Buffer zone established in Ukraine talks
MINSK, Belarus – Sporadic artillery fire hit parts of eastern Ukraine on Saturday, hours after negotiators agreed to create a buffer zone between government troops and pro-Russian militants by halting their advances, pulling back heavy weapons and withdrawing foreign fighters.
Despite positive developments coming out of talks in the Belarusian capital of Minsk and a cease-fire that has been in place since Sept. 5, the fighting between the two sides was still deadly.
In Donetsk, the largest rebel-held city, strong explosions could be heard from a munitions factory that a local official said was hit by an artillery shell. It was unclear which side fired it. Explosions were heard in three areas of the city in the afternoon, the city council said.
The Interior Ministry said rebels had opened fire on the village of Stakhanovets in the Luhansk region, but it had no immediate information about casualties.
Ukrainian national security council spokesman Volodymyr Polyoviy said Saturday that about 20 rebels and one soldier had been killed in clashes but did not specify if those took place after the negotiators agreed on the buffer zone around 4 a.m.
Afghan election results could come today
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan’s drawn-out presidential election may finally be coming to an end.
Nearly six months after Afghans cast ballots in a first-round vote, the country’s election commission on Saturday said it would announce final, audited results today from a two-man runoff held in June.
UN and Afghan election officials spent weeks auditing the runoff results after allegations of vote fraud, a common occurrence over Afghanistan’s last two presidential elections.
The announcement that vote results are coming would appear to override one of the negotiating stances of candidate Abdullah Abdullah: that vote results are not released because, he contends, undetectable fraud invalidates the results.
Despite the recount and audit, the drawn-out race does not appear to be coming down to a precise vote tally. Rather, high-stakes negotiations will settle the country’s power structure.
Boiled down to their simplest formula, the talks pit the northern power brokers backing former Foreign Minister Abdullah against the southern and eastern Pashtun supporters of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former finance minister and World Bank official.
New Zealand leader wins 3rd term in office
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Prime Minister John Key won an emphatic victory Saturday in New Zealand’s general election to return for a third term, a result that will be seen as an endorsement of the way his National Party has handled the economy.
“This is a great night. This is a victory for those who kept the faith,” Key told a cheering crowd in Auckland. “This is a victory for those who refused to be distracted and who knew that a vote for National was a vote for a brighter future for all New Zealanders.”
Key gave credit to his deputy prime minister, Bill English, whom he described as “the best finance minister in the developed world.”
With just a small number of special votes remaining to be counted, Key’s party ended election night with 48 percent of the vote.
It was a disastrous night for the National Party’s closest rival, the Labour Party, which won just 25 percent.
Rescuers save 50,000 in flooded Pakistan
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s disaster management agency says rescuers with boats and helicopters have evacuated about 50,000 people from the country’s south after raging floods inundated more villages there.
In a statement, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Agency said Saturday two dozen people were killed in the past 24 hours in the eastern Punjab province, raising the death toll from rains and flooding to 346.
It said flood water wreaked havoc in Punjab province and was now passing through remote areas in the southern Sindh province.
It said, so far, no deaths have been reported from Sindh province.
Floods have also killed 200 people in the India-controlled part of Kashmir since Sept. 3, when monsoon rains triggered flash floods in the Himalayan region. Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and neighboring India.
Associated Press
