Colombia’s congress approves revised deal with FARC

Colombia’s Congress has approved a revised peace deal with the FARC rebel group, paving the way to end a conflict that has lasted more than 50 years.
The lower house voted 130-0 on Wednesday to approve the text adopted a day earlier by the Senate.
President Juan Manuel Santos said the vote provided “landmark backing” for a deal he personally pushed for. Santos, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, shepherded the revised deal through Congress after voters shocked the world by rejecting an earlier version in a referendum last month.
The government’s chief peace negotiator with the FARC, Humberto de la Calle, had urged lawmakers to ratify this deal, warning the army’s ceasefire with the leftist guerrillas was “fragile”.
The first agreement was rejected in a referendum in October, with majority of voters saying they felt it was too lenient toward the rebels, who have battled the government for 52 years.
Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from Medellin, said the approval was a significant step towards peace in the country, but added that the deal still faced hurdles.
“A few more obstacles remain,” he said, adding the constitutional court still needed to rule on a mechanism allowing Congress to pass implementing regulations, including an amnesty law.
Resistance remains

Refugee protests disrupt Australian parliament

Protesters, angered by Australia’s refugee policy, have disrupted parliament for a second day by abseiling down the building and erecting a banner that read “close the bloody camps now”.
In the early hours of Thursday the group also poured red dye – representing blood – into a fountain in front of the building, the national broadcaster ABC reported.
The incident came after a protest on Wednesday during which the group stopped parliamentary proceedings for half an hour, shouting slogans and gluing their hands to railings in the public gallery.
The group was protesting specifically against Australia’s offshore prisons which hold 1,300 asylum seekers who were picked up trying to reach Australia by boat.
Canberra sends asylum-seekers trying to reach Australia by sea to isolated outposts on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, with the prison conditions widely criticised by refugee advocates and medical professionals.
Speaker Tony Smith suspended question time in what cabinet minister Christopher Pyne said was the most serious intrusion into parliament in 20 years.
The group of around 30 protestors began chanting loudly soon after the session began, shouting “close the

Two dead, 4 injured in US Thanksgiving Day shooting

Two persons were killed and four were injured in a shooting at a Thanksgiving Day football tournament in Kentucky on Thursday.
The shooting occurred at Shawnee Park, where a youth football tournament called the Juice Bowl is held every year on Thanksgiving Day.
Louisville Metro Police said officers responded to a call of multiple shootings at Shawnee Park on Thursday afternoon.
Police said there were no suspects in custody and they had not established a motive for the shooting, which occurred during an annual football tournament that dates back to the 1950s.
Dwight Mitchell, spokesman for the Louisville Metro Police Department, said that as yet, no one is aware of the motive for the shooting.
Mr. Mitchell told reporters that the four survivors suffered non-life-threatening injuries and had been taken to the hospital.

Hooded attacker kills woman in French missionaries’ home

Gendarmes stand guard on a road near a retirement home for monks in Montferrier-sur-Lez, southern France, early on November 25, 2016, after an armed man burst in the home killing a woman with a knife. Armed police were hunting the man inside the home, which is home to around 70 men and women who have served as missionaries in Africa. Authorities said it was a "criminal act".AFP/Pascal Guyot

A hooded man wielding a knife murdered a woman at a retirement home for missionaries in southern France on Thursday triggering a manhunt, with the country still on edge following a string of jihadist attacks.
The man, brandishing a sawn-off shotgun and a knife, tied up and killed the woman who worked at the home in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez near the city of Montpellier, a prosecutor said.
More than 70 men and women, most of whom served as missionaries in Africa, live at the home.
Armed police searched the building but believe the man fled, sources close to the police operation said, and a large-scale police operation was under way to find the unidentified attacker.
A helicopter was seen flying over the area, scanning the ground with a giant spotlight.
Investigators so far had no evidence to suggest the attack was terror-related at a time when France remains under a state of emergency after a number of Islamist atrocities, including the murder of an elderly Catholic priest in July.
“For the time being, there is only one victim,” Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret told AFP. “For the

South Africa braces for credit review as growth falls

South Africa braced for a potentially damaging credit rating review Friday as Moody’s releases its latest assessment amid political tension, reform blockages and weak economic data.
President Jacob Zuma has been engulfed by graft scandals and a power struggle with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, while growth has fallen to 0.5 percent and unemployment hit a 13-year high.
Moody’s will issue its updated grading later Friday, before Standard & Poor’s makes its key announcement a week later on December 2.
S&P currently has South Africa — the continent’s most developed economy — rated at the lowest investment grade, and a downgrade would put the country’s bonds into so-called “junk” status.
Moody’s currently rates South Africa two levels above junk.
Any downward review would further drain investor confidence in the country’s prospects under Zuma and the ANC party, which has ruled since the end of apartheid.
“We are politicising downgrading. That is our problem,” the president told parliament this week. “We have

South Africa’s scandal-plagued Zuma to face ANC integrity panel

South African President Jacob Zuma will be questioned next week by the African National Congress’ (ANC) integrity commission following persistent allegations of corruption and poor election results, the party said on Friday.
Zuma’s appearance before the panel could deepen divides within the ANC as it gears up for a national conference next year when Zuma, 74, is expected to stand down as party leader.
“He will be having a meeting with the IC,” ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe confirmed to Reuters, referring to the integrity commission.
Zuma’s meeting with the commission is expected to be held on Dec. 3 behind closed doors. Members of the ANC have been removed from their posts as a result of the commission’s recommendation.
The ANC formed the commission in 2013 to help protect its image and take “urgent action” to deal with members of the party who face allegations of improper conduct.

Thanksgiving sales surge online as shoppers stay home for holiday

Workers prepare orders for customers at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Tracy, California, November 29, 2015.Reuters/Fred Greaves

Online spending by U.S. bargain hunters climbed to above $1 billion by Thanksgiving evening, according to Adobe Digital Index, surging almost 14 percent from a year ago and reflecting a broader trend away from brick-and-mortar shopping.
At the start of the first holiday shopping season since the election of Donald Trump as president on November 8, U.S. consumers loosened their purse strings and spent $1.15 billion online between midnight and 5 pm ET on Thursday, according to Adobe.
Traditionally the day after Thanksgiving, or Black Friday, has started the holiday shopping season in the United States with retailers offering steep discounts and turning a profit. But its popularity has been on the wane given the emergence of online shopping and cheap deals through the year from retailers including e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).
U.S. stores are now opening on Thanksgiving to try and boost in-store sales, while retailers have been offering online deals weeks in advance to cope with lower demand and stiff pricing competition.

EU vote: Erdogan threatens to open Turkey borders to migrants

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday threatened to throw open Turkey’s borders to illegal migrants after the European Parliament voted to back a freeze in membership talks with Ankara.
“Listen to me. If you go any further, then the frontiers will be opened, bear that in mind,” Erdogan told the European Union (EU) in a speech in Istanbul.
On March 18, Ankara and Brussels forged a deal for Turkey to halt the flow of migrants to Europe — an accord that has largely been successful in reducing numbers crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.
Turkey agreed to step up maritime and land border controls in exchange for incentives on its long-stalled membership bid, including visa-free travel for its citizens and an acceleration of accession talks.
However with an October target passing and no apparent progress on the visa issue and accession talks