Donald Trump's improbable victory in the US presidential election provoked global shock and angst today over the implications for everything from trade to human rights and climate change.
	The bombastic billionaire defeated Hillary Clinton in a result that few predicted, as millions of American voters shrugged off concerns over his temperament, lack of experience, and accusations of sexist and racist behaviour.
	Trump's rise has been keenly watched abroad as he campaigned on a platform of trashing trade agreements, questioning alliances, restricting immigration and dismissing climate change.
	In often hushed scenes, many attendees at election- watching events around Asia expressed deep misgivings about Trump taking the reins of the world's most powerful nation and economy.
	Dianita Sugiyo, 34, a university lecturer in Indonesia -- the world's most populous Muslim country -- said she was concerned by Trump's calls to temporarily ban Muslims from countries with histories of ...

Trump victory provokes global shock and angst

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The European Union today added six MPs from Crimea who were recently elected to Russia's parliament to its sanctions blacklist for their role in supporting Moscow's seizure of the region from Ukraine.
	"In line with its non-recognition policy, the EU considers that the persons who became members of the State Duma as a result of the elections in Crimea should be placed under sanctions," said a statement issued by the European Council of the bloc's 28 member states.
	"These sanctions consist of an asset freeze and a travel ban which will now apply to a total of 152 persons and 37 entities," it added.
	The EU refuses to recognise Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and insisted Russian parliamentary elections held there in September were illegal.
	In June, it rolled over for another year asset ban and travel freeze sanctions against individuals and companies said to have aided Russia's takeover of the Black Sea peninsula.
	In September, the EU extended by six months similar sanctions ...

EU sanctions six Russian MPs from Crimea

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's office today called on US president-elect Donald Trump to work towards a Palestinian state, with peace efforts with Israel long at a standstill.
	"We are ready to deal with the elected president on the basis of a two-state solution and to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders," spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP, referring to the year when Israel occupied the West Bank.
	Abu Rudeina said failure to resolve the decades-old conflict would mean "the unstable situation will continue in the region".
	The Palestinians remain deeply divided, with Abbas's secular Fatah party dominating in the West Bank and Islamist movement Hamas in power in the Gaza Strip.
	Reacting to Trump's victory, Hamas said it did not expect a change in US "bias" against the Palestinians.
	"The Palestinian people do not count much on any change in the US presidency because the US policy towards the Palestinian issue is a consistent policy on the basis of bias," Hamas ..

Palestinians urge Trump to work towards their state

At least 26 Shiite Muslim pilgrims headed to Iraq were killed and 28 injured in a bus accident in southern Iran, media reported today.
	The bus was carrying pilgrims to the shrine city of Karabla to mark the festival of Arbaeen, when its brakes failed and it flipped over yesterday evening, the ISNA news agency.
	Some 2.5 million Iranians are expected in Karbala this month for Arbaeen, which marks the 40th day after the death in the seventh century of Imam Hussein, one of the pivotal figures of the Shiite faith.
	An estimated 16,000 people were killed in road accidents in Iran in the year to March 2016.
	Erratic driving is common on Iran's roads, but there has been an improvement compared with a decade ago when an average of around 28,000 people a year were killed.

26 Iranian pilgrims killed in bus accident

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe congratulated Donald Trump today on his election as US president and vowed that the countries will maintain their close relationship.
	"I express my heartfelt congratulations on your election as the next president of the United States," Abe said in a statement.
	"The stability of the Asia-Pacific region, which is the driving force of the global economy, brings peace and prosperity to the United States," Abe said.
	"Japan and the United States are unshakeable allies connected by common values such as freedom, democracy, basic human rights and rule of law."
	Concern in Japan, a close security ally of the US and a major trading partner, had grown during the campaign on Trump's opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.
	He also called for Tokyo to pay more to support the two countries' security alliance.
	Other Trump comments, suggesting that Japan -- the only country to suffer atomic bomb attacks -- might want to consider ...

Abe congratulates Trump, calls nations 'unshakeable allies'

Nearly 42,000 people have fled their homes since last month's start of the operation to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State group, the International Organization for Migration said today.
	Aid organisations have warned that more than a million people could be displaced in the battle for Mosul, and while it has not yet reached that scale, the numbers are growing.
	The IOM said on its displacement tracking web page that 41,988 people have been "displaced as a result of the ongoing Mosul operations which began on 17 October 2016."
	That was an increase of more than 7,000 from the figure the IOM gave the previous day, but it was unclear when the spike in displacement occurred.
	The vast majority of those displaced are from Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, but the IOM has also included people from several other provinces in the Mosul operation figures.
	While the worst-case scenario has not materialised so far, Iraqi forces have yet to push deep into the city, and the ...

42,000 displaced since start of Mosul assault: IOM

European stocks tumbled in opening trade today after Donald Trump was elected US president, beating market favourite Hillary Clinton and sparking investor fears over the world economy.
	In initial deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 1.87 per cent to 6,718.85 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 dived 2.9 per cent to 10,181.89 points and the Paris CAC 40 index slid 2.8 per cent to 4,350.07 compared with yesterday's close.
	Markets however quickly retraced ground within fifteen minutes of the open, with London standing just 0.50 percent lower at 0820 GMT.
	The Amsterdam AEX stocks index tanked briefly by 3.09 per cent on opening, but rallied to stand at 1.59 per cent lower at 443,02 points.
	Republican Trump defeated his Democratic rival to become the 45th president of the United States, sending shockwaves across global stock markets.
	"This is another black swan for European stocks -- despite Brexit, markets were still not prepared for a Trump win and stocks will bear the biggest brunt 

European stocks drop at open on Trump win

Oil prices fell in Asia today as Republican candidate Donald Trump defeated Democratic rival and market favourite Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.
	Global financial markets and oil prices went into a tailspin following the billionaire populist's shock election win but losses narrowed after the president-elect's conciliatory victory speech.
	At around 0830 GMT, the December contract for US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 53 cents at USD 44.45 a barrel and Brent crude for January delivery was 51 cents lower at USD 45.53.
	Both contracts fell more than one dollar earlier in the session after Trump cemented his lead over Clinton.
	"Trump's victory speech was conciliatory," Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA, told AFP.
	"The market liked what he had to say about fiscal spending to rebuild America's infrastructure."
	But Halley noted that "the world is still in shock" over Trump's win and would need more time to digest the potential ...

Oil down as Trump wins US vote

Russian President Vladimir Putin today congratulated Donald Trump for his victory in US elections, hoping to work with him to improve relations, the Kremlin said in a statement.
	Putin "expressed hope for mutual work on bringing US- Russia relations out of their critical condition" and said that "building constructive dialogue" would be in the interest of both countries and the world community, the Kremlin statement said.

Putin congratulates Trump, hopes for 'constructive dialogue'

GoPro has announced the recall of all Karma drones sold since sales launched last month.
	The company said it is recalling all of the approximately 2,500 Karma drones it has sold due to instances when power cut out during flight.
	"Safety is our top priority," GoPro founder and chief executive Nicholas Woodman said in a release announcing the recall yesterday.
	"A very small number of Karma owners have reported incidents of power failure during operation."
	GoPro shares plunged more than nine percent to USD 9.88 in after-market trades following the announcement.
	The company complete refunds, saying it is coordinating the recall with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration.
	The drones were priced at USD 799.
	There have been no reports of injuries or property damage from the power loss, GoPro said.
	"We are very sorry to have inconvenienced our customers and we are taking every step to make the return and refund process as easy as possible," .

GoPro recalls new Karma drone

An Australian theme park today said it will demolish a water ride that killed four people, and ordered an independent safety review of all its attractions.
	Two women and two men died when rafts on the Thunder River Rapids ride at the hugely popular Dreamworld tourist attraction on the Gold Coast collided on October 25.
	Ardent Leisure, which owns the theme park and came in for heavy criticism for the way it handled the tragedy, said the ride would be shut down.
	"Out of respect for the memories of Cindy Low, Roozbeh Araghi, Kate Goodchild and Luke Dorsett, and their deeply affected families, the ride will be permanently decommissioned," said chief executive Deborah Thomas.
	"The closure of the ride is the only respectful and appropriate course of action."
	She added that a permanent memorial was planned, with input from the families of the dead.
	Police wrapped up their investigations earlier this week and handed back control of the park to management, but Dreamworld is yet to ...

Australia theme park to demolish death ride

A landslide has killed nine people in southwestern Colombia, emergency services said.
	The landslide in the rural town of El Tambo left "a total today of nine dead and three injured," the National Risk Management Unit said in a statement.
	The landslide struck yesterday after days of heavy rain. It blocked a road, making rescue work difficult, the unit said.
	Ten people were killed by another landslide two weeks ago in the north of the country.

Colombia landslide kills nine: rescuers

Two people were killed and two others were injured today in a shootout in California that prompted a lockdown at two polling stations, authorities said.
	The shooting took place in early afternoon in the city of Azusa, 40 kilometres east of Los Angeles, Vanessa Lozano, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, told AFP.
	Officers arriving at the scene in a residential neighbourhood found "multiple shooting victims" and came under fire, Azusa police chief Steve Hunt told reporters.
	He said officers tending to three victims returned fire after being shot at and the gunman was later pronounced dead at the scene.
	"One male victim was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead and two female adults were also transported to a local hospital where they are listed in both in critical condition," the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
	Details about the incident and what prompted it remained sketchy.
	Two polling stations in the area were ...

Shootout near California polling sites leaves two dead

Tokyo stocks nosedived today as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared to be closing in on victory in the knife-edge race for the White House.
	The benchmark Nikkei 225 index plummeted 5.5 per cent, or 949.36 points, to 16,222.02 in afternoon trading.

Tokyo stocks dive 5.5 % as Trump closes in on White House

Alcohol will be banned from streets and public places and if Qatari officials get their way even stadiums during the 2022 World Cup, the head of the country's tournament organising committee said on Tuesday.
     The comments by Hassan Al-Thawadi will further alarm football traditionalists already unhappy that the tournament will be moved to the winter because of fierce summer temperatures in Qatar.
     A ban on alcohol inside stadiums -- there has long been speculation about what the conservative Muslim country would do on the tricky issue of alcohol for the World Cup -- could bring organisers into conflict with FIFA and powerful sponsors.
     "There will be no alcohol consumption on the streets, squares and public places and that is final," Al-Thawadi, secretary-general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, said in an interview printed on the website of Arabic language newspaper Al-Sharq.
     "We are against the provision of alcohol in stadiums and their ...

No alcohol in streets, public places at World Cup - Qatar

The dollar tumbled against the yen and euro while the Mexican peso fell off a cliff as polling results in the knife-edge US presidential race pointed to a strong showing by property mogul Donald Trump.
	The greenback plunged 3.8 per cent to 101.50 yen while it lost almost two per cent against the euro, which bought USD 1.1224 in Tokyo trading.
	The peso, which has become a proxy for the property mogul's chances of becoming US president, slumped to below 20 against the dollar, an historic low.
	Financial markets have favoured Democrat Clinton over Republican Trump, whose wild policy pronouncements have sown uncertainty.
	"Of course, I can't say anything definite at the moment, but the market atmosphere reminds me of that five months ago," Daisuke Karakama, market economist at Mizuho Bank said, referring to the Brexit shock.
	"Mr Trump has made it clear that he hates a strong dollar, which is a threat" to the floating-rate system, he added.
	His "inward-looking policy" was moving ...

Dollar tumbles against yen, euro on strong Trump showing

Dollar tumbles against yen, euro on strong Trump showing.

Republicans set to keep House of Representatives

Two polling stations in California were placed on lockdown following a nearby shooting that killed one person and wounded three, the authorities have said.
	The shooting took place in early afternoon yesterday in the city of Azusa, 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, Vanessa Lozano, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, told AFP.
	Officers arriving at the scene found "multiple shooting victims" and came under fire, Azusa police tweeted.
	Three people were transported to a hospital with gunshot wounds and one was dead on arrival, Lozano said.
	Details about the incident, which happened in a residential neighborhood, were sketchy.
	Two polling stations in the area were placed on lockdown along with nearby schools, according to local officials.
	Azusa police advised residents to stay clear of the area and shelter in place as officers combed the neighborhood for at least one suspect believed to be heavily armed.
	Local government official Dean Logan advised ...

California polling sites on lockdown after shooting

Polls close in first six states in US election. (AFP)

A polling station in California has been placed on lockdown following a nearby shooting that left one person dead and three wounded, authorities and news reports said.
	The shooting took place in early afternoon yesterday in the city of Azusa, 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, Vanessa Lozano, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department told AFP.
	She said three people were transported to a hospital with gunshot wounds and one was dead on arrival.
	Details about the incident, which happened in a residential neighborhood, were sketchy.
	A polling station in the area was placed on lockdown as was a school, according to local news reports.

AFP

AFP

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