Iraq imposed a curfew in the western city of Ramadi today amid fears that the Islamic State group was looking to advance on the strategically important city as attacks in Baghdad killed 21 people, officials said.
	The curfew, which began before dawn, is part of an effort to limit movement in and out of the city as government forces prepared to combat pockets of resistance there, said Sabah Karhout, the chairman of the Anbar provincial council.
	Ramadi, the capital of the vast Sunni-dominated province of Anbar, is located 115 kilometres (70 miles) west of Baghdad.
	The Islamic State group has in recent weeks been making gains against the embattled Iraqi military around Ramadi despite ongoing, US-led coalition airstrikes on the militants.
	Capturing Ramadi could have a huge ripple effect throughout Anbar, since controlling the provincial capital ultimately paralyses the surrounding areas and further helps the militants secure yet another corridor between Syria and Iraq for the passage ..

Iraq imposes curfew in Ramadi, fearing militants

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suggested today that Jews should be banned from a Jerusalem holy site revered by both Jews and Muslims.
	Abbas made the comments following recent clashes between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli forces over what Palestinians see as Jewish encroachment on the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
	In a speech quoted by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Abbas said Jewish "settlers" should be prevented from entering the site "by any means."
	"This is our Noble Sanctuary ... They have no right to enter and desecrate it," Abbas added.
	Palestinians also say Israel is unfairly restricting access at the site. Israel limited male Muslim worshippers this past week to those 50 years old and older.
	The move followed an uptick in violence in the area amid Palestinian claims that Israel is unilaterally widening access around the entrance to the site to accommodate larger numbers of Jewish worshippers.
	The ...

Abbas suggests ban on Jews at Jerusalem holy site

A top-secret space plane landed today at an Air Force base on the Southern California coast.
	The plane spent nearly two years circling Earth on a classified mission. Known as the X-37B, it resembles a mini space shuttle.
	It safely touched down at 9:24 am Friday, officials at Vandenberg Air Force Base said.
	Just what the plane was doing during its 674 days in orbit has been the subject of sometimes spectacular speculation.
	Several experts have theorised it carried a payload of spy gear in its cargo bay. Other theories sound straight out of a James Bond film, including that the spacecraft would be able to capture the satellites of other nations or shadow China's space lab.
	In a written release announcing the return of the craft, the Air Force only said it had been conducting "on-orbit experiments."
	The X-37B programme has been an orphan of sorts, bouncing since its inception in 1999 between several federal agencies, NASA among them. It now resides under the Air Force's Rapid ...

Top-secret space plane lands on California coast

Gay marriage has become legal in Arizona after the state's conservative attorney general said today that he wouldn't challenge a federal court decision that cleared the way for same-sex unions in the state.
	The announcement prompted gay couples in Phoenix to immediately begin lining up at the downtown courthouse to apply for marriage licenses, and there is no waiting period in Arizona that would delay weddings.
	David Larance and Kevin Patterson, who were among the couples who sued to overturn the state's ban, waited in the growing line and reflected on the effect of the ruling. "The best way I can describe it, is that it gives me such peace of mind," Patterson said, choking back tears.
	The ruling bookends two weeks of nonstop court decisions across the nation, with judges striking down bans on same-sex unions and conservative state officials pushing back in a struggle that has increasingly gone in favor of gay marriage supporters.
	Since October 6 when the US Supreme Court let ...

Gay marriage becomes legal in Arizona

The Secret Service is charged with protecting the president, but who's watching his wallet?
	When his credit card was declined last month while dining in New York, President Barack Obama wondered if he had become a victim of identity theft.
	"It turned out, I guess I don't use it enough," Obama said today at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
	"They thought there was some fraud going on," he said, chatting while announcing a government plan to tighten security for debit cards that transfer federal benefits like pension payments to millions of Americans.
	"I was trying to explain to the waitress 'No, I really think that I've been paying my bills.'"
	Fortunately first lady Michelle Obama was able to whip out a credit card they could use.
	Identity theft is a growing problem and an estimated 100 million Americans have been affected by security breaches in the past year at retailers like Target and Home Depot. "Even I'm affected by this," he said.

Obama's under-used credit card declined in NY cafe

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has again apologised to employees and announced in a company-wide memo that all workers will receive expanded training on how to foster an inclusive culture as he works to repair damage caused by his gaffe about women seeking pay raises.
	Microsoft's female employees in the United States earn 99.7 percent of what men earned in similar positions last year, Nadella said in a new memo to workers this week.
	He suggested that such slight variations are not unusual for "any particular group," but he added that he wants to increase the numbers of women and minorities in the company's workforce.
	"We must ensure not only that everyone receives equal pay for equal work, but that they have the opportunity to do equal work," Nadella said in the latest memo, which was first reported by the tech blog GeekWire and confirmed as authentic by a Microsoft spokeswoman.
	Nadella again apologized for his remarks last week at a women-in-computing conference, where he suggested .

Microsoft CEO launches diversity training effort

Two Germans kidnapped and held for six months in the southern Philippines were released today by a militant group just hours after it had threatened to behead one of them if no ransom payment was made, the Philippine defense chief said.
	The Abu Sayyaf group released Stefan Okonek and Henrike Dielen on southern Jolo Island, Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said.
	Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Rami told radio station DXRZ in southern Zamboanga City that his group received 250 million pesos (USD 5.6 million) in ransom. He did not say who paid it. Gazmin said he was "not privy" to information about any ransom payment.
	"We're happy they're safe. I hope there will be no more" kidnappings, Gazmin said by telephone.
	Abu Sayyaf gunmen seized Okonek and Dielen last April from a yacht between Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo Island and the western Philippine province of Palawan. They were taken by boat to Sulu province, about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Manila, where militants are holding 

Philippine militants free 2 kidnapped Germans

The first nurse to be diagnosed with Ebola after treating an infected man at a Dallas hospital has been sitting up and eating and has her iPad after being moved to a specialized isolation unit near Washington, officials said today.
	Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said today that Nina Pham's condition is stable and she is resting comfortably at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He said she is "in good spirits."
	Pham, 26, arrived shortly before midnight and was admitted to the clinical studies unit. Doctors said her mother and sister also were in the Washington area.
	Pham is being treated by staff specializing in infectious disease and critical care. Workers are monitored as they put on and remove protective clothing and nurses are working in pairs in Pham's room, with one watching the other to make sure correct procedures are followed.
	They also limit the amount of time they spend in her 

1st Dallas nurse with Ebola in fair condition

Obama administration officials said a Dallas health care worker who handled a lab specimen from a Liberian man who died from Ebola is self-quarantined on a Caribbean cruise ship and is being monitored for infection.
	State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement Friday that the woman had shown no signs of the disease and has been asymptomatic for 19 days.
	An administration official and another person familiar with the matter said the cruise ship, the Carnival Magic, had stopped in Belize but officials there would not allow the passenger to leave the vessel.
	The officials were not authorized to be named and requested anonymity. US officials were seeking ways to return the woman and her husband to the US before the ship completes its cruise on Sunday.
	"We are working with the cruise line to safely bring them back to the United States out of an abundance of caution," Psaki said.
	Psaki said that when the woman left the U.S. On the cruise ship from Galveston, Texas, on ...

US monitors health care worker aboard cruise ship

The World Health Organization has admitted that it botched attempts to stop the now-spiraling Ebola outbreak in West Africa, blaming factors including incompetent staff and a lack of information.
	"Nearly everyone involved in the outbreak response failed to see some fairly plain writing on the wall," WHO said in a draft internal document obtained by The Associated Press, noting that experts should have realised that traditional containment methods wouldn't work in a region with porous borders and broken health systems.
	The UN health agency acknowledged that, at times, even its own bureaucracy was a problem. It noted that the heads of WHO country offices in Africa are "politically motivated appointments" made by the WHO regional director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, who does not answer to the agency's chief in Geneva, Dr Margaret Chan.
	Dr Peter Piot, the co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, agreed in an interview today that WHO acted far too slowly, largely because of its Africa ...

UN: We botched response to the Ebola outbreak

A man charged in an Australian court with supporting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria faced a fresh accusation today of planning a terrorist attack in Australia.
	Agim Kruezi, 21, and Omar Succarieh, 31, have been in custody since September 10 when they were arrested in a series of police raids in the Queensland state capital, Brisbane, and neighbouring Logan that culminated a yearlong counter-terrorism investigation.
	Police said on the day of the raids that they had found no evidence of a domestic terrorist threat.
	But Kruezi was charged in the Brisbane Magistrates Court today with offences including transporting a firearm and possessing machetes, knives, balaclavas and military fatigues in preparation for a terrorist act.
	The court heard no details of the alleged attack plan.
	Kruezi, an unemployed resident of Logan, and Succarieh, a driver from Brisbane, were charged last month with making preparations and raising funds for incursions into Syria and Iraq with intentions 

Man charged with planning Australian terror attack

A prominent volcanologist says predicting eruptions is impossible, disputing Japanese nuclear regulators' safety approval of two reactors based on the prediction that an eruption won't happen in the next few decades.
	Toshitsugu Fujii, head of a government-commissioned panel on volcanic eruption prediction, said today a cauldron eruption at one of several volcanos surrounding the reactors at the Sendai plant in southern Japan not only could hit them but also cause a nationwide disaster.
	Japanese regulators last month said the Sendai reactors fulfilled tougher safety requirements set after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The authority ruled out a major eruption over the next 30 years until the reactors' retirement.
	A surprise eruption of a volcano in central Japan on Sept 27 has renewed concerns about the volcanos in the region.

Japan reactor near active volcanos called unsafe

A court has sentenced Myanmar's ex-religious affairs minister to 13 years in prison for embezzling state funds and sedition. It's the harshest penalty given to a high-ranking official since the country began moving toward democracy.
	Hsan Sint was removed from office in June following allegations he misused USD 10,000 to build a pagoda near Naypyitaw.
	During his trial at the Detkhina District Court, judges added a sedition charge, saying his actions hurt the nation's pride.
	The judge found Hsan Sint guilty of breaching trust and sedition and sentenced him today to 13 years behind bars. His lawyer, Tin Tun, told The Associated Press he would appeal.
	Myanmar emerged in 2011 from a half-century of military rule that was marred by nepotism, corruption and mismanagement.

Ex-govt minister in Myanmar gets 13-year sentence

Fifteen people were feared dead after a ventilation grate collapsed today during a concert by a popular girls' band near South Korea's capital, officials said.
	Fire officials said two people had been confirmed dead and 13 others were unresponsive after the accident in Seongnam, just south of Seoul. They said 10 others were seriously injured.
	Photos of the scene showed a deep concrete shaft under the broken ventilation grate.
	The officials said the victims were standing on the grate while watching an outdoor performance by girls' band 4Minute, which is popular across Asia.
	The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.
	About 700 people had gathered to watch the concert, which was part of a local festival, the Yonhap news agency reported.
	The YTN television network, citing unidentified witnesses, said many of the spectators were female students. The victims weren't immediately identified.
	The cause of the accident wasn't immediately known. The accident ...

15 feared dead in accident at South Korean concert

Authorities say two of four new Ebola suspects admitted to hospitals in Spain have tested negative in a first round of tests.
	The government's Ebola monitoring committee said on its official Twitter account today that the two were a person who arrived on an Air France jet that was isolated at Madrid's airport yesterday and a person who traveled in the same ambulance used to hospitalize infected Spanish nursing assistant Teresa Romero earlier this month. Both had developed fevers. They will be tested a second time within 72 hours.
	Two others, a missionary who came down with a fever after returning from Liberia and a Red Cross health worker who recently worked with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, were also to be tested.

2 of 4 new Ebola suspects in Spain test negative

Andy Murray reached the quarterfinals of the Erste Bank Open after a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 win over Vasek Pospisil of Canada here.
     The second-seeded Murray, who had a bye in the first round, dropped serve while leading 3-2 in the second set but held off five more break chances for Pospisil.
     "Hopefully I can improve for my next game," the Scot said after his 470th career win. He joined Fabrice Santoro in 50th place on the Open era win list.
     Pospisil had 27 aces in his first-round win over Daniel Brands of Germany but just three against Murray.
     Murray next plays Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, who won the last seven points in the third-set tiebreaker to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (3).
     David Ferrer advanced to his 15th quarterfinal of the season after defeating Tobias Kamke of Germany 7-5, 6-1. The fifth-ranked Ferrer, the top seed, avoided service breaks and converted his second match point with a forehand winner.
     "It was tough in the 

Murray, Ferrer advance to quarterfinals in Vienna

Argentina has launched its first domestically built communications satellite.
	The ARSAT-1 satellite launched yesterday is the first to be constructed with local technology in Latin America. It was built by a crew of about 500 scientists over seven years at a cost of USD 250 million.
	The satellite was launched from a base in French Guyana and is to orbit 36,000 kilometers above Earth.
	It's designed to provide digital television and cellphone services to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
	ARSAT-1 is also expected to improve telephone and Internet connections in remote places, including for scientists are working in the Antarctic region.

Argentina launches its first home-built satellite

Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Indonesia for the inauguration Monday of the Southeast Asian nation's new president.
	Joko Widodo, a former furniture exporter who achieved political prominence as governor of the capital, Jakarta, won presidential elections in July.
	He defeated a former general with links to the regime of ex-dictator Suharto.
	Widodo replaces President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has served since 2004.
	Kerry will head a delegation of senior US officials, including assistant secretary for East Asia, Daniel Russel. The Obama administration has cultivated a stronger US relationship with Indonesia as part of its effort to "rebalance" American foreign policy toward Asia. President Barack Obama, who lived in Indonesia as a child, visited the country twice during his first term.

Top US diplomat to attend Indonesian inauguration

Palestinian police say a 13-year-old Palestinian boy has been shot dead by Israeli soldiers during a clash in the West Bank.
	They say the soldiers opened fire after demonstrators threw stones and at least one Molotov cocktail at three Israeli army jeeps that entered the village of Beit Lykia near Ramallah.
	Director Ahmed Betawai of the Ramallah Hospital said the boy was shot three times in the chest and died of his wounds about two hours after the incident.
	There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have spiked in recent days amid Palestinian charges that Israel is unfairly limiting access to Palestinian worshippers at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site.

Palestinian boy shot dead by Israeli troops

An Egyptian health official says two bombs have exploded at a Sufi Muslim religious festival in a city in the Nile Delta, wounding 11 people.
	Magdy Awad, chairman of the local ambulance services, says the bombs went off behind a mosque in Tanta today, as people were celebrating the Festival of Sheikh el-Sayyed el-Baddawi, which draws massive crowds every year.
	Most of the victims were wounded by flying shrapnel. An Egyptian security official says bomb squads were able to disarm a third explosive device placed near the mosque.
	The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.
	No one claimed responsibility for the attack. Egypt is grappling with militant attacks since the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last summer.

Bombs go off at Muslim festival in Egypt, wound 11

Four people with fever considered at risk for Ebola were being tested Thursday in Spain for the virus, including one who arrived on an Air France jet that was isolated at Madrid's airport as a precaution, officials said.
	Other passengers were allowed to disembark. But a passenger with a fever who had traveled from Nigeria was taken by ambulance with a driver wearing protective gear to Madrid's Carlos III hospital.
	Another person with a fever who came into contact with infected Spanish nursing assistant Teresa Romero before she was hospitalized on October 6 was also sent to the same hospital, the Health Ministry said. Romero's condition, meanwhile, appeared to be improving, a ministry official said.
	A missionary was transported to the hospital because he came down with a fever after returning to Spain from Liberia, where he treated Ebola patients, Spain's government said.
	A fourth person, a Red Cross health worker who recently worked with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, was ...

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