fine of 120,000 euros ($162,000) per shop and per day.But on Sunday, they opened anyway amid anger among employees and customers.Im outraged by the court decision: All of a sudden, I risk ending up without a salary, which threatens my studies, said Eleanor Leloup, a 24-year-old chiropractic student who works every weekend at one of the affected Leroy Merlin stores in Ivry-sur-Seine, next to Paris.Smahene, another employee at the store, wore a T-shirt blazoned with the words Yes week-end, in a nudge to the Yes we can slogan used by US President Barack Obama in his 2008 campaign.Spokespeople for both chains denounced a confusing ban that allows some stores to open in certain cases.Under French law, retailers can only open on a Sunday under very specific conditions -- if they are located in a tourist area, for instance.Any shop selling food, such as a butcher, can also do trade until 1 pm.Some stores can open on Sundays without a problem and others must ask for special dispensations. It would be good if everyone received equal treatment, a Castorama spokeswoman told AFP.Leroy Merlin, meanwhile, blasted a staggering imbroglio when it came to permits given to some stores to open, and not to others.Some ministers have acknowledged that changes need to be made, and early Sunday evening, the government announced a special meeting would take place on Monday to make things evolve.In an interview with Sundays Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Sylvia Pinel, minister for commerce and the crafts industry, acknowledged that there was a complexity in the law that demanded clarification.And Bruno Le Roux, head of the ruling Socialists lower house National Assembly faction, said on Radio J that retailers should be given the possibility of working Sundays.But other politicians have rebuked the two home improvement chains.Benoit Hamon, Consumer Affairs Minister, said Saturday it was unacceptable that a brand does not implement a judicial decision.Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, meanwhile, said rules must be respected as we are a state ruled by law.By-and-large, customers who came to the DIY stores on Sunday said they supported the decision to remain open.Im ashamed, I think its outrageous that in this country, people are not being allowed to work. And then people are surprised that there is unemployment, said Elisabeth Armani, a Parisian DIY lover shopping at the Ivry Leroy Merlin store.Wheres the petition? I came here on purpose to encourage these young people who want to work Sundays, we support you, Philippe Dafit, another customer, told employees who were distributing leaflets at the entrance to the store.The Sunday controversy comes on top of another similar debate that emerged last week in France -- this time over a law banning late-night work.A court ruled Monday that cosmetics retailer Sephora must close its flagship Paris store by 9 pm after it had been keeping it open until midnight on weekdays and up to 1 am on Fridays and Saturdays, to capitalise on demand for late-night shopping.Employees of the store have since blasted the unions that brought the case for preventing them from opting to work longer hours for extra pay, at a time when unemployment stands at a record 10.9 percent.The retailer has said it will appeal the court order.  |
| Boko Haram gunmen kill 28 school students in Nigeria Posted: KANO (AFP) - Boko Haram gunmen on Sunday opened fire in a college dormitory in northeast Nigeria as the students slept, killing at least 28 people, in the latest violence blamed on the Islamist insurgents.The early morning assault targeted the College of Agriculture in the town of Gujba, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Damaturus capital of Yobe, said area military spokesman Lazarus Eli.Boko Haram terrorists went into the school and opened fire on students while they were sleeping, he told AFP.An official at the Damaturu Specialist Hospital, who requested anonymity, said 28 bodies had been received so far from the Gujba massacre.We have been asked to expect more, he told AFP.Yobe state, where the college is located, has seen a spate of attacks on schools and universities, all blamed on Boko Haram, an extremist group that has killed hundreds in its four-year insurgency.The name Boko Haram means Western education is forbidden and the group has become notorious for slaughtering students of various ages in recent years.In July in the town of Mamudo in Yobe, Islamists threw explosives and sprayed gunfire into dormitories in the middle of the night, killing 41 students.Presumed Boko Haram gunmen shot dead seven secondary school students and two teachers in Damaturu in June.The military has described the recent school attacks as a sign of desperation by the Islamists, claiming they only have the capacity to hit soft targets.The defence ministry has said that an offensive launched against Boko Haram in mid-May has decimated the group and scattered their fighters across remote parts of the northeast, the insurgents traditional stronghold.While many of the recent attacks have occurred in more remote areas, often targeting defenceless civilians, the unchecked killing has cast doubt on the success of the militarys campaign.Scores have been killed this month, including in the northeastern town of Benisheik in Borno state, where at least 142 people were slaughtered by presumed Boko Haram fighters who came disguised as soldiers, set up checkpoints and fired on motorists and bystanders.Some of the recent violence has targeted vigilante groups which have formed to help the military.The northeast remains under a state of emergency imposed on May 14.The phone network has been switched off in much of the northeast since the emergency measures were declared, a move the military said would help prevent the Islamists from coordinating attacks.Some have suggested that the lack of phone service has prevented civilians from sounding the alarm during attacks.While the phones remained down in Gujba, calls to Damaturu were going through on Sunday.Boko Haram has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigerias mainly Muslim north, but the group is believed to made up of different factions with varying aims.The group has attacked churches, mosques, newspaper offices, the security forces, politicians and a United Nations building, among other targets.A toll earlier this year said the conflict is estimated to have cost more than 3,600 lives, including killings by the security forces. The current figure is likely much higher.Nigeria is Africas most populous country and top oil producer, roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.  |
| Syria airstrike hits school, killing 12 Posted: BEIRUT (AP) - A Syrian government air raid struck a high school in a rebel-held city in the countrys north on Sunday, killing at least 12 people, most of them students, activists said.The airstrike took place in the city of Raqqa, which is located on the Euphrates River and is the only provincial capital under rebel control in Syrias civil war, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Right said. President Bashar Assads regime has relied heavily on its air force to strike opposition-held areas, including Raqqa.The attack appeared to hit the yard in front of the school early Sunday morning, which is the first day of the work week at public schools in Syria.Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said at least eight of the dead were students, and that the death toll is likely to rise because many of the wounded are in critical condition.Amateur videos posted online showed at least nine bodies, some of them missing limbs, lying on pockmarked-pavement strewn with rubble.At least four of the bodies appeared to be of young people. Another video shows pools of blood on the ground and a concrete-block wall destroyed in the bombing.The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting of the events depicted.  |
| Syria: UN experts set to launch most perilous mission Posted: DAMASCUS (AFP) - International chemical weapons experts were preparing to launch an ambitious and dangerous disarmament mission in Syria on Sunday even as its relentless conflict raged on.In the latest violence, an air strike on a high school in a rebel-held city of northern Syria killed 12 people, most of them students, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.And ahead of the start of the disarmament mission on Tuesday, UN chemical arms investigators left their Damascus hotel to carry out a new inspection on the ground.The United Nations has said the experts, who have been in Syria since last Wednesday, are investigating seven alleged chemical weapons attacks and expect to wind up their work on Monday.They hope to have a comprehensive report ready by late October.The UN mission is separate from a team of Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inspectors due to start work the next day to destroy Syrias chemical arsenal.The mission is also still investigating an August 21 attack in Damascus suburbs that coincided with an earlier visit to Syria. The experts have already confirmed the use of the nerve agent sarin in the area.Both the Syrian regime and the rebels seeking its overthrow have repeatedly accused each other of using chemical weapons.But in the wake of the August 21 attack, which allegedly left hundreds dead, the United States threatened military action against the Syrian regime, which it accuses of responsibility.The regime denies involvement but agreed soon afterwards to relinquish its chemical arsenal, averting a strike, under a US-Russian deal which was enshrined in a landmark UN Security Council resolution on Friday.UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Saturday held his first meeting with Syrias opposition National Coalition chief to press for a peace conference aimed at ending the 30-month conflict that has cost more than 110,000 lives.Coalition leader Ahmad Jarba told Ban the opposition group was ready to send a delegation to a conference, according to UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.Ban has set mid-November as the target date for convening the conference which aims to build on the work of a previous one held in in June 2012.In his talks with Jarba, Ban stressed the importance of embarking on a serious dialogue as soon as possible as well as the need to ensure accountability for war crimes, his spokesman said.Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, meanwhile, signalled there could be no talk of President Bashar al-Assads departure, as the opposition and Western governments have demanded.There can be no discussion of the future of President Assad. It is in the constitution, he said at UN headquarters in New York.As fighting between Assads forces and rebels raged, his air force bombed a technical high school in the city of Raqa, killing 12 people, most of them children under 18, the Syrian Observatory said.The Britain-based group posted video footage showing mangled bodies, one of them lying under schoolbooks. Its authenticity could not immediately be verified.Raqa, on the Euphrates valley 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of the main northern city of Aleppo, is the only provincial capital entirely in rebel hands.Captured from government forces on March 6, the city is now largely controlled by Al-Qaeda loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.The air strike came after rebels launched an overnight attack on army positions in Nasseriya al-Qalamun, north of Damascus, killing at least 19 soldiers and wounding 60, the Observatory said.In one of the biggest and most dangerous operations ever staged, international chemical weapon troubleshooters are due to enter war-torn Syria on Tuesday.With more than 1,000 tonnes of sarin, mustard gas and other banned horror chemicals stocked across the country, the United Nations and the global chemical weapons watchdog have launched an urgent appeal for scarce experts to join the mission.Final details of the US-Russia plan to dispose of stockpiles at an estimated 45 sites by a target date of mid-2014 have still not been agreed, UN diplomats said.The Syrian government has submitted an initial list of chemical sites and weapons. It has until Friday to send more information to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons tasked with the cleanup.  |
| Hagel in South Korea for security talks Posted: SEOUL (AP) - Amid escalating threats from North Korea, US and South Korean defense officials will meet over the next few days and discuss whether to extend Americas wartime control over the Souths armed forces, 60 years after a truce ended the Korean War.Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel flew to Seoul on Sunday, and said there will be conversations about the possible extension of the 2015 deadline, but likely no decisions will be made.Were constantly re-evaluating each of our roles, Hagel told reporters traveling with him. That does not at all subtract from, or in any way weaken, our commitment the United States commitment to the treaty obligations that we have and continue to have with the South Koreans.US officials have acknowledged that the South Koreans have informally expressed an interest in delaying the deadline when Seoul is supposed to assume wartime control of the forces that would defend the country in the event of an attack by North Korea.The target date initially was in 2012, and was pushed back to 2015.Defense officials said they expect to have discussions about it with the South Koreans that will help map out the way ahead.Officials said that South Koreas military capabilities have continued to improve, including its ability to communicate and coordinate with the US on missile defense, particularly with American Navy ships deployed to the region.But the South still needs to strengthen a number of military and intelligence capabilities, including surveillance and reconnaissance as well as its missilesUS control of the forces is a holdover from the Korean War, and America has been trying for years to build South Koreas capabilities. But it has proved difficult to wean the South off its dependence on the U.S. military, particularly as the threat from North Korea has escalated.Earlier this year, Pyongyang conducted another nuclear test in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. The detonation at a remote underground site was seen as a key step toward the Norths goal of building a bomb small enough to fit on a long-range missile capable of striking the US.And, earlier this month a US research institute said that recent satellite images appeared to show that North Korea was restarting its plutonium reactor at the Nyongbyon nuclear facility.That facility was closed in 2007 under the terms of the six-nation disarmament agreement.On Friday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se urged the UN General Assembly to make a united effort against North Koreas nuclear program, as it has against the use of chemical weapons in Syria.Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that its time to complete the transfer of wartime control to South Korea.This is not going to in any way weaken the ability of US forces to work with South Korean forces, she said. I think you could argue it could strengthen it. It would make it more similar to the kind of arrangement that we have between American and Japan forces.She said that the recent saber-rattling by Pyongyang, including the nuclear test, represent more of an escalation in the threat to the U.S. than to South Korea.The North has long had highly capable short-range missiles that can hit South Korea.Hagel will spend several days in South Korea, then head to Japan, where he and Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Japanese leaders. This is Hagels third trip to Asia this year.  |
| Hezbollah hands over 2 checkpoints to Lebanon army Posted: BEIRUT (AP) - Lebanese security officials say Hezbollah has handed over control of two checkpoints in an eastern city to the countrys army.The move Sunday comes a day after a gunbattle in Baalbek between members of the Shiite militant group and residents left at least three people dead. Hezbollah still has at least three other checkpoints in the city.Lebanons state news agency said army troops have deployed throughout Baalbek, including in the neighborhoods where Saturdays fighting took place.Hezbollah set up checkpoints in its strongholds, including Baalbek, after a deadly Aug. 15 bombing in Beiruts southern suburbs. Many people resent the checkpoints.Lebanon has been on edge as a result of the civil war in neighboring Syria, and is divided between supporters of the regime and the opposition.  |
| Militants kill 6 in Kurdish region of Iraq Posted: ARBIL (AFP) - Militants killed six people in the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq on Sunday, officials said, in a rare attack on an area usually spared violence plaguing the country.Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Malikis spokesman said the deadly attack may be linked to the bloody civil war in neighbouring Syria, where jihadists have battled Kurdish forces.A senior Kurdish security official said two militants opened fire at the headquarters of the asayesh security service in Arbil, then entered and blew themselves up.An explosives-rigged ambulance also detonated at the scene, the official said on condition of anonymity.Kurdistan region health minister Raykot Hama Rashid told journalists that six asayesh members were killed and more than 60 people wounded in the attack.An AFP journalist heard three blasts in Arbil, and heavy gunfire. Smoke could be seen rising in the air, as ambulances raced to the scene.While much of Iraq is plagued by near-daily violence that kills hundreds of people each month, the three-province Kurdistan region in the countrys north has largely been spared the deadly unrest.Sundays blasts were the first to hit Arbil since May 2007, when a truck bomb exploded near the same asayesh headquarters, killing 14 people and wounding more than 80.Syria has affected all of us, the Iraqi premiers spokesman Ali Mussawi told AFP, adding that the attacks may be one of the offshoots of the Syrian crisis.Iraqi security analyst Ali al-Haidari agreed.The attack is linked to the differences between the Kurds and Al-Nusra Front, Haidari said, referring to a rebel jihadist group that operates in Syria.Todays attack is Al-Nusra Fronts revenge against the Kurds inside Kurdistan, he said.Iraqs autonomous Kurdish region has become increasingly embroiled in the bloody conflict raging across the border in Syria.Clashes last month between Kurdish forces and jihadists seeking to secure a land corridor connecting them to Iraq pushed tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds across the border, seeking refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan.Region president Massud Barzani has threatened to intervene in the Syrian conflict to protect Kurdish civilians, although officials have since backtracked on those remarks.The blasts came a day after results were announced for the regions parliamentary elections, which saw an opposition movement in second place ahead of Iraqi President Jalal Talabanis party.Iraqi Kurdistan enjoys a high level of autonomy from Baghdad, and the regional parliament has passed laws on a wide range of issues. The Kurdish region also operates its own security forces and visa regime.  |
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