A news agency in Iran is reporting that the Islamic Republic has built a new surface-to-surface cruise missile capable of being launched from an airplane.
	The report today by the semi-official Fars news agency quotes Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the airspace department of the elite Revolutionary Guard, as saying that the missile has a range of 700 kilometres.
	Hajizadeh said the missile can be launched from land-based pads, naval vessels, aircraft, helicopters and drones.
	From time to time Iran announces building new military devices, which cannot be independently verified.
	Iran began a self-sufficient military programme in 1992, under which the country produces weapons from mortars to submarines.

Report: Iran builds surface-to-surface missile

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Hong Kong police used tear gas today to try to clear thousands of pro-democracy protesters who had gathered outside government headquarters in a challenge to Beijing over its decision to restrict democratic reforms for the city.
	After spending hours holding the protesters at bay, police lobbed canisters of tear gas into the crowd this evening. The searing fumes sent protesters fleeing down the road, but many came right back to continue their demonstration.
	Students and activists have been camped out on the streets outside the government complex all weekend.
	Students started the rally, but by early today leaders of the broader Occupy Central civil disobedience movement said they were joining them to kick-start a long-threatened mass sit-in to demand an election for Hong Kong's leader without Beijing's interference.
	Authorities launched their crackdown after the protest spiralled into an extraordinary scene of chaos as the protesters jammed a busy road and clashed with officers ...

HK police use tear gas to try to clear protesters

China in recent days has busted a slew of smugglers bringing Apple iPhone 6 models into the country ahead of their official release here. State media today announced the latest seizure of 453 smartphones in Shanghai.
	The official Xinhua News Agency says hundreds more were seized during three separate busts Thursday through Saturday in Hong Kong, including from men with a speedboat who were loading contraband onto a wooden sampan-style boat in a mangrove.
	Xinhua says the latest seizure was from the luggage of two passengers arriving at the Shanghai airport from Tokyo, one of them Chinese and one of them Japanese.
	Nearly 700 more of the phones have been confiscated individually from passengers who did not declare them.

China busts smugglers of iPhone 6 in Shanghai

Military helicopters plucked seven people from a Japanese mountainside today after a spectacular volcanic eruption sent officials scrambling to reach many more injured and stranded on the mountain.
	Mount Ontake in central Japan erupted shortly before noon yesterday, spewing large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky and blanketing the surrounding area in ash. About 250 people were initially trapped on the slopes, but most made their way down by yesterday night.
	At least 34 climbers have been injured, including 12 seriously, according to Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The tally was lower than reported by local officials earlier, but the disaster agency warned that the numbers could still change.
	The number of those reported missing rose sharply to 32, the agency said.
	Japanese television footage showed a soldier descending from a helicopter to an ash-covered slope, helping latch on a man and then the two of them being pulled up.
	So far, seven people have ...

7 rescued, 32 missing as volcano erupts in Japan

A rescue helicopter from Thailand has lost contact with ground control during a search for two climbers who scaled Southeast Asia's highest peak a month ago, officials said today.
	The helicopter was carrying three people, including a Thai pilot.
	According to Htoo Foundation, the chopper left Putao airport in Myanmar's northern Kachin state yesterday to drop food for a team searching for two Myanmar climbers missing since August 31. The foundation is leading the search effort for the climbers.
	An eight-member team set out to climb the 5,881-metre Hkakabo Razi mountain last month, but only two went up the final stretch due to the narrow nature of the summit, reaching the ice-capped mountaintop on August 31.
	The men reported before making their descent that their radio battery was weak. They were supposed to reconnect with their colleagues at base camp on September 9, but did not show up.
	The search for the climbers involved helicopters from Thailand, the US and China as well as ...

Thai rescue helicopter missing in Myanmar

Hong Kong activists kicked off a long-threatened mass civil disobedience protest today to challenge Beijing over restrictions on voting reforms, escalating the battle for democracy in the former British colony after police arrested dozens of student demonstrators.
	The announcement by civil leaders came after a big crowd of tens of thousands turned out around midnight yesterday to support the student protesters who stormed into a courtyard of the government complex and scuffled with police wielding pepper spray. Police arrested at least 74 people, including some in their teens.
	The night passed peacefully as more than 1,000 exhausted and weary protesters most of them students remained on the streets outside government headquarters. They slept wearing face masks and makeshift protective gear of Saran-wrapped arms, cheap plastic raincoats and goggles, as tired-looking riot police looked on.
	More students anxiously hurried to join them Sunday morning, some saying they didn't want to ...

HK activists start bigger protest amid standoff

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has said that the war against extremists in the Middle East may take years and must not stop before all terrorist organizations are eliminated.
	Saud al-Faisal, whose country is one of five Arab countries taking part alongside the United States in airstrikes targeting the Islamic State group in Syria, yesterday also called for more decisive policies and decisions to fight terrorism.
	The Saudi official did not speak before the annual UN General Assembly of world leaders, but his speech was distributed to the media.
	"We face a very dangerous situation today (Saturday). Terrorism has evolved from cells to armies and from threatening specific spots to nations," he said.
	"The war on terror requires serious and continuous work that may go on for years, and must not stop at partial victories against limited organizations," he said. "We must continue until all terrorist organizations are destroyed, wherever they may be."
	Al-Faisal, whose country is a strong 

Saudi foreign minister: War on terror needs years

The president of South Sudan said his government is "unwaveringly committed" to ending the conflict with his former vice president that has killed thousands.
	In his address to the UN General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting yesterday, Salva Kiir urged the international community to pressure rebels led by political rival Riek Machar to sign "a crucially important document" that forms the basis for resolving the crisis peacefully and inclusively.
	He said he has already signed the protocol agreement along with leaders belonging to the IGAD regional group.
	Fighting broke out in the world's newest nation in December after Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, accused Machar, an ethnic Nuer, of trying to oust him in a coup.
	That sparked months of ethnic attacks. Despite cease-fires in January and May, government troops continue to fight the rebels.
	The toll has been huge, with thousands killed and more than 1.3 million people forced to flee their homes, including nearly 100,000 who sought refuge 

South Sudan leader affirms commitment to peace

The world's largest bloc of Islamic countries has been lobbying the Palestinians to join the International Criminal Court so it can prosecute Israeli political and military leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the bloc's leader said.
	Iyad Madani yesterday said in an interview with The Associated Press that the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly supports Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' plan to ask the UN Security Council to impose a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands.
	The thrust now should be "to bring the Israelis to the peace camp" with the United States as a moderator, "not a party to the conflict," he said. The United States, Israel's most important ally, has to choose, because "you are either a moderator or a party to the conflict," he said.
	Madani also called for a revival of the stagnant Quartet of Mideast mediators - the US, UN, European Union and Russia - with new leadership. Former British prime minister Tony ..

Islamic nations lobbying Palestinians to go to ICC

A man who was shot after he beheaded one woman and attacked another at an Oklahoma food processing plant from which he had just been fired has regained consciousness and has been interviewed by detectives, police said today.
	Alton Nolen, 30, remains hospitalized in stable condition following Thursday's attack at the Vaughan Foods plant in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, Police Sgt Jeremy Lewis said. He said Nolen will be charged with first-degree murder and assault and battery with a deadly weapon, and that he may also face federal charges.
	"We've already interviewed him and charges will be filed on Monday," Lewis said.
	Lewis said Nolen was fired right before the attack, and that he then drove from the building that houses the company's human resources department to its main distribution center.
	Once inside, he attacked 54-year-old Colleen Hufford with a knife in the center's administrative office area, eventually severing her head, according to police. Nolen then repeatedly ...

Police: Man accused in Oklahoma beheading is awake

Iraqi police officials said that a car bomb has exploded in a town south of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 24.
	They say the explosion happened in the mixed Sunni-Shiite town of Mahmoudiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures.
	In a separate attack in Tarmiyah, 30 miles north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi military convoy, killing two soldiers and wounding five, according to two police officials.
	All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to brief journalists.

Car bomb kills 10 in Iraq

Paraguayan officials said that they have recovered the bodies of 11 people who died when a tourist boat capsized in the Paraguay River during a storm.
	The boat carrying 11 Paraguayan crew members and 16 Brazilian tourists went down Wednesday at the northern town of Carmelo Peralta. The tourists were on a fishing expedition to the Pantanal, a wetlands region straddling the border with Brazil.
	Twelve of the 27 people on the boat were able to swim to shore after the vessel turned over. Of the 11 bodies recovered so far, three were found today.

Paraguay: 11 bodies recovered after boat capsizes

A doctor said that 20 people were killed when a minibus struck a land mine in Guinea-Bissau.
	Augusto Blute, a doctor based in the capital who treated several victims, said today the bus was travelling between the towns of Bissora and Encheia in the north of the country when the explosion occurred yesterday.
	He said the minibus was completely destroyed, and that the blast was strong enough to render most victims unrecognizable to their relatives.
	Local officials say the mine may date to the country's fight for independence from colonial power Portugal.
	The country obtained independence in 1974, though it has been roiled by coups and instability since then and no president has ever finished his term in office.
	Jose Mario Vaz won a presidential runoff vote last May.

Guinea-Bissau: 20 dead in land mine explosion

A tractor-trailer crossed a southern Oklahoma highway median and plowed into the side of a Texas college softball team's bus, killing four team members and injuring more than a dozen others, authorities said.
	The collision involving the North Central Texas College team happened at around 9 p.M. (local time) yesterday on Interstate 35 south of Davis, which is about 70 miles (113 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City and 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Gainesville, Texas, where the school is located.
	The team was heading home from a scrimmage earlier yesterday against Southern Nazarene University, in Bethany.
	Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Ronnie Hampton said three young women from the team died at the scene, and a fourth woman died at a hospital in nearby Sulphur, the Oklahoman newspaper reported.
	Hampton said the team's coach, who was driving the bus, declined treatment at the scene and escaped without serious injury. He said 15 other bus passengers were hurt, as was the driver of ..

College softball bus crashes in Oklahoma, 4 dead

Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators at Hong Kong government headquarters braced for a second night of confrontations with authorities today after police arrested dozens during a chaotic protest against Beijing's refusal to allow genuine democratic reforms in the semi-autonomous city.
	Wearing goggles and plastic wrap to protect against police pepper spray, the protesters -- most of them students -- occupied a street outside government headquarters.
	They defended their position with metal crowd-control barricades originally brought in by authorities, placing them at both ends of the street.
	Earlier in the day, police arrested 74 people who had stormed into a courtyard in the government complex late yesterday, some of them scaling a tall fence.
	They refused to leave until police cleared them out by early afternoon today. The protesters, the youngest of whom is 16, were arrested for offences including assault and disorderly conduct.
	The standoff follows a week-long strike by ...

HK protesters brace for more police confrontations

A volcano in central Japan erupted in spectacular fashion today, catching mountain climbers by surprise and injuring at least 40 people who were stranded in areas that rescue workers have been unable to reach. Another seven people were missing.
	The injured were in mountain lodges, because they were unable to descend 3,067-meter Mount Ontake on their own, said Sohei Hanamura, a crisis management official in Nagano prefecture. Thirty-two people had serious injuries, including at least seven who lost consciousness.
	Police, fire and military rescue workers were trying to approach the area on foot, after deciding that the ash in the air made it too dangerous to use helicopters. The ash was also hampering their ascent.
	Hanamura said seven people were reported missing on the mountain.
	Lodge managers were familiar with first aid procedures and were communicating with rescue officials in town, he said.
	With a sound likened to thunder, the volcano erupted shortly before noon on a clear ...

Volcano erupts in Japan; 7 missing, 40 injured

A Ukrainian security official says one serviceman and one civilian have been killed in the past day as rebels in the east continue attacks despite a cease-fire declared three weeks ago.
	Volodymyr Polyoviy, a spokesman for Ukraine's national security council said today that the civilian died and 16 others were wounded in rebel mortar fire on the town of Shchastya, damaging the local hospital and a vocational school.
	He also said one serviceman was killed and eight wounded over the past day, but did not give details. Rebel fire continued in the vicinity of the airport in Donetsk, the largest rebel-held city, he said. Ukrainian forces have held the airport against rebels since May.
	More than 3,500 people have been killed in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels.

Ukraine: 2 killed in clashes despite cease-fire

Iran's President has said that progress so far in nuclear talks with six major powers "has not been significant," and the pace must be speeded up if the November 24 deadline for a final agreement is to be reached.
	Hassan Rouhani told a news conference "there have been steps forward, but they haven't been significant."
	Talks between experts from the six powers and Iran have been held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's ministerial meeting, but an expected meeting of foreign ministers was called off yesterday. France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the reason was a lack of "significant advances."
	Rouhani said, nonetheless, that Iran believes "the serious will does exist" to reach an agreement.
	"Every side must show courage, the will, the strength ... along with the appropriate needed action and the needed flexibility," he said. "If we can do this, we will reach our objective."
	Rouhani said Iran has made clear that it has the needed flexibility.
	"Now it's up to the 

Iran leader: Nuclear progress not significant

A volcano erupted in central Japan today, catching mountain climbers by surprise and trapping more than 250 people. At least 11 people were injured, including seven who were unconscious.
	With a sound likened to thunder, Mount Ontake erupted shortly before noon, spewing large white plumes of ash high into the sky and sending people on the mountainside fleeing, covering some in ash.
	More than 250 people were trapped on the mountain and a nearby peak in areas that were dangerous to approach, though some had decided to try making their way down as sunset approached, said Nagano prefecture crisis management official Minoru Kashiwabara.
	Eleven people were injured, eight seriously, including the seven who lost consciousness, Kashiwabara said.
	On the Gifu prefecture side of the mountain, 52 people were able to descend, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.
	The 3,067-metre Mount Ontake sits on the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, on the main Japanese island of Honshu.
	One ..

Volcano erupts in Japan; 250 trapped, 11 hurt

Scores of young pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong faced off with riot police today after a night of scuffles and arrests over Beijing's refusal to allow genuine democratic reforms in the semiautonomous region.
	Several people, including one police officer, were taken away on stretchers by medical personnel after about 150 students last night forced their way into government headquarters, some scaling a tall fence. Police responded with pepper spray to push them back.
	Police said 12 men and a woman, aged 16 to 35, were arrested last night and this morning, and at least 28 protesters and officers have been injured.
	The chaos came at the end of the weeklong strike by students demanding China's Communist leaders organise democratic elections in 2017.
	Tension over Hong Kong's political future has risen significantly since control of the former British colony passed to China in 1997.
	China's leaders have promised universal suffrage for the semiautonomous region, but last month ruled .

HK students scuffle with police in chaotic protest

The United States and dozens of other countries vowed to speed up and strengthen the UN's overstretched peacekeeping response to crises around the world.
	More than 130,000 peacekeeping staffers are now deployed in operations around the world, a record, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a special meeting yesterday that he and US Vice President Joe Biden hosted on the sidelines of the annual General Assembly of world leaders.
	The UN doesn't have its own standing army and relies on contributions from its 193 member states. In recent years, stress has soared as peacekeepers have been sent to the front lines of everything from ethnic conflict to Islamic extremism.
	This month, the UN withdrew its peacekeepers from many positions on the Golan Heights after 45 Fijian peacekeepers were held for two weeks by fighters from the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
	According to the UN, 102 peacekeepers died in 2013, 36 from direct attacks and others from accidents and illnesses. The ...

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