The Austrian government said Wednesday that it won't sign a global compact to promote safe and orderly migration, citing concerns about national sovereignty as it joined neighboring Hungary in shunning the agreement.
Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz took office last December in a coalition with the nationalist, anti-migration Freedom Party. Austria currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency, and Kurz has made curbing unregulated migration a priority.
The Global Compact for Safety, Orderly and Regular Migration, which isn't legally binding, was finalized under U.N. auspices in July. It is due to be formally approved at a meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, from December 11-12.
The Austria Press Agency reported that Kurz and Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache said Austria won't sign the document or send an official representative to Marrakech.
They cited, among other things, fears about a possible watering-down of the distinction between legal and illegal ...

Austria says it won't sign UN global migration pact

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Sweden's foreign minister says her country could host talks between Yemen's warring parties after efforts by the UN special envoy failed to bring the sides together.
Margot Wallstrom says the United Nations has asked Sweden "if we could be a place for the UN envoy to gather the parties in this conflict"  the internationally recognised government, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, and Yemen's Iran-backed Shiite rebels known as Houthis.
Wallstrom told Sweden's news agency TT on Wednesday that Sweden would be "happy about it" but that nothing's definite.
The conflict in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, began with the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by the Houthis who toppled the internationally recognised government. A Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.

Sweden says it could host Yemen's warring sides for talks

It wasn't quite dawn on the mountain when a wave of ice and snow tumbled down on them. Jo Morgan and the two guides she was roped together with had set out for the summit at 2 am and she'd just messaged her husband "All is OK".
But it wasn't.
Both guides died in the avalanche early Wednesday on Mount Hicks, while Morgan managed to survive after being almost completely buried in snow and then punching and wriggling her way free over the course of about an hour.
An adventurer and philanthropist from one of New Zealand's most well-known families, Morgan described her ordeal in an interview with Radio New Zealand.
"It's a terrifying thing," she said. "It's a bit like the surf coming down on you. Just a huge big wave of ice coming down the slopes toward you."
She said she got lucky and landed with her face in a hollow at surface level and one hand free, while her body was buried.
"I could feel when I stuck my hand up that I was into air rather than into something solid," she told RNZ. "So .

New Zealander digs out of 'wave of ice' that kills 2 guides

Any attempt to determine Taiwan's future by "other than peaceful means" is a threat to regional security and a matter of "grave concern" to the United States, Washington's de facto ambassador to Taipei said Wednesday, in a nod to Chinese military intimidation against the island.
Brent Christensen also said Washington would continue military sales to Taiwan while promoting its participation in the international community that Beijing increasingly seeks to restrict.
China considers Taiwan its own territory to be absorbed using force if necessary. It has lately stepped up its threats in an attempt to undermine President Tsai Ing-wen, who has refused to bow to Beijing's demand that she recognize Taiwan as a part of China.
The US cut formal ties with Taiwan in 1979 to recognize Beijing but the two maintain robust unofficial military and diplomatic ties.
Those relations are underpinned by the Taiwan Relations Act, which requires the US to ensure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself .

US reassures Taiwan on security as China increases threats

Turkish media reports say Saudi Arabia's top prosecutor, who is in Istanbul for discussions on the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, has met with Turkish intelligence officials.
Private DHA news agency said Wednesday the prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, paid a midnight visit to the Turkish intelligence agency's Istanbul headquarters. Officials were not immediately available to comment.
Turkey is seeking the extradition of 18 Saudi suspects detained in Saudi Arabia over the killing of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate after he entered the building on October 2.
It is also pressing Saudi Arabia for information concerning Khashoggi's remains, which still haven't been found, as well as who ordered the journalist's slaying.
Saudi officials have said the kingdom will try the 18 and bring them to justice after the investigation is complete.

Report: Saudi prosecutor visits Turkish intelligence agency

An Afghan army helicopter crashed Wednesday in bad weather in the western Farah province, killing all 25 people on board, including the deputy corps commander of the western zone, a provincial spokesman said.
Mohammad Naser Mehri, spokesman for the Farah governor, said the helicopter crashed around 9:10 a.m. (0440 GMT), shortly after taking off from the mountainous Anar Dara district heading toward the nearby Herat province.
On board were the corps commander, Gen. Naimudullah Khalil, and two members of the Farah provincial council, its chairman, Farid Bakhtawar, and Jamila Amini, one of only two women on the nine-member council.
Wednesday's was the second army helicopter crash in as many months in Farah. In September, five crew members died when their helicopter crashed. Investigators blamed the crash on a technical failure, without elaborating.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber struck outside the country's largest prison on the edge of the capital, Kabul, killing seven ...

Afghan army helicopter crashes, killing all 25 on board

Novak Djokovic began his bid for a record-extending fifth Paris Masters title with a 7-5, 6-1 win against Joao Sousa in the second round on Tuesday, and lent a helping hand to a spectator in the process.
Serving for the match at 5-1, Djokovic handed a towel to a man in the crowd who seemed unwell and who wiped his forehead with it.
"It seemed he was sweating and he seemed dizzy, so he just needed help," Djokovic said. "I just gave him the towel." Djokovic revealed he also was not feeling very well out on court.
"I wasn't," he said. "I don't want to get into details but I think it's a minor thing."
The second-ranked Serb set up match point with an ace and sealed victory on his third match point when Sousa returned a second serve long.
The U.S. Open champion won four of the last five tournaments he has entered, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and most recently the Shanghai Masters.
Djokovic is seeking to reclaim the top ranking from Rafael Nadal at a tournament Nadal has never won. ..

Djokovic beats Sousa in straight sets at Paris Masters

Rescuers have pulled out four survivors and three bodies but several more were missing after a massive landslide set off by a typhoon crashed down on two government buildings in a northern Philippine mountain province, officials said Wednesday.
Regional police Chief Superintendent Rolando Nana said at least 18 more people still are missing from the landslide in the far-flung town of Natonin in Mountain province. Smaller land- and rockslides on roads leading to Natonin have slowed the advance of more rescuers and earth-moving equipment.
Disaster response officer Jennifer Pangket said there could be up to 24 people still trapped in the landslide, which occurred as Typhoon Yutu pummeled the region Tuesday. At least nine people have died due to the typhoon, which blew out of the northern Philippines on Tuesday.
"It's a massive landslide and boulders also came rolling down from the mountain. The buildings got demolished and entombed. They're gone," government engineer Junel Emengga told ...

4 survivors, 3 dead, several missing in Philippine landslide

An Interior Ministry official says a suicide bomber has struck outside the country's largest prison on the eastern edge of the capital Kabul, killing seven people, including prison workers and security personnel.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish says the attacker early Wednesday targeted a bus carrying prison workers. The sprawling Pul-e-Charkhi prison houses hundreds of inmates, including scores of Taliban.
According to Abadullah Karimi, a prison official, the attack occurred near the prison gate where a number of visitors were waiting to pass a rigorous security check before entering.
No one has taken immediate responsibility for the attack.

Suicide bomber detonates outside Kabul prison, killing 7

Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning waterways into raging torrents that killed at least 13 people, nine of them in just one town, authorities said Monday.
People had to be helicoptered to safety from the roofs of their homes as overnight storms dumped the equivalent of several months of rain in just a few hours.
Worst hit was the town of Trebes, east of the medieval walled city of Carcassonne.
The rains that swept in from the Mediterranean killed nine people there, Interior Ministry spokesman Frederic de Lanouvelle said.
He told BFMTV that the floods in the Aude region also killed four other people in other locations, left one person missing and seriously injured five others.
In the town of Villegailhenc, witness Ines Siguet said the waters rose so quickly that people were stranded on the roofs of their homes and had to be helicoptered to safety.
She posted video of a ripped-up road where a bridge used to be, torn away by a flood torrent that cut the town in ..

Flash floods kill at least 13 people in southwest France

Thousands of Iraqi children of Islamic State group members are left on their own, their parents dead or imprisoned after the long and destructive war that brought down the militants' rule.
They are often ostracized, tainted in the eyes of a broken society where many hate the extremist group for its atrocities.
One family of six children lives alone, the children fending for themselves, unable to go home and traumatized by their experiences.
When the Sunni militant group took over a large chunk of Iraqi territory in a 2014 blitz, it massacred Shiite Muslims, Kurds, Christians, Yazidis and members of the police or military who fell into its hands. And it drove out others, often either destroying or giving away their homes.

Children of Islamic State group live under a stigma in Iraq

The Israeli military says Israeli troops have shot and killed a Palestinian after he attempted to stab a soldier in the West Bank.
The military says the alleged attacker did not wound any soldiers during Monday's incident. It says troops fired toward him and the he was "neutralized and killed."
The incident comes as security forces continue to search for a Palestinian who shot and killed two Israelis in a West Bank industrial park last week before fleeing the scene.
The military also notified the man's family on Monday that it intends to demolish his home in response to the attack.
Israel has faced a three-year wave of Palestinian attacks that in recent months have dwindled but still occur. Critics say Israel uses excessive force against Palestinian attackers.

Israeli troops kill Palestinian after attempted stabbing

It took rescuers two days to recover the battered bodies of nine climbers, including one of the world's best, who died in Nepal's worst mountaineering disaster in recent years, authorities said Monday.
Local police chief Bir Bahadur Budamagar said a group of villagers reached the climbers' camp site on Saturday on Gurja Himal, a less-popular but pristine mountain in the shadow of Dhaulagiri, the world's seventh-highest peak and a day's walk from the nearest village.
The climbers included Kim Chang-ho, the first South Korean to summit all 14 Himalayan peaks over 8,000 meters without using supplemental oxygen, who was leading the expedition with four other South Koreans and four Nepalese guides.
Technically difficult and remote, the mountain hasn't been scaled in eight years. The damage to the climbers' bodies, including broken limbs and smashed skulls, indicated a violent wind carrying chunks of ice swept them away from their camp site, Budamagar said. The bodies were found spread in a 

Recovery of Nepal climbers delayed by mountain's remoteness

Japan's foreign minister has raised concerns about the high levels of debt accrued by some Pacific Island nations and says it wants to help resolve the problem.
Foreign Minister Taro Kono made the comments Monday while visiting New Zealand, where he met with his counterpart Winston Peters.
Some observers have become alarmed at the growth in Chinese lending in the Pacific and worry that small countries such as Tonga and Vanuatu are becoming beholden to China because of their high debt levels.
Kono didn't mention China specifically in his comments.
His visit to New Zealand is the first by a Japanese foreign minister in five years. It marks a warming relationship between the two nations over the past year since Jacinda Ardern became New Zealand's prime minister.

Japan raises concerns over Pacific's debt to China

The rival Koreas are holding high-level talks Monday to discuss further engagement amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea.
South Korea said Monday's talks will be aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after the summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
The meeting between senior officials comes at a sensitive time as Washington has expressed unease over the fast pace in inter-Korean engagement, which it says should move in tandem with U.S.-led efforts to denuclearize the North.
South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said the discussions will include setting up a joint survey of a North Korean railroad section the Koreas plan to connect with the South. The North's chief delegate to the talks is Ri Son Gwon, who chairs the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs.
There could also be discussions over ..

Korean gov't ministers meet to discuss post-summit specifics

Malaysian Prime Minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim said he felt "vindicated" after taking his oath as a lawmaker Monday, marking his return to active politics three years after he was imprisoned for sodomy in a charge that critics said was politically motivated.
The swearing-in ceremony in parliament followed Anwar's landslide win in a by-election Saturday in the southern coastal town of Port Dickson in which he defeated six other candidates. The seat was vacated after a lawmaker from his party quit, paving the way for Anwar's political comeback.
Anwar, 71, joins his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail  currently Malaysia's deputy prime minister  and his eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, in parliament. He has said that his by-election victory is a "vote of confidence" in the new government.
"I have been deprived of my right from time to time and I have to go through a by-election to come back ... I feel vindicated," Anwar told reporters Monday. He reiterated support for Prime Minister ...

Malaysian PM-in-waiting Anwar takes oath as lawmaker

The Koreas are holding high-level talks to discuss engagement amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with the North.
South Korea said Monday's talks will be aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after last month's summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.
Moon and Kim then committed to reviving economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end and allow such activity, and holding a groundbreaking ceremony by year's end on an ambitious project to connect their roads and railways.
The North and South also announced measures to reduce conventional military threats.
The chief delegates to the talks are South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and his counterpart, Ri Son Gwon.

Koreas hold high-level peace talks

Police say three people died after they were hit by a small plane in central Germany as it attempted to take off from an aborted landing.
Police in Hesse state said the victims, two adults and a child, were standing at the edge of an airfield at the Wasserkuppe hill near Fulda, German news agency dpa reported.
They said the Cessna had been attempting to take off after an aborted landing maneuver on Sunday, but failed to gain lift and broke through a barrier, hitting the three.
It wasn't immediately clear whether anyone else was hurt. Police said there wasn't a crowd at the site near the airfield at the time of the accident.

Plane accident in central Germany leaves 3 people dead

Police say there has been an accident involving an aircraft in central Germany and it resulted in deaths.
Police in Hesse state said in a brief statement that the accident happened Sunday afternoon on the Wasserkuppe, a hill near Fulda.
They couldn't immediately be reached for further details.
German daily Bild reported that a Cessna plane flew into a group of people at an airfield.
The newspaper says at least three people were killed and another eight injured.

Deaths reported from plane accident in central Germany

A prosecutor says a hunter shot and killed a 34-year-old bicyclist in the French Alps in what appears to be an accident.
Thonon-Les-Bains prosecutor Philippe Toccanier said the 22-year-old hunter was hospitalised for shock after the Saturday evening shooting and couldn't be taken into custody while he is investigated on suspicion of aggravated manslaughter.
Toccanier told The Associated Press on Sunday the victim, a man from Wales who lived in France, was cycling down a mountain at around 6 pm when he passed near a group of about 10 game hunters.
Toccanier says the cyclist certainly "couldn't be confused with game, as he had a coloured helmet and a coloured mountain bike."
Britain's Foreign Office says it's "in contact with the local authorities" and providing assistance to the dead man's family.

Official: Hunter kills British cyclist in French Alps

Investigators say a party in South Texas to mark a toddler's first birthday erupted in gunfire, leaving four men dead and a fifth man wounded.
The Texas Department of Public Safety says the shooting happened shortly after 5 pm Saturday in Taft, 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of Corpus Christi.
Sgt Nathan Brandley says an altercation erupted between two families attending the party and escalated into a deadly shooting.
Brandley said the wounded man was airlifted to a Corpus Christi hospital.
His condition wasn't clear.
Brandley said two suspects are on the loose.
No identities or other details have been released.

AP

AP

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