French tourist Herve Gourdel, who was seized by in Algeria on September 21, has been killed, according to a video released by jihadist group Jund al-Khilafa.
Militant group Jund al-Khilafa had set a 24-hour deadline on September 23 for France to halt air strikes in Iraq.
Herve Gourdel, 55, was abducted in the north-east Kabylie region.
Herve Gourdel was abducted by Jund al-Khilafa in the north-east Kabylie region (photo Facebook)
France joined the US last week in launching air strikes on Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Iraq but did not take part in the strikes on IS in Syria.
French President Francois Hollande and PM Manuel Valls, publicly rejected the group’s ultimatum on September 23.
The video of Herve Gourdel apparently being killed was entitled Message of blood for the French government, reports said.
ISIS itself has beheaded three Western hostages since August: US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines. Their deaths were all filmed and posted online.
India has successfully put the Mangalyaan robotic probe into orbit around Mars, becoming the fourth country to do so.
The Mangalyaan robotic probe, one of the cheapest interplanetary missions ever, will soon begin work studying the Red Planet’s atmosphere.
A 24-minute engine burn slowed the probe down enough to allow it to be captured by Mars’ gravity.
Indian PM Narendra Modi said the country had achieved the “near impossible”.
Speaking at the mission control centre in the southern city of Bangalore Narendra Modi said: “The odds were stacked against us. Of 51 missions attempted in the world only 21 have succeeded. We have prevailed.”
Only the US, Europe and Russia have previously sent missions to Mars, but India is the first country to succeed on its first attempt.
The latest US satellite, Maven, arrived at Mars on September 22.
NASA congratulated its Indian counterpart, the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO), on Wednesday’s success.
“We congratulate @ISRO for its Mars arrival! @MarsOrbiter joins the missions studying the Red Planet,” NASA tweeted.
From early in the morning, there was an atmosphere of excitement and tension at the Indian Space Agency’s Mission Tracking Centre in Bangalore.
Mangalyaan was launched from the Sriharikota spaceport on the coast of the Bay of Bengal on November 5, 2013
Scientists, many of them women and several of them young, were seated in front of their computer monitors tracking the progress of Mangalyaan.
Giant screens above their heads fed a steady stream of data, graphics and sequence of operations. The first whoops broke out when Mangalyaan successfully fired up its liquid engine, the first in a series of critical moves to make sure that the spacecraft was able to launch into the planet’s gravitational pull.
Then there was an agonizing 20 minutes, when Mangalyaan disappeared behind Mars and beyond contact.
But there was no mistaking the moment, when the scientists all rose as one, cheered, clapped, hugged each other and exchanged high fives – confirmation that Mangalyaan was now on an elliptical orbit around Mars.
After PM Narendra Modi’s congratulations, they poured out into the open and the bright sunlight, beaming as they took in the adulation.
Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists and said: “Today all of India should celebrate our scientists. Schools, colleges should applaud this.”
“If our cricket team wins a tournament, the nation celebrates. Our scientists’ achievement is greater,” he said.
The total cost of the Indian mission has been put at 4.5 billion rupees ($74 million), which makes it one of the cheapest interplanetary space missions ever.
NASA’s recent Maven mission cost $671 million.
The Mangalyaan probe will now set about taking pictures of Mars and studying its atmosphere.
One key goal is to try to detect methane in the Martian air, which could be an indicator of biological activity at, or more likely just below, the surface.
NASA has put four robot rovers on Mars since 1997 – the latest and biggest of them all, the one-tonne vehicle known as Curiosity, landed on the Red Planet in August 2012. Unlike Curiosity, the Indian probe will not land on Mars.
Mangalyaan – more formally referred to as Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) – was launched from the Sriharikota spaceport on the coast of the Bay of Bengal on November 5, 2013.
According to French media, a corruption investigation against former President Nicolas Sarkozy has been suspended.
They quote judicial sources as saying that Paris appeals court will now study a request by Nicolas Sarkozy for the case to be dismissed.
Nicolas Sarkozy, 59, is still facing several other judicial investigations.
Last week he said he would seek the leadership of the opposition UMP party – the move widely seen as a first step towards a presidential bid in 2017.
Although Nicolas Sarkozy has kept a low profile since leaving office, he has faced a series of investigations that involve him in some capacity (photo AFP)
Nicolas Sarkozy’s announcement ended months of speculation about the intentions of the conservative former president, who vowed to give up politics after he failed to be re-elected in 2012.
The UMP party elections are due to be held in November.
Although Nicolas Sarkozy has kept a low profile since leaving office, he has faced a series of investigations that involve him in some capacity.
The suspended case relates to an alleged attempt to influence judges who were looking into his affairs.
The suspension could last several months, according to AFP news agency.
Other inquiries include one into his links with late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi and another into illegal campaign funding in 2012.
Abu Qatada has been found not guilty of terrorism offences by a court in Jordan.
A panel of civilian judges sitting at Amman’s State Security Court cleared the radical Muslim cleric of being involved in a thwarted plot aimed at the Millennium celebrations in 2000.
The ruling comes after Abu Qatada was acquitted in June of conspiring in a 1998 bombing campaign in Jordan.
Abu Qatada was deported from the UK in July 2013.
The verdict follows a long legal battle by ministers in the UK to force Abu Qatada to face trial in his home country.
The trial was conducted at Jordan’s state security court, housed in a military base in Marka, a suburb of the capital Amman.
Abu Qatada was accused of providing spiritual support through his writings to men alleged to have planned a series of atrocities aimed at Western and Israeli targets in Jordan on Millennium Eve.
Jordanian and American investigators had the cell under surveillance and launched raids on homes in Amman in the weeks leading up to New Year.
Abu Qatada has been found not guilty of terrorism offences by a court in Jordan
Prosecutors said that books by Abu Qatada were found and they accused him of supplying funds to the plotters.
He denied the allegations in a trial which was punctuated by a number of outbursts by the accused.
Although Abu Qatada will soon be free, he will not be returning to London.
The radical cleric, whose real name is Omar Othman, was granted asylum in the UK in 1994 but the security service MI5 increasingly saw him as a national security threat.
More than a decade ago Abu Qatada issued rulings justifying suicide bombings. By 2005 the Home Office said he was giving religious legitimacy to those “who wish to further the aims of extreme Islamism and to engage in terrorist attacks”.
While he was in the UK, Abu Qatada had been convicted in Jordan of conspiring in the two Jordanian plots. However, the convictions were eventually thrown out because they had been based on evidence which may have been acquired by torturing his co-defendants.
A treaty signed in 2013 by Jordan and the UK banned the use of such evidence from trials in Jordan involving British deportees.
That removed the final obstacle to deporting Abu Qatada described by British judges as a “truly dangerous individual … at the centre in the United Kingdom of terrorist activities associated with al-Qaeda”.
Starbucks is buying out its Japanese partner in a deal worth $914 million.
Starbucks Japan has been a joint venture between Starbucks and Sazaby League since 1995.
Under the deal Starbucks will buy the 60.5% stake of the Japanese unit that it does not own. It hopes to complete the deal by the end of the year.
Japan is Starbucks’ second biggest market in terms of sales and has some of its most profitable cafes. For a nation of mostly tea-drinkers, Japan has surprisingly embraced Starbucks and the coffee culture it brought with it.
Starbucks Coffee Company CEO Howard Schultz said in a statement: “Nearly 20 years ago we opened the first Starbucks store outside of North America in Tokyo’s Ginza district with lines around the block.
Japan is Starbucks’ second biggest market in terms of sales and has some of its most profitable cafes
“Japan is a market we know well and care deeply about, with more than 25,000 partners serving millions of customers every week at more than 1,000 stores.”
Taking full ownership of the coffee chain will give Starbucks the opportunity to expand its product sales through grocery stores and other outlets.
Starbucks currently has a small market share for its canned coffee and other ready-to-drink products in Japan.
The company has roughly 1,050 cafes in Japan and their profit margins are among the highest in the world, despite Japan’s sluggish economy.
The world’s third largest economy is struggling to get back on the growth track, after nearly 20 years of falling prices, known as deflation.
Consumer confidence in Japan has also been hit by rise in sales tax in April.
The sales tax rose from 5% to 8% and the Japanese government will decide later this year about a further increase to 10%, to be implemented in 2015.
A second fence has been erected between the White House and a thoroughfare popular with tourists, local residents and workers, days after Omar Gonzalez scaled the main fence and entered the mansion through an unlocked door.
The Secret Service said the new fence created a “temporary buffer zone” while it reviewed its procedures.
The new barrier is a series of linked sections about 3.2ft high.
Omar Gonzalez, 42, is being held in connection with September 19 intrusion.
Authorities say the man was carrying a 3.5in knife and faces charges of unlawfully entering a restricted building carrying a “deadly or dangerous weapon”.
A second fence has been erected between the White House and a thoroughfare popular with tourists, local residents and workers
Omar Gonzalez, an Iraq War veteran, was previously stopped by Virginia police in July. Officers found two powerful rifles, four handguns and other firearms and ammunition in Omar Gonzalez’s vehicle along with a map marking the White House.
An unnamed federal law enforcement official told the Associated Press news agency Secret Service agents had interviewed Omar Gonzalez twice during the summer but concluded there was no evidence he was a security threat.
President Barack Obama and his family were not at the White House when the intrusion happened, having departed about 10 minutes earlier by helicopter.
The new fence went up late Monday evening.
The Secret Service, which protects the president, the vice-president, their families and visiting foreign dignitaries, in addition to other security duties, did not say how long the second barrier would be in place.
A review of security was initiated by Secret Service director Julia Pierson, who also ordered “the immediate enhancement of officer patrols and surveillance capabilities” around the White House.
Pennsylvania Avenue, which runs in front of the north facade of the White House, was closed to vehicular traffic in 1995 but remains highly popular with tourists as well as residents and office workers seeking a short cut through the parks surrounding the president’s home.
Since September 19, Washington DC residents and media figures have angrily rejected the suggestion the Secret Service screen pedestrians and cyclists who want to enter the closed stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue or block it off entirely.
According to a study in the Journal of Clinical Patholow, chokeberries, wild berries native to North America, may have a role in boosting cancer therapy.
Scientists suggest chokeberries (Aronia) could work in combination with conventional drugs to kill more cancer cells.
However, the UK research is at an early stage, with experiments carried out only on cancer cells in laboratories.
Cancer Research UK says much more work is needed to test the effectiveness of berries, particularly in human trials.
Researchers from the University of Southampton and King’s College Hospital, London, tested a berry extract on pancreatic cancer samples.
Pancreatic cancer is particularly hard to treat and has an average survival period of just six months after diagnosis.
Chokeberries may have a role in boosting cancer therapy
The study found that when the berry extract was used, together with a conventional chemotherapy drug called gemcitabine, more cancer cells died than when the drug was used alone.
However, the scientists say the chokeberry had no effect on normal body cells tested in this way.
They believe compounds known as polyphenols in the berries may reduce the number of harmful cells.
The research team previously carried out similar early work on brain cancer cells.
Chokeberries grow on the eastern side of North America in wetlands and swamp areas.
Bashir Lwaleed, a senior lecturer at Southampton University, who carried out the study, said: “We need to do more research to understand how the chemotherapy and berry work together.
“At the moment we cannot suggest people go out and buy supplements – we are still at the experimental level.”
The study was funded by the Malaysian ministry of higher education and health charity Have a Chance Inc in the USA.
In a second search of the home of Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., the man believed to be the last person seen with missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, officials said they took pieces of clothing.
However, the authorities would not elaborate on the importance of the items.
The clothing was found on September 22 at Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr.’s apartment, Charlottesville Police Capt. Gary Pleasants told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Authorities first searched the 32-year-old’s car and apartment on September 19, and Gary Pleasants said information that came up during the investigation led to a second search of the apartment. He would not give details about the clothing or elaborate on the search.
Police have said they hope to receive lab results on September 23 from items recovered during the initial searches, and authorities are still trying to locate the campus employee to arrest him on reckless driving charges.
Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., a patient technician in the operating room at the university’s medical center, hasn’t been charged in the disappearance, but authorities say they want to talk to him about 18-year-old Hannah Graham, the sophomore from northern Virginia who has been missing since September 13. Police have not offered any details about how the two may be connected.
Gary Pleasants said authorities have not had contact with Jesse Leroy Matthew since September 20, when he stopped by the Charlottesville police station with several family members for about an hour and asked for a lawyer. He was provided with one but left in a vehicle at a high rate of speed that endangered other drivers and led to the reckless driving charges, Charlottesville police Chief Timothy Longo has said.
Hannah Graham’s disappearance has sent a ripple of fear through the quiet college town of Charlottesville (photo AP)
Virginia State Police officers were conducting surveillance of the vehicle at the time but did not pursue Jesse Leroy Matthew, a spokeswoman said.
Gary Pleasants said investigators have questioned Jesse Leroy Matthew’s mother and uncle, who accompanied him to the police station. He added that search crews on September 22 covered areas in the southern part of the city that had not previously been searched.
Authorities on September 22 also released a wanted poster on Jesse Leroy Matthew. It says the 6-foot-2, 270-pound man was last reported on September 21 as driving his sister’s 1997 light blue Nissan Sentra, and notes that he is said to have contacts in Virginia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
Police said they have focused on Hannah Graham’s movements the night of September 12 and into the early morning hours of September 13.
Hannah Graham, a sophomore from northern Virginia, met friends at a restaurant for dinner, stopped by two parties at off-campus housing units and left the second party alone, police have said.
Surveillance videos showed Jesse Leroy Matthew walking, and at some points running, past a pub and a service station and then onto the Downtown Mall, a seven-block pedestrian strip lined with shops and restaurants.
According to family members and police, Hannah Graham is an alpine skier and plays the alto saxophone. Organizers of a candlelight vigil last week at the university handed out her favorite candy, Starburst. Longo said he learned from visiting with Graham’s parents that the graduate of West Potomac High School earned straight A’s six years in a row.
Hannah Graham’s disappearance has sent a ripple of fear through the quiet college town of Charlottesville. Students have said they’ve begun walking in pairs at night and are paying closer attention to their surroundings. More than 1,000 volunteers also participated in a weekend search for Hannah Graham, according to authorities.
Alice Cooper has opened a thrift store in Scottsdale, Arizona, last week, giving his fans a chance to own his old clothes.
Alice Cooper’s Attic & Thrift Store will be stocked with pieces from the rocker’s personal collection.
Alice Cooper told AZCentral.com: “I’m a shopaholic. When I’m on tour, I come home with 10 suitcases full of clothes. So I just go through and say, <<OK, store, store, store, store>>. A lot of good labels. Everything that’s mine was worn.”
Alice Cooper’s Attic & Thrift Store will be stocked with pieces from the rocker’s personal collection
A portion of the proceeds from the store will benefit Alice Cooper’s Rock Teen Center, which is across the street from his new store.
Alice Cooper continued: “Eventually what I’d like to do is since we teach music and art and everything, we should also teach retail. We should teach them (kids) to run a cash register because a lot of kids that aren’t musically inclined, it’s another way of training them. It’s sort of, like, anything you can do to get them away from the street life. Because the street life, there’s only two endings for that. In jail or dead. Anytime you can give a vocation to a kid, that’s what you do.”
Alice Cooper’s Attic and Thrift Store is located at 13627 N. 32nd Street on the southeast corner of 32nd Street and Thunderbird Road in Phoenix.
Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic Jozef Wesolowski has been put under house arrest following allegations he abused young boys in the Caribbean country.
Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski has already been defrocked after the Vatican’s canon law court found him guilty in June and imposed its toughest penalty: laicization, or returning to life as a layman.
Jozef Wesolowski was Vatican’s ambassador to the Dominican Republic
On September 23, the Vatican’s separate criminal court opened a preliminary hearing into his case and ordered him placed under house arrest.
A Vatican statement said Jozef Wesolwski presented medical documentation detailing health concerns that prevented a more restrictive type of detention. The Vatican has a few small detention rooms inside its police barracks.
Jozef Wesolowski could face jail time if found guilty.
Miss America Kira Kazantsev says she was removed from her college sorority over a letter that made light of hazing.
However, Kira Kazantsev denies a report that she was involved in aggressively hazing fellow students.
On today’s Good Morning America, Kira Kazantsev said that she was asked to leave the Alpha Phi sorority at Hofstra University after sending an email to alumni that included what she said was a joke about making an event “scary” for pledges.
Miss America Kira Kazantsev says she was removed from her college sorority over a letter that made light of hazing (photo ABC)
The website Jezebel reported on September 22, based on an anonymous source, that Kira Kazantsev was involved with aggressively hazing pledges.
Kira Kazantsev says she was hazed as a pledge and that she took part in some hazing activities. She cited a culture of hazing at Hofstra.
The Miss America organization says that Kira Kazantsev was open with them about being terminated from the sorority.
Emma Watson appears to be targeted by internet trolls after a UN speech.
A web page titled Emma You Are Next, featuring an image of the Harry Potter star next to a countdown, suggests the actress will be targeted.
The page also features the logo of 4chan, the site which is said to have hosted two recent leaks of celebrity photos.
Jennifer Lawrence and Kim Kardashian are among those to be targeted.
The threat was launched hours after Emma Watson, 24, launched the HeForShe campaign in a speech at the UN in which she appealed to men to speak out over gender equality.
“I was appointed six months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating,” Emma Watson said.
Emma Watson launched the HeForShe campaign in a speech at the UN in which she appealed to men to speak out over gender equality
“If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.”
Emma Watson’s first appearance as Hermione Granger was in 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as an 11-year-old.
She told UN delegates in New York that she started thinking about gender inequality as a child three years before hitting the big time.
UN Women, a United Nations group looking at gender equality, also suggested that the global film industry doesn’t do enough to represent women in films.
It said there had not been enough speaking roles for women and women have been under-represented in action and adventure movies.
It found 23% of speaking characters in that genre were female.
The study looked at films made in 11 countries, including South Korea, the US and India.
World leaders are holding a summit on climate change at the United Nations.
The aim at the New York meeting is to galvanize member states to sign up to a comprehensive new global climate agreement at talks in Paris next year.
“Today, we must set the world on a new course,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told leaders from 120 countries.
“I am asking you to lead.”
It is the first high-level gathering since the Copenhagen summit in 2009.
With so many nations attending the summit at the UN headquarters and so little time at the one-day meeting, three separate sessions will run simultaneously in three different rooms.
Ban Ki-moon has organized the summit and on September 21 took part in a climate change march in New York with thousands of protesters – including Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who has recently been appointed a UN representative on climate change.
On September 22, more than 100 people were arrested after they refused to leave a protest near Wall Street. At one stage, demonstrators tried to push past police barricades, sparking a brief clash with officers.
The Rockefeller family, which made its vast fortune from oil, was reported to have announced their intention to sell investments in fossil fuels and reinvest in clean energy.
Leonardo DiCaprio has recently been appointed as UN representative on climate change
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is joining Global Divest-Invest, a coalition of philanthropists pledging to rid themselves of more than $50 billion in fossil fuel assets.
Meanwhile, Google has announced it is to sever ties with a rightwing US lobbying network, the American Legislative Council, over its skeptical positions on climate.
The real bargaining on climate change is expected to take place at a private dinner on September 23 hosted by Ban Ki-moon and attended by a select list of 20 or so countries.
However, the absence of the leaders of China, Russia and India – whose PM Narendra Modi arrives later in the week – does not augur well.
President Barack Obama will strive on September 23 to generate international support for the battle against climate change when he addresses the UN, with time running out on his desire to leave an environmental legacy.
The president has warned that a failure to act on climate change is a “betrayal” of future generations. But correspondents say he faces numerous obstacles – including a Congress unwilling to curtail greenhouse gas emissions – let alone ratify an international agreement.
Barack Obama’s last meeting with heads of state in order to reach a climate deal in Copenhagen five years ago ended in disappointment, with member countries failing to agree on a timetable to reduce long-term emissions.
Ban Ki-moon has asked that the political leaders come to UN headquarters bearing pledges of action. He wants to hear commitments to cut carbon and offers of finance for those most affected.
Observers believe the meeting can still achieve political momentum despite the absence of Chinese, Indian, Australian, Russian and Canadian leaders.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Ebola infections will treble to 20,000 by November if efforts to tackle the outbreak are not stepped up.
A new analysis suggests about 70% of those infected have died, higher than the 50% previously reported.
There have been 2,800 deaths so far and the disease remains “a public health emergency of international concern”, the UN agency said.
Trials of experimental drugs are being fast tracked in West Africa.
Meanwhile, more information on the spread and likely scale of the epidemic has emerged.
Projections published in The New England Journal of Medicine suggest by early November there will have been nearly 20,000 cases.
A new analysis of confirmed cases suggests death rates are higher than previously reported at about 70% of all cases.
The WHO has warned that Ebola infections will treble to 20,000 by November 2014 if efforts to tackle the outbreak are not stepped up
And WHO scientists said numbers were predicted to rise exponentially, raising the possibility that the disease could become endemic [regularly found] in West Africa.
Nearly all of the deaths in the world’s worst Ebola outbreak have been recorded in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Dr. Christopher Dye, Director of Strategy for WHO, said projections suggest “unless control measures – including improvements in contract tracing, adequate case isolation, increased quality of care and capacity for clinical management, greater community engagement, and support from international partners – improve quickly, these three countries will soon be reporting thousands of cases and deaths each week”.
Dr. Christopher Dye, co-author of the study, called for “the most forceful implementation of present control measures and for the rapid development and deployment of new drugs and vaccines”.
It came as The Wellcome Trust charity announced that experimental drugs would be tested in West Africa for the first time.
Several drugs are under development, but they have not been fully tested and most are in very short supply.
They include the drug ZMapp, which has been given to a handful of infected health workers.
Dr. Peter Horby, of the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the University of Oxford, said the first trials could begin in West Africa as early as November.
Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said therapeutics alone were not an answer.
Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who was an al-Qaeda spokesman after 9/11, has been sentenced to life in prison for terrorism-related charges at a trial in New York.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, 48, is the highest-ranking al-Qaeda figure to face trial on US soil since 9/11 attacks.
The Kuwaiti clergyman was captured in Jordan last year and brought to the US.
In March, a jury found Sulaiman Abu Ghaith guilty of conspiracy to kill Americans and aiding al-Qaeda.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith is the highest-ranking al-Qaeda figure to face trial on US soil since 9/11 attack
Addressing him directly, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said it was his “assessment that you are committed to doing everything you can to carry out al Qaeda’s agenda to kill Americans”.
Videos showing Sulaiman Abu Ghaith threatening America with no end to the “storm of airplanes” were shown to jurors.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith argued his role was a purely religious one, aimed at encouraging all Muslims to rise up against their oppressors.
He testified that Osama bin Laden had asked him to be al-Qaeda’s spokesman on the night of the 9/11 attacks.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who is one of the highest-ranking al-Qaeda linked figures to face a civilian jury on terrorism-related charges, is married to Osama bin Laden’s eldest daughter Fatima.
Osama bin Laden, a founder of al-Qaeda, was killed by US forces in May 2011 at his hideout in Pakistan.
ISIS militants have released a second video showing British journalist John Cantlie, who is being held hostage by the jihadist group.
It comes less than a week after John Cantlie’s first appearance on screen following his kidnapping in Syria in 2012.
The release of the video showing John Cantlie comes as the US and its allies launch the first air strikes against ISIS in Syria.
Islamic State has killed three Western hostages and has threatened to kill another.
On September 22, the US and several Arab allies launched the first air strikes against the militants in Syria. UK forces are not involved but the government says it has not ruled itself out.
An experienced journalist and photographer, this is John Cantlie’s second time being held captive in Syria. Having been kidnapped in July 2012 and handcuffed and blindfolded for a week, he escaped with the help from the Free Syrian Army.
John Cantlie returned to Syria towards the end of 2012 and it was during this trip that his second kidnap occurred.
ISIS militants have released a second video showing British journalist John Cantlie, who is being held hostage by the jihadist group
The video, which lasts for almost six minutes, follows a similar pattern to the first video featuring the journalist.
It is introduced with the title Lend Me Your Ears and Messages From The British Detainee John Cantlie: Episode 1.
Dressed in an orange outfit like other ISIS hostages seen in videos, John Cantlie repeated that he had been abandoned by his government.
Reading from a pre-prepared script, John Cantlie also said Western governments “were caught napping by the sheer speed of the Islamic State’s growth” and they have underestimated “the strength and fighting zeal of the opponent”.
“Not since Vietnam have we witnessed such a potential mess in the making,” he says.
Islamic State has taken control of large areas of Syria and Iraq, imposed a harsh brand of Islam, and declared a caliphate.
The group has beheaded three Western hostages since August – US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines. Their deaths were all filmed and posted online.
In the latest video showing the killing of David Haines, the militants threatened to kill Alan Henning, a taxi driver. Alan Henning, from Eccles in Salford, was seized while on an aid mission to Syria in December.
Bryan Singer will direct X-Men: Apocalypse, the next movie in the long-running blockbuster franchise.
The new movie, which is due for release in May 2016, will be the eighth in the comic book series and the fourth directed by Bryan Singer.
Bryan Singer took the helm for the first two X-Men releases and returned for this year’s Days of Future Past.
The film-maker had long been associated with taking the director’s chair for X-Men: Apocalypse.
Bryan Singer will direct X-Men: Apocalypse
After taking charge for the initial releases in the series, Bryan Singer handed over to other film-makers including James Mangold and Brett Ratner before returning for this year’s episode.
Apocalypse is set 10 years after Days of Future Past and will star Hugh Jackman as recurring character Wolverine, James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult.
The superheroes have to face their most unrelenting foe yet.
The X-Men franchise – seven films to date – has so far taken more than $3 billion in box office receipts around the world.
Takings have increased with each release, and the most recent – Days of Future Past – has amassed $746 million internationally since its release in May.
An Indian white tiger has attacked and killed a teenager at Delhi zoo, officials and witnesses say.
According to zoo manager Riaz Khan, the young man “leapt over the railing into the tiger enclosure”. Initial reports described him as a schoolboy.
Television pictures showed the student crouching against a wall while the tiger stood near him.
An eyewitness said he was leaning over the barricade which was “very low” and may have fallen inside the enclosure.
“Around 1.30 pm, we were in the reptiles area when we heard loud screams,” eyewitness Himanshu told CNN-IBN news channel.
White tigers are a rare variant of the customary orange Bengal sub-species (photo Wikipedia)
“I ran to the tiger enclosure where we saw that a white tiger had caught the student by his neck and he was writhing in pain. Some children threw small sticks and stones at the tiger.
“He suffered for the next 10-15 minutes but nobody helped him.”
Himanshu said the police “came very quickly”, but could not save him.
White tigers are a rare variant of the customary orange Bengal sub-species.
Considered an endangered species, they are found in south and east Asia, particularly India, and owe their color to a recessive gene.
The US and five Arab allies – Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have launched the first strikes against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Syria.
The Pentagon said warplanes, drones and Tomahawk missiles were used in the attacks, which targeted several areas including ISIS stronghold Raqqa.
Syria’s foreign ministry said its UN envoy was informed about the strikes against IS, which controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The US has already launched about 190 air strikes in Iraq since August.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby confirmed the operation, saying “US military and partner nation forces” had undertaken military action in Syria.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the Sunni Arab countries “participated in or supported” the strikes.
It said a total of 14 strikes destroyed or damaged IS training compounds, command and control facilities, vehicles and storage sites.
The US military will continue to conduct air strikes against IS targets in Iraq and Syria, it added.
Separately, CENTCOM said US forces also attacked a network of al-Qaeda veterans named Khorasan who had established a safe haven west of Aleppo and were plotting imminent attacks against the West.
The Syrian government has not formally consented to the air strikes on its territory. However, it says it was informed before they took place.
The US and five Arab allies have launched the first strikes against ISIS militants in Syria
The strikes targeted Raqqa, an IS stronghold in eastern Syria the group captured in 2013, and the cities of Deir al-Zour, Hassakeh and Abu Kamal.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists on the ground, said more than 20 militants were killed in two strikes on ISIS positions in Raqqa.
It also said 30 al-Qaeda-linked fighters and 8 civilians, including three children, were killed in strikes west of Aleppo.
Jordan said its “air force jets destroyed a number of targets that belong to some terrorist groups that sought to commit terror acts inside Jordan”.
Analysts say it is significant that countries with a Sunni majority, like Jordan and Saudi Arabia, are among those supporting US efforts against IS.
ISIS members are jihadists who adhere to an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam and consider themselves the only true believers.
The US and allies including the UK have ruled out co-operating against ISIS with Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, whom they accuse of responsibility for huge numbers of civilian deaths during Syria’s civil war.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said last month that any US action would be “considered aggression” unless it was co-ordinated with Syria.
Hadi al-Bahra, president of the National Coalition, Syria’s main opposition alliance, welcomed the military action but said “strikes alone cannot defeat extremism for good.”
“The long-term solution is moderate, inclusive Syrian governance that prevents the resurgence of extremism,” he said in a statement.
Islamic State has taken control of large areas of Syria and Iraq, imposed a harsh brand of Islam, and declared a caliphate.
The group, which the CIA says could have as many as 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, has executed captive soldiers, aid workers and journalists, and threatened the mass killing of Iraqi religious minorities.
The ISIS advance in northern Syria has created a refugee crisis in neighboring Turkey, with about 130,000 Kurdish refugees crossing the border at the weekend.
Most refugees are from Kobane, a Syrian town close to the Turkish border that is under siege by IS militants.
Before the latest influx, there were already more than one million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Omar Gonzalez, the man who broke into the White House on September 19, had 800 rounds of ammunition, a machete and two hatchets in his car, authorities have said.
Omar Gonzalez, 42, was carrying a knife when stopped by Secret Service officers just inside the building.
On September 22, officials said Omar Gonzalez was also arrested in July with two rifles and a map marking the White House.
The Secret Service says it has stepped up security and launched a comprehensive review of procedures.
Omar Gonzalez, a US military veteran who was decorated for his service in the Iraq war, faces charges of unlawfully entering a restricted building carrying a “deadly or dangerous weapon”.
During his court hearing on September 22, federal prosecutors also said Omar Gonzalez was stopped but not arrested in August after he walked past the White House with a hatchet.
Assistant US Attorney David Mudd said that the accused intruder was a danger to the president, and a judge agreed to hold him in jail until a hearing in October.
Video footage showed Omar Gonzalez running across a White House lawn after scaling a fence on September 19.
Omar Gonzalez was only stopped after entering the North Portico doors, the Secret Service said. He was later found to be carrying a 3.5in folding knife.
Omar Gonzalez served in the military from 1997 until his discharge in 2003, and again from 2005 to December 2012 (photo AP)
President Barack Obama and his daughters had just left the White House by helicopter before Omar Gonzalez entered, but White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the president was “obviously concerned” about what happened.
Immediately after the incident the Secret Service increased foot patrols along the perimeter fence, deployed additional surveillance resources, and changed the procedures for ensuring the entrance to the building is secure, Josh Earnest said.
“The president is confident the changes will be properly implemented,” he said.
The review of security was initiated by Secret Service director Julia Pierson, who also ordered “the immediate enhancement of officer patrols and surveillance capabilities” around the White House.
In July, police found two powerful rifles, four handguns and other firearms and ammunition in Omar Gonzalez’s vehicle along with a White House map when he was stopped in south-west Virginia, a local prosecutor told the Associated Press news agency.
He served in the military from 1997 until his discharge in 2003, and again from 2005 to December 2012, when he retired due to disability, the AP reported.
Family and friends told the Washington Post Omar Gonzalez was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving as a sniper in Iraq.
An apparently unrelated incident on September 20 saw a man drive up to a vehicle gate in the complex and refuse to leave.
Secret Service agents shut down nearby streets and searched the vehicle for explosives.
Officials said the incident was an “everyday occurrence”.
College dropout Kanye West is teaching at Los Angeles Trade Technical College for 250 hours as part of his mandated community service from his 2013 paparazzi mishap.
The community service stems from a paparazzi attack back in July of 2013, after a scuffle at LAX. The former Chicago State University student pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of battery against the photog.
Kanye West is teaching at Los Angeles Trade Technical College for 250 hours as part of his mandated community service
Los Angeles Trade and Technical College is attended for its classes in fashion design and technology which raises the question of what Kanye West is actually teaching.
Kanye West, 37, certainly knows a thing or two about fashion as he has his own line at A.P.C. A pair of Kanye Jeans will run you $280.
Kris Jenner filed for divorce from Bruce Jenner on September 22 in LA, citing irreconcilable differences.
The Keeping Up With the Kardashians matriarch is now ending her 22-year year marriage to the Olympic gold medalist.
Kris and Bruce Jenner’s relationship have been featured prominently on the reality show that focuses heavily on Kris Jenner’s daughters from a previous marriage, Kourtney, Kim and Khloe Kardashian.
Kris and Bruce Jenner were married in April 1991 (photo Instagram)
Kris Jenner’s filing seeks joint custody of the couple’s only minor child, 17-year-old Kylie Jenner. The couple did not have a prenup. They will also have to split their properties.
Neither Kris nor Bruce Jenner want to pay each other spousal support.
Bruce Jenner won the gold medal for men’s decathlon in the 1976 Olympics.
Kris and Bruce Jenner were married in April 1991 and according to court filings separated on June 1, 2013.
Sarah Palin has defended her family and, in particular, daughter Bristol Palin, after reports surfaced a week earlier that her kids had been involved in a brawl at a party in Anchorage, Alaska.
On September 19, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate wrote in a message on Facebook: “I love my Bristol!
“My straight-shooter is one of the strongest young women you’ll ever meet. I have to say this as a proud mama: right up there with their work ethic and heart for those less fortunate, my kids’ defense of family makes my heart soar!”
As previously reported by ABC News, 23-year-old Bristol Palin allegedly got involved in the scuffle after her brother Track, 25, confronted one of his sister Willow’s ex-boyfriends. Partygoer Eric Thompson told ABC that Bristol Palin was “punching [another man] in the face” repeatedly.
Sarah Palin has defended her family after her kids had been involved in a brawl at a party in Anchorage (photo Facebook)
Sarah Palin made no mention of the fight in her Facebook post, but she did refer vaguely to media coverage of her children: “As you can imagine, they and my extended family have experienced so many things (liberal media-driven) that may have crushed others without a strong foundation of faith.”
“I’m thankful for our friends’ prayer shield that surrounds them, allowing faith to remain their anchor. Thank you, prayer warriors! I love you!,” she added.
Sarah Palin then linked to a blog post in which Bristol slammed rumors that her parents were getting divorced.
“I find something new about my family every day!” Sarah Palin quipped sarcastically.
A French tourist has been kidnapped while on holiday in eastern Algeria, the French foreign ministry has confirmed.
The man was seized on Sunday, September 21, in the restive Tizi Ouzou region in the east, the ministry said.
It did not confirm the authenticity of a video posted on the internet purporting to show the man reading out a statement.
In the video, the man calls on French President Francois Hollande not to intervene in Iraq.
Earlier, militants from the Islamic State (ISIS) group warned they would target France – and other countries – after it launched air strikes against them in Iraq.
ISIS militants warned they would target France after it launched air strikes against them in Iraq
The Algerian militant group Jund al-Khilifa, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS, said it carried out the kidnapping, AFP news agency reported, although this has not been confirmed,
An Algerian security official told AP news agency that the kidnap victim was a 55-year-old man who was hiking with two friends when he was abducted.
The area where the Frenchman was taken is a mountainous region, and there have been several kidnappings of Algerian businessmen for extortion in the area.
Most of those who were abducted were later freed by security forces, AFP said.
Al-Qaeda’s North Africa branch, AQIM, and other militant groups are known to operate in Algeria.
On September 22, France lifted the threat level for 30 of its embassies throughout the Middle East and Africa after beginning its first air strikes against IS targets in Iraq on September 19.
