Iraq's top Shiite cleric today gave his support to the new government battling the Islamic State group as militants unleashed a wave of deadly attacks on the country's majority Shiite community, killing at least 43 people.
	The blitz by the militants this summer plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since US troops left at the end of 2011. While there was no claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attacks, they seemed likely calculated by the group to sow fear among Iraqis and keep pressure on the new Shiite-led government in Baghdad.
	Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who took office last month, met today with top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the southern city of Najaf. He said after their talks that al-Sistani welcomed the recent formation of the government that Al-Abadi now leads.
	The spiritual leader wields considerable influence among Iraq's Shiite majority, and the meeting carried symbolic significance because al-Sistani has shunned politicians in recent years to ...

Suicide, car bombings in Iraq kill at least 43

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In a significant shift, Turkey's top diplomat announced today that his country is helping Iraqi Kurdish fighters cross into Syria to "give support" to fellow Kurds defending the border town of Kobani from Islamic State militants.
	The remarks by Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, at a press conference in Ankara, followed the announcement by the US military that it had for the first time airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq to the Kurdish forces in Kobani.
	Yesterday's airdrops followed weeks of US and coalition airstrikes in and near Kobani, along the Syrian-Turkish border. There was no immediate confirmation by Kurdish officials of the airdrop or what kind of weapons it included.
	It was thought the airdrops would almost certainly anger the Turkish government, which has said it would oppose any US arms transfers to the Kurdish rebels in Syria.
	Ankara views the main Kurdish group in Syria as an extension of the Turkish ..

Turkey helping Kurdish fighters cross into Kobani

Texas health officials say 120 people are still being monitored for possible infection with Ebola because they may have had contact with one of the three people who got the disease in Dallas.
	Officials said today that 43 of 48 people on an original watch list had passed the 21-day incubation period for the viral disease and are now in the clear.
	But others who cared for a Liberian man who died Oct. 8 at a Dallas hospital remain at risk, along with two nurses he infected there. Nov. 7 is when the wait period will end for all of those being monitored.
	Health officials also say they were unaware that federal officials had allowed one of the nurses to fly the day before she was diagnosed with the deadly virus.

US officials: 120 still on Ebola monitoring

The bodies of seven women have now been found in Indiana state after a man confessed to killing one woman who was found strangled at a motel and leading investigators to least three other bodies, authorities said today.
	The coroner's office said three of the bodies were found yesterday night at two locations in Gary, in addition to the four bodies found earlier over the weekend. The coroner's office called the new deaths homicides, with one victim strangled and unspecified injuries for the other two women.
	It wasn't immediately clear today whether the man directed police to the three bodies yesterday night. Phone and email messages seeking comment from Gary police spokeswoman Cpl Gabrielle King weren't immediately returned.
	Police said yesterday that a 43-year-old man confessed to killing a woman whose body was found in a motel in the neighbouring city of Hammond and told investigators where the bodies of three other women could be found in Gary. Those women were found late ...

Bodies of 7 women found in US state

The Vatican has demanded that world governments do more to prevent a possible "new genocide" in northern Iraq and Syria, and for Muslim leaders in particular to repudiate the Islamic State militants who are killing and exiling the region's Christians.
	Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told a special meeting of cardinals today that beyond a military response, governments must provide more humanitarian aid for refugees and address the core causes of the conflict: the flow of weapons to the region and instability stemming from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
	Parolin also said Catholic leaders are particularly alarmed that western governments are offering visas to persecuted religious minorities. He said these Christians must be encouraged to stay in the region and be given security guarantees so they can return home.

Vatican warns of 'new genocide' by IS

Iranian authorities have arrested four people suspected of throwing acid on women, according to a report by the official IRNA news agency.
	A string of acid attacks against at least two women in the central city of Isfahan last week prompted a loud public outcry. According to Iranian law, the four suspects, if convicted, could face the death penalty.
	The IRNA report doesn't reveal the identities of the suspects or their possible motives. However, local speculation centers on the possibility that the attackers believed the targeted women weren't dressing modestly enough.
	Iranian women must cover themselves in public with an enveloping head-to-toe veil. But Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehei, a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, told the semi-official Fars news agency today that the suspects, if convicted, should receive harsh sentences as a message to other potential vigilantes. "The perpetrators of such acts should be punished, but pre-emptive punishment so others do not dare to do such 

Iran arrest 4 over acid attack

Militants unleashed attacks on Iraq's majority Shiite community today, killing at least 33 people, the latest in relentless assaults that have challenged the Shiite-led government as it battles the Sunni-led insurgency by the Islamic State group.
	A suicide bomber hit a mosque in Baghdad as Shiite worshippers left after noon prayers, killing 17 people, while a triple car bombing in the holy city of Karbala killed 16.
	Iraq has been plunged into its worst crisis since the US troops left at the end of 2011 in the wake of the blitz by the Islamic State militants this summer.
	The extremists group captured large chunks of land in western and northern Iraq, carving out a proto-state on the territory it controls between Syria and Iraq and imposing its own harsh interpretation of Islamic law, or Shariah.
	Since August, US warplanes have been carrying out airstrikes against the group as Iraqi and Kurdish security forces work to retake territory it has seized.
	In Baghdad, the bomber blew ...

Suicide, car bombings in Iraq kill at least 33

Dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards collected millions of dollars in US Social Security benefits after being forced out of the United States.
	The payments, underwritten by American taxpayers, flowed through a legal loophole that gave the US Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave the US, an Associated Press investigation has found.
	If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal US government records.
	Among those receiving benefits were armed SS troops who guarded the network of Nazi camps where millions of Jews perished; a rocket scientist who used slave labourers to advance his research in the Third Reich; and a Nazi collaborator who engineered the arrest and execution of thousands of Jews in Poland.
	There are at least four living beneficiaries. They include Martin Hartmann, a former SS guard at the Sachsenhausen camp in Germany, and Jakob Denzinger, who ..

Expelled Nazis got millions in Social Security

A powerful explosion has shaken the largest rebel-controlled city in eastern Ukraine as daily battles continue in the region despite a nominal cease-fire being in place.
	Shockwaves from the explosion today damaged buildings and were felt over a radius of several kilometers.
	It wasn't immediately clear what caused the blast, which occurred at or near a rubber processing factory, or whether there are any casualties. The plant is in a rebel-controlled area.
	Ukraine and pro-Russian separatist rebels agreed to a truce early last month and although fighting diminished, exchanges of artillery fire take place daily.
	The UN estimates more than 300 people have been killed since the cease-fire was announced. At least 3,660 people have been killed over six months of fighting, according to UN estimates.

Powerful explosion rocks rebel-held Ukrainian city

IBM will pay USD 1.5 billion to Globalfoundries in order to shed its costly chip division.
	IBM will make payments to the chipmaker over three years, but it took a USD 4.7 billion charge for the third quarter when it reported earnings today.
	The company fell short of Wall Street profit expectations and revenue slid 4 per cent, sending shares down 8 per cent before the opening bell.
	Privately held Globalfoundries will get IBM's global commercial semiconductor technology business, including intellectual property and technologies related to IBM Microelectronics. It also gets IBM's semiconductor manufacturing operations and plants in East Fishkill, New York and Essex Junction, Vermont, as well as access to thousands of patents and IBM's commercial microelectronics business.
	Globalfoundries said that it plans to employ substantially all IBM workers at the East Fishkill and Essex Junction plants, except for a team of semiconductor server group employees who will stay with IBM.
	Under the 

IBM to pay USD 1.5B to shed its chip division

US Secretary of State John Kerry said today the Obama administration decided to airdrop weapons and ammunitions to "valiant" Kurds fighting Islamic State extremists in the Syrian border town of Kobani because it would be "irresponsible" and "morally very difficult" not to support them.
	Speaking in the Indonesian capital today, Kerry told reporters that the administration understood ally Turkey's concerns about supplying the Kurds, who are linked to a Kurdish group that Ankara fiercely opposes.
	But, he said the situation is such in the besieged town of Kobani that the resupplies were deemed absolutely necessary in a "crisis moment."
	"Let me say very respectfully to our allies the Turks that we understand fully the fundamentals of their opposition and ours to any kind of terrorist group and particularly obviously the challenges they face with respect the PKK," Kerry said.
	"But we have undertaken a coalition effort to degrade and destroy ISIL, and ISIL is presenting itself in major ..

Kerry: 'Irresponsible' not to aid Kurds against IS

German prosecutors say they've detained two more people following weekend raids on suspected supporters of the Islamic State group and an ultraconservative Syrian rebel organisation, Ahrar al-Sham.
	Two suspected IS supporters were arrested in western Germany Saturday. Authorities searched the homes of 13 more people suspected of links to the two groups.
	Federal prosecutors said today that one of those people, a German-Moroccan dual national identified only as Mounir R, has now been taken into custody over accusations he provided IS with clothing worth 1,100 euros (USD 1,400) and transferred 1,000 euros to an IS member in Syria. They say he planned to leave for Syria soon himself.
	Lebanese national Kassem El R also was arrested, accused of organising the delivery of military clothing and boots to Ahrar al-Sham.

Germany arrests 2 over IS, Syria rebel links

Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber has targeted a Shiite mosque in central Baghdad, killing at least 17 worshippers.
	A police officer says the attacker blew up his explosives-laden vest as people were leaving the al-Khairat mosque in Baghdad's Sinak commercial area following noon prayers today. He says at least 25 people were wounded in the explosion.
	The attack comes a day after a suicide bombing targeted a Shiite mosque in the capital's western Harithiya neighborhood, killing 28 worshippers.
	A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to media.

Iraq: Suicide attack kills at least 17 in Baghdad

Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has met with the country's prime minister in a sign of support for his newly-formed government and its struggle against the Islamic State extremist group.
	State TV says the meeting between the spiritual leader and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was underway this morning but provided no immediate details.
	The meeting has symbolic significance because al-Sistani, believed to be 86 years old, has shunned all politicians in the past years in protest of the way they run the country.
	Al-Sistani lives in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, and rarely appears in public.
	Al-Abadi's newly formed Cabinet is striving to push the Islamic State extremists out of the sprawling territory they have seized in recent months.

Top Iraq Shiite cleric backs PM's fight against IS

Officials say insurgents have attacked several army checkpoints in eastern and southern Afghanistan, killing at least four troops and wounding several people.
	No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which happened yesterday, but the Taliban have stepped up assaults on Afghan and NATO forces ahead of the pullout of most foreign combat troops by the end of the year.
	Defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said today that the four soldiers died in an attack in the eastern province of Logar, in the Charkh district.
	He says scores of insurgents were killed in a subsequent airstrike there.
	In southern Uruzgan province, spokesman Dost Mohammad Nayab says insurgents attacked police checkpoints in Gezab district. He says Afghan forces suffered no casualties but four attackers were killed.

Attacks on Afghan checkpoints kill 4 troops

Australia will soon deploy 200 special forces troops in Iraq to advise and assist Iraqi security forces a month after the Australians were sent to the Middle East, the foreign minister said today.
	Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in a statement from Baghdad that she had secured the necessary legal guarantees from the Iraqi government to go ahead with the deployment of the elite troops.
	The Australian special forces arrived a month ago in the United Arab Emirates to participate in the multi-national coalition put together by the US to battle the Islamic State group.
	At the same time, Australia also sent six F/A-18F Super Hornet jet fighters which are flying almost daily combat missions against Islamic State targets in northern Iraq.
	Australia sent 2,000 troops to support US and British forces in the 2003 Iraq War. But Australia has ruled out a ground combat role in the current conflict.

Australia to deploy 200 special forces in Iraq

An Indiana man confessed to killing a woman whose body was found in a motel and told police where the bodies of three more women could be found, police have said.
	Police found the bodies of three women at different locations in Gary, Indiana, late Saturday and early yesterday, following up on information the 43-year-old man provided during questioning, Hammond police Lt Rich Hoyda said yesterday.
	The Lake County coroner's office yesterday identified the victim found in Hammond as 19-year-old Afrika Hardy and ruled she had been strangled. The coroner's office said it had not determined the causes of deaths or the identities of the other three women.
	Police discovered Hardy's body about 9:30 pm Friday at a Motel 6.
	"A friend of the deceased called us and she was concerned when she didn't respond to her calling," Hoyda said. "We were sent there and found that person dead."
	Police investigating her death obtained a search warrant for a home and vehicle in Gary. Police conducted the ..

Indiana police detain man in deaths of 4 women

Hawaii residents watched, waited and hoped for the best as a hurricane lost force but churned dangerously close early Sunday, threatening to batter several islands with wind and rain.
	Hurricane Ana has been spinning on a parallel path southwest of the island chain for several days, and officials have opened emergency shelters and cancelled flights in precautions that come against the backdrop of a threat that hasn't materialized.
	As Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell warned those on Oahu not to let their guard down, people at Waikiki Beach jumped into the ocean to surf big waves generated as Ana passed.
	"Every time we have a hurricane," said 23-year-old, island resident Emile Meder, "we know it's going to be good." West of Oahu, on the smaller island of Kauai, where Hurricane Iniki killed six people and destroyed more than 1,400 homes in 1992, the threat was considered more serious.
	"Those of us that were here during that time remember, and so we are very cautious," Mary Daubert, a ...

Storm passes dangerously close to Hawaiian island

A Kenyan military spokesman says Kenyan soldiers stopped a terror attack by killing five suspected Islamic extremist bombers attempting to cross into Kenya from Ethiopia in a car carrying explosives and six suicide vests.
	Bogita Ongeri said today authorities recovered 100 kilograms of TNT from the vehicle which was intercepted at Dolo along Kenya's border with Ethiopia yesterday.
	Ongeri said security forces had been tracking the car which had Kenyan registration and were aware that the suspected terrorists had unsuccessfully tried to gain entry into Kenya at another border point.
	He said the five suspects killed are members of the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaida. Al-Shabab carries out terrorist bombings in Kenya because Kenyan troops are in Somalia fighting the militants.

Kenya: 5 terrorists killed, car bomb recovered

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Ebola has killed more than 2,000 people in her country and has brought it to "a standstill," noting that Liberia and two other badly hit countries were already weakened by years of war.
	Appealing for more international help, Sirleaf described the devastating effects of Ebola in a "Letter to the World" that was broadcast today by the BBC.
	"Across West Africa, a generation of young people risk being lost to an economic catastrophe as harvests are missed, markets are shut and borders are closed," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said.
	"The virus has been able to spread so rapidly because of the insufficient strength of the emergency, medical and military services that remain under-resourced."
	In neighboring Sierra Leone, emergency food rations were distributed for a third day today to give a nutritional lifeline to 260,000 residents of an Ebola-stricken community on the outskirts of the capital, Freetown.
	The Waterloo area has 350 houses ..

Liberia president describes heavy cost of Ebola

Iran said today it is ready to provide aid to the Lebanese army as well as the Shiite Hezbollah group to help combat "terrorists."
	The promise of aid comes after Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia pledged billions of dollars to Lebanon's armed forces, and will be seen by many Lebanese as part of a competition for influence over the tiny country, which is gripped by sectarian tensions and bitterly divided over the Syrian civil war.
	Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by state TV as saying that "supporting the Lebanese nation, army and resistance will still remain on Iran's agenda." Hezbollah's allies refer to it as the "resistance" because of its stated mission of driving Israel out of occupied territory.
	"Iran is ready to transfer its experience in order to improve security in Lebanon and the region, and to combat terrorists," he said during a meeting with visiting Lebanese Defense Minister Samir Moqbel. Moqbel also met with Iranian ...

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