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WHO’s emergency panel on Ebola to meet again
HK govt open to more talks with protesters
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Blade-runner Pistorius gets
5-yr jail for killing girlfriend
Pak Taliban fires spokesman over allegiance to ISIS
Pak Taliban leader, Osama’s ex-doctor global terrorists: US Qadri ends protest in Islamabad
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WHO’s emergency panel on Ebola to meet again Geneva/ Washington, October 21 "This is the third time this committee will meet since August to evaluate the situation. Much has happened, there have been cases in Spain and the United States, while Senegal and Nigeria have been removed from the list of countries affected by Ebola," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a news briefing. The 20 independent experts, who declared that the outbreak in West Africa constituted an international public health emergency on August 8, can recommend travel and trade restrictions. The committee has already recommended exit screening of passengers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. US tightens screening at airports Travellers to the United States from Ebola-stricken Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea must fly into one of five airports that have enhanced screening in place for the virus, the US government said on Tuesday. The restrictions on passengers whose trips originated in those three West African countries were announced by the US Department of Homeland Security and were set to go into effect on Wednesday. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has said the US is the only country to galvanise the world community for any major crisis, referring to the formation of two broad international coalition against ISIL and Ebola. The Ebola crisis, which has been the only story here in the US for the last couple of weeks, is not an outbreak and epidemic here, he said. "We've had one case of a person dying from Ebola that brought it in from outside; two nurses who, thankfully, seem to be doing better. To give you some sense of perspective, around 20,000 to 30,000 people die of flu every year. So far we've got one person dying of Ebola. But people are understandably concerned, in part because they've seen what's
happened in Africa," he said. — Agencies 260 people still
under watch in US
Health authorities are keeping more than 260 persons under observation for the Ebola virus in Texas and Ohio, after family and friends of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian who contracted Ebola in his country and died in the US, concluded their quarantine period without developing symptoms. — Agencies French scientists devise fast-track test Paris: A new device similar to a simple pregnancy home-test could allow doctors to diagnose a patient with suspected Ebola in under 15 minutes, its French developers said on Tuesday. Trials at a high-security lab have validated the technique and prototype kits should be available in Ebola-hit countries by the end of October for a clinical trial, France's Atomic Energy Commission said in a statement. — AFP Monrovia: Liberia's National Election Commission has announced plans to conduct the senatorial elections on December 16 despite growing concerns that the Ebola virus may still wreak havoc at the time. The West African country's electoral panel on Monday said it acted on the outcome of a series of consultative meetings, with candidates and other stakeholders, Xinhua reported. — IANS
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HK govt open to more talks with protesters
Hong Kong, October 21 "Today's dialogue will hopefully be the first of several rounds of dialogue," Lam told a press conference after a two-hour meeting with student leaders who have spearheaded more than three weeks of rallies that have caused disruption in the city. But Lam, who called the talks "constructive", said the government's firm position is to follow China's insistence that candidates for the city's next leadership election must be vetted by a pro-Beijing committee. "If the students cannot accept this position, I am afraid we will continue to have different views," she said. Student leaders had yet to decide whether or not to hold a second round. Beijing-backed city leader Leung Chun-ying had earlier hinted at a procedural concession in choosing the next leader, but it fell well short of what the student-led protesters have been demanding. Three large screens and projectors were set up at the tent-strewn main protest site on a thoroughfare in the Admiralty district, next to the government offices, with periodic cheering for remarks by student leaders and jeering when Chief Secretary Carrie Lam spoke during the dialogue. "(Officials) in the Hong Kong government can now decide whether to be democratic heroes or historical villains ... I believe every Hong Kong citizen is waiting to see," student leader Alex Chow said. Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula that allows it wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms and specifies universal suffrage as an ultimate goal. — Agencies
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Blade-runner Pistorius gets 5-yr jail for killing girlfriend
Pretoria, October 21 As judge Thokozile Masipa read out her decision on Pistorius' September 12 culpable homicide conviction, the 27-year-old, whose downfall has been likened to that of American football star OJ Simpson, stood resolutely in the dock. His only reaction was to wipe his eyes before two police officers led him down to the holding cells beneath the High Court in the heart of the South African capital. An armoured police vehicle took him from the court building. Masipa — only the second black woman to rise to the Bench — stressed the difficulty of arriving at a decision that was "fair and just to society and to the accused". The 67-year-old also rebuffed suggestions that Pistorius -- a wealthy and influential white man — might be able to secure preferential justice despite the "equality before law" guarantee enshrined in South Africa's post-apartheid constitution. "It would be a sad day for this country if an impression were created that there is one law for the poor and disadvantaged, and one law for the rich and famous," she said. Steenkamp, a 29-year-old law graduate and model, died almost instantly on Valentine's Day last year when Pistorius shot her three times through a locked toilet door at his luxury Pretoria home. The athlete maintained that he fired in the mistaken belief an intruder was hiding behind the door, a defence that struck a chord in a country with one of the world's highest rates of violent crime. The ruling African National Congress' Women's League, which is at the forefront of political efforts to tackle violence against South African women, immediately called for an appeal by the state against the culpable homicide conviction. However, Steenkamp's family said it was satisfied. "Justice was served," family lawyer Dup De Bruyn told reporters outside the court. The judge had given "the right sentence", he said. — Reuters ‘May spend only 10 months in prison’ Oscar Pistorius will be ineligible to compete in Paralympic events during the entirety of his five-year prison sentence. The double-amputee South African runner, who has won six Paralympic gold medals, could be released after 10 months to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. The International Paralympic Committee said, under its rules, "the sentence means Pistorius is ineligible to compete for the entire five years regardless of where it is served." — AP
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Pak Taliban fires spokesman over allegiance to ISIS
Islamabad, October 21 Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid last week said that he along with five other Taliban commanders have accepted the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, chief of the Islamic State that has seized hundreds of square miles in Iraq and Syria. According to a Taliban statement, Shahidullah's actual name was Abu Omar Sheikh Maqbool and the group had allowed him to use the nom de guerre designated for its spokesperson. The Taliban made it clear that he was no more a spokesman and Sheikh Maqbool was removed and another "brother" was named to replace him but still the decision was not made public. The group said Sheikh Maqbool was still using it despite declaring support and allegiance to Al-Baghdadi. The statement also said TTP chief Mulla Fazlullah owed allegiance to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. There was no immediate reaction from the former spokesman, who had fled the group's former stronghold in Miramshah, North Waziristan, following the launch of operation Zarb-i-Azb by the Pakistani military in mid-June. — PTI Man, woman stoned to death for adultery Beirut: A man and a woman have been stoned to death for adultery in separate executions in jihadist-controlled areas of Syria, a monitoring group reported on Tuesday. The man was executed in Idlib province and the woman was in Hama province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Militants on Tuesday seized the industrial area of Deir al-Zour city in northeastern Syria after battling government forces, the group reported. — Agencies
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Pak Taliban leader, Osama’s ex-doctor global terrorists: US The US State Department has declared senior leader of the Pakistani Taliban Khan Said and Osama bin Laden's former doctor Ramzi Mawafi specially designated global terrorists. As a consequence, US citizens are prohibited from engaging in transactions with Khan and Ramzi and any assets the two men may possess in the US will be frozen. However, the threat of an asset freeze is usually meaningless as the targets rarely have assets in the US. Said became the deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), after the group's leader Wali-ur-Rehman was killed in a US drone strike in May 2013. Said is a hardened veteran of the fighting in Afghanistan and is believed to be involved in the attack on a Naval base in Karachi. He is also credited with masterminding a 2012 jailbreak in which the Taliban freed 400 inmates in the northwestern city of Bannu, Pakistan. Said led the Mehsud faction of the TTP that split from the Pakistani Taliban in May, 2014. He, at the time, reaffirmed his commitment to terrorist activity. Mawafi, best known as bin Laden's former doctor, is an Egyptian and member of Al Qaida. He escaped from an Egyptian prison in 2011 and is at present believed to be in the Sinai Peninsula where he is helping to arrange money and weapons to support extremist activities.
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Qadri ends protest in Islamabad
Islamabad, October 21 While addressing his supporters, Qadri said the sit-in had turned into a revolution and announced that his Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) would launch countrywide protests as second phase of agitation to remove the government. “The participants should pack their bags, return to their homes,” he
said. Qadri also announced a schedule for sit-ins that would be held in other cities.The next sit-in will be in Abbottabad on October 23 after which protests will be stopped during the month of Muharram. Protests will then again start in Bhakkar on November 23, in Sargodha on December 5, in Sialkot on December 14 and in Karachi on December 25, he said. — PTI |
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India re-elected to UN Human Rights Council for 2 yrs French oil giant boss dies in plane crash Indian wins Sarnat Prize for mental health research 10 killed in Baghdad car bombings Dewani blamed wife for her death Pak lawmaker seeks dual-voting rights to non-Muslims Famed fashion designer Oscar de la Renta dies at 82 3 dead, UK flights disrupted as Gonzalo strikes Belgium mayor orders closure of gurdwara for month North Korea frees detained US citizen |
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The
WHO's emergency committee on Ebola will meet on Wednesday to review the scope of the outbreak and whether additional measures are
needed.
Hong Kong's government said it hopes to have more talks with democracy protest leaders following the first formal negotiations today between officials and student leaders.
South African Olympic and Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for killing his girlfriend Reeva
Steenkamp, ending a trial that has gripped South Africa and the world.
MOSCOW/PARIS:
Los Angeles: