The Daily Upvote - 2016-10-10

IS bomb suspect planned to target Berlin airport: official

(DW) The 22-year old Jaber A., who was arrested in Leipzig on Sunday night, apparently intended to bomb an airport in the name of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) terrorist group, the head of German domestic intelligence said.

"We received intelligence that he initially planned to attack trains in Germany." Hans-Georg Maaßen told the German public broadcaster ARD on Monday. "Later, the plans became more specific and directed at airports in Berlin."

The police were tracking Jaber A. and decided to raid his Chemnitz apartment on Friday, when the suspect was seen buying glue in a one-euro-store.

"We have assumed that this might be the last chemical ingredient he needed to make a bomb," Maaßen said.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/is-bomb-suspect-planned-to-target-berlin-airport-official/a-36010910

Deadly shooting rampage puts Israel on alert ahead of holiday

(AFP) Israeli authorities have arrested dozens of Palestinians after a deadly shooting rampage in Jerusalem raised fears of a surge in violence during this week's Yom Kippur holiday, police said Monday.

Sunday's attack saw a 39-year-old Palestinian open fire on civilians from a car and at police, killing a police officer and a 60-year-old Israeli woman.

The attacker, Misbah Abu Sbeih, who was reportedly scheduled to begin a prison term on the same day, was killed by police after he fled into an east Jerusalem neighbourhood.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-probes-deadly-shooting-rampage-ahead-holiday-115203639.html

Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom win Nobel in economics for work on contracts

(NYT) Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science on Monday for their work on improving the design of contracts, the deals that bind together employers and their workers, or companies and their customers.

Dr. Holmstrom, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has had a particular influence on executive pay practices. Dr. Hart, a professor at Harvard, has contributed to the debate about the outsourcing of public services like prisons and garbage collection.

“Modern economies are held together by innumerable contracts,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awarded the prize, said Monday morning. “Their analysis of optimal contractual arrangements lays an intellectual foundation for designing policies and institutions in many areas, from bankruptcy legislation to political constitutions.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/business/nobel-economics-oliver-hart-bengt-holmstrom.html

Russia to upgrade Syria naval facility to permanent base

(AFP) Russia's defence ministry said Monday that the country was poised to transform its naval facility in the Syrian port city of Tartus into a permanent base.

"In Syria we will have a permanent naval base in Tartus," Russian news agencies quoted deputy defence minister Nikolai Pankov as saying.

The announcement represents the latest move by Moscow to bolster its forces in Syria as tensions with the West have surged over Russia's bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

The defence ministry said last week it had deployed its S-300 air defence missile system to Tartus and warned Washington it would halt any attempted US strikes in Syria.

Moscow also sent three missile ships to reinforce its naval forces off the coast of the conflict-wracked nation.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-upgrade-syria-naval-facility-permanent-095018058.html

Haiti needs "massive response" after hurricane: U.N. chief

(Reuters) A "massive response" is needed to help Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew and the United Nations is mobilizing on all fronts to help get the recovery under way, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.

"Some towns and villages have been almost wiped off the map," Ban told reporters. "Tensions are already mounting as people await help. A massive response is required. U.N. teams are working with local officials to assess needs."

The United Nations appealed for $119 million on Monday to bring life-saving assistance to 750,000 people in southwestern Haiti, which is reeling from a direct hit by Hurricane Matthew.

The money will go to provide food, drinking water and shelter to the most vulnerable among 1.4 million people in need, after large areas of crops were destroyed and infrastructure was damaged, the U.N. said in the three-month appeal to donors.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-matthew-haiti-un-idUSKCN12A1U3

France: UK has "moral duty" to take Calais migrant children

(AP) Within days, Britain will begin admitting hundreds of children from a border refugee camp on the French side of the English Channel, the U.K. government said Monday.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told lawmakers in the House of Commons that the government would act with urgency to take in migrant children who have relatives in Britain.

France has been pressuring Britain to accept the children from the camp in Calais. Rudd spoke after meeting her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve, who said Britain has a "moral duty" to take in "several hundred isolated minors with family in Britain."

Thousands of migrants fleeing war and hardship from countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have reached the Channel port town in the hope of making it to Britain.

Source: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7947da24a06f414c8669df0dd274e9a4/france-uk-has-moral-duty-take-calais-migrant-children

Police, students clash as South Africa's Wits university reopens

(Reuters) South African police clashed with student protesters demanding free education on Monday at the University of the Witwatersand (Wits) which had reopened after demonstrations forced its closure last week.

Demonstrators hurled rocks at shield-wielding private security guards while police fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse the crowd at the Wits Johannesburg campus.

Protesting students took to the streets of Braamfontein district, where the university is located, police said. Television footage showed several people trying to topple a bus in downtown Johannesburg and later set it on fire

Weeks of countrywide protests over the cost of university education, which is prohibitive for many black students, have highlighted frustration at enduring inequalities more than two decades after the end of apartheid.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-protests-idUSKCN12A0M6

UN chief says Assad "failure" caused 300.000 deaths

(AFP) UN chief Ban Ki-moon says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's "failure of leadership" caused the deaths of over 300,000 people, according to an interview released Monday.

Asked by the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle if he considered Assad a mass murderer, Ban said that question was for other institutions to answer.

He added, though: "It's true that because of his failure of leadership so many people have died, more than 300,000 people have been killed."

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/un-chief-says-assad-failure-caused-300-000-154901150.html

Dubai says starts building world's tallest tower

(Reuters) Dubai said on Monday it had started building what would be the world's tallest tower, another record for the city that is already home to the highest skyscraper - the Burj Khalifa.

The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour - a joint venture between Emaar Properties and Dubai Holding, the investment vehicle of the emirate's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum - will be completed in 2020, Dubai's government said.

Its statement did not say how high the tower would be nor how much it might cost.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-dubai-tower-idUSKCN12A1ZS

India parents investigated after Jain girl dies from 68-day fast

(BBC) Indian police are investigating the parents of a 13-year-old girl who died last week after undertaking a religious fast for 68 days.

Police in southern Hyderabad city told BBC Hindi they want to know if Aradhana Samdariya was forced to fast.

Her parents have insisted she voluntarily fasted as prescribed in Jainism, one of the world's most ancient religions.

The case has sparked a debate about the practice of religious fasting in India.

Reports said Aradhana lived for 68 days on boiled water. Two days after she called off her fast last week, she was dead.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37604951

Colombia to launch peace talks with ELN rebels

(AFP) The Colombian government and the country's second-largest rebel group, the ELN, announced they would launch negotiations on October 27 in Ecuador's capital, with President Juan Manuel Santos predicting "total peace".

Both sides have committed to doing everything in their power to "create an environment favorable to peace" once the talks begin, according to a joint statement delivered at the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in Caracas.

The move comes as welcome news for Santos, fresh from his Nobel Peace Prize win but still reeling from voters' rejection in a referendum of a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group.

"We've been seeking negotiations with the ELN for almost three years to end the armed conflict with them as well... Now that we're moving forward with the ELN, we will have total peace," Santos said in Bogota.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/colombia-government-eln-rebels-launch-peace-talks-october-003708953.html

Congo opposition leader arrested over deadly anti-government protests

(Reuters) A Congolese opposition leader was arrested late on Sunday for his role in anti-government demonstrations last month in which more than 50 people died, the government said on Monday, leading to threats of more protests if he is not released.

Bruno Tshibala, the deputy secretary-general and spokesman for the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), Democratic Republic of Congo's largest opposition party, was arrested Sunday night at Kinshasa airport as he prepared to board a flight for Brussels, the UDPS said in a statement.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende confirmed the arrest, saying Tshibala would be questioned by the attorney general's office over his role in the protests, including the deaths of a police officer who was burned alive and a young girl.

"He is among the people who organized the protests of (September) 19th and 20th," Mende told Reuters. "Tshibala signed a communique in which he congratulated the protesters."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-politics-idUSKCN12A112

At least 10 dead as army, Ugandan rebels clash in DR Congo: local activist

(AFP) At least 10 people were killed in clashes between the army and suspected Ugandan rebels in east DR Congo, a local activist said Monday, in an area that has suffered a string of massacres since 2014.

The rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces, a partly Islamist armed group of Ugandan origin, are accused of a litany of human rights abuses and of being involved with kidnappings and smuggling.

"Suspected ADF attacked Beni from the north overnight... Eight civilians were shot dead, a soldier was killed and a suspected ADF militant was also killed," the local civil society leader, Gilbert Kambale, told AFP.

"The armed forces of the DRC intercepted the ADF and in the exchanges of fire civilians and soldiers were killed," said the army's spokesman in the region Mak Hazukay by telephone.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/least-10-dead-army-ugandan-rebels-clash-dr-090338810.html

Islamic State confirms death of propaganda chief: statement

(Reuters) Islamic State on Monday confirmed the death of its propaganda chief, whom the Pentagon said was killed in a U.S.-led air strike in Syria's Raqqa province last month.

An statement posted online by the militant group paid tribute to Wa'il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Furqan. The statement just referred to him by his alias.

It did not say when, where or how he had died.

Source: 'http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-islamic-state-idUSKCN12A2BU

Turkey, Russia sign gas pipeline deal as ties improve

(AP) Turkey and Russia on Monday signed a deal to build a gas pipeline from Russia as the two countries pressed ahead with efforts to normalize ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan watched as their countries' energy ministers sealed an intergovernmental agreement for the "Turkish Stream" project that would bring gas from Russia to Turkey. It would then be distributed to European Union nations.

The project, which had previously been suspended amid tensions between the two countries, was signed on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress.

In other steps aimed at restoring ties, Putin announced that Russia had agreed to a natural gas discount to Turkey and would resume importing fruit, vegetables and other agricultural goods from the country. The two countries would intensify defense contacts and also look into cooperation in space technologies. Russia is building Turkey's first nuclear power plant, and Erdogan said the sides agreed to accelerate the project.

Yemen's Houthis respond to air strike with missile attack

(Reuters) Yemen's Houthi movement launched a ballistic missile deep into Saudi Arabia and may have also fired on a U.S. warship, two days after an apparent Saudi-led air strike killed 140 mourners at a funeral attended by powerful tribal leaders.

Saturday's air strike ripped through a wake attended by some of the country's top political and security officials, outraging Yemeni society and potentially galvanizing powerful tribes to join the Houthis in opposing a Saudi-backed exiled government.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN12A13J