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ARY NEWS

Reuters

  • Israel hits Syria with missiles in rocket attack retaliation

    Israel says the rare salvo had been launched there by an Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group.

    The group, Islamic Jihad, denied the Israeli allegation. It had previously threatened reprisals should one of its activists in Israeli detention, Mohammed Allan, die of a hunger strike. Allan ended the fast on Wednesday after an Israeli court intervened.

    Israeli officials said two rockets struck close to a northern village in the upper Galilee, near the Lebanese border, setting off brush fires but causing no casualties. Air-raid sirens had sent residents to shelters.

    The attack was unusual as that frontier had been largely quiet since the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. By contrast, the Israeli-occupied Golan, about 16 km (10 miles) to the east, has occasionally come under fire from within Syria during the four-year-old civil war there.

    The Israeli military said in a statement the rockets that hit the upper Galilee “were launched from the Syrian Golan Heights … by Islamic Jihad, sponsored by Iran”.

    Israel “holds the Syrian government responsible for attacks emanating from Syria”, the army said, adding it had retaliated against targets in Syria.

    An Israeli military source said the air force and artillery had struck “five or six times” in the Syrian Golan.

    Syrian state TV confirmed Israeli strikes had hit, but said only material damage was done after “several missiles” targeted a transportation center and a public building in the Quneitra area near the Israeli frontier.

    Rebel sources in Syria, however, said the strikes hit some of Damascus’s military facilities on the Golan. A monitor initially reported casualties but did not elaborate.

    Islamic Jihad’s leaders are based in the Syrian capital and most of its followers are in the Gaza Strip, whose dominant faction Hamas has mostly been observing a truce with Israel that ended the war in the Palestinian enclave a year ago.

    Dawoud Shehab, an Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza, denied the group had fired on Israel from the Syrian Golan.

    “Israel is trying to divert attention from the defeat that it suffered in the face of the determination of the hero prisoner, Mohammed Allan,” Shehab told Reuters.

    Allan had refused food in protest at being detained without trial by Israel. On Wednesday, he called off the 65-day hunger strike after Israel’s top court suspended his arrest warrant.

    The possibility that Allan might die of his fast had drawn Islamic Jihad threats to attack Israel, which in turn deployed Iron Dome rocket interceptors outside Gaza as a precaution.

    Islamic Jihad acknowledges receiving support from Iran, Israel’s arch-foe. Israel has sought to highlight such Iranian backing for regional armed groups as it campaigns against U.S. congressional approval of the July 14 deal curbing Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for international sanctions relief.

    Israel captured the western Golan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it, a move not recognized abroad. While saying it is keeping out of the Syrian civil war and that some of the shooting against its side of the Golan has been stray fire, Israel has usually retaliated against Damascus’s assets over the armistice line.

  • North Korea orders troops on war footing

    Tension on the divided peninsula escalated on Thursday when North Korea fired shells into South Korea to protest against the loudspeaker broadcasts from the Korean border. The South responded with its own artillery barrage.

    Both sides said there were no casualties or damage in their territory.

    The North’s shelling came after it had demanded last weekend that South Korea end the broadcasts or face military action – a relatively rare case of it following up on its frequent threats against the South.

    Its 48-hour ultimatum to halt the broadcasts, delivered in a letter to the South Korean Defence Ministry via a joint military communications channel, was also uncharacteristically specific.

    A South Korean military official said the broadcasts would continue.

    The North Korean leader would put his troops on a “fully armed state of war” starting from 5 p.m. (0430 EDT) and had declared a “quasi-state of war” in frontline areas, Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency reported.

    Some North Korean propaganda websites were not accessible on Friday morning.

    Pyongyang’s declaration of a semi-state of war was the first use of such terminology since the North shelled a South Korean island in 2010, the Yonhap News Agency said. Two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed in the incident.

  • Pakistan invites Kashmiri separatist leader for meeting

    India called off peace talks with Pakistan a year ago after its neighbor consulted the separatists before a meeting between their foreign secretaries.

    At the time, India accused Pakistan of interfering in its domestic affairs.Hardline Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani is among the leaders invited to the Pakistan High Commission on Aug. 23, the day talks between the security officials are due to start, Ayaz Akbar, a spokesman for the separatists, said.

    “This is deliberate attempt to irritate India,” said S. Chandrasekharan, director of the South Asia Analysis Group in New Delhi.

    Manzoor Ali Memon, a spokesman for the Pakistani embassy, confirmed the invitation and declined to comment further. Earlier Indian governments had grudgingly tolerated meetings between Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected last year, signaled he would not.

    Majority-Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan have fought three wars since becoming separate nations in 1947, two of them over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part. Modi has taken a tougher approach to Pakistan and clashes on the disputed border have intensified.

    Indian and Pakistani troops traded gunfire and mortar rounds along their frontier earlier this week, killing eight people. Hopes for warmer ties rose last month when Modi and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, met on the sidelines of a summit in Russia and agreed that their national security advisers would hold talks.

    A spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to requests for comment.

  • Myanmar extends martial law along Chinese border

    Cross-border incidents in the fighting have strained ties between the neighbours.

    They have also proved problematic for President Thein Sein, who has ambitions to sign a nationwide ceasefire with many of the country’s armed ethnic groups before a general election on Nov 8.

    On Tuesday, a majority of parliament members backed the motion to continue martial law in the Kokang region of Shan state. Martial law gives the military sweeping judicial and administrative powers.

    The measure was needed because of continued instability in the region, said Shwe Mann, the embattled speaker of parliament.

    President Thein Sein declared a three-month state of emergency and imposed martial law in the region on Feb 17 after fighting broke out between the Myanmar military and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

    Parliament voted to extend martial law for the first time in May. The MNDAA declared a unilateral ceasefire the following month after coming under pressure from Beijing to end the conflict, but clashes have since been reported.

  • Thai authorities focus on suspect seen in CCTV footage at blast site

    The government said the attack during the Monday evening rush hour in the capital’s bustling commercial hub was aimed at destroying the economy. No one has claimed responsibility.

    Jangling nerves in the city on Tuesday, a small explosive was thrown from a bridge towards a river pier, sending a plume of water into the air, but no one was injured.

    The man suspected of the bombing at the Erawan shrine was seen in grainy CCTV footage entering the compound with a backpack on, sitting down against a railing and then slipping out of the bag’s straps.

    Wearing a yellow shirt and with shaggy, dark hair, the young man then stands up and walks out holding a blue plastic bag and what appears to be a mobile phone. The backpack was left by the fence as tourists milled about.

    A man wearing a yellow T-shirt and carrying a backpack is seen walking near the Erawan shrine, where a bomb blast killed 22 people on Monday, in Bangkok, Thailand in this handout still image taken from closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, released by the Thai Police on August 18, 2015. REUTERS
    A man wearing a yellow T-shirt and carrying a backpack is seen walking near the Erawan shrine, where a bomb blast killed 22 people on Monday, in Bangkok, Thailand in this handout still image taken from closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, released by the Thai Police on August 18, 2015. REUTERS

    National police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said the suspect could be Thai or foreign.

    “That man was carrying a backpack and walked past the scene at the time of the incident. But we need to look at the before and after CCTV footage to see if there is a link,” Somyot told a news conference.

    Police earlier said they had not ruled out any group, including elements opposed to the military government, for the bombing at the shrine, although officials said the attack did not match the tactics of Muslim insurgents in the south.

    Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha also referred to the man as a suspect without giving details. He said there were “still anti-government groups out there”, although he did not elaborate.

    Police were at the blood-splattered site on Tuesday, some wearing white gloves and carrying plastic bags, searching for clues to an attack that could dent tourism and investor confidence.

    The Thai baht fell 0.57 percent to 35.57 baht, its weakest in more than six years, on concern the bombing may scare off visitors. Thai stocks fell as much as 3 percent.

    Police said the death toll was 22, with 123 people wounded.

    “Police are not ruling out anything including (Thai) politics and the conflict of ethnic Uighurs who, before this, Thailand sent back to China,” Somyot said.

    Thailand forcibly returned 109 Uighurs to China last month.

    Hundreds, possibly thousands, of members of the Turkic-speaking and largely Muslim minority have fled unrest in China’s western Xinjiang region, where hundreds of people have been killed, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs have travelled through Southeast Asia to Turkey.

    CHINESE CALL

    The blast comes at a sensitive time for Thailand, which has been riven for a decade by a sometimes violent struggle for power between political factions in Bangkok.

    An interim parliament hand-picked by a junta that seized power in a 2014 coup is due to vote on a draft constitution next month.

    Critics say the draft is undemocratic and intended to help the military secure power and limit the influence of elected politicians.

    The Erawan shrine, on a busy corner near top hotels, shopping centres, offices and a hospital, is a major attraction, especially for visitors from East Asia, including China.

    Four Chinese, including two people from Hong Kong, were among the dead, China’s Xinhua news agency said. A British resident of Hong Kong, two Malaysians, a Singaporean, an Indonesian and a Filipino were also killed, officials said.

    Scores of people were wounded, including many Asian tourists. China urged Thailand to thoroughly investigate the blast and punish the perpetrators.

    Tourism is one of the few bright spots in an economy that is still struggling, more than a year after the military seized power.

    It accounts for about 10 percent of the economy and the government had been banking on record arrivals this year following a sharp fall in 2014 because of protests and the coup.

    Occasional small blasts over recent years have been blamed on one side of the domestic political divide or the other. In February, two pipe bombs exploded outside a shopping mall in the same area as the Monday blast but caused little damage.

    Thai forces are also fighting a low-level Muslim insurgency in the predominantly Buddhist country’s south, but the separatists have rarely launched attacks outside their heartland.

  • Athletic Bilbao hold off Barcelona to claim Spanish Super Cup

    Bilbao, who only field players of Basque origin, last secured a major trophy when they won Spain’s traditional season opener in 1984 and Friday’s 4-0 drubbing of the Spanish and European champions in the first leg at the San Mames left Barcelona with too much to do at the Nou Camp.

    After waves of sustained pressure, Lionel Messi gave the home side a 1-0 second-leg lead shortly before halftime when he chested down a clever Luis Suarez layoff and clipped a close-range volley into the net.

    Barca’s hopes suffered a blow 10 minutes into the second half when centre back Gerard Pique was shown a straight red card after he strode angrily over to the side of the pitch and shouted in the referee’s assistant’s face to protest a decision.

    The incident seemed to give Barca renewed energy and Pedro and Ivan Rakitic immediately had chances to make it 2-0 before Suarez fired wildly over when through on the left.

    However, the home defence left a gaping hole at the back 16 minutes from time and Aritz Aduriz, who netted a hat-trick in the first leg, was able to score at the second attempt past Claudio Bravo sending the travelling fans inside the giant arena into raptures.

    Not even a late red card for substitute Kike Sola could tarnish Bilbao’s joy as they ended Barca’s hopes of repeating their 2009 feat when they won all six competitions they contested: the Champions League, La Liga, the King’s Cup, the European Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

    “If you wrote the script it’s impossible it would turn out like this,” an emotional Aduriz said in an interview with Spanish television.

    “For us, for what it means to win a title for Bilbao, it’s the greatest thing that could happen and against Barca as well,” he added.

    “We have to compete against the rest of the world and it’s an incredible thing.”

    Barca need to recover quickly for Sunday’s trip to face Bilbao again in their opening La Liga match of the campaign, when they begin their bid for a sixth title in eight years.

  • Bangladesh arrests 3 Islamists over killings of secular bloggers

    Touhidur Rahman, 58, and two active members of outlawed Islamist group Ansarullah Bangla Team were arrested in Dhaka on Monday night, said Maksudul Alam, a spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) force.

    “Rahman is a Bangladeshi origin British citizen and we suspect he is the main planner of the killings of U.S. blogger Avijit Roy and Ananta Bijoy Das,” he told Reuters.

    In February, machete-wielding assailants killed a U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi origin and critic of religious militancy, Avijit Roy, and seriously injured his wife and fellow blogger, Rafida Bonya Ahmed.

    Another secular blogger, Ananta Bijoy Das, was hacked to death on May 12.

    Militants have targeted secularist writers in Bangladesh in recent years, while the government has tried to crack down on hardline Islamist groups seeking to make the South Asian nation of 160 million people a sharia-based state.

    Last week, police arrested two members of Ansarullah Bangla Team for alleged involvement in the killing of blogger Niloy Chatterjee on Aug. 7, the fourth such killing of an online critic of religious extremism in less than six months, spurring calls by human rights groups for a swift and thorough investigation.

    On March 30, Washiqur Rahman, another secular blogger who aired his outrage over Roy’s death on social media, was killed in a similar fashion.

  • Australia batsman Rogers confirms he will quit after Ashes

    Rogers had already indicated that the series would be his last and the 37-year-old told reporters in London he had no reason to change his mind.

    “I think it is time, I have had an amazing couple of years playing for Australia and enjoyed it and been part of some pretty special things but everything comes to an end and I have been pretty lucky,” he told reporters at Australia’s hotel in London.

    “You are never 100 per cent sure but I felt like this was the last one, there’s been a few things, particularly the head issues lately, I am quite happy to call it a day.

    “People tell me you know when you know and I felt like this is the right time.”

    Rogers is the oldest member of the current Australian team but has been one of the few to shine in the Ashes, scoring 437 runs at an average of 62.42.

    He made 173 in the first innings of the second test at Lord’s, but retired hurt in the second innings, complaining of dizziness after being hit in the head earlier in the match.

    After struggling for years to cement a place in the team, the left-hander has been in the best form of his career, in which he has excelled at first-class cricket but managed only 24 test appearances since his debut in 2008.

    “It’s pretty special, someone said to me not many people go out when they’re scoring runs or taking wickets, it’s generally not how it happens, so that’s something to be proud of as well,” he said.

    “It would’ve been perfect to have won this series but it’s not to be, England have been deserving winners and we’ve been outplayed.

    “I think I can be proud I’ve played quite well and stood up, and made a little bit of a difference.”

    Australian captain Michael Clarke is also retiring after the fifth and test, which starts at The Oval on Thursday with England holding an unbeatable 3-1 lead.

  • Foreign firms scramble to fix Iran’s refineries once sanctions end

    Officials from Iran’s oil refining company NIORDC, its National Petrochemical Company and the privately owned Persian Oil and Gas are holding talks with services firms to clinch projects to repair Iran’s derelict refining and petrochemical sector.

    Iran badly needs to complete modernisation plans that ground to a halt after sanctions hit the country five years ago over its nuclear programme.

    The projects are worth at least $100 billion, according to sources close to firms that have held talks in Iran.

    The talks accelerated after a nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers in July paved the way to lifting sanctions.

    Sources close to the talks said Iran is moving forward with its pre-sanctions goal to refine more of its own oil and upgrade its petrochemical plants, with a view to boosting earnings.

    Iranian officials have already held meetings with a string of international companies to outline their plans, and even organised group bus tours for service companies to visit refineries, according to industry sources.

    Business prospects in the sector were also discussed during a string of trade visits from Italy, Germany, Japan and other countries in recent weeks.

    “There is also great potential in the modernisation of existing plants for extraction and processing of raw materials and the infrastructure sector,” Wolfgang Bchele, Chief Executive Officer of German gas and engineering company Linde , told Der Spiegel magazine after visiting Tehran as part of a German delegation led by Minister of Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel last month.

    Oil services companies that had been active in building refineries in Iran prior to the sanctions, including Australia’s WorleyParsons, France’s Technip and Axens, South Korea’s Daelim and China’s Sinopec Engineering were all interested in resuming business in the country, the sources said. The companies declined to discuss whether they are meeting in Iran.

    Several large refinery upgrades were stopped in their tracks when sanctions hit, leaving parts and equipment stranded, according to a person who operated in several projects.

    Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh said last month that the Islamic Republic planned to invest $80bn over the next 10 years to upgrade and expand its petrochemical sector.

    Repairing the country’s 10 oil refineries would likely generate $100 million in projects for international companies in the short-term, according to industry officials and analysts.

    “It is simple if you’re allowed to do it, and it’s urgent at certain refineries,” one oil industry executive said. “It’s a quick win.”

    Years of restric­ted access to technology have left Iran’s refineries limping into the 21st century, forcing them to produce low quality and polluting fuels and creating safety hazards.

    For a country with big aims, huge oil reserves and nearly 80m fuel-hungry consumers, addressing the refining problem is a priority for Iran’s leadership, according to analysts.

    “The whole industry is in a mess,” said Mehdi Varzi, president of Varzi Energy consultancy. “Iran has 1.5m barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, but it is the wrong capacity. Iran wants western technology and American technology specially.”

    Iranians consume close to 70m litres per day of gasoline, but the country’s refineries were designed to produce only around 40m litres. As a result, in 2010, when then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared the country self-sufficient in gasoline in res­ponse to ramped up sanctions, Iran’s refineries were forced run above full capacity, and without regular maintenance.

  • Initial insurance losses from Tianjin blasts seen at $1.5bn

    Tianjin, the world’s third-largest port in terms of total cargo volume, was hit on Aug 12 by blasts that damaged a large industrial area and sent shockwaves across several kilometres.

    Insurance companies including Zurich Insurance Group AG and Allianz SE said they had received claims from clients that had been affected by the disaster but could not provide any estimate of the potential losses.

    “Based on the available information, we do not anticipate major financial claims to arise from this incident, but we continue to assess the situation,” Allianz, Europe’s largest insurer, said in a statement.

    Chinese insurers are also expected to be affected.

    “It is still very early to determine the level of insured losses, but the event is likely to be large with initial insured loss estimates of $1-$1.5bn and a large number of insurance companies affected,” analyst Arjan van Veen said on Monday in a note, in which he compiled estimates from a range of Chinese media reports.

    Credit Suisse said those affected would be mostly Chinese insurance companies as well as international groups that either insure multinationals or provide re-insurance coverage.

    As of Monday evening, global automakers had confirmed 4,950 cars were damaged in the blast, with most saying the vehicles were insured but declining to provide additional details.