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Syrian peace talks stuck over Assad’s future Activists during a protest calling for an immediate end to the war in Syria in Montreux, Switzerland, on Wednesday. AFP
Thai protesters defy emergency; pro-government leader shot
A protester destroys the sign of the Royal Thai Police at its headquarters in Bangkok on Wednesday. Reuters |
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Ex-chief of Pak Taliban among 50 killed in air strikes
Nepalese patients head to India as docs on strike
US braces for more trouble as snow storm hits again
A plane caught in a snow storm at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York on Tuesday night. Nearly 3,000 flights were cancelled and offices and schools were shut following the storm. Reuters Indira Gandhi had asked Thatcher to stop helping Lanka militarily
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Syrian peace talks stuck over Assad’s future Montreux, January 22 The dispute over Assad cast a pall over an international conference that aims to map out a transitional government and ultimately a democratic election for the country mired in fighting that has clamed more than 1.3 lakh lives and displaced millions. While diplomats sparred against a pristine Alpine backdrop, Syrian forces and opposition fighters clashed across a wide area from Aleppo and Idlib in the north to Daraa in the south, activists and state media said. The two sides seemed impossibly far apart just hours into the talks in the Swiss city of Montreux. Complicating matters, both Assad's delegates and the Western-backed opposition Syrian National Coalition claimed to speak for the Syrian people. "We did not expect instant breakthroughs. ... No one underestimated the difficulties," UN Secretary-General Bank Ki-moon told reporters at the end of the day. "The Syrian people are looking desperately for relief from the nightmare in which they are trapped." A UN mediator will separately meet both Syrian sides tomorrow to see if they can even sit together in face-to-face talks due to begin on Friday. Mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said both sides had shown some willingness to bend on humanitarian access and local ceasefires, and he hoped to build on that common ground. The US and the Syrian opposition opened the conference by saying that Assad lost his legitimacy when he crushed the once-peaceful protest movement against his regime. "We really need to deal with reality," said US Secretary of State John Kerry. — AP Divergent views
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Thai protesters defy emergency; pro-government leader shot
Bangkok, January 22 "Red Shirt" movement leader Kwanchai Praipana, who played a key role in the 2010 mass rallies in Bangkok, was shot in the shoulder and knee by unidentified persons at his home in northeastern Udon Thani town, a stronghold of Yingluck. The attack was possibly a politically motivated crime, the police said. The attack came as anti-government protesters continued to block parts of the capital, ignoring the emergency rule that came into force this morning. The emergency rule gave the government wide-ranging power to control crowds and censor media. Protesters have vowed to rid Thailand of the political dominance of the Shinawatra clan and alleged that Yingluck is controlled by her fugitive brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006. He lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai. — PTI
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Ex-chief of Pak Taliban among 50 killed in air strikes
Islamabad, January 22 The Pakistan Air Force jets had bombed suspected militant hideouts in North Waziristan - a key haven for Taliban and al Qaeda elements - on Monday night, which was backed by army gunship helicopters. At least 50 militants were killed in the attack. "Most of the terrorists killed in North Waziristan strikes on night of January 20/21 are foreign fighters which include 33 Uzbeks, three Germans and reportedly important terrorist commanders," a Pakistani military source said. He named the militant commanders as "Wali Mohammad (predecessor of Qari Hussain), Asmat Shahin Bittani, Noor Badshah and Maulvi Farhad Uzbek". Bhittani served as the acting TTP chief after the killing of Hakeemullah Mehsud and also headed the Taliban supreme shura (decision-making council). Wali, alias Toofan, earlier headed the 'fidayeen squad'. Pakistani jets had pounded militant bases in the North Waziristan in retaliation for a string of deadly attacks on security forces. — PTI 13 cops killed in militant attacks
ISLAMABAD: Thirteen Pakistani policemen and two others were on Wednesday killed and a Spaniard cyclist injured in three separate attacks in the country's restive areas. Seven Pakistani tribal policemen, escorting a Spanish cyclist, were killed and the tourist critically injured as militants tried to abduct him in the highly volatile southwest Balochistan province where a bus bomb killed 24 Shia pilgrims on Tuesday. |
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Nepalese patients head to India as docs on strike
Kathmandu, January 22 As hospitals and clinics remained closed for a fourth day, the patients had no other option but to travel to India for emergency treatment, officials said. The doctors are striking in order to press the authorities to address demands of leading orthopaedic surgeon Govinda KC, who is on the fast unto death since January 11. Yesterday, over 100 doctors resigned to show solidarity with Govinda and to push for reform of medical education. The Nepal Medical Association said the protests would continue unless Govinda's demands are met. — PTI |
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US braces for more trouble as snow storm hits again
Washington, January 22 "It's horrible. Snow is cute for only a little bit," Mary Catherine Hughes, standing by a subway stop with an umbrella rendered useless in fierce wind, told The New York Times. The city's new mayor Bill de Blasio urged people to stay home say road crews could clear streets. Downtown Washington fell eerily silent after the federal government, seeing the swift-moving storm approaching, closed its doors and told civil servants- who already had the day off Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday- to stay home yesterday. Today, federal agencies were to open two hours late. Employees could also take unscheduled leave, and those that can were allowed to work from home. — AFP
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Indira Gandhi had asked Thatcher to stop helping Lanka militarily London, January 22 In a document relating to Sri Lanka, released by the National Archives here under the 30-year declassification rule, a reference was apparently made to India's suspicion in 1984 that Britain's elite Special Air Service (SAS) was training the Sri Lankan military. Gandhi told Thatcher: "We hope that you will use your influence to persuade (Sri Lanka's) President (J R) Jayewardene to give a positive lead by making constructive suggestions at the All Parties Conference. Military aid and anti-insurgency assistance are not enough to overcome a political crisis which has to be faced and resolved." According to another document, the British government under Thatcher allowed former SAS officers to train Sri Lankan security forces against the LTTE. The Sri Lankan government was then tackling the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forces. — PTI What she said
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Peace talks to carve a path out of Syria's civil war got off to a rocky start today as a bitter clash over President Bashar Assad's future threatened to collapse the negotiations even before they had begun.
A prominent pro-government leader was today shot and injured in northeastern Thailand, fuelling tensions in the deeply divided country as defiant opposition supporters stepped up their protest to oust Premier Yingluck Shinawatra despite emergency rule imposed in the capital.
The northeastern US shivered amid heavy snowfall and far below average temperatures today in a storm that grounded thousands of flights and triggered traffic chaos. The nasty weather with its bone-chilling gusts and heavy snow stretched from Washington to New England. The Midwest was hit hard, too.
