W O R L D

Athens erupts over austerity cuts
48-hr general strike shuts down Greece
Clashes break out in front of Parliament
Athens, October 19
Black-clad demonstrators hurled stones and firebombs at the police in front of the Greek Parliament on Wednesday as tens of thousands rallied during a nationwide general strike to coincide with a vote on painful new austerity measures.

A demonstrator runs past a burning newspaper kiosk in Athens on Wednesday. — Reuters

Kurds kill 24 Turkish troops, Ankara hits back
Diyarbakir (Turkey), Oct 19
Turkey launched air and ground assaults on Kurdish militants in Iraq on Wednesday, vowing to take "great revenge" after 24 Turkish soldiers were killed in one of the deadliest Kurdish attacks in decades.

Saudi Arabia beheads two men for rape
Riyadh, October 19
Two Saudi men, sentenced to death for rape, were beheaded by the sword on Tuesday in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The executions bring the total number of beheadings in Saudi Arabia to 64 since January.

$1bn loan, warmer ties on Nepal PM’s agenda
Kathmandu, October 19
Nepal will seek a $1 billion soft loan from India, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said today, as he sought to allay fears of Indian investors about doing business with the Maoist-ruled country.

Athens erupts over austerity cuts

48-hr general strike shuts down Greece
Clashes break out in front of Parliament

Athens, October 19
Black-clad demonstrators hurled stones and firebombs at the police in front of the Greek Parliament on Wednesday as tens of thousands rallied during a nationwide general strike to coincide with a vote on painful new austerity measures.

For the first time since the outbreak of the crisis two years ago, protesters pushed up to the steps of the Parliament building itself, setting fire to a sentry box occupied by the

ceremonial guards who stand watch over the main symbols of the Greek state.

Inside Parliament, there was a bitter tang of tear gas in the air as deputies debated the bill ahead of a vote later on Wednesday. Prime Minister George Papandreou, trailing badly in opinion polls, has appealed for support from Greeks before Parliament votes on the latest measures, which include tax hikes, wage cuts and public sector layoffs.

The boom of tear-gas canisters fired by police rang out, and black clouds of smoke from petrol bombs hung over Syntagma Square, scene of violent clashes between the police and demonstrators at anti-austerity protests in June.

The mood was furious among demonstrators, fed up after repeated doses of austerity and increasingly hostile to both their own political leaders and international lenders demanding ever tougher measures to cut Greece's towering public debt.

Clashes overshadowed the start of a 48-hour strike, which shut down government departments, businesses and public services, as well as shops and bakeries. Flights were cancelled. Several injuries were reported, mainly from minor burns and cuts to the head. There were also serious clashes away from the scene of the main rally, which attracted more than 1 lakh people, according to police estimates.

Over 7,000 police had been assigned to Athens to deal with anticipated trouble. They mostly stood their ground, without launching major charges on demonstrators.

Wednesday's action comes as EU leaders scramble to outline a new rescue package in time for a summit on Sunday that hopes to agree measures to protect the region's financial system from a potential Greek debt default.

"We are in an agonising but necessary struggle to avoid the final and harshest point of the crisis. From now until Sunday were are fighting the battle of all battles," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said.

Trapped in the third year of deep recession and strangled by a public debt amounting to 162% of GDP which few now believe can be paid back, Greece has sunk ever deeper into crisis. — Reuters

Kurds kill 24 Turkish troops, Ankara hits back

Diyarbakir (Turkey), Oct 19
Turkey launched air and ground assaults on Kurdish militants in Iraq on Wednesday, vowing to take "great revenge" after 24 Turkish soldiers were killed in one of the deadliest Kurdish attacks in decades.

Demonstrators shout slogans to protest an attack against the Turkish military on Wednesday in the heart of Ankara. — AFP

Security officials said about 100 fighters from the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, mounted simultaneous attacks on seven remote army outposts in Cukurca and Yuksekova districts of Hakkari province, on the rugged south-eastern border with Iraq.

The PKK, which has bases in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, did not immediately claim responsibility. But the fighting, in which Turkey said it killed 15 Kurdish militants after the initial assault, threatened wider instability at a time of upheaval in nearby Syria and for US forces in Iraq.

Turkish security sources said commandos pushed up to 8 km into Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish fighters and warplanes struck targets around a guerrilla camp on the Zap river in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan.

"No one should forget this. Those that inflict this pain on us will endure far greater pain," Turkish President Abdullah Gul told reporters in Istanbul.

Twenty-four soldiers were killed and 18 wounded in the attacks, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said at a televised news conference in which he said wide-ranging operations, including hot pursuit missions, had been launched. — Reuters

Saudi Arabia beheads two men for rape

Riyadh, October 19
Two Saudi men, sentenced to death for rape, were beheaded by the sword on Tuesday in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The executions bring the total number of beheadings in Saudi Arabia to 64 since January.

Fuhayd Musaffar Qahtani and Fuhayd Saidan Qahtani were found guilty of breaking and entering, theft and rape, said a statement by the interior ministry.

Last week, the United Nations Human Rights office had expressed concern over the rate of executions in the ultra-conservative kingdom and called for an immediate halt to the practice. The UN statement came after the kingdom beheaded 10 men, eight Bangladeshis and two Saudis, on the same day.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the Gulf state's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. — Agencies

$1bn loan, warmer ties on Nepal PM’s agenda 

Kathmandu, October 19
Nepal will seek a $1 billion soft loan from India, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said today, as he sought to allay fears of Indian investors about doing business with the Maoist-ruled country.

Speaking about "certain misunderstandings, misgivings and problems" in Nepal's relations with India but said he will not be discussing these during his visit to New Delhi beginning tomorrow.

Bhattarai expressed confidence that his four-day maiden visit will pave the way for "warmer relations" between the Unified CPN-Maoist and India. "Our relations are already warming up and will become warmer after the visit. The dispute within the Maoist party won't be a problem in fostering relations with India," Bhattarai, the Maoist vice-president and ideologue, said.

The PM, who spent much of his 20s in India, starting from Chandigarh to Delhi, said he owed a lot to the Indian education system, especially JNU. He plans to meet his old friends and teachers from JNU. — PTI