| Posted: 29 Jun 2011 11:51 PM PDT 
KABUL: The NATO force in Afghanistan said on Thursday that a senior commander in the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network wanted over an attack this week on a leading Kabul hotel had been killed in an air strike. The International Security Assistance Force identified Ismail Jan as deputy to the senior Haqqani commander inside Afghanistan and said he was killed in the eastern province of Paktiya on Wednesday. |
| Myanmar state press warns against Suu Kyi 'games' Posted: 29 Jun 2011 11:50 PM PDT 
YANGON: Myanmar's state media on Thursday warned pro- democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi not to "go on playing political games", a day after the government told her to stay out of politics. Suu Kyi has no intention of cancelling her first planned tour since being freed, she said Wednesday, after the regime warned it could spark riots and chaos and wrote to her to state that her party's activities had broken the law. "If they go on playing political games, disregarding the constitution and the government that have been internationally recognised, they cannot hope (for) any fruitful results," said the English-language New Light of Myanmar. "But what they are resorting to will have adverse effects on the interests of the people." The democracy icon was freed in November after seven straight years of house arrest, less than a week after an election in Myanmar that left her sidelined and which critics said was a sham aimed at cloaking ongoing military rule. Her party, which won a landslide election victory in 1990 that was never recognised by the junta, was disbanded by the military rulers last year because it boycotted the election, the first in 20 years, saying the rules were unfair. No schedule has been announced for 66-year-old Suu Kyi's trip around Myanmar, which would be a test both of her popularity and of her ability to travel around the country unhindered by authorities. Thursday's newspaper comment also referred to a BBC lecture by Suu Kyi broadcast earlier this week, in which she said the recent uprisings in the Middle East had given fresh hope to people in her country. The newspaper said that just after her release last year, "Aunty Suu" was seen to be acting "in a gentle way for national unity", focusing more on social welfare than confronting the government. Expressing "concern" for Suu Kyi's safety and security, Washington on Wednesday urged Myanmar to respect the Nobel laureate's freedom to travel and engage in political activities. |
| Bangladesh allows 'black money' in stock exchange_Sorce times of india_Sorce times of india Posted: 29 Jun 2011 03:58 AM PDT 
DHAKA: Bangladesh will allow billions of dollars of untaxed money to be invested in shares under a new tax amnesty designed to prop up the volatile Dhaka Stock Exchange, an official said on Wednesday. The new legislation, which was approved by parliament late on Tuesday, offers an amnesty on so-called "black money" if it is invested in local stocks and shares, tax authority chairman Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury said. "Undeclared money can be invested in stocks on the payment of a 10 percent tax on the investment," he said, adding that no questions would be asked about the source of the undeclared income. Tax evasion is widespread in Bangladesh, with a new study by the finance ministry finding that undeclared income or "black money" could account for up to 80 percent of Gross Domestic Product -- some $110 billion. The new amnesty is designed to attract some of that cash into the Dhaka Stock Exchange, where the benchmark DGEN index has lost some 45 percent of its value since hitting record highs in early December. "Given the volatility in the stock market, it needs more incentives from the government," finance minister A.M.A. Muhith said as parliament approved the new measures. In recent years, the government has offered tax evaders a string of amnesties to encourage them to declare their money as it seeks to boost the state's income from revenue collection. Experts have criticised the amnesties, saying they are short term solutions that have not worked in the past. "This new amnesty will give some short term boost to the stock exchange but it is not a permanent solution to the problems on the Dhaka Exchange," said Mahmud Osman Imam, finance professor at Dhaka University. Bangladesh is among the world's most corrupt and impoverished countries. Only an estimated one million of its 150 million population pay any taxes. Sorce: times of india |
| Taliban attacks Kabul hotel, 10 killed Posted: 29 Jun 2011 03:52 AM PDT 
KABUL: At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed when suicide bombers and heavily armed Taliban insurgents attacked a hotel frequented by Westerners in the Afghan capital late on Tuesday, Afghan officials said. Helicopters from the NATO-led force killed the last three insurgents in a final rooftop battle, a coalition spokesman said. Smoke rose from the roof of the Intercontinental hotel as the sun rose over Kabul after a battle lasting several hours. "At least 10 civilians, including hotel staff, were killed when six suicide bombers attacked the Intercontinental," Mohammad Zahir, the head of the Kabul police crime unit, told Reuters. Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry, said at least six Afghans had been killed. The attack came the night before the start of a conference about the gradual transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans. The hotel was not one of the venues to be used by the conference or its delegates, an Afghan government official said. It was also a week after US President Barack Obama announced plans for the initial withdrawal of 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012. Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than two hours, with bursts of gunfire heard during the late-night attack on the Intercontinental, one of two main hotels used by foreigners and Afghan government officials in Kabul. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said there had been gunfire coming from inside the hotel. "Two ISAF helicopters have ... engaged three individuals on the roof," coalition spokesman Major Tim James said. "The indications are that the three individuals on the roof have been killed." One Reuters witness said smoke could be seen rising from the hotel, although no fires were visible. Afghan security forces surrounded the hotel and firefighters arrived after the last of the insurgents were killed. Sediqqi said six or seven insurgents had been involved in the attack, one of the worst in the Afghan capital in months. "All have been killed," he said. Zahir also said three police officers had been wounded as they cleared the hotel on the city's western outskirts. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel. Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted. The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets. Flares, tracer rounds One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more at least an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky over the hotel. Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel. Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack. The hotel, built on a hillside in western Kabul with heavy fortifications all around it, is often used for conferences and by Westerners visiting the city. Police threw up roadblocks immediately after the blast, stopping people from approaching the area. Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May, although Kabul has been relatively quiet. The last major attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the nearby Serena hotel. The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of a gradual transition process that will end with all foreign troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The two-day conference to discuss the transition process was due to begin in a government building in the centre of the city on Wednesday. Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 was already at its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by US-backed Afghan forces in late 2001. |
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