Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews hurled stones and slashed the tires of buses bearing ads promoting female worship at a key Jerusalem holy site, Israeli police said today.
	The attack, which happened on last night in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighbourhood, underscores the still simmering tensions in Israel over religious extremists who want to separate the sexes in public spaces.
	Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police units were dispatched to quell the violence in Mea Shearim where about 50 men slashed tires and pelted the buses with stones.
	The ads were posted by the group Women of the Wall, which seeks to achieve gender equality at the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray. The advertisements showed girls and women wearing prayer shawls and holding a Torah scroll rituals seen by many Orthodox Jews as reserved for men only.
	Video footage on the YNet news site showed the words "end the obscene pictures" spray-painted on a bus.
	The ads aimed to ...

Ultra-Orthodox Jews attack Jerusalem buses over an ad

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani promised today that Iran will stand by Iraq in the neighbouring country's fight against the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group.
	Rouhani told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Heidar al-Abadi that Iran "will remain on the path until the last day," according to a report by the official IRNA news agency.
	Rouhani says Iran will continue to provide Baghdad with military advisers and weapons. He also criticised the US for allegedly failing to sufficiently support Iraq against an escalating Sunni insurgency.
	That insurgency continued its wave of attacks today as a string of bombings in and near Baghdad killed 26 people.
	Police officials said the deadliest attack took place today afternoon when a double car bomb attack hit Habaybina restaurant in the Shiite-majority district of Talibiya in eastern Baghdad, killing 15 people and wounding 32 others.
	Earlier, a bomb struck at an outdoor market in the southern district of Abu Dashir, a mostly Shiite ...

Iran president pledges to back Iraq amid attacks

The US military says one of its surveillance drones made what the military labelled a "hard landing" at an airport in Niger.
	The military today said no one was injured but that the landing of the MQ-9 Reaper damaged the runway at Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey. The hard landing happened yesterday.
	The military said the US government is working closely with Niger's government to secure the scene and lessen inconveniences caused by the incident. The cause of the hard landing is under investigation.
	The Niamey airport is close to the border with Mali, to the west, and northern Nigeria, to the east, giving the drones the ability to track movements by militants in both regions.

US military drone makes 'hard landing' in Niger

A mentally ill British man accused of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon was extradited to the US today after losing a nine-year legal battle.
	London's Metropolitan Police said Haroon Aswat was taken from Broadmoor psychiatric hospital west of London and escorted onto a plane by US officials.
	Aswat is accused of conspiring with radical cleric Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri, to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, 15 years ago.
	Aswat had been fighting extradition since his arrest on a US warrant in 2005, and has been treated for paranoid schizophrenia.
	Last month Britain's High Court ruled that Aswat could be extradited after receiving assurances from US authorities that he would continue to be treated for his condition.
	Prosecutors have linked Aswat to Mustafa, long prominent in the British media because of his fiery sermons at London's Finsbury Park Mosque. Mustafa was extradited nearly two years ago and convicted in New ...

UK suspect extradited to US to face terror charges

One of two Canadian soldiers hit by a car in an apparent terrorist attack has died of his injuries.
	Quebec provincial police said he died early today. The soldier's name was not released at the request of the family. The other soldier's injuries were described as less serious.
	The suspect was shot by police, and later died, after he struck the two members of the Canadian military with his car in a city near Montreal.
	An official familiar with the case identified the suspect as Martin Couture Rouleau, 25, of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, and said he was influenced by radical Islamists. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly about the case.
	Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman David Falls yesterday said that the suspect "was known to Federal authorities" and "authorities were concerned that he had become radicalised."
	One neighbour told reporters that Rouleau stopped wearing jeans and started wearing a tunic and that he ..

Canadian soldier in apparent terror attack dies

Bombings in and near Baghdad killed 19 people today, the latest in near-daily attacks targeting the Iraqi capital as the country's Shiite-led government grapples with a rampant Sunni insurgency by the Islamic State group.
	Police officials said the deadliest attack took place today afternoon when a double car bomb attack hit Habaybina restaurant in the Shiite-majority district of Talibiya in eastern Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 20 others.
	Earlier, a bomb struck at an out-door market in the southern district of Abu Dashir, a mostly Shiite neighbourhood, killing four people and wounding nine, police officials said.
	A little bit later, a bomb that went off near a small restaurant in central Baghdad killed five people and wounded 12, the officials said.
	Another bomb exploded at a commercial street in the town of Madian, just south of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding four.
	Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of ...

Bombings in and near Iraqi capital kill 19 people

Iraqi officials say two separate bombings have killed nine people in Baghdad, the latest victims in near-daily attacks that have targeted the country's capital.
	Police officials say a bomb at an out-door market in the southern district of Abu Dashir, a mostly Shiite neighborhood, killed four people and wounded nine today.
	They say a little bit later, a bomb blast near a small restaurant in central Baghdad killed five people and wounded 12.
	Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to media.
	Iraq has been plunged into its worst crisis since the U.S. troops left at the end of 2011 in the wake of the blitz by the Islamic State militants this summer.

Bombings kill 9 people in Iraqi capital

The Palestinians are accusing an Israeli settler of running over two schoolgirls, killing one of them, and speeding away.
	Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour said in a letter yesterday to the UN Security Council that the two girls got off a school bus in the West Bank town of Sinjil on Sunday and were hit while walking to their mothers across the street.
	He said Inas Khalil, 5, died several hours later and Nilin Asfour, 8, is in critical condition.
	Mansour accused "extremist terrorist settlers" of several other hit-and-run acts in the past few months.
	He said Israel is responsible for all crimes committed by the settlers, and called on the international community to compel Israel "to reign in the terror and violence being perpetrated by its settlers.

Palestinians accuse settler of killing schoolgirl

When Malala Yousafzai visits Philadelphia to accept an award for her efforts to promote girls' education, she will do so as the world's youngest Nobel laureate.
	Organisers of the Liberty Medal ceremony didn't know that would be the case when they decided months ago to honour the Pakistani teenager.
	But the coincidence might have been expected: Yousafzai has become the seventh Liberty Medal recipient to subsequently receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
	"Malala's courageous fight for equality and liberty from tyranny is evidence that a passionate, committed leader, regardless of age, has the power to ignite a movement for reform," said Jeb Bush, chairman of the National Constitution Center, which sponsors the medal.
	Now 17, Yousafzai began her activism six years ago by using an alias to write for the BBC about living under Taliban rule. In 2012, a Taliban gunman shot Yousafzai in the head while she was returning from school because of her vocal support for gender equality and education ...

Nobel laureate to be honoured in Philadelphia

A delegation from a Malaysian opposition party today urged Australia's government to use its influence to discourage authorities in Malaysia from fanning Islamic radicalism for political gain.
	Three lawmakers from Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's People's Justice Party met with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in her Parliament House office to discuss Malaysia's checkered human rights record and the ruling UMNO party's attitude toward extremism.
	Delegation leader Rafizi Ramli said before the meeting that the United Malays National Organisation was equating opposition to the party as opposition to Islam, dividing voters along racial and religious lines.
	He said that a recent rise of "far right wing and racist groups" in Malaysia endorsed by the UMNO posed a threat to Australia as a regional neighbor.
	"In an environment where the state subtly and indirectly endorses criticisms and intimidation against a minority, it is easier for the messages of radical groups likes ISIS to .

Malaysian lawmakers warn Australia of radicalism

Russian investigators say the driver of a snowplow that collided with a corporate jet at a Moscow airport, killing the CEO of French oil giant Total, was drunk.
	Total SA confirmed "with deep regret and sadness" that Chairman and CEO Christophe de Margerie died in the crash at Moscow's Vnukovo airport.
	Three crew members, all of them French citizens, also died when the French-made Dassault Falcon 50 collided with the snowplow during takeoff late yesterday.
	Russia's main investigative agency today said the driver of the snowplow was under the influence of alcohol. The 63-year-old de Margerie rose through the ranks at Total to become CEO in 2007, and added the post of chairman in 2010.

Russian plane crash: snowplow driver was drunk

China's economic growth waned to a five-year low of 7.3 per cent last quarter, raising concerns of a spillover effect on the global economy but falling roughly in line with Chinese leaders' plans for a controlled slowdown.
	The third quarter figures, released today, put China on course for annual growth somewhat lower than the 7.5 per cent targeted by leaders, though they have indicated there is wiggle-room in their plan.
	The world's No. 2 economy grew 7.5 per cent from a year earlier in the previous quarter and 7.4 per cent in the first quarter.
	Communist leaders are trying to steer China toward growth based on domestic consumption instead of over-reliance on trade and investment. But the slowdown comes with the risk of politically dangerous job losses and policymakers bolstered growth in the second quarter with mini-stimulus measures.
	Employment, however, remained strong through the third quarter and the service industries such as retailing that leaders want to promote have done .

China economy grows at slowest pace in 5 years

With no injuries to slow her down, Serena Williams extended her winning streak at the WTA Finals to 16 straight matches with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ana Ivanovic.
     The top-ranked Williams came into the season-ending tournament after injuries forced her out of her previous two tournaments and with the off-court distraction of disparaging comments about her from Russian tennis official Shamil Tarpischev.
     Before the WTA Finals, Williams retired from the China Open and Wuhan Open because of illness and a left knee injury that had her in doubt for Singapore. But with the win over Ivanovic, she closed in on Martina Navratilova's record of 21 straight wins at the tournament.
     "I just found out last time that I was 15 matches and I was like, 'Oh boy, not another streak,'" Williams said. "So now I'm 16 and, gosh, here we go again."
     In the other Red Group match, Simona Halep beat Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-3 in a meeting between the only two newcomers in the eight-player field.
  

Serena beats Ivanovic in WTA Finals opener

Police investigating the slayings of seven women whose bodies were found over the weekend have said they believe it is the work of a serial killer, and that the suspect has indicated there could be more victims going back 20 years.
	Prosecutors in Lake County in the Midwestern state of Indiana yesterday charged 43-year-old Darren Vann in the strangulation death of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy. Her body was found Friday night at a Motel 6 in nearby Hammond.
	Gary officials were expected to charge Vann later this week in the deaths of six more women, whose bodies were found Saturday and Sunday. Hammond Police Chief John Doughty said at a news conference that Vann confessed to Hardy's slaying and gave police information that led to the other bodies in Gary, including three on the same block.
	Vann was a convicted sex offender in Texas, where he pleaded guilty to raping a woman in 2009 and was released from prison in July 2013.
	The Austin Police Department issued a statement yesterday ...

Police: Indiana suspect hints at more killings

A globally prominent rabbi led Jewish teenagers in a prayer vigil outside the Metropolitan Opera to protest an opera they say glorifies Palestinian terrorists.
	Rabbi Avi Weiss and youths from several faith-based schools later planned to join former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other big-name politicians at a rally against the Met's premiere of "The Death of Klinghoffer."
	Yesterday, youths sat at their makeshift prayer spot opposite the Met, discussing Hebrew scriptures in shifts of about a dozen throughout the afternoon.
	"We're here because the Met is glorifying the killing of a Jew, and we must speak out we're the next generation," said Shabbos Kestenbaum, 15.
	A placard read: "We pray for Leon Klinghoffer's soul."
	The disabled 69-year-old New Yorker was shot in his wheelchair aboard the Achille Lauro Italian cruise ship. It was hijacked in 1985 by four men from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation who then pushed him into the sea.
	American composer John Adams' opera has .

Rabbi leads vigil outside Met to protest opera

A US man was charged with killing a Saudi Arabian college student whose body was found along a desert freeway, nearly 241 kilometres from his home.
	Agustin Rosendo Fernandez, 28, was yesterday charged with murder with the special circumstances of the crime being committed during a robbery and carjacking. The complaint also alleges personal use of a deadly weapon, a knife.
	Prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole.
	Fernandez remained jailed, and it was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney.
	He is charged with killing 23-year-old Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi, who vanished September 17 from his home near California State University, where Alkadi was majoring in electrical engineering.
	According to prosecutors, Fernandez met Alkadi through social media where the student had posted an ad to sell his car.
	Fernandez was arrested Thursday the day that Alkadi's body was found along a highway in the desert.
	At ..

US man charged with killing Saudi college student

A magnitude-6 earthquake has rattled Ecuador's border with Colombia, shaking low-lying buildings and frightening residents in the sparsely-populated area.
	There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
	The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 3:33 pm local time, had a depth of about 10 kilometres and was centred about 113 kilometres northeast of Quito.
	The tremor was felt in small towns on both sides of the border.
	Officials in the Colombian town of Cumbal, near the quake's epicentre, said they formed an emergency committee to survey possible damage. But so far, there were no reports of injuries in the town of 36,000 residents, the majority of them members of an indigenous tribe.
	"It was really strong, every house" felt it, said Jose Diomedes Juezpesan, the town's top official.

6-magnitude quake felt on Ecuador-Colombia border

The suspect in the disappearance of a University of Virginia student was charged with abducting and raping a woman in suburban Washington, in 2005.
	The indictment against Jesse L Matthew Jr was handed up by a Circuit Court grand jury in Fairfax County. Matthew was also charged with attempted capital murder, according to the indictment.
	Matthew, 32, is being held in Charlottesville, Virginia, on a charge related to the September 13 disappearance of Hannah Graham, an 18-year-old from northern Virginia.
	Law enforcement officials who have been searching for Graham found human remains over the weekend and they were taken to the Virginia Medical Examiner's office in Richmond. A spokesman in the office could not say yesterday when the results of the forensic examination would be completed.
	Matthew's attorney has repeatedly refused to discuss his client, and a message on his law office telephone yesterday said he was not taking questions in the case.
	Yesterday, state and local law ...

Suspect in US abduction charged in DC area rape

President Barack Obama is back in the coalition-building business, this time to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa after rallying dozens of nations to join the fight against Islamic State militants.
	Obama is working the phones with world leaders, appealing to them via videoconference and publicly jawboning with one clear message: Stopping the deadly virus at its source is the single best way to prevent the outbreak from spreading.
	And that requires an infusion of additional money and resources to the hard-hit countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
	The US already has two confirmed cases of Ebola in nurses who cared for a Liberian man who died of the disease. Additional cases are likely, officials say.
	Obama is sending up to 4,000 troops to West Africa to supply medical, logistical and training support to the region's overwhelmed health care systems.
	The US military also is building more than a dozen treatment centers in Liberia with hundreds of beds. The president ...

Obama coalition-building again, this time on Ebola

A senior House Democrat demanded today that the Obama administration investigate the payment of millions of dollars in Social Security benefits to suspected Nazi war criminals and former SS guards.
	Rep Carolyn Maloney of New York requested the inquiry in letters to the inspectors general at the Justice Department and Social Security Administration after an Associated Press investigation detailing the payments, which continue to this day.
	Maloney, a high-ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called the payments a "gross misuse of taxpayer dollars." The Justice Department said it was reviewing Maloney's letter.
	The Social Security Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
	AP reported yesterday that dozens of Nazi suspects collected benefits after being forced out of the United States.
	The payments flowed through a legal loophole that gave the Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave the US.
	If they ..

US lawmaker demands probe of Nazi benefit payments

IKEA, whose stadium-sized furniture stores draw shoppers from miles around, is making an online push.
	The CEO of IKEA Group, the world's largest furniture chain, is pushing for sales growth, while making its ready-to-assemble furniture more accessible to shoppers increasingly buying online.
	Peter Agnefjail, IKEA's president and CEO, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Friday that he remains focused on reaching sales of USD 63.7 billion by 2020, a goal set a couple years ago.
	And he says he's not unnerved by the recent investor fears about another recession in Europe.
	He plans to reach that goal by opening more stores, while making the locations more inviting and expanding its online business around the globe.
	"We are optimistic about what we see," said Agnefjail, an 18-year IKEA veteran who took over the reins from Mikael Ohlsson in September 2013. "Unemployment is stabilizing in many markets."
	But Agnefjail acknowledged the Swedish retailer, which operates 315 ...

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