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. | Hundreds of people turned up to offer prayers at the newly painted and repaired Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, which was reopened on the orders of the supreme court.
An earlier attempt to reopen it sparked violent clashes between religious factions and police and a suicide bomber killed 13 people near the mosque on the same day. |
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. | At least eight truckloads of prisoners were hauled out of central Yangon, the former Burma’s biggest city and focus of last week’s monk-led protests against decades of military rule and deepening economic hardship, witnesses said.
In one house near the Shwedagon Pagoda, the holiest shrine in the Buddhist nation and starting point for the rallies, only a 13-year-old girl remained. Her parents were taken, she said. |
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. | Ogtay Asadov exchanged views with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis, PACE President René van der Linden and other officials of the Council of Europe at the reception. Head of Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov said that the parties discussed development of Council of Europe-Azerbaijan relations. |
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. | He said Kosovo is “a sacred land for Serbs” and “to ignore it means to insult and abase the whole nation”.
At the meeting with PACE President Rene van der Linden he said Russia can not remain silent while UNESCO world heritage churches dating from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries are being destroyed. |
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. | British troops vacated their last remaining downtown Basra base last month, accelerating calls from the British public to reduce force levels further.
Britain currently has about 5,500 soldiers based mainly |