SANAA, March 25 (Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah has said he is ready to cede power, the third Arab ruler who may be forced out by popular protests which began in North Africa and have now spread into the Gulf, Syria and Jordan.
Saleh said he would cede power only into “safe hands” and Yemeni political sources said talks were under way to work out the details of a peaceful transition.
But in Syria, protests challenging the rule of President Bashar al-Assad spread across the country after security forces killed dozens of demonstrators in the south.
“The barrier of fear is broken. This is a first step on the road to toppling the regime,” said Ibrahim, a middle-aged lawyer in the southern Syrian city of Deraa. “We have reached the point of no return.”
Saleh's departure would present a new challenge to Western countries already embroiled in a week-old military intervention in Libya, amid fears that instability in Saudi Arabian neighbour Yemen could open the way for al Qaeda to expand its power there.
“We don't want power, but we need to hand power over to safe hands, not to sick, resentful or corrupt hands,” said Saleh, who had come under intense pressure to quit since snipers fired on anti-government protesters a week ago, killing 52 people.
That bloodshed prompted a string of defections that severely weakened Saleh's position, including by military figures such as top general Ali Mohsen, as well as diplomats and tribal leaders.A source close to Mohsen said he and Saleh had discussed a deal in which both men and their families would leave Yemen, while political sources said broader talks were underway on a political transition.
A diplomat in the capital Sanaa, however, said it was premature to discuss an outcome. “It can go either way.” In Syria, Assad's government had promised on Thursday to look at giving greater freedom to Syrians.
But there was more bloodshed after Friday prayers, with witnesses reporting at least 23 dead, including three in the capital Damascus. Information on casualties was limited and authorities restricted journalists' movements.
Afghan civilians killed in airstrike: NATO
KABUL, March 26 (AFP) - Afghan civilians were killed and wounded in an airstrike by international forces targeting a Taliban commander in the volatile southern province of Helmand, NATO said today, giving no details of numbers.
It said the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) called in an airstrike on two vehicles believed to be carrying a Taliban leader and his associates, but later discovered they were transporting civilians.
“Afghan civilians were accidentally killed and wounded in Naw Zad district, Helmand province yesterday (Friday),” ISAF said in a statement, adding that it had launched an investigation into the incident.
Civilian casualties in military operations are highly sensitive in Afghanistan as coalition troops battle to curb a Taliban-led insurgency ahead of a planned handover of security to Afghan forces.
The latest incident came after nine people -- who Afghan officials said were children collecting firewood -- were killed in a NATO airstrike in eastern Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan, earlier this month.
The Kunar strike unleashed public fury over civilian casualties at a crucial time for foreign forces in Afghanistan, leading the US troop commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, to issue a rare public apology.
Western-backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has shaky relations with Washington, condemned those deaths and said Petraeus's apology was “not enough”.
Pakistan to seek Interpol help to arrest Musharraf
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, March 26 (AFP) - Pakistan will ask Interpol to circulate a global arrest warrant for former president Pervez Musharraf over the murder of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, a prosecutor said today.
A Pakistani court last week gave prosecutors until April 2 to serve a warrant granted in February on Musharraf, who was president when Bhutto was killed in December 2007 in a gun and suicide bomb attack in Rawalpindi.
Musharraf, who lives in self-imposed exile in London, is accused of failing to provide her with adequate security. “We presented three letters in the court which have been sent to the British government for the execution of the warrants,” prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told AFP.
“We have not yet received any report from the British home department and now we will write to Interpol to help execute the warrants,” Ali said.
Bhutto was killed after addressing an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
Musharraf is alleged to have been part of a “broad conspiracy” to have his political rival killed before elections, though the exact nature of the charges against him is not clear.
Bhutto, who served two terms as prime minister, returned from exile two months before she was assassinated. Her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, led her Pakistan People's Party to election victory in 2008 and is now president.
At the time of Bhutto's death, Musharraf's government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement and was subsequently killed in a US drone attack.
Rescuers struggle to reach Myanmar quake areas
TACHILEIK, Myanmar, March 26, (AFP) - Rescuers battled today to reach thousands of survivors in remote areas of Myanmar after an earthquake tore up roads and reduced hundreds of homes to rubble, leaving 75 people dead.
The powerful 6.8 magnitude quake struck in the east of the country near the borders with Thailand and Laos late on Thursday and was felt as far away as the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.
The towns of Tarlay, Mong Lin and Tachileik in Myanmar's Shan state appeared to have been most severely affected by the quake, which flattened hundreds of houses and toppled monasteries and government buildings.
Rare images from the area on Thai television and exiled media showed roads riven with huge cracks, bridges destroyed and homes reduced to piles of timber.
Strong aftershocks continued into Saturday.
A motorcycle taxi driver in Tachileik told AFP that things were “calm” in the town. “We were frightened in the beginning, but now we are trying to get back to normal,” he said.
The charity World Vision said around 15,000 people could have been affected in the worst-hit areas.
It is sending in first aid kits and tarpaulins to give emergency shelter for up to 2,500 families. “This is an immediate concern as even last night there was rain,” said Chris Herink, Myanmar country director in Yangon.
He told AFP that rescuers were transporting supplies along the road into Tarlay, but a broken bridge was disrupting access to Tachileik, although the government was working to repair the structure.
India arrests four in 'fake pilots' case
NEW DELHI, March 26, 2011 (AFP) – Indian police said today they had arrested four people, including a government aviation official, in connection with a growing scandal over pilots flying with fake qualifications.
Cases of pilots exaggerating their flying time while training and other irregularities have emerged since a captain who made several bad landings was found to have submitted faked paperwork to gain her licence.
“Four persons including an official from the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) were arrested on Friday,” Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said, adding that further details would be released later today.
DGCA director general Bharat Bhushan told AFP, “A former assistant director who worked in the licensing division has been arrested. He worked in licensing for quite some time, until I moved him out in January.”
“I had heard a lot of whispers about him, about money exchanging hands, but there was no proof, so I took a stand and moved him out after I took over the DGCA in December,” Bhushan said. Bhushan said that a total of seven cases involving faked qualifications have been reported to the police.
At least 10 people, including six pilots, who flew with Air India, Indigo and SpiceJet airlines, have already been arrested as authorities check thousands of licences.
The DGCA announced plans earlier this month to check if 4,000 pilot licences have been obtained legally.Rising incomes and the liberalisation of the airline market in the 1990s have led to an explosion in air travel in India, with passenger numbers up 25 percent over the last 12 months.With new routes and new aircraft, the half-dozen low-cost Indian airlines are competing fiercely for pilots. |
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