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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar
Ibrahim could face arrest, police said Monday, after refusing to be
questioned over allegations of sodomy, the same charge that saw him
jailed a decade ago. Anwar’s Keadilan party said he defied the
order because it was not served properly and he was angry over being
barred from parliament where the opposition was attempting to mount
an anti-government debate. “We have given him the chance and space
to turn up,” said Criminal Investigation Department director Bakri
Zinan after Anwar’s no-show.
--AFP
JAKARTA: Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened an Asia-Africa conference on
“capacity building for Palestine” alongside Palestinian Prime
Minister Salam Fayyad here Monday. The president of the world’s
most populous Muslim country said the ministerial-level talks aimed
to offer help to prepare Palestinians to govern and administer their
own state. Yudhoyono said the 53 countries and organizations at the
Asia-Africa conference would reiterate calls for the implementation
of the 2003 Middle East peace roadmap.
--AFP
KABUL: Nine troops of the
NATO-led ISAF force died Sunday in heavy fighting with militants in
eastern Afghanistan as the war-battered nation has been the scene of
increasingly fierce counter-insurgency battles. Fifteen soldiers of
the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and four Afghan
National Army (ANA) soldiers were also wounded in the firefight that
began early morning in Dara-I-Pech district of Kunar province, the
ISAF said.
--Xinhua
SEOUL: An angry South Korea
recalled its ambassador to Japan on Monday after Tokyo Monday
reaffirmed its claim to a group of islands controlled by Seoul.
Ambassador Kwon Chul Hyun will return home temporarily after lodging
a strong protest with Japan’s foreign ministry, the Seoul foreign
ministry said. Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan summoned Tokyo’s
envoy Toshinori Shigeie over the row, which threatens to wreck
efforts by South Korea’s new President Lee Myung Bak to improve
historically tense relations.
--AFP
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s Cabinet on
Sunday reiterated that it does not recognize the International
Criminal Court (ICC) and will refuse any decision or memorandum
delivered by the court. The move came after reports that ICC’s
chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo planned to ask judges to issue
an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on
allegations of crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western Darfur
region. The Cabinet affirmed in a statement that the government is
able to maintain the country’s sovereignty as well as its dignity.
--Xinhua
YANGON: Myanmar’s military
government on Monday urged the world to donate building supplies
rather than food to help victims of the cyclone that devastated the
country two months ago. The junta’s mouthpiece New Light of
Myanmar newspaper said that food supplies were only needed in the
immediate aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, and that now the country
needed help to rebuild. “It can be seen that most of the aid
provided by the international community are relief items and
foodstuff,” the paper said.
--AFP
A draft resolution calling for
sanctions on Zimbabwe, including a travel ban and assets freeze on
President Robert Mugabe and 12 other individuals, was not adopted by
the Security Council. Permanent members China and Russia vetoed the
text, with South Africa, Libya and Vietnam also voting against the
resolution. The draft received nine votes in favor—the necessary
number for a majority—from the United States, France, the United
Kingdom, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Italy and
Panama, while Indonesia abstained.
--AFP
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