MANAMA:Protests in Bahrain are starting to make forays away from the central square in Manama and into different parts of the city, pressing the Sunni-led government for swift democratic reform. Since thousands of protesters took to the streets two weeks ago there has been no formal dialogue between the government and the opposition, mainly majority Muslim Shi’ites, who say they are shut out of good jobs, decent healthcare and housing. The king has pardoned political prisoners, reshuffled the cabinet, increased housing allowances and appointed the crown prince to lead a national dialog...
Published On: 2011-03-02

JUBA: At least 70 people have been killed and two villages razed in two days of fighting in Sudan?s flashpoint oil-producing border district of Abyei, officials said on Wednesday. Fresh clashes broke out on Tuesday between gunmen from the northern-supporting Misseriya and the Ngok Dinka people, who back the south. "The reports we have received is that at least 70 people have been killed in the attacks in the past two days, and villages destroyed,' said southern army spokesman Philip Aguer. "We are still waiting for confirmation on exact numbers, but it is certain that this has been...
Published On: 2011-03-02

GENEVA: Britain, France and the group of 57 Islamic nations each launched refugee operations Wednesday as U.N. experts warned of an urgent need to prevent racially charged violent clashes among a crush of people fleeing Libya to Tunisia and Egypt. With more than 140,000 refugees pouring over the borders and tens of thousands more arriving by the day, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said his nation had launched an airlift to help Egyptians stranded on the Libyan-Tunisian border. "These people shouldn't be kept in transit camps," Cameron said of the Egyptians that are to be fl...
Published On: 2011-03-02

Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi vowed on Wednesday to fight an uprising against his 41-year rule to "the last man, the last woman", as rebels repulsed an attack by his forces on an eastern town. His speech at a ceremony of loyalists in the capital Tripoli came as the UN refugee agency made a plea for hundreds of planes to end a gridlock at the Tunisia border with Libya, where "acres of people" fleeing the violence are still waiting to cross in freezing conditions. As two US warships steamed through the Suez Canal towards the Mediterranean and Western nations began flexin...
Published On: 2011-03-02

TRIPOLI: Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi vowed on Wednesday to "fight to the last man and last woman" in a televised speech in front of dozens of supporters in the capital Tripoli....
Published On: 2011-03-02

KABUL: NATO has apologized for killing nine civilians in Kunar province, a hotbed of the insurgency in northeast Afghanistan. In a statement Wednesday, the coalition said preliminary findings indicate that NATO forces accidentally killed nine civilians in the Pech district of Kunar province on Tuesday. Local officials say nine boys, ages 12 and under, were killed as they were gathering firewood. The coalition says there apparently was miscommunication in passing information about the location of militants firing on a coalition base. Top NATO commander Gen. David Petraeus said the coalition ...
Published On: 2011-03-02

TRIPOLI:Two US warships were heading towards Libya on Wednesday as the West started flexing its military muscle and rebels fighting Moamer Kadhafi's regime began organising the trappings of parallel government. The UN refugee agency said the situation on the Libya-Tunisia border was reaching crisis point as desperate expatriate workers pour across, fearful of a bloody rearguard action by diehard regime elements. More than 100,000 people have already left Libya to escape a vicious crackdown by Kadhafi loyalists which has left at least 1,000 dead, according to conservative UN estimates. The U...
Published On: 2011-03-02

KABUL: Several hundred villagers protested Wednesday against coalition strikes that they claim killed scores of civilians this week in a hotbed of the insurgency in the northeast. NATO has contested the claims, saying armed insurgents, not civilians, were killed. Civilian casualties have long been a source of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the U.S.-led international force fighting in Afghanistan. Karzai's office issued a statement condemning the NATO strike. "Innocent children who were collecting fire wood for their families during this cold winter were killed. Is t...
Published On: 2011-03-02

SEOUL: South Korean activists vowed Wednesday to bombard North Korea with propaganda material that includes footage of Middle East protests and urges rebellion despite Pyongyang's threats to open fire in retaliation. Friction between the Koreas is already high following Monday's start of annual South Korean-U.S. military drills, which North Korea has called a rehearsal for invasion that could trigger a nuclear war. The North's military has also warned that it would attack South Korean border towns if Seoul allows activists to send balloons carrying leaflets critical of Pyongyang. North Korea...
Published On: 2011-03-02

THE HAGUE: Polling stations opened in the Netherlands for a vote that will determine whether or not the government, backed by an anti-Islam party, obtains a crucial senate majority. "The polling stations are open. So far, there have been no reports of problems," an official at the electoral council's information centre told AFP, shortly after about 10,000 ballot stations opened at 7:30 am (0630 GMT). In an unusually closely watched election for the country's 12 provincial councils, voters will choose 566 deputies charged in turn with electing, along party lines, the 75-member upper...
Published On: 2011-03-02