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SYDNEY: US President George W. Bush lost a close ally
in the Iraq war as the 550-strong Australian combat troops pulled
out Monday to honor an election pledge by the new center-left
government. “All the arguments Australia used to justify sending
troops to fight in Iraq proved to be wrong,” Prime Minister Kevin
Rudd told parliament Monday. “Have further terrorist attacks been
prevented? No, they have not been, as the victims of the Madrid
train bombing will attest.”
--AFP
LONDON: Rich countries must
dramatically ramp up their aid for agricultural development to curb
rising food prices, the United Nations’ top agricultural official
said Monday. Speaking to the Financial Times, Jacques Diouf said
that aid would have to increase tenfold to $30 billion (19.3 billion
euros) a year to help developing countries raise production levels.
“The only way out of the crisis is to increase food production, in
particular in poor countries,” the UN director general for Food
and Agriculture Organization said.
--AFP
SINGAPORE: Opposition leader Chee
Soon Juan, among a rare few to publicly challenge the country’s
rulers, was sentenced Monday to 12 days’ jail for contempt. A
judge ruled that the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic
Party ad been in contempt because he said justice had been
“raped” and “kicked” during a defamation case filed by
Singapore’s leaders against him. Supreme Court Justice Belinda Ang
Saw Ean ruled that Chee will had taken to jail if he does not file
an appeal by Wednesday.
--AFP
JAKARTA: An Indonesian Islamic
extremist group called on supporters Monday to prepare for war
against a minority sect, but President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
warned authorities would not tolerate violence. The call to arms by
Islamic Defenders Front chief Habib Rizieq Shihab came after
followers violently attacked a weekend rally that tried to promote
religious tolerance. “I have ordered all members of the Islamic
Force to prepare for war against the Ahmadiyah [sect] and their
supporters,” he said.
--AFP
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida:
Astronauts on the US space shuttle Discovery were to dock with the
International Space Station Monday, delivering a payload that
included the key unit of Japan’s Kibo space lab and parts for a
bogged-up space lavatory. The six American and one Japanese
astronauts aboard were scheduled to wake up at around 6:30 a.m.
(1030 GMT) for a busy day of maneuvering the shuttle to its
rendezvous with the ISS 338 kilometers (210 miles) above Earth.
--AFP
BEIRUT: Terrorists have been
preparing sabotage attacks in Lebanon, including assaults on UN
peacekeepers, local As-Safir daily reported on Monday. The Lebanese
army reinforced security measures around Palestinian camps in the
north and south of the country, after some Islamist officials in the
southern city of Sidon received information that a “sleeping
cell” based in Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian camp was instructed to
leave to Iraq, said the report. The information also coincided with
reports obtained by the Lebanese intelligence and other security
leadership.
--Xinhua
BEIJING: China and Vietnam will
keep close high-level contacts and establish a hotline between state
leaders, said a joint statement released by the two countries here
on Sunday. The joint statement was released during the four-day
China visit of Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee General
Secretary Nong Duc Manh. The statement said the two sides would
continue to promote the bilateral comprehensive strategic
partnership of cooperation. This featured good neighbors, friends,
comrades and partners.
--Xinhua
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