Tag: West

RAMALLAH - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Thursday it would be "unacceptable" for planned elections to be held only in the West Bank with Gazans left out of the polls. "The presidential and legislative elections must take place in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip and in east Jerusalem," he said at a joint news conference with visiting East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta.
"It would be unacceptable for them to be held only in the West Bank and not in Gaza. Without

COLOMBO - Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera stroked impressive half centuries to propel Sri Lanka to a four-wicket victory over West Indies in a World Cup warm-up match on Tuesday. Dilshan belted 62 off 50 balls, including five fours and three sixes, while Samaraweera also punished the West Indian bowlers by flaying the ball to all corners of the ground as he notched up 55 off 56 balls.
Captain Sangakkara top scored with a more sedate 71 off 89 balls,

BLACKBURN - Blackburn climbed to seventh place in the Premier League here Sunday after a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at Ewood Park.
A first-half own goal from West Brom defender Gabriel Tamas and a superb second-half strike from Canadian youngster David Hoilett sealed a deserved win for Rovers.

DOTAN CHECKPOINT - A Palestinian was shot dead on Thursday in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops at an army post in the northern West Bank, security sources on both sides said. The Israeli military said the man had approached the post near the settlement of Mevo Dotan and opened fire with a Kalashnikov after shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).
"The terrorist came out on a donkey from the olive trees," said Itamar Ashenazi, deputy commander of the battalion involved

ISLAMABAD - National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza on Wednesday reiterated the need for engaging parliamentarians from the East and the West into interfaith dialogues to create better understanding between nations and religions.
According to a press release issued here on Wednesday, while addressing the 2nd Extraordinary Session of the Parliamentary Union of Islamic Countries (PUIC) in Abu Dhabi, UAE, she said that for a peaceful world, peaceful co-existence among the nations

LAHORE - The Pakistan cricket team will tour the West Indies in April-May after the World Cup to play a full series of one-dayers and Test matches. During the tour they will go for one T20 International, five One Day Internationals and two Test matches.
During their 34-day trip to Caribbean Islands, Pakistan will play Test match at Basseterre (St Kits and Nevis) for the first time. This will be Pakistan's first tour to West Indies in five year. They last toured the Islands in

JERICHO - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev drove into the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on reviving the moribund Middle East peace process.
His convoy from Amman airport in Jordan crossed over the historic Allenby Bridge, in an unusual route for a head of state dictated by an Israeli foreign ministry strike which forced him to cancel the Israel leg of his trip.
Palestinian officials said they could not remember

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka will host its rescheduled one-day series against the West Indies starting at the new Hambantota stadium in the island's south on January 31, officials said Sunday. Heavy rains in December forced the series to be scrapped. The games were to be played across the three World Cup venues in Hambantota, Colombo and the central region of Kandy. All three games would now be day-night encounters at Hambantota and in Colombo, Sri Lanka Cricket said.The series will be used by

LONDON - Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster's embarrassing blunder gave 10-man West Ham a 2-1 win in the League Cup semi-final first leg at Upton Park on Tuesday.
Avram Grant's Hammers were on the rack after Liam Ridgewell's second half goal cancelled out Mark Noble's first half opener.
The Hammers then had Nigerian striker Victor Obinna sent off for a petulant kick at Sebastian Larsson. But Foster made a hash of saving Carlton Cole's weak shot in the closing stages and West

NABLUS - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man on Saturday as he ran toward a checkpoint in the West Bank shouting Islamic slogans, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.
Khaldun Samudi was hit by several bullets as he was running toward an Israeli checkpoint east of Nablus shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), Palestinian witnesses told AFP. Palestinian security officials said he was a member of the Islamic Jihad in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, referring to the

LAHORE - Pakistan has been declared the greatest threat to the West, with majority of experts thinking that the country is most likely to have its nukes end up in the hands of terrorists, according to a survey carried out by Foreign Policy (FP) magazine.
FP asked top terrorism experts to take stock of the threat posed by Al Qaeda and its allies. And while the majority of respondents believe that Al Qaeda is no stronger today than it was a decade ago, they also worry that "we are

BIRMINGHAM - West Bromwich Albion are hoping to sign striker Federico Macheda on loan from English Premier League rivals Manchester United.
Baggies head coach Roberto Di
Matteo has confirmed his interest on signing the 19-year-old on a
temporary basis.
Di Matteo was initially interested in acquiring the services of Macheda for a spell at the start of last season.
"Macheda is someone we looked at right at the start of last season. He's a striker, we are after

JERUSALEM - Nine French activists were arrested on Sunday during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at a major Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank, police and protest organisers told AFP.
"Our forces today dispersed protesters who were throwing rocks at us and proceeded to arrest nine people, including some foreigners," Micky Rosenfeld said.
"The protest took place at the Qalandia checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, and the police made arrests after the activists tried to cross the

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast marked a fearful Christmas on Saturday after West African leaders threatened military action to force defiant strongman Laurent Gbagbo to cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara.
The pair have been locked in a political stand-off for almost a month after both claimed to have won the November 28 presidential election, but mounting international pressure may have brought the crisis to a turning point.
Christmas was a sad milestone for Ivory Coast, where

ABUJA: West African leaders held emergency talks Friday on the crisis in Ivory Coast with the United States searching for more UN troops and France offering Laurent Gbagbo a final chance to step aside.
The summit came after a UN body demanded a halt to "atrocities" in Ivory Coast and the Central Bank of West African States blocked Gbagbo's access to finances, putting a further squeeze on his bid to remain in power. Much of the world, including the United Nations, has recognised

DHAKA - Orders from Western brands such as Gap, H&M and Zara are flooding into Bangladesh's low-cost garment sector but experts and campaigners warn blistering growth masks deep problems in the industry.
Deadly riots over pay, workplace accidents - including a factory fire on Tuesday that killed 25 - are on the rise as export companies expand rapidly to meet demand. "The industry is growing so fast now but we are failing our workers," Khondaker Golam Moazzem, senior research

TEHRAN: Iranian atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Wednesday that the assassination of a top nuclear scientist was a warning from the West ahead of new talks on Tehran's programme.
"These wicked people wanted to show their hideous side which demonstrates their carrot and stick policy in the run-up to the new nuclear talks," state television's website quoted Salehi as saying.
He was speaking at the funeral of Majid Shahriari, the scientist who was killed by