Four months after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine, a new video shows how close the burning passenger jet came to hitting village homes and suggests that residents first assumed it was a Ukrainian military plane that had been struck.
	The amateur footage, filmed by a resident of Hrabove, shows people reacting in alarm as wreckage blazes only a few meters away from their homes on the afternoon of July 17. The video is perhaps the first taken immediately after the plane came down.
	The ultimate cause of the MH17 disaster is the subject of major diplomatic disputes. Ukraine and Western government say Russia-backed separatist fighters fired the rockets that felled the plane, while state-run television in Moscow over the weekend produced evidence it claims places blame with Ukraine's air force.
	All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed when it was shot down over a rebel-held area. Charred remains of the .

New video of MH17 downing shows alarm in Ukraine

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A bomb exploded on a pedestrian overpass in a southern Philippine town threatened by Muslim rebels in the past, wounding at least 17 people today, police said.
	Soldiers defused two other bombs near the scene of the first blast in the farming town of Kabacan in North Cotabato province, Police Senior Inspector Jarwin Castroberde said.
	Four of the victims were brought to a hospital in critical condition, according to Kabacan official David Saure.
	Castroberde says investigators were trying to identify the attackers but the suspects include breakaway guerrillas opposed to a peace deal between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest insurgent group in the south of the largely Roman Catholic nation.
	The few hundred breakaway guerrillas have continued occasional attacks against government forces and far-flung communities in the marshy heartland of southern Mindanao region in a futile fight for a separate homeland for minority Muslims.

Bomb in overpass wounds 17 in southern Philippines

British Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned the Islamic State group as a "depraved organisation" after the extremists released a video claiming to show that militants have beheaded US aid worker Peter Kassig.
	Cameron said that like others who have been "murdered in cold blood" by the group, Kassig was a selfless humanitarian worker who had gone to the region to help others.
	Cameron said today the video "underlines the deplorable depths to which these terrorists are prepared to go -- savagely murdering a compassionate man."
	The video, which also purports to show extremists beheading a dozen Syrian soldiers, ends with a militant standing over what he calls the severed head of Kassig.
	US officials said they were working to determine the video's authenticity.

UK's Cameron condemns Islamic State as 'depraved'

A coalition of rights groups wants G-20 leaders to take action to improve the lives of the most vulnerable in society, reduce inequality and address climate change.
	The Civil Society 20 group, or C-20, says the G-20 summit this weekend in Brisbane, Australia will be judged on fairness.
	To that end, it wants the summit of leaders from the world's 20 largest economies to match a commitment to boost GDP by an extra USD 2 trillion over five years with a plan to ensure that the poorest 20 percent of households benefit most.
	The problems of inequitable economic growth have often been submerged by other items on the G-20 agenda. But the inclusion of the word "inequality" in the communique from the last leaders' summit held in St Petersburg, Russia in September 2013 was seen by some as a breakthrough.
	G-20 governments have increasingly recognized that inequality is an economic issue as well as a social and moral issue, but some activists fear that addressing inequality has lost momentum ..

G-20 leaders told they will be judged on fairness

An Islamic State group video released today purports to show extremists beheading a dozen Syrian soldiers and ends with a militant claiming to have killed US aid worker Peter Kassig, the latest slaughter proudly broadcast by the group on the Internet.
	The video ends with the militant standing over a severed head he says belongs to Kassig. US officials said they were working to determine the video's authenticity. Kassig's family said it was awaiting the outcome of the investigation.
	"We prefer our son is written about and remembered for his important work and the love he shared with friends and family, not in the manner the hostage takers would use to manipulate Americans and further their cause," the family said in a statement.
	The AP could not independently verify the footage, though it appeared on websites used in the past by the Islamic State group, which now controls a third of Syria and Iraq.
	The video identifies the militants' location as Dabiq, a town in northern Syria that 

Video: Islamic State group beheads US aid worker

A series of explosions in Baghdad killed at least five people and wounded nearly 20 today, including a bombing claimed by the Islamic State militant group near the Baghdad International Airport.
	The first blast took place near a police patrol in the suburb of Radwaniya, a largely Sunni neighborhood southwest of Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding five.
	Police also reported a roadside bombing on a commercial street in the Hay Jami'a neighborhood, which killed three people and wounded nine.
	Near the Baghdad International Airport, police say a car bomb tore through a parking lot at one of the checkpoints leading to the airport, wounding five people and causing extensive damage to cars.
	Militants with the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on a militant website, which said the attack was targeting Americans.
	The statement, which identified the attacker as a man named Abu Muawiya al-Falluji, could not immediately be verified but it .

Bombs kill 5 across Baghdad, Iraq officials say

The Dutch government has banned the transport of poultry and eggs throughout the country after confirming an outbreak of bird flu at a chicken farm.
	The Ministry for Economic Affairs today said the outbreak is deadly to poultry and can also be transmitted to humans. Spokesman Jan van Diepen said the exact strain of bird flu has not yet been established.
	All 150,000 chickens at the farm in Hekendorp, 65 kilometers south of Amsterdam, were being slaughtered. It was not clear how the farm became infected.
	As well as halting the movement of poultry, other birds and eggs nationwide for 72 hours, the government is imposing other restrictions, including banning the transport of byproducts such as poultry manure and hay that have been used in poultry farms.

Bird flu confirmed at Dutch chicken farm

Zimbabwe's vice president, once seen as a possible successor to President Robert Mugabe, has been linked to an alleged plot to assassinate the 90-year-old leader, a state-run newspaper reported today.
	An ally of Vice President Joice Mujuru who was recently ousted from his post as ruling party spokesman said the allegations that he conspired against Mugabe are false.
	Rugare Gumbo, the ousted spokesman, was identified in The Sunday Mail as a plotter against Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980.
	The Sunday Mail cited a voice recording and reported comments as evidence of the alleged plot but it did not attribute the information to security officials or other sources.
	Political factions are maneuvering for influence ahead of the annual ruling party congress next month. Mujuru has come under repeated verbal attacks from the president's wife, Grace.
	Grace Mugabe has assumed an increasingly political role, angering some party insiders who believe she does not have ...

Zimbabwe's vice president linked to plot

The White House says the US intelligence community is working to determine the authenticity of a video that purports to show that Islamic State militants have beheaded American aid worker Peter Kassig.
	National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan says that if the video is authentic, the White House would be "appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American."
	She says the White House expresses its deepest condolences to Kassig's family and friends.
	The video emerged just minutes after President Barack Obama departed Australia for the US.
	The president was in Australia for the Group of 20 economic summit.
	Kassig, 26, was captured last year while helping provide medical aid to Syrians. His friends say he converted to Islam in captivity and changed his name to Abdul-Rahman.

US seeking to confirm authenticity of new IS video

Campaign posters and banners for next week's presidential elections have covered the walls of Tunisia's cities and towns, papering over the flaking posters from the parliamentary elections just three weeks ago.
	The presidential campaign, featuring 25 competitors, kicked off in early November and it's the first time since Tunisians overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 that they will choose their head of state through universal suffrage.
	If no candidate wins a majority Nov. 23, there will be a runoff between the top two vote-getters on Dec. 28.
	Alone among the countries that experienced the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, Tunisia's transition has remained on track.
	The favorite to win is Beji Caid Essebsi, an 87-year-old veteran politician who served under Ben Ali and his predecessor Habib Bourguiba, and whose party won the most seats in parliament 39 percent in the October elections.
	After 3 1/2 years of a stormy transition marked by high unemployment and terrorist ...

Tunisia readies for presidential elections

President Barack Obama today bluntly accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of not living up to a cease-fire agreement in Ukraine, but offered no new plans for how the West might change his calculus.
	Obama spoke shortly after huddling with European leaders to discuss the conflict and worsening security situation.
	On the potential for increasing sanctions on Russia, Obama said the US and European allies are always looking at more penalties but "at this point the sanctions we have in place are biting plenty good."
	"We're also very firm on the need to uphold core international principles," Obama said at a press conference to wrap up a weeklong Asia-Pacific tour. "One of those principles is that you don't invade other countries or finance proxies and support them in ways that break up a country that has mechanisms for democratic elections."
	Despite a cease-fire agreement between Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels signed in Minsk, Belarus, in September, fighting continues and key ...

Obama accuses Putin of not living up to ceasefire

Iran's Supreme Court has disbarred a hardline judge over his role in the death by torture of at least three jailed anti-government protesters in 2009, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.
	Saeed Mortazavi, an ally of former hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has also been barred from all government positions for five years, ISNA reported late yesterday.
	A parliamentary probe in 2010 found Mortazavi responsible in the torturing to death of at least three anti-government protesters detained during mass demonstrations in the wake of Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009.
	At the time, he was Tehran prosecutor general and responsible for Kahrizak prison in the Iranian capital.
	Mortazavi has rejected the allegations, and ISNA quoted him as saying he was convicted because of "exercise of opinion and derailing the case from its legal path."
	The three prisoners, detained in the unprecedented protests following Ahmadinejad's re-election, died in Kahrizak a month after their 

Iran judge disbarred over protester deaths

President Barack Obama huddled today with European leaders to discuss the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, where officials say the security situation is worsening.
	The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit in Brisbane, Australia.
	Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the summit and faced a chorus of criticism from world leaders about his government's role in fueling the Ukraine crisis. The Russian leader departed Australia shortly before Obama and European leaders opened their talks.
	French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron were among the European leaders attending the meeting, along with leaders from Italy and Spain and EU representatives.
	The US and European Union have levied multiple rounds of sanctions against Russia, but the penalties have failed to change Putin's calculus. The West accuses Russia of arming and supplying rebel forces that have destabilized cities in ...

Obama, EU leaders meet on Russia-Ukraine conflict

A city police officer was put under arrest and is being investigated following a shooting incident that has wounded a student on the main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, prosecutors said.
	The shots were fired yesterday after a crowd verbally and physically assaulted the officer and three others officials sent by the city prosecutor's office to investigate a student's complaint of a cellphone theft earlier this month.
	The officer reported that he fired shots into the air trying to deter the crowd of about 20 people and a bullet struck a male student in the thigh, the statement said. It said the officer was being treated at a hospital for bruises and was put in custody while the incident is being investigated.
	Some students said the confrontation erupted after the officer was seen taking photographs of young people at the Justo Sierra auditorium, which has been occupied by a group of anarchists.
	The shooting came at a time of high tension in Mexico, ...

Gunshot wounds student at Mexico's main university

Spain's navy has rammed into a Greenpeace dinghy during a protest in the Atlantic Ocean against oil exploration near the Canary Islands injuring four of its activists, one of them seriously, the environmental organization said.
	However, the navy disputed that account. The navy said it dispatched two boats from one of its ships in the area to prevent Greenpeace from boarding a large oil drilling ship and that one of its activists was seriously injured when she fell out of her dinghy and was hit by its propellers.
	Speaking by radio-telephone from Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in the area yesterday, Capt Joel Stewart identified the woman as a 23-year-old Italian activist and said the other three other injuries were minor. The navy said it rushed the activist to a Spanish hospital in a helicopter.
	In Madrid, lawmaker Diego Lopez Garrido of Spain's main opposition Socialist party, said he would call Defense Minister Pedro Morenes to parliament to explain the navy's actions.
	Last ...

Greenpeace: 4 activists hurt off Canary Islands

Authorities in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas say six people, including two 15-year-old girls, have been killed in a small plane crash.
	An official from the state's civil protection agency said Saturday the seven-seat Cessna had initially taken off from San Luis Potosi in central Mexico on Friday and made a stop in the Tamaulipas state capital of Ciudad Victoria before heading for its final destination of Torreon, in the northern state of Coahuila. The official did not have authorization to talk with reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.
	The accident occurred about 5:30 pm Friday, but authorities couldn't reach the crash site until Saturday morning because of bad weather and the area's inaccessibility.
	Those killed were three adult women, the two adolescent girls, and the pilot.

Small plane crashes in northern Mexico, 6 dead

US opponents of animal testing for cosmetics hope to build off recent bans in Europe and India and make a big push for a similar prohibition in the US.
	The effort could be a tough sell in a Republican- controlled Congress.
	Virginia Democrat Don Beyer is expected to take the lead on the issue when the new Congress convenes next January.
	He is succeeding retiring Rep Jim Moran, who has introduced legislation that would prohibit testing cosmetic products on animals, as well as the sale of any new cosmetics if the final product or any component was developed using animal testing.
	"The United States must be a world leader and not a follower," Beyer told supporters in a campaign email highlighting the issue.
	His state is home to several cosmetic companies, such as Tri Tech Laboratories of Lynchburg, a custom manufacturer of personal care products.
	Last year, the EU banned the sale of new cosmetic products containing ingredients tested on animals, and India followed with a similar ...

Federal ban sought for animal testing on cosmetics

Russian state television has released a satellite photograph that it claims shows that a Ukrainian fighter jet shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. However, commentators have dismissed the photo as a fake.
	All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 were killed when it was shot down July 17 over a rebel-held area of Ukraine. Ukraine and the West have blamed the attack on Russia-backed rebels.
	The photo released yesterday by Russia's Channel One and Rossiya TV stations purportedly shows a Ukrainian fighter plane firing an air-to-air missile in the direction of the MH17.
	The channels said they received the photo in an email. Several bloggers said the photograph is a forgery, citing a cloud pattern to prove the photo dates back to 2012 and several other details that seem incongruous.

Russian TV claims it has photo of downing of MH17

Activists are reporting rare internal fighting in a rebel stronghold east of the capital Damascus.
	The activists say the fighting broke out yesterday and continued till today between residents and members of the Islamic Army in the suburb of Douma.
	A Syria-based activist who goes by the name of Mohammed Orabi said the clashes began when residents attacked the storage units of influential merchants who dominate the local food distribution business to protest high prices.
	Orabai and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said guards at the units opened fire, seriously wounding several residents.
	The Islamic Army, a powerful rebel faction which tightly controls Douma, receives funding from some of these merchants, activists say, and is clashing with angry local residents in their defense.

Clashes in rebel-held suburb of Syrian capital

Pope Francis denounced the right to die movement today, saying it's a "false sense of compassion" to consider euthanasia as an act of dignity when in fact it's a sin against God and creation.
	Francis made the comments to the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors.
	Earlier this month, the Vatican's top bioethics official condemned as "reprehensible" the assisted suicide of an American woman, Brittany Maynard, who was suffering terminal brain cancer and said she wanted to die with dignity.
	Francis didn't refer to the Maynard case specifically.
	While denouncing euthanasia in general, he also condemned abortion, in vitro fertilization (or "the scientific production of a child") and embryonic stem cell research (or "using human beings as laboratory experiments to presumably save others.")
	"This is playing with life," he said. "Beware, because this is a sin against the creator, against God the creator."
	While shying away from hot-button, culture war issues such as abortion, Francis ..

Pope denounces euthanasia as 'sin against God'

More than 200 refugees detained in Thailand earlier this year are believed to be Chinese Uighurs and should be repatriated, a Chinese consul said, dismissing concerns they will be mistreated.
	The refugees' claim to be Turkish cannot be confirmed and they refuse to cooperate with Chinese authorities on proper identification, said Qin Jian, the consul in Songkhla.
	"They have been uncooperative and refused to communicate at all," Qin said.
	The refuges are likely fearful of being mistreated in China if they are returned, although Qin said such concerns are unwarranted.
	"If they do not have criminal records back in China, there will be no prosecution," the consul said.
	Tensions between minority Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese have left about 400 people dead in the past 20 months.
	Beijing has blamed the violence on terrorism, separatism and extreme religion and has harshly cracked down in the Uighurs' far northwestern home region. But human rights groups say the heavy-handedness .

AP

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