A US soldier was killed and another wounded in a roadside bombing of their vehicle in Baghdad, the US-led coalition said yesterday.
The soldier who died in the attack at 10:30pm on Saturday has not been named.
The death brings to 782 the number of US soldiers who have been killed or died in accidents since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March last year.
Meanwhile, Shiite militiamen clashed with coalition troops in both central and southern Iraq yesterday as the month-old uprising led by radical cleric Moqtada Sadr showed no sign of abating while the US military came under new fire over the abuse of prisoners.
Three Iraqis were killed in an early morning rocket attack that targeted a British camp near the main southern city of Basra while two Iraqis were killed and 15 wounded in clashes in the central holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.
Twenty people were also wounded when a shell exploded in a market in Nasiriyah.
Dozens of people have been killed in clashes between Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and the US-led coalition since Friday.
Ground forces commander Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez Saturday demanded a swift end to the Sadr insurgency, with fewer than 50 days to go to the coalition's June 30 deadline for the handover of power.
Interim foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari said yesterday that the uprising was causing great "harm to the aims and aspiration of the Iraqi people."
ONE LAST TALK: While Xi said that Taiwan was a ‘red line,’ Biden, in what is likely his last meeting with Xi as president, called for an end to China’s military activity around Taiwan China’s military intimidation and economic coercion against Taiwan are the main causes of tensions that are destabilizing peace in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei said yesterday while thanking US President Joe Biden for expressing Washington’s firm stance of maintaining peace and stability in the region. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met on Saturday for their third meeting and their first talks in seven months on the sidelines of the APEC forum in Lima, Peru. It was likely Biden’s last meeting as president with Xi. During their conversation, Biden reiterated the US’ opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” from either
Taiwan would participate in the 2026 APEC summit to be hosted by China after Beijing promised it would ensure the personal safety of attendees, Taiwanese national security sources said yesterday. The APEC Leaders’ Machu Picchu Declaration announced yesterday said that China would host the APEC summit in 2026. Beijing proposed hosting the summit shortly before this year’s gathering began on Friday, a national security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Many APEC members expressed concerns about China hosting the event and said that prior communication over the decision was insufficient, the official said. Taiwan brought up concerns about legal “guidelines” China announced in
SUPPORT: Arms sales to NATO Plus countries such as Japan, South Korea and Israel only have to be approved by the US Congress if they exceed US$25m The US should amend a law to add Taiwan to the list of “NATO Plus” allies and streamline future arms sales, a US commission said on Tuesday in its annual report to the US Congress. The recommendation was made in the annual report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), which contained chapters on US-China economic and trade ties, security relations, and Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the chapter on Taiwan, the commission urged the US Congress to “amend the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 to include Taiwan on the list of ‘NATO Plus’ recipients,” referring to
MEET AND GREET: The White House, which called the interaction ‘just a handshake,’ did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Biden planned to visit Taiwan’s envoy to the APEC summit, Lin Hsin-i (林信義), on Friday invited US President Joe Biden to visit Taiwan. During the APEC Leaders’ Informal Dialogue, Lin, who represented President William Lai (賴清德) at the summit, spoke with Biden and expressed gratitude to the outgoing US president for his contribution to improving bilateral ties between Taipei and Washington over the past four years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Lin and Biden exchanged views during the conversation, with Lin extending an invitation to Biden to visit Taiwan, it said. Biden is to step down in January next year, when US president-elect Donald Trump is
RSS