Tag: InternationalNews

{Pakistani and Indian forces trade fire along LoC in disputed Kashmir region, killing at least nine over past two days.}

India and Pakistan have accused each other of violating a ceasefire along the Line of Control – the de facto border – separating the two South Asian rivals.

The Indian army said on Wednesday that one of its soldiers was killed by Pakistani sniper fire in the Machil sector of Indian-administered Kashmir. The Indian army said two of its soldiers were killed in a separate Pakistani attack a day earlier in Naushera sector.

Army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia told the AFP news agency that the Indian soldiers retaliated by targeting the Pakistan army posts across the Line of Control, or LoC, that divides the disputed Kashmir region between the two nations.

On Wednesday, Pakistan accused India of a ceasefire violation after at least four of its civilians were killed in cross-border firing.

The dead included a 10-year-old girl and her mother, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry, which said that a senior Indian diplomat was summoned for the “unprovoked ceasefire violation on November 8”.

Seven others were also injured in the incident, which occurred in the Khuirata and Battal sectors of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

In a separate incident, Indian troops shot dead two suspected fighters in a gun battle in the Sopore area of Indian-administered Kashmir after receiving a tip-off.

“Two terrorists were killed and two weapons were recovered from their bodies,” Colonel Kalia said.

The latest exchanges of fire come as ties worsen between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Tensions between the two countries have soared since September when fighters attacked an Indian army base in Kashmir, leaving 19 soldiers dead.

Since then the two sides have engaged in cross-border fire almost daily leading to the deaths of soldiers and civilians on both sides.

New Delhi blamed the September attack on Pakistan-based armed groups and attacked what it called “terrorist launching pads” along LoC in retaliatory strike.

Pakistan denied the strikes took place and the two sides have since expelled diplomats from their countries in a tit-for-tat row.

The border attacks come against the backdrop of months of protests against Indian rule in Kashmir, sparked by the killing of a popular rebel leader in July.

Nearly 90 people, most of them young protesters, have been killed in clashes with security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir since then.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.

{Thousands of people opposing president-elect Donald Trump march in Chicago and New York, chanting “not my president”.}

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in several US cities to protest against Republican Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the presidential election, condeming his campaign rhetoric around immigrants, Muslims and other groups.

On Wednesday evening, thousands of protesters thronged streets in midtown Manhattan, New York City. Some burned a US flag as they reached the Trump Tower while other chanted: “Not my president”.

In Chicago, roughly 1,000 people attempted to gather outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower downtown while chanting phrases like “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA”.

Chicago police closed roads in the area, blocking the demonstrators’ path.

Protesters condemned Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along the border with Mexico to keep out undocumented immigrants and other policies perceived as affecting people of colour.

In his victory speech, however, Trump said he would be president for all Americans, saying: “It is time for us to come together as one united people.”

In Chicago, Angie Victoria, 27, told Al Jazeera: “I think [Trump] getting elected is an atrocity. There’s no way he’s qualified to be president, he’s so erratic. There’s no platform; he just appealed to people stewing in bigotry and racism.”

Izzy Mosser, 19, said: “A presidency under Trump is … scary. The only good thing is that people are coming together to stop him. It’s dividing and uniting at the same time.”

In Austin, the Texas capital, about 400 people staged a march through the city’s streets, police said.

Other protests were organised in Washington, DC, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Tennessee and other cities.

Earlier in the day, some 1,500 California students and teachers rallied in the courtyard of Berkeley High School, a San Francisco Bay Area city known for its progressive politics, before marching towards the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.

Hundreds of high school and college students walked out in protest in Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles and three other cities in the Bay Area, Richmond, El Cerrito and Oakland.

A predominantly Latino group of about 300 high school students walked out of classes on Wednesday morning in Los Angeles and marched to the steps of City Hall, where they held a brief but energetic rally.

Chanting in Spanish, “The people united will never be defeated,” the group held signs with slogans such as “Not Supporting Racism, Not My President” and “Immigrants Make America Great.”

Many of those students were members of the “Dreamers” generation, children whose parents entered the US with them illegally, school officials said, and who fear deportation under a Trump administration.

Wednesday’s demonstrations followed a night of protests around the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in the country in response to Trump’s political upset.

In heavily Democrat Washington, DC, hundreds of Trump opponents and a few of his supporters gathered by the White House, chanting in support of immigrants and against the president-elect.

Demonstrators attacked storefront windows and set garbage and tyres ablaze late on Tuesday in the business district of Oakland, California.

{Men dressed in Iraqi federal police uniforms are reported to have tortured and killed residents of villages south of Mosul, Amnesty International says.}

Evidence gathered by the group suggests up to six people from the Shura and Qayyarah sub-districts were shot dead after being detained on suspicion of having ties to so-called Islamic State.

The Iraqi federal police has issued a statement denying the accusations.

Pro-government forces launched an offensive to retake Mosul last month.

About 50,000 Iraqi security forces personnel, soldiers, police, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen are involved in the three-week operation.

Amnesty researchers visited the locations where the extrajudicial executions are alleged to have taken place as IS militants retreated, taking with them hundreds of women, children and old men apparently for use as human shields.

According to information they obtained, about 10 men and a 16-year-old boy who escaped being forcibly transferred were tortured after handing themselves over to a small group of men wearing police uniforms in the Nus Tal area on 21 October.

Shortly afterwards, reinforcements arrived and the men were taken on foot to an open desert area between the town of Qayyarah and the Shura area.

Fighters dressed in police uniforms allegedly beat the group with cables and rifle butts, punched and kicked them, and pulled their beards – in one case setting a man’s beard alight. They were also made to lie on their stomachs and shots were fired between their legs.

Three men were then separated from the group. Amnesty said men in police uniforms then subjected them to particularly brutal beatings before shooting them dead. Their remains were found in the same area five days later.

The body of a fourth man, who was handcuffed and led away by a group of men in police uniforms after being beaten, was discovered nearby almost a week later, according to Amnesty.

Also on 21 October, another young man was found dead with two bullet wounds shortly after he left a house near the Mishraq sulphur factory, which IS fighters set alight before retreating. He was blindfolded with his torso exposed.

Amnesty said the sixth man was apparently shot dead as he ran towards forces that included men in police uniform while pulling up his clothes to show that he had no explosives.

“When the Mosul military operation began, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi made clear that violations by Iraqi armed forces and its allies would not be tolerated. Now is the time for him to prove just that,” said Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for research at Amnesty’s Beirut office.

“The Iraqi authorities must immediately investigate these alarming reports of extrajudicial executions and torture. They must remove from active duty all individuals who are suspected of committing war crimes and other serious human rights violations, pending the outcome of judicial investigations.”

{Asian stocks have fallen as Donald Trump looked increasingly likely to become new US president.}

All regional markets are lower, with money flowing into safe haven stocks, gold and currencies including the yen.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down by 5.4% while European and US markets are expected to drop when trading resumes on Wednesday.

Traders had expected a comfortable Hillary Clinton win.

Some analysts have likened the shock of a probable Trump victory to the Brexit result earlier this year.

However neither markets nor currencies have swung as wildly as they did after June’s EU referendum – and many Asian markets saw losses narrow towards the end of Wednesday trading.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong is trading 2.9% lower and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.3%. Australia’s ASX 200 finished down 1.9% while the Kospi in South Korea ended 2.7% lower.

US stock futures fell sharply with the Dow Jones index expected to lose more than 4% – 800 points when it reopens. London’s FTSE 100 index is predicted to lose more than 3%.

Analysis: Karishma Vaswani, Asia business correspondent

A Donald Trump win had been widely seen as negative for Asia’s economies because of some of the protectionist rhetoric he’s talked about whilst on the campaign trail. He is viewed as the “great unknown” while Mrs Clinton is seen as an example of “better the devil you know.”

And as that prospect looks more and more likely, many investors in Asia are getting concerned, and the markets are reflecting that.

On the Singapore trading floor where I’ve been all day, things started with cautious optimism that Mrs Clinton might have a significant lead, but that has all changed.

As results trickle in, the first mutterings of “too close to call” began, swiftly replaced by a growing belief that the former reality TV show host would be the next president.

{{‘Unknown’}}

The Japanese yen, viewed as a safe haven currency in situations of international volatility, strengthened by 3% against the dollar.

Meanwhile concerns about the impact of a Trump presidency on the Mexican economy saw its currency, the peso, fall more than 13% against the dollar to its lowest level in two decades.

Mexico is expected to suffer if Mr Trump is elected because of his pledges to build a wall along the US border with the country and renegotiate their trade agreement.

A victory for Mr Trump would be a “step into the unknown” said chief US economist at Capital Economics, Paul Ashworth.

“We simply can’t know what type of President Trump will be. Will he be the demagogue from the campaign trail, who threatened to lock up his political opponents, punish the media, build border walls and start a global trade war? Or is he capable of becoming a statesmanlike figure who leads in a more measured manner?”

He added that because Mr Trump appeared to have “only a passing grasp of policy”, it would be important he appointed people with experience if he was elected.

{The owners of Australia’s Dreamworld theme park have announced they will demolish the water ride where four people were killed last month.}

Two of the victims were thrown from a raft at the Thunder River Rapids ride and two others were trapped inside.

Ardent Leisure said decommissioning the ride was “the only respectful and appropriate course of action”.

Dreamworld, on Queensland’s Gold Coast, has been closed since the tragedy on 25 October.

The firm says it will not reopen until an independent safety review has been completed.
Kate Goodchild, 32, died alongside brother Luke Dorsett, 35, his partner, Roozbeh Araghi, 38, and Cindy Low, 42.

Dreamworld CEO Craig Davidson said every ride was undergoing a thorough safety check.

“From today, we will begin to move towards the re-opening of Dreamworld,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

“Please be assured that as we begin this process, families who lost their loved ones will remain our first and foremost focus.”

Friends and family have paid tribute to all four victims over the past week at a series of funeral ceremonies.

“Out of respect for the memories of Cindy Low, Roozbeh Araghi, Kate Goodchild and Luke Dorsett, and their deeply affected families, the ride will be permanently decommissioned,” the company said in a statement.

The company also indicated that the victims’ families would be invited to help create a “fitting and permanent” memorial.

{Republican candidate Donald Trump is edging closer to the US presidency after a string of stunning victories over Hillary Clinton in swing states.}

He won Florida, Ohio, Iowa and North Carolina, while Democrat Mrs Clinton took Virginia and Nevada, ABC projects. Pennsylvania is too close to call.

New Hampshire, Michigan and Wisconsin – which were meant to be part of the Clinton firewall – are cliffhangers.

Markets lurched as Mrs Clinton’s path to victory began to narrow.

The US dollar and Mexican peso plummeted while the Dow futures dropped 800 points.

Mr Trump is closing in on the 270 out of 538 electoral college votes needed to declare victory.

The mood is dark at Mrs Clinton’s election night party in New York City.

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta signalled she was not ready to concede, telling the party faithful: “She is not done yet.”

But supporters were crying and staring stony-faced at the big screens showing election results.

At Trump headquarters across town, his fans were cheering and chanting about the Democratic nominee: “Lock her up!”

Hillary Clinton’s supporters thought they’d arrived for a victory party, and the roofing at the convention centre in New York doubled as a metaphor – a giant glass ceiling ready, symbolically at least, to be shattered.

But under it the mood fast changed to concern and fretfulness as early all-important swing states, like Florida and Ohio, went to Donald Trump. Nervousness turned to utter disbelief as reliably blue Democratic states like Michigan and Wisconsin looked to be turning red.

The famed blue wall, which has made the Democrats so strong in presidential politics, looked to be crumbling before their eyes. Now the mood is one of despair.

{{In other developments:}}

Republicans are expected to retain control of the Senate and House of Representatives

California voted to legalise recreational marijuana, which could lead to the creation of the largest market for marijuana products in the US

Failed Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio won his bid for re-election in Florida’s Senate race

Mr Trump earlier racked up wins in the Midwest and South, while Mrs Clinton swept the Northeast, ABC News projects.

As expected, the Republican candidate was victorious in the Republican strongholds of Utah, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, Nebraska, Indiana, West Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Texas, ABC projects.

And he took Georgia, Missouri, Montana, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho and Wyoming – all solidly conservative states.

Mrs Clinton won the Democratic heartlands of California, Oregon, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, Delaware, Illinois, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Washington, Maine and District of Columbia, as well as New Mexico and Colorado.

Mr Trump, a 70-year-old Manhattan real estate tycoon, and Mrs Clinton, who is 69 and would be the first female US president, voted on Tuesday in New York City.

The Republican was booed as he arrived to cast his ballot at a school in Manhattan, alongside his wife, Melania, and daughter, Ivanka.

The two presidential hopefuls are spending election night in New York City, staging events barely a mile apart.

Mrs Clinton was due to address supporters at the Javits Centre in Manhattan, while Mr Trump holds an event at the Hilton Midtown hotel.

More than 5,000 police officers have been deployed across America’s biggest city to keep order on election night.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump again declined to say whether he will accept the results.

“We’re going to see how things play out,” he told Fox News, while alleging there had been voting irregularities. “I want to see everything honest.”

Some polling locations have reported equipment failures and long lines, but they appeared to be routine problems.

Mr Trump, who stoked conspiracies over the legitimacy of the democratic process during the campaign by claiming the vote would be “rigged”, also filed an emergency lawsuit in Nevada.

The Republican’s camp sued the Clark County Registrar of Voters, alleging the state had kept early voting stations open late.

But a judge rejected the request.

All 50 states and Washington DC voted across six different time zones.

Americans also had a chance to determine which party holds sway in Congress.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives were up for grabs, and a third of seats in the Senate, but Republicans looked likely to keep control of both chambers.

A record number of Americans – more than 45 million – voted early by post or at polling stations.

Mr Trump, a populist political newcomer, provoked controversy on the campaign trail for comments about women, Muslims and a plan to build a wall along the US-Mexican border.

Mrs Clinton saw her campaign dogged by FBI investigations into whether she abused state secrets by operating a private email server during her time as US secretary of state.

Last Sunday, the law enforcement bureau cleared her once again of any criminality.
Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton are seeking to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.

After two four-year terms in the White House, he is barred by the US constitution from running for re-election.

{UN envoy warns of “very dangerous” health situation with 2,200 suspected cholera cases amid a brutal 20-month civil war.}

The World Health Organisation says at least 7,000 people have been killed in Yemen’s 20-month civil war, and the UN peace envoy warns that the country is teetering on the “brink of the abyss”.

In a statement released on Monday, the WHO said “more than 7,070 people had been killed and over 36,818 injured” as of October 25 – with another 21 million people in urgent need of health services.

More than half of all health facilities across the country have been shut or were only partially functioning amid a “critical shortage” of doctors, it said.

Speaking to reporters in the capital Sanaa, UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed lamented the devastating violence and reiterated calls for an end to the fighting.

“People are dying … the infrastructure is falling apart … and the economy is on the brink of abyss,” he said.

Saudi Arabia, along with a coalition of other Arab states, intervened in Yemen in March 2015 in support of the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels took over the capital.

Since then, the coalition has been blamed for several attacks on medical centres – including some run by international aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) – schools, factories and homes, which have killed scores of civilians.

Last month, at least 140 people were killed and more than 500 wounded when several air strikes targeted a funeral reception in the capital.

The October 8 strike prompted an international outcry and strong criticism – even from Saudi Arabia’s closest Western allies.

A recent report published by the Yemen Data Project, a group of security and human rights researchers, said more than one third of coalition air strikes hit civilian sites, including schools, hospitals and mosques.

Out of the more than 8,600 air raids it examined, the report found 3,577 were listed as hitting military sites and 3,158 non-military, while 1,882 strikes were classified as unknown.

The UN envoy urged the Arab coalition controlling Yemen’s airspace to allow commercial flights in and out of Sanaa’s international airport to evacuate the wounded.

The coalition, however, has argued that the rebels would use the airport – completely under their control – to transport weapons.

International organisations have also warned in recent weeks of a spread of disease and growing malnutrition rates in the country.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed warned of a “very dangerous” health situation with an estimated 2,241 suspected cholera cases.

The UN has confirmed 71 cases of the disease, which is transmitted through contaminated drinking water and causes acute diarrhoea.

Attempts by the UN envoy to coax all sides to commit to a ceasefire and resume peace talks have failed.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed urged the rivals to “make some concessions” and defended a plan for peace he put forward last month.

The mediator, who had been discussing his proposal with the rebels since Thursday, was heading to Riyadh to meet Hadi.

The UN refugee agency estimates that more than 2.4 million Yemenis have fled their homes to elsewhere in the country, and 120,000 have sought asylum in other countries, including Djibouti and Somalia.