Thailand: 4 Die in Nightclub Fire in Phuket - New York Times

  The drought represents an opportunity to reimagine how we manage, use and even think about water.

 Adopting the reductionism that equates humans with other animals has a serious downside: it wipes out the meaning of your own life.
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Israel a tumour says Iran leader - Gulf Daily News

TEHRAN: Israel is a "cancerous tumour" that will soon be finished off, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday told demonstrators holding an annual protest against the existence of the Jewish state.

"The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumour. Even if one cell of them is left in one inch of (Palestinian) land, in the future this story (of Israel's existence) will repeat," he said in a speech in Tehran marking Iran's Quds Day.

"The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists in the Palestinian land.... A new Middle East will definitely be formed. With the grace of God and help of the nations, in the new Middle East there will be no trace of the Americans and Zionists," he said.

Israel's existence is an "insult to all humanity", he said.

The diatribe took place amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme. Israel has in recent weeks intensified its threats to possibly bomb Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent it from having the capability to produce atomic weapons.

Iran, which is suffering under severe Western sanctions, denies its nuclear programme is anything but peaceful. Its military has warned it will destroy Israel if it attacks.

"They (the Israelis) know very well they don't have the ability" to successfully attack Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

"If they make a mistake, our nation's reaction will lead to the end of the Zionist regime," he said.

State television showed crowds marching under blazing sunshine in Tehran and other Iranian cities to mark Quds Days, whose name, derived from Arabic, designates the city of Jerusalem, the disputed future capital of both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Demonstrators held up Palestinian flags and pictures of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and banners reading "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."

The marches have been an annual event during Ramadan in Iran, ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. They underline Iran's antipathy to Israel and its ally the US, and support for the Palestinian cause, which Khamenei on Wednesday called "a religious duty".

The supreme leader described Israel as a "bogus and fake Zionist outgrowth" in the Middle East that "will disappear".

The head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, told the Fars news agency as he attended the Tehran rally that "the Iranian nation has always been at the forefront of the (regional anti-Israeli) resistance in showing its animosity with Israel." He added that Iran intended to maintain that virulent stance.

Ahmadinejad, in his speech, claimed that "Zionists" triggered the first and second world wars, and had "taken control over world affairs since the moment they became dominant over the US government."

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Eid in Gulf on Sunday - The News International

RIYADH: The Eidil Fitr marking the end of the holy month of Ramazan is to start on Sunday in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam’s holiest sites, the kingdom’s religious authorities announced.

In a statement carried by Saudi media, they said the crescent which marks the new lunar month was not sighted on Friday night and that Saturday would as a result be considered the 30th and final day of the dawn-to-dusk month of fasting.

Qatar and Yemen also announced a Sunday start to the Eid, while religious authorities in Libya later announced the same starting date.

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Burma to investigate Rakhine clashes - BBC News

18 August 2012 Last updated at 01:23 GMT Thousands of Rohingya Muslims are living in refugee camps outside of Sittwe Burma has set up a commission to investigate recent violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the west of the country, in which dozens died.

The move was announced by President Thein Sein, who earlier rejected UN calls for an independent inquiry.

The clashes between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims also displaced thousands of people.

The UN welcomed the inquiry, saying it could make "important contributions" to restoring peace.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman said it could create a "conducive environment for a more inclusive way forward to tackle the underlying causes of the violence, including the condition of the Muslim communities in Rakhine".

Long-standing tension Continue reading the main story

What sparked the violence in June?

The rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in Rakhine in May set off a chain of deadly religious clashes

Why was a state of emergency declared?

To allow the military to take over administrative control of the region

Who are the Rohingyas?

The UN describes them as a persecuted religious and linguistic minority from western Burma. The Burmese government says they are relatively recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent. Bangladesh already hosts several hundred thousand refugees from Burma and says it cannot take any more

A statement on Thein Sein's website said on Friday the 27-member commission would include representatives from different political parties and also religious organisations.

It said the commission would submit its findings next month.

The violence in Rakhine state began in late May when a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered by three Muslims. A mob later killed 10 Muslims in retaliation, though they were unconnected with the earlier incident.

Sectarian clashes spread across the state, with houses of both Buddhists and Muslims being burnt down.

The UNHCR has said that about 80,000 people have been displaced in and around the Sittwe and Maungdaw by the violence.

There is long-standing tension between Rakhine people, who are Buddhist and make up the majority of the state's population, and Muslims.

Most of these Muslims identify themselves as Rohingya, a group that originated in part of Bengal, now called Bangladesh.

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US rejects for Assange - The News International

WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday that it did not believe in "diplomatic asylum" after Ecuador offered to let WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stay indefinitely in its embassy in London.
Ecuador has turned to the Organization of American States, which met Thursday and Friday in Washington, after deciding to offer asylum to the Internet activist who is wanted in Sweden on sexual assault allegations.
Under a 1954 agreement, the Organization of American States agreed to allow asylum in diplomatic missions for "persons being sought for political reasons," although not individuals indicted for "common offenses."
"The United States is not a party to the 1954 OAS Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and does not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum as a matter of international law," the State Department said in a statement.
"We believe this is a bilateral issue between Ecuador and the United Kingdom and that the OAS has no role to play in this matter," it said.
Supporters of Assange believe that the 41-year-old Australian is at risk of extradition to the United States after angering authorities by publishing a trove of sensitive diplomatic cables.
The United States has denied pressuring Britain to arrest Assange, who has been holed up in Ecuador's embassy since June. Washington has not commented on potential legal actions but said it has no intention of "persecuting" Assange.
While the United States did not sign or ratify the 1954 convention on diplomatic asylum, it has often used the safety of its embassies to protect activists in non-democratic nations.
In May, Chinese human rights campaigner Chen Guangcheng fled to the US embassy in Beijing after evading house arrest and beatings. China eventually allowed Chen to leave for the United States to study.
Fang Lizhi, a key figure in the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989, lived in the US embassy in Beijing with his wife for more than one year before he was allowed to go into exile in the United States in a deal brokered with Japan. (AFP)
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Assam Ministers arrive in city - The Hindu

The Hindu Assam’s Tourism Minister Chandan Brahma (in blue shirt) and Agriculture Minister Nilomani Sen Deka speaking to those leaving in a special train to Guwahati at the Bangalore City Railway Station on Friday. Photo: Bhagya Prakash. K
They tell fleeing people Karnataka is one of the safest places in the country
As thousands of people from the northeast settled in different parts of Karnataka continued to flee to their home States, two Ministers from Assam reached Bangalore on Friday to ally their fears. Assam Minister for Tourism and Transport Chandan Brahma, who represents Bodoland People’s Front in the coalition government, and Agriculture and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nilomani Sen Deka came straight to the Bangalore City Railway Station after landing in the city. Interaction Though first on the official agenda was a joint press meet with Karnataka Ministers at the Vidhana Soudha, the Ministers first preferred to interact with people. But before that, the two had a brief interaction with Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S. Suresh Kumar and Home Minister R. Ashok at the Station Manager’s cabin. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara and All India Congress Committee general secretary Oscar Fernandes later joined the Ministers. Mr. Ashok informed the Assam Ministers that there were no confirmed racist attacks and said his government, in association with the South Western Railway (SWR), had ensured enough special trains to those wanting to get back home. After this, the Assam Ministers began their interaction with people from their region. Addressing them, Mr. Brahma said: “I’ll stay back in Bangalore till you feel comfortable.” He reassured them that Karnataka was one of the safest places for everyone. “Don’t worry about your parents in Assam. We are there to look after them.” Mr. Deka said there was no need for panic. “We are all with you,” he said. Sloganeering Meanwhile, activists of India Against Corruption questioned the Assam Ministers on their visit. “You are not able to protect people in your own State. What business do you have in Karnataka?” they said. Eventually, the police, fed up with their ignoring repeated requests to desist from sloganeering, briefly detained them.
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French, Turkish Foreign Ministers Discuss Syria - Voice of America

ISTANBUL — French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has met with his Turkish counterpart to discuss the deepening crisis in Syria. France and Turkey are among the staunchest supporters of the Syrian opposition.
In a press conference in Ankara, visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, both condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on dissent. Davutoglu described the Syrian forces' efforts to retake control of the city of Aleppo as a crime against humanity.  
Earlier in the day, Fabius called for the Assad regime to be ended as he visited Turkey's largest refugee camp near the border.
"The Syrian regime should be smashed fast. After hearing the refugees and their account of the massacres of the regime, Mr. Bashar al-Assad doesn't deserve to be on this earth," said Fabius.
Fabius welcomed Ankara's support for refugees, with more than 66,000 currently seeking shelter in Turkey. In the past day, nearly 2,000 more Syrians refugees have crossed the Turkish border.
Davutoglu welcomed France's initiative to hold a foreign ministers-level meeting on the crisis in Syria on August 30. The Turkish foreign minister also cautiously welcomed the appointment of the new international mediator on Syria, Algerian statesman Lakhdar Brahimi.
Davutoglu said the appointment is significant, but that Brahimi will succeed only if the United Nations Security Council puts its support behind him.
The former U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, resigned from the post, blaming a lack of unity in the Security Council.
The Turkish and French foreign ministers also discussed the consequences of the deepening crisis in Syria on the region. They also talked about Ankara's call for the international community to share the financial burden of providing shelter for Syrian refugees.
Davutoglu confirmed that a second Turkish citizen has been kidnapped in Lebanon by forces believed to be sympathetic to Damascus. Turkey has issued a travel advisory warning citizens not to travel to Lebanon.
The French foreign minister's visit to Ankara is part of a tour that included Lebanon and Jordan.
The visit occurred as the United Nations' observer mission in Syria prepares to withdraw from that country. The mandate ends Sunday, but the Council says it hopes to establish a political office in the battle-ravaged country.
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New Syria envoy says all conflicts can be solved - Jakarta Post

Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press, United Nations | World | Sat, August 18 2012, 10:05 AM
After two decades as a diplomatic troubleshooter in hotspots from Afghanistan to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi firmly believes that every conflict can be solved.
That conviction will be put to the test in his new job as the joint United Nations-Arab League special envoy charged with trying to succeed where his former boss Kofi Annan failed — bringing an end to the 18-month conflict in Syria.
"I think his biggest challenge is convincing the international community to intervene and end this — whatever it takes, because non-intervention has a much higher cost than intervention," Nadim Shehadi, a Middle East expert at London's Chatham House think tank, said in a telephone interview Friday. "Leaving this to go on is going to create more sectarianism, more extremism and more spillover to the region, and the Assad regime is capable of anything to stay in power."
Brahimi brings a unique background and a wealth of experience to a task that many leaders and pundits have written off as impossible.
He was a freedom fighter in his native Algeria, drifted into diplomacy after his country's independence from France in 1962, became undersecretary-general of the Arab League from 1984-1991, and returned to Algeria as foreign minister from 1991-1993.
In 1994, Brahimi took his diplomatic skills to the United Nations, taking on key assignments in South Africa, Haiti, Afghanistan during and after the Taliban rule, and Iraq after Saddam Hussein's ouster. He chaired a panel that examined U.N. failures in Rwanda's genocide and the massacre at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war, and recommended a major overhaul of U.N. peacemaking efforts and peacekeeping operations.
Reflecting on his 20 years spent trying to make peace, Brahimi acknowledged in a speech in 2010 that conflicts are terrible and difficult and the cause or the result of problems that need to be solved.
Nonetheless, he added, "I still believe very, very strongly that there is no conflict that cannot be solved."
"We, people, make these problems," Brahimi told the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England. "And we should be able to solve them. We can solve them."
Brahimi said he also learned that in dealing with conflicts "obviously you see a lot of wickedness, a lot of cruelty, a lot of injustice, but you also come across a lot of kindness, a lot of courage, and a lot of forgiveness, and that makes up for it."
He recalled that when former U.S. Senator George Mitchell accepted the job as President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East in 2009, Mitchell said, "you live 800 days of frustration for one day of satisfaction."
During his years at the Arab League, Brahimi served as the organization's special envoy trying to mediate an end to Lebanon's civil war. There were several failed attempts to end the fighting, he said, but finally on Sept. 24, 1989, "we clinched a cease-fire" that looked like it would hold — and it did, leading to the Taif agreement that ended the 15-year conflict.
"These kinds of satisfactions are the things that one works for," Brahimi said.
Brahimi officially retired in 2005, though he remains active as a lecturer and participant in several non-profit organizations focusing on global affairs. He has taken on special assignments including heading a U.N. panel that investigated the December 2007 bombing of U.N. headquarters in Algiers. He is also a member of The Elders, the international group of prominent statesmen founded by Nelson Mandela that has been speaking out on major issues.
Now 78, the tall, grey-haired diplomat will be stepping into the job held by Annan, a close friend who as U.N. secretary-general sent him to Afghanistan twice, then to Iraq, and then brought him to New York as a special adviser and undersecretary-general in 2004-2005.
Brahimi knows the Mideast and its key players well and speaks Arabic, French and English fluently.
His years spent trying to end Lebanon's civil war put him in close contact with Syria, which for years maintained a strong military presence in Lebanon even though the Taif agreement called for an eventual withdrawal of Syrian forces. Brahimi was also in a key Arab League position when Syria made its dramatic decision in 1990 to participate in the U.S.-led coalition that routed Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait in the first Gulf War.
Shehadi, of the Chatham House think tank, said Brahimi's past dealings with the ruling Assad family in Syria in the 1980s means "they won't be able to fool him" as they did others with "games" to try to gain time and make the regime look good.
Shehadi said a diplomatic solution must come from the West, not an internal Syrian dialogue that is part of Annan's six-point peace plan, "and the best possible scenario would be an international agreement which would involve the Russians, who would step in and tell Assad clearly that the game is over."
Brahimi gave some clues on how he might try to end the intensifying Syria conflict in the 2010 speech, in which he stressed the importance of trying to find common ground between the parties — and "there is always a little bit of common ground, even if it's a few inches" — and then looking for larger areas of agreement that can lead to an end of the conflict.
In Afghanistan, he played a major role in installing a new government following the rout of the Taliban by U.S.-led forces in 2001. He co-chaired the first U.N.-sponsored meeting of world leaders and Afghan groups in Bonn, Germany that agreed on a blueprint for a political transition — a possible model for Syria if Bashar Assad falls from power.
In Iraq, he also helped choose an interim government in 2004.
Brahimi has stressed repeatedly that every conflict is different.
Last week, he gave another clue about what needs to be done in Syria.
The Elders issued a statement urging all parties in Syria, and all those in the international community who can influence the outcome of the crisis, to work together toward a Syrian-led solution to end the bloodshed "and move the country away from the abyss."
Brahimi added his own statement calling on Syrians to come together "in the quest of a new formula" so they can live together peacefully without fear or reprisals. And he urged world and regional leaders to end their divisions and unite to ensure that a political transition can take place as soon as possible.
He reiterated in an interview with The Associated Press in Paris on Friday that "the first challenge is to see the killing stop."
Asked whether military intervention is on the horizon, he said, "I hope not."
"I am a mediator," Brahimi stressed. "Speaking of the military option is already recognizing failure."
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The battle of Semdinli - The Economist (blog)

ALONG Turkey’s southern border, in a far-flung corner of the country that is wedged between Iraq and Iran, separatist rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been waging one of the fiercest battles in recent years against the Turkish army. For nearly two weeks, PKK rebels entrenched around the township of Semdinli in the Hakkari province have resisted an onslaught by Turkish helicopters and fighter jets that have been pounding the mountainous terrain, setting fire to forests and forcing hundreds of villagers to flee. The battle is said to have spread to the outskirts of Semdinli, an impoverished town of 19,500 where sympathy for the PKK runs strong.
Sedat Tore, Semdinli’s mayor from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) says the din of artillery and bombs "is terrorising our people". Plumes of smoke have enveloped the town. "We are in a circle of fire," implores Mr Tore.
Details of the clashes remains sketchy because the combat zone has remained sealed off by the army ever since the battle started on July 24th. The army moved in following reports that PKK militants had set up checkpoints along a road connecting Semdinli to the northern town of Derecik and blown up several small bridges. The PKK claims to have killed as many as 49 Turkish soldiers and that it is controlling the areas surrounding Semdinli. The army denies the claims saying it has lost only two men and that it has killed at least 37 PKK rebels. "We really don’t know what is happening because the government won’t allow us to go in [to the combat zone]" said Esat Canan, a BDP MP in Semdinli, who expressed concern for villagers caught in the conflict.
The shroud of mystery thickened after Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, told a group of journalists this week that he knew what was happening in Semdinli but that "I won’t tell you." Turkish officials claim that the army has foiled PKK plans to spark an "Arab Spring" type uprising in the region but have failed to explain why the fighting has gone on for so long. A PKK affiliated website claimed on August 3rd that the rebels had launched a separate attack in the township of Eruh further west killing at least 11 soldiers. Turkish officials acknowledged that two soldiers died in the attack.
The rebels are expected to further escalate the violence before August 15th, which marks the 28th anniversary of their campaign for an independent Kurdish state uniting some 30m Kurds, scattered across Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They have been emboldened by recent gains by Syrian Kurds, led by a sister group in the Democratic Union Party (known by its Kurdish initials PYD), which has wrested control of a string of Kurdish majority Syrian towns along the Turkish border.
Turkey has responded by beefing up its troops and ordinance along the border and threatening to intervene should the PKK use Syria as a launching pad for its operations. Amid all the chest-pounding there are some hopeful signs that Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party has not abandoned reforms in favour of an all out (and long tested) "military solution" to the Kurdish problem. Even as the Turkish jets continued to rain bombs around Semdinli, AK MPs in Ankara gathered with opposition members in the Turkish parliament to thrash out the draft of a new constitution that the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has promised to deliver.
The wording is expected to pave the way for the Kurds’ long-standing demands to educate their children in their long-banned mother tongue and to shelve references to Turkish ethnicity in relation to citizenship. But there is a hitch. According to the drafting committee’s own rules there needs to be unanimity among members for any new article to be approved. The far-right Nationalist Action Party, which denies there is a Kurdish problem, is pushing back. To his credit Mr Erdogan has done more than any of his predecessors to improve the Kurds’ lot. But unless he resumes talks with the rebels that broke down last year, the scenes in Semdinli are likely to be repeated.
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Tropical storm Ernesto forecast to become hurricane by Monday in Caribbean - Washington Post (blog)

Tropical storm Ernesto at 1:30 p.m. (NOAA) Tropical storm Ernesto, which swept across the Windward islands, has entered the Caribbean and is forecast to strengthen gradually over the weekend. By Monday, the National Hurricane Center says, Ernesto may reach hurricane intensity.
Since yesterday, its intensity has remained steady, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. Its current positions is about 90 miles west of St. Lucia and its moving almost due west at 21 mph. As the center crossed St. Lucia, sustained winds reached 41 mph with a gust measured at 63 mph.
The Windward islands are now clearing out and all watches and warnings for Ernesto have been dropped.
Track forecast
It may be several days before Ernesto again threatens any landmass or populated island. Its forecast track keeps it over the open sections of the easterb Caribbean sea through early Sunday. During the day Sunday, it’s likely to pass sufficiently far south of Jamaica to spare it from a direct hit. But the island lies within the storm’s cone of uncertainty so a small northward jog could - at the very least- bring some of the storm’s bands inland.

Official track forecast for Ernesto (National Hurricane Center) By the time the storm is east of Jamaica on Monday, its future course becomes far more uncertain. As the National Hurricane Center writes:
AFTER [2 OR 3 DAYS] TRACK MODELS DIVERGE CONSIDERABLY AND SOME MODELS KEEP ERNESTO ON A MORE WESTWARD TRACK...WHILE ANOTHER GROUP TURN THE CYCLONE MORE TO THE NORTHWEST...
In other words, the storm could strike the Yucatan Peninsula (or even locations slightly south) or turn into the Gulf of Mexico as I discussed yesterday.
Intensity forecast
The storm remains somewhat ragged and disorganized and is unlikely to strengthen in the very near term. While there’s a fairly well-defined low level circulation, the storm lacks concentrated convection near the center.
With wind shear forecast to weaken, conditions are likely to become more favorable for intensification, especially as the storm reaches the central and western Caribbean where ocean heat content is high.
About half of available forecast models project the storm will reach hurricane intensity in 60 to 72 hours (Monday) and two-thirds by 108-120 hours (Wednesday).
Intensity forecasts contain significant uncertainty, so stay tuned for updates.
Elsewhere in the tropical Atlantic
* A disturbance near southern Florida is showing some early signs of organization. Writes University of Miami researcher Brian McNoldy:
This system is crawling to the northwest at about 5kts, and conditions are favorable for slow additional development. The SST is 29C, and although the vertical shear is relatively strong now (~20kts), it should decrease to under 10kts by tomorrow.
Models have not been run on this yet, and there is not an official forecast from NHC yet, but certainly expect increased chances of very heavy rain in southern Florida and western Bahamas this weekend.
Officially, the National Hurricane Center gives the system a 20 percent of becoming a tropical depression or storm in the next 48 hours.
* A tropical wave in the eastern Atlantic, not far removed from the west coast of Africa, is being given 50 percent odds of becoming a tropical depression or storm within 48 hours by the NHC. It is many days from nearing land, if it ever does.
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PICTURES: The human tragedy of the revolt in Syria - Scottish Daily Record

IT'S easy to overlook that, as rebels battle President Bashar Assad's regime in the middle eastern country, ordinary families are caught in the crossfire.

 A young Syrian refugee looks through the barbed wire fence at the Al Zaarti refugee.
THE fighting and killings may dominate the headlines but thousands of ordinary people are having their lives torn apart by the civil unrest in Syria.
View gallery Human misery of revolt in SyriaView gallery  
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Revamping the Pakistan-US alliance - The Express Tribune

The war agains­t terror­ism will be fought in Pakist­an whethe­r we like it or not. And Pakist­an cannot fight it alone.  The war against terrorism will be fought in Pakistan whether we like it or not. And Pakistan cannot fight it alone. DESIGN: JAMAL KHURSHID
Before sending his ISI chief General Zaheerul Islam to Washington to meet the CIA Director David Petraeus, Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani set the tone after meeting the top US commander in Afghanistan General John Allen: “The meeting helped towards improving strategic and operational understanding between the Pakistan military and ISAF”.
In Washington, General Islam expressed Pakistan’s desire to move to ‘new beginnings’, resetting cooperation in the two countries’ strategic projections. The ‘new beginnings’ indicate progress from where it was disrupted when the former ISI chief General Ahmad Shuja Pasha broke off talks with his counterpart in high dudgeon several months ago. Pakistan follows policy cues of its army with public opinion swinging along as moulded by the media and a divided political community competing in keeping the army on its right side.
Pakistan’s defiance did not last long because a voluble parliament and such ‘civil society’ organisations as the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) hammed it up and destroyed the fine nuances of the strategy adopted by the army when it closed Nato supply routes after the November 2011 Salala incident. The upshot of this overkill was that in July, Pakistan was politically cornered with its frayed economy sending out distress signals to an international community that was not willing to listen. The drop scene was that Pakistan reopened the supply route ‘for free’ but got $1.1 billion from the Coalition Support Fund that its policy had put in abeyance.
The Allen-Kayani meeting was obviously significant, possibly achieving some kind of agreement on how to handle the Haqqani network on the Pakistani side attacking Afghanistan and the terrorist Maulana Fazlullah’s gang in Nuristan and Kunar in Afghanistan attacking Malakand in Pakistan. The foreign office in Islamabad seems to have found its voice — with a go-ahead from the GHQ — when it declared dead the policy of strategic depth for which Pakistan had sacrificed more than it should have. If the army was once wedded to it, it may have backed off after seeing the dire straits that the Pakistan economy was in and the changing mood of the captains of the national economy who were in favour of opening up the occluded trade with India.
The new voice in the foreign office was expressed through Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar who defied the much dreaded DPC and opportunistic politician by saying that the ‘I am sorry’ type of apology from America was enough for Pakistan to forgive and forget, emphasising that Pakistan could not afford to be isolated. The phase in which the foreign office put its shoulder to the strategic depth obsession of the army was put aside at the risk of offending the non-state actors of the DPC. Pakistan is, therefore, well on its way to ridding itself of the international pariah status and thinking straight about confronting its internal weaknesses.
The theme of opposition to drones developed by Pakistan and its media will not be easily suppressed. To get Washington to stop them will depend on how honest Pakistan is in pledging to get after the terrorist outfits on its side and admitting its limitations in this regard. The other side will have to mount new operations in Kunar, a Wahabi stronghold, and in Nuristan, a province with little or no ISAF presence, to stop the Fazlullah gang from carrying out attacks inside Pakistan. Though Nato’s ability of precisely targeting enemies through drones might achieve results, Pakistan may have problems coping with the Haqqani network whose outreach in Pakistan is considerable outside North Waziristan. Pakistan has to overcome its passion with sovereignty and nationalism. Both concepts are unrealistic and have come to be associated with victimhood and an inclination to promote suicidal policies. The only viable strategy is one geared to promote Pakistan’s economy. There are signs that the GHQ is now desirous of this change. The war against terrorism will be fought in Pakistan whether we like it or not. And Pakistan cannot fight it alone.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2012.
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Dual typhoons lash coastal regions in east China - Xinhua

Waves beat the shore in Qingdao as the Typhoon Saola approaches in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Aug. 3, 2012. Shandong Provincial Meteorological Station has issued the red alert for the Typhoon Saola, the highest warning level in China's four-tier weather warning system. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)
FUZHOU/BEIJING, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Gales and rainstorms have lashed coastal regions in east China following the arrival of two tropical storms early Friday, forcing the evacuation of 867,000 people as of 6 p.m. Friday, according to the tally by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Strong tropical storm Saola, which has weakened from a typhoon, made landfall in the city of Fuding in southeast China's Fujian Province at 6:50 a.m. Friday, packing winds of 90 km per hour near its center, according to the provincial meteorological station.
It is expected to move northwest at a speed of 15 to 20 km per hour, bringing heavy rains to northern Fujian and Jiangxi provinces later Friday, the station said.
As of 6 p.m. Friday, 214,000 residents in Fujian have been relocated, according to the ministry. The provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters previously put the number of evacuees at 306,000.
The station said local governments should prepare for storm-triggered natural disasters such as floods and mudslides.
In the neighboring province of Zhejiang, about 716,000 people were affected by Saola, among whom 349,000 were evacuated, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
Saola previously made landfall at 3 a.m. Thursday in Hualien, Taiwan, bringing heavy rains and forcing most schools and offices on the island to close.
Typhoon Damrey, the 10th typhoon of the year, made landfall near Xiangshui county in east China's Jiangsu Province around 9:30 p.m. Thursday.
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Pussy Riot punks expect little help from Putin - AFP

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin's unexpected call for leniency in the Pussy Riot trial failed Friday to convince the wary defence that the three members of the all-girl punk band will be set free soon.
Growing global concern about Russia's latest politically-tinged trial -- this one pitting three women in their 20s against the Russian Orthodox Church -- saw Putin break silence about the controversy for the first time on a visit to London this week.
"I do not think that they should be judged too severely," he said in reference to a February "punk prayer" performance that the balaclava-clad band members staged inside Moscow's biggest cathedral against his rule.
The Russian strongman -- believed to have the final say in most decisions and one who is rarely contradicted by the courts -- added that he expected the band members to "draw their own conclusions" and learn from their mistakes.
"I hope that the court will make the right, well-founded ruling," he added.
The comments seemed to have left the beaten down defence team in a state of disbelief at what briefly looked like a turn of luck which ran counter to a week of hearings during which the prosecution had its way with the Moscow court.
"I treat Putin's statement as a signal -- as a certain turning point," an optimistic co-defence lawyer Mark Feygin told AFP before the start of Friday's hearings.
"It could be the system's signal about how to behave in the trial since international pressure has mounted greatly," he said in a telephone interview.
The punk band's one-minute stunt inside the Christ the Saviour Cathedral -- itself a symbol of the Church's resurgence under Putin's 12-year rule -- has turned into a global cause celebre symbolising Russia's lack of freedoms.
Group leader Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and band mates Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich have already been in pre-trial detention for five months and could face seven years if convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.
Their case has drawn the interest of Western governments and international pop stars who don Pussy Riot shirts during performances and tweet about them to their hundreds of thousands of fans.
But the spirits of Feygin and other defence attorneys seemed to be sagging again badly by Friday evening after the presiding judge had barred 14 of the 17 defence witnesses from testifying in court.
"In the end, we are only going to question the defendents' two teachers and one of their classmates," the Interfax news agency quoted judge Marina Syrova as telling the courtroom.
"Nothing has changed," Feygin tweeted by Friday evening.
"Putin lied to everyone again," co-defence attorney Nikolai Polozov added on his own Twitter account.
The prosecution had earlier sought to keep all the defence witnesses from attending the hearings -- a move they justified by claiming their irrelevance to the case.
"The OMON (riot police) is pulling my witnesses out of the courtroom," Feygin tweeted shortly after the judge's decision.
The list of the original defence witnesses included the prominent protest leader and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny and the award-winning novelist Lyudmila Ulitskaya.
Pussy Riot supporters had earlier expressed fears that Putin had made his London comments primarily to calm Western anger rather than push for the women's release.
The Russian strongman has rarely bowed in the face of Western pressure on domestic issues and spent the first months of his third term raising penalties on protesters and branding groups with Western funding as "foreign agents."
Pussy Riot's attorneys meanwhile have openly admitted that their best -- and possibly only -- form of defence rested on drawing global condemnation to what they see as disproportionate punishment for a prank stunt.
Hollywood star Danny De Vito joined the ranks of the band's growing global celebrity fan club on Friday by tweeting about them to his 2.3 million followers.
"Mr. Putin... Pussy Riot... set 'em free," the actor wrote.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
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China hits back at Clintons Africa comments - Washington Post

NAIROBI — Chinese state media lashed out Friday at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton after she warned African leaders about cooperation with countries who want to exploit the continent’s resources.
On a tour of sub-Saharan Africa to promote political stability, Clinton said this week that the United States will stand up for democracy and universal human rights “even when it might be easier or more profitable to look the other way, to keep the resources flowing.”
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“Not every partner makes that choice, but we do and we will,” she said, without naming China, in a speech delivered in Senegal.
The “implication that China has been extracting Africa’s wealth for itself is utterly wide of the truth,” said an English-language commentary from China’s official Xinhua News Agency on Friday, referencing Clinton’s comment that the United States is committed to a model that “adds value rather than extracts it.”
Clinton’s words constitute “cheap shots” and are part of “a plot to sow discord between China [and] Africa” for the United States’ “selfish gain,” Xinhua said, adding that her trip was part of a hidden agenda “aimed at least partly at discrediting China’s engagement with the continent and curbing China’s influence there.”
Clinton’s 11-day trip to Africa comes as China continues to gain influence in markets across the continent, which is home to vast and lucrative reserves of natural resources and some of the world’s fastest-growing countries.
While President Obama unveiled a new Africa strategy in June that focuses on democracy, economic growth, security and development, last month China promised Africa $20 billion in loans in the next three years. China, which put Africa-China trade at $166 billion last year, overtook the United States as Africa’s largest partner three years ago.
“There is a general sense that China appears to be eclipsing America in Africa,” said Comfort Ero, Africa program director at International Crisis Group.
Ero added of Clinton, referring to a visit she made to Africa last year: “This is her second big pitch to try to sell the differences between the U.S. and China in a positive way, suggesting the U.S. has Africa’s interests at heart and is genuinely concerned with progress around democracy, and that China is only interested in grabbing resources.”
Clinton, whose trip includes stops in Senegal, Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Ghana, is accompanied by a large U.S. business delegation and has stressed Africa’s economic potential.
“We believe that if you want to make a good investment in the midst of what is still a very difficult global economy, go to Africa,” she said during her speech in Senegal.
She voiced fears the continent was “backsliding” on democracy. But her close relationship with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, whose army makes up the bulk of a heavily U.S.-funded African Union force that fights Islamist militants in Somalia but who has refused to step down, has attracted criticism.
The U.S. focus on governance is “inconsistent and shifts with its interests,” said Daniel Kalinaki, managing editor of Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper. After bombings in Uganda in 2010 that were carried out by al-Qaeda-linked, Somalia-based militants, “all the talk of democracy was suddenly replaced by talk about regional security and Somalia.”
Clinton met with Museveni and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Friday, stressing the need for strong institutions and adherence to the constitution. She is due to meet Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Saturday before travelling on to Malawi and then South Africa
— Financial Times
Kathrin Hille in Beidaihe, China, contributed to this report.
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Burma: Government Forces Targeting Rohingya Muslims - Huffington Post (blog)

Burmese security forces committed killings, rape, and mass arrests against Rohingya Muslims after failing to protect both them and Arakan Buddhists during deadly sectarian violence in western Burma in June 2012. Government restrictions on humanitarian access to the Rohingya community have left many of the over 100,000 people displaced and in dire need of food, shelter, and medical care.


The 56-page report, “‘The Government Could Have Stopped This’: Sectarian Violence and Ensuing Abuses in Burma’s Arakan State,” describes how the Burmese authorities failed to take adequate measures to stem rising tensions and the outbreak of sectarian violence in Arakan State. Though the army eventually contained the mob violence in the state capital, Sittwe, both Arakan and Rohingya witnesses told Human Rights Watch that government forces stood by while members from each community attacked the other, razing villages and committing an unknown number of killings.

“Burmese security forces failed to protect the Arakan and Rohingya from each other and then unleashed a campaign of violence and mass roundups against the Rohingya,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government claims it is committed to ending ethnic strife and abuse, but recent events in Arakan State demonstrate that state-sponsored persecution and discrimination persist.”



The Burmese government should take urgent measures to end abuses by their forces, ensure humanitarian access, and permit independent international monitors to visit affected areas and investigate abuses, Human Rights Watch said.

The “Government Could Have Stopped This,” is based on 57 interviews conducted in June and July with affected Arakan, Rohingya, and others in Burma and in Bangladesh, where Rohingya have sought refuge from the violence and abuses.

The violence erupted in early June after reports circulated that on May 28 an Arakan Buddhist woman was raped and killed in the town of Ramri by three Muslim men. Details of the crime were circulated locally in an incendiary pamphlet, and on June 3 a large group of Arakan villagers in Toungop stopped a bus and brutally killed 10 Muslims on board. Human Rights Watch confirmed that nearby local police and army stood by and watched but did not intervene. In retaliation, on June 8 thousands of Rohingya rioted in Maungdaw town after Friday prayers, killed an unknown number of Arakan, and destroyed considerable Arakan property. Violence between Rohingya and Arakan then swept through Sittwe and surrounding areas.

Marauding mobs from both Arakan and Rohingya communities stormed unsuspecting villages and neighborhoods, brutally killed residents, and destroyed and burned homes, shops, and houses of worship. With little to no government security present to stop the violence, people armed themselves with swords, spears, sticks, iron rods, knives, and other basic weaponry. Inflammatory anti-Muslim media accounts and local propaganda fanned the violence. Numerous Arakan and Rohingya who spoke to Human Rights Watch reached the conclusion that the authorities could have prevented the violence and the ensuing abuses could have been avoided.

A 29-year-old Arakan man and an older Rohingya man each told Human Rights Watch, separately but in the same words, “The government could have stopped this.”
The Burmese army’s presence in Sittwe eventually stemmed the violence. However, on June 12, Arakan mobs burned down the homes of up to 10,000 Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims in the city’s largest Muslim neighborhood while the police and paramilitary Lon Thein forces opened fire on Rohingya with live ammunition.

A Rohingya man in Sittwe, 36, told Human Rights Watch that an Arakan mob “started torching the houses. When the people tried to put out the fires, the paramilitary shot at us. And the group beat people with big sticks.” Another Rohingya man from the same neighborhood said, “I was just a few feet away. I was on the road. I saw them shoot at least six people – one woman, two children, and three men. The police took their bodies away.”
In Sittwe, where the population was about half Arakan and half Muslim, most Muslims have fled the city or were forcibly relocated, raising questions about whether the government will respect their right to return home. Human Rights Watch found the center of the once diverse capital now largely segregated and devoid of Muslims.
In northern Arakan State, the army, police, Nasaka border guard forces, and Lon Thein paramilitaries have committed killings, mass arrests, and other abuses against Rohingya. They have operated in concert with local Arakan residents to loot food stocks and valuables from Rohingya homes. Nasaka and soldiers have fired upon crowds of Rohingya villagers as they attempted to escape the violence, leaving many dead and wounded.

“If the atrocities in Arakan had happened before the government’s reform process started, the international reaction would have been swift and strong,” said Adams. “But the international community appears to be blinded by a romantic narrative of sweeping change in Burma, signing new trade deals and lifting sanctions even while the abuses continue.”
Since June, the government has detained hundreds of Rohingya men and boys, who remain incommunicado. The authorities in northern Arakan State have a long history of torture and mistreatment of Rohingya detainees, Human Rights Watch said. In the southern coastal town of Moulmein, 82 fleeing Rohingya were reportedly arrested in late June and sentenced to one year in prison for violating immigration laws.
“The Burmese authorities should immediately release details of detained Rohingya, allow access to family members and humanitarian agencies, and release anyone not charged with a crime recognized under international law in which there is credible evidence,” Adams said. “This is a test case of the government’s stated commitment to reform and protecting basic rights.”
Burma’s 1982 Citizenship Law effectively denies Burmese citizenship to the Rohingya population, estimated at 800,000 to 1 million people. On July 12, Burmese President Thein Sein said the “only solution” to the sectarian strife was to expel the Rohingya to other countries or to camps overseen by the United Nations refugee agency.

“We will send them away if any third country would accept them,” he said.
Burmese law and policy discriminate against Rohingya, infringing on their rights to freedom of movement, education, and employment. Burmese government officials typically refer to the Rohingya as “Bengali,” “so-called Rohingya,” or the pejorative “Kalar,” and Rohingya face considerable prejudice from Burmese society generally, including from longtime democracy advocates and ethnic minorities who themselves have long faced oppression from the Burmese state.

Burma’s new human rights commission – led by chairman Win Mra, an ethnic Arakan – has not played an effective role in monitoring abuses in Arakan State, Human Rights Watch said. In a July 11 assessment of the sectarian violence, the commission reported on no government abuses, claimed all humanitarian needs were being met, and failed to address Rohingya citizenship and persecution.
“The Burmese government needs to urgently amend its citizenship law to end official discrimination against the Rohingya,” Adams said. “President Thein Sein cannot credibly claim to be promoting human rights while calling for the expulsion of people because of their ethnicity and religion.”

The sectarian violence has created urgent humanitarian needs for both Arakan and Rohingya communities, Human Rights Watch said. Local Arakan organizations, largely supported by domestic contributions, have provided food, clothing, medicine, and shelter to displaced Arakan. By contrast, the Rohingya population’s access to markets, food, and work remains dangerous or blocked, and many have been in hiding for weeks.

The government has restricted access to affected areas, particularly Rohingya areas, crippling the humanitarian response. United Nations and humanitarian aid workers have faced arrest as well as threats and intimidation from the local Arakan population, which perceives the aid agencies as biased toward the Rohingya. Government restrictions have made some areas, such as villages south of Maungdaw, inaccessible to humanitarian agencies.

“The authorities should immediately grant unfettered humanitarian access to all affected populations and begin work to prevent future violence between the communities,” Adams said. “The government should assist both communities with property restitution and ensure all of the displaced can return home and live in safety.”

Since the June violence, thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh where they have faced pushbacks from the Bangladeshi government in violation of international law. Human Rights Watch witnessed Rohingya men, women, and children who arrived onshore and pleaded for mercy from Bangladesh authorities, only to be pushed back to sea in barely seaworthy wooden boats during rough monsoon rains, putting them at grave risk of drowning or starvation at sea or persecution in Burma. It is unknown how many died in these pushbacks. Those who were able to make it into Bangladesh live in hiding, with no access to food, shelter, or protection.

Bangladesh is obligated to open its borders and provide the Rohingya at least temporary refuge until it is safe for them to return, in accordance with international human rights norms. Human Rights Watch called on concerned governments to assist Bangladesh in doing so and press both Burma and Bangladesh to end abuses and ensure the safety of Rohingyas.

“Bangladesh is violating its international legal obligations by callously pushing asylum seekers in rickety boats back into the open sea,” Adams said.

 
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