Heavily armed Islamists attack in Cairo

RESIDENTS of Cairo's Manial neighbourhood are recovering from a bloody night of clashes with armed supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood who killed at least seven people and left dozens injured, they've told AFP.

The violence erupted when residents tried to stop hundreds of Islamists passing through Manial to reach protests being staged in the iconic Tahrir Square against toppled president Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The Brotherhood attacked the area with all kinds of weapons," said resident Mohammed Yehya, who lost three of his friends in the mayhem.

Inhabitants of the Nile island of Manial reported seeing dozens of bearded Islamists armed with machineguns, machetes and sticks on Friday night before the deadly clashes broke out.

Snipers were spotted on rooftops, and medics told AFP they treated some residents of the normally quiet middle-class neighbourhood for bullet wounds with a downward trajectory.

Buildings were pockmarked with bullet holes. Rocks carpeted the floor and charred tyres showed the ferocity of the violence.

The clashes in Manial and elsewhere came two days after the army toppled Morsi, underlining the determination of his Muslim Brotherhood to disrupt the military's plan for a political transition until new elections.

Residents say the attack began just minutes afer the Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohammed Badie, gave a fiery speech to Morsi supporters camped out in Cairo's Nasr City, which was broadcast live on television.

"The attack came minutes after Badie's speech. They treated us like infidels. They were chanting 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) as they were shooting us," said Ahmed Fattouh.

On the door of one shop hung a sign announcing that the owner, 26-year-old Abdallah Sayyed Abdelazim, had been killed.

Parts of Manial were a ghost town on Saturday, with businesses shuttered and residents devastated by the night's violence.

"Their ammunition just didn't run out. They are trying to terrorise us and take over the country," said Khaled Tawfik.

Shopkeeper Mohammed Fekry, 29, who was wounded by birdshot said at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured.

"We have 10 people dead in this area, including six people who died with single bullets in the head. There were snipers on the roof of the Salaheddine mosque," Fekry said.

The overall toll for Friday's violence across Egypt was 30, but casualties are likely to rise.

Ihab al-Sayyed, a doctor at Qasr al-Aini hospital, told AFP that seven people he treated for injuries from the Manial clashes had died.

"I think the death toll will be much higher.

"The injuries were all from live bullets, most of them automatic weapons. Three of the dead and dozens of the injured were shot at from a height," the doctor said.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pakistan train accident kills 14: official

AT least 14 people, including two children, were killed when a train collided with a packed motorcycle rickshaw in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, officials say.

The passenger train travelling from the country's financial hub Karachi to Punjab capital Lahore on Saturday crushed the rickshaw on a road crossing which had no barrier.

"The accident occurred in Khanpur town of district Sheikhupura, around 40km northwest of Lahore," Salim Niazi, a local police official, told AFP.

Officials said at least two children were among the dead.

"Twelve people died on the spot. Four people with critical injuries were taken to hospital, of whom two expired," Muhammad Asim, a senior doctor at the local hospital, told AFP.

"Two of them were children under 12 years old," he said adding that many bodies were mutilated and unable to be identified.

Police said the rickshaw was over-capacity and drove onto the train track moments before the Lahore-bound train passed through, smashing into it.

"There was no gate at this crossing, (nor) a man to stop the traffic to clear a way for the train," said Niazi.

Pakistan has a poor railway system with a track dating back to British rule and old coaches. Many Pakistanis avoid travelling by train due to low safety standards and poor facilities.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iraq bombings kill five

A suicide attacker and a car bombing have killed at least 19 people in separate attacks in Iraq. Source: AAP

BOMBINGS north of Baghdad have killed five people, including a police officer, a day after attacks across the country left 23 dead.

A roadside bomb killed four people west of the northern city of Kirkuk, while another bomb in Tikrit, also north of the Iraqi capital, killed a police officer and wounded two others.

The attacks come a day after 23 people died in a string of attacks across the country, including the bombing of a Shi'ite religious hall.

Iraq is grappling with a protracted political standoff within its national unity government and months-long protests among its Sunni Arab minority.

Analysts and diplomats worry that the stand-off is unlikely to be resolved at least until general elections due next year.

With the latest violence, attacks have killed more than 160 people and wounded more than 400 in the first six days of July, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mandela reflects on his death in video

NEARLY 15 years ago Nelson Mandela was unperturbed by his own death, telling a dying teenager that he had lived his life to the full.

The video dating from 1998, broadcast by American news channel CBS on Thursday as Mandela remained in critically ill in hospital, showed the towering South African statesman visiting a 15-year-old, also named Nelson.

"Understanding the fact that I'm near the end, I remain optimistic with my morale very high, because I'm saying I have lived my life," the statesman, then 80, told the teen, who was dying of brain cancer.

In the amateur video the boy, his head shaved, smiled shyly from his bed at the peace icon, who wore one of his colourful trademark shirts.

Posters of cars adorned the wall next to where the then-president sat holding a teacup.

"If your spirit is not optimistic, your morale is not high, medicine is not very effective," the then president said.

The boy died under three months after the visit.

Broadcast as the 94-year-old nears one month in hospital, the words carry added poignancy.

According to court documents from Mandela family lawyers, filed nine days ago, doctors believed Mandela was in a "permanent vegetative state" and they advised his family to turn off his life support machine.

South Africa's presidency has since said his condition has improved and on Thursday denied he is in a vegetative state.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pope John XXIII to be made saint

POPE Francis gave the go-ahead on Friday for his late predecessor John Paul II to be made saint by the end of the year and granted a rare exception for John XXIII to be canonised at the same time.

The Vatican said Francis gave his widely expected formal approval to a second miracle attributed to John Paul II at a meeting with Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Details of the supposed miracle have not been revealed.

In the case of John XXIII, however, Francis "approved the favourable votes" from the Congregation for the canonisation even though no second miracle has been found, in a break with the usual procedure.

A consistory, a meeting of cardinals, will now be held to determine the exact date for the canonisations but Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said they would take place "before the end of the year".

The long road to sainthood normally requires two "confirmed" miracles, the first of which is necessary for beatification, a hurdle the Polish pope cleared just six months after his death in 2005.

That was the healing of a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, whose recovery from Parkinson's disease after praying for the late John Paul II's "intercession" apparently had no medical explanation.

John Paul II was hugely popular through his 27-year papacy, and at his funeral in 2005, crowds of mourners cried "Santo Subito!" -- which roughly translates as "Sainthood Now!"

Nicknamed "The Good Pope", John XXIII reigned from 1958 to 1963 and made his name by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) which overhauled and modernised the Catholic Church's rituals and doctrines.

He is often compared to Pope Francis for his pastoral attitude and charisma.

Asked about the exemption made by Francis, Lombardi said this was "a very specific case".

"Everyone knows the virtues and the personality of pope (Angelo) Roncalli, there is no reason to explain the reasons for his sanctity," he said.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Egypt public prosecutor says he's quitting

EGYPT'S controversial public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud says he is to resign, days after being reinstated, citing possible conflicts of interest in future prosecutions.

A longtime prosecutor under former dictator Hosni Mubarak, Mahmud had been sacked by now deposed president Mohamed Morsi in November as part of a decree in which the Islamist head of state granted himself sweeping powers.

The decree was eventually repealed under intense pressure from street protests, but the decisions stemming from it were protected by the constitution that was passed in December.

Mahmud had filed a lawsuit against his sacking and the Court of Appeals ruled in his favour on Tuesday.

His sacking had intensified long-running tensions between the presidency and the judiciary, which accused Morsi of interfering in its independence.

In a statement carried by state news agency MENA and verified by his office, Mahmud said he had filed the lawsuit against Morsi's decision "not to return to my post... but to stress the independence of the judiciary".

He said he would now ask the Supreme Judicial Council to approve "my return to the judges ranks".

"I feel uneasiness over what will be required in the future in terms of measures and rulings involving those who removed me from office," Mahmud said.

The military ousted Morsi on Wednesday.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Egypt seeks arrest of Brotherhood leaders

THE authorities in Egypt have issued an arrest warrant for the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme leader Mohammed Badie and his first deputy Khairat El-Shater, a judicial source says.

The two are wanted on charges of inciting the killing Sunday of protesters in front of the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo's southern neighbourhood of Mokattam, the source tolD AFP on condition of anonymity.

The warrants come a day after the military toppled president Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Brotherhood, following bloodshed and mass protests calling for his ouster.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Female Afghan police officer shot dead

GUNMEN have shot dead one of the most high-profile female police officers in Afghanistan, underlining the threat to women who take on public roles in the country.

Lieutenant Islam Bibi was a well-known face of female advancement but admitted to receiving regular death threats from people who disapproved of her career - including from her own brother.

"She was shot by unknown assailants when she was being driven to work by her son in the morning," Helmand provincial government spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.

"She was badly wounded and taken to hospital, and later died in emergency care. Her son was also injured."

Bibi, aged 37 and a mother of three, was seen as an example of how opportunities for women have improved in Afghanistan since the repressive Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.

She was the most senior female officer serving in Helmand, a hotbed of the Islamist insurgency that was launched against the US-backed Kabul government after the fall of the Taliban.

"My brother, father and sisters were all against me. In fact my brother tried to kill me three times," Bibi told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper earlier this year.

"He came to see me brandishing his pistol trying to order me not to do it (serve in the police), though he didn't actually open fire. The government eventually had to take his pistol away."

Bibi, a former refugee in Iran, returned to Afghanistan in 2001 and joined the police force nine years ago, saying she signed up for the salary and for the love of her country.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man dead, two in hospital after Qld crash

THREE children have escaped serious injury from a two vehicle crash in central Queensland that left a man dead and two others in hospital.

The man died at the scene on Thursday night at Avondale, northwest of Bundaberg, where the three children were treated for minor injuries, police say.

A seriously injured man and a woman with non life-threatening injuries were taken to Bundaberg Base Hospital.

The forensic crash unit is investigating.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Group finds carcinogen in Pepsi products

AN environmental group says that the caramel colouring used in Pepsi still contains a worrisome level of a carcinogen, even after the drink maker said it would change its formula.

In March, Pepsi and Coca-Cola both said they would adjust their formulas nationally after California passed a law mandating drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens come with a cancer warning label. The changes were made for drinks sold in California when the law passed.

The chemical is 4-methylimidazole, or 4-Mel, which can form during the cooking process and, as a result, may be found in trace amounts in many foods.

Watchdog group The Center for Environmental Health found via testing that while Coke products no longer test positive for the chemical, Pepsi products sold outside of California still do.

Pepsi said its caramel colouring suppliers are changing their manufacturing process to cut the amount of 4-Mel in its caramel. That process is complete in California and will be finished in February 2014 in the rest of the country. Pepsi said it will also be taken out globally, but did not indicate a timeline.

Meanwhile, the company said the FDA and other regulatory agencies around the world consider Pepsi's caramel colouring safe.

Coca-Cola said it has transitioned to using a modified caramel in US markets beyond California that does not contain Mel-4, so it wouldn't have to have separate inventory of products for different locations. It also said all of its products, whether they have the modified caramel or not, are safe.

Trace amounts of 4-Mel have not been linked to cancer in humans. The American Beverage Association said that California added the colouring to its list of carcinogens with no studies showing that it causes cancer in humans. It noted that the listing was based on a single study in lab mice and rats.

The Food and Drug Administration has also said that a consumer would have to drink more than 1,000 cans of soda a day to reach the doses administered that have shown links to cancer in rodents.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Brazil leader demands referendum

BRAZIL'S Congress has received a request from President Dilma Rousseff to hold a referendum on political reform in response to the worst social unrest in 20 years.

The move, widely supported by the public, came after three weeks of protests over corruption and public spending which marred the Confederations Cup, a dress rehearsal for next year's football World Cup, which will also be held in Brazil.

The nightly rage that made headlines around the world has waned somewhat, but no one rules it flaring up again like it did after the Cup, when a million people took to the streets.

On Tuesday night truck drivers blocked roads in at least 10 states to press for the elimination of tolls and fuel subsidies.

The proposal for a plebiscite was delivered to senate and congressional president Renan Calheiros by Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo and vice president, Michel Temer, state news service Senado said.

"Calheiros announced he would act so that any changes resulting from the referendum take effect from (October) 2014," a year before presidential elections are to be held, Senado said.

Cardozo said the referendum will include the reform of election campaign financing, the congressional voting system, rules governing coalitions and legislation on secret ballots.

"The executive is merely making a simple suggestion," Temer told reporters. "It is congress which will oversee (the process) from the start through to the conclusion."

The protests began in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro over hikes in public transport fares but mushroomed into demands for improvements in crumbling public services and for an end to rampant corruption.

Some 1.5 million Brazilians took part in the protests at their height.

Leftist leader Rousseff last week proposed a national pact with state governors to boost public services and guarantee a balanced budget.

A poll showed that 68 per cent of Brazilians back Rousseff's proposals.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Egypt's ElBaradei and Coptic Pope meet

CAIRO July 3 AP - A senior opposition figure says pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei, the top Muslim cleric of Al-Azhar Mosque and the Coptic pope are meeting the army chief to discuss a political road map for Egypt.

The Wednesday meeting takes place ahead of the military's deadline for Islamist president Mohammed Morsi to yield to the demands of millions of protesters or face intervention by the army.

Morsi has vowed not to step down in the face of three days of massive street demonstrations calling for his ouster. At least 39 people have died since the protests began on Sunday.

Khaled Daoud, spokesman of the main opposition National Salvation Front, which ElBaradei leads, announced the meeting.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Two more quit Morsi government

A FOREIGN ministry official says two spokesmen for President Mohammed Morsi have quit in the latest defections from his embattled administration as protesters and the military challenge his authority.

The official says career diplomats Omar Amer and Ihab Fahmy have stepped down after nearly five months speaking on behalf of Morsi.

The official spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The move compounds the woes for Morsi as he faces massive protests calling for his ouster.

On Monday, six Cabinet ministers quit and the military gave the president a 48-hour ultimatum to work out his differences with the opposition or it will intervene and oversee the implementation of its own political road map.

The ultimatum expires early Wednesday.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

China probes baby formula makers on prices

China has launched an investigation into alleged price fixing by foreign baby formula makers. Source: AAP

CHINA has launched an investigation into alleged price-fixing by several mainly foreign baby formula makers, state media said.

China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), had launched the "anti-monopoly" inquiry, the People's Daily newspaper said.

The probe appears to mainly target foreign companies with state media only naming a single domestic firm, Biostime.

China is by far the world's largest market for formula, according to consumer research group Euromonitor.

But a 2008 food safety scandal involving tainted formula has prompted domestic consumers to shun local brands and created huge demand for the foreign product, including expensive informal imports.

The People's Daily said foreign brands under scrutiny included French firm Danone's Dumex, Mead Johnson, Wyeth, Abbott and Friso, while other state media also named Swiss-based global food giant Nestle, which confirmed an investigation.

"The company has been actively cooperating with the investigation," a spokeswoman for Nestle China told AFP, but declined further comment.

The NDRC, which helps regulate prices in China, declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

The People's Daily alleged the firms had hiked prices on formula by 30 per cent since 2008 to "relatively high" levels.

Domestic firm Biostime said last week that a subsidiary was under investigation by the government for fixing retail prices for its distributors in violation of China's anti-monopoly law.

In 2008, baby formula tainted with the industrial chemical melamine killed six children and sickened more than 300,000.

The government has vowed to crack down on safety violators and called for strict monitoring of milk powder production, in an attempt to restore public trust.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Carr praises US efforts in Middle East

Bob Carr (R) has praised US efforts to bring Israel and Palestine back to the negotiating table. Source: AAP

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has praised efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to bring Israel and Palestine back to the negotiating table, insisting there will be no peace without American leadership.

Attempts at brokering a resumption in direct talks after an almost three-year hiatus ended without agreement on Sunday following four days of Mr Kerry shuttling between both camps.

But Washington's most senior diplomat, who arrived in Brunei on Tuesday for a regional forum of foreign ministers, maintains that "with a little more work, the start of final status negotiations could be within reach".

He is understood to have spent 13 hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and about six hours with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a marathon effort to encourage both sides into talks.

Despite the lack of tangible progress, Senator Carr, who sat with Mr Kerry during a dinner attended by ASEAN foreign ministers on Monday night, said the US secretary of state deserved high praise for his efforts.

"I told him he had the admiration of Australians in his valiant attempts to bring the Palestinians and Israelis together," Senator Carr told AAP.

"It can't happen without American leadership," he said.

Senator Carr is understood to have told Mr Kerry that Australia strongly supported a two-state solution with the creation of a Palestinian state as well as security guarantees for Israel, and that "1967 boundaries should be the starting point with agreed land swaps".

President Abbas is pushing Israel to free the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners, to remove roadblocks in the West Bank and to publicly agree to make the lines that existed before the 1967 Middle East war the baseline for negotiations.

Mr Netanyahu is reportedly willing to consider just the first two conditions - but only after talks are under way - and has flatly refused to countenance any return to the 1967 lines.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hollande says no talks with US

EU leaders have angrily demanded answers from the US over a report that America bugged EU offices. Source: AAP

FRENCH President Francois Hollande says Europe would not hold any negotiations with the United States until it is sure spying on EU institutions has ended, just as Washington and the EU are set to begin sensitive talks on a historic free trade deal.

"There can be no negotiations or transactions in all areas until we have obtained these guarantees, for France but also for all of the European Union, for all partners of the United States," Hollande told journalists during a visit to the western city of Lorient.

Meanwhile UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged nations to protect the integrity of diplomatic missions on their soil.

"Member states are expected to ... protect the inviolability of diplomatic missions," Ban told reporters in Geneva, in response to a question about the latest allegations attributed to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

While refusing to comment directly on the reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) had kept tabs on the European Union's diplomatic mission in Washington, Ban stressed that "in principle, diplomatic missions should be protected, including (their) information."

The new accusations, which threaten to seriously harm relations between the United States and its European allies, surfaced Sunday in a report by German weekly Der Spiegel, citing confidential documents leaked by Snowden.

Microphones were allegedly installed in the EU's mission in Washington and the computer network was infiltrated, giving the agency access to emails and internal documents.

Der Spiegel said the EU delegation at the United Nations was subject to similar surveillance and the spying had also extended to the 27-member bloc's Brussels headquarters.

The weekly said the leaked documents showed the US secret service had targeted Germany more than any other EU country, but Monday's Guardian newspaper reported that France, Italy and Greece were also among 38 US surveillance "targets".

"The inviolability of diplomatic missions, including the United Nations and other international organisations ... (has) been well-established by international law," Ban pointed out.

20.09 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rights groups calls for borders to open

Human Rights Watch says Turkey, Jordan and Iraq must open their borders to Syrian refugees Source: AAP

TURKEY, Jordan and Iraq must fully reopen their border crossings to allow thousands of Syrians fleeing their country's war to seek refuge, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

"Iraqi, Jordanian, and Turkish border guards are pushing back tens of thousands of people trying to flee Syria," the international rights group said, adding that the lives of those trying to flee were in danger.

"Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey have either closed numerous border crossings entirely or allowed only limited numbers of Syrians to cross, leaving tens of thousands stranded."

The UN says more than 1.7 million Syrians have fled the conflict in their country. The vast majority have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

But only Lebanon has kept an open-door policy for Syrian refugees, says HRW.

Syria's war broke out more than 27 months ago and has left more than 100,000 dead, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog says.

New York-based HRW stressed international law prohibits countries "from sending anyone back to -- or pushing back anyone trying to leave -- a country where their life or freedom would be threatened".

HRW urged donor countries to step up support to countries hosting Syrian refugees.

But "neither the pressure those countries are under due to rising refugee numbers, nor giving aid inside Syria, can justify violating people's basic right to seek asylum from persecution and other abuse," HRW stressed.

It said Jordan denies closing its borders, though "recently arrived refugees... say that Jordanian border guards blocked their and others' entry for days or weeks in May".

Iraq's Kurdistan regional government has admitted closing the Syria border but has since mid-June allowed some Syrians in need of emergency assistance to cross over.

Baghdad has "severely limited the number of Syrians allowed to enter since August 2012, and new arrivals virtually ceased in late March," HRW said.

Turkey is "blocking the entry of thousands of Syrians at the Bab al-Salam, Atma, and other border crossings with Syria", it added.

20.09 | 0 komentar | Read More

Huge fire at British recycling plant

Hundreds of firefighters are battling a massive blaze at a recycling plant in central England. Source: AAP

MORE than 200 firefighters are battling a major blaze at a British recycling plant after 100,000 tonnes of paper and plastic caught fire, sending a plume of smoke rising into the sky.

West Midlands Fire Service said ten officers suffered minor injuries as they fought to put out the flames at the plant in Smethwick, just outside Britain's second city Birmingham in central England.

The fire sent a massive plume of smoke rising 1,800 metres into the sky.

"Two officers have been hospitalised and eight have been treated at the scene," a spokeswoman for the fire service told AFP.

Unconfirmed reports said Chinese lanterns had dropped on the plastics and started the fire.

20.09 | 0 komentar | Read More

Putin signs 'anti-gay propaganda' ban

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a controversial bill punishing people for homosexual "propaganda", according to an official publication.

The law introduces fines of up to 5000 rubles ($A168.87) for citizens who disseminate information "directed at forming nontraditional sexual setup" in minors or which may cause a "distorted understanding" that gay and heterosexual relations are "socially equivalent", the publication showed.

Critics have called the bill homophobic and so vaguely defined that it would inevitably be used arbitrarily against gays and stir hate crimes in the country. However, it sailed through the parliament and Putin had promised in advance that he would sign the bill.

The fines go up to as much as 200,000 rubles ($6250) for officials if such "propaganda" is disseminated through the media or internet.

Foreigners will not only be fined but face administrative arrest up to 15 days and eventual deportation, the law says. Organisations face fines of up to one million rubles and shutdown of their activity for 90 days.

Earlier this week Putin denied the law's anti-gay nature. "We are talking about protecting children from the respective information," he said.

"We ask that (other countries) do not interfere in our regulation," he added, responding to massive criticism from Western countries and human rights groups.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Somali forces arrest Islamist leader

SOMALI security forces have arrested veteran Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys.

The former Somali army colonel was detained after he flew in to Mogadishu for talks with government officials.

"There was a big argument that turned into a fist fight between the security forces who arrested Sheik Aweys and members of the delegation accompanying him who resisted the arrest," a senior police officer told AFP of the arrest on Saturday.

Yusuf Mohamed Siyad, a member of the same Ayr sub-clan as Aweys who arrived in Mogadishu with him, confirmed the arrest at the capital's airport.

However, the reason for his detention was not immediately clear.

Aweys, a hero of Somalia's 1977-78 war with Ethiopia, is on both US and UN Security Council terrorism sanctions lists, but no bounty has been placed on his head.

Now in his late 70s, Aweys was a top leader of the Islamic Courts Union, a radical group that ruled Somalia in 2006 before being overthrown by Ethiopian troops who stormed Somalia in a US-backed invasion.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Snowden handover impermissible: Russian MP

A TOP Russian politician has declared it was "morally impermissible" to hand over to the United States fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowdon, who remains in a political limbo at a Moscow airport.

Snowden, the 30-year-old former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), has been living in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport for over a week, unable to fly on with a revoked US passport or exit the airport without a Russian visa.

Snowden has requested asylum in Ecuador but is unable to get to its embassy in central Moscow.

Alexei Pushkov, who heads the international affairs committee at the Duma lower house of parliament, said it would be wrong to give Snowden over to the United States where he is wanted for leaking classified information about covert US surveillance programs.

"It's not a matter of (Snowden's) usefulness (to Russia) - it's a matter of principle," he wrote on Twitter Sunday. "Handing over a political refugee is morally impermissible."

The Kremlin on Sunday played down the fact that Snowden is still living at the airport, with President Vladimir Putin's spokesman telling the Echo of Moscow radio station that "this issue is not on the Kremlin's agenda."

"Since it's not our issue, I don't know what options there are for the situation's development, nor what the legal or other aspects are in this," said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Putin shockingly admitted on Tuesday that Snowden is staying in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport, and cannot be extradited to the US due to the lack of a bilateral extradition agreement. The Russian leader also advised Snowden to pick his destination soon.

The situation seems to be near a dead end as Ecuador has declared that it's up to Moscow to resolve the dilemma over Snowden.

"To process the asylum application, (Snowden) must be in Ecuadorian territory," President Rafael Correa said on Saturday. However, Snowden would need a visa from Russian authorities to get to Ecuador's embassy in central Moscow.

"We cannot be on the sidelines, we should participate in his fate," said another lawmaker Sunday, senator Valery Shnyakin, who is the deputy chairman of the international affairs committee in the Federation Council upper house of parliament.

"We should calculate the negative repercussions on our relations with the Americans," he added in remarks posted on the ruling United Russia party website. "For that, we need some kind of negotiations and meetings."

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More