Turkey today said it was assisting Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters to cross its borders to join Syrian Kurdish forces battling jihadists for the Syrian town of Kobane.
	"We are assisting peshmerga forces to cross into Kobane," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara, adding that talks on the issue were ongoing but without giving further details.
	"We have no wish at all to see Kobane fall" to the jihadists, he added.
	The announcement represented a major switch by Turkey, which until now has refused to allow Kurdish fighters to cross its border to join the fight for Kobane just a few kilometres to the south.
	The Turkish security forces have waged a 30-year conflict with the Kurdish fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose battle for self rule has left 40,000 dead.
	However Turkey in the last years has built up strong relations with the Kurdish authorities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq who control the peshmerga forces.
	It appears that despite 

Turkey says aiding Iraqi Kurdish fighters to cross into Kobane

PTI Automatic

Belgium's Brussels Airport today became the latest European hub to screen passengers for the deadly Ebola virus when a flight landed from Guinea via Sierra Leone, an airport spokeswoman said.
	Officials took the temperatures of some 200 Brussels Airlines passengers who had flown from Conakry via Freetown and had them fill out a World Health Organization questionnaire, airport spokeswoman Florence Muls told AFP.
	"Everything went very well this morning," Muls said, adding every passenger tested negative for symptoms of Ebola when they were screened around 4:15 am (0215 GMT).
	Sierra Leone and Guinea, along with Liberia, are the countries hardest hit by the Ebola epidemic.
	France on Saturday started carrying out health checks on travellers arriving from Guinea. The United States, Britain and Canada have already launched screenings at airports for passengers from Ebola-hit zones.
	Air links are scarce between Europe and west African nations struggling to fight the disease.
	For now, Air 

Brussels becomes latest EU airport to screen for Ebola

Tajikistan will pardon 10,000 prisoners as the ex-Soviet state marks two decades of its constitution, the presidency said today.
	President Emomali Rakhmon has submitted to parliament a draft law on the amnesty plan, proposing to release women, minors and foreigners, as well as those who have served at least three quarters of their jail terms.
	However, those convicted of serious crimes including murder, treason or terrorism would not be granted amnesty.
	Tajikistan, an impoverished Muslim nation of some eight million people, had been led since 1992 by former Soviet apparatchik Rakhmon.

Tajikistan to pardon 10,000 prisoners

A Japanese court today jailed a man for two years for making guns with a 3D printer in what is believed to be a first in a nation with strict gun controls.
	Yoshitomo Imura, 28, was found guilty of making two guns at his home and publishing a video online detailing the process, said the Yokohama District Court.
	"The criminal responsibility for this act is serious" as it could encourage others to replicate the act, said presiding judge Koji Inaba.
	Imura, a former employee of the Shonan Institute of Technology, used Internet-based information to build the two functional guns, according to the ruling.
	He then posted a video online detailing how he built them.
	Imura's lawyers argued that he did not know his acts were illegal, a notion that the court rejected.
	The rapid development of 3D printing technology, which allows relatively cheap machines to construct complex physical objects by building up layers of polymer, has proved a challenge for legislators around the world.
	Weapons ...

Japan man jailed for making guns with 3D printer

European foreign ministers gather in Luxembourg today to try and formalise a joint EU response to combat the Ebola virus amid diplomatic warnings the crisis has reached a "tipping point".
	The ministers will meet hours after it was announced that a Spanish nurse who was the first person outside Africa to be infected had tested negative for the virus.
	Ahead of the talks, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the bloc should consider sending "a civilian EU mission" to west Africa.
	"This would offer a platform to (EU) member states" to send medical staff to the region, he said at a health forum in Berlin.
	One EU diplomat said Britain -- which already has a navy ship bound for Sierra Leone laden with medical staff and supplies -- hoped to "galvanise EU action on Ebola".
	"There is a real sense that this is a tipping point and we must get to grips with it now," said the diplomat. "If we can deal with it in the country, we don't have to deal with it at home."
	Another ...

Ebola crisis tops EU meeting

Pakistan hope to end a 20-year drought against Australia when they meet in the first of two Tests in Dubai from Wednesday but they are hobbled by the absence of spin king Saeed Ajmal.
     Ajmal, who has been suspended due to an illegal bowling action, has single-handedly ruled the dry and slow tracks of Pakistan's neutral venues in the United Arab Emirates, especially at Dubai where he has 37 wickets in six Tests, three of which Pakistan won.
     That includes 24 wickets in a 3-0 rout of England in 2012.
     Pakistan have also lost frontline seamers Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz -- both through knee injuries -- and have to rely on uncapped leg-spinner Yasir Shah and two-Test left-armer Zulfiqar Babar, both of whom are likely to play.
     Captain Misbah-ul Haq, under pressure to score runs after managing nought and 15 in the preceding 3-0 one-day series defeat, admitted Ajmal's absence is significant.
     "Ajmal has left a big hole," said Misbah, who skippers a team whose last Test ..

Ajmal-less Pakistan seek to end 20-year Australia drought

Two-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray continues his bid to reach the ATP World Tour Finals next month at the Valencia Open fresh from his second tournament victory of the season in Vienna.
     The Scot downed David Ferrer 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 to claim the title on his first appearance in the Austrain capital to move ahead of the Spaniard into the final qualifiyng spot for the season-ending finals in London.
     With five of the eight places already secured and US Open finalist Kei Nishikori almost guaranteed his Tour Finals debut, there is a five-way battle between Murray, Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov for the remaining slots.
     Berdych joins Murray and Ferrer in the south of Spain having also claimed his second title of the year in Stockholm with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 win over Dimitrov.
     "Every event is so important now with the race for London going strong," said Murray, who will be playing in his fourth event in as many weeks.
     Murray's victory in Vienna .

Murray eyes Tour Finals momentum in Valencia

Ben Dunk was today named as wicketkeeper for Australia in their Twenty20 series against South Africa, while veteran Shane Watson returns from injury.
     Australia, captained by Aaron Finch, play three games against the Proteas starting on November 5 in Adelaide, with Dunk among a host of fresh faces in the 13-man squad.
     With regular wicket-keeper Brad Haddin among those still in the United Arab Emirates on Test duty against Pakistan when the T20 series begins, Dunk leapfrogged other potential glovemen including Tim Paine and former Australian keeper Matt Wade.
     His elevation follows his 229 not out in a record domestic one-day innings for Tasmania on Saturday.
     "The squad itself includes a good blend of youth and experience, providing Aaron with multiple options with both bat and ball," said national selector Rod Marsh.
     "We've seen some good form recently from players such as Cameron White, Nathan Reardon, Ben Dunk and Ben Cutting and they've been rewarded for ...

Watson back in Australia squad for SAfrica T20

Chelsea may be five points clear at the top of the Premier League and unbeaten in top-flight domestic action this season but they are determined not to be caught off guard when they face Maribor in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.
     Jose Mourinho has already seen his side slip up at home in Group G with Klaas Jan Huntelaar punishing the Blues for failing to make more of a number of chances by scoring Schalke's equaliser in the 1-1 draw in the opening game of their latest European campaign.
     Chelsea recovered from that disappointment with victory over Sporting in Lisbon.
     But with Maribor having held both Schalke and Sporting, Blues manager Mourinho will resist any temptation to make wholesale changes for the clash.
     Saturday's 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace ensured Chelsea will return to European action having maintained their unbeaten start and five-point advantage in the Premier League.
     "For Tuesday I cannot make lots of changes because I cannot ..

Chelsea wary of Maribor threat

Six people were killed as Tropical Storm Trudy - since downgraded to a tropical depression - lashed Mexico, prompting evacuations and stranding 16 communities, authorities have said.
	The heavy rains caused a landslide on a farm in the indigenous town of Tlacoachistlahuaca in the southern state of Guerrero, killing a 23-year-old man, a civil protection official told local media yesterday.
	Two children and a woman were crushed to death when a wall collapsed in a mudslide in Ometepec; another person was buried in Cochoapa by a caved-in wall; and a swollen stream swept away and killed a 70-year-old man, officials said.
	Some 2,000 people were evacuated from three towns in the mountain region hardest hit by Trudy. Authorities urged residents not to return home for at least 48 hours, until the threat of landslides passed.
	Another 300 people were evacuated Saturday night in three other Guerrero towns, where a river threatened to overflow and cause dangerous flooding.
	Landslides and ...

Tropical storm batters southern Mexico coast, kills six

Driving rain that has swamped most of Nicaragua for days has killed 24 people, authorities said, sparking fears of a potential health crisis in some areas.
	The flooding has left more than 33,000 people homeless and many are cramming into shelters around the Central American nation, government spokeswoman and first lady Rosario Murillo said yesterday.
	The government has rushed 5,000 emergency food kits to an area on the Caribbean coast near the Honduran border where mostly Miskito indigenous people have been cut off by the overflowing Prinzapolka and Coco rivers.
	Local officials are worried the over-soaking could boost mosquito populations, therefore increasing the risk of mosquito-borne illnesses.
	And "with the degree of saturation we have, the earth is so wet that any light to moderate rain" could cause more mudslides in this mountainous and largely poor country, Murillo warned.

Nicaragua flooding leaves 24 dead

Nine people have been killed in new violence in Benghazi where pro-government forces have launched an offensive against Islamist militias, raising the toll to 75 dead in five days, medics said.
	In the latest violence yesterday, a woman was killed in a bomb attack that targeted the vacant house of former general Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the offensive launched Wednesday, a military source said.
	The woman was walking past the house with her daughter, who was wounded in the bombing, said the Benghazi Medical Centre, adding that it had also received the bodies of eight other people including two soldiers.
	Fierce fighting raged in several parts of Libya's second city between pro-government forces led by Haftar and Islamist militias, an AFP correspondent and witnesses said.
	Air raids carried out by units of the air force loyal to Haftar pounded Islamist positions.
	On Saturday the United States joined Britain, France, Germany and Italy in calling for an "immediate" end to ...

75 killed in five days of fighting in Libya's Benghazi

A Dutch relative of a victim of downed flight MH17 has travelled to the crash site in eastern Ukraine to search for the remains of his missing cousin, Dutch television reported today.
	National public broadcaster NOS showed Robby Oehlers as he searched the burnt remains that still litter the site where the Malaysia Airlines flight crashed on July 17, killing all 298 on board.
	Dutch forensic experts have so far identified 278 of the victims, but no trace has been found of Daisy Oehlers, 20, who was on her way to Bali with her friend Bryce Frederiksz, 23 when the Boeing 777 crashed.
	German intelligence has accused pro-Moscow rebels of shooting down flight MH17 using missiles captured from Ukrainian government forces, media reported today.
	Kiev and the West had previously charged that MH17 was blown out of the sky by separatist fighters using a BUK surface-to-air system supplied by Russia -- charges denied by Moscow.
	Oehlers' family was "angry and frustrated because it's taking so ...

Dutch MH17 relative visits Ukraine crash site: report

A comet the size of a small mountain whizzed past Mars today, wowing space enthusiasts with the once-in-a-million-years encounter.
	The comet, known as Siding Spring (C/2013 A1), made its closest encounter with Mars today at 2:27 pm (1827 GMT), racing past the Red Planet at a dazzling 203,000 kilometers per hour.
	At its closet, Siding Spring was 139,500 kilometers from Mars -- less than half the distance between Earth and our moon.
	"Signal confirming closest approach has just been received," the European Space Agency said on Twitter.
	Before the comet passed, it could be seen in space racing toward the bright planet, trailed by a tail of debris.
	The ball of ice, dust and rocks is believed to have originated billions of years ago in the Oort Cloud, a distant region of space at the outskirts of the solar system.
	The comet is around a mile wide and is only about as solid as a pile of talcum powder.
	NASA's fleet of Mars-orbiting satellites and robots on the planet's surface were ...

Comet Siding Spring whizzes past Mars

Mexican authorities today intensified efforts to find 43 students who disappeared more than three weeks ago, using dogs, horses and divers to broaden the search.
	About 50 vehicles, carrying some 200 members of a special division of the federal police, arrived in Xonacatla, which is located close to the town of Iguala, where the students disappeared on September 26.
	"We are scouring all places that could be of interest," said Manelich Castilla, commissioner for the police division, known as the Gendarmeria Nacional, which is leading the operation.
	Authorities said the search had been expanded to include bodies of water such as lakes and ponds, as well as in the numerous mines and caves of the mountains around Iguala.
	More than 1,200 security forces are now looking for the college students around Iguala, a town of 140,000 inhabitants.
	Authorities say Iguala's police force shot at buses carrying the students on September 26 and handed them over to officers in the neighboring town of 

Mexican police intensify search for missing students

Ukraine and Russia stood on the verge today of resolving their latest gas war in time to keep the war-scarred nation and EU clients warm through the winter months.
	Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had reached a price deal at high-stakes talks in Milan yesterday that otherwise focused on the six-month pro-Kremlin revolt convulsing the ex-Soviet state's separatist east.
	Two meetings mediated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande -- as well as a brief exchange on their own -- marked the two leaders' most in-depth dialogue since Poroshenko's May election.
	The tense day broke up without Putin meeting EU hopes that he would denounce the separatist leadership election that pro-Russian militants intend to stage on November 2, a week after parliamentary polls in Ukraine.
	But Poroshenko said the meetings produced the broad outlines of a deal that could see Russia halt the gas supply cutoff it began in ...

Ukraine, Russia see imminent end to latest gas war

France's government is drawing up a new set of rules for theatres after Paris Opera ejected woman for wearing a veil during a performance, the institution's deputy director said today.
	The incident took place when a veiled woman was spotted on the front row of a performance of La Traviata at the Opera Bastille, Jean-Philippe Thiellay told AFP, confirming a media report.
	France brought in a law in 2011 banning anyone from wearing clothing that conceals the face in a public space, or face a 150 euro ($190) fine.
	The woman was sitting just behind the conductor, visible to monitors, wearing a scarf covering her hair and a veil over her mouth and nose during the performance on October 3.
	"I was alerted in the second act," said Thiellay, adding that "some performers said they did not want to sing" if something was not done.
	France's ministry of culture said a bill was currently being drafted to remind theatres, museums and other public institutions under its supervision of the rules ...

Paris Opera expels veiled woman during performance: official

Between heeding a message from officials to remain calm and another to flee looming attacks by Ugandan rebels, the choice for many residents in the Democratic Republic of Congo town of Beni is clear.
	"I left my home because there are leaflets saying that (the Ugandan rebels) are coming to kill people," said Solange Sekera, 27, who was leaving town with her three children.
	Sekera had not actually seen the leaflets herself but she was not taking any chances.
	Terrified by Thursday's rampage by Ugandan rebels who slaughtered 26 people with machetes, many residents have decided that the town in  North Kivu province is no longer safe.
	"Those who tell you that we are safe are lying," said a lawyer who requested anonymity.
	"We have to take care of ourselves. The authorities have promised to restore order in the city... But we have no faith in them," he added.
	Despite mayor Nyonyi Masumbuko's best efforts to calm nerves -- including going on radio to send the message: "I assure you that .

Terrified by new rebel attacks, DR Congo residents leave town

The trial opened today of Bahraini human rights activist Nabil Rajab, accused of having "insulted official bodies" in remarks posted on Twitter, a judicial source said.
	Rajab, part of the Gulf state's Shiite majority that has demonstrated against the ruling Sunni royal family since 2011, was rejected a request by his lawyer for his release, the source added.
	He was arrested in October after posting comments about the interior and defence ministries deemed offensive by authorities.
	In one tweet, Rajab charged that Bahrainis allegedly joining Islamist extremists in Syria were originally members of the Sunni-ruled kingdom's security forces.
	"Many #Bahrain men who joined #terrorism & #ISIS came from security institutions and those institutions were the first ideological incubator," he wrote, using one acronym for the Islamic State jihadist group.
	Local and international advocacy groups have called for the release of Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.
	He was ...

Bahrain activist jailed for 'insulting' tweets begins trial

The UN voiced alarm today over the increasing use of the death penalty in Iraq in the decade since its reintroduction, warning such punishments would only fuel deadly sectarian conflict.
	In a report released today, the United Nations office in Iraq said the increase culminated with the execution of 177 individuals in 2013, including up to 34 in a single day.
	It also said at least 60 had been executed since the start of 2014 and that a total of 1,724 prisoners were on death row as of August.
	"The large numbers of people who are sentenced to death in Iraq is alarming, especially since many of these convictions are based on questionable evidence and systemic failures in the administration of justice," said the UN's envoy in Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov.
	The UN office said half the trials it monitored saw judges systematically ignore claims by defendants that they were subjected to torture to induce confessions.
	It also said most defendants appeared in court unrepresented. When an lawyer .

UN warns Iraq rise in executions fuels sectarian conflict

Canada will start sending more than 1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine to Switzerland this week as part of the global fight against the deadly virus, a Geneva hospital said today.
	Trials of the vaccine on humans are expected to begin in Switzerland at the end of October or  early next month, it said.
	"The Canadian government has said it will begin sending the vaccine doses tomorrow, so they should arrive in Geneva on Tuesday," said Agnes Reffet, spokeswoman for the Geneva University Hospital, HUG, where the vaccine will be stored.
	Canada said in August it would give the Geneva-based World Health Organization 800 vials -- each believed to contain about two doses -- of the VSV-EBOV vaccine developed at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
	The UN health agency has identified two experimental vaccines that have shown promising results when tested on monkeys: The Canadian VSV-EBOV, licenced by US firm NewLink Genetics, and one made by British company ...

AFP

AFP

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