Syrian government forces will soon begin a unilateral cease-fire in northwestern Idlib province, Russia's military said Friday, as hundreds of protesters were met with tear gas marching toward a border crossing with Turkey demanding that Ankara either open the border for refugees or work on stopping the Syrian army's advance.
The protest and cease-fire announcement came after weeks of a crushing offensive by Syrian troops on the last remaining rebel stronghold, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee, many of whom were already without shelter.
A similar cease-fire at the beginning of the month lasted a few days, after which the government offensive resumed and forces captured the town of Khan Sheikhoun and all rebel-held towns of villages in nearby Hama province.
Syrian troops have been on the offensive since April 30 against rebel-held areas forcing more than half a million people to flee, many of them toward the border with Turkey farther north.
Turkey opened its borders to Syrians in 

Syrian troops to start unilateral cease-fire in Idlib

PTI Automatic

The Boy Scouts of America is facing a threat from a growing wave of lawsuits over decades-old allegations of sexual abuse.
The Scouts have been sued in multiple states in recent months by purported abuse victims, including plaintiffs taking advantage of new state laws or court decisions that are now allowing suits previously barred because of the age of the allegations.
More litigation is on the way.
A lawyer representing 150 people who say they were abused as Boy Scouts is planning a suit in New Jersey when the state's new civil statute of limitations law takes effect December 1.
New Jersey was home to the Boy Scouts' headquarters for about 25 years until 1978.
Among the plaintiffs is Greg Hunt, 62, of St. Petersburg, Florida.
He said he was abused during a camping trip in about 1969 in Pennsylvania, where his family lived at the time.
"It'd be nice to have the Boy Scouts account for their lack of ability to do the right thing," he said.
"It would be nice for me to have the Scouts ...

Wave of child sex abuse lawsuits threatens Boy Scouts

At least 155 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa successfully entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after climbing over fences or walking across a border post separating the territory from Morocco, authorities said Friday.
Seven of the migrants clung to the top of a 6-meter-tall (19.5 feet) fence for over two hours until law enforcement officers brought them down and handed them over to their Moroccan counterparts, said the Spanish central government's delegation in Ceuta.
A larger group of around 250 attempted the breach simultaneously at a breakwater where the 8.2-kilometer (5-mile) double fence meets the sea. Most of them were from West Africa's Guinea.
Morocco's official news agency MAP quoted local authorities in the northern M'diq Fnideq prefecture as saying that 400 migrants staying in the country illegally had attempted to cross the fences and that 90 of them had been immediately arrested.
Nine of them were slightly injured and transferred to a hospital.
A Ceuta delegation ...

Over 150 migrants in Morocco climb fences to Spanish enclave

A Lebanese bank targeted by the US Treasury Department for "knowingly facilitating banking activities" for the militant Hezbollah group denied the charges Friday, saying it abides by international laws.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Jammal Trust Bank on Thursday and added it to its list of global terrorist organizations.
Lebanon Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil tweeted that the country's banking sector will be able to overcome the repercussions of the Department of Treasury's decision, adding that deposits of the bank's clients will be safe.
The bank said it learned about the sanctions "with great surprise" and "denies each and every allegation" on which the Treasury based its action.
The statement also said the bank is committed to "abiding strictly by Central Bank of Lebanon rules and regulations, as well as all international rules and regulations on countering money laundering and financing of terrorism."
The bank said it shall take appropriate steps .

Lebanese bank denies doing banking activities for Hezbollah

E-cigarette giant Juul Labs is facing mounting scrutiny from state law enforcement officials, with the attorneys general in Illinois and the District of Columbia investigating how the company's blockbuster vaping device became so popular with underage teens, The Associated Press has learned.
The company's rapid rise to the top of the multi-billion dollar US e-cigarette market has been accompanied by accusations from parents, politicians and public health advocates that Juul fueled a vaping craze among high schoolers.
In addition to the ongoing inquiries in Illinois and the district, which had not been publicly disclosed before, four other state attorneys general are probing or suing Juul.
The company also is being investigated by members of Congress and federal health regulators and faces separate lawsuits from Juul users, both teens and adults.
Juul's top executives have disputed allegations that they've marketed their products to teens, declaring that they've taken unprecedented ...

Probes of e-cigarette giant Juul under way in Illinois, DC

A 47-year-old man convicted of fatally shooting an Oklahoma sheriff's deputy was sentenced to life in prison.
District Judge Phillip Corley imposed the sentence late Thursday on Nathan LeForce after the jury deadlocked on his punishment. He will not be eligible for parole.
LeForce faced a possible death sentence after he was convicted of the April 18, 2017, shooting death of 40-year-old Logan County Deputy David Wade.
Jurors found LeForce guilty of first-degree murder Aug. 20 after viewing evidence over six days, including body camera video of Wade being fatally wounded while serving an eviction notice at a home near Mulhall, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City.
Prosecutors have said the video captured LeForce approaching Wade with a raised handgun and firing at the deputy.
Wade was shot four times, including in the face, but returned fire and was able to call for backup.
Authorities said LeForce then took Wade's patrol vehicle and drove at a high speed to a convenience ...

Man sentenced to life in shooting death of Oklahoma deputy

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and another core member of a pro-democracy group were granted bail Friday after being charged with inciting people to join a protest in June, while authorities denied permission for a major march as they took what appears to be a harder line on this summer's protests.
The organizers of Saturday's march, the fifth anniversary of a decision by China against allowing fully democratic elections for the leader of Hong Kong, said they were calling it off after an appeals board denied permission.
It was unclear whether some protesters would still demonstrate on their own.
The police commander of Hong Kong island, Kwok Pak Chung, appealed to people to stay away from any non-authorized rallies, warning that those caught could face a five-year jail term.
He told a daily news conference that he was aware of social media messages urging people to take strolls or hold rallies in the name of religion.
Kwok urged the public to "make a clear break with all acts of ...

Hong Kong democracy activists get bail, protest march banned

A 9-year-old Congolese girl who tested positive for Ebola in neighbouring Uganda has died, officials said Friday, as the World Health Organization said that the outbreak has neared 3,000 cases.
The young girl's body will be repatriated with her mother back to Congo for a funeral, according to Dr. Eddy Kasenda, Ebola representative in the Congolese border town of Kasindi.
"We are finalizing the administrative formalities so that the body is repatriated and buried here in Congo, her native country," said Kasenda.
"We are collaborating with the health services of neighboring Uganda and we will strengthen the sanitary measures here in Kasindi."
A Ugandan official at the hospital where the girl had been in isolation confirmed her death overnight. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
The girl, who was traveling with her mother, was identified at a border screening Wednesday as a possible Ebola patient and isolated.
Although cases of ...

Uganda: Traveling girl from Congo dies of Ebola

Taiwan officials demanded Friday that China disclose information about the disappearance of a Taiwanese man who had reportedly distributed photos of Chinese troops massing equipment just outside protest-racked Hong Kong.
Friends and family have been unable to reach Lee Meng-chu, a volunteer activity organiser with a small township in southern Taiwan, for 10 days, the Taiwan government's Mainland Affairs Council said after receiving pleas for help from Lee's family members.
Communist Party-ruled China often detains people over political matters and may hold them in an unknown location for several months if they are suspected of threatening national security.
"He was able to be contacted while in Hong Kong and then unreachable once he entered mainland China," council spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng told reporters. "The main thing now is we need to understand his movements and
whereabouts, then eventually how to get him safely back to Taiwan." Lee entered Hong Kong on August 18, Taiwan's ...

Taiwan demands China disclose whereabouts of missing citizen

The leader of the main Arab faction in parliament has shaken up Israel's election campaign by offering to sit in a moderate coalition government  a development that would end decades of Arab political marginalisation and could potentially bring down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ayman Odeh's offer to back Netanyahu's chief opponent, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, for prime minister reflects the growing desire of Israel's large Arab minority to take a more active role in shaping the country.
It also challenges the longstanding norm that Arabs are out of bounds as political partners with the Jewish majority.
If Odeh can generate excitement and boost Arab turnout, it could be enough to tip the scales in Israel's fractured political landscape and finally topple Netanyahu, who has long incited against Arab political leaders and questioned their loyalty.
"The truth is we could be the real deciding factor in this election," Odeh told The Associated Press this week.
"Without us the 

Arab leader seeks to shake up Israeli election

A Virginia distillery is toasting the end of a lawsuit alleging that it improperly tried to pass off American whiskey as Scotch.
The Scotch Whisky Association alleged in federal court in Delaware that Virginia Distillery Co. engaged in false and deceptive labelling of whiskey sold under the brand name "Virginia-Highland Whisky." The lawsuit claimed that the use of the term "Highland" and its spelling of "Whisky" without an "e'' falsely implied that the product was produced in Scotland.
The case was terminated earlier this month. As part of the settlement, Virginia Distillery will stop using the word "Highland" after it sells remaining stock. The distillery will continue to label all products using "whisky" without the "e," which it says is allowed under U.S. law.

Virginia whiskey maker settles with Scotch whisky group

Officials say a 9-year-old Congolese child who tested positive for Ebola in neighbouring Uganda has died.
Dr Eddy Kasenda, Ebola representative in the Congolese border town of Kasindi, said the victim will be repatriated to Congo Friday.
A Ugandan official at the hospital where the girl had been in isolation confirmed her death overnight.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters.
The girl, who was travelling with her mother, was identified at a border screening Wednesday as a possible Ebola patient and isolated.
Ugandan authorities believe she didn't have contact with any Ugandan.
Ebola has killed nearly 2,000 people in eastern Congo since August 2018.
Although the highly infectious disease has proved stubborn to contain inside Congo, cross-border contamination has been rare.

Uganda: Travelling girl from Congo dies of Ebola

When shots rang out last year at a high school in Parkland, Florida, leaving 17 people dead, President Donald Trump quickly turned his thoughts to creating more mental institutions.
When back-to-back mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, jolted the nation earlier this month, Trump again spoke of "building new facilities" for the mentally ill as a way to reduce mass shootings.
"We don't have those institutions anymore and people can't get proper care," Trump lamented at a New Hampshire campaign rally not long after the latest shootings.
Now, in response to Trump's concerns, White House staff members are looking for ways to incorporate the president's desire for more institutions into a long list of other measures aimed at reducing gun violence.
It's the latest example of White House policy aides scrambling to come up with concrete policies or proposals to fill out ideas tossed out by the president. And it's an idea that mental health professionals say reflects outdated ...

Trump eyes mental institutions as answer to gun violence

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab defended Friday his government's decision to suspend parliament and rejected suggestions that the move will prevent lawmakers from debating the country's departure from the European Union as concern mounts that a costly and damaging Brexit without any agreement is now more likely.
Britain is due to leave the EU  the first country ever to do so  on Oct. 31; a move that has divided the country and shaken the European project to its foundations.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson got Queen Elizabeth II's approval to suspend parliament, a move widely criticized by his political opponents who see it as a maneuver to give them even less time to block a chaotic no-deal Brexit.
Johnson previously had refused to rule out such a move, but the timing of the decision took lawmakers  many of whom are on vacation  by surprise.
At talks with EU foreign ministers in Finland, Raab said that "the idea that this is some kind of constitutional ...

EU fears of a no-deal Brexit soar as UK defends its actions

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen says the island has been "aggressively promoting indigenous national defense" with help from US arms sales.
Tsai spoke Friday at Armed Forces Day in Taipei City. She said Taiwan has been locally building its own submarines and fighter jets.
Tsai added that Taiwan's determination to defend itself has won international support, as the US in recent months approved sales of M1A2 tanks and F-16Vs.
Taiwan is a democratically governed island that split from Communist Party-ruled mainland China amid civil war in 1949.
Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has condemned the US's arms sales to the island.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said he would not rule out using force in efforts to "unify" Taiwan and the mainland.

Taiwan leader touts island's determination to defend itself

Five whales died, including four that were euthanised, after a mass stranding Thursday on a beach on the Hawaii island of Maui.
Ten melon-headed whales were found stranded alive early in the morning on Sugar Beach in the coastal resort community of Kihei.
Hours later, a whale calf believed to belong to the same social group was found dead on the beach about a mile to the north, said David Schofield, the regional marine mammal response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA veterinarians determined four of the whales were in grave condition and nothing more could be done to save them, Jeffrey Walters, NOAA's wildlife management and conservation branch, said in a statement.
The animals were made comfortable with a sedative and then humanely euthanized to relieve their suffering, he said.
The remaining six whales were refloated to the ocean but stranded again, Schofield said. NOAA initially said the prognosis for two of the six wasn't good, but they ...

5 whales dead after mass stranding on Maui beach

Uber, Lyft and DoorDash threatened Thursday to spend $90 million on a California ballot measure if they can't reach a deal with unions and lawmakers on legislation that would change the rights of their drivers and other so-called gig workers.
"We remain focused on reaching a deal, and are confident about bringing this issue to the voters if necessary," Adrian Durbin, senior director of communications at Lyft, said in a statement.
The companies' team-up comes as California lawmakers debate a bill that would make it harder to classify workers as independent contractors instead of employees. As employees, workers are entitled to more wage protections and benefits.
But the ridesharing and on-demand delivery companies say labeling workers as such would upend their business model built around driver flexibility.
The California Labor Federation, which sponsored the bill, quickly vowed to fight a ballot measure.
"We will meet the gig companies' absurd political spending with a vigorous ...

Rideshare, delivery apps pledge $90M California ballot fight

Law enforcement officials in Virginia said Thursday that they've taken down a multi-state drug ring and seized enough cheap fentanyl from China to kill 14 million people.
The bust was announced in the wake of growing efforts to stem the flow of fentanyl from Chinese labs to the United States.
The synthetic opioid often comes through the mail or across the Mexico border. It can be stronger and more lethal than heroin and is responsible for tens of thousands of American drug deaths each year.
The 30 kilograms (about 66 pounds) of fentanyl that were seized in this bust were intended for an area in southeastern Virginia known was the Peninsula, which includes the cities of Hampton and Newport News.
One of the 39 people charged is accused of ordering fentanyl from a vendor in Shanghai. The person then "had it mailed through the U.S. Postal Service to a neighborhood in Newport News," G. Zachary Terwilliger, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said at a news conference in 

US drug ring had enough cheap fentanyl to kill 14 million: Officials

In middle school, Dan Scoglietti rode his bike through Chicago, picking up old beer cans with his twin brother, Ed. It was an odd hobby for a pre-teen in the 1970s that turned into a lifetime pursuit.
"We'd go to junior high and trade beer cans," says Scoglietti, now 57. "Today, I do it all the time." On Thursday, the twin brothers welcomed hundreds of other beer can collectors in Albuquerque to "CANvention," an annual gathering sponsored by the Fenton, Missouri-based Brewery Collectibles Club of America. For 49 years, the group, and its predecessor the Beer Can Collectors of America, have organized conventions celebrating vintage beer cans from brewers around the world.
Collectors came to trade, buy and sell beer cans dating as far back as the post-Prohibition era. They examined special-edition cans dedicated to NFL teams selling for only USD 5 to those from the 1930s going for up to USD 3,000.
Some collectors traded beer cans connected to the thousands of craft brewers who used ...

Brew the years: Beer fans 'CANvention' opens in US

The owner of Timberland, Vans and several other shoe and clothing brands said Thursday that it has stopped buying leather from Brazil as fires continue to destroy the Amazon rainforest in that country.
VF Corp. said it won't purchase leather and hide from Brazilian suppliers until it's assured that the materials "do not contribute to environmental harm in the country." The current fires in the Amazon were set by those who are clearing the forest for cattle ranching and crops. About 60 per cent of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil.
VF, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, said 5 per cent of the leather it purchases for its products comes from Brazil.
"We do uphold our values and our commitment to the planet and its people no matter how small the volume is from a region or supplier," the company said in a statement.
Besides Timberland boots and Vans sneakers, VF also makes The North Face jackets, Eastpak backpacks and Dickies clothing.

Timberland owner stops buying leather from Brazil

Authorities on Thursday sedated and euthanized four small whales after 10 of the animals were stranded alive on a beach on the Hawaii island of Maui. Two others were also likely to be euthanized.
Veterinarians determined the four melon-headed whales were in grave condition and nothing more could be done to save them, Jeffrey Walters, the wildlife management and conservation branch chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a statement.
The animals were made comfortable with a sedative and then humanely euthanized to relieve their suffering, he said.
The remaining six whales were refloated to the ocean, but two of them soon stranded again. Walters says the prognosis for these two wasn't good and they would likely be euthanized.
Walters said NOAA and University of Hawaii scientists will examine the whales to determine what caused the stranding on Sugar Beach in the town of Kihei.
Kealoha Pisciotta, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, said the whales are .

AP

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