=50000] More than ten thousand Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad today to protest alleged fraud in the country’s recent parliamentary elections. Sunni Arab and secular Shiite politicians demanded an international review of 1,500 election complaints as well as a revote in parts of Iraq. They made the demands after initial-results from the December 15 vote gave a large lead to a Shiite coalition. Meanwhile the Polish government said it wants to keep troops in Iraq until the end of the 2006, reversing the previous government’s plan for a quick pull out. Also today Ukraine completed withdrawing from Iraq. And Iraqi authorities announced the discovery of a mass grave containing at least 20 bodies in Karbala, a holy city for Shiite Muslims. Authorities believe the grave contains victims of Saddam Hussein’s suppression of a Shiite uprising after the Gulf War in 1991.
A Kuwaiti court handed down death sentences today to six Islamists linked to the al-Qaeda terror network. The six condemned men were among a group of 37 people accused plotting to attack Kuwaiti security forces and US troops in the gulf emirate. One defendant was sentenced to life in prison, another 22 including 10 who were still at large, received jail terms ranging from four months to 15 years and seven defendants were acquitted. Kuwaiti officials said the Islamists call themselves the Lions of the Peninsular.
Russia’s Energy Minister has denied reports of a compromised deal with Ukraine over the price of natural gas to be supplied to the Ukrainians next year. Viktor Khristenko said Tuesday Russia plans to charge Ukraine world market prices for natural gas beginning New Year’s Day. He spoke just hours after Ukraine’s Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov reported attentive compromised on the issue. Purchases at world prices will be a four-fold increase in Ukraine’s current payments. Meanwhile Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko telephoned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss what Russian officials called bilateral issues. Mr. Yushchenko agreed to comply with existing accords on Russia’s uses of the Savastopol naval base on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
Russian authorities say local officials in the Caucuses region near Chechnya made no mistakes in handling last year’s terrorist attack on a school in the town of Beslan. More than 330 people, most of them children died in a rescue attempt that turned into a bloodbath. The findings in Moscow contrast with a separate report, commissioned by lawmakers in Russia’s North Ossetia Republic which concluded the lack of coordination among security agencies hindered efforts to resolve the crisis. Militants who wanted the force Russian troops to leave Chechnya seized the Beslan School on September 1 2004, more than 1,100 students, parents and staff were held hostage for three days.
Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki Tuesday toured areas in northern Kenya, hit particularly hard by a recent famine and drought in which at least 20 people have died over the past few weeks. As Cathy Mijtenji reports for VOA from Nairobi, experts estimate that some 2.5 million people need emergency food aid.
During his one-day trip to Wajir and Mandera districts, Mr. Kibaki ceremonially sent off some trucks delivering food aid to malnourished and hungry people. Mr. Kibaki also met with Kenyans suffering from the famine and drought and assured them that his government is doing everything in its power to help them. He also promised to purchase life stock that might otherwise perish from the drought. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua explains.
He is on top of things. He's monitoring the situation, and he will ensure that any person and every
person who can be fed, who should receive clean water or medical care does so in a very fast manner.
Mr. Kibaki and his government has come under fire from church groups and others for what they say is the government's failure to build up and transport food stocks from productive areas of the country. Two seasons of failed rains has resulted in what the Kenya Red Cross says is a serious situation in about 22 districts, mostly in northern Kenya. Cathy Mijtenyi for VOA news, Nairobi.
The central African nation of Chad has asked the African Union to condemn Sudan for its alleged support of Chadian rebels. Chad’s Presidents Idriss Deby made the appeal today during a meeting with Nigeria's president and AU chairman Olusegun Obasanjo and his residents outside Lagos. Chad says Sudan harbors and supports the anti-Deby rebels who attacked the eastern Chadian town of Adre earlier this month.[/hide] |
发表于 2005-12-28 19:28:03
发表于 2005-12-29 20:29:02
