Afghan presidential election delayed to Sept 28
AFP, Kabul:
War-torn Afghanistan has delayed its presidential election until September 28, officials announced Wednesday, the second time the ballot has been put back and five months later than it was originally scheduled to be held.
The announcement by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) comes after speculation that the vote would be postponed to create space for US-led efforts to end the 17-year war with the Taliban.
Vietnam arrests 8 Chinese suspected of drug trafficking
AP, Hanoi
Vietnamese police have arrested eight Chinese suspected of drug trafficking after seizing 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of methamphetamine worth up to $26 million.
The state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper says the alleged ring leader was arrested Wednesday when he received the drugs in Ho Chi Minh City from three Vietnamese accomplices who had transported them in a pickup truck from Dak Nong province on the Laos border. It says seven other Chinese were also arrested.
Indian-American Rao sworn in as US judge
PTI, Washington:
Prominent Indian-American lawyer Neomi Jehangir Rao (45) has been sworn in as US Circuit Judge for the powerful District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, replacing the controversial Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Joined by her husband Alan Lefkowitz, Ms Rao was sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Tuesday.
Dutch populists win senate vote
AFP, The Hague
A Dutch populist party will be the joint biggest in the senate and strip Prime Minister Mark Rutte of his majority following elections that came just days after a suspected terror attack, local media said Thursday.
Controversial eurosceptic Thierry Baudet’s Forum for Democracy party came from nowhere to win most votes in the provincial elections, with 93 percent of ballots counted, the NOS broadcaster said.
