September, 2016

• 26 September

  NATO to deploy surveillance aircraft to bolster anti-IS effort

    Bloomberg NATO will start deploying surveillance aircraft next month to support the US-led fight against IS extremists, Alexander Vershbow, deputy secretary general of NATO, said on Monday. The deployment of the airborne warning and control systems will take place after alliance defense ministers meet in October, Vershbow said at a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “The aircraft will ...

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• 26 September

  HRW urges Pak to halt torture, killings by police

  

    Islamabad / AFP Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Pakistan’s police of routinely carrying out extra-judicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrests, and called on Islamabad to implement urgent reforms of its under-resourced forces. The findings were contained in a new report based on interviews with more than 30 police officers and 50 victims or witnesses of abuse across three ...

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• 26 September

  Coalition prefers final Yemen solution over ‘short’ truce

  

    Riyadh / AFP The Saudi-led coalition fighting in support of Yemen’s government would prefer a broad political settlement to a ceasefire, its spokesman said on Monday. “I think now it’s not a question of talking about a ceasefire,” Major General Ahmed Assiri said. Late on Sunday a Houthi rebel leader, Saleh Al Sammad, proposed a truce on the country’s ...

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• 26 September

  3 Turkish soldiers killed in PKK attack

  Istanbul / AFP Three members of the Turkish security forces were killed and seven others wounded on Monday in a roadside bombing by Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey, media reported. The bomb planted by rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) exploded on a highway in Mardin province when a vehicle carrying members of the security forces passed by, ...

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• 26 September

  Uproar in Italy after Swiss region vote to block foreign workers

    Geneva/ AFP Italians were up in arms on Monday after the southern Swiss canton of Ticino voted for a measure that would force employers to prioritise local residents over commuters living in Italy. The text, entitled “Ours first”, was put to a popular vote by the populist right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), and was accepted Sunday by 58 percent ...

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• 26 September

  Japan pledges to watch Chinese warplane activity

    TOKYO/ AFP Japan’s top government spoke- sman warned China on Monday against expanding its military activity to the skies over disputed East China Sea islands after eight Chinese warplanes flew near the area over the weekend. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Japan scrambled at least one fighter jet after the planes passed over the Miyako Strait on ...

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• 26 September

  Clinton and Trump neck and neck before first debate

  

    Washington / AFP The lengthy US presidential campaign is careening towards a 90-minute on Monday showdown, with Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump squaring off in their first televised debate as they sit nearly neck and neck in the polls. The event, which is expected to be watched — and parsed — by tens of millions of Americans, ...

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• 26 September

  Azerbaijan holds referendum on boosted presidency

  

    Baku / AFP Azerbaijanis went to the polls on Monday in a controversial referendum on handing extra powers to long-serving President Ilham Aliyev, with opposition and rights groups criticising the proposed constitutional changes as undemocratic. The amendments would extend the president’s term in office from five to seven years, and create a powerful new first vice-president position and several ...

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• 26 September

  ‘Jungle’ camp to be razed by year-end: Hollande

    Calais / AFP French President Francois Hollande said on Monday the sprawling “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais would be dismantled by the end of this year under a plan to spread asylum seekers around the country. “I have come to Calais to confirm the decision that I took with the government… to dismantle (the camp) definitively, entirely and rapidly, that ...

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• 26 September

  Colombia, FARC to sign historic peace deal

  

    Cartagena / AFP Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the FARC rebels, Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, are due to sign a historic peace deal on Monday to end a five-decade war. The former enemies will sign the accord at 5:00 pm (2200 GMT) at a ceremony in the colourful colonial city of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast, ...

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