Los Angeles police defend weekend fatal shootings of black men

Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck on Monday defended the actions of officers involved in two fatal shootings of black men over the weekend that touched off protests and raised tensions.
Beck said one of the victims, 18-year-old Carnell Snell Jr, was carrying a handgun that he pointed at officers chasing him on foot after he exited a suspected stolen car and fled.
“At one point during their foot pursuit, which was 200 to 300 yards (meters) in total, they observed him remove a handgun from his waistband and hold it in his left hand,” Beck told reporters, displaying a photo of the weapon, which he said was fully loaded.
He added that Snell during the chase had turned toward the officers with the gun in his hand and was shot twice.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting touched off protests and further stoked a debate over police shootings of African Americans across the country.
Some 40 protesters pelted Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s home with eggs over the weekend

US drops Russia talks as Syria pushes Aleppo onslaught

The United States on Monday abandoned its effort to convince Russia to impose a ceasefire on the Syrian regime as government forces pursued their relentless onslaught on eastern Aleppo.
Accusing Moscow of abetting Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad’s assault on civilian districts of the city, Washington said it had suspended bilateral talks with Russia on reviving a truce.
“Everybody’s patience with Russia has run out,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
A State Department official said US Secretary of State John Kerry is “laser-focused” on finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict through multilateral channels.
But his near-daily telephone calls and regular Geneva talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the crisis are over.
“This is not a decision that was taken lightly,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said, announcing an end to plans to set up a joint US-Russian military cell to target jihadists.
There was no word on what America’s “Plan B” might be despite rumors of tougher US sanctions

Damaging storms cause further floods in South Australia

Australia’s wettest spring on record has now developed into the wettest start to October for nearly a century in some areas.
The latest spell of heavy rain caused more damage in South Australia on Tuesday, just a week after the entire state suffered a power outage.
Floodwaters in the Adelaide Hills damaged homes, while strong winds caused trees to be uprooted.

South African police fire stun grenades as students protest

South African police have fired rubber bullets and set off stun grenades to disperse student protesters on a university campus in Johannesburg.
The clash occurred Tuesday at the University of the Witwatersrand, which had announced it was re-opening after closing because of sometimes violent demonstrations for free education.

Mike Pence and Tim Kaine to clash in US vice presidential debate

The vice presidential nominees are just a few hours from the most important performances of their careers.
Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence are under no illusions.
The debate at the Longwood University in Virginia is a proxy war for the top of the ticket, and so the pressure is on.
As well as avoiding mistakes and introducing themselves to the American public, they have to defend their candidates as the increasingly bitter presidential race intensifies.
That might be easier said than done.
Indiana governor Mike Pence is a deeply religious, traditional conservative – in many ways, he is everything Trump is not.

Attacks in Mali leave 1 UN peacekeeper dead, 8 hurt

Attacks targeting a camp in northern Mali operated by the United Nations peacekeeping mission Monday killed one soldier from Chad and wounded eight others, U.N. officials said.
Olivier Salgado, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, said Monday that after a mortar attack on the camp in Aguelhok, in the northern Kidal region around 2 p.m., two vehicles hit improvised explosive devices.
According to preliminary information, four different attacks targeted U.N. personnel at the camp in

How bad governance stalls Africa’s progress – Mo Ibrahim Foundation

Mo Ibrahim Foundation (MIF) has said Africa’s main problem is not that of scarcity but of ‘abundance of thieves of state.’
The foundation said that this situation of bad governance is stalling the continent’s progress.
MIF, at yesterday’s launch of Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), lamented that after 56 years of independence and 17 years of democratic rule, Nigeria is yet to experience impressive growth. It also said that almost two-thirds of African citizens live in a country in which safety and rule of law deteriorated in the past 10 years.
The IIAG report, the most comprehensive analysis of African governance undertaken to date, brings together a decade of data to assess each of Africa’s 54 countries against 95 indicators drawn from 34 independent sources.
It noted that Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the world, is ranked 36th out of 54 countries in Overall Governance with a score of 46.5 out of 100, adding that the nation’s score

New York orders Trump Foundation to stop fundraising

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suffered a punishing new setback on Monday as authorities clamped down on his charitable foundation, while his opponent Hillary Clinton seized the opportunity to brand the property tycoon an unscrupulous businessman.
With just five weeks to go before the November 8 election, the billionaire Trump is struggling to regain his footing against a surging Clinton and climb out of one of the darkest periods of his campaign.
Already weakened by damaging revelations about his taxes, Trump was hit with an order by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that the Donald J Trump foundation must “cease and desist from soliciting contributions” in New York.
The notice informed the charity that it had engaged in fundraising activities that were not legal because it had not been registered with state authorities.
With Team Trump on the defensive after leaked documents suggested that he may have paid no