Translate

Search This Blog

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Attack on Israeli embassy


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday blamed Iran for attacks on Israeli embassy staff in Georgia and India that left at least two people wounded, one of them an Israeli woman. “Iran is behind these attacks. It is the biggest exporter of terror in the world,” Netanyahu told members of his rightwing Likud party. The Israeli leader said there had been a number of attempts to harm Israelis and Jews in recent months, in places such as Thailand and Azerbaijan, in a series of attacks coordinated by Tehran and Lebanon’s Shia militia, Hezbollah. “In all these incidents, those responsible were Iran and its protege Hezbollah,” he said. Israel would continue to act “with a firm hand” to stamp out “international terror coming from Iran,” he said. His remarks were made shortly after a car outside the Israeli embassy in New Delhi exploded in a ball of fire, injuring two people, one of whom was an Israeli woman, Netanyahu said. Separately, the Georgian interior ministry confirmed that police in the capital Tbilisi had defused an explosive device found in the car of an Israeli embassy employee. The attacks came between the anniversaries of the deaths of two top Hezbollah militants, Imad Mughniyeh and Abbas Mussawi, which spark annual travel warnings from the Israeli government. The deaths of both men were blamed on Israel and sparked vows of revenge from the Shia militia group, which has close ties with Iran.

China warns US against military buildup in Asia


China's likely next leader Xi Jinping warned the United States against plans to boost its military strength in Asia as he prepared for a closely watched visit to Washington starting Monday. China s vice president, who is tipped to rule the rising Asian power until 2023, called on the United States to prioritize economic growth and promised anew that Beijing would address foreign concerns about its currency s value. In a written interview with The Washington Post, Xi said that the Pacific Ocean had "ample space" for both China and the United States but insisted that Asian countries were concerned foremost with "economic prosperity." "At a time when people long for peace, stability and development, to deliberately give prominence to the military security agenda, scale up military deployment and strengthen military alliances is not really what most countries in the region hope to see," Xi said. "We welcome a constructive role by the United States in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the region. We also hope that the United States will fully respect and accommodate the major interests and legitimate concerns of Asia-Pacific countries," he said. US President Barack Obama, while seeking to trim vast military spending in response to budget pressure, has vowed to boost power in Asia where a number of nations have voiced concern at what they charge is a more assertive China. The United States has moved in recent months to send troops to Australia and the Philippines. It has also sought to increase military ties with Vietnam and Singapore, while maintaining longstanding bases in Japan and South Korea. The Obama administration has nonetheless tried to build personal bonds with Xi in hopes of future cooperation. China starts its power transition later this year, with Xi widely expected to succeed President Hu Jintao in 2013. Xi arrives Monday and will enjoy a welcome Tuesday at the White House, including a meeting with Obama. He will also stop at the Pentagon for talks billed by US officials as significant in building military trust. Xi will Wednesday visit Iowa -- where he paid a formative first visit to the United States in 1985 as a low-ranking official -- and Los Angeles. White House officials have said that they want a positive relationship with Xi but that they will press key US concerns, some of which may grow in prominence  as November elections approach. US lawmakers accuse China of devastating US industry by keeping its renminbi currency artificially low to boost imports and of failing to protect the intellectual property of US companies. Xi said that Americans have benefited from China s rapid economic growth. Repeating a figure offered by Hu on a state visit to Washington last year, Xi said that US consumers have saved $600 billion by buying Chinese goods. "We have taken active steps to meet legitimate US concerns over IPR  (intellectual property rights) protection and trade imbalance, and we will continue to do so," Xi said. "We will continue to press ahead with the reform of the RMB (renminbi) exchange rate formation mechanism and offer foreign investors a fair, rule-based and transparent investment environment," Xi said. But Xi also repeated calls for the United States to ease restrictions on exports of sensitive technology to China and to "provide a level playing field" for Chinese businesses in the US market. China has let its yuan appreciate since 2010 -- largely in response to inflation concerns. Michael Froman, a White House deputy national security adviser, on Friday cited progress on the currency valuation and other economic issues but said that "there s a lot more to be done." The United States has said it will also voice concern about human rights in China, amid a clampdown on domestic dissent and Tibetan areas, along with China s recent veto with Russia of a UN Security Council resolution that would have pressured Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over escalating violence.

Pakistani Prime Minister stands accused


The PM pleaded not guilty to charges that could see him jailed for six months and disqualified from office. Summoned over the government s two-year refusal to write to authorities in Switzerland asking them to re-open corruption cases against the president, Yousuf Raza Gilani is Pakistan s first premier ever to be charged in office. A long-running standoff between the government and the judiciary has fanned political instability in the turbulent country, deeply troubled by Al-Qaeda and Taliban violence that many now expect to face early elections within months. President Asif Ali Zardari and his late wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder about $12 million in alleged bribes paid by companies seeking customs inspection contracts in Pakistan in the 1990s. Gilani, who swept into the court dressed in a dark suit, grey tie, white shirt and cufflinks, was charged within minutes of appearing. Judge Nasir ul-Mulk read out the indictment and asked the prime minister whether he had heard the charges. Yes," Gilani replied. "Do you plead guilty?" asked Mulk. "No," Gilani replied. The court then ordered the attorney general to prosecute the case, giving him until Thursday and the defence until February 27 to file documents, which will then be recorded on February 28. After that, a date will be set for trial. The prime minister has always insisted that Zardari is immune from prosecution as president and says the cases are politically motivated. In an interview with Al-Jazeera television at the weekend, he said if convicted, he would lose his seat in parliament and would automatically be removed as prime minister. "Certainly then there is no need to step down if I am convicted, I am not supposed to be even the member of the parliament," he said. Security was razor-tight for Monday s hearing, with hundreds of riot police guarding the Supreme Court and queues trailing back from checkpoints where police searched vehicles and helicopters hovering overhead. The Pakistani court overturned in December 2009 a two-year political amnesty that had frozen investigations into Zardari and other politicians. The Swiss separately shelved the cases in 2008, when Zardari became head of state, and a prosecutor in Switzerland has said it will be impossible to re-open them as long as he remains president and is immune from prosecution. Members of the government accuse judges of over-stepping their reach and of trying to bring down the prime minister and president, a year before the administration would become the first in Pakistan to complete an elected term. "For the first time the prime minister has been charged. It s a sad day for Pakistan," Qamar Zaman Kaira, a senior member of Zardari s Pakistan People s Party (PPP), told reporters outside the court. The president, who is nicknamed "Mr 10 Percent" for his alleged corruption, has already spent 11 years in jail in Pakistan on charges ranging from corruption to murder although he has never been convicted.