| Backlog of migrants swells in the Balkans, tempers fray Posted: 19 Oct 2015 09:45 AM PDT  By Aleksandar Vasovic and Marja Novak BERKASOVO, Serbia/LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - The Balkans struggled with a growing backlog of migrants on Monday after Hungary sealed its southern border and Slovenia tried to impose a limit, leaving thousands stranded on cold, rain-drenched borders where tempers frayed. Having declared it would accept only 2,500 per day, Slovenia said 5,000 had arrived from Croatia on Monday. "Croatia is ignoring our pleas, our plans," Bostjan Sefic, state secretary at Slovenia's interior ministry, told a news conference, saying the army would be called in to help if such a rate continued.
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| Syrian rebels say they receive more weapons for Aleppo battle Posted: 19 Oct 2015 11:38 AM PDT  By Tom Perry and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Rebels battling the Syrian army and its allies near Aleppo said on Monday they had received new supplies of U.S.-made anti-tank missiles from states opposed to President Bashar al-Assad since the start of a major government offensive last week. The rebels from three groups contacted by Reuters said new supplies had arrived in response to the attack by the army, which is backed up by Russian air strikes and on the ground by Iranian fighters and Lebanon's Hezbollah. The delivery of the U.S.-made TOW missiles to rebels in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria appears to be an initial response to the new Russian-Iranian intervention.
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| Pentagon says U.S. military personnel rammed gate of MSF hospital Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:02 PM PDT  U.S. military personnel rammed into the gate of a medical aid group's hospital in Afghanistan last week to enter the grounds of the building hit in a U.S. air strike earlier this month, a Pentagon spokesman said on Monday. Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement on Friday that a U.S. tank had entered the grounds of its hospital in Kunduz without permission, damaging the compound, destroying potential evidence, and distressing its staff. Department of Defense spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said on Monday that the vehicle in question was not a U.S. tank, but rather an Afghan tracked vehicle transporting a U.S. team on Oct. 15 to conduct an inspection to determine the structural integrity of the building.
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| Nuclear deal on Iran program to be implemented this year, says Iranian official Posted: 19 Oct 2015 05:47 AM PDT  Iran's nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said on Monday he expected a deal with six world powers on shrinking Tehran's atomic program in exchange for sanctions relief to be implemented by year-end. The United States and the European Union took formal legal steps on Sunday that will lift sanctions once Iran meets certain conditions such as reducing the number of centrifuges used to enrich uranium, and its enriched uranium stockpile. When asked whether Iran had started mothballing centrifuges, Araqchi said the process had not begun yet.
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| Exclusive: NATO nations to keep presence in Afghanistan, officials say Posted: 19 Oct 2015 08:48 AM PDT  By Robin Emmott TRAPANI, Italy (Reuters) - Germany, Turkey and Italy are set to keep their deployments in Afghanistan at current levels, senior NATO officials said on Monday after the U.S. government decided to prolong its 14-year-old military presence there. The Taliban's brief takeover of a provincial capital has raised concern about the strength of Afghan state forces and both the United States and its NATO allies now say events, rather than timetables, must dictate gradual troop reductions. Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's top commander in Europe, said he had assurances that NATO countries will continue alongside the nearly 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
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| U.S. fighter jet hit by small arms fire in Afghanistan Posted: 19 Oct 2015 11:31 AM PDT  An American F-16 aircraft was hit by small arms fire while conducting a patrol in Afghanistan last week, U.S. military officials said on Monday. The jet was flying a routine combat air patrol in Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan on Oct. 13 when it was hit by small arms fire, a U.S. military official said. The fire hit one of the aircraft's stabilizers and damaged one of the munitions it was carrying, said a second official, Captain Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the Department of Defense.
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| New Zealand feels well-prepared for Australia tests Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:53 PM PDT WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The New Zealand cricket team flew to Australia Tuesday confident in its preparation for a three test-series which will encompass the world's first day-night test. |
| Pistorius released from jail, put under house arrest Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:51 PM PDT  Oscar Pistorius was released from jail late Monday, South African officials said, and will serve his remaining sentence under house arrest after a year behind bars for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The Paralympian star was allowed out of prison in the capital Pretoria a day early in an apparent attempt to avoid media coverage of his release. Pistorius family spokesman Anneliese Burgess said that he was at his uncle Arnold's house in Pretoria, adding that the family was "hunkered down".
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| 80-year-old on trial in NY over 'Goodfellas' heist Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:38 PM PDT  Vincent Asaro, reputedly a member of the notorious Bonanno crime family, is accused of murder, violence and extortion that allegedly spanned 45 years from the late 1960s to 2013. On the witness stand, a former number two in the Bonanno crime family who turned informant painted Asaro as a hothead with a nasty temper who handed over a case stuffed with jewelry after the holdup. Salvatore Vitale, who has spent more than a decade testifying against his fellow criminals, said that mob boss, Joseph Massino, collected a case stuffed full of jewelry from Asaro after the heist.
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| Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:32 PM PDT KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's acting defense minister said Monday that the Doctors Without Borders hospital bombed by U.S. forces in the northern city of Kunduz was being used by insurgents as a "safe place." The hospital was bombed by a U.S. AC-130 gunship in the early hours of Oct. 3, killing at least 22 people and wounding many more. The main building was destroyed and the hospital has been shut down. |
| Witnesses: Pre-election violence flaring up in Haiti slum Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:27 PM PDT  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Deadly pre-election violence has flared up in and around Haiti's most notorious slum and resulted in the killings of two pregnant women and at least 13 other people in the densely-populated district of shacks, community organizers and politicians said Monday.
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| Oscar Pistorius: From Olympic fame to jail to release Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:22 PM PDT  Pretoria (AFP) - Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee sprinter who shot his girlfriend dead was freed on parole on Monday, one year into a five-year sentence.
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| Oscar Pistorius: The 'broke and broken' Olympian Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:21 PM PDT  At the 2012 London Olympics, before 80,000 roaring fans and a constellation of camera flashes, it took Oscar Pistorius 45.44 seconds to become a global icon. The race capped an Olympian triumph over adversity for Pistorius. In the early hours of the morning at his upmarket Pretoria home he shot and killed his 29-year-old girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, apparently believing her to be an intruder.
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| THE LATEST: First polls close in Canadian elections Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:21 PM PDT TORONTO (AP) — The latest on Canadian elections Monday pitting embattled Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his vision of a Conservative Canada against the son of an iconic late prime minister determined to put the country back on a liberal course. (All times eastern): |
| Prosecutor won't press felony sex charge against Saudi royal Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:09 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles prosecutors declined to press a felony sexual assault charge against a member of the Saudi royal family because of insufficient evidence, a spokeswoman said Monday. |
| Libyan government rejects UN power-sharing proposal Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:04 PM PDT BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Libya's internationally recognized government on Monday rejected a U.N. proposal for a power-sharing arrangement with rival Islamist-led authorities that was intended to bring peace to the north African nation. |
| Chinese visit to Britain to see £30 billion in deals Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:03 PM PDT  Deals worth over £30 billion ($46.4 billion, 40.7 billion euros) are to be signed during the four-day visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Britain this week, the London government said on Tuesday. Prime Minister David Cameron is courting stronger business ties with the world's second-largest economy and both countries have said the visit could mark a new "golden era" in relations. Giving few details on the deals, Cameron's office announced they would be in industries including retail, energy, financial services and aerospace and create 3,900 jobs in Britain.
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| Guantanamo defendant says he may want to be his own lawyer Posted: 19 Oct 2015 04:03 PM PDT  GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — A Guantanamo Bay prisoner who is facing trial by military commission in the Sept. 11 attack told a judge Monday he may want to represent himself, a declaration that prompted a quick end to the latest attempt to get the stalled proceedings moving again after 18 months of delay.
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| North Dakota oil well spewing after weekend blowout Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:57 PM PDT  By Ernest Scheyder WHITE EARTH, N.D. (Reuters) - A North Dakota oil well owned by Oasis Petroleum Inc blew out over the weekend and has yet to be capped, leaking more than 67,000 gallons of crude so far and endangering a tributary of the Missouri River, state officials said. Thick gray smoke rose from the Helling Trust 11-15H well site on Monday afternoon as dozens of tractor-trailers hauled in vacuum trucks and other cleanup equipment. Oasis is trying to cap the well by pumping in a thick mixture of mud and clay, state officials said.
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| Oscar Pistorius released from prison, put under house arrest Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:57 PM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympic runner who fatally shot his girlfriend in 2013, was released from prison and placed under house arrest on Monday night, a South African official said.
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| Canada votes in tight election, Harper's Tories at risk Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:47 PM PDT  Canadians voted Monday in closely contested general elections that could see Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, the son of a beloved prime minister, end conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's near-decade in office. Public opinion has swung wildly during the hard-fought campaign, one of the longest in the country's history, but final polling showed Trudeau's Liberals eight points ahead of Harper's Tories. For many Canadians, the election has become a referendum on Harper's stiff management style, as well as who would be best placed to put the country's struggling economy back on track.
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| South African students protest planned tuition fee hikes Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:37 PM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Chanting protesters, including medical students with stethoscopes around their necks, demonstrated against planned increases in tuition fees at a number of top South African universities on Monday, blocking roads and entrances and causing the suspension of classes on some campuses.
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| West, Arab states urge Libyan parties to agree unity govt 'immediately' Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:23 PM PDT  Western and Arab states issued a joint declaration Monday urging rival sides in Libya to accept UN proposals for a power-sharing government "immediately" to end rampant instability in the country. The statement was published jointly by the foreign ministers of Algeria, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Qatar, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States as well as the EU foreign policy chief. Libya has had two administrations since August 2014, when a militia alliance that includes Islamists overran the capital, forcing the internationally recognised government to take refuge in Tobruk in the east.
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| Five dead in Libyan shelling as IS claims two executions Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:21 PM PDT  Five people were killed by shelling in the Libyan city of Benghazi late Monday, a local hospital reported, as the Islamic State group claimed it had executed two men in the east of the war-torn country. The Al-Jalaa hospital in Benghazi announced on Facebook that four people were killed in the shelling and a fifth died in hospital, while three others were injured. A military source in Benghazi confirmed the incident, which happened in the central area of Laithi, but refused to say who was behind the violence.
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| Veiled voters protest at Canada polling stations Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:19 PM PDT  Voters in Canada's Quebec province showed up at polling stations in veils Monday to protest a court's recent quashing of a widely-supported ban on the niqab -- the head covering worn by many Muslim women. In the Montreal suburb of Saint-Hubert, Catherine Leclerc cast her ballot covered head to toe in a black niqab with only her eyes showing. "The niqab is not a religious symbol, it's a political symbol, a symbol of the oppression of women, that we should not tolerate in an egalitarian society," she said as she exited a polling station.
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| Migrants defy downpours as thousands join German far-right rally Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:16 PM PDT  Thousands of asylum-seekers defied heavy rain and tightened border controls to cross into the Balkans on Monday, as angry protesters massed in Germany's Dresden to mark the anniversary of the anti-migrant PEGIDA movement. An unprecedented number of people, mainly fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are travelling through Turkey, Greece and the western Balkans, seeking new lives in Germany and other EU states. Tensions have built along the migrant trail after Hungary shut its key borders with razor wire -- diverting the flow west to Slovenia, which in turn has also limited arrivals, along with Croatia.
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| South African official says Oscar Pistorius is released from prison, put under house arrest. Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:15 PM PDT JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African official says Oscar Pistorius is released from prison, put under house arrest. |
| 35 injured after bus crashes along busy Dominican highway Posted: 19 Oct 2015 03:14 PM PDT SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Thirty-five people have been injured following a bush crash in the Dominican Republic. |
| Stoke continue league revival with 1-0 away win over Swansea Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:57 PM PDT  A resurgent Stoke continued its domestic revival following a narrow 1-0 win over Swansea on Monday.
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| German anti-Islam group's anniversary rally ends in violence Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:50 PM PDT  DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — Violence flared in the eastern city of Dresden after German anti-Islam group PEGIDA staged a rally to mark its first anniversary Monday.
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| Melinda Gates: Still work to do in maternal, newborn health Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:49 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Eight hundred women die every day globally from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, despite great strides in that area, philanthropist Melinda Gates said Monday.
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| Concerns grow as Puerto Rico debates fiscal control board Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:45 PM PDT  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico legislators are warning they will seek amendments to a bill that would create an independent fiscal control board as the U.S. territory pushes to restructure a portion of its $72 billion public debt before the government runs out of money.
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| Gibraltar calls elections for November 26 Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:36 PM PDT  Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, who has taken an assertive approach to relations with Spain, on Monday called a general election in the disputed British territory for November 26. Picardo said in a televised address that he would seek to stand again for the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP), which has governed the "Rock" in an alliance with the smaller Liberal Party since 2011. Gibraltar's only opposition party, the Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD), are led by local barrister and former justice minister Daniel Feetham.
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| Germany's faultlines over migrants surface as thousands march in Dresden Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:31 PM PDT  Hannelore and Hans both came to the German eastern city of Dresden to send a signal, but that's where their similarities end. Hannelore, in her sixties, joined the anti-migrant PEGIDA movement's first anniversary rally to show she is fed up with Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy to people fleeing war. As PEGIDA -- "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" -- celebrates its first year in existence, it has also exposed faultlines in Germany that have surfaced with a record influx of migrants this year.
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| German anti-Islam protest swells on fears about refugee influx Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:26 PM PDT  By Michelle Martin DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) - The German anti-Islam movement PEGIDA staged its biggest rally in months on Monday, sparked into fresh life on its first anniversary by anger at the government's decision to take in hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East. Simone Peter, leader of the Greens party and one of the counter-demonstrators, told Reuters: "We're for diversity and an open, colorful society, not hatred and violence ... the people who incite with right-wing slogans add fuel to the fire of the arsonists." PEGIDA has more than 172,000 'Likes' on its Facebook page and wants Germany to stop taking asylum seekers immediately.
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| AFP and RFI file lawsuit after correspondent beaten in Burundi Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:26 PM PDT  Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Radio France International (RFI) on Monday filed a complaint after their correspondent in Burundi was held and badly beaten after being arrested by security forces in August. Burundian journalist Esdras Ndikumana, 54, was taking pictures at the scene where a top general was assassinated in the capital Bujumbura on August 2 when he was detained by members of the National Intelligence Service (SNR). "One of those who was torturing me wanted to take my wedding ring," Ndikumana told AFP-TV in an interview on Monday.
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| Alan Garcia seeks a third presidency in Peru Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:17 PM PDT  LIMA, Peru (AP) — Alan Garcia is now officially a candidate for a third term as Peru's president, with elections due in April.
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| Ice-cool Bojan sinks Swansea Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:17 PM PDT  Bojan Krkic held his nerve to convert the early penalty that gave Stoke City a 1-0 win against Swansea City on Monday. Bojan stroked home a fourth-minute spot-kick to settle a dour encounter at the Liberty Stadium after Ashley Williams fouled the former Barcelona forward. The Spaniard's second goal of the season ensured Mark Hughes' side enjoyed their third successive Premier League victory, lifting them into 11th place after they had opened the campaign without a win in six games.
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| Netanyahu warns against vigilantism after Eritrean killed Posted: 19 Oct 2015 02:17 PM PDT  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israelis against vigilantism Monday following the death of an Eritrean man mistakenly shot and beaten by a mob during an attack in which a soldier was killed. More than two weeks of unrest have raised warnings of the risk of a full-scale Palestinian uprising, while some Israeli politicians have urged residents to arm themselves to fend off the threat of stabbings and gun assaults. The attacks, and violent protests which have erupted across Israel and the Palestinian territories, have prompted a range of security measures, while Israel has rejected a proposal for international observers at a key religious site.
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