‘Three Dead’ in Fresh Myanmar Sectarian Unrest

Renewed violence between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya has left three people dead in Myanmar, a government official said on Monday, amid growing international concern about the sectarian unrest.
The fighting in western Rakhine state has killed 80 people from both sides since June, official figures show, although authorities say the situation has been generally calm in recent weeks, AFP reported.
The new casualties, who were not identified, died on Sunday in Kyauktaw about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the state capital Sittwe, said the official, who did not want to be named. Five others were reported wounded.
“The situation is calm and back to normal already,” the official said. “We do not know why it started again.”
The violence initially broke out in June following the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman and the subsequent lynching of 10 Muslims by a crowd of angry Buddhists.
The bloodshed has cast a shadow over widely praised reforms by President Thein Sein, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.
Myanmar’s government has rejected accusations of abuse by security forces in Rakhine, after the United Nations raised fears of a crackdown on Muslims.

Romanian Interior Minister Resigns

Romanian Interior Minister Ioan Rus resigned on Monday, citing “unacceptable” pressures amid controversy over his ministry’s organization of an impeachment referendum against president Traian Basescu.
“I have submitted my resignation for my own honor,” said Rus, a member of Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s center-left coalition, the Social Liberal Union (USL).
Rus condemned “criticism and pressure” from political figures, including both suspended centre-right president Basescu and interim president Crin Antonescu.
He also announced the resignation of Victor Dobre, the junior interior minister tasked with organizing the vote.
“We have been subjected to multiple forms of pressure, discussions, and criticism, coming from Romanian political figures from Traian Basescu to Crin Antonescu,” he said. “From my point of view and from (Dobre’s) point of view, these things are unacceptable. “We think we organized this referendum sufficiently well.” Antonescu, who took over as interim president after Basescu was suspended last month, is a leading figure in the USL, which contested the accuracy of electoral registers after the referendum failed to meet the 50-percent turnout threshold required to oust arch-rival Basescu.
Romania’s Constitutional Court last week delayed its ruling on the validity of the impeachment referendum, which has been sharply criticized by the European Union and the United States. The court asked the government to update the lists of eligible voters, saying “contradictory data from state institutions” had forced it to delay its decision to August 31.

Hiroshima Marks Anniversary Of Atomic Bombing

A bell tolled to mark a moment of silence while people joined hands in prayer as tens of thousands marked the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Monday.
Ageing survivors, relatives, government officials and foreign delegates attended an annual ceremony at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park commemorating the US bombing of the city nearly seven decades ago, as a rising tide of anti-nuclear sentiment swells in post-Fukushima Japan, AFP reported.
“On this day, in this city, let me proclaim again: there must never be another nuclear attack -- never,” said Angela Kane, UN high representative for disarmament affairs, reading a message from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
“Such weapons have no legitimate place in our world. Their elimination is both morally right and a practical necessity in protecting humanity.”
An American B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945, turning the western Japanese city into a nuclear inferno and killing an estimated 140,000 in the final chapter of World War II.
At 8:15 am (2315 GMT Sunday) on Monday, the time of detonation, the toll of a bell set off the minute of silence as pedestrians came to a standstill and bowed slightly, linking hands under a scorching sun. Some 50,000 people attended the official ceremony, while thousands of others joined demonstrations, marches, forums, and concerts held across the city, a long-time focal point for the global movement against nuclear weapons.

US Shooting Claims 7 Lives in Sikh Temple

From Page 1
The wounded officer, a 20-year veteran, was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive. Hospital officials said two other victims, also in critical condition, were being treated.
Authorities did not release the name of the suspect. They said the shooter had used a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, which was recovered at the scene. Officials were tracing origin of the weapon, Ahern said.
Police surrounded and searched a gray, two-storey house in the Cudahy neighborhood, presumed to be the residence of the gunman on Sunday evening. Generators and floodlights were set up along the middle-class block.
A police source confirmed that a search warrant had been issued for the house, and a bomb squad was on the scene.
Temple member and US Army Reserve combat medic Jagpal Singh, 29, said people who were at the service when the shooting broke out described to him a scene of chaos and confusion.
Worshippers scrambled to escape the gunfire, but some tragically ran in the wrong direction. Others survived the rampage by locking themselves in bathrooms, he said.
Turban-wearing Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is overseeing the probe into shootings, Edwards said.
“We’re treating this as a domestic terrorist incident,” he told reporters. Officials had no details about a possible motive.
The Oak Creek shooting was the latest in a series of suburban US gun rampages. Organizations fighting gun violence rate Wisconsin’s gun safety laws as weak. There are no limits on the number of firearms that can be purchased at one time, nor on the possession or transfer of assault weapons, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker signed a law in July 2011 allowing citizens to carry concealed weapon, making the state the 49th to allow the practice. Only neighboring Illinois does not.
Sunday’s attack came just over two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and wounding 58. In January 2011, then-congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords was the target of an assassination attempt in which six people were killed and 13 were wounded in Tucson, Arizona.
President Barack Obama and presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney both said they were saddened by the attack.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who grew up as a Sikh, also joined in the condolences.
The Indian embassy in Washington said it was in touch with the National Security Council about the shooting and an Indian diplomat had been sent to the Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
The Sikh faith is the fifth-largest in the world, with more than 30 million followers. It includes belief in one God and that the goal of life is to lead an exemplary existence.
The temple in Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee, was founded in October 1997 and has a congregation of 350 to 400 people. There are an estimated 500,000 or more Sikhs in the United States.

US Senators Call for Direct US Military Action in Syria

Middle East Desk

Three prominent US senators called late Sunday for direct US military aid to Syrian rebels, including use of US air power to protect rebel-controlled areas in the country.
The senators--John McCain, Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham - said in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post they were aware of the risks associated with deepening US involvement in the conflict in Syria, AFP reported.
“But inaction carries even greater risks for the United States--in lives lost, strategic opportunities squandered and values compromised,” they argued.
The senators said the United States should “directly and openly” provide assistance to the armed opposition, including weapons, intelligence and training.
“Whatever the risks of our doing so, they are far outweighed by the risks of continuing to sit on our hands, hoping for the best,” they said.
The authors noted that US help should go to those groups that reject extremism and sectarianism in both word and deed.
The senators said the United States should work with its allies to reinforce those areas within Syria that the rebels have established as de facto safe zones.
“This would not require any US troops on the ground but could involve limited use of our airpower and other unique US assets,” they wrote.
The lawmakers did not specify what assets they had in mind.
The senators warned that because of its reluctance to assist the Syrian rebels, the United States is increasingly seen across the Middle East as acquiescing to the continued slaughter of Arab and Muslim civilians.
“This reluctance to lead will, we fear -- like our failure to stop the slaughter of the Kurds and Shiites under Saddam Hussein in Iraq or of the Tutsis in Rwanda - haunt our nation for years to come,” they concluded.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia Providing Arms
Qatar and Saudi Arabia are giving light arms to Syria’s rebels but the fighters do not have the advanced weapons needed to confront Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, a spokeswoman for the opposition SNC said on Monday.
“Rebels on the ground are searching desperately for arms wherever they can find them,” a spokeswoman for the Syrian National Council, Bassma Kodmani, told France’s Europe 1 radio.

Ice of Russian-British Relations In Olympics Warmth

By Mohammad Khakinahad

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin visited London this week for the first time in about a decade, meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron and Queen Elizabeth.
His pretext for the visit was watching the final judo match (his favorite sports) in the London Olympics. However, it seems unlikely to be the only reason why the Russian president made the trip to a country with which Russia has the most disagreements.
Putin’s previous visit to London was in 2003, nearly a decade ago. At the time, he conferred with the then Prime Minister Tony Blair on issues related to the occupation of Iraq. Since then, regardless of who was at the helms in Britain, different issues ranging from spy and intelligence war to human rights, Middle East affairs and presence of Russian dissidents in Britain have eclipsed the bilateral relations.
Intelligence and security cooperations between Russia’s spy agency and Britain’s intelligence service were suspended following the poisoning and killing in Britain of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko.
Litvinenko used to be a KGB officer who turned against the Russian government and took refuge in Britain after his close friend was killed. He considered Putin to be behind the killing. After a while, Litvinenko was poisoned, got cancer and died of it.
Britain accused the Russian spy agency and State Duma member Andrei Lugovoi of masterminding the killing and demanded that Lugovoi, as the main suspect, be extradited to Britain. Russia has refused to comply.
Andrei Lugovoi has also been accused of being behind the death of dissident Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky who lived in London. London says Moscow has put I on agenda to kill Kremlin opponents and political refugees, something Russia has always denied, pointing to the absence of sufficient evidence.
Moscow says Britain only throws accusations without presenting any proof. On the other hand, Moscow accuses Britain of extensive spy operations on Russian soil.
The Spy Rock case was one that intensified intelligence tensions between Russia and Britain. British agents had hidden a sophisticated transmitter inside a fake rock left on a Moscow street near a security center. After discovering the ploy, Russia, announcing that British secret service had planted the fake rock, found links between some Russian NGOs and civil society institutions with British spay agencies. Restrictions were then imposed on their activities, a move that was criticized by advocates of freedom and human rights in the West, especially Britain.
The Middle East affairs are another bone of contention between Moscow and London. During Tony Blair’s term, Britain and the US under George Bush Junior openly confronted Russia and China by attacking and occupying Iraq. Now, Britain and the West seek to topple the Syrian government, something Russia vehemently opposes.
Moscow and Beijing have vetoed three western-backed UN resolutions against Syria. Russia has even sent its warships to Syria’s coasts and installed S-300 air defense systems in the country for free in order to prevent air and sea attacks against Syria and avert another Libyan scenario.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has criticized these supports as unjustifiable.
Putin and Cameron in their meeting discussed Syria but what was announced after the meeting was that the two countries deeply disagreed on Syria.
These indicate that despite what the West might think, Olympics diplomacy can not bring Russia’s athlete president closer to western views. Even this year’s winter Olympics, which is hosted by Russia, can not fulfill the West’s hopes of bringing Russian stances close to those of the West.

Deadly Nigeria Bombing

Police in northeastern Nigeria said on Sunday a suicide bomber has killed six soldiers and two civilians in a city wracked by violence.