ARGENTINA
Ruling party keeps Congress
President Cristina Fernandez’s governing bloc held onto control of the Congress in Sunday’s elections, but the results buried hopes of changing the constitution to let her run for a third term and revealed a former loyalist as a political threat. The president’s former chief of the Cabinet, Sergio Massa, beat the candidate that Fernandez hand-picked to lead her slate for Congress, Martin Insaurralde, by a decisive 12-point margin in Buenos Aires Province, where 37 percent of voters live. With 72 percent of the votes counted nationwide, the governing Front for Victory Party won 33 percent of the congressional votes overall, far short of the 54 percent Fernandez carried in her re-election in 2011.
MEXICO
Power stations attacked
Unidentified assailants armed with guns and Molotov cocktails attacked power stations on Sunday, causing blackouts in 14 towns. The Ministry of the Interior said in a statement that national power company equipment, six fueling stations and a convenience store were targeted in Michoacan State, but nobody was hurt. More than 420,000 people were left without power, but service was restored to 60 percent of customers late on Sunday, Federal Electricity Commission spokesman Estefano Conde said. A government official told foreign media that authorities suspect the Knights Templar cartel launched the assault to send a message to the population and self-defense forces in the state. The cartel accuses the self-defense forces of being backed by rivals the Jalisco New Generation cartel.
UNITED STATES
S African activist arrested
Businessman and anti-apartheid stalwart Mosima Gabriel “Tokyo” Sexwale was briefly arrested in New York last week after his name appeared on a list of people banned from entering the country, the South African Broadcasting Corp (SABC) said on Sunday, citing his lawyer, Lesley Mkhabela. Sexwale, a rival of President Jacob Zuma who was ousted as minister of housing in a Cabinet reshuffle in July, was arrested at John F Kennedy International Airport while on a business trip, the SABC said. Some anti-apartheid activists were banned from visiting the US during apartheid. The ban has been lifted, but not all the names have been removed from the list, Mkhabela told the SABC.
ITALY
Aung San Suu Kyi honored
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday picked up an overdue honor from Rome. The Nobel Peace Prize winner received Rome’s honorary citizenship in City Hall on Capitoline Hill. In 1994, Rome had conferred the honor in absentia on Aung San Suu Kyi, a champion of democracy who spent years as a political prisoner. In picking up the honor, she fondly recalled visiting Rome while a student at Oxford University. She was to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican yesterday.
IRAN
Paper banned for criticism
The country’s press watchdog has imposed a ban on reformist newspaper Bahar for an article seen by critics as questioning the beliefs of Shiite Islam, media said yesterday. Bahar issued an apology note saying the article was an “unintentional mistake” and that it had temporarily suspended activities on Saturday to “ease the tensions.” “The article, which has sadly hurt the feelings of the believers, was published due to a technical error... Editorial has apologized several times and criticized the article to show it was contrary to Bahar’s [political] line,” the note said.
NEW ZEALAND
Climbers die on mountain
Two climbers died on a mountain after being trapped for two nights in high winds, police said yesterday. Japanese Hiroki Ogawa, 31, and local Nicole Sutton, 29, were part of a group of climbers who reached the summit of Mount Taranaki on Saturday before encountering bad weather on the descent, police said. Two other climbers in the group made it to safety after spending one night on the mountain. Ogawa and Sutton dug themselves into the snow as best they could and had been texting police until Sunday night. However, poor conditions prevented rescuers from reaching the pair until early yesterday morning. Police said that Sutton was still alive when rescuers reached them, but soon became unresponsive. Poor conditions forced rescuers to leave the bodies on the mountain yesterday. They plan to try to recover them today. Sutton’s parents told reporters that Sutton and Ogawa were in a relationship and they thought they might one day marry.
INDIA
Man admits to bombing rally
Police say a man has confessed his involvement in bombings near a rally by Hindu nationalist opposition leader Narendra Modi and said the attacks were ordered by an outlawed Islamic group. The six blasts in Bihar’s capital of Patna killed six people and injured 83 on Sunday. Police official Manu Maharaj says one of five men being questioned said the bombings had been ordered by the Indian Mujahideen, which has been linked to the banned Pakistan-based Islamist rebel group Lashkar-e-Taiba. No group has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday’s blasts.
BANGLADESH
Two die in strike violence
The opposition alliance enforced a nationwide strike yesterday marred by violence that resulted in two deaths. A 40-year-old man belonging to the ruling Awami League party was stabbed to death by opposition supporters after a street altercation as the protesters tried to stop vehicles defying the shutdown in Dhaka’s central district of Jamalpur, local police official Qazi Sayedur Rahman said. In the southeastern district of Chittagong, a trucker lost control of his vehicle when it was attacked by the strike supporters, local police official Nazmul Hasan said. The 32-year-old driver died at the scene when his truck overturned. Meanwhile, at least 50 people were injured when a train derailed in northern Lalmonirhat district as the strike supporters uprooted the rail line, Channel 24 TV station reported. In Dhaka, opposition supporters torched an office of the ruling party.
AUSTRALIA
Fleetwood Mac cancels tour
Rock group Fleetwood Mac yesterday canceled their tour of Australia and New Zealand after founding member John McVie was diagnosed with cancer. The band, who have just completed the European leg of their hugely successful world tour, were due to play 14 shows in the two countries from Nov. 10.
AUSTRALIA
Bar Syria returnees: Carr
Former foreign minister Bob Carr yesterday urged the government to consider barring citizens who fight in Syria from returning home. Security officials fear Australians are being radicalized through fighting in Syria and will heighten the terrorism threat. Carr told Australian Broadcasting Corp that as minister, he had been advised by his department that preventing citizens from returning from the Syrian civil war would be illegal because it would leave them stateless. Carr urged the new government to seek a legal option.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS