Xi’s maiden visit to India has put ties into historic phase: China
Beijing, September 20
China has said President Xi Jinping’s maiden visit to India has propelled bilateral ties into a historic phase and opened a new chapter in its neighbourhood diplomacy.

US to sell 160 armoured vehicles to Pak
Islamabad, September 20
The US will provide 160 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles with spare and repair parts to Pakistan for an estimated cost of USD 198 million, according to a media report today.

Suruc (Turkey), September 20
Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey in the past 24 hours, fleeing an advance by Islamic State fighters who have seized dozens of villages close to the border and are advancing on a Syrian town.

Turkey opened a stretch of the frontier on Friday after Kurdish civilians fled their homes, fearing an imminent attack on the border town of Ayn al-Arab. Islamic State is now within 15 km of the town, also known as Kobani, according to a Kurdish commander on the ground.

Islamic State's advances in northern Syria have prompted calls for help by the region's Kurds who fear a massacre in Kobani. The town sits in a strategic position on the border and has prevented the radical Sunni Muslim militants from consolidating their gains across northern Syria.

"Clashes started in the morning and we fled by car. We were 30 families in total," said Lokman Isa, 34, a farmer who had crossed into Turkey.

He said Islamic State fighters entered his village, Celebi, with heavy weapons, while the Kurdish forces battling them only had light arms. "They have destroyed every place they have gone to. We saw what they did in Iraq in Sinjar and we fled in fear," he told Reuters in the Turkish town of Suruc, where Turkish authorities were setting up a camp.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told CNN Turk television on Saturday that 45,000 Syrian Kurds had crossed a 30-km section of the border since Turkey opened it on Friday.

"The United States, Turkey, Russia, friendly countries must help us. They must bomb Islamic State. All they can do is cut off heads, they have nothing to do with Islam," said Mustafa Saleh, a 30 year-old water industry worker in Suruc at the site of a boarding school where tents were being set up for refugees. "I would have fought to my last drop of blood against Islamic State but I had to bring the women and children."

Kurdish forces have evacuated at least 100 villages on the Syrian side since the Islamic State onslaught started on Tuesday and have abandoned control of scores as the militant group gained ground.

"Islamic State sees Kobani like a lump in the body, they think it is in their way," said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria's civil war.

The IS has executed at least 11 Kurdish civilians, including boys, in the villages it has seized near Kobani, the Observatory said. — Reuters

Wellington, September 20
Prime Minister John Key won an emphatic victory today in New Zealand's general election to return for a third term in office, a result that will be seen as an endorsement of the way his National Party has handled the economy.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key waves as he makes a speech after victory, in Auckland on Saturday. AP/PTI

"This is a great night. This is a victory for those who kept the faith," Key told a cheering crowd in Auckland. "This is a victory for those who refused to be distracted and who knew that a vote for National was a vote for a brighter future for all New Zealanders."

Key gave credit to his deputy prime minister, Bill English, whom he described as "the best finance minister in the developed world."

With just a small number of special votes remaining to be counted, Key's party ended election night with 48 per cent of the vote.

It was a disastrous night for the National Party's closest rival, the Labour Party, which won just 25 per cent.

"The truth is, the party vote has returned a National government, and over the coming days and weeks we will need to reflect upon why," Labour Party leader David Cunliffe said in his concession speech. He said he called Key to congratulate him on his victory.

"It is rare for any government to be defeated while surfing an economic rebound with around a 4 per cent growth rate, even though the longer-term problems remain to be addressed," Cunliffe said.

The election result showed a swing to conservative parties, with the liberal Labour and Green parties losing ground. — AP

Beijing, September 20
China has said President Xi Jinping’s maiden visit to India has propelled bilateral ties into a historic phase and opened a new chapter in its neighbourhood diplomacy.

“President Xi’s visit has propelled the China-India ties into a new historic phase,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a briefing to the Chinese media on Xi’s just-concluded visit to India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Tajikistan.

Wang quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as telling Xi during their meeting that the two sides should constantly push forward their relationship “from inch to mile”. Sharing such a view, both heads of states agreed to build a closer developmental partnership, deepen the cooperation within bilateral, regional and global frameworks, Wang was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Modi and Xi also agreed to defend the common interests of the two countries and that of other developing countries while enhancing the just and sound development of international politics and economic order, Wang said yesterday.

They reaffirmed that both sides will properly manage and control the border disputes between the two nations, maintain peace and security in the border regions and find a solution to such issues at an early date, he said.

The Chinese Foreign Minister pointed out that Indian leaders, including President Pranab Mukherjee, said the mutually-beneficial cooperation with China is vital to India if it wants to take advantages from Asia’s development.

Wang quoted them as saying that India is ready to make joint efforts with China to achieve common development and prosperity.

Xi’s visits to Tajikistan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India, and his attendance at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, opened a new chapter for China’s neighbourhood diplomacy that features amity and cooperation, Wang said.

Chinese and Indian leaders decided to carry forward their friendship from both historic depths and comprehensive perspectives and keep reciprocal cooperation as the constant theme of China-India relations, he said. — PTI 

Islamabad, September 20
The US will provide 160 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles with spare and repair parts to Pakistan for an estimated cost of USD 198 million, according to a media report today.

The State Department’s nod comes as Pakistan’s military is engaged in Operation ‘Zarb-i-Azb’ against militants in the northwestern tribal region of North Waziristan and targeted action against insurgents in other areas, the Dawn said.

In a release, the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency yesterday said Pakistan had requested to purchase 160 Navistar MRAP vehicles, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and equipment training, US government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistical and programme support.

The Agency has delivered the required certification notifying Congress of the possible sale, whose principal contractor will be Navistar Defence Corporation in Madison Heights, Michigan, the release said.

The US says there will be no adverse impact on its own defence readiness as a result of this sale, the paper said. — PTI

Islamabad, September 20
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the ‘Gen-Next’ politician of Pakistan, has said that his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would get back entire Kashmir from India.

Bilawal, in his 20s, was addressing the party workers in Multan region of Punjab yesterday. “I will take back Kashmir, all of it, and I will not leave behind a single inch of it because, like the other provinces, it belongs to Pakistan,” said the scion of highly influential Bhutto family.

When Bilawal made these remarks, he was flanked by former Prime Ministers Yousaf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Asharaf. Bilawal, who has announced plans to contest next General Election in 2018, heads the PPP which officially wants good ties with India.

His mother Benazir Bhutto was twice elected the PM, while his maternal grandfather Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who founded the PPP, also served as PM in 1970s. — PTI

Islamabad, September 20
A senior Pakistani Taliban commander has been killed in a clash with security forces in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region, where a major military campaign against militants is underway.

Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said in statement today that Muhammed Hassan, a commander of the outlawed group, was killed in a clash with security forces in the region's Boya area two days ago.

Hasan, who belonged to Afghanistan's Kabul city, was recently released from a prison there and was "reunited with his comrades" in Pakistan, the statement added.

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also issued a photo showing their leader Mullah Fazlullah attending the funeral prayer of the slain commander.

The TTP statement came after it was alleged that the militant outfit had fled to neighbouring Afghanistan without putting up a resistance to the Pakistani security forces. — PTI