The Israeli government is advancing construction plans to build about 1,000 housing units built in parts of Jerusalem that Palestinians demand for their future state.
	A government official says the plans also include building infrastructure in the West Bank that will be used by Palestinians as well as Israelis. He spoke on condition of anonymity today because he is not authorized to talk to media.
	Palestinians demand east Jerusalem home to the city's most sensitive holy sites for Jews, Muslims and Christians as their future capital and oppose any Israeli construction there.
	Finance Minister Yair Lapid opposed the plan, saying it will lead to a "serious crisis in Israel-US relations."
	The international community and the United States do not recognize Israel's annexation of the territory.

Israel advances building plans in east Jerusalem

PTI Automatic

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has fleshed out guidelines for the mandatory, 21-day quarantining of medical workers returning from West Africa that he and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered two days earlier, bringing the state closer in line with federal protocols.
	Cuomo detailed the state's protocols at a nighttime news conference with New York City's mayor last night after the Obama administration said it expressed concerns to Cuomo and Christie about their states' mandatory Ebola quarantines. The announcement also comes amid sharp criticism of the treatment of a nurse returning from Sierrra Leone who was forcibly quarantined in a New Jersey hospital isolation unit even though she said had no symptoms and tested negative for Ebola.
	Under the outlined New York guidelines, medical professionals who have had contact with Ebola patients will be quarantined at home and receive twice-daily monitoring if they have no symptoms. Family members will be allowed to stay, and friends may visit 

Gov. Outlines NY policy for Ebola quarantine

One of the teenagers wounded in a Washington state high school shooting has died, raising the number of fatalities from when a student opened fire in a cafeteria to three.
	Officials at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett confirmed 14-year-old Gia Soriano died yesterday night. Another girl was killed during the shooting Friday by a popular first-year student at Marysville-Pilchuck High School north of Seattle. The shooter, Jaylen Fryberg, died of a self-inflicted wound.
	Three other students remain hospitalized, two in critical condition and one in serious condition.
	At a news conference, Dr. Joanne Roberts read a statement from Soriano's family.
	"We are devastated by this senseless tragedy. Gia is our beautiful daughter, and words cannot express how much we will miss her," the statement said.
	Roberts said Soriano's family was donating her organs for transplant.
	Earlier yesterday, parents and students gathered in a gymnasium at the school for a community meeting, with ...

Hospital: Teen wounded in school shooting dies

Gov Rick Scott is ordering twice daily monitoring for anyone returning from places the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designates as affected by Ebola.
	Scott signed the order yesterday, giving the Florida Health Department authority to monitor individuals for 21 days. Scott said his administration asked the CDC to identify risk levels of returning individuals from specific parts of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone but has not received information.
	Ebola Scott said he was taking action out of an abundance of caution following news that a New York doctor tested positive for Ebola after caring for patients in Africa. New York, New Jersey and Illinois have introduced similar quarantine policies in recent days.

Florida orders 21-day monitoring for Ebola

Iraqi soldiers backed by Shiite militiamen retook control today of a Sunni town seized previously by Islamic militants, said an Iraqi official and state-run TV, a rare victory for Iraqi security forces that have been battling to regain areas lost to the militants.
	The provincial official said that government forces entered Jurf al-Skhar, which fell to fighters from the Islamic State group in late July.
	Col. Muthana Khalid, spokesman of the Babil provincial police, said the battle over the town left dozens of militants dead or wounded.
	"Our soldiers raised the Iraqi flag over government offices and buildings in the town. It is another victory achieved against the terrorists," Khalid added.
	The town, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital, is part of a predominantly Sunni ribbon that runs just south of Baghdad.
	State-run TV showed footage of Iraqi soldiers walking near Jurf al-Skhar police station and the municipal building. Also, explosive experts were shown detonating some 

Iraqi troops retake control of Sunni town

The federal government is recognizing gay marriage in six more states and extending federal benefits to those couples, Attorney General Eric Holder has announced.
	Gay marriage recently became legal in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming.
	The government's announcement follows the US Supreme Court's decision earlier this month to decline to hear appeals from five states that sought to keep their marriage bans in place.
	It brings the total number of states with federal recognition of gay marriage to 32, plus Washington, DC Couples married in these states will qualify for a range of federal benefits, including Social Security retirement and veterans' benefits.
	"With each new state where same-sex marriages are legally recognized, our nation moves closer to achieving full equality for all Americans," Holder said yesterday.
	The attorney general said the government is working "as quickly as possible" to make sure same-sex married couples in these states ...

US to recognize same-sex marriage in 6 more states

The top infectious control doctor in the US says mandatory quarantines of health care workers returning from West Africa can have the unintended consequence of discouraging them from volunteering in the Ebola-ravaged region.
	Dr Anthony Fauci is the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He says that as a physician and scientist, he would not have recommended quarantine.
	New York, New Jersey and Illinois have imposed mandatory quarantines on travelers returning from West Africa who had contact with Ebola patients.
	That move followed an Ebola diagnosis in a Doctors Without Borders doctor last Thursday. The doctor is now in isolation at Bellevue Hospital in New York.
	Fauci told local media that active and direct monitoring can accomplish the same thing as quarantine.

US doctor: Quarantine can deter Ebola volunteers

President Dilma Rousseff is counting on Brazilians' gratefulness for a decade of progress to overcome concerns about a sluggish economy as the leftist leader seeks re-election today after a bitter, unpredictable campaign.
	Rousseff held a slight lead in one major poll over her center-right opponent, Aecio Neves, but the two were deadlocked in another.
	The choice between Rousseff and Neves has split Brazilians into two camps those who think only the president will continue to protect the poor and advance social inclusion versus those who are certain that only the contender's market-friendly economic policies can see Brazil return to solid growth.
	The Workers' Party's 12 years in power have seen a profound transformation in Brazil, as it expanded social welfare programs to help lift millions of people from poverty and into the middle class. But four straight years of weak economic growth under Rousseff, with an economy that's now in a technical recession, has some worried those gains .

Brazil votes for next leader after bitter campaign

An Afghan court has sentenced a mullah to 20 years in prison after finding the religious teacher guilty of raping a 10-year-old girl.
	The sentence, passed by a Kabul judge yesterday, has been welcomed by family as well as women's support groups as a rare victory in their fight for justice for female victims of sex crimes. Rape is often treated as adultery in Afghanistan, and victims can face prison themselves.
	Hassina Sarwari, who runs a shelter for women in northern Kunduz province, where the rape took place, said today that if the trial had not been transferred to Kabul the result would probably have been very different.
	The rape took place in May in the girl's home village near the provincial capital, also called Kunduz.
	"If the case would have not been transferred to Kabul, we were so worried that the mullah would have not been punished in Kunduz for his crime," said Sarwari. When she saw the girl for the first time in the hospital, she was in a bad condition and required ...

Afghan mullah jailed for 20 years for rape

A US official today said that while Vietnam has made progress on human rights, it must do more if it is to forge closer economic and security ties with the United States.
	Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski told reporters in Hanoi at the end of his five-day visit that the communist government should reform its laws to bring them in full compliance with Vietnam's 2013 constitution and its international obligations.
	Malinowski's arrival on Tuesday came the same day that Vietnam's government released prominent blogger Nguyen Van Hai and put him on a flight to the United States. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Hai had decided himself to travel to the US.
	"I made clear that we want to do more to deepen our relationship and we can do more on security cooperation and the TPP," Malinowski said, referring to the Pacific Rim trade pact the United States, Vietnam and 10 other countries were negotiating. "But we can do this if and only if there's a multiple progress on ...

US official urges Vietnam to improve human rights

The longer the Ebola outbreak rages in West Africa, the greater chance a traveler infected with the virus touches down in an Asian city.
	How quickly any case is detected, and the measures taken once it is, will determine whether the virus takes hold in a region where billions live in poverty and public health systems are often very weak.
	Governments are ramping up response plans, stepping up surveillance at airports and considering quarantine measures.
	Still, health experts in the region's less developed countries fear any outbreak would be deadly and hard to contain.
	"This is a non-treatable disease with a very high mortality rate. And even a country like the United States has not been able to completely prevent it," said Yatin Mehta, a critical care specialist at the Medanta Medicity hospital near New Delhi.
	"The government is trying. They are preparing and they are training, but our record of disaster management has been very poor in the past."
	More than 10,000 people have ...

Poor health systems in Asia cause for Ebola alarm

Cricket New Zealand says it will increase security around domestic Twenty20 matches in a bid to tackle corruption.
     Head of cricket operations Lindsay Crocker was quoted by Fairfax Media today saying extra security would be provided around player areas at T20s to control public access. Crocker said "players will be concealed behind a protected area. They won't be able to take their phones in and anybody going into that area will need to be accredited, and again they will need to leave their phones."
     Crocker said similar measures had been applied to international games for some time and might be extended to other domestic competitions.
     He said "if corrupt practice is going to germinate in this country, we think it is more likely to do so around televised matches."
     NZ Cricket says it has decided it will not follow Australia in offering a temporary amnesty to players who report approaches from match fixers. Crocker said a board meeting Thursday decided it did not ...

NZ Cricket tightens security around domestic T20s

The United States ambassador to the United Nations is on her way to visit all three of the West African countries hit hardest by the Ebola outbreak, amid rising calls for travel restrictions back home in the US.
	Samantha Power will visit Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea "to draw attention to the need for increased support for the international response," said a statement released late yesterday by the US mission.
	A spokesman said Power had already departed and was set to land in the capital of Guinea, Conakry, today. Earlier yesterday, the ambassador tweeted a photo of herself with Guinea's ambassador to the United Nations.
	The United Nations has repeatedly called for a greater international response to the worst-ever outbreak of the deadly disease, which has killed more than 4,900 people. The UN mission to counter Ebola is the first time the world body has set up such an effort in response to a public health crisis.
	Power has been vocal about the need for a stronger global ...

US: Power to visit Ebola-ravaged West Africa

A newly hired teacher confronted a student with a gun and was being hailed as a hero after a deadly shooting rampage in the cafeteria of a Washington state high school.
	First-year social studies teacher Megan Silberberger intervened in the attack Friday at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, teachers union president Randy Davis said.
	The teacher intercepted the gunman as he paused, possibly to reload, student Erick Cervantes told KIRO-TV.
	"I'm completely amazed by her actions and I feel for her," Davis told The Associated Press. "I don't know why she was in the cafeteria but I'm just grateful she was there."
	The attacker killed one female student on Friday and seriously wounded four others including two of his cousins before he died of what police said was a self-inflicted wound.
	However, it wasn't clear if the shooter committed suicide or if he accidentally shot himself in the struggle with the teacher.
	A school resource officer also ran to the scene, Davis said.
	The shooter was .

Teacher tried to stop Washington state shooting

Hawaii authorities has told several dozen residents near an active lava flow to prepare for a possible evacuation in the next three to five days as molten rock oozed across a country road and edged closer to homes.
	The flow is currently about 50 to 70 meters wide and moving northeast at about nine meters per hour.
	The lava crossed a road on the edge of Pahoa, the largest town in the mostly rural region of Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii, at 3:50 am
	It's currently about one kilometre from Pahoa Village Road, the town's main street.
	It's not clear when it might reach the village road as the flow has been advancing erratically, said Matt Patrick, a geologist with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
	Officials were going door-to door to about 50 homes to keep residents informed of the lava's movement, said Darryl Oliveira, the director of civil defence for Hawaii County.
	"This is all something we've been preparing for and hoping wouldn't have to happen," Oliveira said.
	The county ...

Hawaii officials warn of possible lava evacuation

At least 26 people, most of them children, died when a ferry capsized in the southern African country of Zambia, police said today.
	Among the drowned in yesterday's accident were parents and school children aged from six to 15 years, as well as a baby. The state broadcaster said 23 of those who died were children.
	They were travelling to another school across Lake Kariba, in the south of the country, where they were meant to participate in Zambia's 50th independence day celebrations.
	The accident was caused by overloading, according to authorities. The boat carried 20 people more than its capacity allowed.
	Zambia's vice president, Guy Scott, visited the area today and expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased. He said the government would shoulder the funeral expenses.
	Military and police divers were sent to the lake to retrieve the bodies.

Boat accident leaves 26 dead in Zambia

President Barack Obama says the US must be guided by science not fear as it responds to Ebola.
	In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says he was proud to give Texas nurse Nina Pham a hug in the Oval Office after she was cured of Ebola. He says the other nurse who contracted Ebola is also improving.
	Obama is praising New York's quick reaction to its first Ebola case. He says he's promised local officials any federal help they need.
	Obama is reminding Americans they can't contract Ebola unless they come into direct contact with a patient's bodily fluids.
	The president says the US can beat Ebola if it remains vigilant. He says the best way to stop it is at its source in West Africa.

Obama: Science, not fear, key to Ebola response

Iraqi authorities say a suicide bombing has killed eight Shiite militiamen just north of Baghdad.
	Iraqi police officials say the attack took place Saturday afternoon when a suicide bomber set off his explosives belt at a gathering of the militiamen in the town of Taji. The blast also wounded 17 people.
	Taji is 20 kilometers north of Baghdad.
	Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures from the attack. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information.
	Thousands of Iraqi Shiites answered a call from clergy in June to join security forces fighting the Sunni militants, who have captured large swaths of land in the country's west and north.

Suicide attack kills 8 Shiite militiamen in Iraq

Shakib Al Hasan claimed 6-59 to spin Bangladesh into a strong position against Zimbabwe on the first day of the first test on Saturday.
     The left-arm spinner ripped through Zimbabwe on his way to his 12th five-for as the tourists were dismissed for 240.
     At stumps, Bangladesh reached 27-1 to trail by 213. Mominul Haque was on 14 and Shamsur Rahman on 8.
     Tamim Iqbal (7) was the only batsman out after he was undone by a rising delivery off Tinashe Panyangara, fending the ball to Masakadza who stretched high to hold the catch.
     Shakib was returning to the national team after serving a three-month ban for his "severe attitude problem". He behaved impeccably and his haul meant he has now taken five wickets against every test nation.
     For Bangladesh, the day started almost perfectly as Shahadat Hossain, back after a year, removed Vusi Sibanda in the first over.
     Most Zimbabwe batsmen started well but failed to carry on, with Shakib hastening their downfall. He was ..

Zimbabwe out for 240 in 1st test vs Bangladesh

A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with the number fleeing by boat since communal violence broke out two years ago now topping 100,000, a leading expert said today.
	Chris Lewa, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Arakan Project, said there has been a huge surge since October 15, with an average of 900 people per day piling into cargo ships parked off Rakhine state.
	That's nearly 10,000 in less than two weeks, one of the biggest upticks yet.
	Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 50 million that only recently emerged from half a century of military rule, has an estimated 1.3 million Rohingya.
	Though many of their families arrived from neighboring Bangladesh generations ago, almost all have been denied citizenship.
	In the last two years, attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps, where they live without access to adequate health care, education or jobs.
	Lewa said some ...

Number of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar tops 100,000

Le Minh Thai, a photojournalist who covered the Vietnam War for The Associated Press and Time Life, has died. He was 93.
	Thai died on October 10 at a nursing home in Encinitas, where he had been living for the past seven years, his daughter, Quynh Thai, told The Associated Press.
	The eldest son of a merchant family in Vietnam's ancient port city of Hoi An, Thai went on to become a member of the Saigon press corps. He worked for The Associated Press in the 1950s and later for Time Life, covering his country's civil war, his daughter said.
	He had strong contacts both in the government and the military brass of South Vietnam and was well-known for helping foreign journalists navigate their way through his homeland, the family said. The Vietnamese national was a favored photographer of the South Vietnamese president, Nguyen Van Thieu, who in 1967 requested Thai for his official portrait.
	He covered the simmering tensions in Saigon as the war escalated, including demonstrations by ...

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