World

Mogadishu, Oct 4 (IANS) Somali leaders have condemned the twin suicide bomb blasts in the central Somali town of Beledwyene where at least 15 people were killed and 26 others wounded.

In separate statements on Monday, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre directed security agencies to step up anti-terrorism measures to ensure security in the country, Xinhua news agency reported.

Mohamud also sent his condolences to the families and relatives of the Somali citizens who lost their lives in the blasts that targeted local officials at Lamagalay base which is HirShabelle regional administration headquarters. He wished the wounded quick recovery and directed the government to provide immediate medical assistance to those whose health conditions are critical.

The President's statement came as the death toll rose to 15 in the twin suicide bombs that rocked Beledweyne local administration premises, the interim administrative town of Hirshabelle state in central Somalia. The police and witnesses who declined to be named said the death toll could rise as some of the wounded are in critical condition.

"The first explosion was a car laden with explosives driven by a suicide bomber that hit the first security gate of the presidential buildings, followed by another blast loaded on a truck not much far from the residential home of Hirshabelle state Vice-President inside Lamagalaay compound, "Ali Jeyte Osman, Governor of Hiran region told journalists.

"Their brutal acts will never distract us from rising against them," he added and vowed to step up anti-terror operations in the region.

HirShabelle, Health Minister and Deputy Governor for the Hiiraan region, were among those killed in the attack which has also been condemned by the UN.

In his statement, the Prime Minister who chaired an emergency security meeting following the blasts condemned the attacks which he said are aimed at derailing efforts to pacify Somalia.

"This attack is a proof of how the terrorist groups are still hungry for the bloodshed of the Somali people, and they want to discourage the people who stood up for their lives. The blood of our precious people that they shed every day will not be spared," Abdi said.

The latest attacks came barely two days after the killing of senior al-Shabab leader Abdullahi Nadir by government and international partner forces on Saturday during an operation in the Middle Juba region.

The government forces have conducted several operations in Beledweyne in recent days against the al-Shabab terror group, liberating more than 40 villages and killing more than 200 militants.

--IANS
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Islamabad, Oct 4 (IANS) The number of dengue fever cases keeps increasing in Pakistan amid an outbreak due to floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in the South Asian country.

The southern Sindh province reported 311 new infections, said the provincial health department on Monday evening. The worst-hit area was Karachi, the provincial capital, which reported 255 new cases.

With the newly reported dengue cases, the October figure to date for the province has risen to 652, bringing the total local tally to 10,806 this year, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the last 24 hours, 287 more people were diagnosed with the disease in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the provincial Health department reported on Monday evening. The number of active cases in the province currently stands at 2,177 and the total number of cases this year has reached 9,536.

The eastern Punjab province reported 230 new cases in the last 24 hours, the provincial Health authorities said on Monday. Punjab's capital Lahore reported 99 new cases, followed by Rawalpindi city with 87 cases. The total number of dengue cases in Punjab this year has now gone up to 7,251.

The national capital Islamabad reported 34 new dengue cases in the last 24 hours, the Health authorities said on Monday evening. The city's total tally has risen to 2,586 this year.

--IANS
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By Hamza Ameer
Islamabad, Oct 3 (IANS) After holding over 55 public gatherings and over two dozen conferences, institutional events; Imran khan is geared up to launch an anti-government long march and protest sit-in choking Pakistan capital Islamabad until his demand of holding early elections is met.


Sources within Imran Khan's political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have confirmed that the date for the long march will be announced within the next six days as the party is now holding consultation and engaging with sources to start preparing for the upcoming long march.

Former Information Minister and senior member of PTI, Fawad Chaudhry said that the nation should start preparing for the long march as this is the only option left to oust what he termed as "imported government of power."

"This government does not hold the consent of the majority of the country and has been brought into power through a regime change conspiracy. The nation now should start preparing for a long march because Imran Khan is the true leader who represents the sentiments of the whole country," he said.


"Imran Khan will be announcing the date for the long march within the next six days and that will be the final showdown against this imported government," he added.

PTI sources also revealed that Imran Khan has already started directing local management of the party in all provinces to prepare for the long march.

In a closed door meeting, Imran Khan said that he will not be giving any more time to the Shehbaz Sharif government.

"I will not give any more time to oppressors and formally announce the date of the historic long march soon," said Imran Khan.

The decision to hold a long march comes after failed attempts to reach out to coalition partners of the Shehbaz Sharif government, backdoor meeting with the military establishment higher ups, audio leaks and government's attempts to put Imran Khan behind bars in various cases including Tosha Khana case, Foreign Funding case and the ongoing talks about booking Imran Khan under Article-6 (Treason) for hatching a conspiracy narrative out of the cypher and using it to play the political game through the regime change narrative.

There are various strategies being considered for the long march especially in view of the previous long march that was dealt with tear gases, blockades, house raids and assaults by the security forces on orders of the current federal minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah.

Among the expected strategies and in view of the fact that Imran Khan enjoys provincial control over Punjab, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) aka Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), his strategy to choke Islamabad may well be focused on shutting down provinces and cutting all connecting routes towards the capital Islamabad from all sides.

This will not be the first time that PTI has staged a massive protest sit-in against the then sitting government. In 2014, Imran Khan had staged a 126-days sit-in protest in Islamabad demanding the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down and hold early elections. However, neither Imran Khan's demand was met nor the months long protest prompted the ouster of the sitting government.

--IANS
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Chandigarh, Oct 3 (IANS) Less than a week after the Brampton Municipal Corporation in Canada named a park as Shri Bhagavad Gita Park spread over 3.75 acres, an act of vandalism was reported there with the Indian High Commission denouncing it as 'hate crime'.

However, the Canadian police said there was no evidence of vandalism to the permanent sign or any park structure. The Gita Park is probably the only park outside India to be named after the Holy scripture Bhagavad Gita.

Responding to the incident, the High Commission of India in Ottawa on Sunday said, "We condemn the hate crime at the Shri Bhagavad Gita Park in Brampton. We urge Canadian authorities & @PeelPolice to investigate and take prompt action on the perpetrators."

A sign board for the Shri Bhagavad Gita Park was vandalised by miscreants.

"We learned that the sign was damaged during the original install & a city staff member brought it back for unplanned maintenance & to reprint," Mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown, tweeted.

He said the permanent park sign is yet to be installed.

He posted his photos on Monday of his visit to the Shani Shri Vishwakarma Hindu Temple in Brampton.

Peel Regional Police tweeted, "The permanent sign is still waiting for the lettering to be applied. There was no evidence of vandalism to the permanent sign or any park structure. It was a temporary park sign used in the park naming ceremony."

Strongly condemning the insidious and heinous act of vandalism, local Member of Parliament (MP) Sonia Sidhu said, "I know that Peel Police is taking this matter seriously and encourage anyone with knowledge of this crime or any other helpful information to contact the police."

Another MP Chandra Arya said in a statement that this is the continuation of the hate crime on the Hindu temples in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a consequence of increasingly vocal and organised anti-India and anti-Hindu groups in Canada.

The Brampton Municipal Corporation on September 28 named a park as Shri Bhagavad Gita Park in ward number VI.

As per the plan, the park will be beautifully landscaped and will have sculptures of Lord Krishna and Arjuna on a chariot, the two main characters of the Gita, besides some other Hindu deities.

Lauding this initiative of renaming the park, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said this park will become symbolic in further spreading the eternal message of universal brotherhood love and harmony as taught in the holy Bhagavad Gita.

Speaking at the event, the Mayor had said: "I believe in the teachings of the Gita. We are very grateful to the Hindu community and this park is a symbol of that friendship."

--IANS
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Ramallah, Oct 3 (IANS) Palestine has urged the European countries to tie their relations with Israel to its adherence to international law, UN resolutions, and human rights principles.

"The international community is required to hold Israel directly responsible for the escalation in the West Bank against the Palestinians, and to put real pressure on it to stop it immediately," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Israel insists on escalating the situation, and we seriously view the dangers of this escalation that serves its interests," the statement was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.

The call came ahead of the 12th meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, which will be held in Brussels. The meeting will cover topics such as trade, energy, climate change, culture, science, and technology.

The meeting takes place amid ongoing tensions between the Israeli army and Palestinians in the West Bank.

Since early January, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, according to official Palestinian figures. In contrast, 18 Israelis have been killed in attacks carried out by Palestinians in Israeli cities since March.

--IANS
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Seoul, Oct 3 (IANS) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating fell for the first time in four weeks after his remarks caught on a hot mic in New York caused an uproar here, a survey showed on Monday.

In the poll of 2,522 voters conducted by Realmeter from Monday to Friday last week, 31.2 per cent positively assessed Yoon's job performance, down 3.4 percentage points from the previous week, Yonhap news agency reported.

Yoon's disapproval rating was 66 per cent, up 3.8 percentage points.

The drop could be attributable to the hot mic controversy and Yoon's accusation of media manipulation after he came under fire for using vulgar words in private remarks to aides caught on a hot mic during his trip to New York last month, according to Bae Cheol-ho, a senior analyst at Realmeter.

Though the recording of Yoon's remarks was not clear due to noise, many thought that he used foul language while talking about US Congress and US President Joe Biden. Yoon's office rejected the claim, saying he was referring to South Korea's opposition-controlled National Assembly and did not mention US Congress or Biden.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95 per cent confidence level.

--IANS
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Tehran, Oct 3 (IANS) Iran released Baqer Namazi, a dual Iranian-American citizen, on humanitarian grounds, a senior Iranian judicial official said.

Namazi, who was staying at his own home in Tehran, not in prison, for nearly four years because of his health problems, was allowed to leave Iran anytime he wants, Deputy Chief of the Iranian Judiciary Kazem Gharibabadi was quoted by official IRNA news agency as saying.

The ban on his leaving Iran was removed on Wednesday, following his repeated requests for continuing his medical treatment outside the country, added Gharibabadi, also the secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, Xinhua news agency reported.

Gharibabadi expressed the hope that Iranians in US prisons would also be released as soon as possible.

Baqer Namazi, 85, was found guilty in 2016 of "collaboration with a hostile government" and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released on medical grounds in 2018 before his case was concluded in 2020, with his sentence commuted to time served but he was still forbidden from leaving the country, according to Tehran Times daily.

--IANS
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Islamabad, Oct 3 (IANS) The death toll from this season's monsoon rain and flood since mid-June has risen to around 1,695 along with 12,865 others injured in Pakistan, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.

According to a report released by the NDMA on Sunday, 630 children and 340 women were among those who lost their lives in separate rain or flood-related accidents in the country, Xinhua news agency reported.

The country's southern Sindh province was the worst-hit region where 759 people were killed, followed by southwest Balochistan and northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces which reported 336 and 307 deaths, respectively.

Moreover, 2,045,349 houses were destroyed and 1,162,122 livestock perished in different parts of Pakistan, the report said.

Around 33,046,329 people and 84 districts have been affected by the flood, it added.

The report further added that 13,254.49 km-long roads and 440 bridges have been damaged throughout the season.

Rescue and relief operations by the NDMA, other government organizations, volunteers and non-government organisations were underway in the flood-hit areas.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) Condemning strongly the "hate crime" at a park named after the Bhagavad Gita in Canada, India urged authorities to take prompt action.

"We condemn the hate crime at the Shri Bhagvad Gita Park in Brampton. We urge Canadian authorities and Peel Police to investigate and take prompt action on the perpetrators," High Commission of India in Ottawa said in a tweet.

A sign with the park's name was allegedly vandalised and officials have ordered a probe, said city Mayor Patrick Brown, who confirmed the incident on Twitter. Condemning the incident, Brown said, "We have zero tolerance for this."

He also said that the matter has now been flagged to Peel Regional Police for further investigation, adding that the Parks department is working to resolve and correct the sign as soon as possible.

--IANS
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By Ashe O
Washington, Oct 3 (IANS) Former US President Donald Trump has claimed his disclaimer clause in agreements with lenders will dismiss New York (NY) Attorney General (AG) Letitia James' tax fraud case against him. James had sued Trump and his three grown up children of perpetuating a fraud over a decade by overstating the net worth of their assets and securing loans and evading taxes.


Trump's net-worth statements start with disclaimers that essentially warn lenders: "Check my math." The statements were unsealed last week as part of James' fraud lawsuit against Trump. Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News the disclaimers absolve him of any responsibility and the AG has "no case".

Trump hunched forward in his gold-painted, spindle-backed chair under the chandeliers of Mar-a-Lago's glittering grand ballroom and told Sean Hannity why New York's Attorney General, who'd sued him earlier that day, has "no case", says the Business Insider.

"We have a disclaimer," Trump told the Fox News host. "Right on the front. And it basically says, you know, get your own people. You're at your own risk ... It may be way off."

Trump was describing the disclaimer that fills the second and third pages of his annual proclamations of net-worth - the 20-page "Statements of Financial Condition" at the center of AG Letitia James' massive lawsuit against the former president, his three oldest kids, and his real estate and golf resort empire.

James calls these statements "fraudulent", and says each one is filled with wildly exaggerated math - implausible numbers that misled banks into lending Trump and the New York-incorporated Trump Organization hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade.

But Trump told Hannity none of that would matter because each Statement of Financial Condition begins with a warning. "Be careful," Trump told Hannity the disclaimers essentially say. "Because it may not be accurate. It may be way off ... get your own people. Use your own lawyers," Trump added. "Don't rely on us."

Former financial crimes prosecutor Armen Morian, who worked for the AGs office from 2006 to 2019 before founding Morian Law, believes Trump has a point. Sure, the annual Statements of Financial Condition may be filled with real whoppers, including all those years - from 2012 through 2016 - when they tripled the actual square footage of Trump's triplex atop Manhattan's Trump Tower, adding as much as $200 million a year to the former president's net worth.

But each year, the disclaimers put banks on notice to double check the numbers before relying on them in deciding how much to lend and at what rate of interest, Morian said. And if the banks cut Trump a good deal anyway, despite this warning - as Deutsche Bank did year after year, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into his Miami golf club, his skyscraper in Chicago and the Old Post Office in DC - then they did so with eyes wide open, he said.

"What the disclaimers are saying is, 'Beware when you read these financial statements,'" Morian said, after a decade's worth of the statements were unsealed in court filings last week. "That's all it has to do," he said of their disclaimers, affixed to the front of each year's statement by longtime Trump accountants Mazars USA.

"And that doesn't cover just Mazars," added Morian, whose AG financial fraud cases included the 13-year prosecution of insurance magnate Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. "It covers Trump."

Morian noted that these are "robust" disclaimers - set down right in the open, not hidden in fine print. "We have not audited or reviewed the accompanying financial statement," their first paragraphs say, in boilerplate language repeated through the years.

And so, the accountants at Mazars, "do not express an opinion or provide any assurance about whether the financial statement is in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America."

Deutsche Bank in particular - the largest single lender to the Trump Organization and Donald Trump over the last ten years - is a "sophisticated counterparty," Morian said. They well knew Trump's reputation for puffery in an industry - real estate - already known for puffery.

"All of that," Morian said, "essentially renders the disclaimer an absolute defence."

A license to exaggerate? To lie? So, a business can lie about its worth? And get away with it, just by warning, as Trump put it, "It may not be accurate. It may be way off?"

"There is something unsatisfying about it," Morian conceded. "But I have a hard time taking off my hat as a lawyer. This is a legal question, and it turns on facts and the law. That's the game we're playing in, and that's the game the attorney general is playing in also, the Insider said.

"It's shocking that they brought this case," Morian said. But not everyone agrees, least of all the former president's fixer-turned-critic, Michael Cohen, who turned over Trump's Statements of Financial Condition for 2011 through 2013 as part of his testimony before Congress in 2019.

"The attorney general was not filing a 200-plus page lawsuit, after three years of investigatory work, to have her case negated by a disclaimer," Cohen told Insider. That disclaimer was written and signed by Mazars in order to protect Mazars, not Trump, Cohen noted.

These are not our numbers, Mazars essentially tells would-be lenders, and you'll get no assurances from us on their accuracy. Diana Florence, a former Manhattan prosecutor for complex financial fraud cases, agreed. "Sure, they're a hurdle," she told Insider of the disclaimers. "They do weaken the case."

But that's not the full story, she said. The AG is alleging that ten years of Trump's Statements of Financial Condition contain a total of some 200 false and misleading valuations involving 23 properties. Deutsche Bank can't be expected "to literally chase down everything in the statement and verify it," Florence said. And while James' lawsuit shines its widest, brightest spotlight on the Statements of Financial Condition, it suggests that other paperwork could put Trump at greater risk.

Through the years, Trump or his children signed multiple documents that personally attest to Mazars and to Deutsche Bank that the Statements of Financial Condition are accurate, or at least "fairly" represent Trump's worth, the lawsuit alleges.

And those "boilerplate disclaimers?" James' lawsuit is aware of them. "The disclaimers ... do not give license to Mr. Trump or the Trump Organization to submit to their accountant's fraudulent and misleading asset valuations for inclusion in the Statements," the lawsuit says.

"Trump could say, 'Yeah, if Deutsche Bank were really worried, they could have asked for more things or could have turned us down. They didn't do any due diligence,'" Florence said.

"But it doesn't change what the case is about, which is patterns of fraud." The AGs office and lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In February, Mazars quit working for Trump entirely - in the middle of preparing his and Melania Trump's tax returns - and issued the ultimate disclaimer by saying that the last 10 years of Statements of Financial Condition "should no longer be relied upon."

In declining to comment, a Mazars spokesperson said, "We remain committed to fulfilling all of our professional and legal obligations."

--IANS
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