Page 27 - June 23, 2017

Groton Daily Independent
Friday, June 23, 2017 ~ Vol. 24 - No. 344 ~ 27 of 54
Iran which supplies the small nation that will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup its wealth.
Also, not only must Qatar shut down the Doha-based satellite broadcaster, the list says, but also all of its af liates. That presumably would mean Qatar would have to close down Al-Jazeera’s English-language
sister network.
Supported by Qatar’s government, Al-Jazeera is one of the most widely watched Arabic channels, but
it has long drawn the ire of Mideast governments for airing alternative viewpoints. The network’s critics say it advances Qatar’s goals by promoting Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood that pose a populist threat to rulers in other Arab countries.
The list also demands that Qatar stop funding a host of other news outlets including Arabi21 and Middle East Eye.
Beirut-based political analyst George Alam said Qatar is unlikely to agree to the demands.
“They are impossible to be met because they interfere in Qatar’s foreign policy and Qatar considers its foreign policy a sovereign matter that is nonnegotiable, he said.
If Qatar agrees to comply, the list asserts that it will be audited once a month for the rst year, and then once per quarter in the second year after it takes effect. For the following 10 years, Qatar would be monitored annually for compliance.
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Lederman reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Hussain Al-Qatari in Kuwait City; Jon Gambrell in Dubai; Mustafa Najjar in Beirut; and Vivian Salama in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP . Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck .
Suicide car bomb in southwest Pakistan kills 11, wounds 20 By ABDUL SATTAR, Associated Press
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide car bomber struck near the of ce of the provincial police chief in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 20, of cials said. A breakaway Taliban faction later claimed responsibility for the attack.
The bombing came ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, which follows the holy month of Ramadan, expected to end this weekend.
The explosion near the police chief’s of ce in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, was powerful enough that it was heard across the city, shattering windows on nearby buildings, said police spokesman Shahzada Farhat.
Wasim Beg, a spokesman at a government hospital, said the death toll from the bombing had risen to 11 throughout the morning. He said some people remained in critical condition.
TV footage showed several badly damaged cars and a road littered with broken glass.
Hours after the attack, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the bombing. Asad Mansoor, the militants’ spokesman, said the bombing was part of their campaign aimed at enforcing Islamic laws in the country. He vowed more such attacks.
Anwarul Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the provincial government, blamed neighboring India for the blast but offered no evidence to back up the allegation.
Pakistan and India routinely trade charges of interference and inciting attacks on one another’s soil.
On Thursday, Pakistan said that an Indian naval of cer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and sabotage, had petitioned for mercy.
Jadhav, who Pakistan said had crossed into Baluchistan from neighboring Iran, was arrested in March 2016 and sentenced to death in April.
In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs insisted Jadhav was sentenced on “concocted charges” and