Bahrain political groups threaten polls boycott

By: Sultan Ahmed

MANAMA, Bahrain: The main political groups in Bahrain have threatened boycott of parliamentary elections due in October - the first representative ones in Bahrain for more than 25 years - unless their demands for further political reform are fulfilled.

The groups include the influential Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society that has strong backing from the country's Shiite Muslim majority; the National Democratic Action Association (NDAA); the National Democratic Society (NDS) and the Islamic Action Society (IAS).

According to the groups, the decision of the country's monarch Sheikh Hamad to create also a non-elected Shoora council that will have similar powers to those of parliament is the main reason for their proposed boycott.

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Ayatullah Jannati calls on Yemeni PM

By: Sultan Ahmed

ABU DHABI: Ayatullah Ahmad Jannati, Secretary Iran’s Guardian Council called on Yemeni Prime Minister Abdul Qadir Bajamal to discuss bilateral and regional issues.

Besides exploring new ways of boosting mutual relations in all political, scientific and cultural areas and trading ideas on legal experiences and matters, the two men stressed aspiration for restoration of stability and security in the entire region.

Ayatullah Jannati said permanent peace could not be achieved unless the rights of the oppressed Palestinians are restored.

Bajamal underlined the need for Iran and Yemen to go ahead with consultations to settle the crises facing Muslim world and urged the international community to help restore the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

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Arabs call for clear signal to avert strike on Iraq

By: Special Reporter

CAIRO, Egypt: Senior Arab delegates called for rapid action and a clear signal to avert a possible US military strike on Iraq by promoting dialogue for the return of UN weapons inspectors to Baghdad.

At the opening of a two-day meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo Wednesday, Arab League chief Amr Mussa said: “We insist on deploying quick efforts to avoid a strike and to find a solution through dialogue with the United Nations.

“Such a dialogue would be aimed at getting Iraq to readmit arms inspectors expelled four years back,” he added.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hamoud,who is the meeting chairman, said in the opening speech: “Any aggression, any threat against any Arab state is a threat to all Arab states. And we have to take a clear and strong Arab position, and send a clear and united message in this regard.”

The meeting was also to focus on Israeli-Palestinian crisis and how to end the 19-year-long civil war in Sudan.

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Detained Pakistanis fly home from Afghanistan

By: Salman Alvi

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Around fifty-five Pakistanis were freed from an Afghan jail and flown back to home Wednesday.

A Pakistani C-130 military transport plane, flown earlier Wednesday from Islamabad to Kabul airport to collect the prisoners, brought the returnees from Afghan capital to the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Afghan police and International Security Assistance Force troops brought the prisoners, who were being held in Afghan jail for up to six and a half years for fighting with the Taliban, to the plane under heavy guard.

The move marked the resumption of a stalled repatriation process under which the Afghan authorities have promised to release more prisoners in staggered phases.

Journalists were barred from meeting with the returnees, who arrived at an army base close to Peshawar airport and were taken straight to the city's central prison for questioning, according to a local official.

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APEC summit begins in Russia

By: Special Reporter

MOSCOW, Russia: First Russian investment summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) began Wednesday in the far-eastern port of Vladivostok.

The four-day summit features some 50 reports by experts from Russia, China, Japan and the United States among others.

The region's Governor Sergei Darkin said: “We think it a high honor that Russia's first APEC summit would be held in Primorye.”

“And this choice shows that our region is considered a center of economic development for the entire Far East,” he added.

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UN hangs flights, ground operations in Somalia

By: Nabil Raza

NAIROBI: The United Nations has suspended temporarily all flights and ground operations by expatriate personnel in southern Somalia's Gedo region following a fire on an aircraft incident.

In a statement, issued here, UN information official Lawrence Green said Tuesday: “The UN is reviewing the situation, gathering information, and discussing the extent and duration of the closure, given humanitarian needs in the region.”

Monday, three Somali gunmen at Garbaharay airstrip hired by a local contractor shot at a plane operated by UN Common Air Services (UNCAS) in what is believed to be a payment dispute.

But the plane carrying UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Maxwell Gaylard and other UN employees involved in a food distribution in the area was not hit.

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