The head of Thailand's military government has declared he is "interested" in participating in politics, in a new indication he may seek to remain in office after elections scheduled for early next year.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's remarks Monday did not clarify whether he is considering running in the general election, which is supposed to be held by May next year, or will seek to be appointed by the new parliament as a non-elected outsider prime minister.
Prayuth disavowed political ambitions when he led a May 2014 coup that ousted an elected government. The military declared it would reform politics, and banned most political party organizing until earlier this month.
For several months, Prayuth and his backers have been organizing support for pro-military parties.

Thai military gov't head interested in staying in politics

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The Right Livelihood Award  known as the "Alternative Nobel"  has been given to three jailed Saudi human rights defenders and two Latin American anti-corruption crusaders.
The prize foundation says Monday that the 1 million kronor (USD 113,400) cash award for 2018 was to be shared by Abdullah al-Hamid, Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani and Waleed Abu al-Khair "for their visionary and courageous efforts, guided by universal human rights principles, to reform the totalitarian political system in Saudi Arabia."
It said the 2018 honorary award was given to Thelma Aldana of Guatemala and Colombia's Ivan Velasquez "for their innovative work in exposing abuse of power and prosecuting corruption."
Created in 1980, the annual Right Livelihood Award honors efforts that the prize founder, Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, felt were being ignored by the Nobel Prizes.

3 Saudi human rights activists awarded "Alternative Nobel"

They had waited more than five years for this moment.
No way were those frail little ropes, strung up on flimsy poles, going to hold them back.
No way were they listening to those red-shirted marshals, a bit of terror in their eyes as they pleaded futilely for everyone to come to their senses.
They had to feel it, touch it, see it with their own eyes.
Maybe that was the only way to persuade themselves that this most remarkable of comebacks had actually happened.
Tiger Woods. A winner again.
The staid ol' Tour Championship became a boisterous street party late Sunday afternoon, the fans storming down the middle of the 18th fairway like a bunch of crazed college kids laying siege to a football field after a last-second victory.
"Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!" they chanted over and over, looking very much like they may storm the Tudor-style clubhouse, the roar carrying all the way to Peachtree.
It was thrilling, exhilarating, even a bit frightening for those caught in the middle of the mob.
Then .

Column: Tiger Woods is back, and golf is better for it

China imposed new tariff hikes on U.S. goods on Monday and accused Washington of bullying, giving no sign of compromise in an intensifying battle over technology that is weighing on global economic growth.
The General Administration of Customs said it started collecting additional taxes of 5 and 10 percent on a $60 billion list of 5,207 American goods from honey to industrial chemicals at noon.
That coincided with the time for President Donald Trump's planned tariff hike on $200 billion of Chinese imports to take effect, though there was no immediate U.S. government confirmation it was collecting the higher charges.
The conflict stems from U.S. complaints Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.
American officials say Chinese plans for state-led development of global competitors in robotics and other technologies violate its market-opening obligations and might erode US industrial leadership.
Communist leaders offered to narrow their politically ...

China hikes tariffs on US imports as trade row intensifies

Opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih declared victory early Monday in the Maldives' contentious presidential election, which was widely seen as a referendum on the island nation's young democracy.
The win was unexpected, and Solih's supporters flooded the streets, hugging one another, waving the Maldivian flag, cheering and honking horns in celebration.
The opposition had feared the election would be rigged for strongman President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, whose first term was marked by a crackdown on political rivals, courts and the media. Yameen did not concede, and his campaign couldn't be reached for comment.
"People were not expecting this result. Despite the repressive environment, the people have spoken their minds," said Ahmed Tholal, a former member of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives and a project coordinator at the nonprofit watchdog Transparency Maldives.
Solih, 56, was a democracy activist during decades of autocratic rule and a former Parliament majority ...

Maldives' opposition presidential candidate claims victory

Authorities in Hong Kong on Monday took an unprecedented step against separatist voices by banning a political party that advocates independence for the southern Chinese territory on national security grounds.
John Lee, the territory's secretary for security, announced that the Hong Kong National Party will be prohibited from operation from Monday.
Lee's announcement did not provide further details. But Hong Kong's security bureau had previously said in a letter to the National Party's leader, 27-year-old Andy Chan, that the party should be dissolved "in the interests of national security or public safety, public order or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others."
Chan had no immediate comment.
That letter had cited a national security law that has not been invoked since 1997.
The ban is likely to raise further questions about Beijing's growing influence in the former British colony, which was promised semi-autonomy as part of the 1997 handover.
Chinese President Xi Jinping 

In a first, Hong Kong bans pro-independence political party

Authorities in Guatemala say another indigenous rights activist has been killed in the Central American nation.
Human rights prosecutor Jordan Rodas said Sunday that Juana Ramirez Santiago was shot to death Friday. She is the 21st human rights activist to be slain this year in Guatemala.
Rodas is calling for a full investigation into the killing and for greater government protection for activists.
The 54-year-old Ramirez was also a midwife. She was a member of the Ixiles Womens Network, which provides psychological counselling, social help and birthing assistance to women in the rural areas of Guatemala.

Guatemalan human rights activist shot to death, 21st in 2018

The head of the UN education agency says schools are ground zero in the fight against anti-Semitism and extremist violence  and she will push world leaders meeting in New York this week to invest more in teaching tolerance.
"No one is born a violent extremist," Azoulay said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the U.N. General Assembly, which opens Monday.
"Education is the best rampart against discrimination and racism." Azoulay's own organisation  the first U.N. body to admit Palestine as a member  has long been riven by sectarian anger, divisions she has worked to mend since taking the helm last year of the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
At the UN, she will co-host a meeting on fighting anti-Semitism and other discrimination through teaching about different religions and cultures.  "It will exhort the member states to mobilise to promote education as a lever of prevention of racism and discrimination, and by extension, ...

UNESCO chief says schools must fight extremism

President Donald Trump is poised to redouble his commitment to "America First" on the most global of stages this week.
In the sequel to his stormy UN debut, Trump will stress his dedication to the primacy of US interests while competing with Western allies for an advantage on trade and shining a spotlight on the threat that he says Iran poses to the Middle East and beyond.
One year after Trump stood at the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly and derided North Korea's Kim Jong Un as "Rocket Man," the push to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula is a work in progress, although fears of war have given way to hopes for rapprochement.
Scores of world leaders, even those representing America's closest friends, remain wary of Trump. In the 12 months since his last visit to the U.N., the president has jolted the global status quo by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, starting trade conflicts with China and the West and embracing Russia's Vladimir Putin even as the investigation into the U.S. 

At UN, unrepentant Trump set to rattle foes, friends alike

Authorities say the owner of a Texas company that sells plans to make untraceable 3-D printed guns is back in the US after being arrested in Taiwan.
The US Marshals Service says 30-year-old Cody Wilson was booked into Harris County Jail in Houston early Sunday.
He is being held on USD 150,000 bond and it isn't clear if he has an attorney yet.
Wilson is accused of having sex with an underage girl and paying her USD 500 afterward.
He was arrested Friday in Taiwan.
Police say he flew there after a friend of the 16-year-old girl told him that the police were investigating the accusation that he had sex with the girl.
Wilson owns Austin-based Defense Distributed, which was selling designs to make 3D-printable guns.

3D gun advocate accused of sex with minor is jailed in US

The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday again blamed Israel for the downing of a Russian plane by Syrian government forces and said Israel appeared "ungrateful" for Moscow's efforts to rein in Iran-backed fighters in Syria.
Syrian government forces mistook the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane for an Israeli jet and shot it down Monday, killing all 15 people aboard.
While the Russian military initially blamed the plane's loss on Israel, President Vladimir Putin later attributed it to "a chain of tragic, fatal circumstances." The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday presented its latest findings on the Il-20's downing, laying the blame squarely on Israel.
"We believe that the Israeli Air Force and those who were making decisions about these actions are fully to blame for the tragedy that happened to the Russian Il-20 plane," Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
For several years, Israel and Russia have maintained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the 

Russia blames Israel for downing of plane by Syrian forces

The Israeli military has informed residents of a West Bank hamlet that they have until October 1 to leave before their homes face demolition.
Israel says Khan al-Ahmar, an encampment of corrugated shacks outside an Israeli settlement, was illegally built and has offered to resettle residents a few miles away.
But Palestinians and other critics say it's impossible for Palestinians to get building permits and the demolition is aimed at displacing Palestinians in favor of settlement expansion.
The military delivered a leaflet Sunday offering to assist the residents in demolishing the structures. Earlier this month, Israel's Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against the slated demolition.
Israel has come under heavy criticism, with major European countries calling on it to halt demolition plans.

Israel gives West Bank village Oct. 1 demolition deadline

Iranian media say nine men convicted of raping a woman have been hanged.
The Arman daily reported Sunday that the men broke into the woman's villa in the southern Fars province and raped her, without specifying when the crime took place. They were hanged Saturday after the Supreme Court reaffirmed their sentence earlier this month.
Arman quoted Ali Alghasimehr, the provincial chief justice, as saying that the woman withdrew her complaint but that authorities carried out the punishment anyway.
Rights groups say Iran is one of the world's leading executioners, and have repeatedly called on it to abolish the death penalty.

Iran executes 9 men convicted of rape

Porsche's chief executive says the sports car maker won't produce any new diesel models in the wake of parent company Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal.
CEO Oliver Blume told Sunday's Bild am Sonntag newspaper that, although Porsche itself never developed and produced diesel engines, its image has suffered from the scandal that erupted in 2015. He was quoted as saying the company wants to concentrate on "what we can do particularly well," citing high-performance gasoline models, hybrids and starting next year electric cars.
Blume added: "That also means that there will be no more diesels from Porsche in the future." He said Porsche hasn't had any diesels in its range since February and the "test phase" has shown that many diesel drivers are prepared to switch to gasoline or hybrid cars.

Germany's Porsche says it won't produce new diesel models

Pope Francis paid tribute Sunday to Lithuanians who suffered and died during Soviet and Nazi occupations on the day the country remembers the near-extermination of its centuries-old Jewish community during the Holocaust.
Francis began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuania's second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation.
During Mass in the lush Santakos Park under a brilliant autumn sun, Francis honored both Jewish victims of Nazi-era executions and the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.
"Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors," Francis told the crowd.
"Kaunas knows about this. Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention .

Pope honours victims of Soviet and Nazi crimes in Baltics

Militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual Iranian military parade in the country's oil-rich southwest, killing at least 25 people and wounding over 60 in the deadliest terror attack to strike the country in nearly a decade.
Women and children scattered along with once-marching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out Saturday at the parade in Ahvaz, the chaos captured live on state television.
The region's Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the brazen assault and Iranian officials appeared to believe the claim.
Iran summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands early Sunday for allegedly harbouring "members of the terrorist group" that launched the attack.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed regional countries and their "US masters" for funding and arming the separatists, issuing a stark warning as regional tensions remain high in the wake of the US .

Iran summons Western diplomats over parade attack killing 25

Negotiators reached a tentative agreement Saturday for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear testimony Thursday from Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault from decades ago, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Lawyers for Ford and bipartisan representatives of the committee came to the tentative agreement after a short phone call, said one of the people, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. The person said Kavanaugh would also appear.
Some details of the hearing, such as the order of their appearance, remained in negotiation. Talks were expected to continue Sunday.
The tentative accord could bring to a close days of high-stakes brinkmanship that have roiled Washington ahead of midterm elections and threated to jeopardize Kavanaugh's confirmation to the court.
Tensions have been running on overdrive since Ford, a 51-year-old college professor in California, went public with her ...

AP source: Kavanaugh, Ford agree to testify on Thursday

An unmanned Japanese space capsule is headed to the International Space Station filled with cargo including food, experiments and new batteries.
The craft was launched Sunday at 2:52 am local time from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. It will take four-and-a-half days to reach the space station.
The launch was delayed for about two weeks because of bad weather and a mechanical problem.
The delay has led NASA to postpone two space walks to install the six lithium-ion batteries until new crew members arrive next month. They will replace the aging nickel-hydrogen batteries for the station's electric power, enabling an extension of its operations.
The supply ship is a 9-metre (30-foot) long cylinder that will be retrieved by the space station's robotic arm. It is named Kounotori, which means white stork.
The 5,500 kilograms of cargo includes racks and equipment for experiments and an experimental re-entry capsule to try to demonstrate a novel technology to bring back ...

Japanese supply ship heads to space station after delays

Reality television star Kim Kardashian is at the White House Wednesday for a meeting with President Donald Trump on criminal justice reform.
That's according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorised to discuss the matter on the record.
TMZ first reported Kardashian's visit to the White House.
Kardashian last visited the White House three months ago to press for a pardon for Alice Marie Johnson.
One week later Trump granted the 63-year-old clemency, freeing her from prison after a more than two-decade stint on drug charges.

Kim Kardashian meeting with Trump on prison reform

The New York City mayor's office says a plane has been quarantined at New York's Kennedy Airport amid reports of numerous ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai.
The Emirates flight landed around 9:10 am Wednesday.
Video from news helicopters showed the jet sitting on the tarmac surrounded by ambulances, emergency vehicles and airport personnel.
Eric Phillips, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, says representatives of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention were on the scene.
Phillips tweeted that the flight stopped in Mecca, which is experiencing a flu outbreak, and "early indications point to that as a possibility."
Airline representatives did not immediate respond to an email.
A New York police counterterrorism division tweeted it appeared to be a "medical situation".

Plane quarantined at JFK amid reports of sick passengers

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters have marched in Sri Lanka's capital to demand the government step down, accusing it of corruption and selling national assets to foreign nations.
The activists loyal to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa walked along several main roads in Colombo on Wednesday, shouting slogans and holding placards. They later gathered near the president's office and launched a sit-in protest on a main road.
Rajapaksa's loyalists criticize the government for selling national assets to foreign countries, including the leasing of a sea port to China for 99 years.
The government was elected on a platform of good governance but its image was marred in 2015 by a central bank scandal that led to the resignation of a key minister.

AP

AP

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