A round-up of today's other world news in brief
41 killed at wedding inTurkey
ISTANBUL – Forty-one people were killed when the families of the bride and groom clashed at a wedding party in southeastern Turkey yesterday, local media said.
The fighting, involving members of a state- sponsored militia set up to combat local Kurdish separatist guerrillas, occurred in the southeastern city of Mardin, according to CNN Turk and NTV television. Cihan news agency said assailants with bombs and automatic weapons attacked the wedding ceremony in Sultansehmuz village, near the city of Mardin.
– (Reuters)
Nepal’s prime minister resigns
Nepal’s first Maoist prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, resigned yesterday, less than nine months after coming to power at the head of a multi-party coalition, when the country’s president blocked his controversial move to sack the army chief, describing it as “unconstitutional and illegal”.
Dahal’s position had also become untenable after two key alliance partners deserted the government, reducing the ruling coalition led by the Communist party of Nepal-Maoist to a minority in the constituent assembly.
– (Reuters)
UN to seek Israel pullout of Ghajar
BEIRUT – A senior United Nations official said yesterday he would travel to Israel soon to seek an early Israeli withdrawal from parts of a village on the border with Lebanon in line with a Security Council resolution.
An Israeli government official said on Sunday that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu favoured an Israeli withdrawal from the Lebanese parts of Ghajar village and would discuss the issue with his cabinet ministers this week.
– (Reuters)
Lieberman starts European tour
ROME – Israels Avigdor Lieberman began his first European tour as Israeli foreign minister on Monday by describing Iran’s nuclear programme as “a destabilising factor for the entire world”.
“For us it is important to underline that the greatest problem at the moment in the Middle East is Iran; an Iran that is becoming nuclear and is becoming, or has already become, a destabilising factor for the entire world,” he said in Rome. – (Reuters)
No UK plan to spy on internet use
LONDON – the British government’s secret electronic eavesdropping agency issued a rare public statement to deny it is pressing ahead with plans to monitor all internet use and telephone calls in the UK.
The organisation said that a reported €1 billion “snooping” project at GCHQ’s hi-tech complex was to enable it to keep pace with developments in internet technology.– (PA)