The Nobel Peace Prize 2013 was awarded to Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons”.
The OPCW is the body overseeing destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons.
The Hague-based OPCW was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.
It recently sent inspectors to carry out the dismantling of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2013 was awarded to Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons
The watchdog picks up a gold medal and 8 million Swedish kronor ($1.25 million) as winner of the most coveted of the Nobel honors.
Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai and gynaecologist Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo had been tipped as favorites to take the award.
Others who had been listed as contenders were Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning), the US soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks and Maggie Gobran, an Egyptian computer scientist who abandoned her academic career to become a Coptic Christian nun and founded the charity Stephen’s Children.
But an hour before Friday’s announcement, Norway’s public broadcaster reported the award would go to the OPCW.
The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention has contributed to the destruction of nearly 80% of the world’s chemical weapons stockpile.
Asian markets have risen on hopes the US will reach a deal on raising its debt ceiling, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.
This was after Republicans from House of Representatives offered President Barack Obama a short-term increase in the debt limit to stave off default.
Stock indexes in Japan, Australia, China and Hong Kong all gained.
There have been concerns that a failure to agree a deal to raise the limit may see the US default on its payments and hurt the global economy.
Analysts said the offer by the Republicans had raised hopes that such a scenario was likely to be avoided.
Asian markets have risen on hopes the US will reach a deal on raising its debt ceiling, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street
“What this is, is opening the door to discussion and negotiation when before we had two sides just finger pointing,” said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC.
“We don’t know if in six weeks we’ll be in the same place, but at least this opens the possibility [of a deal]”, he said.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.3%, Australia’s ASX 200 added 1.6% and South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.2%.
On Thursday, the US markets had their best day since January 2013, buoyed by the proposal. The Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq indexes all closed up by more than 2%.
The US needs to agree on raising the nation’s $16.69 trillion debt ceiling by October 17.
A failure to do so could see the US government default, as it runs out of money to pay its bills and service its national debt.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have met President Barack Obama amid renewed efforts to avert a looming debt crisis.
Both sides described the 90-minute meeting as useful but said no decision was made. They agreed to keep talking.
Republicans have offered the president a short-term debt limit increase to stave off default.
A new poll suggests the majority of Americans blame the Republicans for the partial shutdown of government.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll suggests 53% of Americans blame the Republicans for the crisis, compared with 31% who say the Democrats are responsible.
“It was a very adult conversation,” said Republican Hal Rogers of the meeting.
“Both sides said they were there in good faith.”
House Majority leader Eric Cantor called the meeting “very useful” and said the talks were continuing.
The White House said in a statement: “The president looks forward to making continued progress with members on both sides of the aisle.”
Officials have warned the US risks default on October 17 if the nation’s borrowing limit is not increased.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have met President Barack Obama amid renewed efforts to avert a looming debt crisis
Republicans have offered to extend the government’s borrowing authority beyond the deadline, temporarily putting off a default.
In return they want Barack Obama to further negotiate on the budget dispute that has partially closed the government – the first shutdown for 17 years.
It is not clear if Republicans are willing to drop entirely their attempts to defund or delay Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law.
Leading Republican Pete Sessions said the two sides were working on “defining parameters to see if we can make progress”.
Earlier, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said Republicans had told Barack Obama they wanted “a temporary increase in the debt ceiling” followed by talks on “a way forward to reopen the government.”
“It’s time for leadership,” the Ohio Republican said.
“It’s time for these negotiations and this conversation to begin.”
A spokesman for John Boehner told reporters the deal offered was a “clean” increase of the debt limit, with no additional policies attached.
It would only last six weeks – until November 22.
Reacting to the offer, White House press secretary Jay Carney told a daily press briefing the president was glad that “cooler heads” seemed to be prevailing in the House.
But he added: “He will not pay ransom in exchange for the Republicans in the House doing their job.”
Earlier on Thursday, Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid said the Senate would “look at anything” the House sent to them, but they would not engage in negotiations with Republicans prior to reopening the government.
The impasse over the debt limit has already rattled markets and increased the interest rate for one-month US Treasury bills. But US stock markets rebounded on Thursday on news of a possible breakthrough.
Democratic Senate finance committee chairman Max Baucus said the Republican campaign to undermine the healthcare law in return for agreeing to end the shutdown was “not up for debate” and would not happen.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been out of work since the shutdown began, and private firms, from arms makers to motels, have begun to lay off workers.
About 15,000 private-sector employees have filed for unemployment benefits due to the shutdown, the US labor department said on Thursday.
And governors in at least four western states – Utah, South Dakota, Arizona and Colorado – have asked for authority to reopen national parks within their borders because of the economic impact of the closures.
On Thursday, Barack Obama signed legislation restoring death benefits to families of US troops who have died since the government closed. The shutdown prevented processing of the payments, typically made within days of the soldier’s death.
The president also met House Democrats at the White House on Wednesday and told them he would prefer a longer-term increase to the nation’s $16.69 trillion debt ceiling.
But the president said he was willing to accept a short-term rise in the borrowing cap to “give Boehner some time to deal with the Tea Party wing of his party”, Representative Peter Welch told the Associated Press news agency after the meeting, referring to a Republican faction of hard-core conservatives.
Earlier, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told a congressional panel that skipping a payment on US debt would trigger a potentially profound financial crisis.
“It would be chaos,” Jack Lew told the Senate hearing.
Since the US hit its debt ceiling in May, the treasury has been using what are called extraordinary measures to keep paying the bills, but those methods will be exhausted by October 17, Jack Lew has said.
The mother of US citizen Kenneth Bae who is imprisoned in North Korea is being allowed to visit him, his family says.
Terri Chung, the sister of Kenneth Bae, said their mother was in Pyongyang and due to meet him on Friday morning.
Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American, was arrested last November and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in May.
North Korea said that Kenneth Bae – described as both a tour operator and Christian missionary – had used his tourism business to plot sedition.
In a video statement made prior to her departure, Myunghee Bae said she expected to be in North Korea for five days.
“I don’t really know what to expect for my trip. All I know is that I want to see my son,” she said.
She said she was grateful to the North Korean authorities for allowing her to visit and expressed shock at the appearance of her son in an interview from prison on July 3.
The mother of US citizen Kenneth Bae who is imprisoned in North Korea is being allowed to visit him
“He looked so different and he lost so much weight. I could not believe that prisoner was my son,” she said.
Kenneth Bae’s family say his health has deteriorated in recent months and he is suffering from diabetes, an enlarged heart and back pain.
Two months ago, he was transferred from a prison camp to a hospital, they said.
Kenneth Bae (known in North Korea as Pae Jun-ho) was arrested in November 2012 as he entered the north-eastern port city of Rason, a special economic zone near North Korea’s border with China.
His trial and conviction came at a time of high tension between the US and North Korea, in the wake of the communist state’s third nuclear test on February 13.
It also came as the US and South Korea conducted annual large-scale military exercises, which angered Pyongyang.
Tensions have since eased somewhat. In August, North Korea issued and then revoked an invitation for US envoy Robert King to travel to Pyongyang to seek Kenneth Bae’s release.
North Korea has arrested several US citizens in recent years, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytizing.
They were released after visits to Pyongyang by high-profile officials, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
The US accuses North Korea of using detained citizens as bargaining chips.
Mercury 7 astronaut Scott Carpenter has died aged 88, his family has announced.
In 1962 Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the earth, piloting the Aurora 7 spacecraft through three revolutions of the earth.
After retiring in 1969 he took up oceanographic activities.
John Glenn, who flew the first orbital mission, is the last surviving member of the Mercury team.
Scott Carpenter’s wife, Patty Barrett, said her husband had suffered complications following a stroke in September and died in a Denver hospice.
He lived in Vail, Colorado.
In 1962 Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the earth, piloting the Aurora 7 spacecraft through three revolutions of the earth
Scott Carpenter, who was born in Boulder, Colorado, was commissioned in the US Navy in 1949 and served as a pilot during the Korean War.
In April 1959, Scott Carpenter was selected as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts and underwent training with NASA, specializing in communication and navigation.
Scott Carpenter was the backup pilot for John Glenn during preparation for the first US manned orbital space flight in February 1962, and gave the historic send-off to his teammate: “Godspeed, John Glenn.”
During his own flight, Scott Carpenter’s capsule landed 288 miles away from where it was meant to, leaving NASA and the nation waiting anxiously to see if he had survived.
The Navy recovered him from the Caribbean, floating in his life-raft with his feet propped up.
In a joint lecture with John Glenn 49 years later at the Smithsonian Institution, Scott Carpenter recalled his feelings from that time.
“You’re looking out at a totally black sky, seeing an altimeter reading of 90,000ft and realize you are going straight up. And the thought crossed my mind: What am I doing?”
Scott Carpenter did not go back into space but later joined the US Navy’s SeaLab II programme and in 1965 spent 30 days under the ocean off the coast of California.
After retirement he founded Scott Carpenter’s company Sea Sciences, working closely with diver and researcher Jacques Cousteau.
Malala Yousafzai and the Congolese doctor who helped rape victims are among this year’s Nobel Peace Prize favorites.
The winner of the most coveted of the Nobel honors will be revealed in Oslo at 11:00 local time Friday.
This year’s record list of 259 nominees remains a secret, but bookmakers and pundits say Malala is a contender.
Gynaecologist Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo is also tipped but predictions are often wrong.
Chelsea Manning, the US soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks has also been listed as a potential nominee.
Malala Yousafzai is among this year’s Nobel Peace Prize favorites
Others include Maggie Gobran, an Egyptian computer scientist who abandoned her academic career to become a Coptic Christian nun and founded the charity Stephen’s Children, and Russian former mathematics professor Svetlana Gannushinka who set up the rights group Civil Assistance.
If she wins, Malala Yousafzai, 16, will claim a gold medal, 8 million Swedish kronor ($1.25 million) and the title of youngest-ever Nobel laureate.
Malala Yousafzai emerged as a contender after continuing her work to promote better rights for girls despite being shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan.
The Pakistani young activist rose to prominence in 2009 after writing a blog anonymously for the BBC Urdu service about her life under Taliban rule in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.
On Thursday Malala Yousafzai was named as the winner of the EU’s Sakharov prize, a 50,000-euro ($65,000) award considered Europe’s top human rights accolade.
Bookmakers have placed Malala Yousafzai as 3/5 favourite on a list which includes long shots such as U2 singer Bono, Russian President Vladimir Putin and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Denis Mukwege, who has been listed as a possible Nobel laureate in the past, set up a hospital and foundation to help tens of thousands of women raped by militants and soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Like Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege was also targeted by assassins a year ago. He escaped injury but temporarily sought exile in Europe.
Previous Nobel peace prize laureates include anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, US President Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In 2012 the prize was awarded to the European Union in recognition of its contribution to peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.
The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship could be loaded aboard Dockwise Vanguard – a colossal salvage vessel – after a deal was struck with a Dutch company.
The Dockwise Vanguard, capable of picking up oil rigs, has been recruited as an option to move the ship.
The vessel can sink under the Costa Concordia then rise up to lift it clear of the water before sailing it to be scrapped.
Some 32 people died after the Concordia ran aground with more than 4,000 passengers and crew in January 2012.
The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship could be loaded aboard Dockwise Vanguard
Salvage teams moved the ship to an upright position last month, enabling divers to find the remains of one of two people who were still unaccounted for.
Costa Crociere, Concordia’s owner, said the Vanguard had been retained as one possible option for removing the wreck from its current location off Giglio island in 2014.
It said the $30 million contract to use the salvage vessel would offer a “safe and swift” method to transport the cruise ship to its as yet undetermined final destination.
The company said the operation is the biggest salvage ever attempted on a ship of the Costa Concordia’s size.
The 902ft-long Vanguard has no bow and a flat stern, allowing it contain the longer cruise ship.
The Vanguard, described by its Dutch owner Royal Boskalis as the world’s largest semi-submersible ship, uses vast ballast tanks to lower and raise itself around its cargo.
The company said modifications would need to be made before it is capable of carrying Costa Concordia.
Kris Jenner is reportedly eager to jump back into the dating scene with younger men as she and Bruce Jenner are officially separated.
Kris Jenner, 57, wanted to split from Bruce after twenty two years of marriage because she was “tired of being held down”, according to HollywoodLife.com.
Kris Jenner is reportedly eager to jump back into the dating scene with younger men as she and Bruce Jenner are officially separated
Dating younger men is nothing new for Kris Jenner, who was linked to Todd Waterman, who is now 48, while she was married to her first husband, Robert Kardashian, who was 11 years her senior.
“The separation was Kris’ idea. She’s tired of being held down. She wants to date, and she wants to date younger men,” a friend of the Kardashian family told HollywoodLife.com.
“Kris and Bruce were fighting nonstop and Bruce was tired of Kris treating him like a second-class citizen.”
The source added: “Kris is if course happier because now she is a free woman and can do whatever she wants.”
As Kris and Bruce Jenner released a statement confirming their separation, everyone wondered if the momager’s recent dinner with Britney Spears’ ex Jason Trawick, 42, was an actual date.
Libya’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has called for “rationality and wisdom” after being freed from the custody of militiamen.
Ali Zeidan was abducted from a Tripoli hotel and held for several hours by armed men whose identity has yet to be confirmed.
In a cabinet meeting, PM Ali Zeidan thanked “real revolutionaries” who took part in a security operation to free him.
The motive of the abduction is unclear but some militias had been angered by a US commando raid to capture senior al-Qaeda suspect Anas al-Liby.
Many militia groups saw the raid in Tripoli on Saturday as a breach of Libyan sovereignty and there is growing pressure on the government to explain if it was involved.
One group, the Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (LROR), said it had captured Ali Zeidan, claiming it was acting on orders from the prosecutor general. But the justice ministry denied this.
The LROR said its actions had not been related to Anas al-Liby’s detention.
The official Lana news agency also named another formal rebel group, the Brigade for the Fight against Crime, as being involved.
Ali Zeidan has called for “rationality and wisdom” after being freed from the custody of militiamen
Two years after the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Libya still has no constitution and divisions between secular and Islamist forces have paralyzed parliament.
The government has been struggling to contain the numerous militias who control many parts of the country.
Ali Zeidan’s cabinet meeting following his release was shown live on Libya’s al-Ahrar television.
He thanked those who had helped free him but gave no details about them or the abductors.
He said: “I salute the revolutionaries who had an important role. The real revolutionaries, those who rose above greedy demands, I salute them for what they did in this affair.”
Ali Zeidan urged them to “assimilate into the state, and play an active role in it through its civilian and military institutions”.
He added: “Only with an army and the police can a state exist.”
The prime minister said of his capture: “These are accidental things from the revolution’s overflow and they will disappear.”
Ali Zeidan also said Libya would “regain its health” and be “an active, positive nation”.
He assured foreigners the incident had happened “within the context of Libyan political wrangles”.
Ali Zeidan ended by calling for “caution and rationality in handling this matter”.
He had been taken in a pre-dawn raid on the Corinthia Hotel by more than 100 armed men.
Photographs circulating online showed Ali Zeidan being surrounded and led away. There were no reports of violence during his capture.
The prime minister was reportedly held at the interior ministry anti-crime department in Tripoli, where an official said he was treated well.
In a news conference shortly before the release was announced, the government condemned the “criminal act” of his detention and said it would not give in to “blackmail”.
The LROR is one of a number of militias operating in Libya which are nominally attached to government ministries but often act independently and, correspondents say, often have the upper hand over police and army forces.
Norway’s intelligence agency PST is investigating whether a Norwegian citizen was involved in the attack on Nairobi’s Westgate mall.
The PST said it had sent investigators to Kenya to try to verify the claim.
It said it was opening an inquiry “based on information that a Norwegian citizen may have been involved”.
A Norwegian of Somali origin may have been involved in planning and carrying out the September 21 attack in which at least 67 people died, the PST said.
“The enquiry will primarily be aimed at helping prevent new terrorist acts and [determining] to what degree the Norwegian… was involved in the attack,” the agency said.
Norway’s intelligence agency PST is investigating whether a Norwegian citizen was involved in the attack on Nairobi’s Westgate mall
The PST added that it would also try to establish if the unnamed suspect had ties to Somalia’s al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda-linked militant group which said it had carried out the attack.
It said it was working to assess any potential threats to Norway and Norwegian interests.
Reports have suggested that an al-Shabab leader targeted at the weekend in a US military operation may have spent time in Norway.
The October 5 raid failed to capture Abdukadir Mohamed Abdukadir, alias Ikrima. He is thought to be a Kenyan citizen of Somali origin, one of many Kenyan Somalis and other foreign fighters who have joined the group.
Norway’s TV2 reported earlier this week that Ikrima had travelled to Norway and applied for asylum in 2004 but left in 2008 before there was a decision on his application.
Norwegian officials have not commented on the claims.
Last week Kenya’s military identified four men it said were involved in the Westgate siege. It said Abu Baara al-Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khattab al-Kene and Umayr were killed during the standoff.
Abu Baara al-Sudani was said to have been an “experienced fighter” from Sudan, who led the group. Nabhan was a Kenyan of Arab origin and Kene a Somali linked to al-Shabab. Details about Umayr were not available.
An Ohio officials report note that two prison guards falsified logs documenting their observation of kidnapper Ariel Castro in the hours before he killed himself.
A state inquiry has found video footage indicating that two guards failed to make checks at least eight times on the day Ariel Castro was found hanged in his cell.
It also asks authorities to consider whether he died of auto-er**ic asphyxiation.
Ariel Castro, 53, was jailed for life for abducting three women – Michelle Knight, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry – over a decade.
He had raped them repeatedly at his home in Cleveland.
The Ohio Department for Rehabilitation and Correction published its findings on Thursday.
Two prison guards falsified logs documenting their observation of kidnapper Ariel Castro in the hours before he killed himself
The report said that prison guards had failed to check Ariel Castro at least eight times between 15:03 and 20:15 local time on 3 September. He was found hanged in his cell in Orient, Ohio, at 21:18.
The document said that “post log books were falsified” and that “there was no satisfactory verification process in place”.
It was also revealed that Ariel Castro “was found in his cell with a Bible open to John Chapters 2 and 3”.
“Additionally, he had pictures of his family out and arranged in a poster-board fashion. His pants and underwear were pulled down to his ankles.”
The convict left no suicide note.
The report said Ariel Castro’s intentions were unclear, however the facts had been “relayed to the Ohio State Highway Patrol for consideration of the possibility of auto-er**ic asphyxiation”.
Ariel Castro was supposed to have been checked by guards in his isolation cell in Orient, Ohio every 30 minutes.
He was taken off suicide watch in June after authorities determined he was not at risk of taking his own life.
They also denied Ariel Castro permission to receive independent mental counseling, even though he had previously contemplated suicide and was likely to suffer depression after his sentence, his lawyer Craig Weintraub told reporters last month.
The former school bus driver abducted Michelle Knight, 32, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23, from the Cleveland streets between 2002-04.
The three women escaped from Castro’s home on May 6.
Ariel Castro was sentenced on August 1st to life imprisonment without parole plus 1,000 years.
In an interview soon after his conviction, Ariel Castro’s lawyers said that he fit the profile of someone with a sociopathic disorder.
The latest episode of Duck Dynasty showed Phil and Miss Kay Robertson being worried about their mortality after a visit to the doctor.
Phil and Miss Kay Robertson went to visit their son Willie to share their concerns.
“Well, simply put,” Phil Robertson told Willie.
“We’re dying,” finished Miss Kay.
“You’re both dying?” asked a confused Willie.
After a visit to the doctor, Phil and Miss Kay Robertson were worried about their mortality
“Miss Kay and I are healthy as we can be, as far as I know,” explained Phil.
“If you made it 65 years, you’re like, way ahead of the game, but we will go.”
“So, no one’s dying, right?” clarified Willie Robertson.
“Well, not at the moment,” admitted Miss Kay.
“We just want to make sure that what we leave behind is in order,” said Phil Robertson.
“Is this about your will?” asked Willie.
“Who gets what, you know, so you don’t fight,” answered the Duck Dynasty patriarch.
“So, I’m saying let’s go down there, look at the property lines, get it all divided up.”
“Today?” the Duck Commander CEO asked.
“Today,” said his father Phil, firmly.
“Right now.”
Phil and Willie leave the office to tour the massive Robertson compound, where Willie learns that instead of getting the house (like Alan), or the land next to the river (like Jase) or the land next to the lake (like Jep), he ends up with the property that soon will have a pipeline running through it.
Willie Robertson was being something of a jerk on the latest episode of Duck Dynasty.
Willie Robertson, 40, ordered a case of wildebeest biltong, a thick, exotic cured meat from South Africa, and refused to share it with anyone.
“Anybody who knows about real beef jerky, knows about biltong,” Willie Robertson explained.
“Biltong is delicious.”
The smell of Willie Robertson’s biltong was so pungent, it brought Jase and Uncle Si straight into his office.
“I smell me some meat,” said Jase Robertson.
“I’m part bloodhound. The nose don’t lie.”
“I smell meat,” chimed in Uncle Si Robertson.
Willie Robertson was being something of a jerk on the latest episode of Duck Dynasty
“Let’s eat, son.”
Willie Robertson, however, was not giving up the jerky.
“This is mine, I put Jack Link’s in the break room for you guys,” the Duck Commander CEO explained.
“I’m not here to feed you guys, you’re here to work.”
“Are you serious, you’re not going to share that?” asked a slightly bewildered Jase Robertson.
“Mmmm-hmmm,” replied Willie, licking the biltong.
“That’s just wrong,” said Jase, leaving Willie’s office in disgust.
“That’s it, I’m out of here. You’re a terrible brother.”
Having been denied a share of Willie’s biltong, Jase and Uncle Si were left with an insatiable hankering for dried meat.
“We have, as rednecks, the right to eat beef jerky,” explained a ticked off Jase.
“Beef jerky is a redneck’s fuel. You take away his beef jerky, he’s sitting in the corner, sucking his thumb. Everyone knows that.”
To remedy the wrong, the Duck Commander crew decided take the afternoon off and make their own jerky, using Justin Martin’s venison and John Godwin’s dehydrator.
“You don’t want to share your jerky, fine,” grumbled Jase Robertson.
“I’ll make my own biltong, and I’ll call it <<Jase-tong>>.”
Former Belgian Prime Minister Wilfried Martens has died aged 77.
Wilfried Martens served nine times as prime minister of Belgium and later led the European Parliament’s main centre-right group.
He died during the night at his home in Lokeren, in East Flanders, in the presence of his wife and children, Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper reports.
Wilfried Martens led coalitions almost continuously between 1979 and 1992.
Current PM Elio Di Rupo, a Socialist, paid tribute to a “true statesman and one of the fathers of federal Belgium”.
In honor of Wilfried Martens, the European Parliament is holding a minute’s silence at midday during its plenary session in Strasbourg.
Wilfried Martens served nine times as prime minister of Belgium and later led the European Parliament’s main centre-right group
The parliament’s German president, Martin Schulz, tweeted that Wilfried Martens had been a “statesman of Belgium, Europe and an outstanding leader of European Parliament”.
Wilfried Martens remained the leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), the parliamentary group he co-founded, until his death, only handing over temporary responsibility on Tuesday.
EPP colleagues paid tribute to him.
“A distinguished colleague, Wilfried Martens has passed away,” wrote Finnish MEP Eija-Riitta Korhola in a tweet.
“My deepest condolences to his family on behalf of the Finnish EPP delegation.”
“Contrary to what is often said, certain people are irreplaceable,” former Polish Prime Minister and MEP Jerzy Buzek tweeted.
As prime minister, Wilfried Martens presided over coalitions that spanned right and left, implementing austerity programmes.
The cause of death was not reported. According to Le Soir, Wilfried Martens said his goodbyes to his family in recent days.
He had recently undergone hospital treatment and was due to step down as chairman of the EPP.
Only last month, Wilfried Martens tweeted to congratulate the German and Austrian conservative leaders on their election victories.
Margaret Thatcher first became prime minister in the same year as Wilfried Martens in Belgium, and he paid tribute to his “long-time friend” when she died in April.
“Although we had very different visions for the future of Europe, we developed a close personal relationship and shared many special moments…” Wilfried Martens wrote in an EPP press release.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013 was awarded to Canadian author Alice Munro “master of the contemporary short story”.
Alice Munro, 82, whose books include Dear Life and Dance of the Happy Shades, is only the 13th woman to win the prize since its inception in 1901.
Previous winners include literary giants such as Rudyard Kipling, Toni Morrison and Ernest Hemingway.
Presented by the Nobel Foundation, the award – which is presented to a living writer – is worth 8 million kronor.
Last year’s recipient was Chinese novelist Mo Yan.
Alice Munro, who began writing in her teenage years, published her first story, The Dimensions of a Shadow, in 1950.
She had been studying English at the University of Western Ontario at the time.
Dance of the Happy Shades, published in 1968, was Alice Munro’s first collection, and it went on to win Canada’s highest literary prize, the Governor General’s Award.
In 2009, Alice Munro won the Man Booker International Prize for her entire body of work.
Alice Munro is the first Canadian writer to receive the prestigious award since Saul Bellow, who won in 1976.
Alice Munro is only the 13th woman to win the prize since its inception in 1901
Often compared to Anton Chekhov, Alice Munro is known for writing about the human spirit and a regular theme of her work is the dilemma faced by young girls growing up and coming to terms with living in a small town.
The Nobel academy praised her “finely tuned storytelling, which is characterized by clarity and psychological realism”.
Since the 1960s, Alice Munro has published more than a dozen collections of short stories.
Her early stories capture the difference between her own experiences growing up in Wingham, a conservative Canadian town west of Toronto, and her life after the social revolution of the 1960s.
In an interview in 2003, Alice Munro described the 1960s as “wonderful”.
It was “because, having been born in 1931, I was a little old, but not too old, and women like me after a couple of years were wearing miniskirts and prancing around,” she said.
Alice Munro’s writing has brought her several awards. She won a National Book Critics Circle prize for Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, and is a three-time winner of the Governor General’s prize and The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.
Other notable books include Lives of Girls and Women, Who Do You Think You Are, The Progress of Love and Runaway.
In 1980, The Beggar Maid was shortlisted for the annual Booker Prize for Fiction and her stories frequently appear in publications such as the New Yorker and the Paris Review.
Several of her stories have also been adapted for the screen, including The Bear Came Over the Mountain, which became Away from Her, starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent.
Alice Munro revealed earlier this year that her latest book, Dear Life, published in 2012, would be her last.
In 2009, Alice Munro revealed she had been receiving treatment for cancer. She also had bypass surgery for a heart condition.
Libya’s PM Ali Zeidan has returned to his office after being held for several hours by militiamen loosely allied to the government.
The Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room said it had captured Ali Zeidan in Tripoli, claiming it was acting on orders from the prosecutor general.
The justice ministry denied this.
The militia was one of several groups angered by a US commando raid on Libyan soil on Saturday in which senior al-Qaeda suspect Anas al-Liby was seized.
Many saw the raid as a breach of Libyan sovereignty. There is growing pressure on the government to explain if it was involved but in a statement, the Revolutionaries Operations Room (LROR) said its actions had not been related to Anas al-Liby’s detention.
The official Lana news agency also named another formal rebel group, the Brigade for the Fight against Crime, as being involved.
Libya’s PM Ali Zeidan has returned to his office after being held for several hours by militiamen loosely allied to the government
State TV broadcast live as Ali Zeidan arrived at his office in Tripoli. There was a high security presence as his car pulled up outside. The prime minister made no immediate comment but was expected to give a news briefing shortly.
Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdelaziz said earlier he had no details on the circumstances of the release.
It was unclear whether the militia had released the prime minister voluntarily or whether other security forces had intervened.
Ali Zeidan had been taken in a pre-dawn raid on the Corinthia Hotel by more than 100 armed men.
The LROR said it was acting on the orders of the prosecutor general and in accordance with a section of Libya’s criminal code relating to “crimes and misdemeanors harmful to state security”.
But Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani said the prosecutor general had issued no arrest warrant, according to state-run National Libyan TV.
Photographs circulating online and shown on TV showed Ali Zeidan surrounded by what it said were armed men as he was led away. There were no reports of violence during his capture.
The prime minister was reportedly being held at the interior ministry anti-crime department in Tripoli, where an official said he was being treated well.
In a news conference shortly before the release was announced, the government condemned the “criminal act” of his detention and said it would not give in to “blackmail”.
The LROR is one of a number of militias operating in Libya which are nominally attached to government ministries but often act independently and, correspondents say, often have the upper hand over police and army forces.
The government has been struggling to contain the militias, which were heavily involved in the revolt which overthrew Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and, two years on, still control many parts of the country.
Jimmy Kimmel and Kanye West dispelled the idea their so-called rap feud was a publicity stunt during a sometimes uncomfortable appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live show.
Speculation that Kanye West’s anger over a Jimmy Kimmel Live parody skit that mocked him was staged was immediate after Kanye lashed out at Jimmy Kimmel in late September.
Kanye West and Jimmy Kimmel said that their beef was authentic during a 30-minute interview on Wednesday night’s show in which the rapper discussed a range of topics including his artistry, paparazzi, family, fashion and the idea of celebrity.
Jimmy Kimmel said early in the interview that he knows Kanye West personally and always found him friendly, but that he seems misunderstood.
“I don’t know if you know this, but a lot of people think you’re a jerk,” Jimmy Kimmel said after Kanye West called himself a genius.
Kanye West was objecting to the idea that he’s “just a celebrity.”
“When you said you think you’re a genius, I think that upsets people,” Jimmy Kimmel said.
Jimmy Kimmel and Kanye West dispelled the idea their so-called rap feud was a publicity stunt during a sometimes uncomfortable appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live show
“But the truth is a lot of people think they’re geniuses, but nobody says it because it’s weird to say it. But it is most certainly more honest to say, <<I am a genius>>.”
“I’m totally weird and totally honest and I’m totally inappropriate sometimes, and the thing is for me not to say I’m not a genius I’d be lying to you and to myself.”
The fight broke out the day after Jimmy Kimmel hired a child actor to portray Kanye West in a recreation of an interview the rapper gave on BBC Radio 1 in which he discussed the limitations he’s faced as his fame has grown, among many other topics.
Kanye West told Jimmy Kimmel he’s often upset with his portrayal in the media but usually keeps his reaction to himself. This time, though, since he knew Jimmy Kimmel, Kanye West felt he had a license to reach out by phone and discuss his disapproval man to man.
“That elevates sometimes,” Kanye West said.
“Jimmy does his thing, I do my thing, and at some point egos can flare up, and we kind of took it back to high school.”
Jimmy Kimmel showed the highlights from Kanye West’s resulting Twitter rant and admitted he’d just seen a few snippets of the BBC interview before approving the skit and didn’t realize how personal it was.
“I really felt bad about all this stuff, I did,” Jimmy Kimmel said after Kanye West walked on stage.
Kanye West responded: “Mmm huh,” but smiled widely after watching a portion of the skit.
In a sometimes stream-of-consciousness delivery, Kanye West talked passionately about discrimination based on class, protecting his music publishing from covetous drug dealers, false humility and his thoughts on and experience with high fashion. He also ranted against the Hollywood Walk of Fame organization for denying his girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, a star and reflected on his recent negative interactions with paparazzi.
Though both denied it was a publicity stunt, Jimmy Kimmel and Kanye West did take advantage of the opportunity. A commercial touting Kanye West’s concert tour ran during the show and ABC’s Nightline aired a segment on West in the wake of the appearance.
Kanye West’s appearance went long, pre-empting an appearances by Arctic Monkeys.
Jimmy Kimmel thanked Kanye West for appearing on the show, and West responded: “Thank you for the platform.”
Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban, has won the European Union’s Sakharov human rights prize.
The 16-year-old Pakistani activist was shot a year ago for campaigning for better rights for girls.
Malala Yousafzai has won the EU’s Sakharov human rights prize
The Sakharov Prize for free speech is awarded by the European Parliament annually in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov.
Edward Snowden had been a contender for the prize.
The 50,000 euro ($65,000) prize is considered Europe’s top human rights award.
Malala Yousafzai rose to prominence in 2009 when she wrote a blog for the BBC Urdu service about her life under Taliban rule and the lack of education for girls.
Malala Yousafzai received a standing ovation in July this year for an address to the UN General Assembly, in which she vowed she would never be silenced.
Lon Snowden – the father of fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden – has arrived in Russia to visit his son.
Lon Snowden told journalists on his arrival in Moscow that he felt “extreme gratitude that my son is safe and secure and he’s free”.
Edward Snowden, 30, was granted asylum in Russia in August after weeks spent in a transit zone at Moscow airport when the US revoked his travel documents.
He leaked many thousands of US intelligence documents.
The information, published in The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers, revealed extensive internet and phone surveillance by both US and British intelligence.
In the US, Edward Snowden faces charges of theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified intelligence.
Each of the charges carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
The father of fugitive Edward Snowden has arrived in Russia to visit his son
Lon Snowden, arriving at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, was met by his son’s Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena.
“I’m here to learn more about my son’s situation,” Lon Snowden told reporters.
“My hope is to learn more about his circumstances and his health and to discuss legal options.”
“If the opportunity presents itself, I certainly hope that I have the opportunity to see my son,” he said in televised remarks.
“I’m not sure that my son will be returning to the US. That’s his decision, he’s an adult.”
Lon Snowden has in the past praised his son for speaking “the truth” and making great sacrifices, and has spoken of his concern that he would not face a fair trial if he returned to the US.
Edward Snowden accessed many of the documents while working for the defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii, where he had been living with his girlfriend.
As the revelations became public, Edward Snowden fled to Hong Kong where, with his consent, The Guardian revealed his identity in June.
To escape US attempts to extradite him, Edward Snowden moved on to Russia where he remained in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport until Russia granted him asylum.
Russia’s move added to already tense relations with the US. Washington cancelled a bilateral summit in September.
Experts have warned that Madagascar is facing a bubonic plague epidemic unless it slows the spread of the disease.
The Red Cross and Pasteur Institute say inmates in Madagascar’s dirty, crowded jails are particularly at risk.
The number of cases rises each October as hot humid weather attracts fleas, which transmit the disease from rats and other animals to humans.
Madagascar had 256 plague cases and 60 deaths last year, the world’s highest recorded number.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is now rare.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva and the Pasteur Institute have worked with local health groups in Madagascar since February 2012 on a campaign to improve prison hygiene.
“If the plague gets into prisons there could be a sort of atomic explosion of plague within the town. The prison walls will never prevent the plague from getting out and invading the rest of the town,” said the institute’s Christophe Rogier.
Experts have warned that Madagascar is facing a bubonic plague epidemic unless it slows the spread of the disease
The ICRC said the 3,000 inmates of Antanimora, the main prison in the heart of the capital Antananarivo, live with a huge rat population which spreads infected fleas through food supplies, bedding and clothing.
The ICRC’s Evaristo Oliviera said this could affect not only inmates and staff, but others they come into contact with.
Evaristo Oliviera said the disease could be treated with antibiotics if detected early, but a lack of facilities and traditional shame over the disease made this tricky in outlying parts of Madagascar.
Experts say that Africa – especially Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo – accounts for more than 90% of cases worldwide.
However, in August a 15-year-old herder died in Kyrgyzstan of bubonic plague – the first case in the country in 30 years – officials said
During the last 20 years, at least three countries experienced outbreaks of human plague after dormant periods of about 30-50 years, experts say.
These areas were India in 1994 and 2002, Indonesia in 1997 and Algeria in 2003.
According to the WHO, the last significant outbreak of bubonic plague was in Peru in 2010 when 12 people were found to have been infected.
What is bubonic plague?
Caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
Essentially a disease of wild rodents, spread by fleas
Plague spreads to humans either by the bite of infected fleas or rats
Does not spread from person to person
Patients develop swollen, tender lymph glands (called buboes) and fever, headache, chills and weakness
It is treatable if caught early, but can be lethal
North Korea was due to open its first multi-million dollar Masik Pass ski resort on Thursday, but there are doubts whether it will be ready in time.
Masik Pass will have ski runs, ski lifts, resort chalets and sleigh rides.
However, its two hotels are little more than empty shells, while the access road is filled with potholes, the AP news agency reported after a visit to the site in September.
There are also questions about who will use the resort once it is completed.
It is estimated that there are only about 5,500 North Korean skiers in a country with a population of 24 million people – equivalent to about 0.02% of the total.
Correspondents say that the Masik Pass ski resort – located in the secluded depths of North Korea’s east coast – is the country’s latest megaproject, the product of 10 months of intensive labor.
It is intended to show that Communist North Korea is as civilized and culturally advanced as any other country, despite its reputation for poverty and isolation.
North Korea was due to open its first multi-million dollar Masik Pass ski resort on Thursday, but there are doubts whether it will be ready in time
Billboards around the construction site urge workers to finish the job by Thursday’s deadline, the 68th anniversary of the formation of the Korean Workers’ Party. But the construction has reportedly been delayed by heavy rains and landslides.
“Full attack. March forward. Let’s absolutely finish building Masik Pass ski resort within this year by launching a full aggressive war,” one sign reads.
Masik Pass ski resort is believed to be a pet project of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who reportedly skied when he attended secondary school in Switzerland under an assumed name.
An AP reporter who recently visited Masik’s ski runs says that they consist of long stretches of bright-brown dirt dotted with rocks, weeds and patches of stubborn grass. The pistes cut their way through the trees to converge at the hotel construction site below.
Foundations were still being dug. Two simple lifts were being installed, but neither was working at the time.
Correspondents say that North Korea is eager to build the resort because it wants to win more medals in the Winter Olympics. Sport is seen as a useful way of mobilizing the masses and Pyongyang wants to encourage more tourism.
“It will have a big impact on the economy,” North Korean Academy of Social Science economist Ri Ki Song told AP.
“We are now trying to build a lot of tourism sites, and skiing is the kind of sport that developed countries enjoy. It will also be a place for our own people to use.”
Libya’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been abducted by gunmen in Tripoli.
Ali Zeidan was taken from his hotel at dawn “by gunmen to an unknown place for unknown reasons”, said a statement on the government’s website.
The details are unclear – sources say Ali Zeidan was arrested by an anti-crime militia allied to the government, but others that he had been kidnapped.
There is speculation the event is linked to the capture of a senior al-Qaeda suspect in Libya by US forces.
The government has come under pressure to explain how US commandos were able to seize Anas al-Liby last Saturday.
He is wanted in the US over the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Libya’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been abducted by gunmen in Tripoli
On Monday, Libya demanded an explanation from the US ambassador over the incident.
The details of Ali Zeidan’s capture remain unclear, but that he was taken by armed men from a hotel he resides in the early hours of the morning.
The government website said he had been taken “to an unknown place for unknown reasons by a group thought to be from the Tripoli Revolutionaries Control Room and the Committee for Fighting Crime”.
There are a number of militia groups operating in Libya which are nominally attached to government ministries but often act independently.
The ministry of justice confirmed that no arrest warrant had been issued for Ali Zeidan.
The government statement did not name the hotel, but a woman at the Corinthia Hotel – where the prime minister lives – confirmed the incident happened there when armed men entered the building.
She said no-one had been killed.
Libya’s cabinet has been summoned for an immediate meeting under the leadership of the deputy prime minister.
Al-Arabiya TV station broadcast images which showed Ali Zeidan looking disheveled and being escorted by what the station said were armed men.
Two years after the revolt which overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s government has been struggling to contain rival tribal militias and Islamist militants who control parts of the country.
US Navy Vice-Admiral Tim Giardina, who oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons forces, has been sacked, a Navy spokesman has announced.
Tim Giardina, second-in-command of the US Strategic Command, is under investigation for illegal gambling activities.
He is accused of using counterfeit gambling chips in “a significant monetary amount” at an Iowa casino.
Tim Giardina was demoted to a two-star admiral and will be reassigned pending outcome of the inquiry.
On Wednesday, the Navy’s top spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby announced the removal of Vice-Admiral Tim Giardina as the deputy in charge of the US Strategic Command.
Tim Giardina, a career submarine officer, was suspended from duty on September 3 after the military launched an investigation into allegations he used counterfeit chips at a casino not far from his base in eastern Nebraska.
Vice-Admiral Tim Giardina, second-in-command of the US Strategic Command, is under investigation for illegal gambling activities
The case was referred to the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service after he first came to be suspected of the crime.
In September, Special Agent David Dales of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation told the Associated Press news agency “a significant monetary amount” was involved.
“We were able to detect this one pretty quickly and jump on it,” he added.
It is unknown whether Tim Giardina’s alleged actions at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, compromised national security or operations at Strategic Command.
Strategic Command, which oversees everything from America’s land-based nuclear missiles to space operations governing military satellites, is located at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska.
Tim Giardina’s demotion follows several other incidents affecting the US military’s nuclear establishment.
In August, a nuclear missile unit at Malstrom Air Force base in Montana failed a safety and security inspection, after which a senior security officer was relieved of duty.
In May, it was reported that 17 officers in charge of maintaining nuclear missiles were sidelined over safety violations at Minot Air Force base in North Dakota.
Russian investigators claim that hard drugs have been found on board the Greenpeace ship seized during a protest in the Arctic last month.
“During a search of the ship, drugs (apparently poppy straw and morphine) were confiscated,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
Poppy straw, or raw opium, can be used to produce morphine or heroin.
Greenpeace said in a statement that any suggestion of illegal drugs being found was a “smear”.
“We can only assume the Russian authorities are referring to the medical supplies that our ships are obliged to carry under maritime law,” it said.
Thirty people are being held on suspicion of “piracy” after activists attempted to scale a Russian oil rig.
The head of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, has written to Russian President Vladimir Putin, offering himself as a guarantee for the detainees.
Russian investigators claim that hard drugs have been found on board the Greenpeace ship seized during a protest in the Arctic
There is widespread international concern for the crew of the Arctic Sunrise, who hail from 18 nations.
The Netherlands has demanded the immediate release of the detainees, who are being held in the northern port of Murmansk pending trial, as well as the release of their the Dutch-flagged ship.
In its statement, the Investigative Committee said charges against some of the detainees might change in the light of evidence gathered from the ship.
Apart from the suspected drugs, “dual-purpose” equipment was found on the Arctic Sunrise, it said, adding that this “could be used not only for ecological purposes”.
Investigators would seek to determine who among the detainees was responsible for “deliberately ramming” Russian border guard boats, endangering their lives, it said.
Greenpeace replied: “There is a strict policy against recreational drugs on board Greenpeace ships, and any claim that something other than medical supplies were found should be regarded with great suspicion.
“Before leaving Norway for the Russian Arctic, the ship was searched with a sniffer dog by the Norwegian authorities, as is standard. The laws in Norway are amongst the strictest in the world, and nothing was found because nothing illegal was on the ship.”
“Any claim that illegal drugs were found is a smear, it’s a fabrication, pure and simple,” Greenpeace said.
Greenpeace went on to dismiss the allegation of ramming as a “fantasy”.
In a statement, it released a slow-motion video of its launch and the coast guard boats to show the moment they had touched.
“The Greenpeace boat sails towards the middle of the port side of the security forces boat and then only briefly touches it with the nose, immediately turning away and making a 180° turn to the left,” Greenpeace said.
“The film clearly demonstrates that the official claims are entirely bogus.”
In his letter, Kumi Naidoo wrote: “I would offer myself as a guarantor for the good conduct of the Greenpeace activists, were they to be released on bail.”
In his native South Africa in the 1980s, Kumi Naidoo campaigned against apartheid and was arrested on several occasions.
