TEHRAN, Jan 29: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders on bilateral ties and regional issues including Syria.
Iranian state television says Erdogan will meet Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani during his two-day state visit that began today.
The two countries are expected to sign an agreement to set up a coordination council to handle trade issues in the wake of easing of sanctions on Iran after the historic November 24 nuclear deal with world powers. Bilateral trade last year stood at USD 13.5 billion.
Iran and Turkey have sharp different views on Syria. Ankara hosts Syrian rebels while Tehran backs Syrian President Bashar Assad’s Government. (AGENCIES)

MANILA, Jan 29: Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed today to crush militants opposed to an imminent deal aimed at ending a decades-long Muslim separatist insurgency, as the death toll from a military assault on them rose to 38.
The government wrapped up peace talks with the nation’s biggest Muslim rebel group on Saturday, then quickly deployed the military against a hardline splinter faction called the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
“The armed forces… (are) going on these operations to prevent lawless activities from inflicting harm on our population, and to seriously degrade their abilities to again act as (peace) spoilers,” Aquino told reporters in Manila.
The main rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has since the 1970s been fighting for independence or autonomy in the Muslim-populated south of the mainly Catholic Philippines.
About 150,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
Under the planned peace accord, the MILF will have control over an autonomous Muslim region in the southern Philippines. Aquino is aiming for the peace plan to be finalised before he steps down in mid-2016.
The BIFF is a breakaway group of a few hundred militants which believes the 12,000-strong MILF has compromised too much in the peace process. It has carried out many deadly attacks in recent years to try to derail peace efforts.
Local military spokesman Colonel Dickson Hermoso said soldiers had recovered the bodies of 37 BIFF members who had been killed in three days of fighting in and around remote southern farming villages.
One soldier was also killed and seven others wounded, Hermoso told reporters, as he described strong but fading resistance from the small number of BIFF fighters against about 1,500 soldiers.
“They (rebels) set off improvised explosive devices and directed mortar fire on our troops. But they have splintered into smaller groups and our troops are now clearing these areas,” Hermoso said.
Three civilians were also hurt in the violence, including two from a Tuesday bomb blast near a marketplace that the military blamed on the BIFF, according to Hermoso.
Hermoso said he expected the fighting to be over in about three days, although he made no mention of the military’s initially stated goals of capturing the BIFF’s top leaders. (AGENCIES)

TUNIS, Jan 29: Tunisia’s parliament today approved a technocratic caretaker Government tasked with leading the country out of a bruising political crisis and into fresh elections.
After a marathon session broadcast live on national television, the line-up proposed by Prime Minister-designate Mehdi Jomaa was approved by 149 lawmakers, with 20 voting against and 24 abstaining.
The line-up was only agreed after weeks of horse-trading and will replace the Government led by the Islamist Ennahda party, which accepted last year to step down as part of deal to end a crippling political crisis.
Jomaa, who was industry minister in the outgoing Government, announced on Sunday that he had finally clinched a deal on an apolitical line-up.
But he still faced a tougher than expected time yesterday in parliament, where he spent more than 12 hours fending off accusations that his caretaker cabinet included members of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s former regime.
The once-banned Ennahda, now Tunisia’s largest party, and the secular opposition have been at loggerheads over the legacy of the revolution that toppled Ben Ali three years ago and touched off the Arab Spring.
The crisis deepened when two opposition MPs were assassinated by suspected jihadists last year.
“If you vote in favour of this Government, you’re signing the death warrant of the revolution,” said one MP, Hichem Hosni.
The incoming justice minister, Hafedh Ben Sala, was the main target of lawmakers claiming that politicians tainted by their role in Ben Ali’s dictatorial rule were creeping back into Government.
Jomaa said that he had selected his ministers on “competence, independence and integrity” but vowed to look into the accusations.
“If any of the ministers are found not to meet those three criteria, I promise to review” the Government line-up, he said.
Under the roadmap agreed by Tunisia’s rival factions to end the impasse, parliamentary and presidential polls are due by the end of 2014.
Addressing parliament before the vote on his Government line-up, Jomaa reiterated that his top priority was overseeing free elections.
He said that in the coming months his cabinet would also tackle the threat posed by the growth of jihadi groups and the huge social tension caused by unemployment.
In another late-night session on Sunday, parliament adopted a new constitution. (AGENCIES)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 29: The 75th anniversary of Judi Garland starrer 1939 classic ‘The Wizard of Oz’ will be celebrated at the upcoming Oscars, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today.
The film, which was a best picture nominee, is based on 1900 novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ by author L Frank Baum.
“We are delighted to celebrate the birthday of one of the most beloved movies of all time at this year’s Oscars,” said Zadan and Meron.
‘The Wizard of Oz’ received six Oscar nominations, winning two for Original Score and Song.
Oscars ceremony will take place on March 2 at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. (AGENCIES)

SYDNEY, Jan 29: Prime Minister Tony Abbott launched a scathing attack on national broadcaster ABC today accusing it of taking “everyone’s side but Australia’s” in coverage of asylum-seekers and the Edward Snowden leaks.
His comments follow Government criticism of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation late last year after it broke a story about Australian spying on Indonesia, which sparked a major diplomatic crisis.
More recently, the conservative leader has been unhappy with ABC reports about asylum-seekers’ claims they were tortured by the Australian navy during an operation at sea.
“It dismays Australians when the national broadcaster appears to take everyone’s side but Australia’s and I think it is a problem,” he told commercial radio station 2GB.
“You would like the national broadcaster to have a rigorous commitment to truth and at least some basic affection for the home team, so to speak,” the prime minister said.
The ABC, together with Guardian Australia, late last year ran allegations in leaked documents from US intelligence fugitive Snowden that Australia had spied on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife in 2009.
“The ABC seemed to delight in broadcasting allegations by a traitor, this gentleman Snowden,” Abbott said adding, ” ABC didn’t just report what he said, they took the lead in advertising what he said. That was a deep concern.”
ABC chief Mark Scott has defended the decision to reveal Australia’s tapping of Yudhoyono’s phone as in the public interest. The broadcaster had no immediate comment on Abbott’s latest broadside.
The premier also hit out at reporting of asylum-seeker claims that Australian sailors forced them to hold hot engine parts, burning their hands, as part of the Government’s military-led operation to stem the flow of boatpeople.
“If there’s credible evidence, the ABC, like all other news organisations is entitled to report it, but …  You shouldn’t leap to be critical of your own country,” he said.
“You certainly ought to be prepared to give the Australian Navy and its hard-working personnel the benefit of the doubt,” added Scott.
The Navy has denied the allegations and the Government has defended the military.
Asylum-seekers arriving on unauthorised boats in Australia, often via Indonesia, is a heated political issue and stopping them is a priority of the Abbott Government. (AGENCIES)

TOKYO, Jan 29: Japan admitted today that its navy lost a USD 5 million unmanned submarine during a survey last year, with a nine-day search of the ocean floor yielding nothing.
The Maritime Self-Defence Force was using the remote-controlled submersible in the Tsugaru strait between Japan’s main island of Honshu and its northern landmass, Hokkaido, in November, a defence ministry official said.
“The vehicle was being used to survey the underwater terrain as well as water currents and temperatures,” he told reporters.
The unmanned craft, which is three metres (10 feet) long and two metres wide, and weighs about five tons, disappeared after the cable that connected it to a surface ship was severed.
Mariners searched the ocean floor in the area for the following nine days, but to no avail, the official said.
“The ministry has set up a panel to investigate how it was lost,” said the official. (AGENCIES)

GENEVA, Jan 29: The UN failed to break a deadlock at Syrian peace negotiations in Geneva with talks interrupted after the regime railed against Washington instead of dealing with a transition of power.
There was also no movement on bringing relief to besieged residents in Syria’s central city of Homs, where UN trucks are waiting for access to deliver desperately needed food and medical aid.
After a difficult morning meeting on the fourth day of talks, UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said that he had decided to cancel afternoon talks and reconvene the parties for “what I hope will be a better session” today morning.
“Nobody is walking out, nobody is running away,” Brahimi told reporters adding, “We have not achieved any breakthrough, but we are still at it, and this is good enough as far as I’m concerned.”
A member of the opposition negotiating team, Rima Fleihan, told reporters that Brahimi adjourned the meeting “because the regime is not cooperating on any subject, not on humanitarian issues and not on a transitional governing body”.
She said the opposition had presented a preliminary transition plan laying out its “vision” for Syria, but the regime refused to engage in talks.
“We have a vision, unfortunately the regime presented nothing and refused all discussion,” Fleihan said.
Yesterday’s session saw delegates from President Bashar al-Assad’s regime present a statement it wanted adopted that condemned Washington.
The statement, obtained by reporters, said “the United States has made a decision to resume arming terrorist groups in Syria”.
“This decision can only be understood as a direct attempt to obstruct any political solution in Syria through dialogue,” it said.
It follows a report from the Reuters news agency that the US Congress secretly approved funding for weapons deliveries to “moderate” Syrian rebel factions.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad said that showed Washington “is not interested in the success” of the peace process.
A State Department spokesman, Edgar Vasquez, dismissed accusations of Washington supporting terrorism as “ludicrous”.
“The Assad regime is a magnet for terrorists. The regime’s brutality is the source of the violent extremism in Syria today,” he said in a statement.
“We support the moderate political and military opposition who are fighting for the freedom and dignity of all the Syrian people.” (AGENCIES)

WASHINGTON, Jan 29: The US may station a small force in Afghanistan post-2014 but America’s longest war will finally be over by the end of this year, US President Barack Obama said today.
In his annual State of the Union Address to the Congress, Obama said a small force would remain in the war-torn country but did not give the number of the US troops that would be stationed in Afghanistan after 2014 drawdown.
Obama, in his address, reiterated that the US troops will be engaged in carrying out training, assisting Afghan forces and in counter-terrorism operations to pursue any remnants of the al-Qaeda.
“If the Afghan Government signs a (bilateral) security agreement that we have negotiated, a small force of Americans could remain in Afghanistan with NATO allies to carry out two narrow missions: training and assisting Afghan forces, and counter-terrorism operations to pursue any remnants of al-Qaeda,” Obama said.
“For while our relationship with Afghanistan will change, one thing will not: our resolve that terrorists do not launch attacks against our country,” Obama said, noting that after 2014 US will support a unified Afghanistan as it takes responsibility for its own future.
Obama said more than 60,000 of its troops have already come home from Afghanistan.
“With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role. Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America’s longest war will finally be over,” he said.
Referring to America’s war against terrorism, Obama said the US was still not safe.
“The fact is, that danger remains. While we have put al- Qaeda’s core leadership on a path to defeat, the threat has evolved, as al-Qaeda affiliates and other extremists take root in different parts of the world.
“In Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Mali, we have to keep working with partners to disrupt and disable these networks,” Obama said.
“In Syria, we’ll support the opposition that rejects the agenda of terrorist networks. Here at home, we’ll keep strengthening our defenses, and combat new threats like cyber attacks. And as we reform our defense budget, we have to keep faith with our men and women in uniform and invest in the capabilities they need to succeed in future missions,” he said. (AGENCIES)