US, Israel lose their UNESCO voting right
Paris, November 8
American influence in culture, science and education around the world took a high-profile blow today after the US automatically lost voting rights at UNESCO, after missing a crucial deadline to repay its debt to the world's cultural agency.

Maldives goes to prez polls today
Male, November 8
Maldives today affirmed that the controversy-ridden presidential polls set for tomorrow will go ahead in order to avert a constitutional crisis.

Manil, November 8
The strongest typhoon in the world this year and possibly the most powerful ever to hit land smashed into the Philippines on Friday, forcing more more than 125,000 people to flee, flooding villages and raising fears of widespread casualties.

Haiyan, a category-5 super typhoon, scoured the northern tip of Cebu province and headed northwest towards Boracay island, both tourist destinations, after lashing the central islands of Leyte and Samar with 275-kph (170 mph) wind gusts and 5-6 metre (15-19 ft) waves.

At least three people were killed and seven injured, national disaster agency spokesman Rey Balido told reporters in Manila. The death toll could rise as more reports arrive.

“The humanitarian impact of Haiyan threatens to be colossal,” said Patrick Fuller, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Power and communications in the three large islands of Samar, Leyte and Bohol were almost completely down but authorities promised to restore them within 24 hours.

Officials warned that more than 12 million people were at risk, including residents of Cebu City, which has a population of about 2.5 million, and areas still reeling from a deadly 2011 storm and a 7.2-magnitude quake last month.

“The super typhoon likely made landfall with winds near 195 mph (313 kph). This makes Haiyan the strongest tropical cyclone on record to make landfall,” said Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at U.S.-based Weather Underground. About a million people took shelter in 29 provinces, after President Benigno Aquino appealed to people in Haiyan's path to leave vulnerable areas, such as river banks, coastal villages and mountain slopes.

“Our school is now packed with evacuees," an elementary school teacher in Southern Leyte, who gave her name only as Feliza, told a radio station. Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla reported a 3-metre (10-ft) flood in one village in Leyte. — Reuters

Islamabad, November 8
With hardline commander Mullah Fazlullah at its helm, the Pakistani Taliban has vowed to launch a wave of revenge attacks and ruled out talks with the government.

Security agencies have warned government officials of a severe backlash from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after former leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike on Friday.

The backlash may include targeting security and government installations in Punjab province, the central leadership of the ruling PML-N and the family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The TTP named Fazlullah, the former Taliban commander from Swat Valley, as its new chief yesterday. Media reports today said Fazlullah, known as "Mullah Radio", has refused to hold any talks with the government.

TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid was quoted by The News daily as saying the group's Shura or council had unanimously decided that no peace talks will be held with the government.

He claimed the Taliban made several attempts in the past to hold meaningful talks with the government but they were "deceived".

“We won’t allow the rulers again to deceive us in the name of peace talks. There is no benefit of fruitless talks with the government. It's a puppet government of the US and has killed our amir (chief)," he said. Taliban elements believe the government had a role in the killing of Mehsud by a CIA-operated drone and that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan's criticism of the drone attack was meant to deceive the militants and the people. — PTI

Paris, November 8
American influence in culture, science and education around the world took a high-profile blow today after the US automatically lost voting rights at UNESCO, after missing a crucial deadline to repay its debt to the world's cultural agency.

The US hasn't paid its dues to the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in protest over the decision by world governments to make Palestine a UNESCO member in 2011.

Israel suspended its dues at the same time and also lost voting rights today. Under UNESCO rules, the US had until today morning to resume funding or explain itself, or it automatically loses its vote.

A UNESCO official, who was not authorised to speak publicly, said nothing was received from either US or Israel. The suspension of US contributions, which account for USD 80 million a year, 22 per cent of UNESCO's overall budget brought the agency to the brink of a financial crisis and forced it to cut or scale back American-led initiatives such as Holocaust education and tsunami research over the past two years. — AP