The EU suggested today that member states give medical information at airports to travellers from Ebola-hit west African countries but stopped short of recommending full continent-wide screening.
	The issue of monitoring is due to come up when EU health ministers meet in Brussels tomorrow after Britain last week became the first European country to introduce screening at airports and the Eurostar railway stations.
	Britain followed the example of the US and Canada.
	"The EU is not recommending entry screening as such. This is a decision for member states to take," said an official from the European Commission, the EU's executive branch.
	"The main value of entry screening is to provide information to passengers that might have been exposed," he said.
	For example, he said, passengers could be given a telephone number to call in case Ebola symptoms appear.
	They could also be told not to show up at hospital emergency rooms without warning in order to avoid the risk of contagion.
	The ..

EU suggests informing travellers about Ebola at airports

PTI Automatic

Libya's army threw its weight behind an ex-general who launched a new assault today to retake second city Benghazi from Islamist militias who have seized control of large parts of the turmoil-gripped country.
	The North African nation has been gripped by turmoil since the 2011 uprising against long-time leader Moamer Kadhafi, with the authorities struggling to control powerful militias that ousted and killed him.
	Gunfire and explosions were heard in Benghazi, an AFP correspondent said, after Haftar announced he was ready to "liberate" the city.
	Witnesses said tanks had launched an assault against an Islamist militia known as the "February 17 Martyrs Brigade," while warplanes carried out raids on the group, whose headquarters is located west of the city.
	At least 12 people were killed and 10 others wounded, including three soldiers, and a man and his three children, officials said.
	A spokesman for Haftar's forces said they captured the February 17 headquarters after several hours ..

Libya army backs ex-general in new assault on Islamists

After more than two months of air strikes, American commanders have finally decided on a name for the US-led war on Islamic State jihadists -- "Operation Inherent Resolve."
	The decision was taken "a few days ago" by the chiefs of all the armed services, said Colonel Ed Thomas, spokesman for the US military's top officer, General Martin Dempsey.
	"The operation is called 'Operation Inherent Resolve,'" Thomas told reporters.
	The spokesman offered no explanation as to why the Pentagon chose that name, which had already been cited in media reports as a possible choice that was rejected by some officers.
	The US military usually announces the name of a military operation from the start.
	The 2003 American invasion of Iraq was known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the war in Afghanistan is still known as Operation Enduring Freedom.
	During the subsequent US occupation of Iraq from 2003 to 2011, there were more than 500 named operations, including Operation Airborne Dragon and Operation ...

US air war has a name: 'Operation Inherent Resolve'

Fifty-nine Nigerian soldiers appeared before a military tribunal today charged with mutiny and conspiracy to commit mutiny over claims that they refused to fight Boko Haram militants.
	The soldiers, all members of the 111th Special Forces Battalion, all pleaded not guilty at a general court martial sitting in the capital, Abuja.
	Last month, 12 Nigerian soldiers were sentenced to death for mutiny after shots were fired at their commanding officer in the restive northeast city of Maiduguri earlier this year.
	The 59 soldiers are charged with "conspiring to commit mutiny against the authorities of 7 Division, Nigerian Army," which is in the front line of the counter-insurgency.
	They are also accused of refusing to deploy in August to recapture the towns of Yelwa, Bellabulini and Dambo in Borno state from Boko Haram, according to the charge sheet.
	A total of 97 soldiers appeared in court on October 2 on a range of charges related to the fight against Boko Haram, whose insurgency has ...

Nigeria tries 59 soldiers on mutiny charges

Inmates at a prison in southern Brazil ended a two-day uprising today after releasing guards and other prisoners they had taken hostage, officials said.
	A spokesman for the Parana state's justice secretary said 28 prisoners will be transferred from the jail in Guarapuava to other detention centers in the state and in neighboring Santa Catarina state.
	"The rebellion ended," the spokesman added.
	He said the prisoners had demanded the transfers as a condition for ending the rebellion.
	The uprising began on Monday, with rioting inmates taking 12 inmates and several guards hostage. All were released without injuries, according to the spokesman.
	During the rebellion, Globo News television showed three half-naked men, allegedly guards, sitting on the roof of a pavilion with their hands tied. At least one of them was beaten by an inmate.
	The prison houses 240 inmates.
	The mutiny was the fifth at prisons in Parana in recent weeks and the 21st this year, according to the regional prison .

Brazil inmates release hostages, end riot

Opposition parties in Catalonia today demanded a snap regional election after pressure from Madid forced leaders to water down plans for a vote on independence from Spain.
	The region's conservative president, Artur Mas, said yesterday the non-binding ballot called for November could not go ahead as planned -- a move hailed by Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as a "triumph for democracy".
	Faced with a legal challenge from Madrid, Mas vowed instead to hold a symbolic vote on that date without a formal electoral roll, which would fall short of a full referendum.
	That frustrated some of the left-wing pro-independence groups with whom he had joined forces in his drive for an independence vote.
	"Reconsider your position, restore unity, and if you cannot do that, call an election now without further ado," Joan Herrera, leader of the pro-referendum ecologist party ICV, said in the regional parliament today.
	He added his voice to that of Oriol Junqueras, leader of the left-wing ...

Catalan parties urge snap election over independence

US warplanes hit Islamic State jihadists with 18 bombing raids near the Syrian town of Kobane today and yesterday, to support besieged Kurdish militia there, Central Command said.
	The latest raids targeted several IS positions and 16 buildings occupied by the group, the military said.
	US fighter jets and attack aircraft also bombed IS militants in Iraq, carrying out five air raids in the past 24 hours, it said.
	One strike in Iraq near the Haditha dam destroyed an IS armed vehicle and a guard shack while four other strikes near Baiji destroyed a building, a Humvee and a machine gun and damaged an IS artillery piece, said Central Command, which oversees the air war.
	With the battle for Kobane the center of world attention, US forces have stepped up bombing raids against the IS group around the town in recent days.
	Central Command reported 21 strikes on Monday and yesterday, saying there were signs the IS group's advance on the town had slowed.
	A British-based monitoring group said 

US planes launch 18 strikes near besieged Syrian town

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday beheaded a Pakistani man, the interior ministry said, bringing to almost 60 the number of executions in the kingdom this year.
	Mohammad Yunus Mohammed Shoaib, executed in the Eastern Province community of Qatif, "was caught smuggling a large quantity of heroin into the kingdom inside his gut," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
	His decapitation takes to 57 the number of people executed by sword in the ultra-conservative Gulf nation this year, compared with 78 people in all of 2013, according to an AFP count.
	On Tuesday a Saudi, Hamad bin Awadh bin Hawi Al-Anzi, was executed in northern Jawf region "because he smuggled a large quantity of amphetamine pills into the kingdom," SPA said.
	The Interior Ministry said the government "is keen on combating narcotics due to their great harm to individuals and the society."
	A United Nations independent expert in September called for an immediate moratorium on the death ...

Saudi beheads Pakistani for 'smuggling' heroin

Inciting minors to binge-drink in France could become punishable by a year in prison and a fine of up to 15,000 euros (USD 19,000) under a draft law submitted to ministers today.
	"We have to put a stop to drunkenness that does such damage to young people," said Health Minister Marisol Touraine, adding the draft legislation aimed also to prevent "inciting people to drink on the Internet".
	This appeared to be a reference to crazes such as "Neknominate" - an online game that involves players filming themselves drinking large quantities of alcohol while performing a stunt.
	"Directly provoking a minor to excessive consumption of alcohol will be punished by a year imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros," the text of the draft legislation said.
	Anyone who incites someone else to "drink until drunk" will be liable to six months in prison and a fine of 7,500 euros.
	The parametres of the law were not specified nor was it immediately clear how it would be enforced. If approved by the ...

France weighs laws to combat 'le binge-drinking'

The World Health Organization today adopted guidelines recommending countries bring in higher taxes on cigarettes to help cut smoking rates, a move fiercely opposed by the tobacco industry.
	Delegates from 179 countries meeting in Moscow signed up to the agreement, which gives individual countries licence to set their own taxes on cigarettes, as part of the international health body's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
	"Any policy to increase tobacco taxes that effectively increases real prices reduces tobacco use," said the agreement, seen by AFP.
	"There is no single optimal level of tobacco taxes that applies to all countries," added the UN's health agency, which has previously recommended tax should account for 70 per cent of cigarette retail prices.
	The five-day summit in Moscow brought together some 1,500 delegates who are pushing for tougher taxes on smoking in a bid to curb a habit that they blame for six million deaths worldwide each year.
	Although the guidelines are 

WHO deal backs higher tobacco taxes to cut smoking

A Bangladesh court ordered the arrest today of a former minister who was dismissed last week after Islamists staged nationwide protests calling for his prosecution over remarks criticising the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage.
	   The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka issued an arrest warrant for Abdul Latif Siddique for allegedly "wounding religious sentiments" of the country's majority Muslim population, police inspector Aminur Rahman said.
	   "The arrest warrant has been sent to a police station in his hometown," Rahman told AFP.
	   Siddique, formerly an influential minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, accompanied her last month on a visit to New York where he spoke out against the Hajj pilgrimage as well as against a non-political Islamic group, the Tablig Jamaat.
	   Local television aired footage of Siddique telling Bangladeshi expatriates in New York that, "I am dead against the Hajj and the Tablig Jamaat (a non-political ...

Sacked Bangladesh minister faces arrest for Hajj criticism

A 31-year-old American was treated for addiction after wearing Google Glass for up to 18 hours a day and even experienced dreams as if looking through the device, doctors said.
	It is the first known case of Internet addiction involving Google Glass, a fledgling technology which provides online access via a tiny screen attached to a spectacle frame, they said.
	The naval serviceman had a history of drinking, depressive moods and relationship difficulties, according to the case study reported in the journal Addictive Behaviors.
	He was admitted to the US Navy's Substance Abuse Recovery Programme (SARP) in San Diego, California, in September 2013 after resuming heavy drinking.
	"The patient had been wearing the Google Glass device each day for up to 18 hours for two months prior to admission, removing the device during sleep and bathing," the paper says.
	"He noted that when he dreamed during his residential treatment, he envisioned the dream through the device.
	"He would experience ...

Man with Google Glass had 'Internet addiction disorder'

Georgia today warned Russia against taking further steps to integrate its separatist region of Abkhazia, saying it would create new security problems in Europe.
	Tbilisi issued a tough-worded statement after the leader of the rebel region on Monday submitted a draft agreement to its local parliament that would dramatically strengthen ties between Moscow and the Kremlin-backed statelet.
	The agreement on "alliance and integration" would create a "common defence infrastructure" and combined armed forces between Abkhazia and Russia, which already has thousands of troops stationed in the region.
	It also calls for the creation of joint law enforcement structures and "common economic and customs space," among other sweeping proposals aimed at deepening the political and economic integration between Russia and Abkhazia.
	The implementation of the deal would substantially change the situation in the region and "will create additional problems" for the European security, Georgia's foreign ...

Georgia warns Russia against 'annexing' its separatist region

At least 12 Libyans were killed in Benghazi during clashes today between soldiers and Islamists who control the country's second biggest city, a hospital source said.
	"At least 12 people have been killed and 10 others wounded since Wednesday morning during the clashes" between forces loyal to a prominent former general and Islamist groups, said the source, who requested anonymity.
	For its part, the Benghazi Medical Centre gave a toll of nine dead, including three soldiers.
	That figure included a father and his three children, killed when gunmen attempted to arrest a member of the family they accused of belonging to Ansar al-Sharia, one of the Islamist groups that control Benghazi.
	A health ministry official confirmed the nine dead at the Benghazi Medical Centre, and said three more dead were at other hospitals.
	The violence came after forces loyal to former general Khalifa Haftar, including civilians, launched a new bid to retake Benghazi.
	A spokesman for Haftar, Mohamed Hijazi, 

Clashes in Libya's Benghazi kill at least 12: hospital

Asad Shafiq geared up for the upcoming Test series against Australia by hitting a century in a four-day practice match between Pakistan 'A' and the tourists in Sharjah today.
     Skipper Shafiq was unbeaten on 108 and Ehsan Adil not out yet to score as Pakistan 'A' reached 305-8 on the first day at Sharjah stadium.
     Shafiq hit two boundaries off paceman Mitchell Johnson and another couple off Peter Siddle to reach his hundred off 148 balls.
     In all Shafiq hit 13 boundaries and four sixes and batted with authority against a varied Australian attack, so much needed for Pakistan's national squad after their batting flopped in the preceding 3-0 one-day series loss.
     Shafiq, a regular member of Pakistan's Test team, added an invaluable 100 for the fifth wicket with Haris Sohail, who made a gutsy 43.
     The pair built on a 87-run third wicket stand between Ahmed Shahzad (55) and Babar Azam (40) as Pakistan's second string, who opted to bat after winning the toss, lost Shan ...

Shafiq hits hundred as Australia get good workout

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today there were plans for her to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and that she hoped for "an open exchange of opinions" on the Ukraine crisis.
	Both leaders will attend a two-day Asia-Europe meeting of leaders in Milan, Italy, starting tomorrow and "there are plans for talks with the Russian president", Merkel said.
	"I expect an open exchange of opinions and progress in the implementation of the Minsk Agreement," she said, referring to the Ukraine ceasefire deal Moscow and Kiev agreed in early September in the Belarussian capital.
	The talks would aim to cover the "whole range" of issues relating to Ukraine, also including a standoff on gas deliveries between Moscow and Kiev.
	Merkel, speaking at a joint Berlin press conference with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, said she hoped the Minsk deal would "become a reality".
	Merkel and Putin have been in frequent contact amid the Ukraine crisis, the worst East-West conflict ..

Merkel expects 'open' Ukraine talks with Putin

A Tunisian jailed for two years for posting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed online has been set free on a second conviction, his lawyer said today.
	Jabeur Mejri was freed in March after serving two years of a seven-and-a-half-year term for the caricatures but was jailed again in April for eight months for insulting a court clerk during an argument about the date of a summons.
	"As part of a presidential pardon, Jabeur Mejri was freed overnight Tuesday to Wednesday," lawyer Bassem Trifi told AFP.
	The 29-year-old was freed in March after receiving a first presidential pardon.
	Mejri, an atheist activist, was an unemployed graduate at the time of his imprisonment in 2012, but had worked at the railroad ticket office in his hometown of Mahdia, south of Tunis.
	The caricatures Mejri posted on Facebook were considered insulting to Islam and he was convicted of "publishing works likely to disturb public order" and "offending public decency", since Tunisia's penal code does not punish ..

Tunisian jailed for insulting prophet receives second pardon

The British, US, French, German and Italian leaders will hold a video conference call today to discuss the Ebola epidemic, Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman said.
	The call at 1500 GMT (2030) is expected to last around an hour and the leaders will also discuss the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and peace efforts in Ukraine.
	French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and US President Barack Obama will also take part in the call, the spokesman said.
	The call comes after reports that a second health care worker in Texas in the United States tested positive for Ebola after caring for a Liberian patient who died of the virus in Dallas.
	The United Nations also warned Ebola was outpacing efforts to combat the disease.

Cameron, Obama, Hollande, Merkel, Renzi to hold Ebola call

Italy learnt it was no longer in a recession today thanks to a change in data calculations across the European Union which includes illegal economic activities such as prostitution and drugs in the GDP measure.
	   Adding illegal revenue from hookers, narcotics and black market cigarettes and alcohol to the eurozone's third-biggest economy boosted gross domestic product figures.
	   GDP rose slightly from a 0.1 per cent decline for the first quarter to a flat reading, the national institute of statistics said.
	   Although ISTAT confirmed a 0.2 per cent decline for the second quarter, the revision of the first quarter data meant Italy had escaped its third recession in the last six years.
	   The economy must contract for two consecutive quarters, from output in the previous quarter, for a country to be technically in recession.
	   The new system, known as SEC 2010, aims to facilitate comparison of data between countries, regardless of whether or not they have legalised prostitution .

Italy lifts out of recession thanks to prostitutes, drugs

China sees no need "so far" for its army to be deployed in Hong Kong to contain democracy protests, a Beijing official said today, without ruling out the prospect after violent overnight clashes.
	Rumours have frequently swept protest camps that the People's Liberation Army (PLA), which maintains a garrison in the city, will be deployed if Beijing feels Hong Kong authorities cannot handle the demonstrations that erupted more than two weeks ago.
	"So far, as I see it, there is no need for it," the Chinese government official told a rare briefing in Hong Kong.
	"Of course we hope that such a scenario will not unfold. The situation is gradually returning to normal," the official added on condition of anonymity.
	Protests and roadblocks have convulsed Hong Kong over Beijing's insistence that it will vet candidates standing for election as the semi-autonomous city's next leader in 2017 - a move protesters have labelled as "fake democracy".
	Demonstrators clashed with dozens of police using 

China says no need 'so far' for PLA deployment in Hong Kong

Nicola Sturgeon will become the new leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party - and therefore Scotland's first minister - as she was the only candidate when nominations closed today.
	Sturgeon, Scotland's deputy first minister, will replace SNP leader and current First Minister Alex Salmond.
	He announced his intention to resign after Scots voted to stay in the United Kingdom in the September 18 referendum.
	Sturgeon's leadership of the left-of-centre party will be officially confirmed at the SNP conference next month.
	Following that, her election as first minister must be approved by the Scottish parliament, where the SNP has a slim majority, and receive the assent of Queen Elizabeth II.
	"I am delighted that Nicola Sturgeon will succeed Alex Salmond as leader of the SNP," the party's business convener Derek Mackay said.
	"She will be a fantastic new leader of both the party and our country," he said.
	Sturgeon, 44, was seen as the brains behind Scotland's independence .

AFP

AFP

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