Legendary fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, whose beautifully made evening wear was beloved by US first ladies, has died at 82, US media has reported.
	The Dominican-born American fashion icon, who dressed first ladies from Jacqueline Kennedy to Laura Bush, most recently designed the wedding dress for human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, who wed Hollywood heart throb George Clooney.
	A sophisticated, sartorial choice for A-list movie stars on the red carpet and wealthy socialites, he was also the go-to man for something elegant for actress and fashionista Sarah Jessica Parker, of "Sex and the City" fame.
	The designer reportedly passed away at his home in Connecticut but worked right up to the end of his life.
	The cause of death was not immediately clear but he had been diagnosed with cancer a number of years ago. Earlier this month, British-born designer Peter Copping was announced as creative director of Oscar de la Renta.
	His company website late yesterday bore only his ...

Designer Oscar de la Renta dies at 82: US media

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The CEO of French oil company Total, Christophe de Margerie has died after a private jet crashed at a Moscow airport, Russian media reported today citing aviation and law enforcement sources.
	"There was one passenger registered on the plane, French citizen Christophe de Margerie. The three crew members were also French citizens. They all died," the TASS news agency cited an aviation source as saying.
	TASS reported that the plane "according to a preliminary version, crashed into a snow plough".
	The Interfax news agency cited a police source as saying that one of the dead was a top executive at Total, naming de Margerie, 63.
	A Falcon-50 plane crashed at Vnukovo airport at 11:58 pm yesterday local time, apparently on takeoff, the emergencies ministry said in a statement. "There are casualties."
	A spokesman for the emergencies ministry told AFP that he could not give information on the casualties.
	There was no immediate response from Total in France, who were contacted by AFP.

CEO of oil giant Total killed in Moscow plane crash

A man who mowed down two Canadian soldiers in a Quebec supermarket parking lot died from shots by police, authorities have said.
	One of the two soldiers is in critical condition in the hospital in Saint-Jean sur Richelieu, some 40 kilometres south-east of Montreal, while the other was more lightly injured.
	The incident occurred shortly before noon yesterday, when a car smashed into the two soldiers before fleeing with police in pursuit.
	A few kilometres away, the driver lost control of his car and flipped into a ditch in the side of the road.
	A witness said the driver was holding a knife and headed toward police after he extricated himself from his vehicle.
	Then: "we heard between five and seven shots," the witness told news channel RDI.
	A police spokesman did not confirm whether the man was armed but said officers had opened fire on the 25-year-old suspect, who they did not name but was "known to police."
	"I can confirm that shots were fired," spokesman Guy Lapointe told a ...

Suspect killed after hitting two Canadian soldiers with car

Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam, one of the nation's most admired figures who led the country through a period of massive change, died today aged 98, his family said.
	"Our father, Gough Whitlam, has died this morning at the age of 98," his children Antony, Nicholas, Stephen and Catherine said in a statement.
	"A loving and generous father, he was a source of inspiration to us and our families and for millions of Australians."
	Whitlam remained one of Australia's most towering figures despite being the country's only prime minister to be sacked, a touchstone moment in the nation's political history.
	He led Labor to its first victory in 23 years at the December 1972 election on the back of the famous "It's Time" campaign before being sensationally sacked in 1975 by Governor-General Sir John Kerr.
	His dismissal was prompted by a refusal by parliament's upper house, where his Labor Party did not hold a majority, to pass a budget bill until the government agreed to call a 

Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam dead at 98

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to resume talks on a durable Gaza ceasefire next week in Cairo, a senior official of the Islamist movement Hamas which rules the territory said today.
	"Hamas and the Palestinian factions will take part in a session of indirect negotiations with the occupation (Israel) on the 27th of this month at the invitation of Egypt," said Hamas deputy leader Mussa Abu Marzuk.
	He said on the movement's Al-Ray website that the Palestinians would from the outset demand the opening of a Gaza port and reopening of the territory's airport.
	A source close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, contacted by AFP, gave no comment on the reported resumption of talks.
	The two sides last month held their first Egyptian-mediated negotiations since the end in August of their devastating 50-day war in Gaza and agreed to schedule new talks for the last week of October.
	The conflict killed more than 2,140 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 on the ...

Gaza ceasefire talks to restart next week: Hamas

The United States today praised a policy reversal by Turkey which agreed to allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to cross the border to help defend a besieged Syrian town.
	"We welcome those statements from the foreign ministry," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters, after Ankara said it was now helping Iraqi peshmerga fighters to reach the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane under attack from Islamic militants.
	An influx of well-trained peshmerga fighters into Kobane could be a major boost for the Syrian Kurds, who are now being supported by US-led air strikes and air drops after a month-long battle against the Islamic State (IS) group.
	Turkey's announcement came after the American military separately dropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to the Syrian Kurdish fighters from cargo aircraft.
	"I think as we've all seen ISIL pour more resources, more fighters into Kobane, the situation has become... Increasingly serious," Harf said.
	She added talks were ...

US welcomes Turkish move to let Iraqi Kurds into Syria

A US official today confirmed that a ceasefire deal appeared to have been reached between Nigeria and Boko Haram militants, but said talks to release some 200 kidnapped girls were ongoing.
	Doubts have been raised since members of the Nigerian government said on Friday that they had secured a deal with Boko Haram to free the girls captured in April and to end hostilities.
	In the aftermath of Friday's declaration by Nigeria's military and presidency, however, reports of attacks continue to emerge, casting further doubts on the credibility of the ceasefire claim.
	And a group of Nigerian elders has said only one faction of Boko Haram had been involved in the deal.
	"We can confirm reports that a ceasefire has been announced, (and) appears to have been put into place," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
	"We would welcome that ceasefire, call on all parties both to implement and maintain such a ceasefire, and hope that such a ceasefire would herald the return of peace .

US says talks to free Nigerian girls ongoing

Twelve Latin American and Caribbean countries agreed today to tighten border checks to stop Ebola from spreading to the region and draft an action plan to deal with the epidemic.
	"We agreed to coordinate our efforts to prevent Ebola and deal with the epidemic," said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at the close of an extraordinary summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) in Cuba.
	The leftist regional bloc adopted a 23-point response to the outbreak, which has not spread to Latin America, despite several false alarms, but has killed more than 4,500 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
	The measures include increased security at ports and airports and marching orders for the group's health ministries to develop a regional Ebola action plan by November 5.
	Health experts from the region will meet in Havana on October 29 and 30 to draw up the plan.
	Cuban President Raul Castro opened the Ebola summit -- the first of its kind in Latin ...

Latin American bloc to launch Ebola action plan

A US drone crash-landed at Niger's main airport for unknown reasons today, the US army said, forcing the closure of the runway for several hours.
	The "hard landing" of the unarmed MQ-9 Reaper aircraft damaged the runway at Diori Hamani International airport in the Niger capital Niamey, but no injuries were reported, according to a statement from the US Air Forces in Europe and Africa public affairs directorate.
	"The US government is working closely with the government of Niger to secure the scene and mitigate inconveniences caused by the incident," the statement sent to AFP added.
	"The cause of the incident is currently under investigation."
	The United States started drone surveillance flights out of Niger in early 2013 to support French forces fighting Islamist militants in northern Mali.
	"The aircraft nosed down" around 03:40 am (0240 GMT), a Nigerien airport source told AFP, adding that the drone was originally thought to be French.
	The airport stayed closed until 12:30 pm to 

US drone crashes at Niger airport

Kurds battling jihadists for the Syrian border town of Kobane welcomed a first US airdrop of weapons today as neighbouring Turkey said it will help Iraqi Kurds to support the fight.
	In an apparent bid to cut Kobane off from Turkey, two suicide car bombings struck the north of the town facing the border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, without giving an immediate casualty toll.
	And the jihadists of the Islamic Jihad (IS) group sent in reinforcements from Jarablous to the west of Kobane, as shelling of the centre of town resumed towards the end of a relatively calm day.
	Ankara has refused land deliveries of arms to the Syrian Kurds, who are linked with Turkey's outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but said it was helping Iraqi Kurds to reinforce the strategic town.
	The Syrian Kurdish forces in Kobane hailed the airdrop, saying it would "help greatly" in the town's defence against a nearly five-week offensive by the IS.
	US Secretary of State John Kerry said ..

US air drops, Turkey boost Kurd battle against jihadists

Fresh UN climate talks opened in Bonn today with a plea for nations to overcome rifts as scientists reported record global temperatures for a month of September.
	In an appeal to negotiators at the six-day meeting, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said renewed commitments made at a world summit on September 23 to curb climate change should prompt negotiators to "build bridges."
	Their discussions must lay the foundations for the annual ministerial-level talks to be held in Lima in December, she said.
	The Peru meeting, in turn, must pave the way to a pact in Paris in December 2015 that for the first time will bring 195 nations, rich and poor alike, into the same arena of commitment.
	"This week is a key opportunity to reach out to your counterparts, build bridges and find a path forward," said Figueres.
	The New York summit called by UN chief Ban Ki-moon had "shifted the ground on what is possible in climate change," she argued.
	"Collectively, your heads of state have reassured ..

Climate talks told to ease rifts as heat busts record

Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern whose affair with Bill Clinton led to his impeachment, returned to public life today, giving her first speech in 13 years and joining Twitter.
	In an emotional address at Forbes' inaugural Under 30 summit in Philadelphia that recalled the 1998 sex scandal with Clinton, the 41-year-old brunette announced a campaign to end online bullying.
	Lewinsky told a packed auditorium that she became one of the earliest victims of cyber-bullying after she "fell in love" with Clinton.
	"I was Patient Zero," she said. "The first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet."
	"There was no Facebook, Twitter or Instagram back then," she said.
	"But there were gossip, news and entertainment websites replete with comment sections and emails which could be forwarded. Of course, it was all done on the excruciatingly slow dial up. Yet around the world this story went. A viral phenomenon that, you could argue, was the first ..

Monica Lewinsky gives speech, joins Twitter

Israeli settlers moved into 10 new homes in annexed east Jerusalem today, activists said, in spite of fierce local opposition and international condemnation of such takeovers.
	According to Jawad Siyyam, a Palestinian activist who heads the Silwan Community Centre, a group of Jewish settlers moved into two buildings in the neighbourhood.
	Silwan is a densely populated Palestinian neighbourhood which flanks the southern walls of Jerusalem's Old City and has been the scene of frequent clashes involving a small group of hardcore settlers, the Israeli police and young, stone-throwing locals.
	Clashes erupted three weeks ago when settlers forcefully took over 25 apartments in the area.
	Israel recently approved the construction of more than 2,600 settler homes in Arab east Jerusalem, prompting Washington -- Israel's closest and most powerful ally -- to express its "deep concern" over the plans.
	Those involved in today's takeover claimed to have purchased their homes legally from ...

Jewish settlers take over 10 East Jerusalem homes

At least 60 people were killed in Yemen as clashes raged between Shiite rebels and al-Qaeda militants backed by Sunni tribesmen battling for territory in the strife-hit country, sources said today.
	The rebels, known as Huthis, have been facing fierce resistance from al-Qaeda fighters and tribesmen as they seek to expand their areas of control after seizing the capital Sanaa and the Red Sea port city of Hudeida.
	A suicide bomber killed 15 people today, including children, when he detonated his explosives-laden car near a rebel checkpoint in the town of Rada, south of Sanaa, witnesses and a tribal source said.
	It came after heavy fighting erupted overnight in Rada, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area that has been the scene of frequent clashes.
	Twenty rebels were killed in another car bombing that targeted a building where they had gathered and in subsequent clashes, tribal and security sources told AFP, adding that 12 rebels were also captured by al-Qaeda militants.
	The town was rocked by ..

Dozens killed in fresh Yemen clashes

The World Trade Organization on today set up a body to rule on a raging trade dispute between Brussels and Moscow over duties imposed on European vehicles in Russia.
	The Geneva-based WTO said it had set up a panel to rule on the feud part of a raft of politically tinged trade conflicts between the EU and Russia that have been given an added edge during the Ukraine crisis.
	Brussels objects to anti-dumping duties that Moscow has imposed on so-called "light commercial vehicles" made in Germany and Italy, both leading global players in the auto sector.
	The EU launched its challenge in May, but Russia had until today to stop the panel being created. The WTO is an international body that oversees respect for the rules of global commerce.
	The 160 economies which make up the WTO are allowed to levy extra customs duties when goods are being "dumped" on them -- sold at below market prices to grab business.
	But they are also required to show that their domestic producers are suffering as a .

WTO sets up body to settle EU-Russia vehicle battle

Nigeria's government may have negotiated a supposed ceasefire with only one faction of Boko Haram, an influential regional group has said, as violence continued unabated in the far northeast.
	The Borno Elders Forum, made up of retired senior civilian and military officials from the state, said attacks in recent days indicated that not all Boko Haram fighters were aware of the deal.
	"If they are aware and they are in agreement that there is a ceasefire, I don't think they would continue attacking innocent people and taking over places," said spokesman Bulama Mali Gubio.
	"It is either (that) those the federal government is negotiating with are not the Boko Haram but the usual 419ers... Or it is just some kind of mockery," he told reporters in Maiduguri yesterday evening.
	The term 419 refers to the section of the Nigerian penal code that deals with fraud and which has become a catch-all for con artists.
	Gubio was speaking after senior military and intelligence officials in the ...

Nigerian elders question Boko Haram 'ceasefire' deal

The European Union said today it believed a ceasefire and peace plan have helped reduce fighting between government and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine but condemned continued violations of the accord.
	The accords reached last month were a step towards a sustainable political solution of the crisis, the EU's 28 foreign ministers said, but they left to another day any review of current sanctions against Russia.
	While the EU took "good note of the decreased overall level of violence as a result of the agreed ceasefire," it also regretted and condemned "continued numerous violations".
	The ceasefire and peace plan drawn up in Minsk were backed by Russia, which in March annexed former Soviet state Ukraine's Crimea territory, as Kiev turned decisively to the EU for its future.
	Some 3,700 people have been killed since then, including over 300 soldiers and civilians after the Minsk ceasefire was agreed September 5.
	The foreign ministers said in a statement that they expected all ...

EU sees less violence in eastern Ukraine

Philippe Sereys de Rothschild has taken the helm of the family's French wine estate, producer of the famous Chateau Mouton-Rothschild claret, after the death of his mother.
	The 51-year-old was named president of the supervisory board of Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA, where he has been a vice president since 2006, on October 18, the company said in a statement today.
	He succeeds his mother, Philippine de Rothschild, who died in August aged 80 after taking over the leadership of the famous winemaker from her father on his death in 1988.
	Philippe Sereys de Rothschild was one of her two sons with the French comedian Jacques Sereys. Philippine de Rothschild, herself a well-known comedian, also had another child with the writer Jean-Pierre de Beaumarchais.
	A graduate of Harvard Business School, Sereys de Rothschild has previously held senior management positions in companies specialising in energy, the environment and technology.
	Chateau Mouton-Rothschild is part of France's famous ..

New Rothschild takes reins of famous Bordeaux winemaker

Oil prices slid today after a brief rebound late last week, with the market weighed down by weak demand growth and a glut of global supplies.
	US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November slipped 39 cents to USD 82.36 a barrel compared with Friday's close.
	Brent North Sea crude for December shed $1.03 to stand at USD 85.13 a barrel in late London deals.
	Both contracts had risen at the end of last week as investors snapped up bargains after prices had tanked to multi-year low points.
	Oil prices have been hit hard by weak demand growth as the global economy stutters, an abundance of supplies and signs that major producers such as Saudi Arabia won't cut back on production.
	"Long-held assumptions about the determination of key OPEC producers to support prices appear to be dissolving as Saudi Arabia signals to the market that it may be comfortable with a long period of low oil prices," British bank Barclays said in a research note.
	While wishing to keep market share, .

Oil prices retreat after brief recovery

French police today fired tear gas at hundreds of migrants trying to force their way onto trucks in the northern port of Calais in a desperate bid to reach Britain.
	Police in the Pas-de-Calais department where the port is located said they had to call in reinforcements to deal with the asylum seekers.
	"Some 300 to 400 migrants wanted to climb aboard the trucks and the CRS (riot police) had to use tear gas to disperse them," a police souce said.
	The line of trucks waiting to board ferries bound for Britain was longer than usual, and some migrants likely slipped into some of them unnoticed, the source added.
	The port is struggling to stem a tide of illegal migrants trying to cross the Channel to Britain, which they see as having a favourable asylum policy, despite a slew of recent measures to tighten security.
	The problem in Calais is not new -- illegal camps of migrants have sprung up in the area since French authorities closed down the infamous Sangatte immigrant detention centre 

Police fire tear gas as migrants storm trucks at French port

The Swedish navy stepped up its hunt today for a suspected foreign submarine in its waters with fingers pointing at Moscow in a throwback to the Cold War.
	Swedish soldiers and sailors were scouring the sea southeast of the capital Stockholm in the biggest operation of its kind for years, while the public was warned for the first time to keep a distance and airspace restrictions were enforced.
	The mystery around the alleged incursion thickened today, with Russia and the Netherlands denying that the vessel was theirs as tensions in Baltic rise over the crisis in Ukraine.
	"There's an increase in military exercises from both the Russian and the NATO side," Prime Minister Stefan Loefven said, speaking at a press conference in Helsinki.
	In one of two airspace violations in September, two Russian SU-24 fighter-bombers allegedly entered Swedish airspace in what Foreign Minister Carl Bildt at the time called "the most serious aerial incursion by the Russians" in almost a decade.
	The ...

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