Australia races to contain bushfires |
Firefighters toil to put out series of massive blazes in mountains west of Sydney that have destroyed hundreds of homes.
Last Modified: 22 Oct 2013 06:26
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Australian firefighters continue to battle a series of massive bushfires burning in mountains west of Sydney before the return of forecasted dangerously hot, windy weather.
Shane Fitzsimmons, New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner, said on Tuesday that about 60 fires were still burning, with the largest and most dangerous in the Blue Mountains, around 100km west of Sydney.
Thousands of firefighters, hundreds of fire engines and 90 aircraft were battling the blazes, which have burned through more than 120,000 hectares and have a perimeter of 1,600km, he said.
"You are talking about some of the most beautiful, scenic country in the world, but it is an awful challenge for fire fighting and fire management," Fitzsimmons said.
Angola 'in denial' over impact of severe drought
Government accused of playing down the crisis, which has affected 1.8 million people, to protect its economic reputation
The Angolan government has been accused of being in denial over adrought that has affected 1.8 million people because the crisis threatens to tarnish the country's image as a booming economy.
Children as young as nine are digging wells to fetch water, amid a severe drought in southern regions of Angola that has forced people to use unclean water for consumption and cooking, according to the UN. Neighbouring Namibia, which has also been badly affected, has declared a drought emergency and appealed for humanitarian aid.
Angola has done neither, although it has appointed a special inter-ministerial commission to respond to the drought, delivered food aid and drilled boreholes. Government sources have told the UN that funding requirements are between $150m (£242.3m) and $350m, but amounts disbursed so far have not been confirmed.
Couple in Greece mystery girl case deny abduction
Pair deny abduction charges and claim girl given by mother who could not look after her
Damian Mac Con Uladh
The young girl at the centre of an alleged abduction in Greece was handed over freely by her biological mother after her birth, a court was told yesterday by the Greek Roma couple she knows as her parents.
The couple, named by police as Christos Salis (39) and Eleftheria Dimopoulou (40), who also has an ID card in the name of Selini Sali (41), made the claim during separate testimony before an investigating magistrate in the city of Larisa, who remanded them in custody after the hearings.
Abduction of minor
They are accused of abduction of a minor and fraudulently obtaining official documents – a birth certificate and tax number for the child.
US drone strikes may be war crimes, Amnesty report claims
October 22, 2013
Ben Doherty
South Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
The US has killed civilians in unlawful drone attacks on north-west Pakistan, Amnesty International has said, alleging the Obama administration may be guilty of war crimes.
In a just-released report Will I be next?: US drone strikes in Pakistan, Amnesty claims that many of those killed by drone strikes and accounted for by the US military as terrorists were in fact civilians, including a 68-year-old grandmother and a 14-year-old boy.
“Secrecy surrounding the drones program gives the US administration a licence to kill beyond the reach of the counter or basic standards of international law. It's time for the US to come clean about the drones program and hold those responsible for these violations to account,” Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty's Pakistan researcher said. Some of the attacks “could even amount to war crimes”, the Amnesty report said.
Middle East
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Israel is sending a high-level delegation to Washington this week to be "briefed" on the Iran nuclear talks, although "lobbying" for more pressure may be the visit's real purpose in light of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intense campaign in the US media against any deal. Yet internal opposition in Iran is proving to be another formidable obstacle to a future agreement that would end the international impasse over Tehran's atomic program.
Since talks last week in Geneva with the the "5 +1" nations (ie, UN Security Council's Permanent Five plus Germany), the ability of Iran's negotiation team to focus on their mission has been hampered by an avalanche of negative reaction in the Iranian
media and the parliament (Majlis), reflecting the influence of Iran's divisive factional politics.
Since talks last week in Geneva with the the "5 +1" nations (ie, UN Security Council's Permanent Five plus Germany), the ability of Iran's negotiation team to focus on their mission has been hampered by an avalanche of negative reaction in the Iranian
media and the parliament (Majlis), reflecting the influence of Iran's divisive factional politics.
Kurdish rebels threaten new fight in Turkey as Syria clashes intensify
By Isabel Coles
QANDIL MOUNTAINS, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish rebels are ready to re-enter Turkey from northern Iraq, the head of the group's political wing said at his mountain hideout, threatening to rekindle an insurgency unless Ankara resuscitates their peace process soon.
Accusing Turkey of waging a proxy war against Kurds in Syria by backing Islamist rebels fighting them in the north, Cemil Bayik, a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) told Reuters the group had the right to retaliate.
Syria's civil war has complicated Turkey's efforts to make peace with Kurdish militants, but Ankara strongly denies backing any rebel faction against Kurds in Syria and has held regular talks with the head of a Syrian Kurdish group close to the PKK.
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