Ex-UK PM challenges testimony

LONDON  - Former British prime minister John Major told an inquiry on Tuesday that Rupert Murdoch demanded he change his policy on Europe, directly contradicting the News Corp. chief's own testimony. Major's challenge comes a day after another former premier, Gordon Brown, also accused the Australian-born tycoon of misleading the Leveson inquiry into press ethics. Major, who was the Conservative prime minister from 1990 to 1997, said he had dinner with Murdoch in February 1997 as part of an effort to get closer to the media baron's newspapers ahead of elections.

Major says he told Murdoch there was "no question of us changing our policies."

Murdoch's Sun newspaper, Britain's best-selling daily tabloid, switched its support to Major's Labour rival Tony Blair shortly afterwards, and Blair went on to win the May 1997 election.

Murdoch told the Leveson inquiry on April 25 that he had "never asked a prime minister for anything", as he tried to downplay his papers' political influence.

In Tuesday's hearing, Major said Murdoch's investment in Britain's newspapers and Sky television channels constituted a "a very substantial contribution to our national life".

But he added: "I do think parts of his media empire have lowered the quality of British media. I think that is a loss."

He also launched a strongly worded attack on the media baron's influence in Britain, saying it was "slightly odd" that someone who cannot vote in Britain could wield so much power.

"The sheer scale of the influence he (Murdoch) is believed to have, whether he actually exercises it or not, is an unattractive facet of British national life," he said.

The former premier called for media proprietors in Britain to be made personally liable for the actions of their journalists, claiming they had "failed in their responsibility" to properly instruct reporters on press ethics.

On Monday, former Labour premier Brown appeared at the inquiry and denied Murdoch's claim that he had telephoned the tycoon in November 2010 threatening to "make war" on News Corp.

News Corp. said on Monday that Murdoch "stands by his testimony" regarding Brown.

Ex-Norway PM denied visa to China

OSLO - Former Norwegian PM Kjell Magne Bondevik has been denied a visa to enter China, Oslo said Tuesday, in what appeared to be continued fallout from a diplomatic row over the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident. Bondevik, a Christian Democrat who headed a conservative coalition govt from 1997 to 2000 and again from 2001 to 2005, was supposed to attend a World Council of Churches seminar in China this week, but last Friday he was told he had been denied a visa, the Norwegian foreign ministry said. Bondevik was reportedly the only one of some 30 participants coming from abroad who was denied entry to the country.

"I find this unfortunate. I'm sure they will be able to carry out the meeting without me, but I would have liked to be there. I can only attest that the Chinese, almost two years after (dissident) Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, are still trying to make their point," Bondevik told the Aftenposten daily.

The former prime minister said he had not been given any justification for his visa denial beyond that the Chinese embassy in Oslo had not received the necessary authorisation from Beijing.

"I didn't have anything to do with awarding the Nobel Peace Prize (to Liu), but maybe (Chinese authorities) have read that I have spoken in positive terms about the prize," Bondevik said, speculating on why he was denied the visa.

The Chinese embassy in Oslo could not be reached for comment.

Diplomatic relations between Norway and China have been frosty since the awarding in Oslo of the Nobel Peace Prize to the still imprisoned dissident, whom Beijing considers a "criminal", in October 2010.

Beijing has refused to have any high-level contact with Norway to protest the prize, which it described as a "farce" and what it perceived as "meddling" in its affairs.

Despite Norway's insistence that the Nobel Committee is completely independent, a number of Norwegians have been blocked entry to China, including two parliamentary committees.

Hollande's partner in Twitter row

PARIS  - With a single tweet, France's first lady managed Tuesday to take a swipe at her man's ex, put herself publicly at odds with the president, and throw a spanner in the works of his Socialist party. Valerie Trierweiler posted an apparently innocent message on Twitter wishing a relatively unknown politician good luck in his bid to win a seat in the Assembly in Sunday's second round parliamentary vote. But the tweet stunned France as it was clear that the real target was Segolene Royal, the woman who shared President Francois Hollande's life for three decades and is the mother of their four children.

Reports of rivalry between the two women led to speculation, which Trierweiler denies, that the current first lady had Royal airbrushed out of a film screened to Socialist faithful at Hollande's January campaign launch.

Royal, who failed in 2007 to get herself elected president, is standing against Olivier Falorni, a Socialist dissident, for a parliamentary seat for the western town of La Rochelle.

Hollande has publicly thrown his weight behind Royal, writing this week that she is "the only candidate of the presidential majority who can be assured of my support".

Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry travelled Tuesday to La Rochelle to show her backing for Royal, declaring that she had the unwavering support of the entire party, which is tipped to win a majority of seats in Sunday's vote.

But just as she made that ringing endorsement, Trierweiler delivered her blow on the micro-blogging site: "Good luck to Olivier Falorni who has done nothing worthy of blame, who has fought alongside the people of La Rochelle for so many years with selfless commitment."

Royal, who is hoping to become parliamentary speaker if elected, declined to react to the taunt, saying only that "all my spirit, all my energy, all my thoughts are for the voters" of La Rochelle.

When asked about the tweet, Aubry said that all that mattered was that Hollande had backed Royal.

But Trierweiler's message caused dismay in the Socialist party and sparked derision from right-wing opponents.

Eric Ciotti, of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, declared that "vaudeville has come to the Elysee" presidential palace, while another UMP politician said "it's 'Dallas at the Elysee", referring to the steamy US soap opera.

Socialist deputy Jean-Louis Bianco said he found Trierweiler's tweet "purely and simply disgraceful".

71 confirmed dead on Monday's quake in northern Afghan town

A total of 71 people including women and children were killed in the earthquake that hit Burka town in northern Afghanistan on Monday, said Burka district police chief Habib Rahman on Wednesday, citing the latest counting.

"Our counting indicates that 71 people with majority of them women and children have lost their lives in the devastating earthquake that jolted Burka district on Monday," he told newsmen.

Rescue operations have been going on to search the bodies trapped under debris, he added.

A quake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale shocked several parts of Afghanistan including Kabul and Burka in northern Baghlan province, 160 km north of the capital, on Monday morning.

According to locals, the male members of the affected families in Burka were out on their farmland at the time of the quake and that is why the casualties are mostly women and children.

The earthquake triggered landslides in mountainous Burka district, destroying 25 houses in a village.

Since Burka is a far-flanged area with poor communication facilities, authorities could not report the casualties in time. Meanwhile, some locals believe the casualties may go higher.

Russia sending attack helicopters to Syria: US

The United States suspects Russia of supplying Syria with combat helicopters that will be used against peaceful protesters, the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

“We are concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria, which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically,” Clinton said.

She once again said that the United States wants Russia to stop supplying Syria with all kinds of weapons.

“We have confronted the Russians about stopping their continued armed shipments to Syria. They have from time to time said that we shouldn't worry, everything they're shipping is unrelated to their actions internally. That's patently untrue,” Clinton added.

However, Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for the Pentagon, told a daily press briefing on Tuesday that the U.S. intelligence service has no information on the type of helicopters the Syrian authorities are using against the protesters and declined to confirm that the aircraft come from Russia.

Russian President Vladmir Putin said in early June that Russia was not supplying arms to Syria which could be used against protesters.

Syria is one of Russia’s major weapons clients, and Moscow has opposed a proposal for a UN arms embargo on Damascus.

Russia has supplied Syria with Bastion coastal missile systems with Yakhont cruise missiles and Buk surface-to-air missile systems under a contract signed in 2007.

According to UN estimates, at least 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.Syrian activists say the figure is closer to 13,000.

Five children a day victims of Afghan war: UN

Child casualties in the conflict in Afghanistan rose by more than a quarter last year, the UN said Wednesday, with an average of nearly five youngsters killed or injured every day in 2011.

A UN report on children in armed conflict said a total of 1,756 children were killed or injured in the war in Afghanistan in 2011, an average of 4.8 a day, compared with 1,396 in 2010.

The UN children's agency UNICEF said more than 300 under-18s were reportedly recruited to fight in Afghanistan.

"The death or maiming of a single child is a tragedy. This level of avoidable suffering of children, as is presented in the Secretary General's report, is simply unacceptable," said UNICEF Afghanistan Deputy Representative, Vidhya Ganesh.

"It is imperative that all parties to the conflict do everything they can, right away, to protect the lives and the basic rights of the children of Afghanistan."

In February the Afghan government said police had rescued 41 children, some as young as six, from being smuggled into Pakistan to be trained as suicide bombers.

Earlier that month, the authorities announced the arrest of two 10-year-old would-be suicide bombers allegedly planning to attack Afghan and international forces in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace.

Tens of thousands of children in Afghanistan, driven by poverty, work on the streets of the war-torn country's cities and often fall prey to Taliban bombings and other violence, as well as abuse.

US to help Philippines with radar

WASHINGTON  - The US military said Tuesday it plans to provide a land-based radar to the Philippines, as the country faces an escalating dispute with China over territorial rights off its shore. The radar would form part of a "watch center" to help track ships off the island nation's coast line, a Pentagon spokeswoman said. "We are in the initial planning stages of assisting the Philippines with a National Coast Watch Center," Major Catherine Wilkinson told AFP. "This center will improve their maritime domain awareness of a breadth of security issues including counter proliferation of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) to countering illegal smuggling," she said.

The cost and the time line for the project were still being worked out, she said.

Plans to provide a powerful radar to the Philippines came after Philippine President Benigno Aquino paid a visit last week to the White House, where he was offered a robust show of support.

Manila has asked for the radar system and other military assistance to bolster its position in a row with Beijing over the Scarborough Shoal, which lies near the main Philippine island of Luzon.

China claims the area along with virtually all of the South China Sea up to the shores of other Southeast Asian nations, including Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The move reflects Washington's strategic shift towards Asia amid a growing rivalry with Beijing, with the South China Sea at the center of the contest, analysts said.

"Land-based radar is one of the practical ways the United States can simultaneously boost Philippine defense capabilities and signal Washington's long-term commitment to Asia," said Patrick Cronin, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank.

China may choose to defuse tensions just before a gathering of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations next month, Cronin said.

Karzai doubts on Nato strike rules

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday said NATO had agreed not to carry out air strikes on residential areas even in self-defence, apparently contradicting comments made by senior coalition commanders. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) ordered an end to air strikes on homes except as a last resort to ensure the defence of troops, Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti, deputy commander of US forces, said on Monday. The order came after General John Allen, the head of the coalition force, flew to Logar province, south of Kabul, to apologise over the deaths of civilians, including women and children, in an air raid last week.

But at a news conference on Tuesday, the Afghan leader said the agreement did not allow air strikes even in self-defence.

"An agreement has been reached with NATO that no bombardment of civilian homes for any reason is allowed," he said.

"We consider this an absolutely disproportionate use of force and an illegitimate use of force.

"Even when they are under attack they cannot use an airplane to bomb Afghan homes."

NATO says the air strike on Wednesday targeted insurgents in a residential home but Afghan officials say 18 civilians died in the attack and Karzai expressed outrage and cut short a visit to Beijing.

It was the second time within a month that Allen had to admit civilian deaths in NATO air strikes that have strained relations between Karzai and the US, which leads international forces in the fight against Taliban insurgents.

Scaparrotti said Monday the new guidance would not prevent coalition troops from defending themselves.

He said that "if they're in a situation where there are no other options, of course they'll have availability of air-delivered munitions".

Iran claims designing nuclear sub

TEHRAN  - Iran has taken "initial steps" to design its first nuclear-powered submarine, a deputy navy commander claimed in an interview with the Fars news agency published on Tuesday. "Initial steps to design and build nuclear submarine propulsion systems have begun," Admiral Abbas Zamini, the technical deputy navy chief, told the agency. "All countries have the right to use peaceful nuclear technology, including for the propulsion system of its vessels," he said. Iran's navy "needs the (nuclear-powered) propulsion system to succeed in realising very long-distance operations." Iran regularly boasts about advances in military and scientific fields, but in most cases fails to provide proof they were ever carried out.

Western military experts regularly cast doubt on its claims.

Just a handful of nations -- the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China -- have the technology to make their own nuclear-powered submarines. India has a model under development.

The navy official's announcement comes as the P5+1 group of world powers are preparing for a new round of crunch talks with Iran in Moscow on June 18 and 19 over Tehran's disputed nuclear activities.

Iran is pushing forward with an ambitious nuclear programme despite UN Security Council resolutions demanding a halt to uranium enrichment.

The nuclear programme is at the heart of a decade-long standoff between a defiant Tehran and Western powers that fear the Islamic regime is covertly conducting research for atomic weapons capability.

At least 42 killed in Iraq attacks

A wave of bombings and shootings in central Iraq during a major Shiite religious commemoration killed at least 42 people and wounded dozens more on Wednesday, security and medical officials said.

Two car bombs in the central Iraq city of Hilla killed 19 people, a police captain and a doctor said.

Security and medical officials said at least 12 people died in a spate of nine bombings and two shootings in the Baghdad area, which also left dozens of people wounded.

In the city of Baquba, capital of Diyala province, nine roadside bombs, a car bomb and a shooting killed five people and wounded 15 others, according to a police colonel and a medic.

In Balad, north of Baghdad, four people were killed and 24 wounded in two car bombs, a police lieutenant colonel said. The toll was confirmed by a local government official.

And a car bomb in Al-Azizyah, south of Baghdad, killed two people and wounded at least two others, a police captain and a medical source said.