Stock markets pushed higher on Friday after data showing the US economy continued to add jobs at a steady clip despite turbulence from a trade war with China.
A better-than-expected 128,000 net new jobs in October showed demand for workers remained resilient despite President Donald Trump's protracted trade war with China, that has chilled investment and slowed the economy.
And gains in the prior months were revised up sharply and wages continued to climb, making the jobs picture even stronger.
"US stocks are higher in early action, with the markets gaining steam following a stronger-than-expected pace of job gains for October and favorably-revised September figures, which followed a relatively upbeat read on Chinese manufacturing activity," said analysts at the Charles Schwab brokerage.
On Wall Street, the broad-based S&P 500 moved into record territory shortly after trading began, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was also not far off an all-time high.
"This barnstorming set of jobs ...

Stocks work their way higher after positive jobs data

PTI Automatic

A Lebanese court on Friday sentenced a taxi driver to death for the 2017 murder of British embassy worker Rebecca Dykes, the national news agency reported.
The Mount Lebanon criminal court sentenced the accused to death for the rape and murder of the young British woman, the agency said, naming the killer as Tariq Samer Howeish.
The 30-year-old's lifeless body was found dumped on the side of a road north of Beirut in December 2017.
The driver employed by ride-hailing giant Uber was reported by judicial sources at the time as having been arrested twice prior to the murder for alleged harassment and theft.
Capital punishment is legal in Lebanon although no execution has been carried out in 15 years.

Lebanon sentences UK diplomat's murderer to death

A 36-year-old woman has been found dead with a python wrapped around her neck in a home in the midwestern US state of Indiana which housed around 140 snakes, police said.
The body of Laura Hurst was discovered on Wednesday in the house in Oxford, Sergeant Kim Riley, a state police spokesman, said in a statement.  Hurst, of Battle Ground, Indiana, had an eight-foot (2.4-meter) reticulated python wrapped around her neck.
Medics attempted to revive her but their efforts were unsuccessful.
"She appears to have been strangled by the snake," Riley told the Lafayette Journal & Courier newspaper.
"We do not know that for a fact until after the autopsy." The home with the snake collection was owned by the Benton County sheriff, Don Munson, who lived next door, the Journal & Courier said, and Hurst kept about 20 of her own snakes there.
Munson, who found Hurst's body, told the newspaper that her death appeared to be a "tragic accident." Pythons are a non-venomous family of snakes found ...

Woman found dead with python around neck in US snake house

A Greek-flagged tanker is the main suspect in oil spills that have been appearing off the coast of Brazil for two months, the defense ministry said Friday.
The oil began appearing in early September and has been seen along a 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) stretch of the northeastern Atlantic coast.
Separately, police raided the offices of a company linked to the owners of the ship, federal police said.

Brazil names Greek-flagged tanker as top suspect in oil spills

US oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron reported a drop in their third-quarter profits Friday on lower oil prices, even as increased investment in US shale projects boosted output.
The companies have pumped heavy investment into the Permian Basin, a shale-rich region in Texas and New Mexico drawing considerable interest due to newer technologies that have made developing unconventional shale resources profitable.
These efforts enabled Exxon and Chevron, the two biggest US oil companies, to increase overall oil and gas production in the quarter ending September 30.
But results were dented by a retreat in crude oil prices during the three-month period, as signs of a slowing global economy amplified worries about a glut of supply.
US oil prices traded in the USD 50-USD 60 a barrel range for much of the quarter, down about USD 15 from the prior year.
Exxon reported quarterly profits of USD 3.2 billion, plunging 49.2 percent from the year-ago period, as revenues fell 15.1 percent to USD 65 ..

Earnings fall at Exxon, Chevron on lower oil prices

The US labour market took a punch in October from an extended strike at General Motors but the economy continued to add jobs at a solid pace, according to official data released Friday.
The steady hiring showed demand for workers remained resilient despite President Donald Trump's protracted trade war with China, that has chilled investment and slowed the economy.
Employers added 128,000 net new jobs, the Labour Department reported in the closely-watched monthly employment report, defying many economists who expected a sharp slowdown.
And gains in the prior months were revised up sharply and wages continued to climb, making the jobs picture even stronger.
Meanwhile, the jobless rate rose a notch to a still-low 3.6 percent, as expected. The 3.5 percent unemployment rate in September was the lowest since 1969.
Nearly 50,000 GM workers were called back to work this week following a 40-day strike, but the stoppage put a deep dent in October's auto industry employment levels.
The ranks of .

US adds 128,000 jobs in October, jobless rate rises to 3.6% amid GM strike

At least 22 people were killed and 10 wounded when a mining truck overturned in southeast DR Congo on Friday, police said.
The truck owned by the Mining Mineral Resources (MMR) firm tipped over at Mutetenya village in Tanganyika province, DR Congo's national police said on Twitter.
"All the cargo of cassiterite (a source of tin) spilled down the steep slope," it added.

22 people killed in DR Congo mining truck accident: police

Google has agreed to buy Fitbit for USD 2.1 billion in a move giving the US tech giant an entry into the wearable technology space, the two companies announced Friday.
The move comes with Google seeking to expand beyond its core business of online search into hardware, and with Fitbit struggling against rivals including Apple.
"We have built a trusted brand that supports more than 28 million active users around the globe who rely on our products to live a healthier, more active life," Fitbit co-founder and chief executive James Park said in a statement by the two firms announcing the deal.
"Google is an ideal partner to advance our mission. Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone. I could not be more excited for what lies ahead." Rick Osterloh, Google senior vice president for devices and services, said the deal for the wearable tech pioneer is one "bringing together the best hardware, ...

Google to buy wearables maker Fitbit for USD 2.1 billion

Russia's Supreme Court on Friday issued a ruling to wind up the operations of a respected rights group that has operated for more than two decades, its executive director said.
For Human Rights vowed to appeal the ruling, which comes after the government in February added it to a register of "foreign agents," a label slapped on organisations seen as political and receiving foreign funding.
"We will appeal the ruling and also go to the European Court of Human Rights," For Human Rights chief Lev Ponomaryov said.
"The movement itself will continue to live and work," he told AFP.
The rights group is one of Russia's oldest, founded in 1997, with a mission to promote the rule of law and civil society.
Ponomaryov, 78, is one of the country's most prominent activists.
The group, which investigates rights abuses, has faced an onslaught of legal action.
In December last year Ponomaryov spent more than two weeks in jail for urging people to take part in an unsanctioned rally in Moscow.
Over the .

Russia orders closure of leading rights group

The treatment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is facing the threat of extradition from Britain to the US on espionage charges, is putting his life "at risk", an independent UN rights expert said Friday.
"Unless the UK urgently changes course and alleviates his inhumane situation, Mr. Assange's continued exposure to arbitrariness and abuse may soon end up costing his life," the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Nils Melzer, said in a statement.

Treatment of Assange putting his life 'at risk': UN expert

Demonstrators converged on Algiers in their thousands for a massive anti-government rally called to coincide with official celebrations of the anniversary of the war that won Algeria's independence from France.
Several thousand protesters had gathered at the Grande Poste building in downtown Algiers by early afternoon.
"Algeria will take back its independence" and "The people want their independence", protesters chanted, already numbering more than have been turning out weekly at the same time for 37 consecutive Fridays.
Algerian social media was flooded with calls to fill the streets of the capital on Friday to mark the 65th anniversary of the start of the independence war in 1954 and demand a "new revolution".
Police were deployed in force, blocking protesters on an avenue near the Grande Poste and making several arrests in the morning, according to witnesses.
The Algiers metro was closed and all trains to the capital cancelled, apparently to keep numbers down.
Weekly demonstrations 

Algeria protesters call for 'new revolution' on independence anniversary

The UN labour organisation has agreed not to renew controversial funding from tobacco companies for charitable programmes, but has left the door open to cooperating with the industry on future projects.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Governing Body finally reached a compromise late Thursday on the issue of the UN agency's ties to the tobacco industry, in a bid to end years of acrimonious debate on the issue.
The ILO has long been under fire for partnerships with several of the world's biggest tobacco companies on charitable programmes in a range of countries, which expired last year.
The agency had justified its ties to the tobacco companies as a way of helping improve the working conditions of the some 60 million people involved in tobacco growing and production worldwide.
But it faced criticism that the partnerships risked jeopardising global efforts to regulate tobacco use and reduce the negative health impacts of smoking.
In the decade ending last year, the agency ...

ILO says tobacco funding halted, for now

Most Asian and European stock markets rose on Friday as traders overcame jitters about China-US trade talks that were fuelled by a report saying Beijing officials had raised doubts about the chances of a long-term deal.
Attention now turns to the release later in the day of US non-farm payrolls (NFP) figures, which will give clues about the state of the US economy.
The key data come days after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for a third straight month but hinted it would not likely do so again this year as it assesses the growth outlook.
"The NFP report caps off another chaotic week in the markets," said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam, adding markets had fallen Thursday after "China cast doubt over a comprehensive trade deal with the US".
Investors were spooked by a speech by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in which he called China "truly hostile" to the US, leading Beijing to accuse the White House of "viciously" attacking it.
The flare-up comes just as the two sides put the ...

Stock markets mostly rise but trade concerns cast shadow

Scoreboard in the third and final Twenty20 international between Australia and Sri Lanka in Melbourne on Friday.
Sri Lanka
K. Mendis c McDermott b Richardson 13
N. Dickwella c McDermott b Starc
0
K. Perera c Turner b Cummins
57
A. Fernando c McDermott b Cummins  20
O. Fernando  c Carey b Richardson
6
B. Rajapaksa not out
17
S. Jayasuriya b Starc
12
L. Malinga not out
8
Extras (lb8, w1)
9
Total (six wickets, 20 overs)
142
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-33, 3-76, 4-99, 5-110, 6-132
Bowling: Starc 4-0-32-2, Richardson 4-0-25-2, Cummins 4-0-23-2, Zampa 4-0-30-0, Agar 4-0-24-0
Australia
A. Finch c Jayasuriya b Kumara
37
D. Warner not out
57
S. Smith c Sandakan b Pradeep
13
B. McDermott lbw Malinga
5
A. Turner not out
22
Extras (lb5, w6)
11
Total (three wickets, 17.4 overs) 145
Fall of wickets: 1-69 (Finch), 2-85 (Smith), 3-99 (McDermott) Bowling: Malinga 4-0-22-1, Kumara 4-0-49-1, Pradeep 3.4-0-20-1, Jayasuriya 2-0-24-0, Sandakan 4-0-25-0.

Australia v Sri Lanka T20 scoreboard

Australia cruised past Sri Lanka to clean-sweep their three-match Twenty20 series Friday, with an in-form David Warner grinding out a third successive half-century in the seven wicket win.
The home team have been dominant throughout, winning by 134 runs in Adelaide and by nine wickets with seven overs to spare in Brisbane ahead of the clash in Melbourne.
Sri Lanka's batting had been insipid until now, but they finally posted a competitive score of 142 for six, with Kusal Perera hitting 57.
However their bowlers, led by Lasith Malinga, have been no match for a quality Australian batting line-up, spearheaded by Warner who has now scored 217 in three innings without losing his wicket.
"It was pretty clinical once we got into a routine," said Australia captain Aaron Finch.
"The way the bowlers set it up for us over the last two games, it was outstanding.
"Every game is a different challenge and a different surface, so it's important to bring in your best, in terms of preparation and ...

Warner leads Australia to T20 clean-sweep over Sri Lanka

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for talks in Berlin next Friday, a government spokeswoman said, as US forces resumed border patrols in northeast Syria.
Pompeo's visit comes after Thursday's return by US troops to patrol part of Syria's border with Turkey after a pullout ordered by US President Donald Trump that had opened the way for a Turkish assault.
"Alongside the bilateral relationship, current international questions" will be on the agenda at Merkel's office, spokeswoman Martina Fietz told reporters.
Pompeo also has meetings scheduled with Germany's foreign minister Heiko Maas, finance minister Olaf Scholz and defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
Fietz declined to say whether the pair would discuss Kramp-Karrenbauer's suggestion for international troops to set up a "security zone" in north-east Syria.
The defence chief's suggestion has provoked discord in German politics, with foreign minister Maas blasted by MPs for calling it .

Germany's Merkel set for talks with Pompeo

Iraq's top cleric warned foreign actors on Friday against interfering in his country's anti-government protests as they entered their second month despite pledges of reform and violence that has left over 250 dead.
The demonstrations have evolved since October 1 from rage over corruption and unemployment to demands for a total government overhaul -- shunning both politicians and religious figures along the way.
They have even condemned the influence of paramilitary forces including the Hashed al-Shaabi, whose members descended briefly into the streets of the capital late Thursday in a show of force, sparking fears of a confrontation with the main protests.
In his weekly sermon, the country's top Shiite religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said Iraq must not be dragged "into the "abyss of infighting".
"No person or group, no side with a particular view, no regional or international actor may seize the will of the Iraqi people and impose its will on them," said Sistani's ..

Iraq protests enter second month, defying pledges of reform

A controversial law that would allow Russia to cut internet traffic from international servers came into force Friday, prompting fears from rights activists of online isolation.
The law, which President Vladimir Putin signed in May, requires Russian internet providers to install technical devices provided by the authorities to enable centralised control of traffic.
They will also filter content to prevent access to banned websites.
Supporters of the legislation say the aim is to ensure Russian sites keep working if they are unable to connect to international servers or in the case of a threat from abroad such as cyber attacks.
But rights activists say it is another censorship bid following previous efforts in Russia to block services such as the LinkedIn social media site and the Telegram messenger service.
Human Rights Watch warned that the law means the "Russian government will gain even greater control over freedom of speech and information online".
The internet is the country's ...

Controversial Russian law to control internet enters force

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson's bowling action was given the all-clear Friday after he was reported during the first Test against Sri Lanka in August.
The right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner came under scrutiny in Galle during a Test that Sri Lanka won by six wickets.
He subsequently underwent a bowling assessment in England last month, where his action met the elbow extension angle permitted under ICC rules.
"The International Cricket Council today confirmed that the bowling action of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has been found to be legal, and he can continue bowling in international cricket," the ICC said in a statement.
Williamson is not playing in the ongoing home Twenty20 series against England after a recurring hip injury flared up.
England won the opening game on Friday by seven wickets.

NZ skipper Williamson's bowling action given all clear

Police in Nigeria said they rescued 15 people chained up in a church in Lagos during the latest raid in a nationwide crackdown on religious institutions accused of abuse.
Detectives "stormed a prayer house used as a detention camp" on Wednesday evening and discovered 15 men and women aged between 19 and 50 chained by the legs, Lagos police spokesman Bala Elkana said.
The pastor of the church, "prophet" Sunday Joseph Ojo, and 10 others were arrested, Elkana said late Thursday.
The victims "were brought by their families to seek spiritual help from mental illness and other diseases," he added.
"The prophet said he has been in the healing ministry since 1986, (and) that he chained them in order to prevent escape."
Some of the victims had spent five years in the church, he said, adding that further investigations were taking place.
Non-government organisations first alerted police to Ojo's "Blessing of Goodness Healing Church" in the Ijegun area of Nigeria's most populous city, according .

Nigerian police rescue 15 people chained up in Lagos church

Ousted WeWork CEO Adam Neumann and the company he co-founded are being sued for pregnancy discrimination, US media reported.
Former chief executive Maria Bardhi alleges management at the office leasing start-up "transparently and systematically marginalized and discriminated against" her after and during two pregnancies, Bloomberg reported her lawyer saying Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed in New York with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claims Nuemann referred to Bardi's maternity leave as a "vacation" and "retirement."
Bardhi -- who worked at the company for five years -- also alleges her maternity leave replacement was a man making twice her salary, and when she returned to work she was sidelined, the New York Times reported.
She was fired six months after giving birth to her second child, Bardhi said in the lawsuit, and after she had raised concerns about WeWork's attitude to its female employees.
The complaint notes Bardhi had initially been hesitant to mention ..

AFP

AFP

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