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 ...

Le Minh Thai, Vietnam war photographer, dies in US

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The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency says the number of Islamic extremists in the country is growing rapidly.
	Hans-Georg Maassen says his agency estimates that some 6,300 people in Germany are adherents of a fundamentalist strain of Islam known as Salafism.
	Maassen told rbb-Inforadio in an interview broadcast today that the number of Salafis could rise to 7,000 by the end of the year, compared to about 3,800 three years ago.
	He says extremist strands of Islam provide disaffected young people with a sense of belonging and purpose that allows them to hope they'll go "from being underdogs to top dogs."
	Authorities estimate that some 450 Salafis have traveled from Germany to join extremists groups fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Number of Islamic extremists growing in Germany

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai today made his first overseas trip since taking office, fulfilling an election promise to undertake a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
	His office said in a statement that Ghani Ahmadzai would perform Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of year. He would also meet with Saudi King Abdullah and other officials to discuss issues of mutual interest, the statement said.
	Ghani Ahmadzai took office on September 29, after a prolonged election, during which he promised that his first foreign trip would be to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.
	His next scheduled trip is to China from October 28-31, where he will meet with President Xi Jinping and potential investors in the rebuilding of his war-torn country.
	Meanwhile, in the volatile southern Kandahar province, a suicide bomber attacked and killed a district intelligence director, according to Samim Khpolwak, the spokesman for the provincial governor.
	The ...

Afghan president visits Saudi Arabia

Just over a year ago, Afshin Kobani was a teacher. Now, the Kurdish Syrian woman has traded the classroom for the front lines in the battle for Kobani, a town besieged by fighters from the Islamic State extremist group.
	The 28-year-old Kurdish fighter, who uses a nom de guerre, said she decided to join the fight in her hometown when she saw IS advances in Syria.
	"I lost many friends to this, and I decided there was a need to join up," said Kobani, who declined to reveal her birth name. "This is our land our own and if we don't do it, who else will?"
	Perched on the other side of the Turkish border, the Syrian town of Kobani has been under an intense assault by IS for more than a month. The town surrounded on the east, south and west by IS is being defended by Kurdish forces in Syria.
	Among those fighters are thousands of women, an unusual phenomenon in the Muslim world in which warfare is often associated with manhood.
	In April, Kurdish fighters created all-female combat units ...

Women on front lines in Syria, Iraq against IS

The gunman who shot and killed a soldier in plain daylight then stormed Canada's Parliament once complained that a Vancouver mosque he attended was too liberal and inclusive, and was kicked out after he repeatedly spent the night there even though officials told him to stop, Muslim leaders said.
	Aasim Rashid, spokesman for the British Columbia Muslim Association, said yesterday that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau visited the Masjid Al-Salaam mosque for three to four months toward the end of 2011, and possibly early 2012, before he was told not to come back.
	Rashid said that before Zehaf-Bibeau got in trouble for using the mosque for accommodations, he had complained to leaders in the previous administration about the mosque's openness and willingness to let non-Muslims visit.
	"The mosque administration sat him down and explained to him that this is how they run the mosque and that they will keep the doors open to all Muslims and non-Muslims who want to visit," he said at a news conference ...

Gunman in Canada attack complained about mosque

An expert on Rohingya Muslims says a growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the long-persecuted minority fleeing by boat in less than two weeks.
	Chris Lewa, director of the The Arakan Project, says an average of 900 people per day have been piling into cargo ships parked off Rakhine state since October 15.
	Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya have been denied citizenship and have almost no rights. Attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps.
	In recent weeks, an aggressive campaign by authorities to officially categorize them as "Bengalis", implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh, has aggravated their situation.

Expert: 8,000 more Rohingya flee Myanmar

An assailant has shot and killed a Sacramento County sheriff's deputy and wounded two other police officers along with a bystander during a series of shootings that spanned more than 30 miles (50 kilometers) through two California counties.
	Deputies were searching a steep, tree-lined river canyon in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Auburn Friday afternoon for an armed man who was suspected in all four shootings.
	Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said at an afternoon news conference that Deputy Danny Oliver, 47, was killed after he approached a suspicious vehicle in a motel parking lot yesterday morning and was shot in the forehead at close range. Oliver was a 15-year veteran who leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
	"He was not able to return fire or do anything," Jones said. He said Oliver's partner was able to shoot back as the vehicle was fleeing the scene.
	Jones did not know a motive.
	Placer County Sheriff's spokeswoman Dena Erwin told The Associated Press that two ...

3 California sheriffs' deputies shot, 1 dies

A nurse who caught Ebola while caring for a Dallas patient who died of the disease walked out of a Washington-area hospital virus-free and into open arms.
	Nina Pham got a hug from President Barack Obama in the Oval Office at the White House yesterday. And outside the hospital where she had been since last week, she got hugs from the nation's infectious disease chief, who oversaw her care.
	White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the meeting with Obama "an opportunity for the president to thank her for her service." But the close contact between the president and the former patient also came as officials in New York tried to calm fears after a doctor was diagnosed with Ebola in that city.
	Pham said she felt "fortunate and blessed to be standing here today," as she left the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where she had been since she arrived Oct. 16 from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.
	Pham thanked her health care teams in Dallas ...

Nurse, now Ebola free, receives thanks from Obama

A student opened fire in a high school cafeteria north of Seattle, killing at least one person and shooting several others in the head before killing himself, officials has said.
	Students in the cafeteria said the gunman stared at the students as he shot them yesterday. They described a chaotic scene at Marysville Pilchuck High School, as panicked students ran for safety.
	The shooter was a student at the school 50 kilometers north of Seattle, but Marysville Police Commander Robb Lamoureux said he could not provide more information on the gunman or his motive.
	Lamoureux said the shooter died of a self-inflicted wound.
	Student Alan Perez told KING-TV he was eating his lunch near the gunman when he heard the shots.
	"He had a little gun in his hand. I saw the flash from the muzzle," Perez said.
	Another student, Austin Taylor, told the station the shooter "was just staring down every one of his victims as he shot them."
	Cedar Parker, a 17-year-old senior, told The Associated Press ..

Police: 2 dead, including gunman, in school attack

A Palestinian-American teenager was killed during clashes with the Israeli military amid heightened tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
	A relative identified the teen as 14-year-old Orwah Hammad and said he was born in New Orleans and came to the West Bank at age six. Hammad's cousin Moath said he was among a group of Palestinians who were throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers.
	A US State Department official yesterday confirmed that the teenager was an American citizen. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly about the case.
	Hammad is the second teen to be killed by army fire in eight days. A 13-year-old was killed last week in a West Bank village.
	Another 12 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes yesterday, a hospital official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with the media.
	The Israeli military said soldiers "prevented an attack" by opening fire on a Palestinian who was throwing ...

Palestinian killed in clash with Israeli military

An Indian man who admitted that he groped a sleeping woman aboard a flight from Houston to New Jersey has been sentenced to eight months in prison.
	Devender Singh, a 62-year-old Indian national who lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, pleaded guilty last month. Judge Stanley Chesler also sentenced Singh to two years of supervised release and ordered that he register as a sex offender.
	He had faced up to two years in prison.
	Prosecutors say Singh was seated next to the woman whom he did not know. The woman fell asleep while the plane was in the air and prosecutors say she woke up to find Singh kissing her face with his hand inside her shirt. He was touching himself in a sexual manner.

Man jailed for groping woman on US flight

Turkish authorities say the consulates of Canada, Belgium and Germany in Istanbul have been evacuated after receiving suspicious packages today.
	Dogan Eskinat, a spokesman for Turkey's emergence management agency, AFAD, said that seven people from the Canadian consulate have been hospitalised as a precaution after one of them opened a package and was exposed to a yellow powder.
	Dogan said that as part of standard procedures, Turkish authorities have sent samples for testing.
	Claude Rochon, spokeswoman at Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, said: "All staff at the Canadian mission are safe and accounted for."
	The German Foreign Ministry said that the German consulate in Istanbul received a "suspicious object," that the staff members are safe and the Turkish authorities were notified. A ministry spokeswoman declined to elaborate.

3 Istanbul consulates evacuated

Maria Sharapova failed to advance out of the WTA Finals groups and conceded the year-end No.1 ranking to Serena Williams despite a three-set victory over Agnieszka Radwanska today.
     Sharapova needed to win in straight sets to have a chance of progressing in the tournament, and had to win the title 10 years after her first time if she was to topple Williams from the top of the rankings.
     Sharapova inexplicably collapsed from a set and 5-1 up, missing three match points and losing the second set in a tiebreak. The Russian ultimately prevailed 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-2 in over three hours but she will go home while Radwanska qualified for the semifinals despite a 1-2 group-stage record.
     Radwanska was helped by Caroline Wozniacki beating Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-3. Kvitova would have progressed had she won. Williams takes the year-end top ranking for the fourth time, beside 2002, 2009 and 2013.
     Since the rankings began in 1975, only five players have held the No. 1 spot at year end .

Sharapova concedes No.1 ranking to Serena

Islamic State militants used chlorine gas during fighting with security forces and Shiite militiamen last month north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said today.
	The use of chlorine gas as a weapon adds a new concern to the turmoil in the country. The reports, if confirmed, would be the first time the Sunni extremists attempted to use chlorine since their blitz earlier this year that seized large chunks of territory in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria.
	Three Iraqi officials, a senior security official, a local official from the town of Duluiya and an official from the town of Balad told The Associated Press that the Islamic State group used bombs with chlorine-filled cylinders during clashes in late September in the two towns.
	The militants have failed to capture both Duluiya, 75 kilometers north of Baghdad, and Balad, 80 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital.
	In the attacks, about 40 troops and Shiite militiamen were slightly affected by the chlorine and showed symptoms consistent 

Iraqi officials say IS militants used chlorine gas

The US will pay the Philippines 87 million pesos (USD 1.9 million) for damage caused by a US Navy minesweeper that ran aground on a protected coral reef last year, an official said today.
	Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told a legislative hearing that the US had agreed to pay the compensation.
	The minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground in the Tubbataha National Marine Park in January last year and was removed two months later after being dismantled and lifted piece by piece by a crane to prevent more damage to the reef.
	The reef has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A joint assessment by the park's management, the World Wide Fund for Nature and other experts found that 2,345 square meters (25,240 square feet) of coral was damaged.
	The ship's grounding was embarrassing for Washington as it attempts to reassert its presence in Asia amid China's rise, and the Navy and the US ambassador to Manila apologized.
	The US Pacific Fleet relieved the ship's commanding officer, .

US to compensate Philippines for coral reef damage

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the US of destabilizing the world by trying to enforce its will on other countries.
	In a speech to political experts in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi today, Putin cited the wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria, to back up his claim. Speaking with strong emotion, he said Washington has been "fighting against the results of its own policy" in those countries.
	Putin has accused the US of trying to cast Russia as a danger to the rest of the world and forcing its allies to impose sanctions against Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis.
	He said the sanctions aim to push Russia into isolation and will not succeed.
	The Ukrainian crisis has brought Russia-West relations to their lowest point since the Cold War.

Putin accuses US of undermining global stability

The World Health Organization says millions of doses of two experimental Ebola vaccines could be ready for use in 2015 and five more experimental vaccines will start being tested in March.
	Still, the agency warned it's not clear whether any of these will work against the deadly virus that has already killed over 4,800 people this year in West Africa.
	Dr Marie-Paule Kieny from the UN health agency told reporters that millions of doses of an Ebola vaccine could be available in 2015 if early tests prove that the two leading candidates are safe and effective.
	Trials of those two most advanced vaccines one developed by GlaxoSmithKline in cooperation with the US National Institute of Health, the other developed by the Canadian Public Health Agency have already begun in the US, UK and Mali.
	"The vaccine is not the magic bullet. But when ready, they may be a good part of the effort to turn the tide of this epidemic," Kieny said.
	If the early vaccine trials hint at success, larger trials .

WHO: 5 more Ebola vaccines to be tested in March

Procter & Gamble plans to remove its batteries and make Duracell a stand-alone company.
	The world's largest consumer products maker, which acquired Duracell in 2005, has been trimming its product lineup to focus on its top performers.
	After it finishes jettisoning more than half its brands around the globe over the next year or two, P&G said it will be left with about 70 to 80 brands.
	If a split-off of Duracell occurs, P&G said its shareholders would have the option of exchanging some, none or all of their P&G shares for shares of the new Duracell company.
	Jon Moeller, the company's chief financial officer, said during a call with reporters that Duracell is an "attractive" business that generates about USD 2 billion a year in sales. But he said P&G wants to focus on products that are "even more attractive."
	P&G also makes Tide detergent, Pampers diapers and Olay skin care.
	The Procter & Gamble Co, based in Cincinnati, today said it prefers a spinoff ...

Procter & Gamble taking out its batteries

Jackie Chan has pledged to become a better father after his son Jaycee was arrested on drug charges.
	The film star said in his first comments in person after the arrest: "I am always a father. I used to be an unqualified father. Now, after this event, I want to be a qualified father."
	Jaycee Chan was detained in August and was formally arrested the following month on suspicion of allowing other people to consume drugs, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment.
	Chan apologised in a statement soon after his son's arrest and pledged to work with him on his recovery.
	He spoke to reporters Thursday while promoting his latest movie, "Skiptrace," in which he plays a Hong Kong detective.

Chan wants to be better father after son's arrest

Activists say that Syrian government forces have stepped up shelling of rebel-held areas, killing nine people in a village in the country's north.
	Local activist Ibrahim Khatib and Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said today that government forces targeted the village of Tel Qrah the previous night.
	They say the bombing is part of an intensified effort by the Syrian government forces to retake rebel-held areas around the country's key cities and towns while the US-led coalition is focusing on fighting the Islamic State group.
	Abdurrahman says the bombing killed nine, including three children.
	Khatib says a hall where displaced Syrians were living was hit and that many bodies were badly burnt and could not be identified.

Syrian government forces shell rebel areas, kill 9

The hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in a remote patch of the Indian Ocean is progressing well but will likely take many months because of the huge area involved, an Australian official said today.
	Peter Foley, an Australian search coordinator, said there is optimism with two ships using high-tech sonar devices to search for the Boeing 777, which disappeared in March while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
	He said weather is improving and they hope to cover as much area as possible.
	"We could get extraordinarily lucky and find it very early," Foley told reporters after two days of talks with Malaysian authorities.
	"We could find the debris field any day but the likelihood given the size of the area, we are in for the long haul. It will take many months," he said.
	Despite a massive air and sea search, not a single confirmed piece of debris from the plane has been found.
	The ship Discovery, provided by Dutch contractor Fugro, arrived ...

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