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WASHINGTON: Senator Barack Obama on Monday vowed to dispel smears over his "deep and abiding" love for America, but was locked in a fierce new row over Republican White House foe John McCain's military heroism. The rival camps traded shots over the political minefields of patriotism and core American values. "The question who is or is not a patriot, all too often poisons our political debates in ways that divide us," Obama said.
-- AFP
PHNOM PENH: The former Khmer Rouge foreign minister appeared for a second straight day before the UN-backed Cambodian genocide court on Tuesday, hoping to be freed before his trial even begins. Ieng Sary, 82, is one of five top cadres currently detained for crimes allegedly committed during the Khmer Rouge regime's murderous rule over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Established in 2006, the joint Cambodia-UN tribunal is expected to hold its first trial later this year.
-- AFP
KABUL: The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in coordination with the Pakistan military killed several insurgents along the Afghanistan border on Tuesday, ISAF said in a statement. Rebel's rockets attacked an ISAF outpost based in the Spera district of eastern Afghanistan's Khost province, the statement said. The ISAF responded with mortar, artillery fire and close air support, killing several militants.
-- Xinhua
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: African leaders on Tuesday resumed talks on how to deal with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as the US prepared UN sanctions over his one-man election that much of the world has dismissed as a farce. The 53-member African Union was holding closed-door talks on the final day of a summit in Egypt amid intensifying pressure for the continent's leaders to act to resolve the crisis which some fear could destabilize southern Africa.
-- AFP
DHAKA: Amid soaring prices of petroleum fuel on the international market, Bangladesh has raised prices of all types of petroleum fuels by 33 to 67 percent with effect from Tuesday, first day of its 2008 to 2009 fiscal year. M. Tamim, Special Assistant for power and energy to the Bangladesh caretaker government chief advisor, said that the government had no alternative but to raise the prices to cut government subsidies on importing fuel. "Though this is an unpleasant decision, there was not other option," he said.
-- Xinhua
WASHINGTON: The leader of an Algerian-based offshoot of al-Qaeda warned in an interview published Tuesday that his group "will not hesitate" to target US interests across the world. Abdelmalek Droukdal, leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, gave what is thought to be his first interview with a Western journalist to the New York Times. "If the US administration sees that its war against the Muslims is legitimate, then what makes us believe that our war on its territories is not legitimate?" he said.
-- AFP
PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to "protect" European Union (EU) citizens and address their day-to-day concerns as his country takes over the rotating EU presidency from Slovenia on July 1. Sarkozy said France would try to tackle issues such as climate change, immigration, food safety, health, and economy and finance, which are "at the heart of the concerns of Europe's citizens."
-- Xinhua
SHANGHAI: A man from Beijing stabbed five policemen to death here on Tuesday in an attack meant as revenge for an interrogation last year, police sources said. The suspect, surnamed Yang, stabbed a security guard at a police branch in the Zhabei district of Shanghai at 9:40 a.m. Tuesday and started a fire at the gate of the facility. He then charged into the building and assaulted nine officers with a knife. Five police officers died of their injuries, authorities said.
-- Xinhua
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