AP, New York
Philip Roth, the prize-winning novelist and fearless narrator of sex, death, assimilation and fate, from the comic madness of “Portnoy’s Complaint” to the elegiac lyricism of “American Pastoral,” died Tuesday night at age 85.
Roth’s literary agent, Andrew Wylie, told The Associated Press that he died in a New York City hospital of congestive heart failure.
Syria rejects US demand for Iranian withdrawal
AP, Moscow
Syria has dismissed American calls for the withdrawal of Iranian troops and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah from the war-torn country.Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad told Russia’s Sputnik news agency “this topic is not even on the agenda of discussion, since it concerns the sovereignty of Syria.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a list of demands this week for a new nuclear deal with Iran, including the pullout of its forces from Syria, where they have provided crucial support to President Bashar Assad’s government. Russia is also a key ally of Assad, and has been waging an air campaign in Syria since 2015.
Australian archbishop steps down
AP, Canberra
An Australian archbishop said Wednesday that he will stand aside but does not intend to resign after becoming the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the world to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse. Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson was convicted on Tuesday in the Newcastle Local Court, north of Sydney, of concealing the sexual abuse of two altar boys by a pedophile priest in the 1970s.
India will attend Pak anti-terror meet
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PTI, Islamabad
An Indian delegation will be among those attending an anti-terrorism conference in Islamabad being held under the banner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Tuesday.
Pakistan will be hosting its first SCO meeting, since the country along with India became a member of the organisation in June 2017. Experts from the eight SCO member states – China, Kazakhstan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan – as well as representatives of the SCO-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) will participate in the three-day meeting beginning on Wednesday, it said in a statement.
