The Swedish armed forces announced a large military operation around islands off Stockholm today following reports of suspicious "foreign underwater activity".
	"We have begun an intelligence operation... Involving ships, helicopters and several ground units," Commander Jonas Wikstroem told reporters.
	He said the operation was based on a tip-off from a "credible source" and that about 200 Swedish troops were involved. He added that no weapons had been used in the operation.
	Wikstroem did not specify how close the operation was to the Swedish capital, nor whether the activity involved one of more submarines, but said that he was informing the public as the area has "heavily trafficked".
	Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reported that the sighting was at an island located just over 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the city centre.
	In recent months, Sweden has seen an uptick in Baltic Sea manoeuvres by the Russian air force -- including an incident in September when two SU24 ...

Sweden hunts suspected foreign submarine off Stockholm coast

PTI Automatic

Seven Ukrainian soldiers were missing in action after getting caught in an ambush in the conflict-torn east, while another three were killed in fighting, Kiev's military said today.
	The latest clashes shook an already battered ceasefire deal between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels, as President Petro Poroshenko held key talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Milan.
	"Yesterday the fighters from a special forces battalion were going to a checkpoint near the village of Smile (Lugansk region) but came across an ambush," spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov told AFP.
	He initially said that eleven soldiers were missing but later told AFP that four of them had returned to Ukrainian positions.
	"They are safe now. We don't know about the fate of the others," he said.
	The area near Smile, west of rebel hub Lugansk, has been a flashpoint in the conflict this week. A local pro-Kiev governor said Wednesday that more than 100 soldiers were surrounded by a group of rogue rebels who do not answer to ...

Seven soldiers 'missing', 3 dead in east Ukraine: military

Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen warned today that the gap between the rich and poor in the United States is widening and is near the highest levels seen in 100 years.
	In a speech at a conference on inequality in Boston, Yellen did not mention monetary policy nor the current turmoil in financial markets.
	Instead, she focused on the widening wealth disparity and how that impacts economic opportunity.
	"By some estimates, income and wealth inequality are near their highest levels in the past hundred years," Yellen said, noting the gap has grown steadily over recent decades, despite a brief pause during the 2008 crisis.
	During the recession, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the richest Americans lost money, and increased government spending helped offset losses for the less wealthy.
	"But widening inequality resumed in the recovery, as the stock market rebounded," Yellen said, noting that "wage growth and the healing of the labor market have been slow, and the ...

US inequality near highest levels in 100 years: Fed chief

Some 200 anti-government campaigners rallied in front of the British parliament today, saying that they were planning to set up an "Occupy Democracy" camp without official permission.
	The protesters, some wearing Anonymous masks and holding up a large banner reading "Real Democracy Now", gathered on the eve of a trade union march expected to draw tens of thousands.
	They were watched by about 25 police officers.
	"We are here in front of Westminster to say we want real democracy, and we want it now," said activist John Sinha, one of the organisers, as he addressed the crowd.
	Ilana Taylor, 18, who works in an environmental group, said: "Democracy is totally being eroded. It's becoming more and more profits before people."
	Nick Nack, 47, who lives on a communal farm, said "I've travelled all the way from Somerset to be here because I think it's really important."
	"They're taking away too much of people's liberties," he said.
	The demonstrators said they planned to stay on the square 

Protesters stage 'Occupy' protest by British parliament

Russia will launch Europe's biggest prison in 2015 to replace one of its most notorious jails that once held revolutionary Leon Trotsky and Soviet-era dissidents, prison authorities said today.
	The mammoth new facility in a suburb of Russian's second city Saint Petersburg will have a capacity to house 4,000 inmates, Gennady Kornienko, head of Russia's prison service, told journalists.
	"It will be the most modern prison in Russia and the biggest in Europe," he said.
	Europe's current largest prison is believed to be France's Fleury-Merogis Prison on the outskirts of Paris which can hold some 3,800 detainees.
	The new Russian facility is due to replace Saint Petersburg's infamous Kresty prison, a red-brick landmark that has housed some of Russia's most high-profile prisoners in its 120-year history.

Russia to launch Europe's largest prison

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on today called on his people to prevent Israeli settlers from entering Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque and use "all means" to protect the site.
	His comments came days after Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Jews visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site but which is also revered by Jews.
	"It is not enough to say the settlers came, but they must be barred from entering the compound by any means. This is our Aqsa... And they have no right to enter it and desecrate it," Abbas said.
	The Palestinian president was speaking at a conference in the West Bank town of Ramallah after a spate of clashes this week since a Monday confrontation between Palestinian youths and Israeli police.
	Abbas insisted that defending Al-Aqsa was tantamount to defending Jerusalem, which the Palestinians are demanding as the capital of their future state.
	"Jerusalem is the jewel in the crown and it is the ...

Abbas urges Palestinians to protect Al-Aqsa by 'all means'

Car bombs exploded in crowded commercial areas of the Iraqi capital today, killing at least 18 people, the latest in a string of deadly blasts in the city, officials said.
	One car bomb hit Baladiyat in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 13 people, while another struck Adhamiyah in the capital's north, killing at least five, security and medical officials said.
	The bombings also wounded more than 40 people.
	Militants led by the powerful Islamic State jihadist group have seized large areas of Iraq since June, and Iraqi security forces are still struggling to regain ground.
	The militants have been kept from reaching Baghdad in force and would face major challenges if they tried to occupy part of the city, but they are able to carry out deadly bombings with impunity.
	Bombings in and around Baghdad killed at least 26 people on Thursday, while a suicide car bomb on Tuesday killed 28 people, among them an MP who was also a senior Shiite militia commander.

Baghdad car bombs kill 18

More than 4,500 people have died in the deadly Ebola outbreak that began in west Africa at the beginning of the year, fresh World Health Organization figures showed today.
	The UN health agency said that 4,555 people had died from Ebola out of a total of 9,216 cases registered in seven countries, as of October 14.
	A toll dated just two days earlier had put the death toll at 4,493 out of 8,997 cases.
	Today's announcement came as Western countries scramble to ward off a feared global spread of Ebola -- one of the deadliest viruses known to man.
	The WHO splits the seven affected countries into two groups.
	The first is comprised of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- by far the worst affected nations.
	Liberia is the worst-hit of all, with 4,262 cases and 2,484 cases, as of October 13.
	Sierra Leone meanwhile counted 3,410 cases as of October 14, 1,200 of whom had died.
	Guinea, where the epidemic originated in December, had seen 1,519 cases and 862 deaths as of October 14.
	The ...

Ebola death toll soars to 4,555 out of 9,216: WHO

A UN conference on preserving the earth's dwindling resources wrapped up today with governments making a firm commitment to double biodiversity aid to developing countries by 2015.
	The funding target had already been agreed in principle at the last Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Hyderabad, India, in 2012,  but there had been disagreement on how to calculate the increase.
	The gathering in Pyeongchang, South Korea, agreed to use average annual biodiversity funding for the years 2006-2010 as a baseline to be doubled by 2015, and then maintained through 2020.
	Governments also agreed to increase domestic financing for biodiversity projects.
	The funding boost is seen as crucial for meeting targets set in 2010 to arrest the tide of biodiversity loss by 2020.
	In its Global Biodiversity Outlook issued at the start of the conference in Pyeongchang, the CBD made it clear that the world was not on track to meet the so-called "Aichi Targets" -- which include halving ...

UN biodiversity meet commits to double funding

The daughter of a British man sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy delivered Prime Minister David Cameron a petition today demanding help in securing his release.
	Mentally ill Mohammad Asghar, 70, was convicted in January for claiming to be a prophet of Islam, an act considered sacrilegious in Pakistan, which is 97 per cent Muslim. The verdict prompted Cameron to say he was "deeply concerned" about Asghar's fate.
	Asghar was hospitalised last month after being shot and wounded in jail.
	Daughter Jasmine Rana today arrived at Cameron's Downing Street office with a petition signed by 70,000 people calling on the prime minster to secure her father's return.
	"My father is extremely mentally ill; he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, which was diagnosed by UK doctors in 2010. Shortly afterwards he travelled to Pakistan, where he was arrested on blasphemy charges," she said in the petition.
	"His life remains at risk for as long as he is held in Pakistan. I have come to London ..

Cameron must act to free Briton on Pak's death row: Family

Nigeria's chief security spokesman today said that there was no deal in place with Boko Haram for the release of more than 200 hostage schoolgirls after the presidency said an accord had been reached.
	Asked if a deal for the release of the girls had been finalised, the head of the National Information Centre, Mike Omeri, said: "No. That part has not been agreed but we are inching closer and closer."
	President Goodluck Jonathan's Principal Secretary Hassan Tukur said earlier that a deal was done with Boko Haram for the release of the 219 teenagers who were snatched from the northeast town of Chibok on April 14.
	"They (Boko Haram) have agreed to release the Chibok girls," Tukur said.
	The different branches of Nigeria's government have frequently made contradictory statements on major national events in the past, with competing agendas often leading to confusing and contradictory positions.
	The presidency, Omeri and the military all said today that Boko Haram and the government had .

No deal reached on girls' release: Nigeria security spokesman

The Seychelles today sealed its entry to the World Trade Organisation, the Geneva-based body whose 160 members set the rules of global commerce said today.
	The Indian Ocean island, which has spent 18 years negotiating to join, is set to win formal approval in December from the WTO's ruling body to become the organisation's 161st member.
	"I welcome the hard work undertaken by WTO members and the government of Seychelles to complete this accession process," WTO chief Roberto Azevedo said.
	"The WTO provides a vital platform for small economies like Seychelles to make their voice heard at the global level," he said.
	WTO entry negotiations can take several years because aspirants are required to strike deals with a range of individual economies already inside the organisation, before such accords are folded into one overarching entry package.
	The WTO's member economies craft trade rules among themselves in an attempt to ensure a level playing field and spur growth by opening markets ..

Seychelles seals WTO entry after 18 years

Cameroon today said its army killed 107 Boko Haram fighters in ferocious fighting this week in its north, in a claimed success against the Nigeria-based Islamist guerrilla group.
	The "fighting of rare violence" occurred in two areas in the north on Wednesday and Thursday and also resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers, the defence ministry said in a statement read on state radio.
	It was not possible to independently verify the information or the toll.

Cameroon soldiers kill 107 Boko Haram fighters

Ebola has infected few Americans, but it has gone viral on the US campaign trail, with politicians blaming one another for exacerbating the health crisis and feuding over how to contain it.
	With 18 days until the nation's mid-term elections -- which may well see Republicans seize control of the Senate from Democrats -- Ebola is a political shuttlecock, battered around in campaign ads, in candidate debates, at congressional hearings and by presidential hopefuls past and future.
	Republicans are slamming President Barack Obama for lack of leadership while Democrats attack rivals for seeking to slash funding for research on infectious diseases.
	The blame game was on display on the campaign trail in several battleground states including Iowa, where Senate candidate Joni Ernst accused Obama -- and her Democratic rival Bruce Braley -- of dropping the ball.
	"Unfortunately our administration, including congressman Braley, has been very reactive rather than proactive," she said in their ...

Ebola crisis infects US campaign trail

Nepal's prime minister has pledged to set up a weather warning system after a major Himalayan snowstorm killed 32 people at the height of the trekking season, 17 of them tourists.
	Forecasters had predicted the snowstorm, but many hikers appeared to have been caught unawares and were heading to an exposed high mountain pass that forms part of the popular Annapurna Circuit trekking route when it struck.
	Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said the loss of life was "extremely tragic at a time when worldwide weather updates are available every second" and pledged to provide better weather information in tourist areas.
	"I want to assure that the government will make efforts to establish early warning centres for weather in the important spots across the country, especially in the Himalayan areas and along rivers," he said in a statement yesterday.
	On Friday, emergency workers on foot and in helicopters resumed their search for survivors, rescuing 48 more people, including at least 14 

Nepal vows warning system after deadly Himalayan snowstorm

World oil prices rebounded today on bargain-buying, a day after the US benchmark fell below USD 80 for the first time in more than two years.
	But the mood remained clouded by a supply glut and concerns over demand caused by a slowdown in major European economies and China.
	US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery added 57 cents to USD 83.27 a barrel.
	Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December won 38 cents to USD 86.20 per barrel.
	"Oil has recouped some of this week's losses," said analyst David Madden at trading firm IG.
	"Energy is firmly in oversold territory but the fundamentals don't show a major correction any time soon."
	WTI prices had tumbled below the psychological support level of USD 80 yesterday before a mixed crude inventory report spurred a rally.
	The report by the US Department of Energy showed a 4.0 million-barrel drop in gasoline inventories, much more than analysts had projected, indicating stronger-than-expected demand in the world's ...

Oil market claws back some losses

Two Iranian border guards have been killed in clashes with rebels who tried to infiltrate the country from neighbouring Pakistan, ISNA news agency reported.
	"Several rebels" also died in the Thursday night fighting, ISNA quoted a military official as saying, adding that a car and weapons were seized.
	The clashes erupted in Iran's restive province of Sistan-Baluchistan, where attacks by rebels earlier this month killed five people, four of them security forces.
	Iranian media said 14 people were arrested in connection with those attacks.
	Last month an Iranian soldier was killed and two pro-government militiamen wounded in an attack blamed on the Sunni extremist group Jaish-ul Adl (Army of Justice).
	The same group captured five Iranian soldiers in February, four of whom were released in April. The fate of the fifth man remains unknown.
	Sistan-Baluchistan province has a large Sunni Muslim community in an otherwise predominantly Shiite country, and has been plagued by violence ...

Iran guards killed in clash with rebels on Pakistan border

At least 18 people were killed today as Islamists and pro-government forces clashed in Libya's second city of Benghazi, hospital sources said.
	Benghazi Medical Centre said the dead were mostly soldiers and civilians fighting alongside the army in the central district of Al-Majouri.
	At least 52 people have been killed since forces of retired general Khalifa Haftar, backed by army units, on Wednesday launched what he called an operation to "liberate" Benghazi from Islamist militias, according to hospital figures.
	An AFP correspondent in the eastern city said today's clashes were the fiercest since the start of the operation.
	Al-Majouri is home to the leader of the Ansar al-Sharia jihadist group, Mohamed al-Zehawi, and many of his men.
	Residents said the two sides used weapons of all calibres in street fighting in a densely-populated district.
	Air raids also struck Islamist targets in the districts of Al-Lithi, Al-Massaken et Bouatni, southeast of the Mediterranean city, witnesses .

18 dead in clashes in Libya's Benghazi: hospital

Secretary of State John Kerry paid a rare US compliment to Cuba today, acknowledging the communist island nation's role in the global fight against Ebola in West Africa.
	"Already we are seeing nations large and small stepping up in impressive ways to make a contribution on the frontlines," Kerry told foreign diplomats in Washington as he pleaded for a greater mobilization against the epidemic.
	"Cuba, a country of just 11 million people, has sent 165 health professionals and it plans to send nearly 300 more."
	The US government rarely speaks of Cuba in friendly terms, and the two nations have been at odds for more than half a century.
	Havana and Washington have not had formal diplomatic ties since 1961 and the United States maintains comprehensive economic sanctions against Cuba.
	In all, Cuba's medical contingent in West Africa is expected to reach more than 461.
	"There is no country that is exempt from being able to do something to be able to contribute to this effort and help ...

Kerry acknowledges Cuba role in Ebola fight

The African Union today said it has launched a probe into claims that its internationally- funded troops in Somalia have gang raped women and girls as young as 12, and traded food for sex.
	AU chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma ordered an investigation after the AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was accused of raping women in a damning Human Rights Watch report last month.
	A team is "to conduct investigations into the specific allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse made against AMISOM personnel, particularly the Ugandan and Burundian contingents," the AU said in a statement.
	The 22,000-strong AMISOM force, with soldiers drawn from six nations, have been fighting alongside government troops against the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents since 2007.
	The investigators, a team of four including two women, come from Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
	They "will be responsive to the needs of alleged victims and potential witnesses as well as to the wishes of all concerned to find out the truth ..

African Union probes rape claims by troops in Somalia

Germany today announced new measures to prevent its citizens from travelling to join the jihadist cause in Iraq and Syria, including confiscating their identity papers.
	Under a deal struck by interior ministers from the federal level and Germany's 16 states, authorities will be able to take away ID cards from alleged Islamic militants to stop them from leaving the country.
	Until now it has been possible to make passports invalid to keep German citizens from travelling abroad.
	But because German citizens can use their national ID card to travel to Turkey, a frequent jumping-off point for Iraq and Syria, Germany is moving to close the loophole.
	"We don't want terrorism to be exported from Germany," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.
	He added that Berlin aimed at all costs to head off the return of fighters who had gained experience and training in the region to Germany, where they could mount attacks.
	De Maiziere said Germany also wanted to stem a flow of Kurds aiming to ..

AFP

AFP

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