As many as 18 Afghan soldiers killed fighting in western province LASHKAR GAH, March 10 (Reuters): As many as 18 Afghan soldiers and members of the special forces have been killed in fighting in the western province of Farah, local officials said on Saturday. Taliban fighters attacked troops assembled to prepare an attack in Bala Buluk district in the night, setting off a fierce battle, officials said. Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said four members of the special forces had been killed and a number wounded, but the head of the local provincial council, Farid Bakhtawar, said the death toll had reached at least 18. As the fighting went on, an air strike was called in and killed around 25 insurgents, he said. In a message posted on Twitter, a Taliban spokesman said 53 commandos had been killed or wounded after arriving in Tapa Sadat, close to the Bala Buluk district centre, and a sizeable quantity of weapons seized. U.S. and Afghan officials say the Taliban have been under increasingly heavy pressure from air strikes and army operations but the insurgents have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to inflict severe damage on Afghan security forces. This week’s incident was the latest in a series to have hit Farah province, between the border with Iran and the Taliban heartland of Helmand province, source of much of Afghanistan’s opium crop. It came ahead of an expected increase in fighting with the end of winter and the approach of spring. Panama prepares trade retaliation against 20 countries Panama City, March 10 (IANS): Panama’s foreign ministry on Friday published a list of 20 countries that discriminate against Panamanian imports as a first step toward establishing reciprocity measures. Panamanian Trade Minister Augusto Arosemana said that the publication of the list was a “very novel step in our country’s foreign policy.” “We have the responsibility to defend the interests of Panama on the world stage. When we passed the retorsion law in 2016 ... we had anticipated this step but we evidently had to exhaust prior efforts,” Efe quoted the the minister as saying. The list includes Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, France, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Cameroon, Georgia, Russia and Serbia. In September 2016, the Panamanian congress passed a retorsion law that reinforces the migratory, fiscal and tariff measures that the government can use to retaliate against other countries. France included Panama on a list of tax havens in April 2016, after the “Panama Papers” scandal broke out showing how rich individuals and corporations use offshore schemes to avoid taxes, while Colombia has applied tariffs on certain re-exports from the Panamanian Colon Free Trade Zone for more than five years, despite a World Trade Organization ruling against it. In December 2016, Panama was also included on a European Union blacklist of tax havens, although one month later the Central American nation and seven other countries were taken off and put on an under observation grey list. Syria army cuts off largest town in Ghouta enclave Douma, March 10 (AFP): Syrian troops on Saturday cut off the largest town in Eastern Ghouta from the rest of the rebel-held enclave which is now split in three, a monitor said. The army captured a road linking the town of Douma with Harasta further west, and also captured the town of Misraba, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “Regime forces have therefore divided Eastern Ghouta into three parts -- Douma and its surroundings, Harasta in the west, and the rest of the towns further south,” the Britain-based war monitor said. An AFP correspondent inside Douma said shelling and air strikes were rocking the town on Saturday. Besieged by government forces since 2013, Ghouta is the last remaining rebel-held area near the capital. Keen to secure Damascus, government troops and allied militia have been closing in on the enclave since February 18 and have overrun more than half of it. More than 975 civilians, over 250 of them children, have been killed and hundreds more wounded, according to the Observatory. Two main Islamist rebel groups are present in the enclave, but jihadists led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate are also active. 35,000 people run in largest-ever Jerusalem Marathon Jerusalem, March 10 (IANS): More than 35,000 people, including some 4,000 from outside Israel, ran in the eighth annual Jerusalem Marathon on Friday, the largest number yet in the annual race. Kenyan runner Shadrack Kipkogey finished the marathon first in 2 hours, 21 minutes and 27 seconds. Runners participate in six courses, including the full marathon (42.2 km), half-marathon (21.1 km), 10 km, 5 km, family race (1.7 km), and community race (800 meters) for people with special needs, Xinhua reported. International runners came from 72 countries from China, the US, Germany, Poland, Portugal, and Lithuania. China’s Hong Kong sent the greatest number of runners from outside Israel, followed by Los Angeles, Beijing, and London. The average age of runners running the full course is 43, while the average age of those running the 10 km is 32.
