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/ 31 October 2007

Major powers to meet on Iran this week

Major powers plan to meet in London this week to discuss new sanctions on Iran amid a spat between Washington and the United Nations over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, United States officials said on Tuesday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech on Tuesday that Iran would not retreat in the dispute.

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/ 30 October 2007

Turkey pounds Kurdish rebels, warns US over ties

The Turkish army pounded Kurdish rebels near the Iraqi border on Tuesday as Ankara warned that ties with Washington would suffer as long as the separatists enjoyed sanctuary in northern Iraq. Cobra helicopters fired missiles at rebel positions on the Cudi Mountains, which border Iraq, where fighting continued for a second day.

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/ 29 October 2007

Bike-riding suicide bomber kills 28 Iraqi police

A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed 28 Iraqi police officers doing their morning exercises at a base north of Baghdad on Monday in one of the deadliest strikes on security forces in months. The attack was a reminder that despite a United States-led crackdown, groups such as al-Qaeda are determined to carry on fighting.

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/ 28 October 2007

Turkish army kills Kurds in new clashes

Turkish soldiers killed 20 Kurdish guerrillas on Sunday in a major military operation against separatist rebels in eastern Turkey, army sources said. The operation involving 8 000 troops backed up from the air was launched in the central-eastern province of Tunceli. The sources gave no word on army casualties.

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/ 28 October 2007

Turkey refuses to back down on threat to invade Iraq

Turkey sharpened its threat to invade northern Iraq on Saturday when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared its army ready to attack Kurdish rebels ”when needed”, regardless of international opposition. Erdogan has been under pressure from America, Iraq and other countries to pull back from a move that could further destabilise the region.

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/ 27 October 2007

Turkey hunts Kurdish rebels after Iraqi talks fail

Turkish military planes scoured the Iraqi border for Kurdish rebel camps on Saturday, army sources said, after diplomatic talks in Ankara to avert a major cross-border operation into northern Iraq failed. Turkish-Iraqi talks collapsed late on Friday after Ankara rejected proposals by the Iraqi defence minister for tackling Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq.

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/ 27 October 2007

Turkey rejects Iraqi proposals to tackle Kurds

Turkey on Friday rejected Iraqi proposals to stop Kurdish rebels making cross-border attacks as too little, too late and said it remained in a "constant state of alert". A visit for crisis talks to Ankara by a high-ranking Iraqi delegation led by its defence and national security ministers was "a positive effort", the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

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/ 26 October 2007

Turkey sends more troops to Iraqi border

Turkish helicopters ferried more troops to the border with Iraq on Friday as diplomatic efforts got under way in Ankara to avert a major offensive against Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq. Turkey has massed up to 100 000 troops along the mountainous border before a possible cross-border operation to crush about 3 000 guerrillas of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

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/ 25 October 2007

US slaps new sanctions on Iran’s military

Ratcheting up the pressure on Tehran, the United States on Thursday designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a proliferater of weapons of mass destruction and its elite Qods force a supporter of terrorism. In total, Washington slapped sanctions on more than 20 Iranian companies, major banks and individuals as well as the Defence Ministry.

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/ 25 October 2007

Turkey’s patience running out

President Abdullah Gul warned Kurdish rebels on Thursday that Turkey’s patience is running out after Turkish forces said they repelled a guerrilla attack near the Iraqi border. Ankara has massed up to 100 000 troops along the mountainous border before a possible cross-border operation.

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/ 25 October 2007

Break in weather slows California wildfires

California wildfires that have destroyed 1 300 homes and forced the evacuation of 500 000 people raged into a fifth day on Thursday, but firefighters seized on a break in the weather to largely halt the march of destruction. About 15 fires still blazed across the southern part of the state, lighting up the night sky.

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/ 24 October 2007

500 000 forced to flee California wildfires

Fierce wildfires raged across Southern California on Tuesday, threatening more than 60 000 homes as night fell and forcing half a million people to flee in the state’s largest evacuation. California’s worst fires in four years tormented the San Diego area in the south and threatened mountain communities further north.

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/ 23 October 2007

Turkey eyes diplomatic end to Kurdish crisis

Turkey reassured Iraq on Tuesday that it wants a diplomatic solution to the problem of Kurdish rebel rear-bases but rejected a conditional ceasefire offer made by the guerrillas. ”Politics, dialogue, diplomacy, culture and economy are the measures to deal with this crisis,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told a news conference in Baghdad.

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/ 18 October 2007

French president and wife divorce

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia have divorced by mutual consent after an often tempestuous 11-year marriage, the Presidency announced on Thursday. The Elysee Palace released a statement to confirm the split as weeks of speculation reached fever pitch and newspapers for the first time devoted extensive front-page reports to the collapse of the marriage.

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/ 18 October 2007

Iran brushes off Bush’s ‘World War III’ warning

Iran on Thursday shrugged off a warning by United States President George Bush that its nuclear programme could lead to ”World War III”, saying his remarks only served to show up Washington’s failures. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the ”war-mongering” policies of neo-conservatives in the US had reached a dead end.

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/ 18 October 2007

Bush urges China to meet with the Dalai Lama

President George Bush gave the Dalai Lama one of the highest United States honours on Wednesday and called on China to open talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader whom Beijing reviles as a separatist. The Dalai Lama, accepting the Congressional Gold Medal from Bush and leaders of Congress, told a packed audience in the US Capitol that he had ”no hidden agenda”.

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/ 18 October 2007

Agreement on Doha ‘extremely close’

World trade talks appeared to be making progress on Wednesday as the leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa said they were committed to reaching a deal. The leaders said differences with rich countries were still blocking agreement in the Doha round, launched nearly six years ago to help developing countries grow out of poverty and boost the world economy by opening up global trade.

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/ 14 October 2007

US tries to halt Turkey attack

Senior United States officials were engaged on Saturday night in last-ditch efforts to persuade Turkey not to launch a major military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan to target armed separatists. A team was diverted from a mission to Russia to make an unscheduled stop in Ankara on Saturday.

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/ 13 October 2007

Gore vindicated by Nobel victory

For years, former United States vice-president Al Gore and a host of climate scientists were belittled and, worst of all, ignored for their message about how dire global warming is. On Friday, they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their warnings about what Gore calls ”a planetary emergency”.