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 ..

Germany to seize ID cards to stop jihadist travel

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering to a controversial war shrine today as 100 lawmakers paid their respects there, in a move Beijing said ratcheted up regional tensions.
	A cross-party group of parliamentarians said 110 members paid homage at Yasukuni Shrine in downtown Tokyo, a spot condemned by China and Korea as a symbol of Japan's militarist past.
	The visit came just hours after Abe shook hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe summit in the Italian city of Milan, despite tensions between the two powers.
	Earlier media reports said the brief exchange of pleasantries -- the first time the two men have met -- took place after news of the shrine visit broke, but a Japanese foreign ministry official later clarified that they shook hands late on Thursday evening.
	Relations between the pair have been in deep freeze for two years over the ownership of disputed islands and differing interpretations of history.
	The handshake came as the .

China angry over Japan lawmakers' shrine visits

Shiite rebels sweeping across Yemen clashed with Sunni tribesmen and Al-Qaeda militants today in violence that left 20 people dead, officials said.
	Twelve Shiite rebels and eight tribesmen died in a battle for control of the predominantly-Sunni provincial capital Ibb which the rebels overran earlier this week, local government officials told AFP.
	Explosions were heard across the city as the rebels, known as Huthis, came under rocket-propelled grenade fire from tribesmen in the surrounding countryside, witnesses said.
	The fighting came after hundreds of armed tribesmen demonstrated outside the governor's office in the city last evening demanding the withdrawal of the rebels.
	Deputy governor Ali al-Zanam said the rebels had told him they advanced into Ibb to "confront what they described as security gaps and hunt down wanted" Al-Qaeda militants, local media reported.
	The rebels clashed with Al-Qaeda militants overnight in Baida province further east, leaving "dozens" of casualties, 

Shiite-Sunni clashes leave 20 dead in Yemen

Fresh clashes broke out in Hong Kong tonight as demonstrators attempted to retake a protest camp partially cleared by police earlier in the day, jeopardising talks to end weeks of mass democracy rallies.
	Officers used pepper spray and batons to beat back activists as they tried to reoccupy a busy main road in the bustling Mongkok district, which has been home to a protest camp for nearly three weeks, an AFP reporter on the scene saw.
	"We want to take back this spot because it's what we had," said Gary Yip, a 17-year-old high school student.
	It is the third consecutive night that violence has broken out after a fortnight of comparative calm -- a development that risks sinking only recently resurrected plans to hold talks between student leaders and the city's Beijing-backed authorities.
	The Asian financial hub has been rocked by demonstrations for nearly three weeks -- some of which drew crowds of tens of thousands -- calling for free elections and the resignation of the city's ...

New clashes in HK as demonstrators try to retake protest camp

A bid by Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives to get a 2017 referendum on Britain's EU membership enshrined in law cleared its first parliamentary hurdle today as they attempt to stave off the rise of the anti-EU UK Independence Party.
	Cameron has vowed to hold such a referendum but the bill is aimed at forcing the Labour opposition to hold one too if they win the May 2015 general election.
	Lawmakers in the 650-seat lower House of Commons voted 283 to zero in favour, with Conservatives trooping through to vote and many Labour and Liberal Democrat lawmakers staying away.
	An identical bid failed in January. Having cleared the Commons, it got stuck in the upper house, the House of Lords, and ran out of time.
	Cameron has threatened to wield the Parliament Act, used only on rare occasions to overcome the unelected Lords blocking the will of the elected Commons.
	MP Bob Neill, who brought forward the bill Friday, said it was now time for opponents of an in-or-out vote to "put up 

British EU referendum bid clears parliamentary vote

Confronting the Islamic State group in Iraq is the "main" priority for the US-led fight against the jihadists, while strikes in Syria are designed to disrupt the group's supply lines, the US commander overseeing the air war said today.
	Even with the world's attention fixed on the fate of the northern Syrian town of Kobane, General Lloyd Austin said Iraq was the primary battleground for the air campaign.
	"Iraq is our main effort, and it has to be," Austin told reporters.
	"And the things that we're doing right now in Syria are being done primarily to shape the conditions in Iraq," he said.
	US-led air raids in Syria are serving as a way to undercut the group's ability to reinforce and resupply its fighters in Iraq, he said.
	In his first press conference since the air campaign was launched in Iraq on August 8, Austin said it would take time before Iraqi government forces were truly effective and declined to say when the army would be ready to stage major offensives to recapture lost .

Iraq is the top priority in fight against IS: US commander

US-led warplanes pummelled jihadists in Syria today as local forces fought the Islamic State group on the ground in neighbouring Iraq, which the US military declared its top priority.
	As fighting raged on several fronts, Al-Qaeda's deadly Yemen-based franchise urged Muslims worldwide to support the IS jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
	The US commander overseeing the air war hailed "encouraging" signs in the efforts to defend Kobane, but said the town could still fall to extremists and that confronting IS in Iraq was the coalition's top focus.
	"Iraq is our main effort and it has to be," General Lloyd Austin said.
	Six US-led coalition air strikes hit IS positions in the east of Kobane today, taking advantage of new coordination with the town's Kurdish defenders, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	The jihadist group has captured large parts of Syria and Iraq, committing atrocities and declaring an Islamic "caliphate".
	The Observatory said IS fighters were now being trained to 

US planes, Iraqi ground forces battle IS jihadists

All four suspected Ebola cases admitted to hospitals in Spain have tested negative in a first round of tests, the government said today.
	They include three men who arrived recently from badly affected African nations and were all hospitalised on yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz Santamaria.
	All four will be tested a second time in the coming days, she added.
	The suspected cases comprise a passenger who arrived in Madrid yesterday from Nigeria via Paris who had started shaking during the trip, and a missionary who came recently from Liberia.
	A Red Cross worker who had travelled from another badly-affected country, Sierra Leone, also tested negative at a hospital on Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands.
	Two people who live with Red Cross employee were quarantined as a precautionary measure although they did not display any symptoms and were not tested.
	The fourth person to test negative was a man who was transported in the same ambulance used to hospitalise a Spanish ...

Four suspected Ebola cases in Spain test negative

China's Communist rulers gather next week for a key meeting devoted to the "rule of law", but observers say the conclave will in fact mark another tightening of control by party leader Xi Jinping after crackdowns on internal dissent and graft.
	The Fourth Plenum brings together the party's 205-strong Central Committee and around 170 reserve members, along with officials from bodies including its much-feared internal watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
	The gathering, typically held at a Beijing hotel, is expected to take action against Zhou Yongkang, the powerful former domestic security tsar who fell to the anti-corruption campaign Xi launched with much fanfare after coming to power two years ago.
	At the same time, China has seen a broad crackdown on dissent, and the meeting comes as authorities arrest an increasing number of lawyers.
	The Politburo announced in July that the plenum will focus on "governing the country according to the law" to ensure ...

'China's Xi to tighten control at key Communist conclave'

Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza participated in a Hamas-organised rally today over Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque, the scene of recurring clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in recent days.
	Leaving mosques after prayers in Gaza City, they chanted slogans pledging to defend the mosque and waved green flags, the colour of the Islamist  movement Hamas that is de facto ruler of Gaza.
	The rally was also attended by other Palestinian factions, including the militant Islamic Jihad.
	Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader, called on "our people in Jerusalem and the West Bank to defend Al-Aqsa."
	Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said 5,000 people participated in Friday's prayers at Al-Aqsa, which passed without event.
	Police had barred men under the age of 50 from accessing the holy site to prevent disturbances.
	On Wednesday, four Palestinians were arrested following clashes with police at the Old City site.
	Two days earlier, demonstrators clashed with security ...

Hamas holds Gaza rally to 'defend' Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa

Vice President Joe Biden's son was discharged this year from the US Navy reserve after testing positive for cocaine, a US official said.
	Hunter Biden, 44, had been a reserve officer starting in 2012 but failed the drug test last year, said the official familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
	In a statement, the vice president's younger son acknowledged his discharge and expressed regret.
	"It was the honor of my life to serve in the US Navy, and I deeply regret and am embarrassed that my actions led to my administrative discharge," he said in the statement, issued through his lawyer.
	"I respect the Navy's decision. With the love and support of my family, I'm moving forward."
	There was no public response from the vice president's office.
	Hunter Biden, who held the rank of ensign, had been selected for a commission in 2012 and assigned to a unit in Norfolk, Virginia to work in public affairs. He was discharged from the naval reserves in February 2014, according 

US Navy kicked out Biden's son over cocaine use

Senegal is officially free of Ebola with the benchmark of 42 days passing without any new cases, the World Health Organization said today.
	But the country is not out of danger, given its location in Ebola-hit West Africa and proximity to the worst-hit countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, it said.
	"WHO officially declares the Ebola outbreak in Senegal over and commends the country on its diligence to end the transmission of the virus," the UN health agency said in a statement.
	Senegal's only confirmed Ebola case was a student who travelled by road from neighbouring Guinea -- where the outbreak began in December -- who crossed the border just before it was closed on August 21.
	The man, who had had contact with an Ebola patient in Guinea, was confirmed as having the highly contagious and deadly disease on August 29.
	Thanks to rapid care, he recovered by September 5, and returned to Guinea two weeks later.
	But Senegal could not be declared officially Ebola-free until two ..

Senegal declared Ebola-free: WHO

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said progress had been made during talks here today aimed at resolving a dispute over gas supplies from Russia that also threatened deliveries to Europe.
	"We have some progress on the gas issue," Poroshenko said, adding that the "basic parameters" of a new contract with Russia had been agreed while further discussion on how to finance it was required.
	French President Francois Hollande said after meeting Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin that an accord on the gas issue was "within reach."
	Hollande added that the two former Soviet states had also agreed to accelerate prisoner exchanges agreed under a ceasefire accord last month.
	The EU-brokered talks here followed a warning by Russian President Vladimir Putin that "major transit risks" could lead to a disruption of the flow of Russian gas to western Europe this winter.
	Russian output accounts for around one third of the region's consumption and previous disruptions, in 2006 and ...

Ukraine says progress made on gas deal with Russia

The United Nations today voiced "deep concern" over a crackdown by the Maldivian Supreme Court on the country's independent rights watchdog for cooperating with the UN Human Rights Council.
	The five-member independent Human Rights Council of the Maldives (HRCM) faces "serious criminal charges" for submitting a report to the UN, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani confirmed.
	"We are deeply concerned about the case initiated by the Supreme Court of the Maldives against the five members of the Human Rights Commission of the country," she said in a statement.
	The HRCM was being targeted for sending a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for the periodic review of the Maldives where dissidents have complained of persecution, Shamdasani said.
	The contents of the report were not immediately clear, but the commissioners have been accused by Sri Lanka's Supreme Court of making false allegations against the administration.
	The top UN rights body said the Male government had a ...

UN 'deeply concerned' over Maldives crackdown

Rail travellers in Germany face an entire weekend of disruptions, cancellations and delays after the train drivers' union on Friday called their biggest strike since 2008.
	The GDL union called on its members to walk out from 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) today on freight services and from 2:00 am (0000 GMT) on Saturday on long-distance and regional passenger services.
	The stoppages -- on traditionally one of the busiest weekends in the autumn because of a school holiday -- would last until 4:00 am (0200 GMT) on Monday, GDL said.
	The union accused national rail operator Deutsche Bahn of stone-walling in talks over its demands for a five-percent wage hike and a shorter working week of 37 hours.
	Deutsche Bahn slammed the new industrial action -- the fifth in recent weeks -- as excessive, accusing GDL chief Claus Weselsky of putting his own "delusions of omnipotence" and "thirst of power" before the interests of the train drivers and passengers.
	"With its 50-hour strike on a holiday weekend, ...

German train drivers call biggest strike since 2008

China and Russia are considering building a high-speed rail line thousands of kilometres from Moscow to Beijing that would cut the journey time from six days on the celebrated Trans-Siberian to two, Chinese media reported today.
	The project would cost more than USD 230 billion and be over 7,000 kilometres long, the Beijing Times reported -- more than three times the world's current longest high-speed line, from the Chinese capital to the southern city of Guangzhou.
	The railway would be a powerful physical symbol of the ties that bind Moscow and Beijing, whose political relationship has roots dating from the Soviet era and who often vote together on the UN Security Council.
	They have strengthened their relationship as Western criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin mounts over Ukraine and other issues.
	The two signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this week during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Moscow in which Beijing expressed interest in building a fast rail link ...

China, Russia mull high-speed Moscow-Beijing rail line:

It was just a feather: but in the tropical paradise of the Seychelles, the discovery of parakeet plumage has put environmentalists in a flutter, with a foreign invading bird threatening the national parrot.
	In the steamy and thick jungles of Praslin, one of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean archipelago of white sand beaches ringed by palms, the authorities are worried after the warning sign of a green feather from a ring-necked parakeet was discovered.
	If not stopped, it threatens to wipe out the country's endangered black parrot, listed as "vulnerable to extinction" on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
	"Based on the characteristics that I could see, the size and specifics... It is indeed a feather from the ring-necked parakeet," said Vilna Accouche, a scientist with the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), which helps conserve the palm-filled Vallee de Mai national park, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site and main home to the parrots.
	The ..

All in a flap: Seychelles fears foreign bird invader

Nigeria's military and presidency today claimed to have reached a deal with Boko Haram militants on a ceasefire and the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.
	"A ceasefire agreement has been concluded between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad (Boko Haram)," Chief of Defence Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh said.
	Separately, President Goodluck Jonathan's Principal Secretary Hassan Tukur told AFP that an agreement to end hostilities had been reached following talks, as well as the release of 219 girls held captive since April.

Nigeria claims deal with Boko Haram on kidnapped girls

At least 15 civilians, including three minors, were killed in Syrian regime air raids on a rebel-held town near the capital today, a monitoring group said.
	"At least 15 civilians, including three aged under 18, were killed in eight raids by Syrian military planes on several districts of the town of Douma," 13 kilometres northeast of Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	Yesterday, regime air strikes killed 20 people, including two children and two women, in Jisrin to the east of Damascus, and two others in nearby Saqba, according to the Observatory.
	Closing in on Douma, a town of 200,000 residents, the army has seized control of Mleiha and Adra and has set its sights on Jobar and Ain Tarma, all towns to the east of the capital.

15 dead in regime air raids near Damascus: monitor

British police charged four men today with intending to commit acts of terrorism, including taking an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State group.
	They are all charged with seeking to carry out "acts of terrorism, or assisting others to commit such acts", between July and October this year.
	The men, all from London, are Nyall Hamlett, 24; Tarik Hassane, 21; Suhaib Majeed, 20; and 21-year-old Momen Motasim, Scotland Yard said in a statement.
	Details of the charges included taking "an oath of allegiance to the group IS (Islamic State)", listed as a terrorist organisation.
	Others included downloading, circulating, discussing and deciding to act on a fatwa, or religious edict, by IS spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani.
	The suspects allegedly conducted "hostile reconnaissance" of a police station and an army reservist barracks in west London and obtained a handgun and six rounds of ammunition.
	They also allegedly had "extremist jihadi material" and a picture of two London police ...

British police charge four with IS-linked terror plot

Islamic State group jihadists are being trained by Saddam Hussein's former pilots to fly three fighter jets captured from the Syrian military, a monitoring group said today.
	The planes, which are believed to be MiG-21 and MiG-23 jets, are capable of flying although it is unclear if they are equipped with missiles, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	The jets were seized from Syrian military airports now under IS control in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Raqa, according to the Britain-based group, which has a wide network of sources inside the war-torn country.
	It said that former Iraqi army officers who once served under Saddam were supervising the training at the military airport of Jarrah, east of the city of Aleppo.
	Witnesses have reported seeing planes flying at a low altitude to avoid detection by radar after taking off from Jarrah.
	It comes as the United States and its allies carry out a wave of air strikes on IS positions in Syria and Iraq.
	The ...

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