Kuwaiti woman arrested for driving in Saudi Arabia: report

World News

Kuwait: A Kuwaiti lady was captured in Saudi Arabia for attempting to drive her father to clinic, a Kuwaiti daily paper gave an account of Sunday, a week after Saudi ladies challenged against a boycott on female

Shelling continues for some Syrian refugees

Fraidis, Lebanon - Late during the evening a month ago, a flood of mortars collided with the peaceful horticultural fields encompassing Fraidis, a village in Lebanon's bankrupted Akkar region, less than two kilometres far from the Syrian fringe. "Everything happens around

Iran MP says Fordo nuclear site a 'red line'

Tehran, October 27: A prominent Iranian lawmaker said today Iran would never agree to shut down its Fordo underground nuclear enrichment facility as demanded by world powers. It is possible that they set some conditions such as shutting down Fordo, which definitely will not happen," Mehr news agency quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the parliament's foreign policy committee, as saying. Fordo, with nearly 3,000 centrifuges and dug deep into a mountain near the holy city of Qom, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Tehran, is at the heart of international concerns over Iran's nuclear drive. The site, whose existence was revealed in 2009, began in late 2011 to enrich uranium to purities of 20 per cent, a few technical steps away from the 90-per cent level needed for a nuclear weapon. Iran says it is enriching to this level to provide fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, which produces medical isotopes, and denies seeking or ever having sought nuclear weapons. Closing Fordo or limiting enrichment activities has been a key demand by six world powers -- permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany -- in negotiations with Iran over its controversial nuclear programme. In return, the powers are offering to ease some sanctions against the Islamic republic, such as those imposed on trade in gold and on the petrochemical sector. Iran and the P5+1 resumed talks mid-October in Geneva during which Tehran presented a new proposal that its chief nuclear negotiator Abbass Araqchi said could settle the dispute "within a year". Experts from both sides are to meet at the end of this week in Vienna to prepare for the next round of talks, in Geneva on November 7-8. Israel and to a lesser degree the US have refused to rule out military action against Iran should it continue its nuclear enrichment programme. However, Boroujerdi warned against any military action, saying Iran was prepared to deter any foreign attack. We have created the conditions for America and the Zionist regime in a way that they will never think of attacking our nuclear sites. Our missiles are a deterrent ... but Fordo is one of our red lines," he said, without elaborating. Some experts warn that Iran next year may reach "critical capacity" -- the point at which it could, in theory, process enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb before being detected. But since becoming president in August, Hassan Rouhani, seen as a relative moderate, has raised hopes that the long-running crisis can be resolved and threats of military action silenced for good.

Sharif to take all parties into confidence on Taliban talks

Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Saturday said he would take all parties into confidence about talks with the Taliban, Xinhua reported. Sharif's statement came just hours after the opposition leader, Khurshid Shah, said the government had not shared anything about the dialogue with the armed militants. The country's all major political and religious parties last month had called on the government to initiate talks with the Taliban for ending bloodshed. The opposition leader said he has written to the prime minister, stating that the government has not taken any step to inform them about any development on the issue of talks with the Taliban. Sharif, has directed that all political parties be taken into confidence with regard to the progress of dialogue with the Taliban, the prime minister's office said Saturday. The representatives of different political parties should feel as part of the process, Sharif said in a meeting with Interior Minister Chowdhary Nisar Ali Khan. The prime minister has asked Khan to contact the leaders of political parties and take them into confidence on the talks, sources said. Official sources said Sharif is likely to speak in the parliament soon for taking the house into confidence on his recent visit to the US.

Iran has not halted 20 percent uranium enrichment

Tehran: Tehran has not halted enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity level, a senior Iranian lawmaker said Saturday. The latest remarks by the Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission chairman, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, run contrary to earlier assertions by another member of the commission who said Iran had temporarily stopped the production of 20 percent enriched uranium, Xinhua reported. Stating that Iran's nuclear activities are being pursued as they were in the past, Boroujerdi said Iran "continues the (uranium) enrichment to the level of 20 percent", official IRNA news agency reported. About nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers, Boroujerdi said in the recent talks between Iran and the P5+1, namely the US, China, Russia, France and Britain plus Germany, Iran asked the powers to recognise its enrichment right and remove sanctions. "We need to wait for the results of the negotiations," he added

UAE to give USD 3.9 bn to Egypt's military-installed govt

Dubai, October 26: The United Arab Emirates agreed today to give Egypt's military-installed government another USD 3.9 billion in aid after transferring USD 1 billion in July, the official WAM news agency said. The UAE and other Gulf monarchies were staunch supporters of the July 3 overthrow of Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, and have vowed to help the interim government address the economic devastation wrought by two years of political turmoil. The two countries signed the latest agreement during a visit by Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi to the oil-rich Emirates, WAM reported. It said USD 1 billion of the new funds would go to support Egypt's fuel needs while the remainder would be earmarked to "support (Egypt's) development programme and (are) aimed at improving the living conditions, lives and human development of the Egyptian people through a number of projects." The Emirates, along with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, pledged USD 12 billion in aid to Cairo within days of the army's overthrow of Morsi, which came amid massive protests against the year-long rule of Egypt's first freely elected president. Egypt's economy has been in a tailspin since the overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, contributing to the political unrest that has gripped the country since his ouster.

Hafiz Saeed claims US pressuring Pakistan to act against him

Lahore, October 26: Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has claimed the US is demanding that the Pakistan government should take action against him because he had been opposed American drone strikes. "The US is demanding the imposition of a ban on JuD because I am raising my voice on drone strikes. If this is my crime, I will continue committing it," he said while delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at the JuD's mosque in Chauburji here yesterday. The founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed the US was "speaking the language of India". Though the regime of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf banned the LeT, Pakistani authorities only placed the JuD on a "watch list" after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Saeed, for whom the US has offered a bounty of USD 10 million, has been accused of masterminding the assault on India's financial hub that killed 166 people. President Barack Obama raised the activities of the JuD and Saeed when he met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Washington on Wednesday. Saeed claimed the Obama administration was building pressure on the Pakistan government to act against the JuD. "But let me tell them that we are not afraid of any ban or sanctions," he said. He also claimed the Pakistan government had put the Kashmir issue on the back burner because of "their weaknesses"

Sheikh Hasina fails to reach Zia over phone, shutdown looms

Dhaka, October 26: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday telephoned her arch-rival Khaleda Zia to invite her for talks to resolve a standoff on holding the next general election but failed to reach her, even as Bangladesh braced for a shutdown called by the main opposition BNP. "The Prime Minister called the opposition leader at her official phone at 1:15 pm (local time) but nobody picked it for half an hour," Abul Kalam Azad, press secretary to the premier, told reporters here. Hasina's special assistant Mahbubul Haque Shakil said the premier tried to reach Zia from 1:15 pm to 1:45 pm but no one responded to her phone call. He said Hasina was still trying to reach Zia, the chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). BNP's acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters that Zia's official phone "is out of order for a long time" and all her lines "remain out of order most of the times." An official said a personal aide of Hasina also called the BNP chief's special assistant, Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas. "He (Biswas) was told that the Prime Minister is scheduled to attend a meeting of the Awami League's parliamentary party at 6pm. The Leader of the Opposition can call her back by 6pm, if she wants to," the official said. Hasina reached out to her arch-rival a day after BNP supporters staged violent protests across Bangladesh to push the party's demand for setting up an interim government comprising of non-political individuals. Six persons were killed and over 300 injured in clashes between BNP workers and security forces. Zia has threatened to launch a 60-hour nationwide shutdown from tomorrow if her demands are not met. Hasina has proposed the formation of a caretaker government with representatives of all political parties, but this was rejected by Zia. The violence continued today as suspected opposition activists blasted seven crude bombs in front of the houses of a Supreme Court judge, the environment minister and a police office. A bus and a private car was set ablaze. No one was injured in the explosions but they sparked fears of violence ahead of the possible shutdown. Paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops guarded the streets in the capital where most residents preferred to stay indoors and the streets looked deserted.