PTI, Islamabad
The US House of Representative has passed a defence bill that pledges $ 900 million in economic and other assistance to Pakistan, a significant portion of which is dependent of a Pentagon certification that the country is taking demonstrable steps against the dreaded Haqqani Network. The US National Defence Authorisation Act for fiscal year 2017 was passed in the House of Representatives yesterday.
Uzbekistan votes to elect President
AFP, Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)
Uzbekistan went to the polls on Sunday to elect a successor to the late strongman Islam Karimov with long-serving prime minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev expected to score a comfortable victory in the ex-Soviet state.
According to the Central Electoral Commission some 33.73 percent of the 20 million plus electorate cast votes in the first five hours of the vote-exceeding the minimum turnout of a third of voters required to make the polls valid.
3 women dead in Finland shooting
AP, Helsinki
A gunman killed three women in an apparent random shooting in a nightlife district in a small town in southeastern Finland, police said Sunday. A 23-year-old local man has been detained.
The victims were gunned down in a pedestrian area outside a restaurant late Saturday in the town of Imatra just before a police patrol car arrived to the scene around midnight, police spokeswoman Heli Jamsen-Turkki said.
Austria far-right eyes presidency in tense vote
AFP, Vienna
Austrians returned to the polls on Sunday in a bitterly fought marathon election, which could propel the European Union’s first far-right president to power and boost the anti-establishment tide sweeping many countries.
Norbert Hofer of the hardline Freedom Party (FPOe) hopes to emerge victorious after he narrowly lost to his Greens-backed rival Alexander Van der Bellen in a first run-off in May, which was annulled over ballot count breaches.
