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Egypt court bans Muslim Brotherhood’s activities
Iran Prez slams sanctions on way to New York
Peshawar church attack
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Typhoon pounds China, Philippines; 43 dead
Merkel scores a
hat-trick
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union, points towards supporters at the party headquarters in Berlin. — AP/PTI
4 blasts at Nairobi mall as toll revised to 62
Heavy smoke rises from the Westgate Mall in Nairobi on Monday. — AP/PTI
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Egypt court bans Muslim Brotherhood’s activities
Cairo, September 23 “The court bans the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood organisation and its non-governmental organisation and all the activities that it participates in and any organisation derived from it,” presiding Judge Mohammed al-Sayed said in a ruling. He also ordered the government to seize the Brotherhood's funds and administer its frozen assets. The ruling did not specifically mention the Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party. But the move effectively outlaws the movement, which has seen hundreds of its members killed and thousands arrested since the army overthrew Morsi in July. The decision also raises the possibility that some Brotherhood members will lose faith in peaceful resistance and take up arms against the government. The Brotherhood emerged from the shadows to win parliamentary and presidential elections after veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011. But many Egyptians became disillusioned with Morsi after he gave himself sweeping powers and mismanaged the economy, taking to the streets in protest. Following Morsi’s overthrow, the Brotherhood organized rallies demanding his reinstatement, prompting the fiercest campaign against it by security forces in decades. — Reuters Major blow
* The Cairo court also ordered the interim government to seize the Brotherhood’s funds *
It directed the government to form a panel to administer its frozen assets until any appeal has been heard *
The court gave the ruling after a lawsuit was filed by the leftist Tagammu Party to review the Islamist group’s status as a non-governmental organisation |
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Iran Prez slams sanctions on way to New York
Tehran, September 23 Rouhani, who is heading a high-ranking delegation, will address the UN assembly tomorrow in a speech that will be closely watched by the West looking for signs that he is ready to make good his pledges to engage the world constructively. “The path of sanctions is an unacceptable and unrealistic path. Those who have opted for (sanctions) will not achieve their objectives,” Rouhani told reporters at the airport, the ISNA news agency reported. The UN Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran for failing to heed six successive ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment, which Western governments suspect conceals a covert drive for a weapons capability. “Instead of this path, they should choose one that is based on interaction, negotiation and understanding,” he said. Rouhani said he would use the chance to correct the image of Iran that was portrayed to the world under his hardline predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose fiery speeches at the UN assembly included Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories about the 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States. “There were hands at work in recent years that unfortunately introduced Iran’s image and its culture-loving, peaceful civilisation that is search of progress differently,” he said, in a veiled criticism of Ahmadinejad. In New York, Rouhani will team up with his top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is expected to hold talks with his British and French counterparts, as well as with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the major powers in nuclear negotiations with Iran.— AFP
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Talks with Taliban look difficult: Sharif
Afzal Khan in Islamabad Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced that his government could no longer move ahead with the plan for talks with the Taliban endorsed by all major parties at a conference this month, following the deadly attack on a Peshawar church that killed at least 83 persons. “Such incidents do not augur well for negotiations,” he told reporters in London ahead of his flight to New York, where he is scheduled to attend the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly. “Unfortunately, because of this, the government is unable to move forward on what it had envisaged, on what it had wished for.” At the same time, he instructed the authorities concerned to devise a new security plan for the worship places of the country’s religious minorities. “We had proposed peace talks with the Taliban in good faith, and with the consent of all political parties… but unfortunately, because of this [attack] the government is unable to move forward on what it had envisaged, on what it had wished for,” he said. “We are a peaceful nation and want to enhance economic cooperation, trade and investment in Pakistan. I will share my vision of a progressive, democratic and developed Pakistan, which has the desire to live at peace with its neighbors,” he said in a statement ahead of his departure to New York. Meanwhile, the provincial government on Monday constituted a four-member committee to probe the deadly attack on the church. Christians protest, demand justice
Islamabad: Christians and civil society groups on Monday held protests across Pakistan demanding that the perpetrators of the deadly Peshawar church bombing, which claimed 83 lives, be brought to justice. Protests were held in Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Noweshera and other cities. — PTI |
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Typhoon pounds China, Philippines; 43 dead
Beijing/ Olongapo City, September 23
Typhoon Usagi — which meteorologists say was the world’s most powerful storm this year — hit the Guangdong province northeast of Hong Kong yesterday with torrential rain and winds of up to 165 kmph, prompting the highest level of alert from the National Meteorological Centre. At least 25 persons were killed in the province, officials said today. Thirteen deaths were reported in Shanwei City, where 24 others were injured in accidents during the storm. Schools and air, railway and shipping traffic remained suspended today in 14 cities in Guangdong, including the provincial capital of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai, as well as neighbouring Hong Kong and Macao. In the Philippines, the most severely affected area was the province of Zambales, where heavy rains caused rain-soaked soil to cascade down, killing 18 persons in different parts of the province, said assistant civil defence director Nigel Lontoc. — Agencies
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Merkel scores a
hat-trick
Berlin, September 23 Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), finished four seats short of an absolute majority in the new Bundestag, lower house of Parliament, one of the best results achieved by the
conservatives. The two parties together polled 41.7 per cent of the votes, nearly 8% more than in the last election four years ago and secured a total of 311 seats in the lower house, according to official results published
today. The CDU had achieved the absolute majority only once in 1957 under the leadership of the country’s first post-World War II chancellor Konrad
Adenauer. Merkel is only the third post-war chancellor to win a third four-year term after her mentor Helmut Kohl (1982-1998) and Konrad Adenauer
(1949-1963). The results are seen as a strong endorsement of 59-year-old Merkel’s leadership during the euro zone debt crisis and her government’s policies, which contributed to economic stability at home, low unemployment level and a higher standard of living than in many of Germany’s EU
partners. Merkel described the outcome of the election as an “overwhelming vote of confidence” in the policies of her government and her party. “It is a super victory for the CDU,” she told her jubilant supporters at the party headquarters in Berlin.
After the victory, Merkel said she was open to negotiations with her centre-left rivals on forming a coalition government. “We are open for discussions,” Merkel
said. “I had a first contact with the SPD (Social Democrats) chairman who understandably asked that the SPD first hold its party meeting on Friday,” she told
reporters. But she added she did not rule out talks on a potential coalition with the ecologist Greens. The CDU’s victory was tempered by the rout of Merkel’s junior coalition partner, the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), which was eliminated from the Bundestag for the first time in 64 years as it failed to cross the threshold of five per cent votes needed to gain parliamentary
representation. The business-friendly FDP received only 4.8 per cent of the votes, around 10 per cent less than four years ago and became the first mainstream political party to leave the 630-member
Bundestag. FDP chairman Philipp Roesler took responsibility for his party’s “tragic defeat” and indicated that he will take personal consequences by stepping down from its
leadership. Merkel will now have to seek a new coalition partner following her “preferred partner” FDP’s exit from the Bundestag and one possibility is a “grand coalition” with the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD). — PTI historic third term
* Angela Merkel is only the third post-war chancellor to win a third four-year term after her mentor Helmut Kohl (1982-1998) and Konrad Adenauer
(1949-1963) * Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), finished four seats short of an absolute majority in the new
Bundestag * The CDU had achieved the absolute majority only once in 1957 under the leadership of the country's first post-World War II chancellor Konrad Adenauer |
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Envoy: Germany to maintain continuity in ties with India
New Delhi, September 23 On a day when Merkel achieved a hat-trick in the elections even though her Conservatives appeared just short of the votes needed to rule on their own, India named VK Gokhale as its new Ambassador to Germany. Gokhale, currently the High Commissioner to Malaysia, would soon take up his new assignment in
Berlin. Addressing a press conference here soon after the results in the German elections were announced, Steiner said there was a broad consensus among all political parties in Germany on the importance of strategic partnership with India. “There is a consensus in the German Parliament that India and Germany are ideal partners for each other. In a way, the new government will be pro-Europe and
pro-India.’’ He said Germany would continue to support India’s case for inclusion in four global non-proliferation regimes-the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
Steiner said Germany saw a huge potential of growth of trade between India and Germany. He, however, regretted that negotiations between India and the European Union (EU) over a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) were progressing at a snail’s pace. |
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4 blasts at Nairobi mall as toll revised to 62
Nairobi, September 23 Kenya’s interior minister said the evacuation of hostages “has gone very, very well” and that Kenyan officials are “very certain” that there are few if any hostages left in the building. Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku also revised the death toll to 62. Kenyan officials earlier said 59 persons have died since the siege on Westgate Mall began on Saturday, while the Red Cross had put the toll at 68, then in a tweet lowered it to 62, saying some bodies had been counted twice. Dark plumes of smoke rose from the mall for more than an hour after four large explosions rocked the upscale Westlands neighbourhood. A person with knowledge of the rescue operation told The Associated Press that the smoke was rising up and out of a large skylight inside the mall’s main department and grocery store, Nakumatt, where goods like mattresses may have been lit on fire. Kenya Chief of Defence forces Gen Julius Karangi said fighters from an array of nations participated in the attack claimed by al-Shabab, a Somali group allied with Al-Qaida. “We have an idea who these people are and they are clearly a multinational collection from all over the world,” he said. Karangi said Kenyan forces were in charge of all floors inside the mall, though terrorists could still be hiding inside. Earlier witness reports had indicated that a woman was among the estimated 10 to 15 attackers. Lenku said that instead some male attackers had dressed up like women. The four explosions were followed by volleys of gunfire, then a thick, dark column of smoke that burned for roughly 90 minutes. Military and police helicopters and one plane circled over the Nairobi mall, giving the upscale neighborhood the feel of a war zone. On Sunday Kenyan officials announced that “most” hostages had been rescued. But no numbers were given. Kenyan officials have never said how many hostages they thought the attackers had, but have said preserving the hostages’ lives is a top priority, greatly complicating the final fight against the attackers. Kenyans and foreigners were among those confirmed dead, including British, French, Canadians, Indians, a Ghanaian, a South African and a Chinese woman. — AP
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Raja Rammohan Roy’s rare ivory bust unveiled in UK
49 prisoners shifted to Faisalabad jail Snowden wears disguise, in danger: Lawyer Chinese leader Bo calls life term as unfair Person forgets ‘four things’ every day Bo Xilai appeals against conviction Human beings forget ‘four things’ a day
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An Egyptian court today banned any activity by ousted President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its funds seized, a significant strike in the campaign to crush the Islamist movement.
Super typhoon Usagi killed at least 25 persons after it pounded south China’s Guangdong Province with torrential rain and winds that blew cars off the road, crippled power lines and threw transport systems into chaos. It also battered the Philippines for the third day today, causing floods and landslides that left 18 persons dead and others stranded on rooftops, officials said.
Berlin, September 23
Four thunderous explosions rattled Nairobi’s upscale mall today, part of a battle between Kenyan troops and Al-Qaida-linked terrorists. Top Kenyan officials said two hostage takers, part of “a multinational collection from all over the world,” had been
killed.
