Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

A senior advisor to former US President George W. Bush says he is "proud" of using "harsh interrogation methods" against alleged terror suspects.

"I'm proud that we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists and gave us valuable information that allowed us to foil plots," Karl Rove said in an interview with BBC on Thursday.

Palestinians in the Gaza strip have lit 1,000 candles and held a peaceful protest near the Erez (Beit Hanoun) border crossing in order to mark 1000 days of Israeli siege and blockade of the coastal enclaves.

"The siege has harmed the people, as well as the environment, health, the economy and social life. It constitutes a serious attempt to suffocate the people and break their will. A thousand days of the blockade on Gaza, however, show its residents' steadfastness and patience despite the Israeli repeated attempts to undermine this determination," Head of the Popular Committee against the Siege on Gaza, Jamal al-Khodari, said on Thursday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in India for multibillion dollar defense and nuclear cooperation deals.

Putin, who arrived in New Delhi along with a high-ranking delegation on March 12, is scheduled to meet with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

Israel has ordered its military forces to impose a total closure on the West Bank in the occupied Palestinian territory for 48 hours.

The closure was enforced Thursday midnight amid reports on the possibility of fresh protests by Palestinians around the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (al-Quds) after Friday prayers. The closure is to be lifted on Saturday night.

Two bombers have blown themselves up near a military convey, killing at least 39 people and injuring several others in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

According to Pakistani officials, the bombers detonated their explosives within a few seconds near a military base on Friday.

Iran is taking steps to investigate how Jundallah terror chief Abdulmalek Rigi obtained forged passports prior to his arrest nearly two weeks ago.

Speaking in a televised address on Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to help indentify and arrest the culprits that provided Rigi with forged documents.

Enraged crowd engaged police in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi after law enforcement agents allegedly shot dead seven taxi drivers in a Nairobi suburb.

"This is extra judicial killing that our police are engaging in. You can't shoot innocent people like that and say it was a mistake," A Press TV correspondent quoted a local resident Jason Onduso as saying on Thursday.

US scholar Noam Chomsky blames hostile US and Israeli actions as a major factor in a potential Iranian decision to develop a "nuclear deterrent."

Addressing the audience in Harvard Memorial Church on March 6, Chomsky opined that constant US threats of military action against Iran may lead Tehran to perceive a need to develop a nuclear weapon.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has criticized Stockholm over a Swedish parliament resolution that branded the World War I killing of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as 'genocide.'

"The resolution on Armenian allegations which was approved by the Swedish Parliament does not have any credibility. Those who made this decision and voted in favor of the resolution were not historians," Gul said on Thursday.

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Stockholm after the Swedish parliament branded the killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I as "genocide."

"We strongly condemn this resolution, which is made for political calculations. It does not correspond to the close friendship of our two nations. We are recalling our ambassador for consultations," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement released on Thursday. He also cancelled a Stockholm visit scheduled for next week.