The Philippines said it would begin pulling troops out of Iraq yesterday to save the life of a Filipino hostage despite calls by the US and other allies not to bow to the demands of the kidnappers.
Diplomats in Baghdad said a headless corpse found in the Tigris River was probably that of a Bulgarian hostage killed by militants linked to al-Qaeda ally Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi. Hopes of finding a second Bulgarian alive were fading, they said.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Sec-retary Delia Albert said all of Manila's small force in Iraq would leave soon.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"The Philippine government has recalled the head of the Philippine humanitarian contingent in Iraq. He is leaving Iraq today with 10 members of the Philippine humanitarian contingent," Albert said. The rest would follow shortly.
In Baghdad, a source said the 10 soldiers and their commander had left the Philippine embassy in Baghdad early yesterday for Hilla in south-central Iraq, where the contingent is based.
On Thursday, Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged Manila to hold firm as he announced the formation of a domestic spy agency to "annihilate" the insurgents launching almost daily attacks on security forces and engaging in a spate of kidnappings.
Washington had tried to persuade its Asian ally not to cave in to militants who have threatened to kill Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz. Some analysts said the move would severely strain Manila's relations with Washington.
The US insisted on Thursday that its coalition in Iraq remained strong despite the Philippine decision to follow Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras in pulling out.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard criticized Manila.
"I don't want to be harsh on a friend but ... it's a mistake and it won't buy them immunity," he told Australian radio.
De la Cruz told his family in a videotaped message he would be returning home, Arabic channel al Jazeera said on Thursday.
But the group holding him said it would only free him after Manila withdrew its last soldier.
The last of Thailand's troops will be out of Iraq by Sept. 20, marking the end of a controversial year-long mission, the country's defence minister said yesterday.
"We have started withdrawal procedures ... and I expect our last soldier would arrive home on Sept. 20," General Chettha Thanajaro told reporters here.
Thailand sent a 451-strong contingent of troops to Iraq for a purely humanitarian mission and the one-year deployment had been due to end in late September.
Bulgaria watched a deadline for the execution of a second Bulgarian hostage held by militants pass without news on Wednesday but refused to pull out its troops.
The headless body pulled out of the Tigris south of the city of Mosul on Wednesday night was wearing an orange jumpsuit, similar to those in which several hostages have been dressed in guerrilla videotapes.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
RSS