Taliban, US pact in Afghanistan could boost Islamic State
Reuters, Kabul
A deal between the Taliban and the United States for U.S. forces to withdraw from their longest-ever war in Afghanistan could drive some diehard Taliban fighters into the arms of the Islamic State militant group, Afghan officials and militants say.
Such a deal is expected to see the United States agree to withdraw its forces in exchange for a Taliban promise they will not let Afghanistan be used to plot international militant attacks.
US bans former Sudan security chief Ghosh over ‘torture’
AFP, Washington
Washington accused the former head of Sudan’s feared security service of torture on Wednesday and barred him from entering the United States.
Salah Ghosh headed the African country’s National Intelligence and Security Service until he resigned in April this year, two days after a military council took power and ousted the country’s president Omar al-Bashir after months-long citizen protests.
Mexico detains 45,000 migrants in two months
AFP, Mexico City
Mexico said on Wednesday it has rescued more than 45,000 undocumented migrants from human traffickers since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office last December.
The foreign ministry said Mexican authorities rescued 46,616 migrants from people smugglers between Dec 1 – when Lopez Obrador took office – and Aug 11. More than 19,000 of those migrants have been found in the past two months, it said.
UN appoints new HIV/AIDS chief after controversy
AFP, United Nations
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed a new HIV/AIDS chief on Wednesday after the previous incumbent left accused of serious mismanagement.
Oxfam International executive director Winnie Byanyima of Uganda will lead UNAIDS, a spokesperson for Guterres said in a statement. She succeeds Michel Sidibe who stepped down in May after he was accused of creating “a patriarchal culture tolerating harassment and abuse of authority.”
Sudan’s rebels want a role in transitional government
AP, Cairo
A Sudanese rebel alliance says it should be represented in the transitional government formed by the military and the pro-democracy movement following an agreement reached earlier this month.
Yesir Arman, a senior official in the Sudan Revolutionary Front, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the government should end the long-running war in Darfur and integrate the rebels into the armed forces as part of an “agenda of peace.”
