NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Afghan fighting:
The Taliban have opened an offensive on the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah, overrunning some of its surrounding security checkpoints and largely cutting it off, even as their negotiators remained at the table for talks with the Afghan government that appear stalled. While the insurgent attempt to cap the fighting season with highprofile attacks before winter sets in was not unusual for recent years of the twodecade war, the run for a provincial capital amid peace talks suggested that the Taliban still see military bullying as their most effective negotiating tactic. The attack also appeared to test the limits of how far the U. S. military would go to defend its Afghan allies.
2 Kyrgyz chaos:
Kyrgyzstan’s president on Monday ordered a new, weeklong state of emergency in the country’s capital after parliament failed to consider and approve his previous order within the legally required three days. The confusion reflected the chaos that has engulfed the country after a disputed parliamentary election triggered mass protests. According to the office of President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, the state of emergency in Bishkek is to last from 8 p. m. Monday to 7 a. m. on Oct. 19 and implies a curfew, a ban on rallies and other public events, and travel restrictions. The new decree also reiterates the order to deploy troops to the capital to enforce the measure.
3 Nazi symbols:
The leader of a farright party with seats in the Slovak parliament was convicted of illegal use of neoNazi symbols and sentenced to four years and four months in prison on Monday. Marian Kotleba, head of the People’s Party Our Slovakia, was standing trial after he presented three poor families with checks for 1,488 euros in 2017. The number 1,488 has a symbolic meaning for neoNazis and white supremacists. The verdict isn’t final. Kotleba pleaded not guilty and can appeal the verdict issued by the Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok. The country’s Supreme Court would decide on his appeal.
4 Columbus statue:
Mexicans have never had much affection for Christopher Columbus, and officials were being coy about why his statue was removed from the capital’s main boulevard over the weekend before Monday’s observances of Columbus Day, which saw protests in several Latin American nations. Unlike in other cities where monuments to the 15th century explorer have been toppled by protesters, in Mexico City the 19th century bronze statue was gently lifted off its pedestal with a crane and taken away for restoration. But leaders danced around the question of when, or whether, it would return. In past years, leftist and indigenous groups have spraypainted the statue on Oct. 12 — known in the Spanishspeaking world as “Dia de la Raza” — as well as during many other protests.
5 Election clampdown:
— Tanzanian authorities have intensified repression to muzzle the opposition, civil society and the news media ahead of elections on Oct. 28, where the incumbent President John Magufuli is seeking a second term, an international human rights group said Monday. In recent months, the nation’s news media have been the hardest hit with the government indefinitely banning the Tanzania Daima newspaper, the country’s secondlargest newspaper, Amnesty International said in its report. Opposition parties allege that hundreds of their candidates have been unfairly disqualified, the report said. Opposition party leaders have accused the Zanzibar Election Commission of being reluctant to issue voter identification cards to qualified voters.