web analytics

ARY NEWS

Reuters

  • Croatia overwhelmed by flood of migrants, EU calls summit

    The European Union’s newest member state said it may try to stop taking in migrants, just as the 28-nation bloc announced it leaders would hold an emergency summit on Sept. 23 to try to resolve the migration crisis, which has deeply divided it.

    More than 7,300 people entered Croatia from Serbia in the 24 hours after Wednesday’s clashes between Hungarian riot police and stone-throwing refugees at its Balkan neighbor’s frontier.

    At the eastern border town of Tovarnik, Croatian riot police struggled to keep crowds of men, women and children back from rail tracks after long queues formed in baking heat for buses bound for reception centers elsewhere in Croatia.

    Police were also deployed in a suburb of the capital Zagreb, taking up positions around a hotel housing hundreds of migrants, some of them on balconies shouting “Freedom! Freedom!”. Others threw rolls of toilet paper from the balconies and windows.

    “Croatia will not be able to receive more people,” Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic told reporters in Tovarnik.

    “When we said corridors are prepared (for migrants), we meant a corridor from Tovarnik to Zagreb,” he added, suggesting Croatia would not simply let migrants head north to Slovenia, which is part of the EU’s Schengen zone of border-free travel.

    The flood of migrants into Croatia has accelerated since Hungary sealed its southern, external EU frontier with Serbia on Tuesday, to keep out the asylum seekers and refugees, many of whom hope eventually to reach wealthy Germany.

    “I just want to go,” Syrian Kamal Al’hak said in Tovarnik, among people sitting or lying by the tracks trying to shade themselves from the sun. “I may return to Syria, but only in a few years. It’s too dangerous there now.”

    DEEP DIVISIONS

    The EU is split over how to cope with the influx of people mostly fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    European Council President Donald Tusk summoned EU leaders to an extraordinary summit next Wednesday to discuss migration and a proposed scheme to distribute 120,000 asylum seekers across the bloc.

    The bloc’s interior ministers failed on Monday to agree on a mandatory quota system designed to spread the burden of this year’s huge influx of migrants and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, leader of the EU’s most powerful member state, had called for an emergency summit.

    EU commissioner for migration Dimitris Avromopoulos rebuked Hungary over its actions, telling a joint news conference with Hungary’s foreign and interior ministers that most of those arriving in Europe were Syrians “in need of our help”.

    “There is no wall you would not climb, no sea you would not cross if you are fleeing violence and terror,” he said, describing barriers of the kind Hungary has erected as temporary solutions that only diverted migrants, increasing tensions.

    Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto hit back, saying that siding with rioting migrants, who pelted Hungarian police with rocks on Wednesday in clashes that injured 20 police, was encouraging violence.

    “It is bizarre and shocking how some members of international political life and the international press interpreted yesterday’s events,” he said. “All these people will be responsible if these events are repeated today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

    In Brussels, Johannes Hahn, the EU’s commissioner in charge of enlargement, urged member states to stay calm and fight the crisis together.

    “The Western Balkans must not become a parking lot for refugees. That would be a grave geostrategic mistake. Cool heads on all sides are all needed now, not harsh rhetoric,” he said.

    MORE MIGRANTS COMING

    Undeterred by the problems faces by migrants at the gates of Europe, more have been arriving at the Greek port of Piraeus from Lesbos island, a route taken by many refugees.

    Others are still waiting outside Europe, despite the hazardous Journey which has cost some refugees their lives.

    “It would be very dangerous, but if you make it, the reward is great, the whole world will open up for you,” Yousef Hariri, a refugee from Deraa in Syria, said at a refugee camp in Jordan.

    German police said the number of refugees arriving in Germany more than doubled on Wednesday to 7,266.

    The head of Germany’s Office for Migration and Refugees quit for personal reasons after being criticized for slow processing of applications from a record number of asylum seekers.

    Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, who has blamed Berlin for stoking the wave of migrants entering his country after Merkel rolled out the welcome mat for Syrian refugees, said Muslims would end up outnumbering Christians in Europe if the policy continued.

    “I am speaking about culture and the everyday principles of life, such as sexual habits, freedom of expression, equality between men and woman and all those kind of values which I call Christianity,” Orban said in an interview published in several European newspapers including The Times.

    The UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, in turn hit back by denouncing “callous, xenophobic and anti-Muslim views that appear to lie at the heart of current Hungarian government policy”.

    The European Parliament endorsed on Thursday the Commission proposal for the relocation of 120,000 migrants from Italy, Greece and Hungary, opposed by four central European states including Hungary itself.

    Two German ministers have spoken of cutting European funds to central European member states that refuse to take their allotted share of refugees.

    The future of border-free travel in the Schengen zone of 26 continental European states has been cast in doubt by the uncoordinated national actions to revive frontier checks.

    “Europe was created to knock down walls, not to build them,” Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said after talks with Luxembourg’s premier.

  • Chileans pick through debris after powerful quake; eight killed

    Violent aftershocks continued shaking the South American country on Thursday morning and locals said they feared another big quake, although the government lifted its tsunami warning.

    “Everything is a mess. It was a disaster, a total loss. Bottles and glasses shattered and the pipes in the bathroom and kitchen burst,” said restaurant owner Melisa Pinones in the city of Illapel, near the epicenter of Wednesday’s quake.

    In the coastal town of Los Vilos, residents tried to salvage belongings from dozens of beachfront homes that were destroyed or severely damaged when the strong waves swept in.

    The government had ordered evacuations from coastal areas after the powerful quake hit, seeking to avoid a repeat of a quake disaster in 2010 when authorities were slow to warn of a tsunami and hundreds were killed.

    The latest quake and the heavy waves that followed caused flooding in coastal towns and knocked out power in the worst hit areas of central Chile, although most buildings held up well. The quake was felt as far away as Buenos Aires in Argentina.

    The port of Coquimbo suffered major damage, Interior Minister Jorge Burgos told reporters. Chile’s navy said the city was hit by waves of up to 4.5 meters (15 feet).

    President Michelle Bachelet said her government “learned a series of lessons” from previous disasters and that she would travel to the worst affected areas. It was the strongest quake in the world this year and the biggest to hit Chile since 2010.

    “We’re going to have go on the ground to see that the damages are and see where help is needed,” Bachelet said.

    Chile is the world’s top copper producer and operations were suspended at two big copper mines as a precaution, sending prices on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 to two-month highs in early Asian trading on concern over disruptions to supplies. Prices later dipped again after reports that were was no damage to mines.

    State copper miner Codelco said it was keeping operations at its Andina mine suspended, but it had restarted operations at its Ventanas smelter.

    Both Codelco and Antofagasta, which halted operations at its Los Pelambres copper mine, said they were carrying out inspections but they did not have any reports so far of damage. Los Pelambres is the closest major mine to the quake epicenter.

    Chile earthquake forces evacuation of 1 millionAn 8.3-magnitude earthquake and over 50 aftershocks forced the evacuation of 1 million people in Chile Wednesday. Eight people are known to have died. Small tsunamis flooded some coastal city streets and scattered debris. #TerremetoChile #ChileQuake Posted by reported.ly on Thursday, September 17, 2015
    Chile's state oil company ENAP said its two refineries were running at a minimal rate after staff were evacuated. Tsunami advisories were issued for parts of South America, Hawaii, California and French Polynesia, although waves were generally expected to be small. As far away as New Zealand's remote Chatham Islands, some residents left their homes after reporting repeated ebbing and flowing of the tide, along with ocean noises associated with tide surge around midnight local time. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. AFTERSHOCKS FELT Dozens of strong aftershocks continued to rattle central Chile, a largely agricultural region south of the mining belt, on Thursday. In Illapel, a 26-year-old woman was killed by a wall that collapsed when the quake hit. Another person died from a heart attack in Santiago, according to media reports. Quake-prone Chile has strict building regulations so newer buildings are able to withstand even strong quakes. Many homes in Illapel and surrounding areas are simple, adobe houses and are more prone to damage. The brunt of the damage was borne by coastal areas such as Coquimbo where houses and fishing boats were smashed by waves. "We're going through a really grave situation with the tsunami. We have residential neighborhoods that have flooded. The ocean has reached the downtown area," said Coquimbo's mayor Cristian Galleguillos. Chile is due to celebrate its national holiday on Friday, but roads were cut off and public transport canceled between Santiago and the north, local media reported. The quake is the latest natural disaster to roil mining in Chile, which accounts for a third of global copper output. Northern Chile was hit by severe floods earlier this year, while a volcanic eruption caused problems for residents in the south. Chile runs along a highly seismic and volcanic zone where tectonic plates meet and often experiences earthquakes. In 2014, an 8.2-magnitude quake struck near the northern city of Iquique. In 2010, an 8.8 -magnitude earthquake in central-southern Chile triggered a massive tsunami, and more than 500 people were killed. In the hours after that quake, President Bachelet and her government misjudged the extent of damage and declined offers of international aid. That delayed the flow of assistance to disaster areas, leaving many survivors feeling they had been abandoned by the government. Bachelet's government was also slow to prevent looting following the quake. Its failings hit her high approval ratings at the end of her presidential term, although she remained popular and was elected again in 2013.

  • Blasts in central Baghdad leave 23 dead, 68 wounded

    Two suicide blasts claimed by Islamic State killed at least 19 people in the commercial district of Bab al-Shargi, a demonstration that the Sunni insurgent group can still launch attacks in the heart of the capital despite government efforts to thwart them.

    A third explosion in the nearby Bab al-Muadham district killed four people, the sources said. A hospital source said the bombs had wounded a total of 68 people.

    Baghdad is trying to dislodge Islamic State from large swathes of the country’s north and west, but advances have been slow, particularly in the western province of Anbar, where Baghdad has been focusing its attention for months.

    As part of a reform campaign aimed at combating corruption and improving people’s daily lives, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has directed security commanders to ease civilian access to the Green Zone, just across the Tigris River from the site of Thursday’s attacks.

    He also ordered the elimination of no-go zones set up by militias and political parties in response to more than a decade of bombings, but removal of the gray concrete blast walls and barriers that line many of Baghdad’s thoroughfares has been slow.

  • Stocks steady, dollar slips as Fed decision looms

    A poll by Reuters released on Wednesday showed the majority of economists now expect no hike later on Thursday, although it remains a close call. The futures market implied traders assigned a 1-in-4 chance of such a move.

    “Investors are in wait-and-see mode,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.

    Mixed U.S. data on jobless claims, housing starts and regional manufacturing did little to change traders’ view on the timing of the Fed’s “lift-off.”

    U.S. two-year Treasuries yield US2YT=RR held below a near 4-1/2 year high. Oil prices were marginally lower, while gold gave back a bit of Wednesday’s gains.

    Traders had expected the Fed to raise rates for most of this year, but those expectations faded following a bout of global market turmoil this summer on worries about China.

    As the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s policy-setting group, releases its policy statement at 2 p.m, it will put forth its quarterly Summary of Economic Projections (SEP), also referred to as “dot plots,” that present individual forecasts of policymakers.

    At 2:30 p.m, Fed Chair Janet Yellen will hold a news conference where she will likely face a barrage of questions on the central bank’s policy stance and economic outlook.

    The dot plots and Yellen’s responses will likely stir wild swings across markets, analysts said.

    In early U.S. trading, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 10.79 points, or 0.06 percent, to 16,729.16, the S&P 500 .SPX declined 0.2 points, or 0.01 percent, to 1,995.11 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC shed 8.01 points, or 0.16 percent, to 4,897.24.

    The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 was little changed at 1,428.27.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei index .N225 ended up 1.4 percent.

    The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS, which tracks shares in 45 nations, rose 0.2 percent to 399.64.

    The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of six currencies, fell 0.28 percent, to 95.151.

    Brent crude LCOc1 was last down 26 cents, or down 0.52 percent, at $49.49 a barrel. U.S. crude CLc1 was last down 23 cents, or 0.49 percent, at $46.93 per barrel.

    Spot gold prices XAU= fell 0.12 percent to $1,117.81 an ounce.

  • Indian activists outraged as Saudi diplomat accused of raping Nepali maids flees

    Citing the diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention, India’s foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup confirmed in a statement late on Wednesday that Majed Hassan Ashoor, the first secretary at the Saudi embassy, had left India.

    “We realize that the laws and conventions are such that there is little India could have done to prevent him from leaving,” said Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association.

    “The focus and pressure has to be on the Saudis to take it up and ensure the victims get justice. You can’t have allegations of a rape racket in your bedroom and think you can get away with it without any investigation.”

    The international community, including the United Nations and influential countries like the United States, should put pressure on the Saudis to pursue the matter, added Krishnan.

    Indian police last week rescued the two women, aged 30 and 50, from Ashoor’s luxury apartment after a tip-off from an anti-human trafficking group and the Nepali embassy.

    The women told police they were gang raped, assaulted, tortured and starved while held captive for over three months. The women said they were raped by eight men on one occasion. Medical examinations showed evidence of rape and sodomy.

    The women came from remote rural parts of Nepal and were sent to Saudi Arabia as domestic servants by human traffickers before returning to New Delhi with their employer.

  • Key Pakistani-Afghan trade deals stall on India, souring ties

    Afghan President Ashraf Ghani struck the trade deals with Pakistan soon after taking office last year as part of a broader rapprochement that included plans to share intelligence on Taliban insurgents active in both countries.

    That cooperation was aimed at tackling the Islamist militant movement, which has separate Afghan and Pakistani branches whose violent campaigns kill thousands of people each year and hamper much-needed development.

    The trade deals were supposed to be a step towards warmer relations and boosting Afghanistan-Pakistan trade from $1.6 billion now to $5 billion by 2017.

    But officials told Reuters that the agreements, which include reducing tariffs and granting each other preferential trade status, have stalled.

    “There has been no progress or further meetings for months since those agreements were signed,” said Musafer Qoqandi, the Afghan Commerce Ministry’s spokesman.

    The key bone of contention was whether Pakistan would allow trade from old rival India to cross its territory.

    The setback first emerged in April, but neither side was willing to discuss it amid attempts to salvage the agreements and maintain the appearance of unity.

    But political relations deteriorated after a spate of Taliban attacks in Afghanistan last month, including several large blasts in Kabul, and the impasse over trade spilled into the open, further complicating efforts to save the deals.

    Some Afghans blame Pakistan for supporting the Taliban, charges that Pakistan denies.

    As diplomats from the two countries swap blame, some are wondering how they can control militancy together if they cannot make progress on trade.

    “If Pakistan and Afghanistan aren’t able to agree on relatively simple trade initiatives that benefit both countries, how can they be expected to make progress in security co-operation?” asked Vaqar Ahmed, deputy executive director at Islamabad’s Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

    DISAGREEMENTS OVER INDIA

    Muzamel Shinware, Afghanistan’s deputy commerce minister, told Reuters that it was “illogical and unfair” not to include Indian trade crossing Pakistan into Afghanistan.

    Under the terms of the agreements, Pakistan was to have been allowed to ship its goods to markets in Central Asia and beyond via Afghan territory.

    But the row over Indian goods has jeopardised the deals, with India and Pakistan locked in a decades-old standoff.

    “If you put India on the table, then the whole thing stops,” said a Pakistani official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    Pakistani Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan confirmed that progress was stalled and blamed Afghanistan for failing to deliver promised lower levies on Pakistani transit trade and to begin negotiations on a preferential trade agreement.

    Afghanistan, in turn, blamed Pakistan.

    A senior Afghan official, who asked not to be named, said that the progress on trade made since Ghani’s visit to Pakistan in November “could, frankly, have been made in two weeks if we were serious”.

    In November, Pakistan promised faster clearance of Afghan cargo, greater access for Afghan traders to Pakistan’s railway system and to set up ‘parallel track’ Afghan customs at Karachi.

    Dastgir Khan says most of those steps have been implemented, although some officials privately concede that progress in recent months has stalled as relations chilled.

    Part of the problem is that the Pakistani military retains the final say in bilateral ties, experts say.

    The military has ruled Pakistan for around half its history and heavily influences security and foreign policy.

    “(The Pakistani commerce ministry’s) hands are too tied,” said an Islamabad-based consultant who has worked closely with the ministry. “(They) need to take clearance on each and every petty issue on Pak-Afghan trade.”

    One country benefitting from the chill between Pakistan and Afghanistan is neighbouring Iran.

    Afghan transit trade with Iran has increased steadily since 2007. In 2011, it supplanted Pakistan as Afghanistan’s largest transit trade partner in terms of containers shipped, according to SDPI.

    “Perhaps Pakistan thinks that it is twisting Afghanistan’s arm by stopping these trade initiatives,” said Ahmed of SDPI.

    “But very soon, Iran could make Pakistan irrelevant.”

  • Keith Richards says Rolling Stones to record new album next year

    In a live radio interview on Tuesday night to promote the upcoming release of his own solo album, “Crosseyed Heart,” the 71-year-old rock icon said he and his bandmates – Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood – were ready to return to the studio.

    “I was in London last week, and the boys and I got together, and yeah, there are now definitely plans to record,” Richards said during the iHeartRadio broadcast. The studio session would follow the Stones’ planned South American tour early next year.

    The resulting album would mark the longest interval – at least 11 years – between new studio sets by the Stones, whose last album of freshly recorded material was the 2005 release “A Bigger Bang.”

    Richards, who was touring North America with the band until mid-July, is due to release “Crosseyed Heart,” his first solo album in more than 20 years, on Friday.

    The Rolling Stones

    The set, a mixture of rock, reggae and country music, features Richards playing electric and acoustic guitars, bass and piano, as well as singing. It also includes collaborations with vocalist Norah Jones, keyboardist Ian Neville and guitarist Waddy Wachtel.

    Richards wrote most of the songs on the album with drummer and co-producer Steve Jordan.

    Asked in a separate interview posted Wednesday by the rock music and pop culture website The Quietus whether the Stones ever came close to calling it quits as a group, Richards said, “Never … They just hibernate. There’s never been any sort of talk of splitting.”

  • American woman says raped in India

    The 46-year-old woman has told police she was walking through a crowded market area of the town, famed for its Tibetan community and home to the Dalai Lama, on Tuesday evening when the attack occurred.

    The woman, who had been travelling in India for about a month and was alone in Dharamsala, said she passed out after being grabbed by the unidentified men.

    “She says that after waking up she realised that she had been assaulted…and decided to approach us a day later,” Abhishek Dhullar, police superintendent of Kangra district which includes Dharamsala, said.

    “We have registered a case of rape and are investigating the matter. No one has yet been arrested,” Dhullar told AFP.

    Police are awaiting detailed results of the woman’s medical examination, seeking witnesses to the incident and studying CCTV footage of the area which was crowded at the time with shoppers and families, he said.

    There were no immediate details on how the woman passed out or where she was when she came to.

    India introduced tougher laws against sex offenders in the wake of the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December 2012 that sparked mass street protests and international outrage.

    But violence against Indian women continues at alarming levels in the world’s second most populous country.

    A series of foreign women have also reported sex attacks while visiting India. In February, a Japanese woman accused a tourist guide of drugging and raping her in the historic city of Jaipur.

    Five men were arrested in January over the alleged gang-rape of a Japanese tourist who was held as a sex slave for nearly a month in the country’s east.

    And six men are currently on trial for the rape of a Danish tourist in 2014 in Delhi.

  • Facebook users express concerns over possible 'dislike' button

    In a town hall-style question and answer session Tuesday, Zuckerberg took questions from users about topics ranging from virtual reality to his wife’s pregnancy. Yet most Facebook users fixated on his announcement that the 1.5-billion user social network was working on adding a button other than “like.”

    Users flooded Zuckerberg’s official Facebook page with nearly 3,000 comments largely about the dislike option. While some said they would use Facebook more if the button were introduced, others said it would lead to cyberbullying and more negativity on the site.

    “Please don’t put a dislike button, as much as there is times I would love it, would much rather express my thoughts in words to be completely direct on my opinion,” said user Andrea Robichaud.

    Users have been asking for a dislike button for several years, Zuckerberg said, though it may not necessarily be named dislike or be represented with a thumbs down. He added that the company was preparing to test a version of the button.

    “Not every moment is a good moment,” Zuckerberg said.

    The button’s aim, he said, would be to express empathy on posts that may reference topics where “like” is not the appropriate response, such as the refugee crisis or the death of a loved one.

    Some users offered alternative suggestions that they thought would minimize harassment on the site, such as adding a “sympathy” button instead or allowing users to opt out of the “dislike” button on their posts.

    Others took a more humorous approach. Vince Vogel suggested Facebook offer “public smile, private smile, private frown and public frown” instead of like and dislike.

    Analysts are not expecting a huge financial payoff if the company goes forward, and Facebook shares rose slightly Wednesday on the first full trading session after the announcement, up 0.5 percent to around $93.40.

    “If it takes off it will help engagement,” said Stern Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia, although noting the revenue impact would not be great. “This is probably more in response to what Facebook sees as a feature requested by users.”

  • Afghan women teacher in Pakistan wins UN prize

    Aqeela Asifi, 49, left Kabul with her family in 1992, and ended up living in the remote refugee settlement of Kot Chandna in the Punjab region of Pakistan, where most girls were excluded from the classroom.

    Despite few resources, she won over the community and persuaded parents to send their daughters to school.

    Today more than a thousand children attend permanent schools in the village, said UNHCR, although around 80 percent of Afghan refugee children in Pakistan are still out of school.

    The Nansen Refugee Award has been won in the past by Eleanor Roosevelt and Luciano Pavarotti. The award ceremony takes place next month in Geneva, and the winner gets $100,000 to fund a project complementing their existing work.

    “When you have mothers who are educated, you will almost certainly have future generations who are educated,” said Asifi. “I wish for the day when people will remember Pakistan, not for war, but for its standard of education.”

    The lack of opportunities for girls in education in the region has been highlighted by campaigner Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani teenager who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her work promoting girls’ right to education. She was shot in the head by a gunman from the Taliban in 2012.

    There are currently 2.6 million Afghan refugees living in exile, making them the largest refugee community in the world, according to UNHCR.

    Since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001, millions have returned home, but insecurity still remains. The Taliban recently launched a wave of attacks in Kabul, killing more than 50 and souring relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

    Afghanistan and Pakistan have long accused each other of sheltering Taliban and other Islamist militants who conduct attacks inside their territory, charges both deny.

    “Investing in refugee education will allow children to play a part in breaking the cycle of instability and conflict,” said António Guterres, head of UNHCR. – Agencies