Iraq's Sadr calls for protest against US
Anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called for a mass protest against negotiations between Washington and Baghdad on keeping US troops in the country beyond 2008.
"We invite Iraqis to join us for a mass demonstration after Friday prayers unless the government cancels this agreement," Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf on Tuesday.
He said the protests would continue nationwide until the government agreed to hold a referendum on the continued US presence. Sadr pulled his bloc out of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government last year in protest at his refusal to negotiate a timetable for a US troop withdrawal.
Sadr called for a million-strong march against the US presence in April but later called it off for security reasons.
The United States is negotiating with Iraq on a Status of Forces Agreement aimed at giving a legal basis to US troops after Dec. 31, when their United Nations mandate expires.
The United States, which invaded in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein, now has 155,000 troops in Iraq.
Maliki met his top officials on Tuesday to discuss the negotiations.
Democrat lawmakers in the United States fear the new agreement will commit the US military to a long-term presence in Iraq, while Iraqis such as Sadr's followers see it as a surrender of Iraq's sovereignty to an occupying force.
"We will collect a petition with signatures of the Iraqi people, who are against this deal," Sadr said.
In Najaf, Sadr's spokesman, Salah al-Ubaidi, said:
"History will not look well upon this government if it signs this agreement without consulting the people. It will put Iraq in crisis."
Sadr's protest call is likely to raise tensions with the Iraqi government, whose forces battled militants loyal to the cleric in the capital for weeks before a truce was agreed on May 10. The fighting was sparked by a government offensive against his Mehdi Army militia in the southern city of Basra in March.
Sadr is popular among Iraq's Shi'ite poor and his militia is estimated to number tens of thousands. But it has kept a low profile since Iraqi troops poured into Sadr City last week, taking control of Sadr's main Baghdad stronghold.
Reuters
Lebanon elects PM to lead new government
Lebanon's parliamentary majority coalition has agreed to nominate Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to form the country's first government under newly elected President Michel Suleiman.
The nomination, agreed at a late-night meeting of coalition leaders, means that US-backed Siniora will be appointed to head the new cabinet in which the Hezbollah-led opposition is guaranteed effective veto power.
The 'March 14' coalition will officially inform Suleiman of its choice when he consults parliament on Wednesday. The president has to appoint the prime minister nominated by a majority of MPs.
The prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim under Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system.
Siniora's nomination is seen as a moral boost to a majority battered by major political and military setbacks at the hands of Hezbollah in recent weeks. Many opposition deputies are expected to oppose his nomination.
The 18-month conflict between the US-backed ruling alliance, which has struggled against Syrian influence in Lebanon, and the opposition, led by Damascus- and Tehran-backed Hezbollah, was ended last week by a Qatari-mediated deal.
"March 14 leaders agreed unanimously to nominate his excellency Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to form the new government in line with the Doha agreement," the coalition said in a statement.
Majority leader Saad al-Hariri thought of getting the post himself but opted to keep on his close ally Siniora, mainly because the new government will stay in office only until the 2009 general election, politicians said.
Siniora, 65, has been prime minister since July 2005. He had been the target of an opposition campaign since November 2006 to force him to resign.
His cabinet's May 6 decision to investigate Hezbollah's private telecommunication network and to fire the head of airport security, who was seen as close to the guerrilla group, sparked Lebanon's worst fighting since the 1975-90 civil war.
Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group, routed followers of Hariri and other coalition leaders in six days of fighting that killed 81. The government later rescinded the decisions.
Suleiman was elected on Sunday as part of the Doha agreement. The deal met the opposition's demand for effective veto power in cabinet and set a new general election law.
Reuters
50 killed in Zimbabwe poll violence
More than 50 people have been killed in political violence since Zimbabwe's disputed March 29 elections and 25,000 have fled their homes, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said.
Official figures showed Tsvangirai beat President Robert Mugabe in the election, but did not garner enough votes to avoid a second round poll, which has been set for June 27.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change accuses Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party of launching a violent campaign against its supporters since the March elections in a bid to avoid another defeat next month. The ruling party denies the charge, and in turn blames the opposition for the violence.
"Over 50 Zimbabweans have been killed in the past six weeks. More than 25,000 people have been displaced. I've been saddened that Zimbabweans are willing to shed the blood of other Zimbabweans over political differences," Tsvangirai told a news conference in Harare.
"We are proceeding to compile the names of those who've committed these crimes. We will approach the attorney general to do something about it. I don't believe that anyone who has murdered someone should be forgiven."
Tsvangirai said he was launching a 150 trillion Zimbabwean dollar ($NZ386,100) fund for victims of political violence, to be run by representatives from churches and rights groups.
The MDC says police have taken sides with ZANU-PF supporters when dealing with political violence.
In an apparent show of support for Mugabe on Tuesday, police chief Augustine Chihuri said the force had a duty to defend the country from what he called a threat from foreign powers and their local puppets.
Mugabe frequently accuses the MDC of being a stooge of former colonial power Britain and other Western governments he says want to oust him over his seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks.
"The nation is presently facing a myriad of challenges and machinations by external forces and their internal sympathisers, who I normally call puppets," Chihuri said.
"Its very existence and survival is threatened by these puppets and their handlers," he added, after conferring ranks on senior police officers in Harare.
On Tuesday the government said it would spend quadrillions of Zimbabwean dollars on social programmes ahead of the June 27 vote in what the MDC called vote buying.
Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi said the government would offer tax relief, higher public service wages and food vouchers to ease pressure on Zimbabweans grappling with an economic meltdown under inflation of 165,000 per cent.
Under the plan, government will also provide Z$4.2 quadrillion in health and education assistance to the poor.
"This regime is clutching at straws, they hope to avert their burial on June 27 by hook or crook. They are offering a carrot and stick; a carrot for those who fall for their vote-buying and a big stick for those who resist," said MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
Mugabe often accuses privately-owned Zimbabwean media and foreign media of waging a propaganda campaign against his government, and police have arrested several journalists covering events around the election.
On Tuesday, state television reported police had arrested three South Africans carrying broadcasting equipment at a roadblock in the southwestern district of Esigodini last Friday.
"They were unable to account properly how they got in possession of that property. The equipment suggests these people could be running a studio because all the gadgets are labelled Sky News," a police spokesman said on ZBC television.
He said the men would be charged under Zimbabwe's Broadcasting Act and tough media laws that critics say are aimed at stifling dissent against Mugabe.
A spokeswoman at Sky News in London said: "We're investigating the reports at the moment." She said she had no further information.
On Tuesday, police chief Chihuri echoed Mugabe's campaign theme for the June 27 run-off, saying it was "instructive for all Zimbabweans to be clear in their understanding of what 100 per cent empowerment and total independence means.
"(It) means revamping and overhauling the existing system in the manufacturing and mining sectors as was done in the agricultural sector," he said, alluding to the seizures of white farms and a drive to nationalise foreign-owned mines and other businesses.
Chihuri accused businesses of hiking prices of goods and services in order to force a change of government.
Reuters
Aust Muslims fears after Islamic school blocked
A senior figure within Australia's Islamic community has warned that the blocking of a proposed Muslim school in Sydney could result in Islamic children being taught extreme religious views in "backyards and garages".
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ikebal Patel said it was "very sad" that Camden Council last night rejected a proposal to build a school for 1200 students on planning grounds.
In announcing the decision the Mayor, Chris Patterson, stressed that the refusal of the application had nothing to do with the seething religious tensions that have underpinned much of the debate.
He later told AAP he encouraged the school's developers to resubmit their proposal if they could find an alternative site within his south-western Sydney municipality.
But Mr Patel said he was saddened by the attitudes of Camden residents, some of whom declared the rejection of the school plan a victory for "decency".
"It's very, very distressing that that sort of phobia exists in the community," Mr Patel said.
"I think what the [Camden] council and the general population have to realise is that if Islamic schools are not encouraged and allowed to be established under the auspices of the State Government and their oversight, the same Muslim children will be given their religious education in backyards and garages by Imams and other religious teachers whose credentials no-one could vet.
"You may have some very extreme Imams or religious teachers getting through to the children."
Mr Patel said he supported the proposed developers, the Quranic Society Dar Tahfez El-Quran, who have declared their intention to fight for the school.
Vice-president Issam Obeid told the Camden Advertiser: "We're definitely going to appeal through the Land and Environment Court."
Another member of the society, Ahmed Halal, told the paper it was disappointing that Camden residents had made it clear they did not want Muslims in the area.
"If you build a school, then you're building education and you're building something for society," he said.
About 200 Camden residents cheered wildly as the council formally decided to reject the application in their area last night.
Dressed in a hat decorated with Australian flags and a long yellow dress, a resident, Kate McCulloch, emerged from the meeting hailing the decision and insisting that Muslims were incompatible with the local community.
"The ones that come here oppress our society, they take our welfare and they don't want to accept our way of life," she said.
A council report recommended that the application be refused after more than 3000 submissions had been received from the public. The vast majority opposed the development.
Cr Patterson pointed to a report from council officers showing the proposed development was flawed on environmental and planning grounds.
These included inadequate public transport to the site, in Burragorang Road at Cawdor, and fears that it might be contaminated by hazardous materials. Cr Patterson insisted the ruling was "on planning grounds alone".
SMH
Bomb explodes ahead of Nepal monarchy vote
A bomb has exploded in Nepal's capital, injuring at least one person, in the latest attack that has raised tensions ahead of a historic vote for a new assembly to abolish the 239-year monarchy.
"It was a small bomb in a public park near the venue where a pro-republican cultural programme was set to be held," Kathmandu police chief Sarbendra Khanal said.
"One person was slightly injured in the leg," he said. "We have defused a second bomb near the same place before it exploded."
The blast came hours after members of a special assembly expected to formally declare Nepal a republic were sworn in at a ceremony attended by the country's top political leaders.
The government warned that it could use force to throw unpopular King Gyanendra out of the royal palace if he refuses to leave voluntarily after the monarchy is abolished.
"The king must leave the palace immediately and move to the Nirmal Niwas," Peace and Reconstruction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel said, referring to Gyanendra's private home.
"If he does not leave the palace then the government might have to use force to vacate the palace," he said. "This will not be good for him."
There was no immediate comment from the palace.
Tuesday was the second day running of bomb attacks. A pro-Hindu militant group set off on Monday two small bombs outside the International Convention Centre, the venue of Wednesday's assembly meeting, police said. No one was injured in the attacks.
The assembly elected in April is scheduled to hold its first meeting on Wednesday and formally declare an end to the monarchy, a key part of a 2006 peace deal with Maoist former rebels that ended a decade-long civil war.
"It is not clear who set off the explosion but we have found a pamphlet of a pro-Hindu outfit, Ranabir Sena, near the site," another police official said
Many Nepalis think that the king will go quietly after the assembly vote. Gyanendra has been living in the Narayanhity royal palace in the heart of Kathmandu since ascending the throne in 2001, but he has made no public statement over his plans.
All state allowances and benefits given to the king will be stopped from Wednesday.
The government has banned demonstrations around major royal sites and the assembly. But Maoists and other main political parties say tens of thousands of people will take to the streets on Wednesday to celebrate the monarchy's end.
The government took over control of the royal palace after Gyanendra was forced to end his absolute rule following weeks of street protests in 2006.
Nepalis say much of the mystique of the royal family was broken after the 2001 palace massacre in which popular King Birendra and eight other royals were killed by then Crown Prince Dipendra, who later turned the gun on himself.
In April this year, anti-monarchy Maoists emerged as the largest party in elections to the 601-member assembly.
Reuters
