Sudan rebels suspend peace talks after chemical attack claims

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 govt says Google removing content with royal insults

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

US condemns Assad’s ‘defiance’ on chemical weapons use

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.

Adult film actress accuses Trump of offering her $10,000

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

British anti-terrorist police find second ‘suspicious item’ after London arrest

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.

Taliban uses drones to film attacks in Afghanistan

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.

May to lock horns with first ministers on Brexit path

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

Over 35,000 suspects arrested in Turkey coup probe

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