West Ham United said Thursday that up to 200 people faced banning orders after violence marred their English League Cup tie at home to London rivals Chelsea.
     Skirmishes broke out towards the end of the Hammers' 2-1 win on Wednesday, with police and stewards battling to keep supporters apart as coins, bottles and plastic seats were thrown.
     There was a heavy police presence in place at the London Stadium, formerly the Olympic Stadium, which has seen repeated violence involving West Ham fans since they moved into their new home at the start of the season.
     Both clubs condemned the violence soon after the match and on Thursday a joint statement issued by West Ham and the London Stadium revealed the number of spectators at risk of a stadium ban after officials had studied closed circuit television footage of the disorder.
     "West Ham United and London Stadium are finalising the identification of 200 individuals who will receive stadium bans having been involved in ...

200 face banning orders over West Ham violence

PTI Automatic

Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence's campaign plane slid off a runway after landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport, the campaign said.
	No injuries were reported.
	"We could feel the plane sliding off the runway and then (it) came to a very sharp halt" after landing, CNN producer Elizabeth Landers, who was on the plane, told the channel.
	"The governor and everyone on board is okay," she said of Donald Trump's running mate.
	The Boeing 737 slid completely off the runway onto grass next to the tarmac yesterday evening, she added, saying there was mud and grass on the plane's body and "gashes" on the runway.
	Video footage broadcast from the runway soon after the incident showed steady rain falling. Pence could be seen shaking hands and posing for photos with first responders.
	"So thankful everyone on our plane is safe," he tweeted after the incident. "Grateful for our first responders & the concern & prayers of so many. Back on the trail tomorrow!"
	Trump, who ...

Trump running mate's plane skids off NY runway

Russia has dismissed as "unconvincing" the findings of a UN-led investigation showing that Syrian forces had carried out three chemical attacks and said no sanctions should be imposed.
	"We believe that the proof is not there for any punitive action to be taken. It's simply not there," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters following a closed-door Security Council meeting yesterday.
	The joint United Nations-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) panel has concluded that government forces carried out three chemical attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.
	It was the first time an international probe  pointed the finger of blame at President Bashar al-Assad's forces after years of denial from Damascus.
	But Churkin told the council that the findings were not strong enough to trigger sanctions.
	The ambassador said the conclusions "in most cases... Are not substantiated by sufficient testimonial basis, first of all material proof, they are full of ...

Russia rejects UN's Syria chemical attacks probe

Colombia's ELN rebels have begun the process of releasing a hostage at the center of a dispute threatening planned peace talks with the government, a top official has said.
	"We have been informed by the Red Cross that the operation to free (hostage ex-lawmaker Odin Sanchez) has begun," said Juan Camilo Restrepo, the government's chief negotiator for the talks.
	The negotiations had been due to formally open at 5:00 pm (local time) until President Juan Manuel Santos suspended them with just hours to go because of the dispute over Sanchez.
	Restrepo said he believed the hostage handover would be completed by November 3, when the first round of actual negotiations had been scheduled to begin.
	"The government celebrates this news, and notes this operation, which it hopes will come to a satisfactory conclusion," he said yesterday.
	The International Committee of the Red Cross often facilitates the handover of hostages from Colombian rebel groups after their release has been agreed.
	It ..

Colombia's ELN rebels releasing hostage: government

Police in the US state of North Dakota engaged in a tense standoff with oil-pipeline protesters, attempting to clear them from a public road and off private property.
	Police used a sound cannon to disperse protesters yesterday, some of whom had moved closer to the construction area of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the subject of a months-long protest by Native Americans and their supporters.
	"There have been arrests made," said Dallas Goldtooth, a protester at the scene of the standoff, said in a Facebook post.
	The protesters created a barricade with tires and wooden poles -- briefly lighting it on fire -- as police in riot helmets moved slowly toward them in a long line and told them to disperse via loudspeaker.
	The protesters were attempting to stop Energy Transfer Partners's construction of the pipeline, Goldtooth said, after it resumed following courts' refusals to halt the project.
	"We all are aware that this is an arrestable situation for everybody in this space. That's what .

North Dakota police move to clear pipeline protesters

A news agency affiliated to the Islamic State group said today that one of the suspects in a weekend explosion in Russia that injured police was a member of the jihadist outfit.
	The Amaq news agency released a video saying that "one of those who carried out the attack on the military base in Nizhny Novgorod", a city around 400 kilometres east of Moscow, belonged to IS.
	The video referred to an explosion that reportedly injured two officers from the special police during an security operation on Sunday.
	An unnamed source told TASS news agency that law enforcement officers had stopped a car that contained explosives and shot dead two of its occupants who resisted arrest. A third suspect was detained alive, according to reports.
	The operation reportedly took place in a residential area of Nizhny Novgorod, an industrial city of more than one million people on the banks of the Volga River.
	The local branch of the FSB security service said Monday that it was investigating the incident .

Russia blast suspect 'was IS member'

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos postponed peace talks with the ELN rebels today, hours before they were due to open, insisting they first release an ex-lawmaker being held hostage.
	Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize this month, said the government remained committed to making peace but would not budge from its demand for the ELN to first release former congressman Odin Sanchez.
	"The formal installation of the negotiating table with (the ELN) is postponed until they release Odin Sanchez safe and sound," Santos said in a speech.
	He said he had ordered the government's negotiating team to "suspend" its trip to the Ecuadoran capital Quito, where the talks had been due to formally open at 5:00 pm (2200 GMT).
	Earlier, Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo said the government was prepared to reschedule the start of talks to Friday, Saturday "or whenever we are certain that Odin Sanchez has been freed."
	The National Liberation Army (ELN) is Colombia's second-largest rebel ...

Colombia postpones ELN talks over hostage dispute

The Colombian government reiterated today it would not hold peace talks with the ELN rebels until they release an ex-lawmaker they are holding hostage, just hours from the scheduled start of negotiations.
	Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo said the government was prepared to postpone the talks until it was "certain" that former congressman Odin Sanchez had been freed.

No peace talks with ELN until rebels free hostage: Colombia

Twitter said today it has a path to growth and profitability, even as the struggling social network unveiled hefty job cuts and more losses after talks to find a buyer collapsed.
	The company said it would cut nine percent of its workforce after another money-losing quarter, but suggested it could reach profitability for the first time in 2017.
	Analysts however remain skeptical about Twitter's outlook for expansion, expressing concerns about its ability to entice users beyond its core base.
	"We see a significant opportunity to increase growth as we continue to improve the core service," chief executive Jack Dorsey said in the earnings report.
	"We have a clear plan, and we're making the necessary changes to ensure Twitter is positioned for long-term growth."
	Twitter reported a net loss for the quarter of USD 103 million, compared with a USD 132 million loss a year earlier. Revenues meanwhile grew eight per cent to USD 616 million, most of that from advertising.
	The key metric of ..

Twitter plots new path after merger talks fail

Ivanka Trump has long been one of her father's most poised and popular surrogates, but her support for the Republican nominee is sparking calls for a boycott of her fashion label.
	A twitter campaign, dubbed Grab Your Wallet, is gaining traction with fashion giant Nordstrom among retail giants under fire for stocking her clothes, shoes and handbags.
	A woman who tweets under the handle @SheWhoVotes and identifies herself as a lifelong Nordstrom customer wrote an open letter to the Seattle-based retailer calling on the company to dump Ivanka Trump's "toxic brand."
	"Ms Trump is openly supporting a man accused of groping or raping at least a dozen women," said the letter, dated Tuesday, tweeted yesterday and since shared on the social media platform more than 1,400 times.
	The woman accused Donald Trump's campaign of peddling unacceptable hate speech against African Americans, Latinos, Jews, Muslims, LGBT people and women.
	"She is not responsible for her father's conduct, but she is ...

Ivanka Trump faces boycott calls over dad's campaign

Moscow today denied any involvement in bloody air strikes on a Syrian school as its relations with the West took another hit and the EU slapped more sanctions on its ally Damascus.
	UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded an immediate probe into Wednesday's attack on the school in rebel-held Idlib province that he said "may amount to a war crime".
	The tensions mounted a day after the United States and Britain said they expected an assault to drive the Islamic State jihadist group out of Raqa, its de facto capital in Syria, within the next few weeks.
	Syria's conflict broke out in March 2011 with peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government but has evolved into a complex war involving regional and international powers.
	One complication has been the involvement of Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced today that his country's military operation supporting opposition fighters in Syria will also target Raqa.
	Russia, whose military intervened in ...

Russia denies role in bloody strike on Syria school

Pakistani police today said they had arrested six men suspected of strangling a couple to death in the latest so-called honour killings to hit the country, weeks after the government passed long-awaited legislation to combat the crime.
	The victims had been married for a year and were living in Karachi's eastern Malir district after the woman left her previous husband and fled her home in the city's west.
	A tribal 'jirga' or informal council -- which included her first husband and his relatives -- sentenced the pair to death. Holding jirgas is illegal in Pakistan.
	"They were strangled and buried in a graveyard by the jirga members," Javed Akbar, a senior police officer told AFP, adding that the men were arrested on Tuesday.
	Around a thousand Pakistan women fall victim to so-called honour killings each year -- in which the victim, normally a woman, is killed by a relative for bringing shame to the family.
	Perpetrators have often walked free because of a legal loophole that allowed .

Pakistan arrests six for honour killing of married couple

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is appalled by an attack on a school in Syria that killed 22 children and is calling for an immediate investigation, his spokesman said today.
	"If deliberate, this attack may amount to a war crime," Ban said in a statement from his spokesman.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "warplanes -- either Russia or Syrian -- carried out six strikes" yesterday in a village in rebel-held Idlib province, including on a school complex.
	UNICEF said the school compound in the village of Hass was "repeatedly attacked," leaving 22 children and six teachers dead.
	Ban called for an "immediate and impartial investigation" and raised concerns about a series of attacks on civilian targets in Syria, now in its sixth year of war.
	"If such horrific acts persist despite global outrage, it is largely because their authors, whether in corridors of power or in insurgent redoubts, do not fear justice," he said.
	"They must be proved wrong."
	Russia, which is backing 

Appalled UN chief demands probe into Syria school attack

The International Olympic Committee on Thursday stripped three Kazakh weightlifters of gold medals won at the London 2012 Games for doping.
	   Zulfiya Chinshanlo, Maiya Maneza and Svetlana Podobedova were all caught in new testing of hundreds of samples from the London and 2008 Beijing Olympics.
	   A weightlifter from Belarus who won a bronze medal was also disqualified by the IOC. Russian weightlifter Besik Kudokov who won a silver in London also failed a doping test but the medal was not taken away because he died in 2013.
	   Chinshanlo, now 30, Maneza, 30, and Podobedova, 29, all tested positive for the steroid stanozol. Chinshanlo was also found to have taken oxandrolone, another steroid. Both substances promote muscle growth.
	   Chinshanlo won the 53kg category in London, Maneza won the 63kg gold and Podobedova the 75kg contest.
	   Marina Shkermankova of Belarus who took bronze in the women's 69kg category was also among eight new doping cheats announced by the IOC.
	   The .

Three London gold medal winners disqualified for doping

A man was shot and killed by Kenyan police outside the US embassy in the capital Nairobi today, police said.
	"The man was shot dead after a confrontation with officers guarding the embassy," a police source told AFP on condition of anonymity, without specifying the cause of the confrontation.
	The police officer involved in the shooting was a member of the paramilitary General Services Unit deployed to guard the embassy.
	A photograph shared on social media showed the body of a man of apparently Somali origin lying on the pavement, a pool of blood staining the tarmac by his head and surrounded by police officers.
	The well-guarded US embassy in Nairobi is located opposite the main UN complex in Gigiri, an upmarket suburb in the city's north popular with expatriates.

Man shot dead by police outside US embassy in Kenya

- President Vladimir Putin today slammed as "hysteria" claims that Russia has attempted to interfere in the upcoming US presidential elections by hacking American political institutions.
	"The number of mythical, dreamt-up problems includes the hysteria -- I can't think of another word -- that has broken out in the United States about the influence of Russia on the current elections for the US president," Putin said at a Valdai Discussion Club meeting of political scientists in Sochi.
	"Does anyone seriously think Russia can somehow influence the choice of the US people? Is the US some kind of banana republic? The United States is a great power. Please correct me if I'm wrong," Putin said to laughter in the audience.
	Washington last week formally accused the Russian government of trying to "interfere" in the 2016 White House race by hacking US political institutions, charges the Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed.
	Putin has vehemently dismissed the accusations, saying they are meant ..

Putin slams as 'hysteria' claims of meddling in US election

Russia has handed over to the Netherlands raw radar data from the area where Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was downed over rebel-held eastern Ukraine in 2014, Moscow confirmed today.
	"We gave the Dutch side raw radar data which we discovered a month ago," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told AFP.
	She spoke after Dutch Justice Minister Ard van der Steur told parliament yesterday that Russian prosecutors had handed "a packet of information" to the Dutch embassy in Moscow.
	He said he could not give details because the contents needed to be assessed to see if they were useful for the investigation.
	Russia's defence ministry in late September released what it claimed were new radar images showing that there was no missile fired from rebel-held territory on the day of the MH17 flight in July 2014, contradicting some of its earlier declarations.
	The ministry released the images to journalists two days before the Dutch-led international team of criminal investigators ...

Russia has given MH17 radar data to Netherlands

Turkish authorities ordered the detention of 73 air force pilots as part of the probe into the group blamed for July's failed coup, state media reported today.
	At least 45 had already been detained after police operations began today across the country including the central Konya province and the capital Ankara, the official Anadolu news agency said.
	The pilots are suspected of links to the group led by Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim preacher whom Turkey accuses of ordering the July 15 putsch attempt.
	Gulen, living in self-exile in Pennsylvania, strongly denies the allegations.
	The accusations listed in the warrants for the pilots include "violating the constitution", being part of "an armed rebellion against the Turkish Republic" as well as "acting on behalf of the (Gulen) organisation", Dogan news agency reported.
	Searches continued for some of the pilots at the Konya 3rd Main Jet Base Command where dozens have been detained in connection with the group since July, Anadolu .

Turkey orders detention of 73 air force pilots: state media

Kenya is set to play its first international cricket at home in four years against Hong Kong in a World Cricket League qualifier in Nairobi next month.
     The 50-overs Nov 18-20 match at Nairobi Gymmkana club ground will be the first since a series of attacks blamed on terrorists hit the capital in 2012 following the country's decision to send troops to Somalia to battle the Shabaab militant group.
     "Through joint efforts of the Kenyan government, the International Cricket Council (ICC) was impressed with the assurance from the government and the local cricket body that it will be safe to host a world class event," Cricket Kenya said in a statement.
     "The hosting of top flight cricket matches in Kenya will greatly contribute to the development of the game in Kenya."
     Kenya and Hong Kong have each played six matches in the World Cricket League championships, which also involves Scotland, Namibia, The Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates. The ..

Kenya to host first international cricket in four years

Warships from the US Navy and allied nations have intercepted four weapons shipments from Iran to war-ravaged Yemen since April 2015, a US admiral said today.
	Yemen has been rocked by conflict since Iran-backed Huthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa and other large parts of the country in 2014, prompting military intervention by a Saudi- led coalition in March last year in support of the internationally recognised government.
	The United States and Saudi Arabia have accused Iran of arming the insurgents, and while Tehran denies the charges, the coalition has since enforced maritime and air controls over the Arabian Peninsula country.
	"Either US ships or coalition ships... Intercepted four weapons shipments from Iran to Yemen," said US Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan.
	"We know they came from Iran and we know the destination," he told reporters at an undisclosed military base in Southwest Asia.
	Donegal said the shipments contained thousands of AK-47 assault rifles, anti-tank missiles, ...

4 Iranian arms shipments to Yemen stopped: US admiral

The High Court in Belfast will rule tomorrow on Northern Ireland's entitlement to veto the UK's departure from the European Union - the first opinion by a UK judge on Brexit.
	With other legal challenges under way in Britain, the outcome will be closely monitored by politicians and financial markets.
	Ciaran O'Hare, a lawyer representing veteran victims' rights campaigner Raymond McCord - one of a diverse group of individuals in the case - said the judge would give his ruling at 0900 GMT (1430 IST) tomorrow, after three days of hearings earlier this month.
	"We are delighted at such a quick turnaround but time is obviously of the essence," O'Hare said.
	He described the ongoing legal challenge as "a David versus Goliath battle" that would not end on Friday regardless of the outcome.
	"Both sides will likely appeal to the Supreme Court but the ruling in Belfast is important because it would have to be taken into account," he said.
	The campaigners argue Brexit cannot be imposed on ...

AFP

AFP

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