|
|
|
|
|
New Afghan Prez Ghani takes oath
Spain rolls out roadblock to Catalonia vote
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Obama: US intelligence underestimated IS
Turkish army tanks take position near the Syrian border in Suruc after three mortars hit the Turkish side on Monday. AFP
Call for democracy gets louder in HK
Pro-democracy protesters gather near the government headquarters in Hong Kong on Monday. AFP
|
|
New Afghan Prez Ghani takes oath
Kabul, September 29 The ceremony at the presidential palace in Kabul marked the country's first democratic transfer of power and opened a new era after the rule of Hamid Karzai, President since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. The June presidential election was engulfed in disputes over fraud, but international donors welcomed today's inauguration as a key legacy of the costly military and civilian intervention in Afghanistan. NATO's US-led combat mission will end in three months but the Taliban still pose a serious threat to national stability, having launched several fresh offensives in recent months. "We ask opponents of the government, specially the Taliban and Hizb-e-Islami (another militant group), to enter political talks," Ghani said after being sworn in. "Any problems that they have, they should tell us, we will find a solution. We ask every villager to call for peace. We ask Muslim scholars to advise the Taliban, and if they don't listen to their advice, they should cut off any relations." Karzai also pursued peace talks with the Taliban, but preliminary efforts collapsed last year when a Taliban office that opened in Qatar was styled as an embassy for a government-in-exile. The security threat in Kabul was underlined by a suicide attack near the airport today in which the police said four civilians were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility. Afghan dignitaries gathered at the palace from early morning with helicopters buzzing overhead ferrying a guest-list of low-level foreign representatives. John Podesta, counsellor to President Barack Obama, led a 10-member US delegation, with President Mamnoon Hussain representing Pakistan and Vice-President Hamid Ansari travelling from India. Many other countries, including Britain and France, were represented only by their diplomats in Kabul, while China sent Yin Weimin, minister of human resources. Both Ghani and his poll rival Abdullah Abdullah claimed to have won the election, plunging Afghanistan into months of crisis that fuelled the insurgency and worsened the country's dire economic outlook. Under heavy pressure from the US and UN, the two candidates eventually agreed to form a "national unity government", and Ghani was declared president a week ago after an audit of nearly eight million ballot papers. Abdullah was sworn in today as "chief executive", a new role similar to a prime minister, as part of a power-sharing deal that is likely to cause friction between opposing camps within the government. — AFP Historic handover
* The ceremony marked the country's first democratic transfer of power and opened a new era after the rule of Hamid Karzai, President since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001 *
But the transition has been far from smooth: the deal for a unity government was cobbled together after months of deadlock over a vote in which both Ghani and opponent Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory *
Under heavy pressure from the US and UN, the two candidates eventually agreed to form a "national unity government" *
Abdullah was sworn in today as "chief executive", a new role similar to a prime minister, as part of a power-sharing deal Afghanistan to sign US security pact today
Afghanistan will on Tuesday sign a crucial security agreement allowing the United States to leave a small contingent of troops in the country beyond this year, a US embassy spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said Afghanistan's new President Ashraf Ghani would sign the agreement in the morning at the presidential palace in the capital, Kabul. |
|
|
Spain rolls out roadblock to Catalonia vote
Barcelona, September 29 After Catalonia's president Artur Mas staked his leadership on the issue by calling the vote for November 9, the national government responded by filing a constitutional challenge. Conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he "deeply" regretted Mas's move. "I regret it because it is against the law, it bypasses democracy and divides Catalans, it alienates them from Europe and the rest of Spain and seriously harms their welfare," Rajoy said. He said the government had sent the appeal to the country's Constitutional Court and that Mas's measures would be suspended as soon as that tribunal accepted the appeal, pending a final decision by its judges. Buoyed by mass street demonstrations, Mas has pushed ahead for a vote in defiance of Rajoy's warnings. — AP |
|
|
Obama: US intelligence underestimated IS
Mursitpinar (Turkey), Sept 29 Turkish tanks took up positions on the Syrian frontier, opposite a besieged border town where Islamic State shelling intesified and stray fire hit Turkish soil. US-led air strikes overnight hit a natural gas plant controlled by Islamic State fighters in eastern Syria, a monitoring body reported, part of an apparent campaign to disrupt one of the fighters' main sources of income. The monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said planes also struck a grain silo in northern Syria killing civilians. This could not be immediately confirmed. US-led strikes have so far failed to halt an advance by fighters in northern Syria on Kobani, a Kurdish town on the border with Turkey where the past week's battle caused the fastest refugee flight of Syria's three-year civil war. At least 15 Turkish tanks were positioned at the frontier, some with guns pointed towards Syrian territory. More tanks and armoured vehicles moved towards the border after shells landed in Turkey on Sunday and Monday. The United States has been bombing Islamic State and other groups in Syria for a week with the help of Arab allies, and hitting targets in neighbouring Iraq since last month. European countries have joined the campaign in Iraq but not in Syria. Islamic State, a Sunni militant group which broke off from Al-Qaida, alarmed the West and the Middle East by sweeping through northern Iraq in June, slaughtering prisoners and ordering Shi'ites and non-Muslims to convert or die. — Reuters
|
|
|
Call for democracy gets louder in HK
Hong Kong, September 29 The Communist government in Beijing made clear it would not tolerate dissent, and warned against any foreign interference as thousands of protesters massed for a fourth night in the free-wheeling, capitalist city of more than 7 million people. "Hong Kong is China's Hong Kong," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying defiantly told a news briefing in Beijing. The unrest, the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule over the former British colony in 1997, sent white clouds of gas wafting among some of the world's most valuable office towers and shopping malls before riot police suddenly withdrew around lunchtime on Monday. Tens of thousands of mostly student protesters are demanding full democracy and have called on the city's leader Leung Chun-ying to step down. China rules Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" formula that accords the territory only a degree of democracy. As riot police withdrew on Monday, weary protesters slept beside roads or sheltered from the sun beneath umbrellas, which have become a symbol of what some are calling the "Umbrella Revolution". In addition to protection from the elements, umbrellas have been used as flimsy shields against pepper spray. Nicola Cheung, an 18-year-old student from Baptist University, said the protesters in central Admiralty district were assessing the situation and planning what to do next. "Yes, it's going to get violent again because the Hong Kong government isn't going to stand for us occupying this area," she said. "We are fighting for our core values of democracy and freedom, and that is not something violence can scare us away from." Organisers have said that as many as 80,000 people have thronged the streets after the protests flared on Friday night. No independent estimate of numbers was available. The protests, with no single identifiable leader, bring together a mass movement of mostly tech-savvy students who have grown up with freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China. — Reuters
* Protesters sleep beside roads or sheltered from the sun beneath umbrellas, which have become a symbol of what some are calling the "Umbrella Revolution" *
The unrest is the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule over the former British colony in 1997 *
The movement represents one of the biggest threats for Beijing's Communist Party leadership since its bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy student protests at Tiananmen Square |
Imran Khan vows to hold public rallies across Pak Islamabad: Vowing to fan out beyond the current venue of his anti-government sit-in in Islamabad to major cities across the country, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has said he is aiming at awakening people to stand up against injustice and denial of their fundamental rights. Imran insisted this fundamental change in his strategy did not mean giving up the 'dharna' politics adding it would continue as focal point in exerting pressure on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif whose resignation he has been demanding. — TNS Japan volcano rescue suspended, toll rises to 36 Tokyo: Five more bodies were found near the peak of an erupting Japanese volcano on Monday, as rescuers suspended their search because of the growing danger from toxic gas. The grim discovery takes to at least 36 the total number of people feared to have died when Mount Ontake erupted without warning during a busy hiking weekend.— PTI
|
||||||
|
| 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 | |
one-time US-based academic, was sworn in as new President of Afghanistan today and used his inaugural speech to call for Taliban insurgents to join peace talks after 13 years of war.
President Barack Obama has acknowledged that US intelligence underestimated the rise of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, where the head of an
Al-Qaida branch warned militants will attack the West in retaliation for US-led air strikes.
Hong Kong, September 29
