Some World News briefs as at 2006 07 15

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World News briefs as at 2006 07 15 Hizbollah declares war on Israel The Israeli navy has destroyed Hizbollah's headquarters in an attempt to assassinate the movement's leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The air strike destroyed his home and office in southern Beirut but Mr Nasrallah was not hurt. Shortly afterwards, an Israeli navy ship was hit by two Hizbollah missiles. Israel launched at least three large scale attacks on the Lebanese capital on Friday. Beirut residents are leaving the capital in droves. The international airport suffered serious damage in the bombardments and is unusable. More than 70 Lebanese have been killed since Israel began its offensive. Hizbollah launched more than 100 missiles at targets in northern Israel on Friday. So far, four Israelis have been killed and almost 150 have been injured. Dozens of houses have been destroyed or are on fire. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is demanding that Hizbollah be disarmed before Israel halts its military offensive. Hizbollah has declared an all-out war against Israel. During an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, the Lebanese government called for an end to Israel's military action but the meeting broke up without the Security Council calling for Israel to stop its offensive. Bush comments on Russian democracy US President George W Bush says he is concerned about the state of democracy in Russia. He also voiced his concerns about the imprisoned Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. President Bush made his comments during a meeting with Russian non-governmental organisations in St Petersburg. The NGOs have asked Mr Bush to exert political pressure on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two leaders will meet on Saturday during the G8 summit. They are scheduled to discuss Russia's desire to join the World Trade Organisation. Mr Bush is also hoping to gain Russian support for punitive measures against Iran and North Korea. Meanwhile, there are reports that dozens of people have been arrested for planning demonstrations during the meeting of the world's top seven industrial countries and Russia. LRA peace talks open in Sudan Peace talks between the Ugandan government and rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army have begun in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan. The negotiations are aimed at ending more than 20 years of brutal war in northern Uganda. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and around two million have fled the violence. The peace talks began a day later than planned as Sudan wanted more time to try and persuade the LRA to send a high-ranking delegation to the talks. However, the rebels say it is too dangerous for their leader Joseph Kony and five other prominent LRA members to attend as they are wanted by the UN International Criminal Court in The Hague. The rebel leaders have been charged with war crimes including the kidnapping of around 25,000 children. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's offer of an amnesty to the LRA leaders if they renounce violence has angered the United Nations. Indian PM accuses Pakistan of helping train bombers Tensions between arch-rivals India and Pakistan have risen considerably in the wake of Tuesday's bombing in India's financial capital Mumbai. The almost simultaneous bomb attacks on seven commuter trains killed 179 people and injured 800. During a visit to the victims of the attacks, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the bombers had help from Pakistan and that Islamabad is doing too little to combat terrorism. Prime Minister Singh also warned Pakistan that the peace process could be jeopardised if it fails to take action against terrorism. The Pakistani government immediately denied the accusations. The Indian government believes the attacks were carried out by Islamic militants operating from Kashmir. Shortly after the prime minister's statement, Indian soldiers shot dead two people suspected of belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a pro-Pakistan Islamic militant group. Life sentence upheld for Dutch serial killer An Amsterdam court has upheld the life sentence given to a nurse convicted of the murder of seven patients and attempted murder of three others. Lucia de Berk was originally sentenced two years ago but the Supreme Court ordered that this be reconsidered since the combination of life imprisonment and psychiatric treatment is impossible under Dutch law. The new life sentence without psychiatric care is equivalent to what was originally demanded by the Public Prosecutor's office. Ms De Berk is the only woman in the Netherlands ever to be sentenced for serial killings. She has always protested her innocence. Pakistani Shi'ite leader killed in suicide attack In the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, a leading Shi'ite cleric, Allama Hassan Turabi, has been killed in a suicide bomb attack. He was badly injured in the attack and died later in hospital. A nephew and a bodyguard, also died in the attack outside Mr Turabi's house, as did the bomber. Mr Turabi survived a previous attempt on his life in April. Karachi has been the scene of fierce fighting between Pakistan's majority Sunnis and minority Shi'ites since the 1980s. 16 die in clash between Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan army In Sri Lanka, at least 12 soldiers and four rebels have been killed in fighting between the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels. The army reports that the soldiers were killed in a mortar attack but the rebels say the government troops were caught in an ambush after entering Tamil-controlled territory. The bodies of the soldiers will be handed over to the International Red Cross. The Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers agreed to a ceasefire in 2002 but the deal has been completely undermined by the violence of recent months. At least 700 people have died in fighting since December. Typhoon Bilis hits Chinese mainland Typhoon Bilis has made landfall in China. Over 500,000 people in the southeast of the country have been evacuated and at least 60,000 vessels have been recalled to port. Public transport ground to a halt in the province of Fujian, where 25 centimetres of rain fell on Friday and wind speeds of over 100 kilometres an hour were recorded. The typhoon already claimed 14 lives in the Philippines. WWF says farming threatens Mediterranean water supply The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) says many parts of the Mediterranean region are too dry and warns that the problem can only get worse. The WWF identifies agriculture as the main culprit. Two thirds of the total water consumption in the area goes into irrigation, while annual rainfall has dropped by as much as 20 percent in some places. The organisation advocates urgent regulations to alter water consumption patterns. European Union and national government subsidies have led to a sharp decrease in traditional produce such as olives and citrus fruit, which need only rainwater to grow. These have been replaced by crops which use a great deal of water, such as corn and sugar beet. Brazilian gang violence continues for third night in a row In the Brazilian city Sao Paulo, criminal gangs have set fire to buses, attacked police stations, shops and other civilian targets for the third night in a row. A total of 13 buses were set alight and a bus driver and a three-year-old child were seriously injured. Police officers killed one gang leader and arrested nine other people. Six people have died so far in the latest wave of violence orchestrated by the First Command of the Capital (PCC), a powerful prison gang. The authorities believe the unrest is in retaliation for the scheduled transfer of PCC leaders to a federal penitentiary. In May, almost 200 people were killed in clashes between the police and the PCC. FARC rebels seize 172 lumberjacks In Colombia, the governor of the north-western province of Choco says left-wing FARC rebels have killed 10 lumberjacks and kidnapped another 172 in the border region with Panama. The authorities have begun a manhunt for the rebels. FARC rebels say the loggers were working for a company run by an underground right-wing paramilitary organisation. Dutch party demands access to Schiphol fire report The Green Left party is urging that MPs be given access to a report on last October's fire at a detention centre in Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport as soon as possible. The request follows a report in the daily newspaper De Telegraaf that the draft of the document contains damning conclusions. The Green Left party is anxious to know whether decisions by Justice Minister Piet-Hein Donner or Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk contributed to the fire, in which 11 asylum seekers died. The safety commission responsible for the report is not prepared to respond until the final version of the report has been completed in September or October.
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