The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Sarin gas used on large scale in Syria: UN * Ban Ki-moon calls it war crime * Assad warned of ‘results’ if he fails to surrender weapons United Nations, September 16 UN chemical investigators today confirmed "unequivocally and objectively" that poisonous sarin gas was used in the ongoing conflict in Syria on a "relatively large scale". The investigators, however, were silent on who carried out a deadly attack in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21 that reportedly killed hundreds. "This is a war crime," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as he submitted a report of the UN team investigating the chemical weapons attacks "with a heavy heart". He also condemned the chemical weapon attacks. "The UN Mission has now confirmed, unequivocally and objectively, that chemical weapons have been used in Syria. This is a war crime and a grave violation of the 1925 Protocol and other rules of customary international law. I trust all can join me in condemning this despicable crime. "The international community has a responsibility to hold the perpetrators accountable and to ensure that chemical weapons never re-emerge as an instrument of warfare," Ban said briefing the UN Security Council on the report. Ban also called on the UNSC to impose "consequences" if the embattled regime in Syria fails to keep its promise to destroy chemical arsenal. "The mission has concluded that chemical weapons were used on a relatively large scale in the Ghouta area of Damascus (on August 21)... The attack resulted in numerous casualties, particularly among civilians," Ban told a closed meeting of the 15-nation UNSC. "The Mission adhered to the most stringent protocols available for such an investigation, including to ensure the chain of custody for all samples." The team interviewed survivors and first responders, and collected hair, urine and blood samples. "The Mission also documented and sampled impact sites and munitions, and collected 30 soil and environmental samples -- far more than any previous such UN investigation," Ban said. Ban's remarks came two days after the US and Russia agreed a plan to destroy Syria's chemical arms by mid-2014. The report submitted by the UN inspectors probing the use of chemical weapons in Syria at 14 instances was submitted to Ban earlier. "The environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used... in the Ghouta area of Damascus" on August 21, said the report which was inadvertently leaked. The first page of the report was inadvertently shown in an official picture in which UN team leader Ake Sellstrom was handing the findings to Ban at the UN Headquarters here today. Syrian Opposition and the West have accused President Bashar Al-Assad's forces of using chemical weapons on August 21 in a Damascus suburb that reportedly killed hundreds, a charge denied by the government. The government instead blamed the rebels for carrying out chemical attacks in Damascus and other parts of the country during the over two- and-a-half-year-long civil war. — PTI
	India welcomes US-Russia deal New Delhi, September 16 India today welcomed the framework agreement reached between Russia and the US on the time-bound safeguarding and destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles. As an important step in the process, India also welcomed the recent steps taken by Syria to accede to the Chemical Weapons’ Convention. “This is in alignment with India’s consistent stance of supporting the complete destruction and elimination of chemical weapons worldwide,” MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. “We also see these developments as the reinvigoration of the peace efforts towards a political solution to the Syrian conflict. We are hopeful that this will lead to the early convening of the proposed International Conference on Syria,’’ he said. — TNS
	New York police clarifies Indians are Asian too New York, September 16 Police officers of New York received a lesson in demography today when their chief issued a memo clarifying the difference between Native Americans and Asian Indians. New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Ray Kelly issued the memo to prevent “incorrect racial identification” in the future. Kelly told NYPD officers that “incorrect racial identification impacts the department’s data collection.” A person’s race is noted in police reports when a crime suspects are described by a victim. It is also noted on UF-250s - the stop, question and frisk reports. There has been an apparent mix-up between Asian Indians and American Indians in a modest number of reports. The mistake was discovered by the Quality Assurance Division. “Like any large organisation we regularly post internal memos reminding employees of the importance of uniformity when preparing official documents," said NYPD spokesman Deputy Commissioner John McCarthy. — PTI
	Terrorists can’t dictate terms for talks, says Pak Army Chief Afzal Khan in Islamabad A day after a top general was killed in a Taliban bombing, Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani today said militants cannot coerce Pakistan into accepting their terms, as the military has the “will to take the fight to the terrorists”. “The Army has the ability and the will to take the fight to the terrorists,” he said while paying tribute to Major General Sanaullah Khan and other security personnel killed in four militant attacks over the past two days. “While it is understandable to give peace a chance through a political process, but no one should have any misgivings that we would let terrorists coerce us into accepting their terms,” he said in an apparent reference to the PML-N government’s plans to hold talks with the Taliban. Analysts and security experts have criticised the government’s plan to hold talks with the Taliban, saying it will give militants an opportunity to regroup and strengthen their position. The Taliban have demanded the release of over 4,000 detained militants and the withdrawal of the Army from the northwest and tribal areas as pre-conditions for talks. (With PTI inputs)
	56 arrested as Egypt army storms Islamist-held town Cairo, September 16 Troops today stormed a central Egyptian town held for over a month by hardline Islamists, arresting dozens accused of burning churches and terrorising residents, officials said. Soldiers and policemen entered the town of Delga in the central province of Minya, firing tear gas and searching homes for suspects, a security official said. By afternoon, 56 persons had been arrested and several weapons seized, the official said. All 32 entrances to the village were shut and a daytime curfew imposed as authorities recaptured the town of 120,000 persons, held for 31 days by loyalists of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, according to the official MENA news agency. Rights groups had slammed the security forces’ slow response in dealing with the crisis. Since the siege of the village began, three churches were torched, dozens of Christian homes burned and two Copts killed, according to Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. At least 100 families also fled the town fearing for their lives, Ibrahim said on his Twitter account. — AFP Nine policemen hurt in Sinai blast Nine Egyptian policemen were injured on Monday when a bomb detonated on a road in North Sinai, scene of a surge in Islamist militancy, near the border with the Gaza Strip, security sources said. — Reuters
	Abbott unveils cabinet, Julie Bishop to become Oz Foreign Minister Melbourne, September 16 Promising a stable government to Australians, Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott today unveiled a 20-member cabinet with the lone woman representative to become the Foreign Minister. “It is, I believe, one of the most experienced incoming ministries in our history, and I think it’s important to have experience as you move from opposition to government,” Abbott said, in his first news conference, since his election on September 7. Abbott will become Australia’s third Prime Minister in three months when he is sworn into power by the country’s governor-general early this week. After the previous Labour government switched prime ministers twice in three years, Abbott has promised a methodical government. Deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop will be the only woman in Abbott’s cabinet. She will become Foreign Minister. Abbott said West Australian Senator Mathias Cormann was promoted into cabinet as Finance Minister. Arthur Sinodinos, who had been tipped to take the finance portfolio, was instead promoted into the junior ministry. Andrew Robb, who was the Coalition’s spokesman for finance in opposition, was named as Trade Minister. Abbott has also nominated Liberal Party stalwart Bronwyn Bishop to become Speaker of the new parliament. — PTI
	Top Afghan policewoman dies after gun attack Kandahar, September 16 The top woman police officer in Afghanistan’s restive south died today, officials said, a day after she was shot by gunmen in an attack that followed the recent killing of her predecessor. Both women were gunned down on the streets of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the Helmand province, by unknown assassins in murders that highlighted the grave threat to women who take on public roles in Afghanistan. “I can confirm that Nigar died in the emergency unit of the hospital this morning,” provincial government spokesman Omar Zawak said. "She died from a bad injury to her neck." Nigar, who like many Afghans used only one name, was earlier expected to survive after she was shot on Sunday morning by gunmen who escaped by motorbike. She was walking near the police headquarters in Lashkar Gah when her killers struck. Nigar, 38, had worked for seven years in the police crime branch in Helmand, a hotbed of the Islamist insurgency that erupted against the US-backed Kabul government after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. — AFP Three Pak women executed Islamabad: A Pakistani woman was on Monday shot dead by tribesmen in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on orders of a ‘jirga’ for her alleged “illicit relations” while two of her relatives were also executed for aiding her.— PTI
	Cambodian PM, opposition leader hold tense talks Phnom Penh, September 16 Leaders of Cambodia's ruling and opposition parties found rare common ground today in a meeting held a day after political violence left a man dead, but remained deadlocked over an opposition demand for an independent probe of election irregularities. In scattered clashes today, security forces used water cannons, smoke grenades and live ammunition, rights groups said, killing one person and wounding at least 10 over the course of the day. Thousands remained at the main protest site today, many having camped out overnight in defiance of orders from the government. Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition chief Sam Rainsy, accompanied by their top aides, met for more than four hours at the National Assembly to try to end a political deadlock over the results of the July 28 election, in which Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won 68 assembly seats to the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party's 55. The opposition has called for a boycott of parliament's first session on September 23 unless an independent committee investigates its claims of voter registration fraud and other cheating. It has vowed to maintain a protest until tomorrow evening at Freedom Park in Phnom Penh, after which the party will decide whether to continue, said Yim Sovann, the opposition party’s spokesman. The two sides issued a joint statement after today's meeting saying they agreed on three points to meet again for more talks. — PTI

Big storms hit Mexico on opposite coasts; 33 dead

Veracruz (Mexico), Sep 16
Tropical Storm Ingrid and the remnants of Tropical Storm Manuel drenched Mexico’s Pacific and Gulf coasts with torrential rains today, flooding towns and cities, cutting off highways and setting off deadly landslides in a national emergency that federal authorities said had caused at least 33 deaths.

The Governor of the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz announced today afternoon that 12 persons had been killed when a landslide hit a bus travelling through the town of Altotonga, about 40 miles northwest of the state capital. Governor Javier Duarte said the death toll could grow as bodies were recovered.

More than 23,000 persons have fled their homes in the state due to heavy rains and 9,000 are in emergency shelters.

The heaviest blow yesterday fell on the southern coastal state of Guerrero, where Mexico's Government reported 14 confirmed deaths. State officials said people had been killed in landslides, drownings in a swollen river and a truck crash.

Mexico’s federal Civil Protection coordinator, Luis Felipe Puente, told reporters late yesterday that stormy weather from one or both of the two systems also caused three deaths in Hidalgo, three in Puebla and one in Oaxaca.

Getting hit by a tropical storm and a hurricane at the same time "is completely atypical" for Mexico, Juan Manuel Caballero, coordinator of the country's National Weather Service, said at a news conference with Puente. — AP

BRIEFLY

Typhoon Man-yi hits Japan
Tokyo: Typhoon Man-yi hit central Japan on Monday as officials issued a "special warning" of heavy rain, amid fears the storm could go on to hit the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The typhoon made landfall in Toyohashi, Aichi prefecture, shortly before 8 am local time (0430 IST), packing gusts of up to 162 kmph, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Public broadcaster NHK said a woman in her 70s was missing following a landslide in Shiga prefecture, while at least six persons were injured in other areas due to strong wind. — AFP

Children wave national flags of Bahrain and China as they prepare for the welcoming ceremony for the Bahrain King hosted by the Chinese President in Beijing on Monday. — Reuters

Rain hampers Colorado flood rescue ops
Lyons: The search for people stranded from the Rocky Mountain foothills to the plains of northeastern Colorado has grown more difficult, with a new wave of rain hampering airlifts from the flooded areas still out of reach.From the mountain communities east to the plains city of Fort Morgan, numerous pockets of individuals remained cut off by the flooding. With rain impacting helicopter searches, rescuers trekked by ground up dangerous canyon roads to reach some of those homes isolated since Wednesday. — AP

Aung Suu Kyi meets Dalai Lama
Prague: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has risked prompting Chinese anger after it was confirmed she had a private meeting with the Dalai Lama on the sidelines of a Prague rights conference, its spokesman said on Monday. "They met on Sunday at the Dalai Lama's lecture," Filip Sebek, spokesman for the Forum 2000 foundation that organises the conference, told AFP, specifying that the two Nobel Peace laureates met in private. — AFP

Homeless man returns $41,900 found in bag
Boston: A homeless man in the US turned out to be a Samaritan after he returned a lost backpack, containing $2,400 cash and $39,500 in cheques, to the police. The man, whose identity has not been revealed, told the police that he lives at a Boston shelter. He found the backpack that also contained passports and ‘personal papers’ at South Bay Mall in Dorchester. — PTI

S Korea shoots man swimming to North
Seoul: South Korean troops shot dead a man trying to swim across a border river into North Korea on Monday after he ignored repeated warnings to turn back, the Defence Ministry said. A ministry spokesman said he was carrying a South Korean passport that identified him as Nam Yong-Ho, 47."He jumped into the Imjin river, ignoring repeated warnings to stop," the spokesman said. "The soldiers opened fire and his body has been retrieved." — AFP