Wednesday 5 October 2016

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Lahore: 2 terrorists of banned outfit arrested in CTD operation

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LAHORE (Dunya News) - Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) conducted an operation on intelligence reports in Saddar area of Lahore on Wednesday and apprehended two terrorists of banned outfit, Dunya News reported.Sources said that that the arrested terrorists, who were identified as Naeem Jamshaid and Muhammad Kashif, were members of banned outfit Daesh also known as Islamic State (IS).Sources further informed that explosive material, detonators and electronic circuits were also recovered from their possession. The arrested terrorists revealed during preliminary investigation that they were planning to target sensitive installation in the city.The arrested terrorists were shifted to some undisclosed location for further investigation.

Pakistan ready for World Cup push, says Azhar

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ABU DHABI (AFP) - Pakistans one-day skipper Azhar Ali insisted Thursday that his fast developing team is well set to qualify directly for the 2019 World Cup.Pakistan whitewashed the West Indies 3-0 with a convincing 136-run win in the third and final one-dayer in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.The series win lifted Pakistan one place to eighth in the current rankings and relegating the West Indies to ninth in the fight for a direct berth at the World Cup finals in three years time.Hosts England and the top seven teams in the one-day rankings on September 30 next year will get a direct place in the World Cup.The bottom four teams in the standings will be joined by six Associate sides in a 10-team qualifying round in 2018 from where only two teams will qualify.Ali said the win over West Indies was important in the quest for a World Cup place.It was an important series and its just the start of more challenges, said Ali.We have to keep this improvement with one year to go for the (World Cup 2019) deadline.Since the 2015 World Cup, Pakistan had slumped to ninth after being routed 3-0 in Bangladesh and suffering defeats against England (in the United Arab Emirates last year and in England) and New Zealand.But Ali believes the confidence level of the players was high after the series win over the struggling West Indies.We have good players who have gelled well, said Ali, who singled out batsman Babar Azam for his three successive hundreds.Babar (Azam) stood out in this series and to score consistently with back-to-back hundreds shows that he has that hunger. He has given a world class performance, said Ali of the 21-year-old.Azam scored 120, 123 and 117 in the three matches to become only the third Pakistani and eighth batsmen in all one-day cricket to hit three consecutive hundreds.Ali credited new head coach Mickey Arthur with the improvements.Mickey has an important role, said Ali of the former South African and Australian coach who took over in May this year.Its a full team and the credit also goes to the selection committee, fielding coach Steve Rixon, physio Grant Luden and (batting coach) Grant Flower -- all have contributed a lot so its a full team.Pakistans next one-day series will be in Australia early next year and Ali feels his team has the potential to do well.We can challenge Australia as well because we have new players who are match winners.

Sindh CM makes sudden visit to different areas of Karachi

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KARACHI (Dunya News) - Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah made sudden visit to different areas of Karachi on Wednesday night as he observed progress in various development projects, reported Dunya News.Murad Ali Shah went out without protocol and went to Empress market whereas he was briefed about electricity project. He also visited areas of Saddar and ordered that the sewerage water around the roads of Saddar, should be cleared.CM also talked to media and said that Karachis is Pakistans largest city and a target of terrorists, so public should also keep an eye on such people.

Karachi: 5 accused, 35 suspects arrested in police operation

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KARACHI (Dunya News) – Crackdown against criminal elements continues in Karachi as police arrested five accused after encounters and 35 suspects during search operation in different parts of the city on Wednesday, Dunya News reported.According to details, three accused were taken into custody in injured condition after an encounter in Landhi area. Police also recovered two SMGs and a 9mm pistol from their possession.Police also carried out search operation against criminal elements in Sarjani Town during which some miscreants opened fire at the police personnel. Police returned the fire and arrested two accused in injured condition. At least 15 suspects were also apprehended during search operation in the area. Police sources said that a hand grenade and other arms were recovere from the arrested accused.Police also conducted a search operation in Boat Basin area of Clifton and arrested 20 suspects. The arrested persons were shifted to police station for further investigation.

Multan: Fire destroys shop in Ghala Mandi

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MULTAN (Dunya News) – According to details, fire broke out at a shop dur to short circuit in Ghala Mandi area of Multan on Wednesday which quickly engulfed the shop and an adjacent godown, Dunya News reported.Rescue teams reached the spot and brought the fire under control after hectic effort of two hours. According to the proprietor of the shop, material worth millions of rupees was gutted in the inferno.The rescue sources said that the godown was also partially damaged in the fire.

Two die from snake bite in Shujabad

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SHUJABAD (Dunya News) – According to details, 26-year-old woman and 20-year-old Shan of Janpur Qazian area of Shujabad near Multan were sleeping in their house when a snake bitten them.The victims were rushed to Civil Hospital Shujabad in critical condition. Doctors at the Civil Hospital referred the patients to Nishtar Hospital, Multan due to non-availability of vaccine at their hospital but both the victims died before being shifted to Nishtar Hospital as venom spread throughout their bodies.

World powers 'misuse' World Bank, IMF: BRICS bank exec

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Europe and the United States have misused the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for their own ends, according to an executive at a new bank launched by major developing countries.While such an accusation is hardly new, it is unusual for it to come from a rival institution.The Washington institutions fundamentally reflect the point of the view, the interest, the ideology of the North Atlantic powers, the Europeans on one hand the Americans on the other, Paulo Nogueira Batista, vice president and chief risk officer at the New Development Bank, told AFP in an interview.The remarks come as the World Bank and IMF, long-standing pillars of the post-war global economy, gather this week in Washington for their annual meetings -- and as Washington and Brussels confirmed their de facto monopoly on the institutions leadership.As has been the case since their creation, an American man, Jim Yong Kim, has just been reconfirmed as World Bank president, while in July Frances Christine Lagarde also began a second term as head of the IMF.The unwritten rule shows that change in these institutions is slower and the expectation that they will change has been reduced compared to what it was during the 2009-2010 crisis, said Nogueira Batista, who served as Brazils representative to the IMF for eight years.When we see these things happening in Washington, we say, well we were right to start our own bank. Based in Shanghai, the New Development Bank was launched in 2015 by the BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- to upset the established order, pushing back against the underrepresentation of developing countries in the major international financial institutions.During the economic crises of 2009-2011, Europeans and Americans, fatigued from economic storms, promised to cede more ground to China and India.But these hopes were soon dashed despite long-delayed governance reforms at the IMF and the recent inclusion of Chinas yuan currency in the IMF reserve assets basket.The BRICS would not have gone so far as to create their own development bank if they were fully satisfied with the existing institutions, said Nogueira Batista.The birth of the BRICS bank and of their own monetary fund marked a small revolution, according to Nogueira Batista. Its the first time that a development bank of global scope is established by emerging market countries alone with no participation of the industrialized countries, he said.China and its allies of course remain full-fledged members of the World Bank and IMF but expect seek to build our own path.If we make mistakes, we hope to make at least new mistakes, not the same old mistakes that the old institutions have made.The greater challenge will be to avoid the politicization of the bank.One of the problems of the Bretton Woods institutions is that they have been misused as vehicles of the bilateral agendas of their major members, he said.He pointed out that neither Russia nor Iran, which are at odds with Western powers, have access to World Bank financing. To guarantee a political balance, none of the five founding member countries of the New Development Bank will hold the same veto power that is wielded by the Americans at the World Bank and IMF.The new lender, which is approving its first projects this year and has an authorized capital of $100 billion, also wants to stand out from others by emphasizing cooperating with borrowing countries, according to Nogueira Batista.The World Bank and IMF often have a notion of what is required and they impose policies, he said.The new bank is still a minnow compared to the IMF and World Bank, with their 189 member states. And its success is far from being a foregone conclusion, as its own vice president concedes.Its still an open question whether we will be successful because the goal is quite broad, said Nogueira Batista. Only time will tell.

Yahoo denies surveillance claims amid privacy outcry

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Yahoo on Wednesday rejected allegations of mass email surveillance amid an outcry from privacy activists over a report that it created a special scanning program at the behest of US intelligence.The report, which said the US internet giant had secretly scanned hundreds of millions of email accounts to help American intelligence, was misleading, Yahoo said in a statement.We narrowly interpret every government request for user data to minimize disclosure, the company said in a statement to AFP. The mail scanning described in the article does not exist on our systems.A report Tuesday by Reuters news agency, citing former employees of the internet firm as sources, said Yahoo had built a custom program in 2015 which scanned all its emails to help the National Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI.According to the Reuters account, Yahoos top security officer had been unaware of the program and quit after learning that the company had complied with the request.The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the NSA, did not respond directly to the report but said in a statement it does not comment on specific techniques to gather intelligence.The statement echoed earlier remarks from intelligence officials, saying: The United States only uses signals intelligence for national security purposes, and not for the purpose of indiscriminately reviewing the emails or phone calls of ordinary people.The report was described by some activists as a bombshell which could, if proven true, reveal a new level of surveillance by the National Security Agency, which was roiled by disclosures in 2013 by former contractor Edward Snowden.Theres still much that we dont know at this point, but if the report is accurate, it represents a new -- and dangerous -- expansion of the governments mass surveillance techniques, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a statement.Patrick Toomey, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said: Based on this report, the order issued to Yahoo appears to be unprecedented and unconstitutional.Toomey added that the government appears to have compelled Yahoo to conduct precisely the type of general, suspicionless search that the (US Constitutions) Fourth Amendment was intended to prohibit.Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer and fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society who has clashed with the NSA over surveillance, said he was not surprised by the latest claims.The NSA is spying on the internet, they use different techniques, Schneier told AFP.The report nonetheless would be at odds with Yahoos transparency report which claimed it received a relatively small number of US government requests in 2015.Yahoo also backed Apples effort to challenge a US government effort to force the iPhone maker to build a program to help decrypt a handset used by one of the shooters in a 2015 California shooting spree.Julian Sanchez, a fellow at the Cato Institute and critic of NSA surveillance, said his concerns were not allayed by Yahoos statement.Yahoos meticulously worded statement not terribly comforting, Sanchez said on Twitter.Does not exist on our systems sounds a hell of a lot like currently under this program. DID it exist? Does it exist somewhere else?The Reuters report also suggested that other US tech companies may have received similar requests, but it was not immediately clear how or if other companies were involved.Microsoft said in a statement: We have never engaged in the secret scanning of email traffic like what has been reported today about Yahoo.Facebook, in a statement to AFP, said it has never received a request like the one described in these news reports from any government, and if we did we would fight it.Twitter also denied receiving any such request.Weve never received a request like this, and were we to receive it wed challenge it in a court, a Twitter spokesman said.Twitter also noted it was suing the US Justice Department for the ability to disclose more information about government requests.The report adds to Yahoos woes over security and privacy, coming just weeks after it acknowledged data from some 500 million users may have been compromised by hackers in a breach in 2014.In Europe, the Ireland-based Office of the Data Protection Commissioner said it would look into the latest allegations.The office is progressing its enquiries with Yahoo in relation to the breach first reported to its office on 22 September and is in iterative contact on the matters we have raised, which now includes the more recent report, a statement said.Any form of mass surveillance infringing on the fundamental privacy rights of EU citizens would be viewed as a matter of considerable concern by this office.

Syria announces surprise easing of Aleppo assault

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DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syrias military announced Wednesday it is reducing its bombardment of rebels in devastated Aleppo, in a surprise move nearly two weeks after declaring an all-out assault to capture the city.Once Syrias commercial hub, Aleppo has been divided by rebel groups in the east and regime forces in the west since violence erupted there in 2012.The military announced the offensive to capture the whole city on September 22, ushering in a ferocious bombing campaign on opposition-held quarters that a monitor says has killed 270 people, including 53 children.But Wednesday it said the bombardment would be reduced after the success of our armed forces in Aleppo and cutting off all terrorist supply routes into the eastern districts.The military command has decided to reduce the number of air strikes and artillery on terrorist positions to allow civilians that want to leave to reach safe areas, said a statement.It was not immediately clear what was behind the move, or if Russian air strikes would also be reduced.The announcement came as Russias TASS news agency said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US counterpart John Kerry exchanged views on Syria in a telephone call on Wednesday.Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been waging their offensive on the city with the backing of Russian air power.But the onslaught has come under intense international scrutiny amid accusations it was indiscriminate and devastating civilian infrastructure.On Monday, bombardment destroyed the largest hospital in rebel-held quarters, where an estimated 250,000 people live under government siege.Hours later, Washington announced it would halt bilateral efforts with Moscow aimed at reviving a ceasefire, accusing Russia of trying to bomb civilians into submission.Despite this, Lavrov and Kerry spoke Wednesday, with the Russian noting the responsibility for the collapse of the truce lies with the US given its decision to suspend contacts.But in another sign of increasing tensions, Russia said it was suspending joint research with the United States on nuclear energy projects.Moscow and Washingtons top diplomats had been working together since early this year to reach a diplomatic solution to Syrias bloodshed, which has killed more than 300,000 people since 2011.An agreement in September had envisioned an end to hostilities, increased aid deliveries, and eventual coordination between the two world powers against jihadists -- but it collapsed after a week.Since then, France has stepped into the diplomatic vacuum with a draft UN resolution on a truce in Aleppo that it will submit to the Security Council this week.French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will travel to Moscow on Thursday and Washington on Friday to try to garner support for the draft, his office said.Im going to Moscow to give the view of France: this is unacceptable, it is deeply shocking and shameful, Ayrault said. We must stop this massacre.His ministry said the resolution calls for aid deliveries to the citys east, as well as the grounding of all Syrian and Russian planes in the area.The citys eastern half was officially declared a besieged area by the United Nations on Wednesday, after months of fierce fighting and lack of access for aid workers.The designation would bring the estimated number of besieged people across Syria to over 850,000, according to UN figures.The United Nations on Wednesday also concluded an air strike was responsible for the devastating attack on an aid convoy in northern Syria last month that killed nearly 20 people.Lars Bromley, a researcher at the UN satellite collection and analysis agency, said his groups analysis determined it was an air strike.US officials have said Russian planes carried out the strikes on September 19 that hit the 31-truck convoy bringing aid to a town west of Aleppo.Moscow has denied the accusation, and its military is carrying out its own investigation of the bombing, which destroyed 18 trucks and damaged a warehouse.Russia and the US back opposing sides of Syrias war, with Washington lending support to some rebel groups and Moscow bolstering Assad both militarily and diplomatically.Both countries are waging separate bombing campaigns against jihadist groups in Syria.On Wednesday, unidentified raids on a northern village held by the Islamic State group killed 19 civilians including three children, according to the Observatory.The monitor said it was unclear whether the strike on the village of Thalthana was carried out by the US-led coalition fighting IS, or Turkey, which is leading an operation against IS territory nearby.

World donors pledge $15 billion for Afghanistan

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BRUSSELS (AFP) - International donors pledged $15.2 billion at a conference in Brussels on Wednesday to get Afghanistan through the next four years, urging the Taliban to make peace after years of war.As fresh fighting raged in the strategic northern city of Kunduz, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was in the Belgian capital seeking aid from officials from 75 countries and more than 20 global organisations.Despite fears of donor fatigue due to the Syria war, the amount pledged is only slightly less than the four billion dollars a year that world powers promised at the last Afghanistan conference in Tokyo in 2012.Some were sceptical that we are going to face donor fatigue after 15 years, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told a press conference alongside Ghani after the conference.And here we are today being able to announce that international countries pledged... 15.2 billion dollars, which is exceeding our most rosy pictures of even yesterday.The EU was the biggest pledger with $5.6 billion, followed by the United States.In return for the money, Afghanistan promised reforms on corruption and human rights, and also agreed to take back migrants from Europe more quickly.Ghani hailed a remarkable day and vowed that his government would fulfil its commitments.It is our responsibility to carve a future and deliver, he said. That means also proposing an end to aid, not a perpetual dependence on aid.Afghanistan remains dependent on foreign cash and support from a limited NATO military presence.For security, NATO nations already committed at a summit in Warsaw in July to maintain troop numbers in Afghanistan at around 13,000 and uphold a pledge of $5 billion a year to fund local forces until 2020.But the country remains wracked by violence. Afghan forces battled the Taliban for a third day in Kunduz on Wednesday as food ran short and scores fled the city, witnesses told AFP.Meanwhile in Kabul a suicide bomber targeted a minibus carrying government officials, wounding four people, a day after a US soldier was killed by a bomb in the east.Fifteen years almost to the day since the start of the US-led operation to topple the Taliban after 9/11, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Taliban militants to make an honourable peace with Kabul.He said they should follow the model example of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the notorious Afghan warlord and US-designated global terrorist, who signed a peace deal with the Afghan government in September.Moves for a peace settlement also got a push from Mogherini, who said a dinner of regional players including China, India and Pakistan on Tuesday had found common ground for the Afghan peace process.She added that the EU will try to facilitate this as much as possible in the coming months.In exchange for the money pledged in Brussels, donors will expect the Kabul government to make efforts to tackle spiralling corruption and waste, while working on political reform and human rights.The United States has spent around $110 billion on Afghanistans reconstruction since 2001, more than the cost of the Marshall Plan that rebuilt a devastated Europe after World War II, but with limited results.Sayed Ikram Afzali, executive director of Integrity Watch Afghanistan, the sole anti-corruption watchdog until now, said donors should have set tighter conditions.This very conference itself is a lost opportunity in terms of fighting corruption because a lot could have been done better in terms of setting up benchmarks, he said.On the eve of the conference the EU and Kabul announced they had struck a controversial deal to speed up Afghanistans taking back of migrants from Europe, which faces its biggest refugee crisis since World War II.The plan involves possibly building a dedicated terminal for deportees at Kabul airport. EU officials have however denied that aid pledges will depend on Kabul accepting the return of 80,000 asylum-seekers.Afghan civil society groups have criticised the plan.We call on the European countries but also the Afghan government to suspend the deportation of Afghan refugees who are in Europe, said Maiwand Rahyab, executive director of the Afghan Institute for Civil Society.

White House accuses Israel of betraying trust

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House accused Israel of a betrayal of trust Wednesday, in an unusually sharp rebuke over its plans to build hundreds of new settlement homes deep in the West Bank.Days after Obama approved a $38 billion Israeli military aid package and attended former president Shimon Peress funeral in Jerusalem, the White House railed at the construction of 300 housing units on land far closer to Jordan than Israel.Warning that the decision jeopardizes the already distant prospect of Middle East peace as well as Israels own security, press secretary Josh Earnest said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus word had been called into question.We did receive public assurances from the Israeli government that contradict this announcement, he said.I guess when were talking about how good friends treat one another, thats a source of serious concern as well.The sharper-than-normal comments come as the White House weighs a last-ditch effort to get the peace process back on its feet before Obama leaves office in January.While serious talks seem unlikely, US officials are weighing the possibility of a major speech outlining the parameters for peace.Peace efforts have been comatose since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.A sharper tone over settlements now could help put Israel on notice that future ties are at risk and give Washington more credibility with Palestinians and their Arab allies.In a similarly strong-worded statement, the State Department said building the units is another step toward cementing a one-state reality of perpetual occupation.The plan not only undermines hopes for peace with the Palestinians but is fundamentally inconsistent with Israels future as a Jewish and democratic state, spokesman Mark Toner argued.Washington has long opposed Israels policy of building Jewish settlements on land in the West Bank that would be claimed by the Palestinians in any negotiated two state peace deal.US officials have adopted a more forceful tone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government in recent weeks, accusing it of recklessly accelerating the program despite international concern.The Middle East Quartet -- a contact group comprising the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations -- issued a report in July calling on Israel to halt settlement building.But the practice has only accelerated since then, Washington says, with new housing blocks being approved, local administrative boundaries moved and illegal settlements retroactively approved.Washington has condemned a recent deadly wave of Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and police, urging Palestinian leaders to refrain from incitement or provocative language.Obama and Netanyahu have had an extremely difficult relationship during the last eight years.The White House was apoplectic when the Israeli leader agreed to address the Republican-controlled Congress to lobby against Obamas signature nuclear deal with Iran.There were fresh tensions when Netanyahu -- seeking reelection at the time -- said that Palestinians would never get their own state on his watch.Some considered that pandering to right-wing voters, others said it was Netanyahu showing his true colors.At last weeks funeral for former president Shimon Peres, Obama pointedly spoke about the unfinished business of peace.He believed that the Zionist idea would be best protected when Palestinians, too, had a state of their own, he said of the late elder statesman.Of course, we gather here in the knowledge that Shimon never saw his dream of peace fulfilled.

Kerry calls Lavrov despite freeze on Syria talks

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Secretary of State John Kerry called his Russian counterpart to talk about the fighting in Syria on Wednesday, two days after Washington suspended contacts on reviving a ceasefire there.US officials insisted the call to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which Kerry requested, did not represent a rapid U-turn and that bilateral talks on the crisis remain on hold.Engagement remains, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.What we talked about the other day was bilateral engagement with regard to Syria. That remains suspended, but it doesnt preclude the Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Lavrov from talking.On Monday, outraged by what it said was Russias active support of the Syrian government assault on eastern Aleppo, the United States ended efforts to revive a failed US and Russian-brokered ceasefire.But Kerry has insisted he remains committed to seeking a diplomatic solution to the conflict, by including Russia in a broader dialogue with US allies and Syrias neighbors.Toner said that, in addition to Lavrov, Kerry had spoken to his counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, Turkey, the European Union and Qatar to discuss the way forward.And he added that Kerry had also tackled Lavrov on the crisis in Ukraine, where Russia stands accused of aiding separatist rebels, and the world powers nuclear stand-off with North Korea.Nevertheless, Toner faced questions about why Kerry should be so quick to pick up the telephone again to talk to Lavrov after blaming Moscow for the collapse in the truce talks. I would argue to the contrary that it would almost be irresponsible for us not to have any conversations with Foreign Minister Lavrov and with the Russians going forward, Toner replied.In Moscow, the foreign minister confirmed that the call had taken place and that Syria, Ukraine and North Korea were on the agenda.

Done deal: Paris climate pact to enter into force

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PARIS (AFP) - A hard-fought climate rescue pact concluded last December in the French capital will enter into legal force next month, earlier than expected, after record-fast country ratifications hailed by observers Wednesday.The Paris Agreement to curb planet-warming greenhouse gases from burning coal, oil and gas, had required ratification from 55 countries responsible for 55 percent of emissions.It was pushed over this threshold, the UN said, when the European Union, which signed as an individual party, and seven of its member states added their official sanction to the deal on Wednesday.Only through ratification -- which in some cases entails passing national legislation -- does a country agree to be bound to an international agreement such as this one.The EU, responsible for an estimated 10 percent of global emissions, joined the ranks of China and the United States, who emit almost 40 percent combined.On October 5, 2016, the threshold for entry into force of the Paris Agreement has been achieved, the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which oversaw the pact negotiations, announced.Seventy-two countries accounting for more than 56 percent of emissions had submitted ratification documents, it said, meaning the pact will take binding, legal effect in 30 days.This will be just in time for the annual UN climate conference opening in Marrakech on November 7 to discuss ways to put into action plans outlined in the agreement.Agreed by 195 nations outside the Parisian capital on December 12, the worlds first universal climate treaty vows to cap global warming at well under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).This must be achieved by replacing atmosphere-polluting fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy -- an ambitious goal towards which most UN nations have pledged emissions curbs.On current country pledges, however, scientists expect the world to warm by 3 C or more, meaning much more drastic measures are needed to effect a large-scale shift towards wind, solar and other sustainable energies.This ratification happened at record speed, environment minister Segolene Royal of France, the outgoing president of the UNFCCC talks, told AFP.By comparison, it took eight years for the Kyoto Protocol, which preceded the Paris Agreement, to enter into force. Neither the US or China were signed up to that one.This is a welcome development after years of frustratingly slow progress, said Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based think-tank.With the agreement in full force, countries can shift their focus from commitment to action.For Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, the momentum presented a tremendous opportunity for clean energy.Now that a truly global binding climate agreement is in place, governments should have the confidence to not only meet but also beat their national climate targets and provide support to the poorest countries. According to Thoriq Ibrahim, chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States threatened by climate change-boosted sea levels, the world cannot afford to rest on its laurels.We urge all countries to ratify as soon as possible so we can make the Paris Agreement truly universal, he said. It is no exaggeration to say we are in a race against time.

Russia suspends US joint nuclear energy research

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MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia said Wednesday it was suspending joint research on nuclear energy projects with the United States, as Moscows standoff with the West shows no sign of abating.The Russian foreign ministry said Moscow could no longer trust Washington in such a sensitive sphere.The move came after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered a halt to an agreement with the US on weapons-grade plutonium disposal in retaliation for Washingtons unfriendly actions.Tensions have surged between the two powers after Washington suspended talks on a ceasefire in Syria over Moscows continuing bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assads regime. On Wednesday, the Russian government published orders signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and dated Tuesday calling for the suspension of a 2013 agreement on cooperation in scientific research and development in the nuclear and energy spheres.Russia said this was a response to the US regularly extending sanctions over Ukraine, including by restricting cooperation on nuclear energy.The foreign ministry said in a statement that the US had already practically frozen coooperation and that in this situation, the Russian side is suspending the fulfilment of agreement in answer to the unfriendly actions of the US.The government said that in the current situation it was inadvisable to allow American citizens into Russian nuclear installations as well as to permit direct cooperation between Russian and US research institutions.The suspension included an agreement between Russias nuclear agency Rosatom and the US Department of Energy to study converting Russian research reactors to use low-enriched uranium, Moscow said.The foreign ministry in its statement said that we can no longer trust Washington in such a sensitive sphere as modernisation and ensuring the safety of Russian nuclear installations.If Russia decides to convert research reactors to use low-enriched uranium, we will carry out this work by ourselves, the ministry said.In fact, cooperation has been dormant for two years, a spokesman for Russias nuclear agency Rosatom told TASS state news agency, with no new contracts planned.

Air strike kills 21 Iraq pro-government fighters: officials

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BAGHDAD (AFP) - An air strike killed 21 Iraqi pro-government Sunni tribal fighters early on Wednesday in an area south of the countrys jihadist-held second city Mosul, a commander and a minister said.It was unclear whether it was the Iraqi military or the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group (IS) -- the two forces flying armed aircraft in Iraq -- that mistakenly hit the fighters.The raid happened at around 1:00 am on Wednesday (2200 GMT Tuesday) east of the town of Qayyarah, which was recaptured from IS in August, the officials said.Sheikh Nazhan Sakhr al-Lihaybi, the commander of the fighters who were killed, said they had succeeded in repelling an attack by IS jihadists in the area, and were bombed when they gathered after the end of the fighting.Agriculture minister Falah Hassan Zaidan, whose tribe resides in the Qayyarah area, also said that 21 tribal fighters were killed and confirmed the timing of the strike.Lihaybi said that the air raid also wounded five fighters, while Zaidan put the number at four.The US-led coalition has been carrying out strikes against IS in Iraq since 2014, and the countrys military also targets the jihadists with warplanes and helicopters.The deadly strike comes as Iraqi forces prepare for a final push to retake Mosul, the last IS-held city in the country.The Mosul operation -- which Western officials have indicated could start this month -- will involve a heterogenous coalition of sometimes rival Iraqi forces including soldiers, police, Kurdish peshmerga fighters, and both Sunni and Shiite militiamen.After it is launched, these forces will have to fight their way through IS-held territory -- sometimes over distances of dozens of kilometres (miles) -- before surrounding the city and then launching an assault to retake it.The issue of which forces will actually enter the city is a contentious one, and there has been no public announcement of the roles the various forces will play.
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