High time India, Pakistan set aside hostilities: Sharif

Karachi, Dec 30, 2015 (PTI)

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said it is "high time" India and Pakistan set aside their hostilities even as he expressed confidence that the spirit of goodwill generated by his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi's visit to Lahore will persist.
"The Indian Prime Minister came to Lahore and gave us his few hours. It is high time the countries put aside their hostilities," Sharif said.

"Goodwill gestures are the solution to many an ill," he told reporters at Zhob airport in Balochistan.

Sharif also thanked Modi for visiting Lahore last week.

Modi had sprung a surprise when he visited Lahore on the occasion of Sharif's 66th birthday and his granddaughter's wedding on December 25.

"It has been agreed that we will re-start the dialogue between Pakistan and India," Sharif said, adding that "progress is being made in bilateral negotiations with India".

The Pakistan premier's comments came a day after his Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in Islamabad on January 14-15 to prepare a schedule of meeting for the comprehensive dialogue covering Jammu and Kashmir and other issues.

Sharif also expressed optimism that India-Pakistan ties would improve in the days ahead and the "spirit of goodwill generated with Modi's visit will continue to prevail".

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Facebook's Free Basics service suspended in Egypt

CAIRO, Dec 31, 2015 (Reuters) -

A Facebook-sponsored service that offers limited free Internet access was suspended in Egypt on Wednesday after a permit required from the government was not renewed, an official from the Telecommunications Ministry told Reuters.

Facebook's Free Basics service, which aims to provide free access to Facebook and some partner websites in developing countries, was launched in Egypt two months ago by the mobile carrier Etisalat.

The official, who declined to be named, said Etisalat had only been granted a permit to offer the service for two months and that, when it expired on Wednesday, the service was suspended.

The suspension was not related to security concerns, the official said.

Etisalat said only that it would release a statement on Thursday.

Social media websites such as Facebook played a key organising role in Egypt's 2011 uprising.

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Indian embassy reaches out to distressed Indians in Saudi

New Delhi, Dec 30, 2015, (PTI):

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that Indian embassy officials in Saudi Arabia have reached out to distressed Indian nationals in Dubai who spent more than a fortnight in a bus after being duped by a placement agency.

"Our Embassy officials have reached Akash...They are trying to resolve this matter," tweeted Swaraj.

Akash is one of the Indians who was duped by a placement agency in Dubai. He had posted a video on YouTube seeking help from Swaraj.

According to reports, about a dozen youth from eastern Uttar Pradesh were duped by their placement agency and had to spend more than a fortnight in a bus on the outskirts of Dubai before being helped by some Indian expatriates who arranged for their accommodation.

The External Affairs minister had said that she received a report from the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia about some distressed nationals in Dubai who were allegedly duped by their placement agency.

"I have got the report from Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia. They contacted Embassy in October 2015 with a request to leave Saudi Arabia. The Embassy provided a lawyer who is fighting their case. The next date of hearing is January 6, 2016. Since the exit is provided by Sponsor of the company, they are working for intervention of the local authorities," Swaraj had tweeted.

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Sydney's biggest show kicks off global party despite fears

Sydney, Dec 31, 2015, (AFP):

Sydney will kick-start the global New Year's Eve party with its biggest fireworks display ever, but fear of jihadist attacks has cast a pall with Brussels scrapping celebrations and many cities tightening security.
The show from the Harbour Bridge and Opera House in Australia's largest city is traditionally the world's first major event to ring in the New Year.

Despite safety concerns, organisers are expecting a one million plus crowd before the chimes of midnight move across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and finally the Americas.

"It just keeps getting better every year," said Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, "with 2,400 more fireworks on the bridge than ever before and a host of exciting new effects lined up".

The 2016 theme is "City of Colour" and seven tonnes of fireworks will go up in smoke, including 11,000 shells, 25,000 shooting comets and 100,000 individual "pyrotechnics effects".

Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and other Asian cities may rival Sydney's pyrotechnic splash, but Brunei offers a sober evening after banning Christmas in a shift to hardline Islamic law.

Jakarta remains on high alert after anti-terror police foiled detailed plans for an alleged New Year suicide attack in the Indonesian capital.

At the heart of Europe, annual festivities and fireworks in Brussels have been cancelled as the Belgian capital - home to NATO and the European Union - remains on high alert.
"It's better not to take any risks," mayor Yvan Mayeur said yesterday after police arrested two people suspected of plotting to launch attacks during the festivities at Brussels landmarks.

The French capital, still reeling from the November 13 slaughter of 130 people, has also cancelled its fireworks display. But authorities agreed France's biggest public gathering since the attacks can go ahead on the Champs Elysees avenue, with bolstered security.
"The people of Paris and France need this symbolic passage into the New Year," said Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo.

"After what our city has lived through, we have to send a signal to the world," she told the weekly Journal du Dimanche.

In Turkey, police have detained two Islamic State suspects allegedly planning to stage attacks in the centre of Ankara which is expected to be packed on New Year's Eve.
Meanwhile, in Moscow police will for the first time close off Red Square where tens of thousands of revellers traditionally gather.

In Madrid, thousands of people will flock to Puerta del Sol square, however police will limit the number allowed in to just 25,000.

London is also trying to control the crowds by again charging for access to central riverside areas to see the fireworks, with more than 113,000 USD 15 tickets already sold.
Berliners will do better with about a million expected at the Brandenburg Gate for a free mega-street party.

Cairo meanwhile is trying desperately to attract tourists to bolster the economy.

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Bangladesh recalls its envoy from Pakistan

Dhaka, Dec 31, 2015, (PTI)

Bangladesh has recalled its High Commissioner in Pakistan amid the diplomatic spat between the two countries over the 1971 war crimes trial and Islamabad's withdrawal of a "terror-linked" diplomat from Dhaka.
"Yes, the High Commissioner has been asked to return home in quickest possible time," a Foreign Ministry official here told PTI on anonymity.

The official, however, said that the contract of High Commissioner Suhrab Hossain was about to expire.

A career diplomat and liberation war veteran, Hossain was on retirement when he was first appointed Bangladesh's envoy to Pakistan on a contractual basis in 2010 for two years and the contract was extended twice subsequently.

The development came a week after Islamabad withdrew a female diplomat posted in Dhaka amid an uproar over her suspected links to Islamist militants, nearly 12 months after Bangladesh expelled another Pakistani on identical charges.

According to reports, Second Secretary in the Pakistan High Commission Fareena Arshad left Dhaka two days after Bangladesh sought her withdrawal in the light of confession of a detained operative of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh who claimed that she maintained links with the outlawed outfit.

Pakistan withdrew the diplomat but denied that she had links with any terrorist outfit in Bangladesh.

Dhaka-Islamabad ties currently appeared to have been exposed to a bitter state over Islamabad's "audacious" reactions following executions of two major 1971 war crimes convicts, who were found guilty of carrying out atrocities during the Liberation War siding with the Pakistani troops.

The prestigious Dhaka University last week scraped its ties with all Pakistani universities amid continued outrage over Islamabad's reactions following execution of BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami's secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed for committing war crimes.

Pakistan foreign ministry had voiced "deep concern and anguish" over the executions", saying "Pakistan is deeply disturbed at this development (executions)".

The reaction prompted Dhaka to summon Islamabad's envoy and strongly protest the comments. In tit-for-tat, Islamabad also summoned Bangladesh acting High Commissioner there.

A foreign ministry official said Bangladesh was uncomfortable with Hossain as he was staying in Dhaka, forcing a junior female diplomat to shoulder the task of the envoy during the "crisis period" and he went back to Islamabad "when all the major difficulties were over".

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Trump blasts Bill Clinton,calls him 'one of the great abusers'

Washington, Dec 31, 2015, (PTI):

US Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump has blamed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton of starting a war of words by calling him sexist as he accused her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to be "one of the great abusers of the world."
Trump again invoked the ex-president's alleged extramarital affairs and accused Bill of engaging in "tremendous abuse" of women.

"And (Hillary) wants to accuse me of things. And the husband is one of the great abusers of the world. Give me a break. Give me a break. Give me a break," Trump said, during an election campaign event in South Carolina.

Trump, 69, who is leading the Republican presidential race, had launched another scathing attack against Clinton, 68, top Democratic presidential candidate, and her husband.

Dismissing Hillary's accusation that Trump himself engaged in sexism, the real estate magnate said: "She came out saying (Trump) has a 'penchant for sexism'... now she is playing with that card. I had no choice, but I had to mention her husband's situation," Trump said.

A day earlier, Trump told reporters that he would be raising Clinton's past during the election campaign.

"Hillary brought up the whole thing with (calling Trump) sexist," he said.
"She's got a major problem (that) happens to be right in her own house.     We'll go after the ex-president...it'll come out well for us," he said, referring to the comments made by the Democratic presidential candidate earlier.

"You have to hit back hard, and you can't let them push you around," Trump told about 2,000 cheering supporters.

Trump alleged that it was Hillary who first started this rivalry.

"You know, in the debate I was mentioned nine times, I mean everything. All of them. But her. I was mentioned nine times, none of the other candidates were mentioned. And then she came out with the sexism, which is so nonsense. But she's playing that card," he alleged.

Meanwhile, Bill in an email asked his supporters to raise money for his wife Hillary.
"I've known Hillary for over 40 years. She is smart as a whip, tenacious, dedicated, and more qualified than anyone else to protect and build on the progress President Obama's made," he wrote in an email.

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Pak singer Adnan Sami gets Indian citizenship

New Delhi, Dec 31, 2015, (PTI)

Pakistani singer Adnan Sami has been granted Indian citizenship with effect from January 1 following his request to the Centre to legalise his status in the country on humanitarian grounds.

Officials in the Union Home Ministry said Sami will be an Indian citizen with effect from tomorrow.

As of today, Sami is on a three-month visa extension which was given to him on October 6 by the Ministry.

The 46-year-old singer, who has made India his second home for the past few years, had made a representation to the Home Ministry on May 26 this year requesting his stay in India on humanitarian grounds.

Lahore-born Sami had first arrived in India on March 13, 2001 on a visitor's visa with the validity of one year which was issued by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

His visa was extended from time to time. His Pakistani passport issued on May 27, 2010 expired on May 26, 2015 and his passport was not renewed by the Pakistan government which led him to approach the Indian government with the request to legalise his stay in India on humanitarian grounds.

Sami's two songs from the album, 'Kabhi To Nazar Milao' and 'Lift Karaa De', whose music video starred actor Govinda, were a sensation in the early 2000s.

This year the singer tasted success after his song 'Bhar Do Jholi meri' in Salman Khan-starrer 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' was a smash hit. 

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2 sentenced to death for killing secular blogger in B'desh

Dhaka, Dec 31, 2015, (PTI)

A Bangladesh court today sentenced two students to death and awarded various jail terms to six persons including outlawed Ansarullah Bangla Team chief for killing activist Ahmed Rajib Haider, the first of a string of brutal murders of secular bloggers.

"They (the two convicts) shall be hanged by neck until they are dead," Special Trial Tribunal-3 Judge Sayeed Ahmed said, delivering the first verdict in over a series of murders of "atheists" in the Muslim-majority nation.

The judge sentenced former private university students Md Faisal Bin Nayem alias Dweep and absconding Redwanul Azad Rana to death. They were also fined 10,000 Taka each.

The court also found outlawed Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) chief Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani and five others guilty.

Rahmani was given five years of jail and Taka 2,000 in fine with two months of additional imprisonment in default.

Maksudul Hasan alias Anik was given life term with a fine of Taka 10,000. Md Ehsan Reza alias Rumman, Nayem Sikdar alias Iraj and Nafis Imtiaz were given 10-year jail with Taka 5,000 fine each. Sadman Yasir Mahmud was given three years in prison and Taka 2,000 in fine.

These students had vowed to kill "atheist bloggers", the investigation officer said in the charge sheet. They targeted Rajib "for his blog posts under the nick of Thabababa" and carried out the murder in two separate groups.

The prosecutors earlier said the two students were "inspired" by the jihadi sermons of Rahmani.

Machete-wielding assailants hacked to death 35-year-old Rajib, an architect by profession and an activist of Shahbagh movement, near his house at Mirpur area here in February 2013.

Investigators earlier said Rahmani's speeches and books 'encouraged' the students to kill "atheist bloggers", which eventually resulted in Rajib's murder.

Since Rajib's assassination, Bangladesh witnessed five more murders of secular writers including a progressive publisher, all in the past one year.

On February 26 this year, Bangladesh-born US blogger and science writer Avijit Roy, 42, was attacked just yards away from a book fair in Dhaka while he died instantly.

A month later fellow blogger Washiqur Rahman, 27, was hacked to death in broad daylight near his home in Dhaka's Tejgaon area where the people in the neighbourhood chased down two of the killers and handed them to police.

The subsequent victims were Ananta Bijoy Das, 33, a banker and a founder of a group called the Science and Rationalist Council; Niloy Chakrabarti, 40, who wrote online under the pen name Niloy Neel and publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, 43, who published a bestselling book by Roy. 

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European cities tighten security ahead of New Year celebrations

London, Dec 31, 2015, (IANS)

Security is being heightened in major European cities ahead of the New Year celebrations, with officials wary of possible terror plots, the media reported on Thursday.

New Year fireworks and festivities have been cancelled in the Belgian capital Brussels because of an alert. Extra measures will also be in place in cities including Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow, BBC reported.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the Brussels decision has been taken "given the information we have received".

Last year, 100,000 people turned out in Brussels to welcome in the New Year.
Earlier this week, police arrested two people suspected of planning attacks during the festive season and seized propaganda for so-called Islamic State (IS) as well as military clothing and computer equipment.

Belgium has been on high alert since the terror attacks of November 13 in Paris that killed 130 people. Several of the perpetrators are thought to have been based in Belgium.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Turkish police arrested two suspected IS members over an alleged plot to attack celebrations in Ankara.

They reportedly entered Turkey from Syria and were planning two separate attacks on crowded areas, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Suicide vests and explosives were found during police searches.

In Paris, a New Year fireworks display has been abandoned, but the traditional gathering on the Champs-Elysees will take place amid tight security.

Projections on the Arc de Triomphe will be shorter than normal, four giant screens will be placed at intervals to avoid creating tightly packed crowds and the fireworks display has been cancelled.

Authorities in Moscow will completely close off Red Square, where crowds normally count down to midnight.

In Berlin, backpacks and fireworks will be prohibited and bags searched on the "fan mile" in front of the Brandenburg Gate, which has reportedly been closed off since Christmas.

London's Metropolitan Police will deploy 3,000 officers in the inner city, including extra armed officers.

More than 100,000 people are expected to watch the Mayor of London's fireworks show, a ticketed event.

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European cities tighten security ahead of New Year celebrations

London, Dec 31, 2015, (IANS)

Security is being heightened in major European cities ahead of the New Year celebrations, with officials wary of possible terror plots, the media reported on Thursday.

New Year fireworks and festivities have been cancelled in the Belgian capital Brussels because of an alert. Extra measures will also be in place in cities including Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow, BBC reported.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the Brussels decision has been taken "given the information we have received".

Last year, 100,000 people turned out in Brussels to welcome in the New Year.
Earlier this week, police arrested two people suspected of planning attacks during the festive season and seized propaganda for so-called Islamic State (IS) as well as military clothing and computer equipment.

Belgium has been on high alert since the terror attacks of November 13 in Paris that killed 130 people. Several of the perpetrators are thought to have been based in Belgium.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Turkish police arrested two suspected IS members over an alleged plot to attack celebrations in Ankara.

They reportedly entered Turkey from Syria and were planning two separate attacks on crowded areas, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Suicide vests and explosives were found during police searches.

In Paris, a New Year fireworks display has been abandoned, but the traditional gathering on the Champs-Elysees will take place amid tight security.

Projections on the Arc de Triomphe will be shorter than normal, four giant screens will be placed at intervals to avoid creating tightly packed crowds and the fireworks display has been cancelled.

Authorities in Moscow will completely close off Red Square, where crowds normally count down to midnight.

In Berlin, backpacks and fireworks will be prohibited and bags searched on the "fan mile" in front of the Brandenburg Gate, which has reportedly been closed off since Christmas.

London's Metropolitan Police will deploy 3,000 officers in the inner city, including extra armed officers.

More than 100,000 people are expected to watch the Mayor of London's fireworks show, a ticketed event.

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US mom shoots, kills daughter after mistaking her for intruder

Washington, Dec 31, 2015, (PTI)

In a bizarre incident in the US, a mother shot and killed her 27-year-old daughter after mistaking her for an intruder.

Sherry Campbell was sleeping in her bed and awoke after she thought an intruder had entered the home in St Cloud, Florida, and was approaching her, Sgt Denise Roberts said in a statement.

The mother told police she heard footsteps approaching quickly so she fired a single shot. Roberts said her daughter -- Ashley Doby -- had been visiting from North Carolina and did not live in the home, The Orlando Sentinel reported.

St Cloud police officials were quoted as saying that Sherry is a 911 dispatcher for Osceola County and her husband -- Claude Campbell -- is a St Cloud police corporal.

Campbell placed a breathless 911 call on Tuesday as his step-daughter lay unconscious.
He told the dispatcher that Doby has "passed out. She has a pacemaker. She has a heart problem," in a recording released by police. 

But not once during the five-minute 911 call did Campbell mention why Doby was struggling to breathe -- a gunshot wound to the chest.

Campbell omitted that fact because he was asleep when his wife shot Doby, mistaking her for an intruder, police said.

He did not realise what happened until his wife explained it to him, according to authorities.

Doby was taken to a local hospital, where she later died. Her death is being characterised by St Cloud Police as an "accidental shooting," according to Roberts. Sherry has not been arrested on any criminal charges.

"The homeowner's story is consistent with the physical evidence and the witness' statement," Roberts was quoted as saying.

"At this time, the incident appears to be an accidental shooting; however, the investigation is ongoing...," he said.

In the 911 call, Sherry is heard in the background apologising to her daughter.
"Baby, I love you so much, please!" she sobs. "Please...Oh my god..."

This is not the first time in Central Florida where a relative has been mistaken as an intruder in a fatal shooting.

In June, a 16-year-old Ocoee High School student was fatally shot by his brother in their Pine Hills home, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

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Indo-Canadian charged for assaulting woman flight attendant

Toronto, Dec 31, 2015, (PTI)

A 47-year-old Indo-Canadian man, who allegedly assaulted an Air Canada woman flight attendant while the Delhi-bound plane was over the Atlantic Ocean, has been charged on two counts, including endangering safety of an aircraft.

Jaskaran Sidhu faces two counts of mischief, assault causing bodily harm and endangering safety of an aircraft after exhibiting "assaultive and belligerent" behaviour towards the flight attendant, Canadian police said.

Sidhu was released on 20,000 dollars bail yesterday, including conditions that he stay away from Pearson International Airport, cannot board any Air Canada flight, have no contact with the flight attendant or consume alcohol.

Sidhu is due back in court on January 25, Global News reported.
A family member at Sidhu's Alberta home would only say she was "shocked" about the incident, The Star newspaper reported.

Greater Toronto Airport Authority spokesperson Siobahn Desroches said Air Canada flight AC070 left Pearson at 8:57 pm local time, and the incident occurred approximately three hours in the flight, when it was over the Atlantic Ocean.

The direct flight between Toronto and Delhi, using a Boeing 787 aircraft, was diverted back to Toronto and landed at 2:20 am local time, when police took Sidhu into custody.
A passenger told Global News that Sidhu took a bite from the flight attendant's finger after the airline employee pointed at him aggressively.

"The crew member just pointed the finger, 'don't touch, don't touch.' Eventually he just cut the finger...by mistake. I think," said Pavitar Khakh, who was sitting behind the accused on the flight.

Police said the flight attendant was injured and treated at the scene.
"I saw the finger of the staff member, bleeding," passenger Manveer Kaur said. "They took a U-turn and we came back here."

The flight was initially scheduled to take off earlier Tuesday but poor winter weather forced Air Canada to postpone the flight shortly after the plane made it to the runway.
A new India-bound flight left Toronto just after noon. 

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Indo-Canadian charged for assaulting woman flight attendant

Toronto, Dec 31, 2015, (PTI)

A 47-year-old Indo-Canadian man, who allegedly assaulted an Air Canada woman flight attendant while the Delhi-bound plane was over the Atlantic Ocean, has been charged on two counts, including endangering safety of an aircraft.

Jaskaran Sidhu faces two counts of mischief, assault causing bodily harm and endangering safety of an aircraft after exhibiting "assaultive and belligerent" behaviour towards the flight attendant, Canadian police said.

Sidhu was released on 20,000 dollars bail yesterday, including conditions that he stay away from Pearson International Airport, cannot board any Air Canada flight, have no contact with the flight attendant or consume alcohol.

Sidhu is due back in court on January 25, Global News reported.
A family member at Sidhu's Alberta home would only say she was "shocked" about the incident, The Star newspaper reported.

Greater Toronto Airport Authority spokesperson Siobahn Desroches said Air Canada flight AC070 left Pearson at 8:57 pm local time, and the incident occurred approximately three hours in the flight, when it was over the Atlantic Ocean.

The direct flight between Toronto and Delhi, using a Boeing 787 aircraft, was diverted back to Toronto and landed at 2:20 am local time, when police took Sidhu into custody.
A passenger told Global News that Sidhu took a bite from the flight attendant's finger after the airline employee pointed at him aggressively.

"The crew member just pointed the finger, 'don't touch, don't touch.' Eventually he just cut the finger...by mistake. I think," said Pavitar Khakh, who was sitting behind the accused on the flight.

Police said the flight attendant was injured and treated at the scene.
"I saw the finger of the staff member, bleeding," passenger Manveer Kaur said. "They took a U-turn and we came back here."

The flight was initially scheduled to take off earlier Tuesday but poor winter weather forced Air Canada to postpone the flight shortly after the plane made it to the runway.
A new India-bound flight left Toronto just after noon. 

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Syria evacuations to ease path to talks

AP

Syrian opposition fighters and their families gather at a square surrounded by damaged buildings, as they prepare to evacuate Zabadani town on Monday.

The deal seeks to calm the conflict at local level before planned peace talks next month.

Several hundred wounded militants and their families, from opposing sides of the war in Syria, were evacuated from besieged areas on Monday in a complex deal that involved busing and flying them to neighbouring countries.

The deal, carried out under the auspices of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, was the latest attempt to strike local agreements to calm the conflict before planned peace talks next month.

The exchange allowed wounded fighters and civilians to leave areas where they had been trapped: in Zabadani, the last rebel-held, mostly Sunni town along the Lebanese border; and the isolated, government-held, mostly Shiite towns of Fouaa and Kfarya in Idlib province, which is held mainly by Sunni Islamist insurgent groups.

The logistics seemed to come off smoothly, despite the challenges of coordination and moving through hostile territory and crossing the borders of Turkey, which backs insurgents in Syria, and Lebanon, whose most powerful faction, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, supports the Syrian government of President Bashar Al-Assad. Yet deep questions remained about the deal’s context and implications.

It was unclear what would become of the many civilians and fighters remaining in the towns, as well as in Madaya, a town neighbouring Zabadani that is besieged by pro-government forces, and was not included in the deal.

Sense of uncertainty

Nisrine, a schoolteacher reached in Madaya, said she was thrilled that her husband, Ahmad, was among the fighters evacuated from Zabadani to Turkey for treatment, but concerned about what would happen to her and their 9-year-old son.

“Happiness is mixed with heartbreak,” she said. “We’re not together.” She added that her husband was “delighted but worried about us at the same time, we are still besieged and facing starvation.”

Southern Beirut, where Hezbollah is popular, was in a celebratory mood on Monday night as fighters arrived from the Shiite villages. Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to Syria and the organisation’s flags lined the airport road.

There were concerns that the agreement could eventually amount to a swap of ethnic populations, moving Shiites from Fouaa and Kfarya to friendlier territory in Lebanon or government-held parts of Syria, and moving Sunnis to Turkey or to insurgent-held areas of Syria.

Population exchange was not officially part of the deal, which was initially struck between Hezbollah and rebels in Zabadani months ago, only to be thrown into turmoil by Russia’s unexpected military intervention on the side of Assad.

More than 300 people left Fouaa and Kefraya on buses to Turkey, while 123 left Zabadani for Lebanon. The convoys were escorted by ambulances and Red Cross and Red Crescent workers. — New York Times News Service

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Airstrikes have killed 10 Islamic State leaders, says US official

US and coalition airstrikes killed 10 Islamic State leaders over the past month, including several linked to the Paris attacks or other plots against the West, a US military official in Iraq said.

US Army Col Steve Warren told Pentagon reporters that the militants were killed mainly by drone strikes in Iraq and Syria. He offered few details, but said at least two of those killed were linked to the Paris attacks.

According to Mr. Warren, one of the insurgents killed was Charaffe al Mouadan, a Syrian-based IS member who was directly linked to Abdel Hamid Abaaoud, the Paris attack cell leader. Mouadan, who was killed by an airstrike last Thursday in Syria, was planning additional attacks against the West, Mr. Warren said.

Also killed was Abdel Kader Hakim, who was part of the Islamic State group’s effort to plan attacks against Western targets and “had links” to the Paris attack network, Warren said. Most of the 10 appeared to be mid-level leaders. Mr. Warren’s announcement came as Belgian authorities said they had arrested two men in connection with a suspected plot involving attacks during the holiday season in Brussels.

They said the plans involved attacks similar to those that hit Paris on November 13, when 130 people were killed and hundreds more wounded by suicide bombers and gunmen. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.

Al Mouadan, a 26-year-old Frenchman who grew up in the poor Paris suburbs, was arrested in France in October 2012, and was charged with “criminal association in view of preparing acts of terrorism,” a sweeping charge often used by the French to nab potential terrorists.

He was not imprisoned and left for Syria in August 2013, where he joined the Islamic State group, according to a Paris judicial official.

According to the official, the French investigation of the Paris attacks linked al Mouadan with longtime friend Samy Amimour, one of the three attackers at the Bataclan theatre. Amimour was killed by police.

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Central African Republic to hold national elections

Central African Republic will hold much-delayed national elections on Wednesday that residents and the international community hope will bring stability after years of sectarian violence.

A transitional government has steered the nation toward elections that have been delayed several times. The National Election Authority proposed the most recent delay, from December 27 to 30, to deal with technical and organisational difficulties.

“This time, everything will be fine throughout Central African Republic,” said Julius Rufin Ngoadebaba, spokesman for the National Electoral Authority. He shot down allegations that illegal voter cards had been distributed.

Central African Republic citizens voted yes to a constitutional referendum on December 13, a vote seen as test for national elections. Violence killed five in a neighbourhood in the capital, Bangui, and unrest and violence elsewhere around the country saw delayed votes and results.

“The constitutional referendum vote allowed the electoral and country’s authorities to unseal the difficulties that needed to urgently be addressed,” said Minister of Territorial Administration Modibo Bachir Walidou. “Now we can say that elections on December 30 will take place knowing exactly what needs to be done, by whom and how.” Voters are caught between hope and doubt for Wednesday’s polls.

“We are ready and determined to go ahead with the vote of December 30, because it is time our country comes out of this long crisis, recovers its institutions and that Central Africans find reconciliation and live together,” said Mireille Djapou, a 26-year-old student.

The vote comes nearly a month after Pope Francis visited Central African Republic and called for peace and reconciliation between Christians and Muslims. U.N. peacekeepers will be deployed to sensitive areas and 1,800 police and gendarmes will control other areas, officials said. Some 300 armed forces from the country will look after polling stations in the capital.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all political factions to cooperate with the peacekeepers to prevent any disruption of the electoral process, according to a statement released late Tuesday by Ban’s spokesman. “The Secretary-General calls on all national stakeholders to commit themselves to ensuring that the elections are conducted in a peaceful and credible manner,” it said.

More than 1.8 million people are expected to vote at more than 500 polling stations. There are 30 candidates running for President and many others running for the legislature. The campaigns ended on Monday night.

Former Prime Ministers Martin Ziguele and Anicet Georges Dologuele are among the favoured candidates.

Central African Republic has been rocked by unrest since March 2013 when a largely Muslim alliance of rebel groups known as the Seleka overthrew President Francois Bozize. When the rebel leader left power in 2014, a swift, horrific backlash by the Christian anti-Balaka militia against Muslim civilians followed. Sectarian violence has continued ever since, displacing nearly 1 million people. Refugees in Cameroon, in the town of Garoua Boulai near the border with Central African Republic, are excited about the vote. Nearly 12,000 are registered to vote in a camp of about 25,000, officials there said.

Arnold Sami said that the people of Central African Republic have seen too much pain and suffering: “I am truly proud that they’ve decided to organise these elections, and after the elections I only want peace.”

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George Pataki ends White House bid

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Reuters

George Pataki delivers his opening statement during a forum for lower polling candidates.

A centrist Republican who led New York through the September 11, 2001, attacks, Mr. Pataki failed to gain traction in a crowded field of candidates.

Former New York Governor George Pataki said on Tuesday that he’s ending his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, with just over a month to go before the first nominating contests begin.

Mr. Pataki made the announcement in an ad that aired on local NBC affiliates in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina Tuesday night.

“While tonight is the end of my journey for the White House as I suspend my campaign for president, I’m confident we can elect the right person, someone who will bring us together and who understands that politicians, including the president, must be the people’s servant and not their master,” said Mr. Pataki, 70.

A centrist Republican who led New York through the September 11, 2001, attacks, Mr. Pataki failed to gain traction in a crowded field of candidates during an election season that has so far favoured outsiders like billionaire businessman Donald Trump.

Bruce Breton, a local elected official and member of Mr. Pataki’s New Hampshire steering committee, said Mr. Pataki called him Tuesday afternoon to say he’d be exiting the race. Mr. Breton said Mr. Pataki’s campaign had struggled to raise money and garner media attention.

“He said he couldn’t get any traction. He worked hard, it’s just a different type of year,” Mr. Breton said.

Mr. Pataki had hung his hopes on doing well in early-voting New Hampshire, but he has barely registered in state or national polls.

Mr. Pataki appeared especially frustrated by Mr. Trump’s rise, and zeroed in on his rival during the undercard debate earlier this month, declaring the New York real estate mogul unfit to be president of the United States.

“Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee,” Mr. Pataki said.

Mr. Pataki announced his candidacy with a video in May.

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Venezuela’s socialists dispute eight Opposition election wins

Allies of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro are disputing the election of eight Opposition candidates to the National Assembly, a move the Opposition says seeks to undermine its landslide victory in legislative elections.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court said it had received motions by losing candidates to overturn the results in several districts. It didn’t say on what grounds the challenges were made and nobody from the high court would comment.

But if the court were to overturn the results it would deprive the Opposition alliance of the two-thirds

“supermajority” it won this month by a single seat and which greatly enhances its power to rein in Mr.Maduro, sack Cabinet ministers and even convoke an assembly to rewrite Hugo Chavez’s 1999 constitution.

Many in the Opposition are denouncing the move by the government-stacked court as a guise to rob the Opposition of the full fruits of its victory. They’re also calling on the international community to condemn the move and safeguard the Venezuelans’ electoral wishes.

“You can’t use legal tricks to steal something the voters didn’t want to give you,” proclaimed Jesus Torrealba, secretary general of the Opposition coalition.

“We’re not living in a functional democracy,” Mr. Torrealba said in a press conference with several leaders of the incoming congress. “We’re living in a country where you can be surer about the operating hours of a liquor store than the elections tribunal of the Supreme Court.”

Mr. Maduro and his allies have been defiant in the face of defeat, vowing to deepen the revolution started by Chavez and overrun what they refer to as the “bourgeois parliament.”

Yesterday, the embattled leader briefly and only obliquely referred to the emerging dispute over the election results, saying that if authorities don’t he would reveal at an appropriate time evidence of vote-uying and other types of poll fraud by the Oposition.

“They’re playing dirty,” Mr. Maduro said during his weekly television program.

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Eight survivors found 5 days after Chinese mine collapsed

Chinese state media say rescuers have found eight surviving miners who have been trapped for five days by a collapse at a gypsum mine in eastern China.

The cave-in on Christmas Day in the eastern province of Shandong killed one worker and left an additional nine missing.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday that rescuers had yet to reach the survivors but had contacted them and were sending provisions to them underground.

Two days after the collapse, the owner of the mine, Ma Congbo, drowned after he jumped into a well in an apparent suicide during rescue efforts. Four top officials in Pingyi county, where the mine is located, have since been sacked. The collapse was so violent that the national earthquake bureau detected a quiver there

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US accuses Iran of conducting missile test near warships

Iranian naval vessels conducted rocket tests last week near U.S. warships and commercial traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the American military said on Wednesday, causing new tension between the two nations after a landmark nuclear deal.

The vital strait, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is the route for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea, is crucial for ships taking part in the war against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

While the United States has complained previously about other Iranian war games and manoeuvres there, Saturday’s incident comes after a series of weapons tests and other moves by the Islamic Republic following the nuclear deal.

Iranian media and officials did not immediately discuss the tests on Wednesday.

Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said in a statement that Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval vessels fired “several unguided rockets” about 1,370 meters (1,500 yards) from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, the USS Bulkeley destroyer and a French frigate, the FS Provence. Mr. Raines said commercial sea traffic also was nearby.

He said the Iranian vessels announced over maritime radio that they’d carry out a live fire exercise only 23 minutes beforehand.

The test comes after Iran and world powers led by the U.S. agreed to a landmark nuclear deal to limit the Islamic Republic’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. While heralded by moderates in Iran, hard-liners have criticised the deal.

In the time since, Iran has conducted missile tests criticised by the U.S., as well as aired footage on state television of an underground missile base.

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‘Pacts of silence’ from Pinochet’s dictatorship period unraveling in Chile

AP

U.S. documents published this year indicated Pinochet covered up the military’s role in the slaying of 19-year-old Rodrigo Rojas.

One former Chilean soldier said he shot 10 people in the head and then blew up their bodies with dynamite. Another said his platoon drenched two teens with gasoline and set them on fire.

Both confessions made publicly this year have shocked Chileans with details of crimes committed during the Andean nation’s 1973-1990 dictatorship. Human rights groups and families of victims believe they are a clear sign military pacts of silence that have hushed up many of the atrocities committed during the rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet may finally be unraveling.

“Criminals can’t take the guilt any longer,” said Veronica de Negri, whose 19-year-old son, Rodrigo Rojas, was burned to death at a 1986 protest against Pinochet. “They’re going to continue coming out. It’s a domino effect. More and more will talk.”

For nearly three decades, many perpetrators enjoyed impunity. But after a former soldier testified this year about Rojas’ killing, in July a judge charged seven ex-soldiers with the attack, in which another teen Carmen Quintana was also severely burned.

U.S. documents published this year indicated Pinochet covered up the military’s role in the slaying of Rojas, who was a U.S. resident visiting his native Chile. The case drew worldwide condemnation and strained the regime’s relationship with Washington.

The latest confession came early in December and took Chileans by surprise- It happened during a radio show that usually focuses on personal anecdotes, some humorous, some serious.

Using the name “Alberto,” the caller first said he wanted to share a love story. He then launched into a much darker tale. He said he was an army veteran and recounted taking several people to the desert, shooting them in the head and blowing up the bodies.

“Not even their shadow was left,” said the man, who expressed regret about killing at least 18 people in various incidents.

Days after the 25-minute call, the man, identified as Guillermo Reyes Rammsy, was arrested. A judge ordered him held under house arrest while the case is investigated. Attempts to reach Rammsy were not successful.

“These people carry feelings of guilt,” said Giorgio Agostini, a forensic psychologist. “Speaking about it, in this case publicly, gives them some sort of release.”

At least 3,095 people were killed during Pinochet’s dictatorship, according to government figures, and tens of thousands more were tortured or jailed for political reasons. Pinochet died in 2006 under house arrest without being tried on charges of illegal enrichment and human rights violations.

Retired Gen. Guillermo Garin, who was the army’s second-in-command under Pinochet, says the number of victims has been exaggerated. He also denies the existence of any pacts of silence.

“I was very close to General Pinochet,” Garin told the AP. “The President was busy governing the country and was not involved in anti-subversive fights or combating clandestine organizations.”

But ample evidence points to Pinochet’s involvement and to his orders for cover-ups.

U.S. documents published recently show Pinochet covered up the military’s role in the burning death of Rojas. Declassified State Department cables from 1986 cited a source within Chile’s national police force who said a report on the attack was presented to Pinochet, who refused to take it and rejected ordering an investigation.

At the time, Pinochet accused Rojas and Quintana of being terrorists who were burned by firebombs they planned to use against barricades.

Punishment for dictatorship-era crimes has been sparse. The government’s human rights program says 1,373 former and current military members have faced trial. Of those, 344 have been convicted, and most of them were sentenced to house arrest or some other form of non-jail punishment.

While the trials have led to some revelations about the regime’s abuses, human rights groups believe there is much more to learn.

Former Supreme Court President Sergio Munoz, who oversaw special judges handling hundreds of dictatorship cases, says members of the military have gone to great lengths to remain silent about the crimes.

“Chile would benefit a lot from say, choosing 20 former military draftees and letting them go unpunished in exchange for information,” said Marta Lagos, a political analyst.

Fernando Mellado, who heads a group of former recruits who served during the dictatorship, said more ex-soldiers would be willing to provide information if they didn’t fear being jailed. He said many young soldiers were “just kids” taking orders.

Attempts by some former military recruits to reach an immunity-for-information deal with the Ministry of Justice have failed.

“If the State frees us from responsibility, I think we’ll talk without a problem because we are not the only ones responsible,” Mellado said.

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