Canada has decided to suspend visa applications from residents and passport-holders from West African countries in the grip of the Ebola outbreak.
The decision follows a similar decision by Australia, which drew criticism from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The ban would apply to countries with “widespread and persistent-intense transmission”, Canada said.
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are battling to contain Ebola, which has killed almost 5,000 people.
The WHO said on October 31 that 4,951 people had died during the current outbreak, with 13,567 reported cases up to October 29.
Although Canada currently has no cases of Ebola, the country’s federal citizenship ministry said “the introduction or spread of the disease would pose an imminent and severe risk to public health”.
A government spokesman said the move was less restrictive than Australia’s plan, with the ability to grant visas on a case-by-case basis retained.
Canada has decided to suspend visa applications from residents and passport-holders from West African countries in the grip of the Ebola outbreak
The ban would also not apply to Canadians travelling from the Ebola zone – allowing health workers and volunteers to return home.
There are no direct flights to Canada from the three worst-affected countries, and the numbers of annual visitors from those states is understood to be small.
The WHO opposes travel bans as a method of containing Ebola.
David Fidler, a professor at Indiana University in the US, told Canadian media that the government’s move undermined international regulations drawn up after the SARS outbreak of 2003.
“The whole thing that so many years and so many efforts and so much money was spent on just seems to be disintegrating in this Ebola panic,” he told CBC News.
Canada’s visa ban comes as trials get under way in Switzerland on the latest round of testing of an experimental vaccine.
The vaccine, jointly developed by US disease authorities and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), is already being tested on volunteers in the US, UK and Mali.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo space tourism craft crashed in Mojave desert killing at least one person, the California Highway Patrol has said.
The craft was flying a manned test when it experienced what the company described as “a serious anomaly”.
SpaceShipTwo is carried aloft by a jet, then launched into sub-orbit.
Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson tweeted he was flying to California “to be with the team”.
“Thoughts with all @virgingalactic & Scaled, thanks for all your messages of support,” Richard Branson said.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo space tourism craft crashed in Mojave desert killing at least one person
Television images shot from a helicopter showed what appeared to be wreckage bearing the Virgin logo.
In a statement, Virgin Galactic said the “vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo”. The aircraft that held the spaceship, known as White Knight 2, has landed safely, Virgin Galactic said.
Ken Brown, a photographer who witnessed the crash, said the craft exploded after it was released from a plane that carries it to a high altitude.
Kern County Sheriff’s spokesman told the Reuters news agency the craft’s co-pilot was killed, while the pilot ejected and was seriously injured.
Virgin Galactic has been a front-runner in the nascent space-tourism industry and Sir Richard said earlier in October he expected to see the craft make it to sub-orbital space within a few months.
More than 800 people have already paid or put down deposits for a trip on SpaceShipTwo, which costs about $200,000 per person.
During his appearance as a guest on SiriusXM’s OpieRadio show, Mike Tyson revealed that he was abused as a child.
Mike Tyson said that he was once “bullied … and s**ually abused” as a 7-year-old child by an “old man” who lived in the same neighborhood as him.
Mike Tyson appeared as a guest on SiriusXM’s OpieRadio show
The crime was largely unknown to the public, as Mike Tyson had only previously revealed it to those close to him.
Mike Tyson said that he isn’t “embarrassed or ashamed” of the assault, but did indicate that he hasn’t perhaps fully grappled with the incident and its effects on his life.
Amanda Bynes has been released from Las Encinas hospital, the Pasadena, California, facility where she’s been on an involuntary psychiatric hold since October 10.
According to TMZ, who obtained pictures of Amanda Bynes walking down Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard last night, a hearing officer Thursday “felt Amanda was stable enough so she could not be held involuntarily, so he ended the 30-day hold that had been granted last week and Amanda walked out the front door”.
Amanda Bynes has been on an involuntary psychiatric hold at Las Encinas hospital in California
According to court documents previously obtained by E! News, this “status hearing” was required by law to happen within 12 hours of Amanda Bynes’ release from Las Encinas into the care of her temporary conservator, mother Lynn Bynes.
Amanda Bynes’ presence was required at this status hearing in order to “address the continuation of the temporary conservatorship”. A February 24, 2015 court date was issued to revisit the status of Lynn Bynes’ conservatorship on Amanda.
Halloween originates from a Celtic tradition called Samhain, a festival that marked the end of the Celtic calendar year in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. They believed it was a time that spirits or fairies could enter our world, and the Celts would put out treats and food to placate the spirits – sometimes, a place at the table was even set for the souls of the dead.
Wiccans still celebrate Samhain as a New Year celebration today.
2. The moniker “Halloween” comes from the Catholics.
Hallowmas is a three-day Catholic holiday where saints are honored and people pray for the recently deceased. At the start of the 11th century, it was decreed by the pope that it would last from October 31 (All Hallow’s Eve) until November 2, most likely because that was when Samhain was celebrated and the church was trying to convert the pagans.
3. Dressing up on Halloween comes from the Celts.
Celts believed Samhain was a time when the wall between our world and the paranormal world was porous and spirits could get through. Because of this belief, it was common for the Celts to wear costumes and masks during the festival to ward off or befuddle any evil spirits.
“All Hallow’s Eve” then evolved into “All Hallow’s Even,” and by the 18th century it was commonly referred to as “Hallowe’en.”
4. Halloween symbols aren’t random.
Black cats, spiders, and bats are all Halloween symbols because of their spooky history and ties to Wiccans. All three were thought to be the familiars of witches in the middle ages, and are often associated with bad luck.
Bats are even further connected to Halloween by the ancient Samhain ritual of building a bonfire, which drove away insects and attracted bats.
5. We should carve turnips, not pumpkins.
The origin of Jack-O-Lanterns comes from a Celtic folk tale of a stingy farmer named Jack who would constantly play tricks on the devil. The devil responded by forcing him to wander purgatory with only a burning lump of coal from hell. Jack took the coal and made a lantern from a turnip, using it to guide his lost soul.
The myth was brought over by Irish families fleeing the potato famine in the 1800s, and since turnips were hard to come by in the US, America’s pumpkins were used as a substitute to guide lost souls and keep evil spirits like “Jack of the Lantern” away.
Dressing up on Halloween comes from the Celts
6. Halloween and the candy industry supposedly influenced Daylight Savings Time.
Candy makers supposedly lobbied to extend daylight savings time into the beginning of November to get an extra hour of daylight so children could collect even more candy (thus forcing people to purchase more sweets to meet the demand).
They wanted it so badly that during the 1985 hearings on daylight saving time, they put candy pumpkins on the seat of committee members, according to NPR. (The candy industry disputes this account, according to The New York Times.)
7. Candy Corn was originally known as “chicken feed.”
Invented by George Renninger, a candy maker at the Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia in the 1880s, Candy Corn was originally called “butter cream candies” and “chicken feed” since back then, corn was commonly used as food for livestock (they even had a rooster on the candy boxes).
It had no association with Halloween or fall, and was sold seasonally from March to November. After World War II, advertisers began marketing it as a special Halloween treat due to its colors and ties to the fall harvest.
8. Fears of poisoned Halloween candy are unfounded.
One of parents’ biggest fears is that their child’s Halloween candy is poisoned or contains razor blades.
In reality, this fear is almost entirely unfounded. There are only two known cases of poisoning, and both involved relatives, according to LiveScience. In 1970, a boy died of a heroin overdose. The investigators found it on his candy, but in a twist they later discovered the boy had accidentally consumed some of his uncle’s heroin stash, and the family had sprinkled some on the candy to cover up the incident.
Even more horrifically, in 1974 Timothy O’Bryan died after eating a Pixy Stix his father had laced with cyanide to collect on the insurance money, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
And now, parents in Colorado are worried about their children eating candy infused with marijuana.
9. Trick-or-treating has been around for a long time.
Versions of trick-or-treating have existed since medieval times. In the past, it was known as “guising” where children and poor adults went around in costumes during Hallowmas begging for food and money in exchange for songs or prayers. It was also called “souling.”
10. Trick-or-treating as we know it was re-popularized by cartoons.
Trick-or-treating was brought to America by the Irish and became popular during the early 20th century, but died out during WWII when sugar was rationed. After the rationing ended in 1947, children’s magazine Jack and Jill, radio program The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and the Peanuts comic strip all helped to re-popularize the tradition of dressing up in costumes and asking for candy from door-to-door.
By 1952, trick-or-treating was hugely popular again.
11. Halloween is the second-most commercial American holiday of the year.
The candy industry in America rakes in an average of $2 billion annually thanks to Halloween (that’s 90 million pounds of chocolate).
Americans spend an estimated $6 billion on Halloween annually, including candy, costumes, and decorations, according to History.com.
The most commercial holiday in the US is obviously Christmas.
12. A full moon on Halloween is extremely rare.
Though a common trope in horror movies and Halloween decorations with witches flying across the full moon, it’s actually extremely uncommon for the monthly event to coincide with October 31, or any other date, for that matter.
The next full moon on Halloween won’t occur until 2020. The most recent Halloween full moon was back in 2001, and before that it was in 1955.
13. There’s a $1,000 fine for using or selling Silly String in Hollywood on Halloween.
The prank product has been banned in Hollywood since 2004 after thousands of bored people would buy it on the streets of Hollywood from illegal vendors and “vandalize” the streets. The city ordinance calls for a maximum $1,000 fine and/or six months in jail for “use, possession, sale or distribution of Silly String in Hollywood from 12:01 AM on October 31 to 12:00 PM on November 1.”
Rolf Harris has lost the first appeal against his conviction for assault.
The 84-year-old disgraced entertainer was jailed in July for nearly six years for 12 indecent assaults on four girls, including one aged just seven or eight.
The Judicial Office confirmed a judge had refused Rolf Harris’ application for permission to appeal, lodged in August.
Rolf Harris can still renew the application before three judges at the Court of Appeal.
Rolf Harris has lost the first appeal against his conviction for assault
The artist, TV presenter and musician was convicted at London’s Southwark Crown Court in June.
Rolf Harris was jailed for five years and nine months for the offences, which took place between 1968 and 1986.
Attorney General Jeremy Wright decided in July not to refer Rolf Harris’ sentence to the Court of Appeal despite 150 complaints over its “leniency”.
He said he did not think judges would find it to be unduly lenient and increase it.
Rolf Harris’s victims included a young autograph hunter, two girls in their early teens and a friend of his daughter’s against whom he committed a catalogue of abuse over several years.
Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore has resigned following violent protests at his attempt to extend his 27-year rule.
Blaise Compaore issued a statement saying the presidency was now vacant and urging elections within 90 days.
Military chief General Honore Traore said he had taken over as head of state “in line with constitutional measures”.
Crowds danced and cheered in the capital, Ouagadougou, after Blaise Compaore’s resignation was broadcast.
On October 30, protesters angry at his attempt to amend the constitution had set fire to parliament and government buildings.
Blaise Compaore had earlier vowed to remain in power until a transitional government completed its work in 2015, although he had agreed not to seek another term.
President Blaise Compaore has resigned following violent protests at his attempt to extend his 27-year rule
However, the opposition continued to demand that he resign – a key leader, Zephirin Diabre, urged protesters to occupy public spaces.
Blase Compaore’s statement, read on television, said: “In order to preserve the democratic gains, as well as social peace, I declare a power vacuum to allow the establishment of a transition leading to free and fair elections within a maximum of 90 days.”
He added: “For my part, I think I have fulfilled my duty.”
His whereabouts now remain unclear.
However, Reuters news agency reported that a heavily armed convoy believed to be carrying Blaise Compaore was travelling towards the southern town of Po.
France welcomed the resignation, saying it “allows a solution to be found to the crisis”.
In a statement, Gen. Honore Traore said: “In line with constitutional measures, and given the power vacuum… I will assume as of today my responsibilities as head of state.”
He added: “I undertake a solemn engagement to proceed without delay with consultations with all parties in the country so as to start the process of returning to the constitutional order as soon as possible.”
Late on Thursday, Gen. Honore Traore had announced the creation of the transitional government, declared the dissolution of parliament and imposed a night curfew.
Blaise Compaore was a young army officer when he seized power in 1987, a taciturn man who became known as Beau Blaise – good looking Blaise. The nickname did not necessarily suggest he was popular. Many blamed him for the death of his predecessor, the charismatic revolutionary Thomas Sankara, who was killed by soldiers in mysterious circumstances.
Controversy would be a perpetual feature of Beau Blaise’s time in power. The president was accused of stoking rebellions around West Africa. Yet over time Blaise Compaore oversaw a transformation of his image, internationally at least. This inflammatory figure became a man relied upon to put out fires around the region.
Blaise Compaore won a series of elections, though the opposition always complained the odds were stacked dramatically in his favor. He largely followed the economic orthodoxy prescribed by international financial institutions. But Burkina Faso did not escape the poverty trap. It remains one of the least developed countries in the world.
Gottfrid Warg, the Pirate Bay co-founder, has been found guilty of hacking into computers and illegally downloading files in Denmark.
The Danish court found Gottfrid Warg and his co-defendant guilty of breaking into computers owned by technology services giant CSC.
Once they won access to the computers, the pair downloaded police and social security files.
Gottfrid Warg will be sentenced on October 31 and could face six years in jail.
His accomplice walked free from the court on October 30 as he had served 17 months in pre-trial detention.
The initial hack attack took place in February 2012 and gave the pair access to the sensitive information for about six months.
Defense lawyers said although the hack attacks were carried out using a computer owned by Gottfrid Warg, he was not the person that used it to steal the files. Instead, they said, an unnamed hacker took over this machine and used it to carry out the attacks. Gottfrid Warg has declined to name this other hacker.
Gottfrid Warg has been found guilty of hacking into computers and illegally downloading files in Denmark
After considering evidence, the judge and jury in the case said it was “unlikely” that other people were responsible.
The court’s decision is the third to go against Gottfrid Warg in the last five years.
He was deported from Cambodia in September 2013 to Sweden where he served a jail term for copyright theft because of his involvement with the Pirate Bay file-sharing site.
In a separate trial in 2013, Gottfrid Warg was sentenced to two years in a Swedish jail for hacking into a bank’s computers. This sentence was reduced to one year on appeal.
In that trial, Gottfrid Warg and accomplice were found guilty of breaking into the computer systems of computer services firm Logica, which was doing work for Sweden’s tax office and a bank. On that occasion his accomplice was put on probation.
In late November 2013 Gottfrid Warg was deported to Denmark to face charges in the CSC hacking cases.
Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government are being sued by two children whose father, Jee Jing Hang, was on MH370 flight that disappeared on March 8.
It is believed to be the first legal case filed in Malaysia since the incident.
The lawsuit accuses the civil aviation department of negligence for failing to contact the plane within a reasonable amount of time after it disappeared.
Flight MH370, from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, had 239 people on board.
Lawyers representing the two underage sons of passenger Jee Jing Hang filed the suit with the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
They are suing the national carrier for breach of contract, saying it failed to take all measures to ensure a safe flight. They are also suing civil aviation authorities, the immigration department and the air force for negligence.
Flight MH370, from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared with 239 people on board
“We have waited for eight months. After speaking to various experts, we believe we have sufficient evidence for a strong case,” said their lawyer Arunan Selveraj.
“A big plane missing in this age of technology is really unacceptable,” he said.
The legal team said they would seek damages but did not give a figure.
In March a civil action case was brought in the US by a law firm on behalf of relatives. But a judge dismissed it, calling it an improper filing.
The Malaysian government believes MH370 ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean, in seas far off the Australian city of Perth.
But there is no explanation yet for what happened to the plane or caused it to stray so far off course.
Despite extensive searches coordinated by Australian authorities, no wreckage of any kind has been found yet.
Some legal experts say this could hamper any lawsuits filed, as it leaves much to speculation.
Doctors Without Borders has warned some mandatory Ebola quarantine measures in the US are having a “chilling effect” on its work.
The charity group has said it may shorten some assignments to West Africa as a result of recent state restrictions.
One of the charity’s volunteers, nurse Kaci Hickox, has defied orders by the state of Maine that she remain quarantined in her house after being in Sierra Leone.
There have been nearly 14,000 cases worldwide, but only nine in the US.
Doctors Without Borders – also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – has 270 international and 3,000 locally hired staff in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
But the foreign workers now have additional concerns when heading home, said executive director Sophie Delaunay.
“There is rising anxiety and confusion among staff members in the field over what they may face when they return home upon completion of their assignments in West Africa,” she told Reuters news agency.
Some health workers are delaying returning to the US and staying in Europe for 21 days, she added, “in order to avoid facing rising stigmatization at home and possible quarantine”.
Some people are being discouraged by their families from returning to the field, she added.
Doctors Without Borders has 270 international and 3,000 locally hired staff in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
Lawyers for Kaci Hickox, a nurse recently returned to the US from treating Ebola patients in Africa, have vowed to fight a court order that would enforce a 21-day quarantine.
Maine Governor Paul LePage said the state was willing to agree to arrangements that would have allowed Hickox to go for walks, runs and bicycle rides, but not allow her to go to public places.
The governor said discussions with Kaci Hickox, 33, had failed.
She says her freedom should not be limited when she is perfectly healthy.
People are not infectious until they show symptoms, usually a fever.
Another worker, Dr. Craig Spencer, travelled around New York City before he fell ill. He is currently in isolation in hospital.
After his case was announced, New York, New Jersey and other states ordered the mandatory quarantine of healthcare workers who had been exposed to Ebola patients.
President Barack Obama has warned that overly restrictive measures could discourage volunteering in West Africa.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the actions of US states ordering medics to be isolated.
A new report claims that Ashton Kutcher cheated on girlfriend Mila Kunis in the early days of their relationship.
Another report, however, is debunking that claim.
A Swedish makeup artist named Linn Massinger told U.K.’s The Sun that she and Ashton Kutcher hooked up in June 2012 at Ashton’s Hollywood home, a few months after he and Mila Kunis started dating each other.
The hookup, Linn Massinger said, began after Ashton Kutcher met her a bar and they decided to go back to his place.
Linn Massinger and Ashton Kutcher hooked up in June 2012, a few months after he and Mila Kunis started dating each other
“He just took my hand and took me upstairs,” she said, before they shared an “intimate embrace.” The two ended up spending the night together, she claims.
Star Magazine even published pictures that appear to be Linn Massinger and Ashton Kutcher sleeping on top of a bed.
The accusations and pictures come a month after Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis recently welcomed their first child, Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher. Earlier this year, the couple also got engaged.
Linn Massinger told The Sun: “When I was there he didn’t mention Mila or anyone.”
The Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif has been reopened by Israeli police after its closure amid tensions following the shooting of prominent right-wing Jewish activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick.
Jerusalem holy site was reopened ahead of Muslim Friday prayers, but with restrictions on worshippers as a security measure.
Meanwhile the Palestinian suspected of wounding Rabbi Yehuda Glick has been buried in East Jerusalem.
There has been an escalation of tension in the city in recent weeks.
On October 30, a spokesman for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas described Israel’s temporary closure of the holy site as a “declaration of war”.
The compound – known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif – is the holiest site in Judaism, and contains the al-Aqsa Mosque – the third holiest site in Islam.
The site was reopened to Muslim worshippers on Friday morning, with entry to men restricted to those over 50 amid fears of unrest after Friday prayers
On Thursday night hundreds of people gathered for the funeral of Moataz Hejazi amid a heavy police presence. The burial passed off without incident, police said.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism
Moataz Hejazi, 32, was shot after opening fire when police surrounded his home, officials said.
He was suspected of having attacked Rabbi Glick as he left a conference on Jewish claims to the Jerusalem holy site.
Rabbi Yehuda Glick is a well-known campaigner for the right of Jews to pray at the site, which is currently prohibited.
He was seriously wounded and is on a life-support machine in a Jerusalem hospital.
On Wednesday night there were clashes in the neighborhood of Abu Tor between police and Palestinians protesting against the killing of Moataz Hejazi.
Police used tear gas and rubber bullets against stone-throwing youths.
Moataz Hejazi’s cousin alleges that he was shot by police after being detained within his house. Israeli police say Moataz Hejazi was killed after he began shooting at police who then opened fire in response.
Secretary of State John Kerry said he was “extremely concerned” by the escalation in tensions and had urged Israel to reopen the holy site.
“It is absolutely critical that all sides exercise restraint, refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric, and preserve the historic status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount in word and in practice,” he said.
Some districts of East Jerusalem have seen nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces since the Gaza conflict last summer.
Marion “Suge” Knight may remain in a Las Vegas jail at least through the weekend following his arrest as a fugitive in a California robbery case.
His attorney, Richard Schonfeld, says a judge ordered the founder of Death Row Records to pay a $190 fine on what had been a June 2013 suspended-license charge in Las Vegas.
Suge Knight was arrested on October 29 in Las Vegas and remains jailed ahead of an extradition hearing on November 3.
Suge Knight and comedian Katt Williams stole a celebrity photographer’s camera in Beverly Hills
Richard Schonfeld says Suge Knight hopes to post bail pending his appearance in court in California.
That case stems from a celebrity photographer’s complaint that Suge Knight and comedian Katt Williams stole her camera September 5 in Beverly Hills.
Katt Williams was arrested in the Los Angeles area.
Burkina Faso army has announced emergency measures – including the formation of a transitional government – after a day of violent protests.
Protesters angered by President Blaise Compaore’s bid to extend his 27-year rule earlier set fire to parliament and government buildings.
Protesters in the capital, Ouagadougou, are calling for Blaise Campaore to resign.
The emergency moves announced by army chief General Honore Traore did not say who would lead the interim administration.
At a press conference, General Honore Traore declared the imposition of an overnight curfew, as well as the dissolution of parliament.
He announced that a “transitional body [would] be put in place in consultation with all parties”.
“A return to the constitutional order is expected in no more than 12 months,” he said.
Earlier, President Blaise Compaore issued a statement, declaring the emergency and saying that the head of the armed forces was in charge of implementing the decision.
Burkina Faso army has announced emergency measures after a day of violent protests
The protests in the capital – the most serious yet against Blaise Compaore’s rule – forced lawmakers to abandon a vote aimed at allowing the president to seek re-election in 2015.
The main opposition leader, Zephirin Diabre, told a local radio station the state of emergency was unacceptable.
“We are calling on the people to show that they are against it,” he was quoted as saying.
“The resignation of President Blaise Compaore is the only thing that can bring peace to the country.”
Zephirin Diabre said dozens of protesters had been killed across the country by the security forces.
Protesters also surged towards the presidential palace, and a government helicopter flying overhead fired tear gas at them, Reuters news agency reports.
Witnesses say dozens of soldiers have joined the protest in Ouagadougou’s main square, including a former defense minister, General Kouame Lougue.
The city hall, the homes of MPs, and an upmarket hotel in Ouagadougou were also set ablaze.
Similar protests hit the south-western city of Bobo Dioulasso, and other towns in the poor West African state.
State television went off air after protesters stormed the building housing it and ransacked it.
“A state of emergency is declared across the national territory,” the president’s statement said, as quoted by Reuters.
“The chief of the armed forces is in charge of implementing this decision which enters into effect today.
“I dissolve the government from today so as to create conditions for change. I’m calling on the leaders of the political opposition to put an end to the protests. I’m pledging from today to open talks with all the actors to end the crisis.”
UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy for West Africa, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, will fly to Burkina Faso on October 31 in an attempt to ease the crisis, the UN said in a statement.
Blaise Compaore first took power in a coup in 1987, and has won four disputed elections since then.
The protests forced the government to suspend Thursday’s parliamentary vote on a constitutional amendment that would have lifted the limit on presidential terms so that Blaise Compaore could run for office again in 2015.
Blaise Compaore is a staunch ally of the US and France, which uses Burkina Faso as a base for military operations against militant Islamists in the Sahel region.
Poet Galway Kinnell has died at his home in Vermont after suffering from leukemia, his wife Brabara announced. He was 87.
Galway Kinnell, who died on October 28, was among the most celebrated poets of his time and wrote more than a dozen books spanning five decades.
He won the Pulitzer for his 1982 book Selected Poems.
The collection also won the National Book Award for Poetry, sharing the honor with contemporary Charles Wright.
Galway Kinnell’s other best-known works include The Book of Nightmares, inspired by the horror of the Vietnam war, When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone and Mortal Acts, Mortal Words.
One his most famous poems is The Bear, telling of a hunter who, after consuming animal blood and excrement, comes to identify with his prey.
Galway Kinnell was among the most celebrated poets of his time and wrote more than a dozen books spanning five decades
Other notable poems include After Making Love We Hear Footsteps and When the Towers Fell, about the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, on February 1, 1927, Galway Kinnell was the son of immigrants from Scotland and Ireland.
He attended Princeton University, where he was roommates with future poet laureate W.S. Merwin, who introduced him to the works of W.B. Yeats.
W. S. Merwin told Associated Press he and Galway Kinnell had been “like brothers” and remembered his friend as a “very generous soul”.
Galway Kinnell’s breakthrough poem came in 1960, with The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ Into the New World – a 14-part work about Avenue C in Manhattan and the people that walked the street.
He served as poet laureate for Vermont from 1989 to 1993, and moved there in 2005.
The Academy of American Poets later gave him the Wallace Stevens Award for lifetime achievement in 2010.
Galway Kinnell married his first wife, Spanish translator Ines Delgado de Torres, in 1965 and had two children, Fergus and Maud, but divorced 20 years later. He married second wife Barbara in 1997.
Roman Polanski has been freed in Poland after being questioned by prosecutors.
The film director has been wanted by US police since 1977 after fleeing the country before he could be sentenced for assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
US authorities contacted Polish officials as Roman Polanski attended the opening of a Jewish museum in Warsaw.
Roman Polanski was questioned in Krakow.
“Roman Polanski said he would comply with all requests made by prosecutors in this case and provided his address,” Police justice ministry spokesman Mateusz Martyniuk told AFP.
“Prosecutors therefore decided not to arrest him in connection with a possible US extradition request.”
The Polish government confirmed that the US had contacted authorities asking them to arrest Polanski after he travelled to Warsaw for the opening of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
Mateusz Martyniuk said Roman Polanski’s extradition was still possible, but as the US had not yet forwarded an extradition request, Polanski “is a free citizen and is free to travel”.
Roman Polanski has been freed in Poland after being questioned by prosecutors
He was held in Switzerland in 2009 after travelling to Zurich to pick up a prize at a film festival.
However, the extradition bid failed and he was eventually allowed to return to France.
He has been to Poland several times in recent years and was pictured on television at the opening of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
In 2010, the Polish prosecutor general said Roman Polanski could not be extradited because under Polish law too much time had passed since the offences.
Police in Los Angeles charged the director with s** offences including rape in 1977 before he accepted a plea deal, but he fled the country on the eve of his sentencing.
Last year his victim, Samantha Geimer, now 51, published her account of what happened in a book called The Girl: A Life Lived in the Shadow of Roman Polanski.
Roman Polanski is currently directing a stage show in Paris called The Vampires’ Ball, but has said he wants to shoot a film on location in Poland on the condition he will not face extradition.
The US economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5% in Q3 2014, the Commerce Department has announced.
That was better than the 3% pace that economists had been expecting and follows the 4.6% growth rate recorded in Q2 2014.
Strong export growth and higher government spending helped to boost growth in Q3.
In a sign of confidence in the US recovery, on October 29 the Federal Reserve ended its stimulus scheme.
The fall in the unemployment rate to a six-year low has helped to boost that confidence.
“Today’s number represents a return to a healthy-looking trend. The most recent IMF forecasts suggest the US economy will grow 3.1% next year and 3.0% in 2016, and these could be revised further upwards in the coming months,” said Ben Brettell, senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers.
The US economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in Q3 2014
The report was the first of three estimates of gross domestic product, so the figure could be revised up or down, over the coming months.
Growth was lifted in the third quarter by a sharp increase in government spending, which itself was boosted by a surge in defense expenditure.
Exports were another area of strength, they rose at an annual rate of 7.8%.
There will be a question over whether that pace can be maintained as important export markets for the US are struggling.
Growth in many European countries is stagnant and the Chinese economy is slowing down.
Consumption growth was relatively weak in the third quarter, running at an annual rate of 1.8%, but economists expect that to improve.
Overall it has been a volatile year for US growth data.
In Q1 2014 the economy contracted at an annual rate of 2.1% after severe weather hampered economic activity.
But Q2 2014 saw a rebound, growing at an annual pace of 4.6%.
Taken together the latest two quarters are the strongest consecutive quarters of growth since the second half of 2003.
On October 29 the Fed announced the end of its quantitative easing (QE) stimulus program.
QE started in November 2008 amid the financial crisis and fears that the US, and the rest of the world, might be facing another great depression.
Since then the Fed has bought $3.5 trillion of US government debt and bonds created out of home loans or mortgages.
It began to phase out the scheme last year and a fall in unemployment to 5.9% has encouraged the Fed to end it altogether.
However, interest rates will remain at a record low for a “considerable time” according to the US central bank.
Nurse Kaci Hickox has defied the Ebola quarantine order, leaving her house in Maine for a brief bike ride.
She returned from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone on October 24.
Kaci Hickox maintains isolation is unnecessary, as she has no symptoms and has tested negative for Ebola.
Maine officials have vowed to go to court to try to enforce the quarantine.
About 5,000 people have died of the disease in West Africa, but only nine patients have been treated for the virus on US soil.
More than 13,700 people have been sickened in the Ebola outbreak, the vast majority in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Ebola, which is only spread through close contact with the bodily fluids of a sick patient, has a 21-day incubation period.
Kaci Hickox returned to the US from Liberia on October 24, landing at Newark International Airport
US officials are at odds over whether American healthcare workers who return from treating Ebola patients in West Africa should be forced into quarantine until that period has expired.
New Jersey and other states had put quarantine rules into place after a New York doctor who treated Ebola patients in West Africa came down with the disease.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) merely recommends daily monitoring of returned health workers, rather than enforced isolation.
President Barack Obama has warned that overly restrictive measures imposed upon returning healthcare workers could discourage them from volunteering in Africa.
“We know that the best way to protect Americans ultimately is going to stop this outbreak at the source,” he said on October 29 .
Kaci Hickox returned to the US on October 24, landing at Newark International Airport.
Officials say she had a minor fever, necessitating a quarantine at a Newark, New Jersey, hospital.
Kaci Hickox contested the quarantine regimen, ultimately threatening legal action.
After showing no fever or other symptoms for a 24-hour period, Kaci Hickox was discharged and brought to her home state of Maine.
“I’m not willing to stand here and let my civil rights be violated when it’s not science-based,” she told reporters on Wednesday evening.
On Thursday morning, Kaci Hickox left her home on a bicycle, followed by police officers who monitoring her movements and public interactions. She returned home shortly after.
Without a court order, the police were barred from detaining her.
Burkina Faso protesters angry at plans to allow President Blaise Compaore to extend his 27-year-rule have set fire to parliament.
Correspondents say the city hall and ruling party headquarters are also in flames.
A huge crowd is surging towards the presidential palace and the main airport has been shut.
Lawmakers have suspended a vote on changing the constitution to allow Balise Compaore to stand for re-election next year.
Five people has been killed in the protests.
The military had earlier fired live bullets at protesters who had stormed parliament.
Dozens of soldiers have reportedly joined the protests, including a former defense minister, General Kouame Lougue.
The main opposition leader, Zephirin Diabre, has called on the military to side with “the people”.
Blaise Compaore’s whereabouts are unknown, but he has appealed for calm via Twitter.
Angry protesters in Burkina Faso have set fire to parliament
He first took power in a coup in 1987, and has won four disputed elections since then.
The opposition has called for a campaign of civil disobedience to demand that Blaise Compaore steps down in elections next year.
“October 30 is Burkina Faso’s Black Spring, like the Arab Spring,” opposition activist Emile Pargui Pare told AFP news agency.
State television has gone off air after protesters stormed the building housing it and ransacked it, Reuters quotes a witness as saying.
About 1,500 people breached the security cordon at parliament, AFP reports.
Protesters were setting fire to documents and stealing computer equipment and cars outside the building were also set on fire, it reports.
A massive crowd has also converged on the main square in Ouagadougou, and are marching towards the presidential palace, which is about 3 miles away.
A government helicopter flying overhead was firing tear gas at them, Reuters reports.
There are also reports of protests in the south-western city of Bobo Dioulasso.
The government has been forced to suspend Thursday’s parliamentary vote on a constitutional amendment that would have lifted the limit on presidential terms so that Blaise Compaore could run for office again in 2015.
It is not clear whether the government intends to hold the vote at a later stage, correspondents say.
Blaise Compaore is a staunch ally of the US and France, which uses Burkina Faso as a base for military operations against militant Islamists in the Sahel region.
Both France and the EU have called on Blaise Compaore to scrap the proposed constitutional amendment.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has described the closure of the disputed Jerusalem holy site Temple Mount as a “declaration of war”, his spokesman has said.
The move came amid tension after the shooting of Jewish activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick.
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu called for calm, saying Mahmoud Abbas was responsible for escalating tensions.
Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a campaigner for greater Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif, was wounded.
Israeli police later killed a Palestinian suspected of shooting him.
The man, named as 32-year-old Moataz Hejazi, was shot after opening fire when police surrounded his home.
Rabbi Yehuda Glick is a well-known US-born campaigner for the right of Jews to pray at the site, which they are currently prohibited from doing. The compound is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif.
It is the holiest site in Judaism, and also contains the al-Aqsa Mosque – the third holiest site in Islam.
Palestinians hold the Israeli government responsible for a “dangerous act”, Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying by Nabil Abu Rudeina, in remarks carried by AFP news agency.
“This dangerous Israeli escalation is a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and its sacred places and on the Arab and Islamic nation,” Nabil Abu Rudeina added.
“The state of Palestine will take all legal measures to hold Israel accountable and to stop these ongoing attacks.”
Rabbi Yehuda Glick is a campaigner for greater Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount
However, PM Benjamin Netanyahu called for calm and suggested Mahmoud Abbas was responsible for the increasing tension.
“We’re facing a wave of incitement by radical Islamic elements as well as by the Palestinian Authority chairman… who said that Jews must absolutely be prevented from going on to the Temple Mount,” he said, quoted by Haaretz newspaper.
Benjamin Netanyahu added that reinforcements for the security forces would be brought into Jerusalem to keep order.
The shooting of Rabbi Yehuda Glick is the latest in a series of incidents which have led to an escalation of tensions in Jerusalem.
Some districts of East Jerusalem have seen nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces since the conflict in Gaza.
Last week a Jewish baby and Ecuadorian woman were killed when a Palestinian attacker drove his car into a group of pedestrians at a tram stop in Jerusalem.
Police said Rabbi Yehuda Glick’s suspected attacker, Moataz Hejazi, had served time in jail in Israel and was released in 2012, adding that he belonged to the Islamic Jihad militant group.
The police anti-terrorist unit along with the Israeli internal security service Shin Bet had received information that Yehuda Glick’s attacker was located in the Abu Tor neighborhood, Israeli officials said.
Police say they were fired at after surrounding the house and shot back, hitting the suspect.
Rabbi Yehuda Glick has had surgery for gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen.
He had just attended a conference where delegates discussed Jewish claims to the compound, one of the most contentious areas of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Israel argues that it protects freedom of worship at the site but Palestinians claim it is unilaterally taking steps to allow larger numbers of Jewish visitors.
The site is administered by an Islamic body called the Waqf, while Israeli police are in charge of security.
Tim Cook, 53, made his announcement to try to help people struggling with their identity, he wrote in a Bloomberg article.
This week he challenged his home state of Alabama to ensure the rights of gay and transgender people.
Tim Cook says that he is proud to be gay (photo Twitter)
“I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others,” Tim Cook wrote.
“So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy,” he added.
Tim Cook said that he had been open about his s**uality with many people, including colleagues at Apple, but that it still “wasn’t an easy choice” to publicly announce his orientation.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a vaccine for the first time for the deadly type of meningitis that affected the students at Princeton and at the University of California in 2013.
Pfizer’s vaccine Trumenba protects against serogroup B, one of five forms of bacterial meningitis.
The FDA accelerated the approval of Trumenba, completing the approval process in “well under six months,” the typical time frame for completing even a priority review of a new drug, FDA’s Dr. Karen Midthun said in a conference call with reporters on October 30.
Karen Midthun, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said that the 2013 outbreaks “underscored the urgent public health need” for a vaccine for serogroup B meningcoccal disease in the US.
Two existing vaccines, Menactra and Menveo, prevent the other four types of bacterial meningitis and are currently recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for all preteens and adolescents. Many schools and colleges require students to receive a meningitis vaccine before enrolling.
Serogroup B meningitis caused 160 of the 500 cases of meningococcal disease in the US in 2012, according to the CDC. The agency said that 10 to 15% of these cases are fatal. Among those who survive, 11 to 19% suffer permanent disabilities, including limb loss, hearing loss and brain damage.
Pfizer’s vaccine Trumenba protects against serogroup B, one of five forms of bacterial meningitis
The outbreaks on the two university campuses in 2013 killed one student at Drexel University, who had come into contact with Princeton students, and caused a student in California to lose both of his feet. In September, a Georgetown University sophomore died of serogroup B, in what the university said was an isolated case.
Viral meningitis, though less serious than the bacterial form of the disease, also causes inflammation of the tissue around the brain and spinal cord. There is no vaccine for the illness, which is rarely fatal. Viral meningitis has been reported this month in up to 19 students at the University of Maryland at College Park and a teacher at a District preschool.
Bexsero, the Novartis vaccine administered at the universities last year with special FDA permission, had been approved for use in Europe and Australia, while the U.S. had no serogroup B vaccine.
As part of getting speedy approval, Pfizer has agreed to keep testing the vaccine. Three studies in the U.S. and Europe, involving about 2,800 adolescents, demonstrated that the vaccine generated antibodies in the blood of 82% of participants. The antibodies can kill four strains of serogroup B, according to the FDA.
The further testing will evaluate whether the vaccine is effective at creating antibodies that kill additional strains.
Pfizer said in a press release that the new vaccine must be administered in three doses over the course of six months. It is approved for use in people ages 10 to 25, a key group for meningitis cases, which can easily spread among students living in close quarters in dormitories.
Karen Midthun said that manufacturers might eventually develop one shot containing the vaccines for all five types of bacterial meningitis.
Right now, full protection would require three doses of Trumenba in addition to an existing meningitis vaccine, for which the CDC recommends an initial shot and a later booster.
Starting your own business is something that many people dream of doing, but not many people actually achieve. Starting a business takes a great deal of hard work, time, and often money, and these are the reasons that many people opt out of entrepreneurship.
Starting a business also comes with many risks, such as the risk of failing and losing all the time and money you just put into it.
If you are considering starting a business, buying an existing business, or if you already have done either one, it’s important to know what rewards come from the risks. The following are the top incentives for starting your own business, and they may just outweigh the risks.
You get to be your own boss.
One of the biggest incentives in starting a business is that you get to be your own boss. You don’t have to do your job the way someone else wants you to, and you don’t have to listen to someone who is less skilled than you are. Instead, you get to be in charge, and you get to make all the decisions, and you have nobody to answer to but yourself. You get to decide the hours you work. You get to decide what marketing collateral you use. You even get to determine the dress code for the company. For some people, not having to answer to anybody else is the biggest reward or entrepreneurship.
You get to (possibly) work from home.
As long as your business doesn’t require the need for a warehouse or manufacturing plant, you can likely do your job from home in a virtual office. You don’t have to worry about sitting through an awful commute, you don’t have to get out of your pajamas if you don’t want to (as long as you’re not seeing clients), and you don’t have to worry about paying for a storefront or utilities, which can decrease the cost of the business. As long as you have a professional workspace to do your job, and the technology solutions to help you do the job successfully, you’ll enjoy not having an office to go to every day.
You get the recognition and reward.
As a business owner, it’s a major accomplishment to take a business from scratch and turn it into something successful. Doing this can earn you respect in your industry, especially if your company becomes extremely successful and expands.
You also get to enjoy the rewards of owning a business. For example, if you’re the sole employee of the company, you get to keep the profits (aside from what you need for taxes and to put back into the business). This could be significantly more than what you’d make being someone’s employee. You also get to enjoy the rewards of expansion if it happens for your business. Who knows? In a few years, your in-home company may turn into a franchise, and you’ll certainly enjoy all those perks.
Starting a business can be a major accomplishment, so if it’s something you really want to do, weigh the risks and rewards and determine if the rewards outweigh the risks.
