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Havana forum condemns
US-led Iraq war
HAVANA, Feb 11 : Participants at an international forum held in Havana Friday condemned the US-led war in Iraq, describing it as "illegal and immoral." In a resolution adopted at the end of the 8th International Globalisation and Development Issues Forum, the participants said they were worried by the war- like policies and diplomatic stance shown by the US government. The forum was attended by some 1,500 people from more than 40 countries, including such dignitaries as Cuban President Fidel Castro and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad. The resolution said the strategy adopted by the US administration put the survival of the planet in peril. It also criticised Washington for increasing its military spending. —AFP
Captors of US Iraq hostage
threaten to kill her
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 11 : The kidnappers of US journalist Jill Carroll in Iraq have threatened to kill her if their demands are not met by February 26, Kuwait's Al-Rai television said Friday quoting sources close to the captors. The private channel said the captors had "set a final deadline of February 26 to have their demands met, or implement the punishment stipulated by religious law", which is death. The United States said it was making "every effort" to secure the release of the 28-year-old journalist, who was freelancing for the Christian Science Monitor when she was abducted on January 7 in Baghdad. Carroll had appealed for her release in a video that was broadcast Thursday on the same Kuwaiti channel, but Friday's statement did not feature any new footage of journalist or her captors. She is being held by a group calling itself the Brigades of Vengeance, which has called for the freeing of all female prisoners from Iraqi jails as a condition for her release. —AFP
Danish ambassador leaves
Syria over security concerns
COPENHAGEN, Feb 11 : Denmark's ambassador to Damascus has temporarily left Syria with his colleagues because their official protection had been reduced to an "unacceptably low level," the Danish foreign ministry announced Friday. Relations between Copenhagen and Damascus have been tense since the Danish embassy in Syria was stormed at the weekend by demonstrators protesting about the publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The diplomats "have provisionally left Syria because Syrian authorities reduced their protection to an unacceptably low level," the foreign ministry statement said. The German embassy in Damascus will handle Denmark's consular interests in Syria until further notice, it said, adding that some diplomatic activities could be dealt with from Amman. —AFP
India's state-run phone firms to
slash long-distance call rates
NEW DELHI, Feb 11, 2006: India's state-run telecom firms are slashing long-distance call rates to one rupee (two cents) a minute in a bid to boost usage and fend off competition from next month, a statement said. Under the new "OneIndia" scheme, subscribers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) will pay a maximum of one rupee for calls to any place in the country from March 1. "The new plan will enable the customers to call from one end of India to the other, from Kashmir (in the north) to Kanyakumari (the southern tip) at the cost of one rupee per minute," a government statement said late Friday. "This will truly mark the death of distance," BSNL chairman and managing director A.K. Sinha said. The current charge for a long-distance call varies according to the distance and is considerably higher than the proposed new tariff. —AFP
Salvador sends sixth batch
of soldiers to Iraq
MEXICO CITY, Feb 11: El Salvador, the only Latin American country with troops in Iraq, Friday sent a sixth contingent of 380 soldiers to Iraq, said reports from El Salvador Friday. The 380 soldiers boarded two US planes at the military base in Comalapa, 50 km south of San Salvador, capital of El Salvador. The new group of engineers and special forces are replacing 380 soldiers who will return to El Salvador at the end of February. Salvadoran troops are stationed in the Iraqi city of Al Kut, 160 km southeast of Baghdad. During their six-month stint, they build schools, hospitals and roads and help with utility supplies. El Salvador began humanitarian operations in Iraq in 2003, five months after the US-led invasion deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Two Salvadoran soldiers have died in Iraq, one killed by Iraqi rebels and the other in an accident. Xinhua
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