Red Cross office bombed in Libya
The Red Cross office in the Libyan city of Misrata has been bombed, and one local man wounded in the blast, security sources said on Wednesday. The attack was likely carried out by a remote control bomb. “The walls of the building are damaged,” Reuters quote the source as saying. Tuesday’s attack is the second attack on the organization in less than a month.
Tunisian man shot dead in clashes
A man was shot dead in the head during clashes between Salafi Islamist rioters and police, a doctor at the Farhat Hashed hospital in the coastal town of Sousse said on Wednesday. Police fired in the air in some areas to disperse protesters on Tuesday, Reuters said. The rioters were hurling rocks and petrol bombs. Deaths of protesters have been rare since last year's revolution ousted the country’s leader, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Egypt parliament appoints new constitutional body
Egyptian lawmakers have appointed a panel to draft the country’s new constitution. The establishment of the new constitutional body on Tuesday night followed long talks after the previous panel was dissolved as not representing all political forces. The new panel has six months to compose a constitution to be approved by voters in a referendum. The Muslim Brotherhood, which dominates the parliament, said the new panel is a representative body, but liberal politicians question the statement.
Iran’s oil exports fall by 40 per cent – report
Iran’s oil exports have fallen by an estimated 40 per cent since the start of the year, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday. Preliminary indications suggested the exports fell to 1.5 million barrels per day in April-May from 2.5 million at end 2011. In the months ahead, Iran may need to shut down production volumes, the IEA’s monthly report said, as cited by Reuters. The agency believes Iran is still producing 3.3 million bpd, down from 3.5 million last year and stockpiling unsold oil. Tehran says it is not experiencing any problems with oil sales due to Western sanctions.
Ousted Tunisian President Ben Ali sentenced to 20 years
A military court in Tunisia sentenced ousted President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali to 20 years imprisonment in absentia on Wednesday. He was convicted on various charges, including incitement to murder, the TAP news agency said. He was found guilty of “inciting disorder, murder and looting,” according to the court verdict over the deaths of four youths. They were shot dead in the town of Ouardanine in mid-January 2011. Ben Ali is living in exile in Saudi Arabia.
Israel to fly out first S. Sudan deportees on Sunday
Israel will fly a first planeload of South Sudanese deportees home on Sunday, a spokeswoman for the Population and Migration Authority said. “We have about 150 so far,” Sabine Hadad told AFP on Wednesday. More are expected to follow later in the week. The authorities arrested 100 illegal immigrants on Tuesday, while another 300 people agreed to be repatriated voluntarily. Some 240 people have been detained for deportation since the current wave of arrests began on Sunday. Most of those detained are South Sudanese.
Turkish gunman killed after attacking police station
Istanbul police have shot dead one of two gunmen who attacked a police station. The unidentified assailants opened fire with automatic weapons and threw a grenade at the station at Istinye on the European shore of Istanbul late Tuesday, media reports say. Police are hunting for the accomplice who fled.
More than 70 confirmed dead in Afghan earthquake
Rescuers have pulled the bodies of 71 people killed in Monday’s earthquake in Afghanistan’s Baghlan province, RIA Novosti said, citing local police. More than 20 houses have been destroyed. The earthquake measuring a magnitude 5.4 struck the Hindu Kush region on Monday morning. It was followed by a 5.7 quake, according to the US Geological Survey.
China ‘shipped’ missile vehicles to N. Korea – reports
China shipped missile launch vehicles to North Korea last year in breach of UN resolutions, a Japanese newspaper said Wednesday. Asahi Shimbun wrote four giant trucks capable of transporting and launching ballistic missiles were exported by a Chinese firm last August. The vehicles were likely those on display at the military parade in April marking the centenary of the birth of the state's founder Kim Il-sung. Beijing was never rebuked because the US did not want to embarrass China, the paper said, citing Japanese government sources.
Scores killed in bombings during Iraq religious festival
A wave of bomb attacks targeting Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and police in southern Iraq killed at least 44 people on Wednesday. At least 18 people were killed when four bombs hit Shiite pilgrims across Baghdad, Reuters said. They gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of Shiite imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. In the southern city of Hilla, two bombs, exploded outside restaurants frequented by police, killing 22 people and wounding 38. One bomb was detonated by a suicide car bomber. Two more car bombs killed four people in the city of Balad.
UN to raise $200 million for North Korea
The United Nations has proposed to raise US$200 million in aid for North Korea this year, RIA Novosti reports, citing UN spokesman Martin Nesirsky. The isolated communist state is suffering from a chronic shortage of food and energy. Nesirsky said some 16 million North Koreans are facing malnutrition and economic hardship. The official death toll released by the North Korean Food Damage Rehabilitation Committee in 1999 stands at 220,000, while various sources estimate that from two to three million people died between 1995 and 1998.
Falklands to hold referendum on political status
The Falkland Islands is to hold a referendum in 2013 in a bid to settle the sovereignty dispute between the UK and Argentina, The Independent reports. The surprise announcement by the local government was made ahead of Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s attempt to step up pressure at the UN over the dispute. The future referendum is somewhat similar to the one held in Gibraltar in 2002, when the proposal of Britain sharing sovereignty with Spain was rejected by 98.5 per cent of the population.
Fourteen mutilated bodies found in Mexico
Police in eastern Mexico have found fourteen dismembered bodies dumped in an abandoned truck on a highway, Reuters reports. The gruesome discovery in Veracruz state appears to be the latest atrocity committed by rival drug cartels battling over smuggling routes to the US. The Veracruz state attorney general's office said the bodies were found late on Monday near the border with Tamaulipas state. According to local media, the bodies had been dismembered and packed in plastic bags. More than 55,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed the army to crack down on the cartels.
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