Russian President Vladimir Putin is celebrating his 62nd birthday in the wilderness of Siberia as supporters from across Russia create tributes in his honour.
	Putin celebrated his birthday today in the Siberian forest some "300-400 kilometres from the nearest populated area," his press secretary told Russian news media.
	Putin has often brandished his tough-guy image with widely publicised wilderness romps during which he hunts, fishes or rides horses -- often while shirtless.
	In Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, thousands carried a 600-metre-long Russian flag through the streets. Others dressed in the red, white and blue of the Russian tricolor walked through the streets as an enormous human flag, many of them holding portraits of the Russian leader over their heads.
	Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's president, wrote on his official Instagram account that there were 100,000 participants.
	Russian news websites published photographs from a one-day exhibition in Moscow titled "The 12 ...

Putin celebrates 62nd birthday in wild Siberia

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Three people who were on board a Thai rescue helicopter that disappeared 10 days ago were safe today after walking "many miles" to reach a Myanmar village, a foundation searching for them said.
	Photos shared by the Htoo Foundation on Facebook showed the trio looking fit and well.
	"All three of them walked for many miles" and reached Lan Sar village in northern Kachin state in the afternoon, foundation spokesman Phyo Ko Ko said.
	The helicopter left Putao airport in Kachin state on September 27 to drop food for a team searching for two Myanmar mountain climbers who scaled Southeast Asia's highest peak on August 31. Phyo Ko Ko declined to say what happened to the helicopter.
	The Htoo Foundation, which has been leading the search for the helicopter and the climbers, is part of the Htoo conglomerate run by Myanmar tycoon Tayza. He remains on a US blacklist for ties to the former ruling junta in Myanmar.
	The foundation's Facebook page said the helicopter pilot is Thai and works for an .

3 from missing helicopter walk to Myanmar village

The Greek Defence Ministry says three soldiers have been killed and one was seriously wounded in a mortar-tube explosion at an army firing range in central Greece.
	The ministry statement, read out in state television, said the incident occurred today near the city of Volos, about 330 kilometres north of Athens, when an 81 millimetre mortar shell exploded in the barrel, killing two professional soldiers and a third serving his national service.
	The ministry said three days of mourning had been declared for the armed forces while senior ministry officials were going to firing range to lead an investigation.

State TV: 3 killed in army blast in Greece

The Eiffel Tower has been given a vertigo-inducing face lift as organisers celebrate the Paris monument's 125th anniversary.
	The 324-metre tower now has see-through glass floor panels on its first level. The four small viewing sections, which cost USD 38 million, were unveiled to visitors yesterday.
	Though the first level is only 57 metres high, it's not for the faint-hearted.
	One tourist from Jordan, Yousef Mobaidin, said he was "terrified. It looks really scary," gripping his friend's arm as he walked on the glass.
	Aaron Smith from Hawaii admitted to getting butterflies, hoping "they did a good job building it."
	The iron-lattice tower is the world's most visited paying attraction, and was erected for the 1889 World Fair.

Eiffel Tower gets USD 38M vertigo-inducing face lift

Britain's Serious Fraud Office says a senior executive from a UK bank has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud in a case of market-rigging.
	It is the first criminal conviction in the country's investigation into a global scheme to fix the London Interbank Offered Rate, also known as LIBOR, an interest rate that affects trillions of dollars in loans and mortgages worldwide.
	Other countries, including the US, are also investigating the case.
	Britain's Serious Fraud Office said today it has charged another 11 individuals who await trial and is still investigating others. It did not name the banker who pleaded guilty, in line with court orders.

1st banker conviction in UK market-fixing case

Crowds of protesters who filled Hong Kong's streets with demands for a greater say in choosing the territory's leader thinned dramatically today after student leaders and the government agreed to hold talks in this increasingly frustrated city.
	Just a couple of days after tens of thousands of demonstrators thronged the city's streets, only a few dozen students were occupying some stretches of highway, once again snarling traffic and slowing commuters.
	One young protester sleepily brushed his teeth as rush hour began, spitting into a storm drain along the blockaded six-lane highway that cuts through the heart of Hong Kong's business district. Nearby, a sleeping demonstrator leaned back in a nylon chair, his mouth open and his eyeglasses askew.
	Despite the dwindling numbers of activists on the streets, protest leaders insisted the movement was far from defeated, and vowed to walk away from negotiations if the police used force to clear away the remaining demonstrators. At least a few 

Hong Kong protests thin as two sides agree to talk

Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and US scientist Shuji Nakamura today won the Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes, a new energy efficient and environment-friendly light source.
	The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the invention is just 20 years old, "but it has already contributed to create white light in an entirely new manner to the benefit of us all."
	Akasaki, 85, is a professor at Meijo University and distinguished professor at Nagoya University. Amano, 54, is also a professor at Nagoya University, while the 60-year-old Nakamura is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
	The laureates triggered a transformation of lighting technology when they produced bright blue light from semiconductors in the 1990s, something scientist had struggled with for decades, the Nobel committee said.
	Using the blue light, LED lamps emitting white light could be created in a new way.
	"As about one fourth of world electricity ...

2 Japanese, 1 American win Nobel Prize in physics

Human rights groups have asked Malaysia not to deport 155 ethnic Uighur migrants, including 76 children, back to China, fearing they could face persecution.
	A senior Malaysian immigration official said today that authorities found 90 members of the Muslim minority group hiding in a three-bedroom apartment and 65 other Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs) in another unit in an October 1 raid on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur that followed a tip-off.
	The group comprising 42 men, 37 women, 43 boys and 33 girls has been sent to a detention center pending an investigation, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the case's sensitivity.
	Ethnic tensions in the Xinjiang region in western China, home of the Turkish-speaking Uighurs, have fueled rising violence, with more than 300 people killed in the past year and a half. China blames the violence on secession-seeking terrorists. Uighurs complain of restrictive and discriminatory policies and practices by the government and .

Malaysia urged not to deport 155 Uighurs to China

Media reports say police in Istanbul and at least six other Turkish cities clashed with hundreds of demonstrators protesting the Islamic State group's advance on a Kurdish town on Syria's border with Turkey.
	The private Dogan news agency said Tuesday clashes broke out in several Istanbul neighborhoods overnight, as protesters set up barricades, hurled stones, fireworks and firebombs at police and set a bus on fire. One police officer was injured.
	Police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse similar protests in the mostly Kurdish-populated cities of Diyarbakir, Batman, Van, Sirnak, Sanliurfa and Hakkari.
	Islamic State fighters, backed by tanks and artillery, have pushed into the embattled Syrian town of Kobani, touching off heavy street battles with the town's Kurdish defenders.

Turkish police clash with protesters denouncing IS

The Myanmar government today pardoned 3,073 prisoners as part of an amnesty that rights groups said included more than a dozen political prisoners, a month before a summit of regional leaders convenes in the country.
	The Ministry of Information announced the amnesty on its website, saying the prisoners were being freed "on humanitarian grounds."
	It did not refer specifically to political prisoners. Most of those released had committed minor crimes.
	The official Political Prisoner Scrutiny Committee said that at least 13 of those pardoned were jailed on political offences and at least eight were former senior military intelligence officers detained after the 2004 ouster of former intelligence chief and Prime Minister Khin Nyunt.
	Ye Aung, a former prisoner himself and now a member of the government committee, said the amnesty appeared to have been timed ahead of a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in Myanmar next month.
	He praised the release, but called for the freedom of about 75 ..

Myanmar's president pardons political prisoners

The Pentagon has spent as much as USD 1.1 billion on US military operations against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria since the mission began in mid-June, including more than USD 62 million alone in Navy airstrikes and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
	US Central Command says the Navy has dropped roughly 185 munitions, including 47 cruise missiles launched from ships in the region. Central Command, in data released yesterday, said Air Force fighter jets have far exceeded those numbers, launching close to 1,000 munitions. The USD 62 million is only for Navy munitions. No costs were provided for Air Force munitions.
	The Pentagon has struggled to come up with specific cost figures for the Iraq and Syria operations. Officials say it has cost an average of USD 7 million to USD 10 million daily since June.

Pentagon: Up to USD 1.1 billion cost for Iraq, Syria

Former star striker Romario has been elected a senator in Brazil, continuing his endeavor into politics.
	Romario received more than 4.5 million votes in Rio de Janeiro, the most ever in the state. He had 63 percent of the total, ahead of former Rio mayor Cesar Maia, his closest contender with 20 percent.
	Romario was an active congressman the past four years, a fierce critic of the money spent on the World Cup. He has a daughter with a disability, and one of his main causes was to improve conditions for the disabled.
	The 48-year-old World Cup winner said he was proud to have "dribbled past poverty" to make history as a former slum resident who made it to the senate.

Romario easily wins senate seat in Brazil

A British man has admitted battering three sisters from the United Arab Emirates with a hammer during an attack at an upscale London hotel, but denies trying to kill them.
	Philip Spence has admitted three counts of grievous bodily harm. The plea was entered last week but could not be reported until today because of a judge's order.
	He is due to go on trial this week for attempted murder, which he denies.
	One woman was left in critical condition and all three suffered head and facial injuries.
	The April attack, and a later attack on an Emirati family in London, were front-page news in the Gulf nation, where violent crime is rare.
	British police said there was no indication the victims were targeted because of their nationality.

UK man admits hotel hammer attack on UAE tourists

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta today told the nation in an address before parliament that he would temporarily step down as president while attending a hearing at the International Criminal Court this week.
	Kenyatta said he would invoke a never-before-used article of the constitution that will see Deputy President William Ruto temporarily fulfill the role of president. That article says the deputy can fill in when the president is absent, temporarily incapacitated or during any other period the president decides.
	The temporary abdication of the country's top political job is Kenyatta's way of fulfilling the court order that he attend, but insisting that he be a private citizen during the court hearing and not the first president to sit before the court.
	"It is for this reason that I chose not to put the sovereignty of more than 40 million Kenyans on trial since their democratic will should never be subject to another jurisidiction," Kenyatta siad.
	"Therefore let it not be said ...

Kenya president to step down during court hearing

Hilton Worldwide is selling the Waldorf Astoria New York to Chinese insurance company Anbang Insurance Group Co for USD 1.95 billion.
	Hilton Worldwide will continue to manage the storied hotel for the next 100 years as part of an agreement with Anbang. The Waldorf Astoria New York has restaurants including Peacock Alley, Bull and Bear Prime Steakhouse and Oscar's. The companies said today that the property will undergo a major renovation.
	In March 1893, millionaire William Waldorf Astor opened the 13-story Waldorf Hotel. The Astoria Hotel opened four years later. The Waldorf Astoria New York, on Park Avenue in Manhattan, opened in 1931, according to the company's website. At the time it was the largest hotel in the world. The hotel became an official New York City landmark in 1993.
	Hilton Worldwide plans to use proceeds from the hotel's sale to buy additional hotel assets in the US.
	Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc was taken private in 2007 by private equity firm Blackstone Group LP. 

Hilton selling Waldorf Astoria New York for USD 1.95B

News reports say Japanese police have questioned a university student and several others over alleged plans to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group.
	The reported investigation by Tokyo police would be the first indication of support within Japan for the militant group.
	Tokyo Metropolitan Police declined to comment on the reports.
	Public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News service said investigators questioned a 26-year-old male Hokkaido University student and several men who shared a house with him on suspicion they were preparing to go to Syria to fight. NHK and Kyodo said police searched the house in Tokyo but did not formally arrest the men.

Japanese men suspected of backing Islamic State

A Macedonian court has convicted 17 people in Macedonia's first espionage trial since the country proclaimed independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
	Eight of the defendants were convicted today of espionage.
	The others were found guilty of charges including criminal association, blackmail and fraud in a case in which the group were accused of passing classified documents to the security services of an unspecified country.
	Much of the trial was held behind closed doors and the defendants were not officially identified. A police official said they included employees of the intelligence agency, anti-money laundering agency, defense ministry and financial crimes police. Sentences ranged from probation to 15 years' imprisonment. All are to appeal.
	The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to confirm the defendants' professions.

Macedonia court sentences 17 in espionage trial

Iran has released the wife of a Washington Post reporter after arresting the two journalists in July, her newspaper said today.
	The National newspaper said Yeganeh Salehi, 30, was released on bail, while her husband, Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, 38, remains in detention.
	The Abu Dhabi-based newspaper cited Ali Rezaian, Jason's brother, as saying the reporter was freed on bail late last week. It quoted him as saying the two were "physically healthy" and that Salehi had been allowed to visit her husband recently. Jason Rezaian has American and Iranian citizenship.
	The two were detained along with two other journalists on July 22. The two other reporters were later freed. Iranian officials have not said why the four were detained. Officials were not available for comment on the reported release, and state media did not report on it.
	Ali Rezaian said neither Salehi nor her family in Tehran would be speaking to the press and asked that their privacy be respected, ...

Iran frees wife of jailed Washington Post reporter

Federal health officials said today the US is weighing whether to institute extra screening at US airports where travelers from Ebola-stricken African nations may be arriving, ahead of a White House meeting on the Ebola outbreak.
	Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said "discussion is underway right now" and "all options are being looked at." The question, Fauci told CNN, is whether "the extra level of screening is going to be worth the resources you need to put into it."
	"There is clear-cut screening going on in the exit end," Fauci said, referring to the Ebola-affected countries' practice of screening outbound passengers before they leave.
	The current US discussion, he said, centers on "what kind of screening you do on the entry end. That's something that's on the table now."
	The Ebola outbreak is believed to have killed more than 3,400 people in West Africa and has taken the biggest toll in Liberia.
	Dr. Tom Frieden of the ..

More Ebola screening possible for United States

A committee appointed by Thailand's military has selected a 250-member advisory group to help write a new national constitution.
	The military abolished an earlier constitution after seizing power in a May 22 coup, and the government is currently operating under a temporary charter.
	The new National Reform Council was officially endorsed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. It will advise a drafting committee which will write a constitution that is supposed to take effect next July.
	The country's military rulers say the process will lead to elections next year.
	The new council is dominated by people close to the country's traditional ruling elite. It shuns supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who challenged the elite and dominated Thai politics for much of the past 13 years.

Thailand's coup government forms reform council

Student-led protests for democratic reforms in Hong Kong shrank today but a few hundred demonstrators remained camped out in the streets, vowing to keep up the pressure until the government responds to their demands.
	Schools reopened and civil servants returned to work today morning after protesters cleared the area outside the city's government headquarters, a focal point of the demonstrations that started the previous weekend. Crowds also thinned markedly at the two other protest sites, and traffic flowed again through many roads that had been blocked.
	The subdued scenes left many wondering whether the movement, which has been free-forming and largely spontaneous, had run its course or whether the students have a clear strategy about what to do next.
	Early talks between the government and the students have started, but many disagreements remain. Students say they will walk away from the talks as soon as the government uses force to clear away the remaining protesters.
	"This is ..

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