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28 April 2012
Ukraine – The Daily Mail reported: Four separate bombs were detonated in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in the Ukraine today, raising fears that this summer’s Euro 2012 football tournament could be targeted. Up to 27 people were injured when the devices, which were planted in rubbish bins, exploded at short intervals in the city of Dnipropetrovsk, authorities said. The Ukraine is preparing to co-host the European Championships with Poland this summer.
Lebanon – The BBC Middle East Corps reported: The Lebanese navy is holding a Sierra Leone-registered ship and says it has confiscated a large consignment of arms and ammunition it was carrying. The 11 crew members were detained after three shipping containers full of heavy and light weapons were found on the Lutfallah II. The BBC’s Jim Muir in Beirut says it is believed the consignment was destined for the rebels in Syria. Some of the arms were labelled as Libyan, says Reuters news agency. The ship’s owner told Reuters it was due to unload in Tripoli, northern Lebanon. Milos Strugar, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) which assists Lebanon in preventing illegal arms entering the country, confirmed to the BBC that it was bound for a Lebanese port.
Saudi Arabia – Reuters reported: Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it had recalled its ambassador in Cairo for security reasons after protests in Egypt against the kingdom’s arrest of an Egyptian lawyer, marking a diplomatic rupture between the long-time allies. The withdrawal of the Saudi envoy appeared a sharp message to Egypt’s rulers of the need to maintain good ties with a Gulf state that last week agreed to send $2.7 billion to support Cairo’s battered finances. Strong ties between Riyadh and Cairo had already been strained by the upheaval in Egypt that overthrew its president Hosni Mubarak, who was close to the Saudi leadership. The rising power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has also worried many in the Gulf who fear the spread of the Islamist group’s influence. Protests against the April 17 arrest of Ahmed El-Gezawi have grown in recent days, culminating in a demonstration of close to a thousand people at the Saudi embassy in Cairo on Friday during which protesters hurled insults at the kingdom’s rulers.
South Sudan – The BBC Africa Corps reported: Officials in South Sudan say China has agreed to loan it $8bn (£4.9bn) for major development projects. A government spokesman said funds would be used to build roads, bridges and telecom networks, and to develop agriculture and hydro-electric power. However, there was no mention of plans to build a new pipeline to export oil from the newly independent state. News of the deal emerged after South Sudan’s president returned from his first official trip to China. His visit came amid a flare-up in the dispute between the two Sudans over the oil-rich Heglig border region.
Afghanistan – The LA Times reported: In the latest attempt to kill Kandahar’s governor, a gun battle erupts involving two attackers who concealed guns and explosives in their boots. Both assailants and two policemen are killed. Turban bombs had become too obvious. So the two men who apparently set out Saturday to assassinate Kandahar’s governor looked to their footwear instead. The assailants used the unusual tactic of concealing weapons and explosives in their boots to make their way past police checkpoints and into the governor’s heavily guarded compound in the city of Kandahar, leading to a gun battle that left them and two Afghan police officers dead, a provincial spokesman said. Witnesses said that American forces were present during the clash in the southern province, which is the birthplace of the Taliban, and that one of the U.S. troops was injured. The NATO force did not immediately disclose any information about U.S. involvement.
France – The Agence France Presse reported: French presidential frontrunner Francois Hollande headed into the last round of his battle with Nicolas Sarkozy, with both candidates threatened by the shadow of scandal. Socialist challenger Hollande is the favourite to win next week’s vote, but his campaign was shaken over the weekend by a new episode in the saga of his party’s ties to disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. On Saturday, Socialist lawmaker Julien Dray invited Hollande’s campaign director Pierre Moscovici, communications director Manuel Valls and former partner Segolene Royal to a drinks party to celebrate his birthday. But he did not warn them he had also invited Strauss-Kahn to attend the bash, held at a popular disco bar on the notorious Rue St Denis in Paris, a street which has historically been associated with prostitution.
Ireland – The Guardian UK reported: Dissident republican paramilitaries left a bomb in Newry that was bigger than the device used in the Omagh massacre, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has confirmed. The device left on Thursday near Newry Canal in south Armagh was a 600lb bomb – 200lb bigger than the air-fuel explosive device that devastated Omagh, causing the biggest single atrocity of the Troubles with the deaths of 29 men, women and children. The Newry bomb was meant to kill members of a passing police patrol, the PSNI also confirmed. Like the Omagh bomb, the massive device is believed to have been put together by former Provisional IRA “engineers” from south Armagh who subsequently broke from the organisation to form the Real IRA. The aborted attack in Newry took place just hours before dissident republicans mistakenly left a bomb underneath a civilian’s car in a loyalist area of Belfast. Security sources said the republican group Oglaigh na hEireann placed the bomb underneath the car because it had once belonged to a retired policeman. However, sources said it had changed hands and was being moved in the Greater Shankill area.
Israel – The Winston-Salem Journal via (AP) reported: The former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has accused the country’s political leaders of exaggerating the potential effectiveness of a possible military attack on Iran, in a striking indication of Israel’s turmoil about how to deal with the Iranian nuclear program. Yuval Diskin said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak — who have been saber-rattling for months — have their judgment clouded by “messianic feelings” and should not be trusted to lead policy on Iran. Diskin, who headed Shin Bet until last year, said a strike might actually accelerate the Iranian program. Shin Bet addresses security in Israel and the Palestinian Territories only and is not involved in international affairs. The comments deepened the sense that a rift is growing between the hawkish Netanyahu government and the security establishment on the question of a strike — and Netanyahu allies quickly rushed to his defense.
Iran – The LA Times reported: Iranian officials expressed skepticism Saturday about possible Obama administration support for allowing the country to continue enriching some uranium but said it could be a good start for further negotiations on its disputed nuclear program. Senior U.S. officials have said they might agree to let Iran enrich uranium up to 5% purity if its government agreed to the unrestricted inspections, strict oversight and numerous safeguards that the United Nations has long demanded. If the deal was offered by all six nations negotiating with Iran and the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, “it would be a good start,” said one official in Iran’s Foreign Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The United States — along with China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany — began talks with Iran on April 14 in Istanbul, Turkey; the discussions are scheduled to resume May 23 in Baghdad.
Egypt – CNN reported: Egyptian reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei on Saturday launched a new political party that he said would “rescue the great revolution.”
Sitting alongside other leading Egyptians, ElBaradei — who dropped his bid for president this year — announced the formation of the Dustour party. “The purpose of this party is for us to rescue the great revolution of January 25th, which has gone off track, and which is close to being aborted, to regain our unity in order to achieve the aims of the revolution — bread, freedom and human dignity,” he said. ElBaradei spoke as Egyptians are preparing for their country’s first presidential election since longtime leader Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. The historic vote on May 23-24 comes amid rising political tensions as officials work to craft the nation’s new constitution and Egyptians await the verdict in Mubarak’s murder trial, which is scheduled for June 2.
29 April 2012
Syria – The Washingtomn Post reported: In fresh attacks on symbols of state power, twin suicide bombs exploded Monday near a government security compound in northern Syria and rockets struck the central bank in Damascus, killing nine people and wounding 100. The regime and the opposition traded blame, accusing each other of dooming a United Nations plan to calm violence that has largely failed so far. The head of the U.N. observer mission acknowledged that his force cannot solve the country’s crisis alone and urged both sides to stop fighting. The attacks are the latest in a series of suicide bombings that started in December and have mostly targeted Syrian military and intelligence positions. The regime routinely blames the opposition, which denies having a role or the capability to carry out such attacks. After other similar bombings, U.S. officials suggested al-Qaida militants may be joining the fray, and an al-Qaida-inspired Islamist group has claimed responsibility for previous attacks in Syria.
Nigeria – The WSJ reported: Gunmen attacked church services on a university campus Sunday in northern Nigeria, using small explosives to draw out and gun down panicking worshippers in an assault that killed at least 16 people, officials said. The attackers targeted an old section of Bayero University’s campus where religious groups use a theater to hold worship services, Kano state police spokesman Ibrahim Idris said. The assault left many others seriously wounded, Mr. Idris said. “By the time we responded, they entered [their] motorcycles and disappeared into the neighborhood,” the commissioner said. After the attack, police and soldiers cordoned off the campus as gunfire echoed in the surrounding streets. Abubakar Jibril, a spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency, said security forces initially refused to allow rescuers to enter the campus. Soldiers also turned away journalists from the university. Andronicus Adeyemo, an official with the Nigerian Red Cross, said a canvas of local hospitals and morgues showed the attack killed at least 16 people. A number of people suffered injuries, though the aid agency did not immediately have an exact figure, Mr. Adeyemo said. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Egypt – The LA Times reported: Egypt’s ruling military leader vowed Sunday he would reshuffle the nation’s unpopular Cabinet, according to state media, in a move seen as an attempt to calm growing anger in the Islamist-controlled Parliament ahead of next month’s presidential elections. The decision by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi came hours after Parliament, nearly half of which is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, threatened to suspend legislative sessions for a week to protest Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri’s government. Parliament has been critical of the military-backed regime for months, but the generals have indicated they would not tolerate a no-confidence vote. Egyptian media, quoting members of Parliament, reported the Cabinet would undergo a limited restructuring in coming days to include officials from the country’s dominant political forces. The Ganzouri government is widely mistrusted and viewed as a throwback to deposed President Hosni Mubarak’s rule. Speaker of Parliament Saad Katatni said Tantawi phoned him to say that changes would be made to the government. Katatni characterized the call as restoring Parliament’s “dignity.” Tantawi made no immediate comment.
Sudan – The Lubbock Avalanche Journal via (AP) reported: Sudan declared a state of emergency Sunday in areas bordering South Sudan, giving authorities wide powers of arrest a day after they detained three foreigners in a flashpoint town along the frontier. The detentions and state of emergency heightened tensions even further along border between the old rivals, who in the past month came to the brink of an all-out war because of renewed fighting in disputed areas. Sudanese officials have accused South Sudan of using foreigner fighters during its assault on the oil-rich Heglig region, which Sudan claims. Southern Sudanese troops briefly captured the area, amid rising international concerns of an escalation in the fighting between the two countries.
Israel – Ynet NEWS reported: French president, which is facing electoral battle, urges dual nationals living in Israel to vote en masse in second round of presidential elections. With only a week left to the second round of the presidential elections in France, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is trying everything to close the gap between him and Socialist Party frontrunner Francois Hollande. Sarkozy has reportedly appealed in a letter to dual French-Israeli citizens, urging them to exercise their voting right in the second round, set to be held on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia – Reuters reported: Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it had recalled its ambassador in Cairo for security reasons after protests in Egypt against the kingdom’s arrest of an Egyptian lawyer, marking a diplomatic rupture between the long-time allies. The withdrawal of the Saudi envoy appeared a sharp message to Egypt’s rulers of the need to maintain good ties with a Gulf state that last week agreed to send $2.7 billion to support Cairo’s battered finances. Strong ties between Riyadh and Cairo had already been strained by the upheaval in Egypt that overthrew its president Hosni Mubarak, who was close to the Saudi leadership. The rising power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has also worried many in the Gulf who fear the spread of the Islamist group’s influence. Protests against the April 17 arrest of Ahmed El-Gezawi have grown in recent days, culminating in a demonstration of close to a thousand people at the Saudi embassy in Cairo on Friday during which protesters hurled insults at the kingdom’s rulers.
Spain – Bloomberg NEWS reported: A recession in Spain and forecasts of rising unemployment in the 17-nation euro area are amplifying criticism of the German-led austerity agenda in election campaigns this week in France and Greece. With Spain’s largest unions leading marches involving thousands of protesters in 55 cities yesterday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government battled to prevent Spain from becoming the next country to seek a bailout. In France, where the presidential-election runoff is set for May 6, Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande pushed back against German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s focus on deficit reduction. “Watching Spain now is exactly like watching Ireland around October 2010 before Ireland was forced into its bailout,” Megan Greene, a senior economist at Roubini Global Economics LLC, told Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart” on April 27. “The government can’t win no matter what it does.” Spain’s economy shrank in the first quarter as the nation officially entered its second recession since 2009. Gross domestic product contracted 0.3 percent. Joblessness in the euro area probably to rose to 10.9 percent last month, the highest since 1997, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Israel – The Christian Science Monitor reported: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled on Sunday for the first time that he is liable to move up Israel’s elections from next year to this year. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled on Sunday for the first time that he is liable to move up Israel’s elections from next year to this year to take advantage of his lead in opinion polls over the country’s fractured opposition. Though Mr. Netanyahu’s record of sounding the alarm about a nuclear Iran is likely to figure prominently in his campaign because it plays to his strength as a security hawk, early elections would make it less likely that the prime minister would order a preemptive attack on Iran because it risks igniting regional war that could endanger his popularity, analysts said. “Netanyahu knows that he enjoys a relatively high and stable popularity, and it’s a good time to [hold elections] when his rivals are seen as unprepared,” says Aviv Bushinsky, a former advisor to Netanyahu who believes early elections will happen. “So why should he risk it by attacking, what if it fails? He doesn’t need to do something extreme to win the elections.”
Austria – CBC NEWS Canada reported: Former Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem, whose body was found floating Sunday in the Danube river, died from drowning, Austrian police said. Autopsy results on Ghanem’s corpse showed no signs of violence, police spokesman Roman Hahslinger said Monday. The body was found in a section of the Danube that runs through Vienna close to where he had a residence. Ghanem last year announced he was abandoning Gadhafi’s regime to support the rebels who ultimately toppled the dictator. He was a former Libyan premier who last served as his country’s oil minister until his 2011 defection. He left Libya for Tunisia and then Europe in June as insurgents were pushing to topple Gadhafi. In Vienna, he worked as a consultant for an Austrian company.
Pakistan – The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported: A U.S. drone strike killed three suspected militants in Pakistan’s tribal belt on Sunday, an official said, in the first such attack since the country’s parliament demanded an end to such attacks a little more than two weeks ago. The remotely piloted aircraft struck an abandoned school building in the densely populated central bazaar of Miram Shah, the capital of the North Waziristan tribal agency, killing three people and wounding two, a government official and a local resident said. The suspected militants were believed to be Punjabi Taliban fighters with the Haqqani network, which carried out a series of spectacular attacks in Kabul and two other Afghan cities on April 15. The school building that was struck on Sunday was thought to be a base of operations for militants, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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