US needs

credible threat against Iran

WASHINGTON: The United States should deploy more warships to the Gulf, arm Israel and issue tough warnings to convince Iran it is serious about possible military action to stop Tehran’s nuclear programme, former US lawmakers and experts said Wednesday.

The bipartisan group criticised President Barack Obama’s administration for downplaying the likelihood of US military action in public statements, saying it undercut efforts to pile pressure on Iran’s leadership.

Diplomacy and sanctions designed to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions would only have a chance to succeed if backed up by more “visible, credible preparations for a military option,” the bipartisan group said in a report.

“The United States needs to make clear that Iran faces a choice: it can either abandon its nuclear program through a negotiated arrangement or have its program destroyed militarily, by the United States or Israel,” said the report by a panel led by former senator Chuck Robb, a Democrat, and Charles Wald, a retired US general.

“The risks of inaction are too high. We must stop Iran’s nuclear clock,” it said.

The authors found fault with the Obama administration’s declarations on Iran, saying “administration officials seem to be conditioning the American public not to expect a military strike.” – AFP

Palestinians hurl slippers at visiting UN chief

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip: Palestinians tried to block the U.N. chief from entering the Gaza Strip and flung slippers at his armored convoy on Thursday, the second day of Ban Ki-moon's mission to the region to keep informal peace talks alive.

About 40 relatives of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails gathered at the Erez Crossing between Gaza and Israel, hoisting posters with pictures of their loved ones and signs in English and Arabic reading, "Ban Ki-moon, enough bias to Israel."

Two of them threw slippers at his car — an insulting gesture that is associated with an Iraqi protester who hurled shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush at a news conference in Baghdad in 2008.

The Gaza prisoners' relatives, angry that Ban would not be meeting with them, formed a human chain at the crossing in an effort to block his vehicle, but Hamas security forces moved them away so Ban could enter the coastal territory.

"We came here in a symbolic message to Mr. Ban Ki-moon that Palestinians from Gaza want to have the right to visit their children and loved ones in Israeli jails," said Jamal Farwana, a spokesman for Gaza prisoners' families. "He should make more of an effort to release the prisoners and we wonder why every time he avoids meeting families of Palestinian prisoners."

Israel holds about 7,000 Palestinian prisoners, after recently freeing more than 1,000 in exchange for a captive Israeli soldier. Relatives of prisoners from Gaza haven't been able to visit them in jail since 2006 because of strict restrictions on who can enter Israel from the coastal strip, which is run by Hamas militants violently opposed to Israel.

Ban is on a mission to the area to try to keep informal talks between Palestinians and Israelis going. In Gaza, he met with U.N. relief officials, aid groups and human rights organisations.

He also visited a U.N.-funded housing project in southern Gaza, where protesters held up signs saying, "We want to lift the siege on Gaza" — referring to Israeli restrictions on the entry and exit to and from Gaza of people and goods.

Speaking to reporters, Ban thanked the people of Gaza for their "warm welcome."

"I met many people who were waiting for me at the entrance and I fully share their fear and frustration. That is why I am here," he said, referring to the incident at the border crossing. "There is a very dire social, economic and humanitarian problem. People need to move freely ... I have urged the Israeli authorities to lift the restrictions completely and unconditionally."

Ban's visit was being heavily secured by Hamas security forces, but he will not be meeting with members of the Hamas government. – Reuters

Syria locks down Hama on anniversary of massacre

BEIRUT: Syrian troops closed public squares in Hama on Thursday after residents poured red paint symbolising blood on the ground to mark the 30th anniversary of the massacre President Bashar al-Assad's father carried out during an uprising against his rule.

The act of defiance came as Russia warned it would veto any U.N. resolution on Syria it finds unacceptable, making clear it wanted to prevent Libyan-style intervention over Assad's violent crackdown on 11 months of mass protests and armed insurrection.

Recent political violence in Syria has killed at least 5,000 people, and activists say Assad's forces have stepped up operations around the country after appearing to crush rebels who brought the fight to the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

Activists in Hama said fire trucks washed away dye and paint poured on the ground overnight to commemorate the bloodshed of the elder Assad's 1982 assault on the city - centre of an Islamist revolt against him - at the cost of over 10,000 lives.

"They want to kill the memory and they do not want us to remember," said an activist in the city, where residents said tanks blocked main squares to prevent demonstrations. "But we will not accept it."

The anniversary of the Hama massacre comes as Russia fends off attempts to mobilise the United Nations against Syria.

Moscow, presented with an Arab League-backed draft resolution that Washington and Paris endorse, says that plan - which calls on Assad to hand powers to a deputy - demands any text rule out intervention, warning it will veto an "unacceptable" resolution.

Russia and China, both veto-wielding Security Council members, stand in the way of a Western push for a resolution condemning the Syrian government's crackdown on unrest.

U.N. Security Council ambassadors met in New York on Wednesday to discuss ways to overcome their disagreements on the wording of the European-Arab draft resolution that Morocco submitted to council members on Friday. – Reuters

Egyptians incensed after 74 die in soccer tragedy

PORT SAID: Egyptians incensed by the deaths of 74 people in clashes at a soccer stadium staged protests on Thursday as fans and politicians accused the ruling generals of failing to prevent the deadliest incident since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown.

Young men blocked roads near the state television building and the capital’s landmark Tahrir Square, and a crowd gathered at Cairo’s main rail station hoping to see relatives returning from the game in Port Said.

As covered bodies from Egypt’s worst soccer disaster were unloaded from trains, thousands chanted ‘Down with military rule’.

‘Where is my son?’ screamed Fatma Kamal, whose frantic phone calls seeking news of her 18-year-old had gone unanswered. ‘To hell with the football match ... Give me back my boy.’

At least 1,000 people were injured in the violence on Wednesday evening when soccer fans invaded the pitch in the Mediterranean city after local team Al Masry beat visitors from Cairo’s Al Ahli, Egypt’s most successful club.

Hundreds of Al Masry supporters surged across the pitch to the visitors’ end and panicked Ahli fans dashed for the exit. But the steel doors were bolted shut and dozens were crushed to death in the stampede, witnesses said.

Angry politicians denounced a thin security presence given the tense build-up to the match and accused Egypt’s military leaders of allowing, or even causing, the fighting.

Parliament was holding an emergency session to discuss the violence. The Muslim Brotherhood, which dominates the assembly, said an ‘invisible’ hand was behind the tragedy.

The Interior Ministry blamed the violence on a section of the crowd which it said had deliberately set out to cause ‘anarchy, a riot, and a stampede’. – Reuters

Death toll from Europe’s deep freeze rises to 160

WARSAW, Poland: Europe’s death toll from a week of frigid weather rose to 160 Thursday as officials scrambled to figure out how to protect mostly homeless victims from the deep freeze that is killing them.

Officials reported 63 more deaths from the cold in Ukraine on Thursday and nine more in Poland. Emergency crews were working overtime across the region as temperatures sank to minus 32.5 C (minus 26.5 F).

Parts of the Black Sea froze near the Romanian coastline and the rare snow fell on Croatian islands in the Adriatic Sea. In Bulgaria, 16 towns recorded their lowest temperatures since records started 100 years ago.

Polish government spokeswoman Malgorzata Wozniak said her country’s victims were mostly homeless people under the influence of alcohol who were seeking shelter in unheated buildings. Officials appealed to the public Thursday to quickly help anyone they saw in need.

In Ukraine, a shocking 63 people have died from the cold in the last week. Nearly 950 others were hospitalised with hypothermia and frostbite and over 2,000 heated tents have been set up with hot food for the homeless. To the south, helicopters evacuated dozens of people from snow-blocked villages in Serbia and Bosnia this week and airlifted in food and medicine.

In central Serbia, choppers pulled out 12 people, including nine who went to a funeral but then could not get back over icy, snow-choked roads. Seven more people froze to death in the snow and two others are missing, bringing that nation’s death toll to five. – Agencies

Kuwaitis start voting to elect new parliament

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwaitis started casting votes Thursday in a snap poll to elect the fourth parliament in less than six years with unofficial polls showing the opposition in the lead.

Twenty-three women are among 286 candidates running for the 50-seat legislative body, after one of the fiercest campaigns since OPEC member Kuwait introduced democracy in 1962.

Kuwait’s Amir dissolved the previous parliament in December after months of political upheaval, including anti-government mobs storming the chamber.

Results are expected Friday for the 50-seat assembly. – Agencies

Romney calls Kabul withdrawal announcement ‘misguided’

LAS VEGAS: Mitt Romney offered harsh criticism of a  plan outlined by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to possibly withdraw U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan in 2013, calling the administration's decision to announce its military plans to the world "misguided" and "naive."

"The president's mistakes, some of them are calculated on a philosophy that's hard to understand and, sometimes, you scratch you head and say: How can he be so misguided and so naive?" said Romney during a visit to a Brady Industries warehouse, where janitorial supplies lined the shelves.

"Today, his secretary of defense unleashed such a policy," said Romney. "The secretary of defence said that on a day certain, the middle of 2013, we're going to pull out our combat troops from Afghanistan." – AP

Philippines:  Most-wanted terror leaders killed

MANILA, Philippines: The Philippine military said it killed Southeast Asia's most-wanted terrorist and two other senior militants Thursday in a U.S.-backed airstrike marking one of the region's biggest anti-terrorism successes in recent years.

The dawn strike targetting a militant camp on a southern Philippine island killed Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, a top leader of the regional, al Qaida-linked network, said military spokesman Col. Marcelo Burgos.

The U.S. had offered a $5 million reward for the capture of Marwan, a U.S.-trained engineer accused of involvement in a number of deadly bombings in the Philippines and in training new militants.

Also killed were the leader of the Philippine-based Abu Sayyaf fighters, Umbra Jumdail, and a Singaporean leader in Jemaah Islamiyah, Abdullah Ali, who used the guerrilla name Muawiyah, Burgos said.

The strike significantly weakens a regional militant network that has relied on the restive southern Philippines — sometimes called Southeast Asia's Afghanistan — as a hideout, a headquarters for planning bombings and a base for training and recruitment. – AP

Michelle Obama wins push-up challenge

LOS ANGELES: Michelle Obama has been busy promoting her healthy eating and fitness programme for two years. But how fit is she herself?

The US first lady accepted a push-up challenge from Ellen DeGeneres on the comedian’s TV talk show, and completed 25 in front of a studio audience on Wednesday.

DeGeneres was beaten.

“I thought it wouldn’t be good to show off the first lady so I stopped,” quipped DeGeneres after quitting. “I thought this looks bad that I’m going to beat her. I’m 54 and you’re 48.”

Obama has been in Los Angeles promoting her “Let’s Move” campaign and on one of her stops, she brought food from the White House kitchen garden for to show host Jay Leno in a visit to “The Tonight Show” on Tuesday. – Reuters