Officials: Pakistan election rally death toll climbs to 23

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Supporters of Pakistani cleric Tahir-ul Qadri gather at a protest rally in Islamabad on January 17, 2013. (AFP)

The death toll in an election rally bombing by Taliban militants in a northwestern Pakistani tribal district climbed to 23 on Tuesday, officials said, the deadliest attack yet on the poll campaign.

The bomb hit a gathering of the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a religious party in the outgoing government coalition in Kurram, part of Pakistan's Taliban-infested tribal belt on the Afghan border.

The blast took to 92 the number of people killed in attacks on politicians and political parties since April 11, according to an AFP tally.

"The death toll has risen to 23 after a fresh count this morning," Riaz Khan, the top administrative official in Kurram, told AFP.

Doctor Inayat Khan from the main hospital in Kurram tribal district confirmed the death toll and said 67 wounded were brought to hospital.

Khan said six critically wounded had been shifted to the northwestern garrison town of Kohat and the provincial capital Peshawar.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the target had been Munir Orakzai, a lawmaker elected as an independent but allied to the outgoing government.

It was the first attack on a political party in the tribal belt since campaigning began for what will be Pakistan's first democratic transition of power after a civilian government has completed a full term in office.

The Pakistani Taliban have condemned Saturday's elections as un-Islamic and directly threatened the main parties in the outgoing coalition, the Pakistan People's Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Awami National Party (ANP).

The cleric Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and his JUI party -- known as JUI-F -- have been mediators between the authorities and the Taliban, blamed for killing thousands of Pakistanis in a domestic insurgency over the past six years.

Orakzai is a senior tribal politician who is standing for JUI-F for the first time. The Taliban denied that JUI-F itself was the target.

Elections have been postponed in three constituencies where candidates have been killed. Those constituencies are in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi and in southern Hyderabad.

07 May, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2013/05/07/Officials-Pakistan-election-rally-death-toll-climbs-to-23.html
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North Korea threatens ‘sea of flames’ retaliatory strike on South

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North Korea's army is 'completely ready to fight' against the South. (Courtesy: KCNA news agency)

The North Korean army threatened late Monday of an immediate retaliatory strike if "a single shell" falls on its side of the disputed maritime border during scheduled South Korean-U.S. military drills.

A statement from the southwestern command of the Korean People's Army said that any subsequent counterstrike would trigger an escalated military reaction that would see South Korea's border islands engulfed in a "sea of flames."

South Korean live-artillery exercises near the Yellow Sea border were an attempt to tip prevailing military tensions into an "actual war," said the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea moved two missiles primed for imminent test firing from a launch site, American officials said Monday, as North Asia tensions eased slightly on the eve of a U.S.-South Korea summit.

U.S. and South Korean officials had been worried Pyongyang would heighten a cycle of provocation, which has included threats of nuclear war, by firing the Musudan missiles, which have a range of up to 5,630 kilometers.

But a U.S. defense official told AFP on condition of anonymity: "they moved them," and added that there was no longer an imminent threat of a launch.

Pyongyang, which rattled the world earlier this year by staging a nuclear test, would have to make detectable preparations if it changed its mind about a missile launch, two officials said.

As always, North Korea's motivations under its young and unpredictable leader Kim Jong-Un, were not immediately clear.

But the move was revealed in Washington on the eve of a first summit between President Barack Obama and new South Korean President Park Geun-Hye at the White House on Tuesday, intended as a strong signal of unity to Pyongyang.

Earlier, a senior White House official warned that it was too early to say whether North Korea's spate of bellicose behavior, which prompted Washington to send nuclear-capable stealth B-2 bombers over South Korea, was ending.

"It's premature to make a judgment about whether the North Korean provocation cycle is going up, down or zigzagging," said Danny Russel, senior director for East Asia on Obama's National Security Council.

"Many analysts have anticipated that the North Korean provocation cycle would culminate in some sort of a grand fireworks display, and no one can rule that out," Russel said.

According to AFP, Washington is making strenuous efforts to cement Obama's relationship with Park, who arrived in Washington from New York, less than three months after being sworn into office.

Obama will host his visitor, the first woman to lead South Korea, in the Oval Office, hold an expanded luncheon meeting for both delegations, then appear with Park at a joint White House press conference.

Park will address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.

"I would say 90 percent of the U.S. North Korea policy now is simply staying tied tightly with the South Koreans, whichever direction they want to go in," said Victor Cha, who was former president George W. Bush's top aide on Korea.

Park has taken a firm stand against any concessions to North Korea but has also been careful not to close the door to future talks -- which U.S. officials say is ultimately the sole, albeit not ideal, way to deal with Pyongyang.
 

07 May, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/05/07/North-Korea-warns-its-neighbour-of-accidental-shells-.html
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Israel, Turkey reach draft compensation deal for flotilla victims

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A billboard in Ankara says "We are grateful to you" to Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan a few days after Israel apologized for the Gaza flotilla raid. (AFP)

Compensation for the victims of a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla has been agreed on in a draft agreement reached by Israel and Turkey on Monday.

The deal was reached between Turkish officials, headed by the deputy foreign minister, and Israeli government representatives during a meeting in Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Office said a final agreement was expected soon. It did not reveal details on Monday's agreement and said "additional clarifications" were needed on a "few issues," according to AFP news agency.

Israel and Turkey are working to mend ties that were ruptured after the 2010 raid, which killed eight Turks and one Turkish-American when Israeli commandos stormed a ship bound for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel maintains a blockade on the territory.

As part of the U.S.-brokered rapprochement, Israel apologized for the raid and agreed to compensate the injured and relatives of the dead, while Turkey was expected to withdraw legal action against Israeli soldiers.

But families of the victims of an Israeli raid on an aid flotilla spoke out last month against compensation talks between Turkey and Israel, saying the Jewish state must first fully lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

In March, U.S. President Barack Obama help broker a rapprochement between the two during a visit to Israel. Despite accepting the apology and agreeing to the normalization of ties,

Turkish leaders have since warned that the restoration of full diplomatic ties with Israel would be dependent on it ending all commercial restrictions against the Palestinians.
 

07 May, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/07/Israel-Turkey-reach-draft-compensation-deal-for-flotilla-victims.html
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U.S. democrat offers bill to arm Syrian opposition

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U.S. democrat offers bill to arm Syrian opposition

A Free Syrian Army fighter holds his weapon in Raqqa province, east Syria, May 6, 2013. (Reuters)

A top U.S. Senate Democrat introduced a bill Monday that authorizes arming rebels in Syria, a step Washington has been weighing after President Barack Obama said the Damascus regime may have used chemical weapons.

Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the Syria Stabilization Act of 2013 that would give "increased authorization to provide lethal and non-lethal assistance to Syrian armed opposition."

The bill is seen as intensifying pressure on Obama to take action in Syria after U.S. and other intelligence assessments that the regime has used chemical weapons, something Obama has warned would be a "game changer."

"The Assad regime has crossed a red line that forces us to consider all options," Menendez said in a statement.

"The greatest humanitarian crisis in the world is unfolding in and around Syria, and the U.S. must play a role in tipping the scales toward opposition groups and working to build a free Syria."

The measure specifically bars the administration from transferring portable, shoulder-fired missile or grenade launchers known as MANPADS, amid concern that such weapons have been finding their way from places like Libya into the hands of extremists who might use them against US interests.

It also increases sanctions on arms and oil sales to strongman Bashar al-Assad's regime, and authorizes a "transition fund" of some $250 million per year aimed at helping a civilian opposition in Syria prepare for a switch to some form of democratic rule.

The bill is likely to garner some bipartisan support, as a handful of Republicans including Senator John McCain have long said it was time to consider arming vetted opposition groups.

The Obama administration has expressed worry about the risks of pouring more arms into a volatile conflict, and has so far stuck to providing humanitarian assistance and non-lethal aid.

But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel acknowledged last Thursday that Washington was taking a fresh look at whether to arm Syria's outgunned rebels.

 

07 May, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/07/U-S-democrat-offers-bill-to-arm-Syrian-opposition-.html
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Saudi urges U.N. action against Israel strikes on Syria

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Saudi urges U.N. action against Israel strikes on Syria

Israeli raids on Syrian targets near Damascus at the weekend killed at least 42 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia on Monday called for U.N. action to end Israeli strikes on Syria, describing the raids as a "dangerous violation" of the sovereignty of an Arab state, the official SPA news agency reported.

Israeli raids on Syrian targets near Damascus at the weekend killed at least 42 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said.

A senior Israeli source said the raids targeted Iranian weapons destined for the Shiite Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The Saudi cabinet voiced "deep concern from the worsening situation in Syria" and urged "swift action by the U.N. Security Council to stop these Israeli attacks on Syrian territories and ensure they are not repeated," said SPA.

The kingdom has repeatedly voiced support to rebels in Syria battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces and severed diplomatic ties with Damascus since 2011.

But its government on Monday described Israel's raids as "flagrant attacks and a dangerous violation of the sovereignty of an Arab state, warning of its dangerous effects in the region's security and stability."

A diplomatic source in Beirut told AFP the sites targeted by Israeli warplanes were the Jamraya military facility, a nearby weapons depot and an anti-aircraft unit in Sabura, west of Damascus.

Sunday's strike came about 48 hours after a reported Israeli raid on a weapons storage facility at Damascus airport.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon has warned against any escalation of a conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people in Syria since it erupted in March 2011.
 

07 May, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/07/Saudi-urges-un-action-against-Israel-strikes-on-Syria-.html
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