AFP, Jakarta
Indonesia has agreed to accept international help to combat forest and agricultural fires that are cloaking Southeast Asia in haze after weeks of failed attempts to douse the blazes, officials said today.
Fires illegally started to clear land for plantations in Indonesia have shrouded Singapore and Malaysia in acrid smog, worsening air quality, closing schools and forcing the cancellation of outdoor events.
Lawmakers in Kashmir punch colleague for serving beef
AP, Srinagar
Lawmakers from India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party in Kashmir have kicked and punched an independent member of the state assembly for hosting a party where he served beef.
Hindus consider the cow to be sacred, and slaughtering of cows is banned in most Indian states.
Bharatiya Janata Party members beat lawmaker Rashid Ahmed, a Muslim, in the assembly soon after its session began Thursday.
US mulls nuclear deal with Pakistan
Dawn.com, Washington
The United States is exploring an option that could pave the way for a civil nuclear deal with Pakistan like the one concluded with India in 2005, says a report published in The Washington Post on Wednesday.
“The issue is being discussed quietly in the run-up to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Washington on Oct 22,” said leading columnist David Ignatius in an article he wrote for the Post.
“We are in regular contact with the government of Pakistan on a range of issues as we prepare for the prime minister’s visit,” a US government spokesperson told Dawn when asked for comments on the report. “We’ll decline comment on the specifics of these discussions,” she added.
13 killed in Yemen wedding bombing
AFP, Sanaa
At least 13 people were killed and 38 others wounded in the bombing of a wedding in a rebel-held Yemeni town, a medical source said Thursday, as witnesses accused the Saudi-led coalition of being behind the attack.
The bombing targeted a house hosting a wedding celebration in Sanban, in Dhamar province, some 100 kilometres south of Sanaa, medics and witnesses said.
“The hospital of Dhamar has received 13 bodies and 38 wounded people following the bombing of a house where dozens were celebrating a wedding,” the medical source told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
Netanyahu bars ministers from visiting Jerusalem holy site
AP, Jerusalem
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has barred all Cabinet ministers and lawmakers from visiting a sensitive Jerusalem holy site, fearing any high-profile spectacle could further enflame tensions that have gripped the country for weeks, an Israeli official said Thursday.
But Netanyahu’s move to try and calm the situation is now appearing to put the Israeli leader on a collision course with hard-liners within his own governing coalition.
