The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Tensions soar in Hong Kong as police bring in rubber bullets Hong Kong, October 2 Tensions in Hong Kong soared today after police were seen unloading boxes of tear gas and rubber bullets close to the city's besieged government headquarters as the authorities urged pro-democracy demonstrators to disperse "as soon as possible". Protesters have shut down central areas of the southern Chinese city with a mass sit-in, including outside the city's legislative assembly, and have given Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying until midnight to step down, or face escalated action. China backed the city's embattled leader saying it was behind Leung "firmly and unshakably" and pledged support for the police as protesters prepared for a fifth night on the barricades. Days of peaceful demonstrations have seen tens of thousands of people take over the city's usually traffic-heavy streets as they demand Beijing grant fully free elections in the semi-autonomous city. Last month China said Hong Kongers would be able to vote for their next leader in 2017 but only those vetted by a loyalist committee would be allowed to stand-something demonstrators have dismissed as a "fake democracy". The city authorities today said they wanted the streets cleared around the government headquarters with more than 3,000 civil servants expected to return to the headquarters after a two-day public holiday. In a statement, officials called on protesters "not to block the access there and to disperse peacefully as soon as possible". Classes in the protest affected areas will also be suspended tomorrow, they added. The late afternoon resupply by police officers caused widespread alarm among protesters as their leaders issuing fresh calls for people to swell their ranks. Pictures shared widely on social media and television showed one barrel with the words "Round, 38mm rubber baton multi" written on it. Another had "1.5 in, CS" emblazoned on it, a possible reference to CS gas. "I am worried that the police will use force to disperse the movement tonight," Andrew Shum, a member of Occupy Central, one of the main protest groups, told AFP. "Everyone is discussing what they are going to do next." China's Communist Party has shown no sign of bowing to protesters' twin demands that Leung step down by today and that Beijing allow Hong Kongers to nominate their next leader. An editorial in the Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily today warned against chaos in the city adding Beijing supported "the police of the special territory in handling these illegal protests according to the law". — AFP HK’s reputation under threat A top Chinese envoy has warned that the protests could tarnish the Hong Kong's reputation as one of the world's leading financial hubs if they continued for a prolonged period Spooked by the protests, some banks and other financial firms have begun moving staff to back-up premises on the outskirts of the city The city's benchmark index, closed on Thursday for a holiday, plunged 7.3 per cent in September Beijing’s dilemma Cracking down too hard could shake confidence in market-driven Hong Kong. Not reacting firmly enough, however, could embolden dissidents on the mainland A pro-Beijing group told a news conference Leung's supporters would take to the streets to show support for his administration, raising the prospect of clashes between the two sides A pro-democracy protestor holds up his phone to display a photo he took of police ferrying boxes of small arms into the government headquarters in Hong Kong on Thursday. AFP HK leader offers talks Hong Kong's embattled leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, offered to hold talks between his government and pro-democracy protesters, but said he would not accept their demand that he resign Leung made the comments at a news conference just minutes before a deadline that had been set by the protesters for him to step down
	Islamists seize western Iraqi town of Hit Baghdad, October 2 Islamic State-led insurgents took control of most of the western Iraqi town of Hit in Anbar province early on Thursday, security sources and local officials said. The ultra-radical Sunni Muslim militants have captured vast swathes of western and northern Iraq including the north's biggest city Mosul in June, as well as large areas of the east and north of neighbouring Syria. The fall of Hit exposes the Ain al-Asad military base in the nearby town of al-Baghdadi to attack. Iraqi government forces suffered big losses after insurgents laid siege to other military camps in recent months. "Ninety per cent of Hit has been overrun by militants," said Adnan al-Fahdawi, an Anbar provincial council member, adding that the attackers were better armed than local security forces. An eyewitness speaking from Hit told Reuters: "Scores of militants can be seen in the town with their vehicles and weapons, I can hear shooting now everywhere." Other eyewitnesses said the insurgents raised jihadi black flags over government buildings in Hit, and that they had seen corpses of members of the security forces in the streets. — Reuters
	US Secret Service chief quits over security breaches Washington, October 2 The US Secret Service director resigned, paying the price for a string of security lapses by the elite presidential protection branch, including one in which an armed intruder ran into the White House. Julia Pierson stepped down yesterday a day after enduring a withering public grilling by lawmakers, who pronounced themselves baffled at failures by Secret Service agents, another of which saw an armed former felon get on an elevator with President Barack Obama. Pierson had been brought into the agency as a new broom after the reputation of its sharp-suited agents took a hit from drinking and prostitution scandals. But she leaves with the Secret Service facing searching questions from critics who have even warned the lives of the President and his family are not safe, due to several high-profile failures. Bowing to rising political pressure, Pierson offered her resignation and it was accepted by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. Johnson appointed Joseph Clancy-who formerly headed the presidential protection branch of the Secret Service as an interim replacement. An independent panel will be named to probe a September 19 incident, which saw knife-carrying homeless US army veteran Omar Gonzalez allegedly jump the White House fence and run into the residence. Gonzalez pleaded not guilty yesterday to three counts including unlawfully entering a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. In another incident last month, an armed security contractor with a criminal record was allowed into an elevator with Obama when he visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. — AFP In line of fire: Julia Pierson stepped down on Wednesday a day after enduring a withering public grilling by lawmakers, who pronounced themselves baffled at failures by Secret Service agents.
	Here I am, alive: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau dismisses claims of his death in new video Kano, October 2 Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau dismissed Nigerian military claims of his death in a new video today and said the militants had implemented strict Islamic law in captured towns. "Here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath," Shekau said, adding that his group was "running our...Islamic caliphate" and administering strict sharia punishments. Nigeria's military said last week that Shekau was dead and that a man who had been posing as the group's leader in the videos had been killed after fighting with troops in the far northeast. Security analysts and the United States questioned the credibility of the military's claim. The new 36-minute video showed Shekau, in combat fatigues and black rubber boots, standing on the back of a pick-up truck and firing an anti-aircraft gun into the air. Standing in front of three camouflaged vans and flanked by four heavily armed, masked fighters, he then speaks for 16 minutes in Arabic and the Hausa language widely spoken in northern Nigeria. There was no indication of where or when the video was shot. The heavily bearded Shekau, who appeared to be the same as those in previous clips, said the military's claim that he was dead was propaganda. "Nothing will kill me until my days are over... I'm still alive. Some people asked you if Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by Allah," he said, apparently reading from a script. "It is propaganda that is prevalent. I have one soul. I'm the Islamic student whose seminary you burnt... I'm not dead," he added, apparently referring to the destruction of the group's mosque in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in 2009. — AFP Previous claims by Nigeria’s military Nigeria's military said last week that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau was dead. There have been two previous claims by Nigeria's security forces that Shekau was dead — once in 2009 during unrest in Maiduguri — and again in 2013. Following each previous claim, Boko Haram has issued denials in video messages.
	7 students killed in Pak bus blast Afzal Khan in Islamabad At least seven persons were killed and four injured in an explosion in a passenger bus in Bazid Khel, Peshawar, on Thursday. "The bomb was planted in a water cooler in the bus," SSP (Operations) Najeebur Rehman said. According to initial reports, the deceased were students who were en route from Peshawar to Kohat. The bomb contained five kilograms of explosives. Three bodies have been identified, while the remaining four were charred beyond recognition. Further investigations are underway. Earlier in the morning, another explosion killed a police official, Asif Mehmood, near the Yakatoot police station.