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. | In the midst of the Iraqi parliament’s approbation of the Local Elections Law, the city of Kirkuk became the venue for Kurdish political parties and its followers to protest and express their discontent for the law. Instead of holding peaceful demonstrations, the Kurds resorted to overtly violent measures as a means to get their message across to the Iraqi parliament. Unfortunately, these Kurdish “ |
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. | Libya’s prime minister told his Russian counterpart on Thursday that his country plans to buy more Russian arms, and wants to step up cooperation in nuclear power as well as and oil and gas production.
Vladimir Putin said after hosting talks with Libya’s al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi: “We are committed to continuing cooperation in the military-technical sphere |
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. | The UAE has renewed its call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to respond to its peaceful initiatives for settling the issue of its three islands – Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Mousa occupied by Iran in 1971, either through direct bilateral negotiations or by referring the case to the International Court of Justice. |
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. | Several groups have carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul in the past, including Kurdish separatists, far-left activists and Islamists.
Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler has said the bombings appear to be linked to Kurdish rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. |
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. | The man once known as the “Butcher of Bosnia” is to face a judge for the first time at the UN court dealing with Yugoslav war crimes.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic spent his first night in detention at The Hague following his extradition from Serbia to face charges of genocide and |
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. | Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister, has said he will not stand for the leadership of his Kadima party in an election scheduled for September.
The unpopular premier said on Wednesday that he would step down once Kadima has chosen a new leader after the September 17 poll. |
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. | President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has issued a decree to render financial support to Azerbaijani media.
Pursuant to the decree, every newspaper and information agency will be granted AZN 5,000. The list includes eight information agencies and 30 newspapers. |
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. | Galip Ozmen, and his family as they wait in their automobile at a traffic light. Mr. Ozmen and his fourteen-year-old daughter, Neslihan Ozmen, are killed in the rain of automatic fire. His wife, Sevil Ozmen, and his sixteen-year-old son, Kaan Ozmen, are seriously wounded but survive. ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) claims responsibility. |
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. | With its spacious, tree-lined grounds and slightly threadbare classrooms, there is nothing obviously unusual about the Kampang Secondary School.
It is situated in Thailand’s impoverished north-east, and most of the pupils are the children of farmers. |
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. | Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has denied rumors about an assassination attempt on him, calling them “provocations” aimed at destabilizing the situation in the Russian North Caucasus republic.
“The rumors originate from Wahhabis or provocateurs seeking cheap sensations,” Kadyrov said. “The situation in the Chechen Republic now is very quiet and stable |
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. | Turkey’s Constitutional Court has decided not to ban the ruling AK Party, accused of undermining the country’s secular system.
But the judges did cut half the AKP’s treasury funding for this year. |
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. | Owing to a rather long lapse in the submission of our communications, an outline of the situation since January 2008 is outlined. The general background since January 2008 is that is the Iranian authorities have been waging massive offensives against the national and human rights of Southern Azerbaijanis. As our Briefing Note (Ref: 494/2008 on 10 June 2008) was not a sufficient reflection of the ongoing situation, we therefore have a massive backlog and endeavour to keep you informed on the violation of human rights since our General Communication1 (Ref: 485/2008 on 28 January 2008). The situation since then is that since then hundreds have been arbitrarily detained and at least two innocent individuals were victims of extra-judicial killings. |
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. | Abbas sent the warning to GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni via Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the PA’s civil affairs department, who is responsible for coordinating with Israel on anything involving the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Al-Sheikh, who told Shamni that this was a “personal message” from Abbas, stressed that the Palestinian leader did not speak merely of “resigning,” but of “dismantling the PA.” |
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. | The former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has arrived at the international criminal court detention centre in The Hague. He is expected to appear before a judge within the next two days. Karadzic, who was captured in Belgrade on July 21 after 13 years on the run, faces eleven charges, including genocide and crimes against humanity. |
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. | Turkey’s main opposition party leader urged Tuesday people to give a big reaction to the twin bombings that killed 17 people in a mostly residential neighborhood of Istanbul, as the Turkish prime minister renewed his commitment in the fight against terrorism. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani telephoned on Tuesday Turkish President Abdullah Gul and condemned the attack. |
