Somalia: deadly truck bombing in Mogadishu

October 14, 2017, 7:09 am

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At least 20 people killed in busy district of Somali capital after truck being trailed by security forces exploded

At least 20 people have died in Mogadishu after a truck bomb detonated in a busy district of the Somali capital that is home to hotels, shops, restaurants and government offices.

Security forces were trailing the truck on KM4 street in Hodan district when it exploded on Saturday, police captain Mohamed Hussein told the Associated Press. It is believed the target was a hotel. At least 15 people were injured.

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Last Isis fighters in Raqqa broker deal to leave Syrian city – local official

October 14, 2017, 11:22 am

≫ Next: Romania shrugs off label of Europe’s poor man as economy booms

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Militants including foreign fighters negotiate deal to withdraw as they run out of ammunition after three-month battle

Islamic State fighters remaining in Raqqa, once the group’s de facto capital, have brokered a deal that would allow them to leave the city with a number of human shields, according to agencies in Syria.

Omar Alloush, a senior official of the Raqqa Civil Council, told Agence France-Presse a deal had been reached to allow fighters out of the city, which is on the verge of being captured by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

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Romania shrugs off label of Europe’s poor man as economy booms

October 14, 2017, 11:25 am

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Since it joined the EU in 2007, government economic measures and communist-era educational excellence have spurred rapid growth

At a sleek new office in the heart of Bucharest, Fitbit co-founder and chief executive James Park explains why the smartwear giant is rapidly expanding its operations in Romania – and following the lead of a host of multinationals. “The tech talent here is amazing. Romania and other countries in central and eastern Europe have great existing talent, and also great universities,” he says.

The US company, which bought Romanian smartwatch brand Vector Watches for a reported $15m (£11.4m) late last year, and has tripled its staff in Romania since, has just opened its largest research and development centre outside the US, in the Romanian capital. It’s not alone: in recent years, major global companies such as Siemens, Ford and Bosch have set up or expanded operations in Romania, boosting an economy that’s already growing at speed.

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'Things went to hell': California firefighters battle new wildfire winds

October 14, 2017, 11:40 am

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Officials report 35 dead, 5,700 homes and businesses destroyed and 100,000 people evacuated, in deadliest and most destructive fires state has seen

Strong winds in northern California overnight brought bad news for thousands of firefighters working to stop historically deadly and destructive wildfires that have devastated whole wine country communities, left at least 35 people dead and caused 100,000 to leave their homes.

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Catalonia calls for talks with Madrid but warns against Spanish direct rule

October 14, 2017, 8:34 am

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In an interview, Catalonia’s foreign minister Raül Romeva says the region is ready for dialogue but Madrid must acknowledge its right to decide

The Catalan government has renewed its calls for dialogue to solve the independence crisis – but warned the rest of Europe that the issue will not disappear, even if the Spanish government makes good its threat to impose direct rule this week.

In an interview with the Observer, Catalonia’s foreign minister, Raül Romeva, said the government was ready for unconditional talks to find a way out of the impasse. “What we need is dialogue with the Spanish state,” he said.

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Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh trampled to death by wild elephants

October 14, 2017, 12:51 pm

≫ Next: Hillary Clinton: Brexit vote was precursor to US election defeat

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Deaths of three children and a woman highlight environmental impacts of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar into forested hills of Balukhali

Wild elephants trampled sleeping Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in the early hours of Saturday, killing three children and a woman in the second such incident since the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Myanmar in just a few weeks.

Many trees on the forested hills of Balukhali in southern Bangladesh, where the incident took place, have been chopped down to house the massive influx of Rohingya Muslims escaping violence in neighbouring Myanmar.

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Hillary Clinton: Brexit vote was precursor to US election defeat

October 14, 2017, 6:57 am

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Former secretary of state tells Andrew Marr false claims of EU referendum campaign prepared the ground for Donald Trump win

Hillary Clinton has said the vote for Brexit, and specifically the false claims made in the EU referendum campaign, were a forerunner of her defeat to Donald Trump in last year’s US presidential election.

During an interview for BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, she said: “Looking at the Brexit vote now, it was a precursor to some extent of what happened to us in the United States.”

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Chairman Xi crushes dissent but poor believe he’s making China great

October 14, 2017, 1:00 pm

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The Communist party prepares to hail mid-point of Xi Jinping’s 10-year term. But what do people make of their leader?

Like most residents of the sun-kissed fishing village of Tanmen, Huang Jie will never forget the day China’s “chairman of everything” came to town. It was the afternoon of 8 April 2013 – just a few months after Xi Jinping had taken power – and he was using one of his first presidential trips to pay a morale-boosting visit to the sailors on the frontline of Beijing’s quest to control the South China Sea.

“He was just over there,” reminisced Huang, the 45-year-old owner of a harbour-side equipment shop, motioning excitedly into the street to where Xi’s motorcade passed by. “The window was half open and he looked out at us and smiled. When he waved, it was as if it was in slow motion – he didn’t say a single word, but I felt so excited.”

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Harvey Weinstein expelled from Academy over sexual assault allegations

October 14, 2017, 2:43 pm

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Mogul kicked out of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Alegations from more than two dozen women include four of rape

The disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein has been expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in an unprecedented move after a special meeting held in Los Angeles on Saturday morning.

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'He is failing': Trump strikes out solo as friends worry and enemies circle

October 14, 2017, 4:01 am

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As a report says he hates ‘everybody at the White House’, the president has taken his own radical steps on Iran and healthcare

Et tu, brute? Bannon seeks removal of Senate ‘Caesar’ McConnell

Donald Trump’s decision to go it alone with rapid fire announcements on healthcare and Iran reflects his boiling frustration with the limits of presidential power, analysts say.

The US president made a brazen move on Thursday night to halt payments to insurers under Barack Obama’s healthcare law. Democrats accused him of a “temper tantrum” and spiteful attempt to sabotage legislation he promised but failed to replace. Less than 24 hours later, he condemned the “fanatical” government of Iran as he decertified his predecessor’s nuclear deal, defying his own cabinet and disquieting European allies.

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Joshua Boyle: Canadian held in Afghanistan says his child was killed in captivity

October 14, 2017, 8:59 am

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Joshua Boyle condemns ‘stupidity’ of kidnappers and says he hopes to build sanctuary for family after five-year ordeal

A Canadian man who was held hostage with his family for five years has said that the Taliban-linked militants who abducted him and his wife in Afghanistan raped her and killed an infant daughter born in captivity.

Giving new details of the family’s ordeal after arriving at Toronto airport following a rescue operation mounted on Wednesday by the Pakistani military, Joshua Boyle said they had been kidnapped while trying to deliver aid to villagers in a part of a Taliban-controlled region that “no NGO, no aid worker and no government” had been able to reach.

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California wildfires: moment family's dog is found alive in ruins of home – video

October 15, 2017, 9:06 am

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Jack Weaver and his brother-in-law Patrick Widen walked around police barricades, through a creek and up treacherous hilly roads to film the devastation caused by the wildfires in Santa Rosa, California. Weaver's mother, Katherine, was convinced the family's dog, Izzy, had died in the fire that destroyed their neighbourhood. When the men reached the end of the narrow road, they saw their house was completely ruined. But then Izzy came bounding out of the rubble for a joyous reunion. Weaver captured the scene on his phone

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Peshmerga fighters take to streets of Kirkuk – video

October 15, 2017, 7:13 pm

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A convoy of Peshmerga fighters in vehicles flying Kurdish flags travels through the centre of Kirkuk early on Monday in images broadcast by Rudaw TV, a Kurdish broadcaster based in Irbil. Iraqi forces are reported to have advanced on the Kurdish city after the prime minister, Haidar al-Abadi, gave the order to seize its oil fields and air base.

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'It was a massacre': witness describes Mogadishu blast – video

October 16, 2017, 4:13 am

≫ Next: Deadly Storm Ophelia batters Ireland - video report

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A woman who saw the truck bombing in the Somali capital describes the scenes of horror that followed. It is thought to have been one of the world's deadliest terrorist attacks for many years. Somalia's president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, decried the bombing, saying: 'It's a sign that al-Shabaab continues to target innocent civilians.' No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, but the spotlight has fallen on the terrorist group al-Shabaab, which vowed to escalate attacks after the Trump administration and Mohamed announced new military efforts against it

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Deadly Storm Ophelia batters Ireland - video report

October 16, 2017, 6:01 am

≫ Next: School's roof ripped off by high winds in Cork – video

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The former hurricane has reached the west coast of Ireland, with winds of up to 95mph (150k h). Three people have died, while hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in southern Ireland are without power

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School's roof ripped off by high winds in Cork – video

October 16, 2017, 9:21 am

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≪ Previous: Deadly Storm Ophelia batters Ireland - video report

Storm Ophelia rips off the roof of a school gym in Cork, Ireland. The roof of Douglas community school was blown off on Monday as the storm hit with winds of up to 100 mph (161km/h)

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‘Her life was not for nothing’ – Vigil held for Panama Papers journalist killed by car bomb – video

October 16, 2017, 6:20 pm

≫ Next: Trump backtracks from false claim that Obama didn't call families of fallen soldiers – video

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An estimated 3,000 people gathered for a solemn vigil to mourn the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta’s best-known investigative journalist, who was killed when a powerful bomb blew up her car. The case has stunned the small Mediterranean island which has a population of some 400,000 people. Family friend Luke Frendo told the crowd her death would not be in vain.

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Trump backtracks from false claim that Obama didn't call families of fallen soldiers – video

October 16, 2017, 10:19 pm

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During a press conference with senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, US president Donald Trump says he would write to and call the families of American soldiers killed in Niger, claiming he was told former President Barack Obama 'didn't often.' 'President Obama I think probably did sometimes and sometimes he didn't,' Trump said. 'All I can do is ask my generals.'

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Drone footage shows Rohingya refugees entering Bangladesh – video

October 17, 2017, 2:47 am

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The United Nations high commissioner for refugees released aerial footage on Monday showing thousands of Rohingya Muslims after they crossed the Naf river into Bangladesh. They join at least 536,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar since August

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