W O R L D

Fighters up offensive in Gaddafi bastions
Sirte, September 16
Libyan revolutionary forces escalated offensives today into two key strongholds of Muammar Gaddafi's rule, but met stiff resistance from snipers and loyalist gunners in Gaddafi's hometown and a mountain enclave where a pro-regime radio station urged followers to fight to the end.

Anti-Gaddafi fighters fire at pro-Gaddafi forces east of Sirte on Friday. — Reuters

Thousands march to demand Saleh’s ouster
Sanaa, September 16
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Yemen today demanding the resignation of the President, a day after the US State Department said it hoped a power transfer deal could be signed within a week.

Danes vote for their first woman PM
Copenhagen, September 16
Denmark’s centre-left was celebrating victory today after narrowly winning a General Election to end a decade in opposition, ushering in the nation’s first woman Prime Minister.



Helle Thorning-Schmidt of the Social Democrat party arrives at the Danish Parliament on Friday. — Reuters

US: Top Qaida leader’s killing in Pak removes a key threat
Washington, September 16
With the killing of Saudi-born Abu Hafs al-Shahri, Al-Qaida’s operations chief in Pakistan, the US says it has removed a “key threat” in the war against terrorism in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, dubbed as the “epicentre” of the world’s jihadists.

America to veto  Palestine statehood resolution in UNSC
Washington, September 16
The US would veto any resolution on Palestine statehood in the powerful UN Security Council, a top American official said today, arguing that any statehood recognition should come through bilateral negotiations with Israel.

 

 

Fighters up offensive in Gaddafi bastions
Storm into two besieged towns of Bani Walid, Sirte

Sirte, September 16
Libyan revolutionary forces escalated offensives today into two key strongholds of Muammar Gaddafi's rule, but met stiff resistance from snipers and loyalist gunners in Gaddafi's hometown and a mountain enclave where a pro-regime radio station urged followers to fight to the end.

The assault on Gaddafi's Mediterranean birthplace of Sirte and the strategic mountain town of Bani Walid appeared to be a coordinated campaign to break the back of regime holdouts. The attacks came as powerful revolutionary backers from the West and Muslim world urged on the anti-Gaddafi forces.

In Sirte, the hub of a loyalist belt across Libya's central coast, revolutionary units pressed their attack on two fronts with convoys that include vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft guns. Loyalist responded with sniper attacks and rocket barrages.

Smoke rise from parts of the city, where the green flags of Gadhafi's regime flew from mosques and buildings. "We reached inside Sirte and then retreated", said Abdel Salam, a fighter on the frontline near Sirte.

About 250 km to the west in Bani Walid, revolutionary fighters using pickup trucks mounted with heavy weapons tried to break through strong defensive lines. Explosions and gunfire reverberated across the area. — AP

Thousands march to demand Saleh’s ouster

Sanaa, September 16
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Yemen today demanding the resignation of the President, a day after the US State Department said it hoped a power transfer deal could be signed within a week.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been hanging on to his post despite local, regional and international pressure to leave office.

Saleh has come close to signing the Gulf Cooperation Council's power transfer proposal several times, only to back out at the last minute. It offers him and his family immunity from prosecution over the deaths of protesters in exchange for leaving office.

Saleh has been in Saudi Arabia since early June, when he was seriously wounded in an attack on his compound in Sanaa. A Saudi official today said he would not return to Yemen.

While that could be an indication that he will agree to leave office, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information, said in his conversations with Saleh, the President expressed discontent with the Gulf Cooperation Council's proposed deal.

Saleh, according to the official, felt that Saudi Arabia cheated him by backing the accord following pressure from the US

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the capital Sanaa and other major cities to demand Saleh's resignation. — AP

Syrian forces kill 20 in anti-Assad protests

Amman, September 16
Syrian forces shot dead 20 persons today and flooded rural areas around Damascus with troops to try to end six months of demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

Despite the heavy deployment, activists reported protests on the edges of the capital, the northern province of Idlib bordering Turkey and other parts of Syria. Banners proclaimed protesters were "on course to bring down the regime".

After storming several cities in August to crush protest centres, the Syrian army has swept through rural districts in recent weeks, hunting down activists and army defectors, carrying out widespread arrests and killing dozens of people.

The Local Coordination Committee, a grassroots activist group, said 27 persons died on Friday, though that figure included a handful who died from wounds suffered earlier. — Reuters

Danes vote for their first woman PM

Copenhagen, September 16
Denmark’s centre-left was celebrating victory today after narrowly winning a General Election to end a decade in opposition, ushering in the nation’s first woman Prime Minister.

“We did it!” opposition leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt told ecstatic supporters, as near final results showed her bloc had won Thursday’s vote.

“We made history today,” added the Social Democratic leader destined to become Denmark’s first woman head of government.

After 99.6 per cent of votes had been counted, it was clear the centre-left bloc headed by Thorning-Schmidt had taken 89 seats in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament against 86 for exiting Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen’s centre-right government and parliamentary supporters.

A total of 90 seats are needed for an absolute majority in the 179-seat parliament.

Four seats reserved for Denmark’s autonomous territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands had yet to be officially tallied and were not yet included in the score, though they were unlikely to reverse the results, according to observers. The centre-right defeat spells an end to the powerful influence wielded by the populist anti-immigration Danish People’s Party. — AFP

US: Top Qaida leader’s killing in Pak removes a key threat

Washington, September 16
With the killing of Saudi-born Abu Hafs al-Shahri, Al-Qaida’s operations chief in Pakistan, the US says it has removed a “key threat” in the war against terrorism in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, dubbed as the “epicentre” of the world’s jihadists.

Al-Shahri was killed in Pakistan’s tribal belt earlier this week, less than a month after the killing of Atiyah Abdul Rahman, Al-Qaida’s no. 2 man there. Al-Shahri was seen as a possible successor to Rahman, who was killed in late August in Pakistan, a US official was quoted as saying by CNN.

As Al-Qaida’s Pakistan operations chief, one official said, al-Shahri’s responsibilities included coordinating the activities of the outfit’s depleted central leadership with Pakistani Taliban.

“This is another blow at the core of Al-Qaida in Pakistan,” a US official said, adding that his death “removes a key threat inside Pakistan.” Al-Shahri “was reputed to have become particularly adept at devising methods to cause additional harm, such as suggesting ways to the Taliban of making bombs more effective,” CBS News quoted a defence official from a NATO member country based in Islamabad as saying.

The NATO official said news of al-Shahri’s death was seen by defence officials in western countries, including the US, as “a major step forward”. — PTI

America to veto Palestine statehood resolution in UNSC

Washington, September 16
The US would veto any resolution on Palestine statehood in the powerful UN Security Council, a top American official said today, arguing that any statehood recognition should come through bilateral negotiations with Israel.

While there has been no formal notice to the UNSC yet, the US Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes told reporters at a White House news conference that "we would veto" any resolution with regard to Statehood to Palestine in the Council.

"They need to work this out to Israel," Rhodes said, as he underlined the US position that such a move would be counterproductive and not help in achieving full statehood. He said presently it was unclear "what course Palestinians are going to pursue at the UN, what the sequencing of actions at the UN will be".

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney yesterday said Palestine can't aim to achieve statehood by passing of a resolution at the UN and insisted that the best way to get this is through negotiations with the Israel. — PTI