|
|
|
|
|
Russian Prez Putin calls for talks on eastern Ukraine ‘statehood’
Rona set to be first woman to head BBC Trust
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Iraqi forces break jihadist siege of Amerli
Hong Kong braces for protests as China rules out full democracy
A protester shouts slogans at a pro-democracy rally next to the Hong Kong government complex on Sunday. AFP
Israel seizes West Bank land for settlement use
Palestinians lie on a sofa inside their destroyed house after returning home in eastern Gaza City on Sunday. AFP Philippines disputes Beijing’s claim over South China Sea
|
|
Russian Prez Putin calls for talks on eastern Ukraine ‘statehood’
Moscow/Mariupol, August 31 The Kremlin leader's remarks, which follow a feisty public appearance in which he compared the Kiev government to Nazis and warned the West not to "mess with us", came with Europe and the United States preparing new sanctions to halt what they say is direct Russian military involvement in the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian troops and local residents were reinforcing the port of Mariupol on Sunday, the next big city in the path of pro-Russian fighters who pushed back government forces along the Azov Sea this past week in an offensive on a new front. Ukraine and Russia swapped soldiers who had entered each other's territory near the battlefield, where Kiev says Moscow's forces have come to the aid of pro-Russian insurgents, tipping the balance on the battlefield in the rebels' favour. Talks should be held immediately "and not just on technical issues but on the political organisation of society and statehood in southeastern Ukraine," Putin said in an interview with Channel 1 state television, his hair tousled by wind on the shore of a lake. Moscow, for its part, he said, could not stand aside while people were being shot "almost at point blank". Putin's use of the word "statehood" was interpreted in Western media as implying backing for the rebel demand of independence, something Moscow has so far stopped short of publicly endorsing. However, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was no new endorsement from Moscow for rebel independence. Asked if "New Russia", a term pro-Moscow rebels use for their territory, should still be part of Ukraine, Peskov said: "Of course." "Only Ukraine can reach an agreement with New Russia, taking into account the interests of New Russia, and this is the only way to reach a political settlement." — Reuters Kiev, Moscow discuss next aid convoy
A second convoy of Russian humanitarian aid for the embattled eastern Ukraine is being discussed, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Council for National Security and Defence told reporters Sunday. "A note came from Russia, informing about its plans to dispatch humanitarian cargo," Andrei Lysenko said. He said both sides were discussing plans to send the cargo by railway and hand over to officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The amount of aid and the date of dispatch were being discussed, he said. European Union wields Russia sanctions threat
Russia, Ukraine swap detained troops
Russia has handed over 63 Ukrainian soldiers who crossed the border into Russian last week in exchange for all the Russian paratroopers detained in Ukraine. "The negotiations were difficult. But common sense prevailed and everything ended well," said Alexei Ragozin, deputy commander of the Russian Airborne Forces. |
|
|
Rona set to be first woman to head BBC Trust
London, August 31 Rona Fairhead, 53, a high-flying executive who sits on the boards of a number of blue-chip companies, was yesterday announced as the prospective new chairperson of the BBC Trust. Sajid Javid, UK Secretary of State for Culture, is expected to officially announce Fairhead as government's preferred candidate to fill the slot later today, replacing Lord Patten, who stepped down in May on health grounds. "The BBC is a great British institution packed with talented people, and I am honoured to have the opportunity to be the chairman of the BBC Trust," Fairhead said. She was selected following "an open recruitment process", government spokesperson said, "overseen by an independent public appointments assessor". — PTI |
|
|
Iraqi forces break jihadist siege of Amerli
Baghdad, August 31 "Our forces entered Amerli and broke the siege," Iraqi security spokesman Lieutenant General Qassem Atta told AFP. Talib al-Bayati, an official responsible for a nearby area, also said that the siege of the Turkmen Shiite-majority town has been broken, as did Nihad al-Bayati, who had been fighting to defend the town against the jihadists. Thousands of people had been trapped in Amerli since June, when jihadist-led militants launched a major offensive that overran chunks of five Iraqi provinces, sweeping security forces aside. — AFP |
|
|
Hong Kong braces for protests as China rules out full democracy
Beijing/Hong Kong, August 31 The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) endorsed a framework to let only two or three candidates run in the 2017 leadership vote. All candidates must first obtain majority backing from a nominating committee likely to be stacked with Beijing loyalists. The relatively tough decision by the NPC - China's final arbiter on the city's democratic affairs - makes it almost impossible for opposition democrats to get on the ballot. "This is a legal, fair and reasonable decision. It is a dignified, prudent decision, and its legal effect is beyond doubt," Li Fei, deputy secretary-general of the NPC standing committee, told reporters after the decision. Hundreds of "Occupy Central" activists, who demand Beijing allow a real, free election, prepared to stage a small protest late on Sunday to formally launch a campaign of civil disobedience that will climax with a blockade at some time of the city's important Central business district. "Today is not only the darkest day in the history of Hong Kong's democratic development, today is also the darkest day of one country, two systems," said Benny Tai, a law professor and one of Occupy Central's main leaders, referring to the formula under which capitalist Hong Kong, with a population of around 7.2 million, was returned to Communist Chinese rule in 1997. The Occupy movement said in a statement that "all chances of dialogue have been exhausted and the occupation of Central will definitely happen." It gave no timeframe for its action. Political reform has been a constant source of friction between Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement and the mainland since Britain returned the city to China 17 years ago. — Reuters
|
|
|
Israel seizes West Bank land for settlement use
Jerusalem, August 31 Israel Radio said the step was taken in response to the kidnapping and killing of three Jewish teens by Hamas militants in the area in June. The notice published by the military gave no reason for the decision. Peace Now, which opposes Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank - territory Palestinians seek for a state, said the appropriation was meant to turn a site where 10 families now live adjacent to a Jewish seminary into a permanent settlement. Construction of a major settlement at the location, known as "Gevaot", has been mooted by Israel since 2000. Last year, the government invited bids for the building of 1,000 housing units at the site. Peace Now said the land seizure was the largest announced by Israel in the West Bank since the 1980s and that anyone with ownership claims had 45 days to appeal. — Reuters
|
|
Philippines disputes Beijing’s claim over South China Sea
Accusing China of pursuing aggressive designs in the South China Sea in violation of its international commitments, the Philippines has sought increased defence and economic cooperation with India. “They (Beijing) are saying something and doing another,’’ Philippines Foreign Ministry spokesman Charles C Jose said in the context of China’s aggressive posturing in the disputed sea while talking to a group of visiting Indian journalists here. The statement came a day after newspapers in the Philippines released photos to validate Manila’s claim that China was building structures and a possible air-strip on the disputed Johnson Reef in the sea. Manila claimed it was in violation of the non-binding 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea Agreement between Beijing and ten member states of the ASEAN. China is also said to have launched reclamation projects on three more reefs disputed between the two countries. The spokesman said Manila had lodged a strong protest with Beijing over the Chinese activities in the disputed sea but in vain. ‘’We continue to protest because if we don’t challenge what they are doing, we would lose 80 per cent of our economic zone, depriving our people of their livelihood,’’ he added. China, he said, had demonstrated an increasingly assertive and sometimes aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea. Asked how Manila viewed China’s objection to India undertaking oil exploration activities allocated to it by Vietnam in the South China Sea, Jose said, ‘’Hanoi is very much within its sovereign right to seek exploitation of its resources.’’ On ties with India, Jose said Manila considered New Delhi as an important partner and desired to strengthen ties. India, he noted, was one of the fastest growing economies in the world. There was a tremendous potential for increasing bilateral trade between the two countries. On the defence side, the spokesman said India was a major naval power and Manila sought to strengthen its cooperation with all countries in the region which have stakes in the South China Sea. On whether join naval exercises between India and the Philippines were also on the cards, he said their navy personnel were already interacting with each other in the exercises organised by the US Pacific Command.aManila has, meanwhile, shortlisted India’s Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited and a French company for in the international bidding for Philippine Navy’s frigate programme. Officials here say the Indian company stands a ‘very good’ chance of bagging the contract. China building airstrip?
|
||||||
UK imams issue fatwa on British Muslim extremists Islamists attack intelligence site in Somalia, 11 dead Philippine troops pull ‘greatest escape’ in Golan
|
||||||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Beijing/Hong Kong, August 31
Israel announced on Sunday a land appropriation in the occupied West Bank that an anti-settlement group termed the biggest in 30 years and a Palestinian official said would cause only more friction after the Gaza war. Some 400 hectares (988 acres) in the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem were declared "state land, on the instructions of the political echelon" by the military-run Civil Administration.
