Pence delays Mideast visit
AFP, Washington
US Vice President Mike Pence is delaying a controversial visit to the Middle East, the White House said Monday, amid a crunch tax vote on Capitol Hill and protests in the region.
The trip to Egypt and Israel, due to begin Tuesday, has been pushed back to mid-January, allowing Pence to remain in Washington in case he needs to break a tie vote in the Senate over President Donald Trump’s tax reforms.
UN to vote on aid deliveries to Syria’s rebel areas
AFP, United Nations
The UN Security Council will vote Tuesday on extending for one year cross-border deliveries of humanitarian aid to Syria’s opposition-held areas after Russia demanded changes to the relief effort.
Since 2014, UN aid convoys have crossed the border from Turkey and Jordan-without the approval of the Syrian government-and are now delivering food to one million Syrians per month, on average.
Protests rock Iraqi Kurdistan for second day
AFP, Sulaimaniyah
Protesters in Iraqi Kurdistan torched a mayor’s office and stormed a ruling party building on Tuesday as anger raged for a second day at the disastrous fallout from a September independence referendum.
The vote delivered a resounding “yes” but drew sweeping reprisals from Baghdad which have dealt a heavy blow to the autonomous region’s economy.
2 anti-India rebels, woman killed in Kashmir fighting
AP, Srinagar
A woman was killed during anti-India protests in disputed Kashmir on Tuesday following a gunbattle that killed two rebels, police and villagers said.
The fighting erupted after Indian troops cordoned off a village in the southern Shopian area overnight on a tip that militants were hiding in a house, police said.
Schools shut in Iran capital due to pollution
Reuters, Ankara
Iran has shut schools in the capital and some other major cities because of dangerous levels of air pollution, Iranian media reported on Tuesday.
State TV said schools, closed since Sunday, would remain closed on Wednesday in Tehran, which has a population of 14 million and more than 8 million cars and motorbikes. To reduce the pollution, Iranian authorities announced on Monday that cars were only allowed on the roads on alternate days, depending on their number plates.
Airstrikes kill 6 Afghan militants
Xinhua, Maimana
At least six militants were killed as security force aircraft pounded Taliban hide-out in Shirin Tagab district of northern Afghanistan’s Faryab province on Tuesday, an army spokesman Nasratullah Jamshidi said.
