W O R L D

Rajapaksa calls snap polls to seek record third term
Colombo, November 20
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today called for snap polls, seeking a record third six-year term amid a drop in popularity and demands for his powers to be curbed. Rajapaksa (69) — who was elected in 2005 and 2010 —called for early elections, a full two years before his tenure ends.

Sri Lankan motorists drive past multiple posters of President Mahinda Rajapakse in Colombo on Thursday. AFP

Indian-American Bera re-elected to US Congress
Washington, November 20
Amiresh 'Ami' Bera, the lone Indian American lawmaker in the US House of Representatives, repeated history as he edged out his Republican opponent in a California race two weeks after the elections.

Swedish court upholds Assange detention order

Stockholm, November 20 A Swedish court rejected on Thursday an appeal by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to revoke a detention order issued over allegations of sexual assault, but called on prosecutors to make more effort to question him. Julian Assange has been stuck inside Ecuador's London embassy since June 2012 to avoid a British extradition to Sweden, which wants to question him on allegations of sexual assault and rape but have insisted he must come to Sweden first.

Russian minister in Pak, defence pact on cards
Islamabad, November 20
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived on a day-long visit to Pakistan Thursday, media reported. During his short stay in Islamabad, Shoigu would meet Prime Minister Sharif in Islamabad to discuss issues related to security and defence cooperation between Pakistan and Russia, Dawn online reported.

Snow continues to fall in paralysed New York New York, November 20 Snowbound residents of western New York awoke to as much as another foot of accumulation on Thursday with possibly another 30 inches (76 cm) expected, meteorologists said. At least eight deaths have been blamed on the wintry blast. The big chill: A man climbs on his roof to clear snow in the town of Cheektowaga near Buffalo, New York. Reuters

Rajapaksa calls snap polls to seek record third term

Colombo, November 20
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today called for snap polls, seeking a record third six-year term amid a drop in popularity and demands for his powers to be curbed. Rajapaksa (69) — who was elected in 2005 and 2010 —called for early elections, a full two years before his tenure ends.

His proclamation to seek re-election was issued at 1:30 pm, an auspicious hour, presidential officials said.

"I am declaring a secret today. I have signed the proclamation calling for the election for re-election for the third time... That is democracy," Rajapaksa said on state television.

The election is likely to be held in early January.

A message on the Rajapaksa's twitter account said he signed the proclamation declaring his intention to hold a presidential election seeking another term.

Rajapaksa became eligible to call an election yesterday after completing the mandatory four years in his second term.

Yesterday, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) — the main constituent of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) — unanimously decided to field Rajapaksa as its candidate at the next Presidential election.

The SLFP senior vice-president and Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva proposed the name of Rajapaksa and it was seconded by Prime Minister D M Jayaratne.

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya's office said the presidential proclamation has been received and the due nominations procedure would follow.

Deshapriya summoned all election officials, local officials and secretaries of all political parties to Colombo tomorrow for a meeting to discuss the upcoming presidential elections.

Under the constitution, the President may call elections four years into a term. The Supreme Court upheld this law earlier this month, paving the way for his announcement.

Rajapaksa's decision came amid signs that he and his party were politically vulnerable. In local elections in September, his United People's Freedom Alliance suffered its worst losses, losing roughly 20 per cent support among voters.

Yesterday, his ally, the National Heritage Party (JHU), announced that it was exiting the government. As the main party of Buddhist monks, its departure could damage his support in a country where Buddhists comprise nearly 70 per cent of its population of 21.8 million.

The JHU attributed Rajapaksa's grip on power as a reason for its decision to leave the government, echoing an oft-voiced criticism by the opposition.

Rajapaksa narrowly won elections in 2005. Six years later, he and his party clinched an overwhelming victory, after his government's success in defeating the LTTE in 2009, ending more than a quarter century of civil war. — PTI

Powers of Lankan Prez under question

• Rajapaksa came to power in 2005 and won a second six-year term in 2010 on a wave of popularity after the military defeated Tamil Tigers, ending a 26-year civil war
• Critics, including his coalition partners, say Lanka's ‘executive presidency’ gives him and his family too much power
• Rajapaksa will be banking on Sinhala Buddhists, who account for around 70% of the population, to re-elect him
• But his voter base could be split by a prominent Buddhist monk who also opposes the executive presidency
• Rajapaksa has said he will abolish the additional powers after polls, but made the same pledge in 2005 and 2010

Indian-American Bera re-elected to US Congress

Washington, November 20
Amiresh 'Ami' Bera, the lone Indian American lawmaker in the US House of Representatives, repeated history as he edged out his Republican opponent in a California race two weeks after the elections.

Bera, who had won in a similar fashion in 2012, trailed Republican Doug Ose by more than 3,000 votes at the close of election night and steadily closed the gap as election officials tallied tens of thousands of remaining ballots.

He on Wednesday led Doug, who had served in Congress from 1999 to 2005, by 1,432 votes with nearly all ballots counted in the seat covering suburban Sacramento county, media reported.

Bera, the third Indian American House member after Dalip Singh Saund and current Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, had ousted then sitting Republican House member Dan Lungren in 2012.

"It's been my honour serving this community as a doctor for the last 19 years and I am grateful I will have the opportunity to continue serving as the representative for California's 7th Congressional District in Congress," Bera said in a statement.

"If you remember in the contest in 2012, we were tied and after the ballots were counted, we won by over 9,000 votes," Bera said.

Ose congratulated Bera on the hard fought win saying he "celebrates the fact that our institutions and our laws provide us a system whereby elections can be peacefully resolved".

The race was deemed the most expensive one with both candidates spending at least $19.6 million in the campaign, according to the Centre for Responsive Politics.

Two other Indian American aspirants for the House were defeated in the mid-term election.

In the battle for Silicon Valley, Indian-American Rohit 'Ro' Khanna conceded defeat after giving seven-term incumbent Mike Honda the toughest fight of his life and in Pennsylvania, Manan Trivedi failed to make it even in his third attempt. — IANS

ICC mulls war crimes’ charges against jihadists

Berlin, November 20
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said she was weighing bringing war crimes charges against Islamic State jihadist fighters, in an interview published today.

Fatou Bensouda told the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that such steps would be possible for extremists whose home countries have signed on to the ICC's treaty.

"There is a lot of evidence that there are foreign fighters in the ranks of IS from countries that have signed the court's statute, including Jordan, Tunisia and European countries," she said.

"We could prosecute these suspects for war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Bensouda said she had already received files from the governments of Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan and was "reviewing our options".

But she said that war was still raging in the countries where investigations were required and noted that it was increasingly difficult to fly out witnesses to testify.

"More and more, we try to work with documents and not witnesses," she said.

IS has carried out widespread atrocities since seizing control of large parts of Iraq and Syria, executing five Western hostages and hundreds of locals.

The group on Sunday released a grisly new video showing the execution of 18 Syrian prisoners and US aid worker Peter Kassig. — AFP

Senior IS figure killed in Mosul

BAGHDAD: An Islamic State leader has been killed in an air strike in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, residents and a local medical source said on Thursday. They said Radwan Taleb al-Hamdouni, who they described as the radical militant group's leader in Mosul, was killed with his driver when their car was hit in a western district of the city on Wednesday afternoon. He had been the Islamic State ‘wali’, or governor, of Mosul, which was captured by the group in June.

Swedish court upholds Assange detention order

Stockholm, November 20
A Swedish court rejected on Thursday an appeal by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to revoke a detention order issued over allegations of sexual assault, but called on prosecutors to make more effort to question him. Assange's Swedish lawyer said the decision would be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Assange's lawyers have argued that the arrest warrant should be repealed because it cannot be enforced while Assange is in the embassy, and Swedish prosecutors had not travelled to London to interrogate him.

"There is no reason to set aside the detention solely because Julian Assange is in an embassy and the detention order cannot be enforced at present for that reason," the Svea Court of Appeal said in a statement.

The court also said Swedish prosecutors had not made enough effort to interrogate Assange outside Sweden and said the "failure of the prosecutors to examine alternative avenues is not in line with their obligation".

Per Samuelson, one of Assange's lawyers, told Reuters he read this to mean that the court believed the defence was right, but that it did not dare take the full consequences and lift the detention order.

Assange denies the allegations and says he fears Sweden would extradite him to the United States, where he could be put on trial for one of the largest classified information leaks in US history. — Reuters

Russian minister in Pak, defence pact on cards

Islamabad, November 20
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived on a day-long visit to Pakistan Thursday, media reported. During his short stay in Islamabad, Shoigu would meet Prime Minister Sharif in Islamabad to discuss issues related to security and defence cooperation between Pakistan and Russia, Dawn online reported.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation is expected to be signed. This is the first visit to Pakistan by a Russian defence minister in the recent past.

Russia and Pakistan have lately been working on enhancing defence cooperation and are believed to have already covered a lot of ground. Exchange of visits by military commanders in recent years is an indication of progress achieved in this regard.

India’s decision to enter into a tighter embrace with the US has prompted Russia to rethink its defence relationship with Pakistan.

The visit also comes against the backdrop of reports that Moscow has given the go-ahead for sale of MI-35 helicopters to Pakistan, which is interested in purchasing up to 20 helicopters. — IANS

US for boosting military ties with India

• The US on Thursday pitched for greater cooperation with India in the defence sector and underlined the need to enhance trade of high-tech items
• “Increased defence trade and cooperation is vital to advance our partnership. India now conducts more military exercises with the US than any other country," Eric L Hirschhorn, Under Secretary for Bureau of Industry and Security, US Department of Commerce, said. PTI

Snow continues to fall in paralysed New York

New York, November 20
Snowbound residents of western New York awoke to as much as another foot of accumulation on Thursday with possibly another 30 inches (76 cm) expected, meteorologists said. At least eight deaths have been blamed on the wintry blast.

Snow and below-freezing temperatures were forecast to continue through midday Friday, the National Weather Service said on its website.

Hoping to clear its snow-filled stadium for a game on Sunday, the Buffalo Bills were offering $10 an hour plus game tickets to people willing to shovel.

The football team said 220,000 tons of snow needed to be removed. A decision on postponing the game would be made by the National Football League, it said on its website.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said holding the game against the New York Jets would be impractical because many roads were either cut off or dangerous. As much as a foot dropped overnight in Erie County, which includes the city of Buffalo on Lake Erie, the weather service said. — Reuters