UN rejects Myanmar’s claim of nod for houses for refugees
A United Nations settlement programme, UN-Habitat in Myanmar, rejected a state media report that it had agreed to help build housing for people fleeing violence in the northern Myanmar state of Rakhine, where an army operation has displaced hundreds of thousands. The development underscores tension between Myanmar and the United Nations, which in April criticised the government’s previous plan to resettle Rohingya Muslims displaced by last year’s violence in “camp-like” villages.
‘Reuters’
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$340M REQUIRED TO HELP 1M ROHINGYA MUSLIM REFUGEES IN BANGLADESH: UN
At the United Nations in Geneva, a two-day donors conference to raise funds to help nearly one million Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh will continue. Earlier, on the opening day of the conference, the deputy chief of the World Food Programme Elisabeth Rasmusson said that fund raising would benefit the Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled due to the ongoing violence in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.
The UN humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock said children, women and men streaming into Bangladesh are traumatized and destitute and we need around three hundred forty million dollars.
Meanwhile, the United States has expressed grave concern over the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and announced that it is considering a range of actions including sanctions against Naypyidaw. The State Department in a statement said it is imperative that any individuals or entities responsible for atrocities be held accountable.
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Over 6 600,000 have crossed to Bangladesh over since August 25 2017
The UN has said killings, arson and rape carried out by troops and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs since then amount to a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya. “The UN-Habitat mission emphasized that resettlement should be conducted in accordance with the principles of housing and property restitution for refugees and displaced persons to support their safe and dignified return to their places of origin,” he said, responding on behalf of UN-Habitat.
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Israel maintains robust arms trade with rogue regimes
by : Jonathan Cook
Tel Aviv – Human rights activists are stepping up efforts to expose Israel’s long and covert history of supplying weapons and military training to regimes while they actively commit massacres, ethnic cleansing and genocide. The issue of Israel’s trade with rogue regimes has been thrust into the spotlight again after revelations that it is sending weapons to Myanmar, in defiance of a US and European arms embargo.
Formerly known as Burma, Myanmar was condemned last month by the United Nations for conducting what it called a “textbook ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are reported to have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh in recent weeks, after evidence of the torching of entire villages, massacres and systematic rapes. Israel has not divulged details of its ties to Myanmar’s military government, but public records show that it has sold the military there armed patrol boats, guns and surveillance equipment. Myanmar’s special forces have also been trained by Israelis. Human rights groups are set to stage a protest outside Israel’s parliament on October 30, calling for an immediate halt to the weapons sales to Myanmar.
Israeli firms have also broken with the United States and Europe by supplying weapons and surveillance equipment to militias in South Sudan, where a civil war has raged since late 2013. Some 300,000 Sudanese are believed to have been killed in the fighting. Eitay Mack, a human rights lawyer, has submitted a spate of petitions to the Israeli courts in an attempt to bring to light details of Israel’s trade with such regimes. He said the cases were designed to hasten war crimes investigations of the officials and contractors involved.
“Many Western states sell arms, but what’s unique about Israel is that, wherever war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed, you find Israel is present,” Mack told Al Jazeera. “The companies selling the weapons, and the officials who quietly approve the trade, must be held accountable. Otherwise, why would this ever stop?”
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‘Leave our country’: Protesters in Afghanistan gather to decry ‘US, NATO occupation’
“We can’t bear occupation anymore,” a member of the Solidarity Party told Ruptly, adding that “every day we witness them (US and NATO) bombing our cities and thousands of innocent people are killed.”
Oct. 6, 2017: Solidarity Party of Afghanistan (SPA) held a protest to denounce the US occupation of Afghanistan on the 16th anniversary of the beginning of the Afghan war. Protesters took to the streets of the Afghan capital, Kabul to demand an end to the “American occupation” as the country marks 16 years since the beginning of the US and NATO invasion. Hundreds took to the streets, according to RT’s Ruptly video news agency, shouting anti-American and anti-NATO slogans. Protesters carried banners in both English and local languages, reading “Yankees go home.”
The demonstration, in which both male and female protestors took part, was organized by the Solidarity Party of Afghanistan.
“We can’t bear occupation anymore,” a member of the Solidarity Party told Ruptly, adding that “every day we witness them (US and NATO) bombing our cities and thousands of innocent people are killed.”
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US has links with ISIS, claims; Former Afghan president
KABUL – Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has said that the United States has links with terrorist ‘Islamic State’, also known as Daesh. Karzai, who ruled the war-torn country with the help of US coalition for almost a decade, told Voice of America (VOA) that he considers “Daesh a tool of US”.
“After it (the US) dropped the [mother of all] bomb on Afghanistan, it did not eliminate Daesh.” Karzai revealed that the terrorist group has been supplied weapons by the United States forces. “The US army helicopters and army bases are being used to provide assistance to ISIS terrorists,” he said while echoing Russian claims of American support to the ISIS terrorists. “I do not differentiate at all between Daesh and America,” the ex-president said while dismissing criticism of Moscow’s ties with the Taliban.
In an interview in London, Karzai said Daesh has emerged in Afghanistan in the past three to four years under the watch of US military and intelligence agencies. Karzai said he has more than suspicions that US bases in Afghanistan are used to aid Daesh. “I get daily reports from the Afghan people that unmarked military helicopters supply Daesh in many parts of Afghanistan,” he claimed.
Karzai said from 9/11 until today, there is more extremism in Afghanistan, despite spending billions of dollars. He stated the Afghan people ask if the US came to Afghanistan to defeat extremism, “why do we have more of it today”. “Military action, especially by foreign forces, will not bring peace. Afghans need to evolve a consensus to reach out to everybody, including ‘sons of the soil’ Taliban, to seek a settlement,” he suggested.
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Twin attacks kills 80 in Afghanistan
GARDEZ: (Oct 17, 2017) Two separate suicide and gun attacks on police and soldiers in Afghanistan left at least 80 dead and nearly 300 wounded in the latest devastating assaults on beleaguered security forces.
The attack, claimed by the Taliban in a tweet, began when two suicide bombers driving an explosives-laden truck and a Humvee blew them up near the training centre, which is close to the Paktia police headquarters. The battle between the attackers, armed with guns and suicide vests, and security forces lasted around five hours before it ended with all five militants killed, officials said.
The second attack, in Ghazni some 100 kilometres west of Gardez, followed a similar pattern involving insurgents detonating an explosives-laden Humvee near a police headquarters then storming the building, Haref Noori, the Ghazni governor’s spokesman, told AFP. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attacks and praised the “bravery and sacrifice” of security forces.
Gen Bajwa, Foreign Office condemn Gardez attack
Afghans our brothers: COAS : Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa condemned the attacks and expressed grief on the loss of innocent lives and injuries. “Afghans are our brave brothers fighting against terrorism with great resolve. Through coordination and cooperation both countries shall defeat the common enemy for enduring peace and stability in the region,” he said, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations. The Foreign Office also condemned the attack.
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43 Afghan soldiers killed in suicide attack on Kandahar Province military base
KABUL, Afghanistan (19 October,2017) – Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP the attackers detonated at least one explosive-packed Humvee vehicle and razed the compound in the early morning assault. “We think the militants used an explosive-packed Humvee vehicle to detonate the gate of the base and we are looking to see if there was more than one,” Waziri said. “Unfortunately there is nothing left inside the camp. They have burned down everything they found inside.” The Taliban claimed the ambush in a message to journalists which said all 60 security personnel on the base were killed. Ten insurgents died, the ministry said. (AFP)
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Deadly attacks hit mosques in Kabul and Ghor
Kabul ( Friday 20 Oct, 2017) At least 63 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in two separate attacks at mosques in Afghanistan. A man “entered the mosque and opened fire on worshippers, Kabul crime branch chief, told AFP news agency, describing the attacker as a suicide bomber. Afghanistan’s interior minisetr, told the Associated Press news agency said the attacker was on foot and walked into to the mosque where he detonated his explosives. Hazara community targeted: Reports said all 30 victims were members of the minority Hazara Shia community.
Second attack during Friday prayers occurred at a Sunni mosque in the central province of Ghor. Mohammad Iqbal Nezami, a spokesman for the provincial police, said at least 33 people were killed in the bombing that appeared to target a local commander. The target was Abdul Ahed, a former regional commander and Jamiat party leader who had sided with the government. He was killed along with as many as 30 other worshippers, according to a statement from Atta Mohammad Noor, a leading figure in Jamiat and the governor of Balkh province.
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Taliban Kill 28 Afghan Police as Attacks Escalate Nationwide
(29 Oct, 2017) Kunduz Taliban militants stormed police checkpoints late Saturday and before dawn Sunday in three provinces of Afghanistan, killing 28 policemen in the latest in a series of attacks across the country. Tens of heavily equipped insurgents, including holders of night-vision rifles, initially began sporadic shooting at three police checkpoints and two army bases on the highway leading to Khan Abad district in northern Kunduz province, said Hayatullah Amiri, the governor of the district, by phone. At about 3 a.m. local time, they stormed one of the police checkpoints, killing all 13 officers stationed there except one who fled.
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Drone strikes in Afghanistan’s kills suspected militants
PESHAWAR: On Monday 16 Oct, at least 20 people were reportedly killed and 10 injured in a drone attack near the same area. Six missile strikes were reported to have been carried out.
On 17 Oct, two drone strikes occurred; first one in the Khanachi area of Paktia and killed five people and injured one and another one in the Ghuzdari area of Paktia province which killed at least six people and injured one other. According to sources, six terrorist hideouts were destroyed during the strike. This is the fifth drone strike this week.
On 19 Oct, A US drone strike in Afghanistan’s Paktia province near the Pak-Afghan border killed at least four suspected militants.
On 20 Oct , At least 12 suspected militants have been reported killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan’s Paktia province on Friday. As per media reports, a suspected US drone fired six missiles, killing at least 12 ‘militants’ and injuring several others.
The strikes targeted hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jamat-ul-Ahrar and the Haqqani Network and a total of 10 missiles were fired.
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Gunman attacks Saudi security forces at gate of Jeddah royal palace
RIYDH: (7 Oct, 2017) Two Saudi guards were shot dead and three others injured on Saturday morning when a man drove up to the gate of the royal palace in Jeddah and began shooting, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by state news. Royal Guards killed the gunman, who was identified in the statement as 28-year-old Saudi national Mansour al-Amri. The attack occurred at a checkpoint outside the western gate to the Peace Palace in Jeddah, where the royal family conducts official business during the summer months.
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Iraq PM Abadi defends Iran-backed militias as Tillerson visits Baghdad
Baghdad(23 Oct,2017) Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi defended the role of an Iranian-backed paramilitary force at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Baghdad. Tillerson arrived after the Iraqi government rejected his call to send home the Popular Mobilisation, an Iran-backed force that helped defeat Islamic State and capture the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk. In his opening remarks at the meeting with Tillerson, Abadi said Popular Mobilisation “is part of the Iraqi institutions,” rejecting accusations that it is acting as an Iranian proxy. “Popular Mobilisation fighters should be encouraged because they will be the hope of country and the region,” he added.
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Massive car bomb blast rocks Somalia’s Mogadishu
Death toll rises to 276 in twin blasts in Mogadishu
14 Oct, 2017: The death toll from the most powreful bomb blast witnessed outside the Safari Hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu has risen to 276 with more than 300 injured. It is the single deadliest attack ever in the Horn of Africa nation. Police said a truck bomb exploded outside the Safari Hotel at the K5 intersection, which is lined with government offices, restaurants and kiosks, flattening buildings and setting vehicles on fire. A separate blast struck the Medina district two hours later.
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Somalia Militants Attack Hotel in Mogadishu, 20 Killed
MOGADISHU (28 Oct) : At least 20 people were killed and dozens were wounded afternoon after Somali Militants attacked a hotel in the heart of the Somali Capital Mogadishu. Witnesses said that a large truck filled with explosives exploded at the Nasa Hablood 2 Hotel on Saturday afternoon outside the entrance of the hotel followed by a firefight that killed at least 20, among them Somali officials. The Hotel, which is owned by the current federal minister of Security Mohamed Abukar Islow Duale, is frequented by the government officials and lawmakers.
‘Among the prominent people so far reportedly killed in the attack include Mohamed Yusuf Nor, Daynile Police Commissioner, Abdinasir Gaarane, a former lawmaker and member of the national army fund trustees and Madobe Nunow Mohamed, interior minister of Southwest State of Somalia’.
Shabab, a Somali Militant affiliated to Alqaeda immediately claimed the responsibility for the attack.
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Panama Papers journalist killed in Malta car bomb
(16 Oct, 2017) Daphne Caruana Galizia died on Monday 16 Oct afternoon when her car, a Peugeot 108, was destroyed by a powerful explosive device which blew the vehicle into several pieces and threw the debris into a nearby field. A blogger whose posts often attracted more readers than the combined circulation of the country’s newspapers, Caruana Galizia was recently described by the Politico website as a “one-woman WikiLeaks”. Her blogs were a thorn in the side of both the establishment and underworld figures that hold sway in Europe’s smallest member state. Her most recent revelations pointed the finger at Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, and two of his closest aides, connecting offshore companies linked to the three men with the sale of Maltese passports and payments from the government of Azerbaijan.
No group or individual has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack. According to local media reports, Caruana Galizia filed a police report 15 days agoto say that she had been receiving death threats.
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54 Egyptian police killed in ambush by militants, officials say
(Cairo Friday 20 Oct, 2017) At least 54 policemen, including 20 officers and 34 conscripts, were killed when a raid on a militant hideout southwest of Cairo escalated into an all-out firefight, authorities said Saturday, in one of the single deadliest attacks by militants against Egyptian security forces in recent years. The officials said the exchange of fire began late Friday in the al-Wahat al-Bahriya area in Giza province, about 135 kilometers (84 miles) southwest of Cairo.
The firefight began when security forces acting on intelligence moved against a militants’ hideout in the area. Backed by armored personnel carriers and led by senior counterterrorism officers, the police contingent drew fire and rocket-propelled grenades, according to the officials.
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Top Syrian general killed by Isil landmine near Deir Ezzor
(18 Oct) A senior Syrian commander and one of President Bashar al-Assad’s most trusted generals has been killed during an operation against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Brig. Gen. Issam Zahreddine, a field commander in the elite Republican Guard, died after a convoy he was travelling in hit a landmine as they drove through Hawija Saqr near Deir Ezzor province. Zahreddine, who was in his late 50s and instantly recognisable by his full grey beard, had been leading 7,000 troops in the battle to retake the eastern city of Deir Ezzor from the jihadists. He also led government offensives against armed opposition in the central Homs province and near the capital, Damascus, in the earlier days of the conflict. His death will be a major blow to the regime, which has lost huge numbers of high-ranking soldiers and generals over the course of the six-year war. Zahreddine had been in charge of an operation to root out rebels in the central city at the time in February 2012.
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CHINESE PRESIDENT Xi Jinping RE-ELECTED AS GENERAL SECRETARY OF CPC CENTRAL COMMITTEE
Beijing, Oct 25 : Xi Jinping, president of the People”s Republic of China, has been re-elected here today as general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and other executive bodies during the first plenary session of the Central Committee elected at the 19th congress of that political group.
As internal rules stipulate, the Central Committee -with 204 full members and 172 substitutes- held its initial meeting the day after the closing ceremony of the National Congress to elect the members of the maximum party organizations.
Except for his ratification as CPC leader, Xi is a member of the Political Bureau along with Li Keqiang, Ding Xuexiang, Wang Chen, Wang Huning, Liu He, Xu Qiliang, Sun Chunlan, Li Xi, Li Qiang, Li Hongzhong, Yang Jiechi, Yang Xiaodu, Wang Yang and Zhang Youxia, as well as 10 other leaders.
He is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau -with six other members- and chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission.
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Japan Election Vindicates Shinzo Abe as His Party Wins Big
Sunday 21 Oct 2017: TOKYO Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan won a commanding majority for his party in parliamentary elections, the public broadcaster, fueling his hopes of revising the nation’s pacifist Constitution. Mr. Abe’s governing Liberal Democratic Party and its allies had overcome challenges from upstart rivals to capture two-thirds of the seats in the lower house of Parliament. Final results will be delayed until later on Monday because a typhoon that battered Japan on Sunday prevented votes from being counted in 12 precincts. But with the majority of votes counted, the Liberal Democrats and their coalition partner had won enough seats to reach the two-thirds mark.
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First consignment via Chabahar leaves India for Afghanistan
Sunday 29 Oct, 2017: India operationalized the Chabahar port in Iran, sending the first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan. This is a major leap in India’s strategic outreach to landlocked Afghanistan, to which Pakistan has so far blocked access. Another six shipments of wheat will be sent to Afghanistan over the next few months.
Chabahar port sits at the mouth of the Gulf of Oman in the north Arabian Sea, close to Iran’s border with Pakistan. The Indian outreach to Afghanistan through Iran is taking place at a time when the Trump administration is trying to push Tehran into a corner through diplomatic and economic means. New Delhi recently started an air freight corridor to Afghanistan, and has sent 981 tonnes of fruit since mid-June this year. But the air corridor has limitations in terms of capacity, and the sea route has economic advantages. From Chabahar port, which is easily accessible to India, the consignment will be transported to Afghanistan over Iranian roads.
In his new Afghanistan strategy unveiled in August, United States President Donald Trump asked India to do more to help Afghanistan’s development. The new trade route follows an air freight corridor introduced between India and Afghanistan in June last year to provide greater access for Afghan goods to the Indian market.
The wheat shipment was flagged off from Kandla port in Gujarat with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani joining the ceremony via video-conferencing. The “landmark moment” would pave the way for “operationalization of the Chabahar port as an alternate, reliable and robust connectivity for Afghanistan,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Pakistan currently does not allow India to transport through its territory to Afghanistan because of hostility in their ties.
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‘Europe in nuke danger’ NATO chief warns North Korea missiles CAN strike continent
By Rachel O’Donoghue : Ahead of his visit to Japan and South Korea, Jens Stoltenberg said rockets from the rogue state could be fired at NATO members. He said: “We recognise that Europe has also entered the [North Korean] missile range, and NATO member states are already in danger. “NATO has protected its member countries from the threat of ballistic missiles through deterrence. “NATO has the capabilities and the resolve to respond to any threat and to any aggressor.”
His comments confirm fears that Kim Jong-un’s regime has developed intercontinental missiles (ICBMs) that can travel thousands of miles. But Secretary General Stoltenberg also said the alliance is desperate to prevent a war from erupting. He added: “No NATO allies and of course NATO do not want war… that would be a disaster.”
His comments come as US Defence Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis warned the risk of a nuclear missile attack by the regime is peaking. He said: “North Korea has accelerated the threat that it poses to its neighbours and the world through its illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear weapons programs.”
North Korea has also been carrying out mass blackout drills in its east coast cities and towns. In a sign the regime fears a bombing campaign by the United States, citizens practised the evacuation campaigns over the weekend. ‘Courtesy Daily Star’