World: October 2016

Thursday 27 October 2016

Kenya declares curfew in strife-hit Mandera

Kenyan soldiers arrive at the scene of a bomb attack claimed by Shabaab militants in the northeastern town of Mandera on October 25, 2016 (AFP Photo/)

Nairobi (AFP) - Kenya's government on Thursday announced a 60-day dusk to dawn curfew in the northeastern town of Mandera, hit by two deadly terrorist attacks in three weeks.

Interior minister Joseph Nkaissery issued the order two days after Shabaab militants killed 12 people at a hotel in Mandera town on Tuesday.

He said the curfew, from 6:30 pm to 6:30 am would begin on Thursday and remain in place until December 27.

It would be enforced along a 20 kilometre (12 mile) buffer zone of towns and territory reaching to the Somalia border.

This week's attack was the second in Mandera in less than three weeks, with both claimed by

The UN estimates the perilous journey across the Mediterranean for migrants desperate to reach Europe has so far this year claimed a record 3,800 lives (AFP Photo/Aris Messinis)

Tripoli (AFP) - The Libyan navy said Thursday that almost 100 migrants were missing after their Europe-bound boat sank off the country's coast, while 29 others were rescued.

"According to information received on Wednesday afternoon, 20 illegal immigrants of African nationalities have been rescued," General Ayoub Qassem, a navy spokesman in Tripoli, told AFP.

"They were on an inflatable dinghy which tore and filled up with water," he said.

Qassem quoted a survivor as telling his rescuers that the boat had set off with 126 migrants on boat from Garabulli, 70 kilometres (45 miles) east of Tripoli, and went down battered by high waves.

Three women and a child were among the 97 missing, he said.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during his meeting with mukhtars at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, October 26, 2016. Yasin Bulbul/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's military operation in northern Syria will target the town of Manbij, recently liberated from Islamic State by Kurdish-led forces, and the jihadists' stronghold of Raqqa, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

Syrian rebels, backed by Turkish warplanes, tanks and artillery, launched an operation dubbed "Euphrates Shield" in August to push Islamic State and Kurdish militia forces away from the border area of northern Syria.

In a speech in Ankara broadcast live, Erdogan said he had informed U.S. President Barack Obama about his plans for the operation in a telephone call on Wednesday. Before Manbij and Raqqa, the operation will target the town of al-Bab, he said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives a speech at the 9th Congress of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on August 29,

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed on Thursday to work together to put more pressure on North Korea to get it to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama said.

Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high this year, beginning with North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January, which was followed by a satellite launch, a string of tests of various missiles, and its fifth and largest nuclear test last month, all in defiance of international sanctions.

"We reaffirmed the necessity to increase pressure against North Korea to have it give up its nuclear and missile development and realise the denuclearization of the peninsula," Sugiyama told reporters.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's latest drill in the South China Sea was a normal search and rescue exercise, the defense ministry said on Thursday, less than a week after a U.S. navy destroyer sailed near the Paracel Islands, provoking a warning from Chinese warships to leave.

China routinely holds drills in the busy waterway, where Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have rival claims.

The search and rescue exercises were being conducted off the coast of the island province of

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (C) speaks to the media after his inspection at Japan Coast Guard base in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan October 27, 2016. REUTERS/Issei Kato

YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday his country could join naval exercises with Japan, but repeated there would be no more war games with long-time ally the United States and again gave vent to his anger against Washington.

Duterte also said he had explained to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in talks on Wednesday just why he resented the United States, reiterating that Washington treated the Philippines like "dogs on a leash" and lectured about human rights in connection with his domestic campaign against drugs.

The Philippine leader's visit to Japan coincides with jitters about his foreign policy after weeks of verbal attacks on the United States, including threats to end military agreements, and overtures towards China.

Conservationists have warned that nature is facing a global “mass extinction” for the first time since the demise of the dinosaurs.
It comes after figures show global wildlife populations are set to fall by more than two thirds on 1970 levels by the end of the decade.
Assessment of 14,152 populations of 3,706 species of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles from around the world reveals a 58% fall between 1970 and 2012.
And there is no sign the average 2% drop in numbers each year will slow, says a Living Planet report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
The report warns that by 2020 populations of vertebrate species could have fallen by 67% over a 50-year period unless action is taken to reverse the damaging impacts of human activity.
African elephants in Tanzania have seen numbers crash due to poaching, while maned wolves in

What Trump thought of Clinton before things turned sour

Donald Trump has once again been left red faced by comments caught on camera several years ago – this time relating to his rival Hillary Clinton.
The US presidential campaign has been defined by a relentless nastiness never seen before in a race for the White House.
Democratic candidate Mrs Clinton has described Mr Trump as “the most dangerous person to run for president in the modern history of America”.
For his part, the Republican nominee can barely say Mrs Clinton’s name without claiming that she’s “crooked”.
Amid a flurry of insults fired at her at campaign rallies and during the presidential debates, he has also famously called her a “nasty woman”, proving there is no love lost between the rivals.
But a newly unearthed video proves that Mr Trump – who had both Bill and Hillary Clinton as

Could Paris, the City of Light, soon become known as the City of Innovation helping propel young entrepreneurs to push technological and business frontiers?
While efforts by Paris to lure financial companies from London in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union have dominated the headlines, a different sort of rivalry has also been playing out.
With over three dozen startup incubators, including the continent’s largest, and soon the world’s largest, Paris is vying with London to become Europe’s innovation capital.
Although perceptions are that France is not as friendly a place to do business — it ranked 27th compared with 6th for Britain in the World Bank’s ease of doing business last year — a recent survey shows that Paris is catching up to London and other top spots among startups.
“There isn’t just Silicon Valley to help startups emerge, Paris is today in the top three worldwide,” said Loic Dosseur, co-director of Paris and Co, the city’s economic development and innovation agency .

Firefighters investigate a burnt car at the site of an explosion in Utsunomiya, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo October 23, 2016.Reuters/Kyodo

One person has been killed and three injured by two almost simultaneous explosions near Tokyo.
The blasts – in a public park and a car park – occurred just after 11.30am (3.30am UK time) in Utsunomiya, about 60 miles north of Japan’s capital.
Public broadcaster NHK quoted police as saying a suicide note had been found in one of the three cars that were burnt but they said the cause of the explosions was not known.

Armed men walk past on April 17, 2011 as resentment towards the capital Khartoum runs high in the restive town of Abyei, on the Sudanese north-south border, which suffers from chronic underdevelopment despite its strategic importance and the area's rich natural resources. The UN has warned that a build-up of weapons in the area is raising fears of renewed conflict.AFP/Ashraf Shazly

A prominent Sudanese rebel group said on Friday it was suspending peace talks with Khartoum after a rights group accused government forces of using chemical weapons against civilians in war-torn Darfur.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North, which is fighting government troops in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, this summer signed a roadmap brokered by African mediators to end conflict in the two states.
But on Friday the SPLM-N said it would suspend talks with Khartoum after Amnesty International accused government forces of unleashing chemical weapons on civilians in Darfur state this year, killing up to 250 people.
Urging an investigation into the suspected attacks, the rebel group in a statement announced an “immediate suspension of political engagement with the Sudan government on all political matters, including national dialogue and peace negotiations”.

Thailand’s government met with representatives from Internet giant Google, amid growing calls from Thai hardline royalists to bring those who insult the monarchy to justice, as many Thais look with uncertainty to a future without their revered king.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s death on Oct. 13 has thrown the country of 67 million into mourning. It has also led to the rise of ultra-royalist vigilante groups who say they will punish anyone perceived to have insulted the monarchy during a highly sensitive time for Thailand.
Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Juntong said he met with Google representatives in Bangkok on Friday. Google affirmed in the meeting that it would continue to help the government remove content from YouTube, a Google subsidiary, that it deemed offensive, he said.
“If any website is inappropriate they said to get in touch with them and inform them of the URL and the time the content was found,” Prajin told reporters.
That conforms with Google’s practice around the world, Alphabet Inc’s Google says.
“We have always had clear and consistent policies for removal requests from governments

This file photo taken on February 11, 2016 shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad listening to a question during an exclusive interview with AFP in the capital Damascus. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pledged on MArch 1, 2016 to do his part to ensure a fragile ceasefire holds and offered "full amnesty" to rebels who hand in their weapons.AFP/Joseph Eid

The White House on Saturday condemned the Assad regime’s “defiance” of international norms after United Nations experts found the Syrian army had conducted three chemical weapons attacks against its own people in 2014 and 2015.
Of the nine alleged chemical attacks it is considering in its ongoing probe, the UN-led joint investigative mechanism has now attributed three to the Syrian government and one to the Islamic State group.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Assad regime’s defiance of the longstanding global norm against chemical weapons use and Syria’s abrogation of its responsibilities under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it joined in 2013,” National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

Jessica Drake speaks during a press conference at the office of attorney Gloria Allred to accuse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of previous inappropriate sexual conduct on October 22, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. This is the first news conference at which Drake has spoken to the public about her allegations against the candidate. Trump has been falling further behind Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton in the polls as women continue to come forth to accuse him of inappropriate sexual behavior.David McNew/Getty Images/AFP

An adult film actress on Saturday became the latest woman to accuse Donald Trump of unwanted sexual advances, saying the Republican presidential candidate offered her $10,000 to come to his hotel room alone.
Jessica Drake is one of at least 11 women to have alleged that the real estate billionaire groped them, made inappropriate remarks or forcibly kissed them.
Speaking during a Los Angeles news conference accompanied by the high-profile discrimination lawyer Gloria Allred, Drake said she met Trump at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California in 2006.
“He flirted with me and invited me to walk along the golf course with him,” she said, adding that he asked her to his hotel room. She went along with two other women, Drake said.
Wearing pajamas when they entered, Trump “grabbed each of us tightly in a hug and kissed each

Counter-terrorism police investigating the discovery of a “suspicious item” on a London train this week said they found another such device on Saturday when they searched a house in Devon, western England.
The house and neighbouring properties were evacuated and a 200-metre cordon thrown around the area while specialist officers investigated.
On Thursday morning, the first device was found on a train at North Greenwich station, near the Canary Wharf financial district and close to the O2 music venue.

The Afghan Taliban has uploaded a drone footage showing a suicide bomber driving into a police base and blowing it up in the southern Helmand province.
The fighters say the footage proves that they can now deploy drones as an “addition to their sophisticated possessions of advanced technologies”.
The 23-minute-long video, which begins with a self-proclaimed suicide bomber speaking in front of an explosives-rigged Humvee, was released on Saturday appears to be authentic, according to the Afghan defence ministry.
“The remote-controlled drones to capture footage of their [Taliban] fighters conducting attacks is nothing but to instill fear among people and to indicate how far they can get in defeating us, but in fact, using a drone is not something they can call an achievement,” Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the defence ministry, told Al Jazeera by telephone.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is to meet with the first ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to plot the path towards Brexit, her office said Sunday.
May will host the first meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) since December 2014 on Monday.
They will “discuss how the administrations can work together to get the best deal for the UK and seize the opportunities that exiting the EU will bring”, her Downing Street office said.
She will call on the devolved administrations to commit to working fully with the British government in a bid to enhance prosperity and security, Downing Street said in a statement.
May will meet with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Welsh FM Carwyn Jones and Northern Irish FM Arlene Foster and her deputy Martin McGuinness.
While a majority in England and Wales voted for Britain to leave the European Union in the June

This file photo taken on November 02, 2012 shows a watchtower of the Sincan prison, outside Ankara. Turkey will grant early release to some 38,000 prisoners who committed crimes before July 1, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on August 17, 2016, amid reports of prison overcrowding after the failed coup. Bozdag said in a series of messages on Twitter that the move was “not an amnesty”. It will not apply to convicts guilty of murder, terrorism or state security as well as the thousands jailed after the putsch which took place on July 15.AFP/Adem Altan

Turkey has arrested more than 35,000 people over alleged links to the group run by the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for the failed July coup, local media reported Sunday.
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the suspects had been placed under arrest since the attempted putsch that fell apart within hours, quoted by NTV broadcaster.
Another 3,907 suspects were still being sought while nearly 26,000 people had been released into “judicial control”, he said.
Some 82,000 individuals had been investigated in total since the coup bid, he told the audience on

Hillary Clinton’s campaign HQ evacuated over suspicious substance

Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters has been evacuated after a white powdery substance was discovered in an envelope.
New York Police said four people were exposed to the substance but no injuries or illnesses have been reported.
The envelope also contained writing but no death threats, according to authorities.
It was delivered to a Manhattan campaign office and found by two interns before being taken to Mrs Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters.
The 11th floor of the building was evacuated after the alert and the suspicious substance was tested.
It was not immediately known what the substance was, but police said early indications

Fifty-five people were killed and almost 600 injured when a packed Cameroon passenger train derailed on Friday, leaving debris strewn across nearby tracks as carriages swung off the rails.
The train, travelling from the capital Yaounde to the economic hub Douala, was crammed with people due to road traffic disruption between the two cities and came off the tracks just before reaching the central city of Eseka, transport minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o said.
The minister, via state broadcaster CRTV, said 55 people had been confirmed dead and a further 575 were injured in the incident, updating an earlier toll.
“The cause of the accident is not yet clear,” he said, adding that several of the injured were in a very serious condition.
“Intervention and security teams have been mobilised,” the rail company Camrail, a subsidiary of French investment group Bollore, announced.

At least 19 people were killed when a helicopter crashed in northwestern Siberia, a Russian investigative committee has said.
Investigators said in a statement that an MI-8 helicopter carrying 22 people had crashed on Friday night outside the city of Novy Urengoy, and that “19 people have died from multiple injuries at the scene, according to preliminary data”.
The helicopter was flying from the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk to the town of Urengoy in the Yamalo-Nenetsky region when it crashed between 14:00 and 15:00 GMT, investigators said.
The regional branch of the emergencies ministry said it had been informed that a helicopter made a

We need an ambulance, we need an ambulance,” an Iraqi officer says over the radio, moments after an explosives-rigged truck disappeared in a column of flame and dust.
Iraqi forces advancing toward a village in Nineveh province had already been targeted with gun and mortar fire from Islamic State group jihadists inside.
A suicide bomber then drove the explosives-rigged truck toward them, but security forces “blew up the vehicle before it reached” them, federal police Second Lieutenant Faruq Ahmed Mohammed told AFP at a position to the south.
Despite this, a police officer was lightly wounded in the blast, Mohammed said.
Security forces advanced and fell back, exchanging fire with the jihadists over a period of hours and eventually targeting them with mortar rounds.
The resistance they faced demonstrates that even a small number of jihadists can slow down larger and more heavily armed forces, especially when civilians are present — an issue Iraqi troops will continue to face as they push north toward the city of Mosul.

Pundits and pollsters say the bottom may be falling out of Donald Trump’s White House run, but diehard supporters in the western Pennsylvania city of Johnstown strongly disagree.
A few hours’ drive north and west from liberal Washington, Johnstown — the beating heart of Trump Country — is a world away from the US capital.
Industry in the region has been on the decline for decades. Smoke stacks from the steel plants have been quiet for years and large parts of its downtown are deserted.
There are few jobs remaining from the steel, coal and garment industries that once kept the local economy humming.
Many here say long-awaited deliverance has come in the person of Trump, the billionaire businessman who has promised to make Johnstown great again.
Trump’s campaign has stalled after lackluster performances at all three presidential debates with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

A free-trade deal between Canada and the EU may finally be signed next week, following emergency talks early on Saturday.
The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, told reporters: “We are ready to sign on Thursday next week.”
The prolonged, seven-year talks may have caused concern in Whitehall over the UK’s ability to forge a trade deal with the EU following Brexit.
In the news conference, Mr Schulz admitted the issues has been on this side of the Atlantic: “The problems on the table are European problems and we have to solve it.
“I’m very optimistic that we can solve the problems we have within the European Union,” he said, adding that it had “perhaps” been a “decisive” meeting.
Canada’s Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said: “From Canada’s perspective, our work is done.
“We have finished negotiating a very good agreement, and Canada is ready to sign this agreement.”

Libyan naval forces denied charges from a rescue organisation that one of their crew had attacked a migrant boat packed with around 150 people, causing some to fall into the sea and at least four to drown, a spokesman said.
Some reports said that with the missing the death toll could rise into the 20s.
The Germany-based humanitarian group Sea-Watch said on Friday a speedboat labelled “Libyan Coast Guard” attacked a migrant boat packed with some 150 migrants, beating them with sticks. Four bodies were later recovered.
Migrant rescues are often complicated in Libya, where the U.N.-backed Tripoli government struggles to impose its authority, coast guard operations are under-equipt and police units are run by some of the competing armed brigades.
Sea-Watch, one of several non-governmental organisations operating vessels off the coast of Libya, said the speedboat swooped in just as they were about to go to the aid of the overcrowded rubber boat in the early hours of Friday.

She is as calm and thoughtful as her father is strident and impetuous. She is Ivanka Trump, and the distance she has taken from her father Donald has earned her both the respect of Democrats and the head-scratching of analysts.
So the Republican candidate shocked the nation by saying he might not recognise the results of the presidential election if he loses? Ivanka, the model-turned-business-executive, insists “he’ll accept the outcome either way.”
So Donald Trump is caught bragging in lewd terms that he can do whatever he wants to women, then insists this was only “locker-room talk”? His daughter calls the comments “inappropriate and offensive” and admits that her father’s words can be “uncomfortable for us.”
Ivanka, soon to turn 35, is still clearly her father’s protegee. He has been unstinting in his praise for his glamorous offspring, a graduate of the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Trump counts on her to attract young and female voters.
In introducing her father at the Republican convention in July, Ivanka bragged about his

Lines were long and excitement high as people queued in unusually hot fall weather on the first day of early voting in North Carolina.
Some 162,000 people cast their ballots on Thursday, according to numbers given by the state’s Board of Elections.
The voting season follows months of political wrangling over polling schedules that voting rights advocates, and in one case a federal court, said was an effort by Republicans to suppress the black vote – a demographic that generally swings Democrat.
“We’re going blue,” said Bill Jones, a 69-year-old African-American, referring to the colour of the Democratic Party. He waited for two hours outside the University City Regional Library to vote.
In 2008, Barack Obama reversed decades of Republican election wins in North Carolina. But in 2012, the state flipped Republican again.
In an average of state polls, Democrat Hillary Clinton is now ahead of Republican Donald Trump at 45.8 to 43.3 percent.

British military carrying out cyberattacks on IS forces in Mosul

The British military is carrying out cyberattacks against Islamic State for the first time.
The tactic is being used to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the battle for Mosul.
Although the US military has previously admitted using offensive cyber-tactics, this is the first time the British Armed Forces have come clean about their use of the technology.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon revealed the development after a speech at an International Cyber Symposium in London.
Asked if the UK was carrying out cyberattacks in the campaign to retake the northern Iraqi city, Sir Michael said: “I’m not going into operational specifics, but yes, you know we are conducting military operations against Daesh as part of the international coalition, and I can confirm that we are using offensive cyber for the first time in this campaign.”
Although the Ministry of Defence is being coy about its capabilities, it is understood the tactic involves ‘disrupting’ Islamic State’s ability to communicate online and via mobile phones.
Although this is the first time the military has used this technology against Islamic State, similar

Soledad Herrera has lived in the United States for nearly half-a-century and never cast a single vote. All that will change on November 8.
The 74-year old mother of 10 took the oath of citizenship this week in Los Angeles, alongside 4,000 other immigrants. As new US citizens, they are eligible to vote in the presidential election.
Herrera and other newly-minted citizens can now expect to be furiously courted by US politicians as Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton wrap up months of hard-fought campaigning in their bitter race.
Like vendors hawking wares at an open-air bazaar, Democratic and Republican party volunteers set up stalls outside the cavernous convention center where the naturalization ceremony was held and called out to the new citizens.
“Are you registered to vote?” was the constant refrain.
Herrera, who was born in Mexico, stopped to pose for a picture next to a life-sized cutout of Republican icon Ronald Reagan.

US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter (C) visits the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) after a meeting with Turkish Defence Minister (R) in Ankara, on October 21, 2016, following the bomb attack of the Turkish parliament during the July 15 failed military coup attempt. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Ankara on October 21, 2016 for talks with the leaders of Turkey, a crucial but sensitive ally in the fight against the Islamic State group.The Pentagon chief was due to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, as well as Defence Minister Fikri Isik.AFP/Adem Altan

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter vowed during a visit to Ankara on Friday to ramp up joint efforts with Turkey to deal Islamic State jihadists a “lasting defeat”, the Pentagon said.
Carter met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, as well as Defence Minister Fikri Isik on a flying visit to Turkey, a crucial but sensitive NATO ally in the fight against the IS group.
“Both sides agreed to maintain frequent communication on the full range of mutual interests, including close coordination and continued transparency in the coalition effort to deal ISIL a lasting defeat,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement, using another name for the jihadist group.
Carter reaffirmed his support for the strategic US-Turkey alliance and vowed that Washington would “continue to stand side-by-side with our NATO ally against shared threats”.
Washington is alarmed by tensions between Turkey and Iraq as the long-awaited battle to retake Iraq’s second city Mosul from IS jihadists enters a decisive phase.
Turkey, which fears the Mosul offensive could boost the influence of anti-Ankara Kurdish militia, says it cannot stay on the sidelines, but Baghdad is firmly against the involvement of Turkish troops.
– Iraq sovereignty ‘important’ –
Washington wants Ankara to refrain from military operations in Iraq without the green light from

A member of the Iraqi government forces takes a position on top of a vehicle as smoke rises on the outskirts of the Qayyarah area, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Mosul, on October 20, 2016, during an operation against Islamic State (IS) group jihadists to retake the main hub city. In the biggest Iraqi military operation in years, forces have retaken dozens of villages, mostly south and east of Mosul, and are planning multiple assaults for October 20.AFP/Bulent Kilic

Islamic State group fighters may be preparing to use civilians as human shields, or simply kill them, rather than let them be liberated in an Iraqi offensive to retake Mosul, the UN said Friday.
Elite Iraqi troops have been closing in on Mosul, the last jihadist bastion in Iraq, in a long-anticipated offensive.
United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said his office had reports that civilians were being held close to IS fighter positions in Mosul, possibly as a buffer against advancing Iraqi forces.
“There is a grave danger that ISIL fighters will not only use such vulnerable people as human shields but may opt to kill them rather than see them liberated,” Zeid said in a statement, using another acronym for IS.
Separately, Zeid said his office had reports that the jihadists forced an estimated 200 families to walk from the nearby Samalia village to Mosul last week.

Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein called for major powers to put aside their differences regarding Aleppo [Denis Balibouse/Reuters]Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein called for major powers to put aside their differences regarding Aleppo.Reuters/Denis Balibouse

The siege and bombing of eastern Aleppo in Syria constitute “crimes of historic proportions” that have caused heavy civilian casualties amounting to “war crimes”, according to the top United Nations human rights official.
Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein’s comments on Friday came during a special session of the UN human rights council called by Britain to set up a special inquiry into violations, especially in Aleppo’s rebel-held east where an estimated 275,000 civilians are besieged by a Syrian government offensive backed by Russia.
In a video speech, Zeid said Aleppo is a “slaughterhouse” and called for major powers to put aside their differences and refer the situation in Syria to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Armed opposition groups continue to fire mortars and other projectiles into civilian

Iraqis flee IS-held Mosul for war-torn Syria

At a refugee camp in Syria’s Al-Hawl, 11-year-old Jawaher limps from a wound she sustained in an Islamic State group mortar attack while she and family were fleeing Iraq’s Mosul.
Her family are among the thousands who fled the city just before the October 17 start of an offensive by the Iraqi army and the US-led anti-IS coalition to retake the city from jihadists.
She was crossing from Iraq into Syria, seeking refuge in the war-torn country, when she came under fire.
“I was sitting with my friends, I just saw a shell land between us and I passed out,” she whispers, her head covered in a pink veil.
“My foot still hurts from the from the shrapnel, but I’m feeling a bit better now.”
Around her, white tents are lined up in the desert, battered by dust.
Men and women wander around the makeshift camp, some carrying a child, or boxes of supplies, others hauling stuffed backpacks or heavy luggage.

If Donald Trump is interested in rigged elections, Zimbabwean opposition leader Tendai Biti says he could teach him a thing or two. Biti was arrested for treason and detained for a month after daring to suggest his party had defeated President Robert Mugabe in a vote in 2008.
“They denied me food. They beat me up. They put me in leg irons. They beat me in the private parts,” Biti, a lawyer who later served as finance minister in an eventual unity government, told Reuters. “That’s real election rigging.”
To opposition figures in Africa, and in other parts of the world that lack the 240-year U.S. history of peaceful transitions of power, Trump’s assertion that November’s U.S. presidential election will be “rigged”, and his declaration that he may not accept the outcome, are dangerous words.
“Donald Trump is a gift to all tin-pot dictators on the African continent. He is giving currency and legitimacy to rigging because if it can exist in America, it can exist anywhere,” Biti said.
“He has no idea what he’s talking about, absolutely no idea,” said Biti, who speaks from the

Flyers reportedly distributed by the government encouraging people to leave a rebel-held area in the northern embattled city of Aleppo are seen lying in the street on October 20, 2016. A “humanitarian pause” in the Syrian army’s Russian-backed assault on Aleppo took effect but despite a drop in violence there was little sign residents were heeding calls to leave.AFP/Karam Al-Masri

A “humanitarian pause” in the Syrian army’s Russian-backed assault on Aleppo took effect Thursday, but despite a drop in violence there was little sign residents were heeding calls to leave.
The UN said it hoped to carry out the first medical evacuations from Aleppo on Friday, after getting clearance from all warring parties and a pledge from Russia to extend the truce until Saturday.
The unilateral ceasefire began at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) and was to last at least 11 hours, with the aim of allowing civilians and fighters to evacuate the city’s opposition-controlled east.
Gunfire and artillery exchanges erupted around a crossing point near the rebel-controlled Bustan al-Qasr district shortly after the pause began, an AFP correspondent said.

Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank shot dead a Palestinian teenager who hurled rocks at a patrol, the army said.
The incident occurred in the Beit Ummar area near the city of Hebron.
The Palestinian health ministry named the slain Palestinian as 15-year-old Khaled Bahar.
“Rocks were hurled at the soldiers, wounding one of them lightly,” a spokesperson told AFP news agency, adding that the soldiers first fired warning shots “and then [fired] towards the suspect, resulting in his death”.
Violence since October 2015 has killed 235 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese national, according to an AFP count.
Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out alleged knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.
Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians, as well as Israeli and international rights groups, say Israeli forces have, in some

A police car is pictured on October 19, 2016 in Georgensgmuend, southern Germany, in front of a house of a member of the so-called Reichsbuerger movement. Four German police officers were wounded, some of them seriously, when a member of the shadowy far-right group "Citizens of the Reich" opened fire during a raid, authorities said.AFP/dpa/Nicolas Armer

A police officer has died after being shot during a raid at the German home of a far-right extremist.
The 32-year-old officer was part of an armed response unit which was sent to seize firearms from a member of the Citizens of the Reich.
The group does not recognise the legitimacy of the German republic and believes in the continued existence of the pre-war German empire.
Police said the officer was shot through the shoulder as he entered the suspect’s home in Georgensgmuend, Bavaria.
The gunman, who shot another police officer in the arm, was detained.
Interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said the attack was “unbearable and unacceptable”.
Police spokeswoman Elke Schoenwald said the officers were sent to confiscate more than 30 weapons from the gunman because he had been ruled psychologically “unsound”.
He had previously refused to allow officials access to check his arsenal and take away the

China sends two astronauts to space lab

Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng (L) and Chen Dong salute during the send-off ceremony of the Shenzhou-11 manned space mission at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwestern China’s Gansu Province on October 17, 2016. China launched two astronauts into space on October 17, official media said, on a mission to its orbiting laboratory as the country works towards setting up its own space station.(AFP)

China launched two astronauts into space Monday, official media said, on a mission to its orbiting laboratory as the country works towards setting up its own space station.
The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft blasted off early in the morning from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will take two days to reach the Tiangong-2 space lab, or “Heavenly Palace-2”, which was launched in September.
They will remain on board for 30 days — the longest stay thus far by Chinese astronauts — to conduct tests on spacecraft-related technologies and scientific and engineering experiments, Xinhua said.
Jing, the mission commander, was on his third trip into orbit and will celebrate his 50th birthday in space.
“Although the job is challenging, risky and dangerous, there is nothing else I’d rather do,” he

Ethiopia troops pull out of Somalia towns

Hundreds of Ethiopian troops pulled out of a town in central Somalia Tuesday, at least the second location vacated by their forces in recent weeks, a Somali security official said.
Security official Abdirisak Moalim Ahmed said Ethiopian soldiers present in El-Ali, Hiran region, as part of an African Union mission withdrew on Tuesday morning after artillery fire targeted their base overnight.
Nearby Shabaab militants then reoccupied the town, which lies about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the provincial capital Beledweyne.
“The Ethiopian troops pulled out of El-Ali town early this morning,” said Ahmed, adding the

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a trip to Ethiopia, said she wanted the African Union to get involved in trying to solve the conflict in Libya.
“I am expressly in favour of the African Union bringing its influence to bear to help solve the

As fallout builds from the release of a 2005 video of Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women, pressure is mounting for the leaking of more “hot mic” footage exposing the Republican candidate’s candid talk.
Rumors are circulating about more damaging talk on video or in transcripts from the real estate billionaire’s 11-season hit reality TV show “The Apprentice”, which the show’s producer Mark Burnett sought to deflect on Monday.
“Despite reports to the contrary, Mark Burnett does not have the ability nor the right to release footage or other material from ‘The Apprentice,’” read a statement to US media attributed to Burnett and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which owns his production company.
“Various contractual and legal requirements also restrict MGM’s ability to release such material,” it added without elaborating.
The statement comes as others connected to the show are suggesting the existence of evidence

South African prosecutors say the finance minister faces a fraud charge and must appear in court on Nov. 2, deepening uncertainty about the country’s weak economy and the leadership of President Jacob Zuma.
Shaun Abrahams, head of the National Prosecuting Authority, said Tuesday that the move

Prisons in Europe are becoming “breeding grounds” for jihadist groups, with some criminals seeing violent extremism as a form of redemption for their crimes, a report by a British think tank published Tuesday said.
Jihadist and criminal groups are recruiting from the same pool of people, while their social networks are also converging, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) found, in what it dubbed a “new crime-terror nexus”.
The emergence of the Islamic State group (IS) has strengthened the link between crime and terrorism, according to the report which examined the profiles of European jihadists recruited since 2011.
Rather than looking to universities or religious establishments, IS increasingly turns to “ghettos”, prisons and “underclasses” to recruit individuals with a history of criminal behaviour, it said.
Prisons provide a ready supply of “angry young men” who are “ripe” for radicalisation, according

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday, vowed to root out any “terrorists” within the governing party with connections to a religious movement he blames for an unsuccessful military coup.

Donald Trump has hinted there may be more recordings of him making lewd remarks which could surface before election day.
It follows rumours there are further examples of the Republican presidential hopeful using sexist or inappropriate language while filming reality TV shows.
At a rally in Pennsylvania, the embattled candidate said: “If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we’ll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things. There are so many of them.”
Cast and crew on the US version of The Apprentice have claimed Mr Trump frequently made offensive remarks while shooting the show.
Mark Burnett, the executive producer of the series, has said he does not have the right to release any behind-the-scenes footage from the programme.
The latest crisis to engulf Mr Trump’s campaign was sparked by a 2005 recording where he was

The Economic Community of West Africa States has urged member states to sensitise communities on the need to reduce the number of children a family can cater for to enhance economic development and reduce migration.
The President of the Commission, Marcel de Souza, made the call when he received German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at the commission on Monday in Abuja.
De Souza expressed concern that the demographic growth in the sub-region was equal to its economic growth, adding that such growth was not beneficial to economic development.
He also noted that migration of African youth from to European countries was on the increase.
De Souza said: “Our sub-region is under pressure; migration is increasing and the same goes for terrorism.
“We need to change this situation and for us to change this situation, we need to create

China’s defense ministry has rejected as “malicious speculation” allegations by a U.S.-based group that Chinese peacekeepers had abandoned their posts in South Sudan in July instead of protecting civilians.
Chinese troops are part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, which has been ravaged by conflict between rival forces loyal to the President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar.
The Center For Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) said in a report published last week that Chinese peacekeepers with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) had withdrawn from a civilian protection zone in July after coming under attack.

Morocco votes after five years under Islamists

Morocco will elect a parliament on Friday for the first time since an Islamist-led government took office following Arab Spring uprisings that toppled leaders across the region.
The Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) came to power in 2011 after swelling protests prompted concessions from King Mohammed VI, the scion of a monarchy that has ruled the North African country for 350 years.
A new constitution reduced some, though not all, of the king’s near-absolute powers as autocratic regimes fell in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane’s PJD says a second term would allow it to continue its limited economic and social reforms.
Heading a coalition that includes communists, liberals and conservatives, it retains considerable support among the urban middle classes that have largely abandoned the left in favour of Islamist parties.
But it has been weakened by rising unemployment and what critics say is a failure to deal with corruption.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s popularity has soared during his first three months in office, an independent survey showed Thursday, in an apparent endorsement by Filipinos of his brutal crime crackdown.
The unprecedented purge has left more than 3,000 people dead and raised fears of mass extrajudicial killings, triggering global condemnation from defence ally the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.
However 76 percent of Filipinos polled by Social Weather Stations said they were “satisfied” with Duterte’s performance, with just 11 percent reporting being “dissatisfied” and the rest undecided.
“The president seems to be off on a very good start,” his spokesman, Ernesto Abella, told reporters as he assessed the survey. “The people trust what he is doing.”
The Manila-based polling group surveyed 1,200 adults nationwide from September 24-27, asking them simply about Duterte’s performance as president without reference to the drug war.

Former Colombian President Alavaro Uribe has described the failed peace deal with leftist rebels as “weak” following a meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos.
Uribe, who led the campaign against the accord, said the deal had to be for everyone not half the population.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have held marches urging the government and Farc not to go back to war.
Colombians narrowly rejected the deal in a referendum on Sunday.
President Santos is scrambling to salvage the deal, which opponents said was too soft on the Farc guerrillas.
Government negotiators have already returned to Havana for further talks with Farc leaders.

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