Iraq crisis: US 'urging Maliki to resign' – live updates
Maliki's office rejects calls for his resignation
Nouri al-Maliki's office has rejected external calls for him to resign as prime minister.
His spokesman Zuhair al-Nahar pointed out that Maliki recieved the largest share of the vote in this year's elections and that it was for the Iraqi people and politicians to chose their prime minister.
He also insisted that Maliki had "never used sectarian tactics".
Speaking to the Today programme he said the west should immediately support the Iraqi government's military operation against Isis rather than demand a change of government.
Rebels in eastern Ukraine reject peace plan and ceasefire offer by Poroshenko
President to allow safe passage to Russia if insurgents lay down arms
Daniel McLaughlin
Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have rejected an offer of a ceasefire from the country’s president, as a United Nations report accused the separatists of imposing a “reign of fear” in areas they control. Petro Poroshenko, the confectionary billionaire who became Ukraine’s head of state this month, said he was ready in the coming days to issue a ceasefire order to government forces fighting insurgents in Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
“Straight after that, we should receive support from other parties to events in [the east],” he said yesterday. “I will propose an amnesty for those who lay down their arms and have not committed serious crimes. And I will propose the creation of a corridor through which Russian mercenaries and their weapons can leave the territory of our country.”
He said that, in response, he expected the rebels – who reject Kiev’s new pro-western leaders and want eastern Ukraine to join Russia – “to free hostages and leave occupied buildings” and allow order to be restored in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ebola deaths pass 300 in West Africa - WHO
The number of people killed by the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa has risen to 337, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
Fourteen deaths and 47 new cases were reported across the region over the last week, it added.
Guinea is worst-affected with 264 Ebola-related deaths. In Sierra Leone, there have been 49 deaths and in Liberia 24, the WHO said.
The three countries have been battling to contain the outbreak since February.
The outbreak began in southern Guinea's Guekedou region, but then spread to its neighbours.
'Unmarked borders'
More than 500 suspected or confirmed cases of the virus have been recorded, the WHO said.
Do Mexico City homes need earthquake alarms? One man says yes.
Mexico has one of the most advanced seismic alert systems in the world, but alarms have been out of the price range of most Mexicans. Andres Meira hopes to change that.
MEXICO CITY — The past two months have brought an unusual succession of earth tremors to the Mexican capital – and a business opportunity for Andres Meira.
Mr. Meira, an architect and social entrepreneur, started a company that produces a small earthquake alert that wails before a potentially destructive earthquake hits the capital.
For sale for about $54, Meira’s device costs a fraction of his competition.
That there is a market at all for such a receiver casts light on a quirk of Mexico’s pioneering seismic alert system, considered one of the most advanced in the world, and the unusual geologic conditions that cause Mexico City to shake even from distant quakes.Senators to Pentagon brass: Did we waste billions in Iraq?
McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Senators challenged the nation’s top military leaders Wednesday over the recent chaos in Iraq, asking how Iraqi troops could be fleeing their posts after the United States spent billions training and equipping them.
At a Senate hearing ostensibly on the Pentagon’s 2015 budget, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey said for the first time that the Iraqi government has requested U.S. air strikes against Islamist militants who have swept through parts of the country in less than a week.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel contradicted recent statements by his aides when he appeared to confirm reports that hundreds of Revolutionary Guard troops from neighboring Shiite-dominated Iran have entered Iraq to counter the Sunni extremists’ offensive.
Sherpas count cost of 'ticket to Everest'
In the Sherpa heartland, people are still reeling from the avalanche in April that killed 16 of their men on Mount Everest.
It was the worst accident in the history of the world's highest mountain - and led to Sherpas walking off the job to demand better pay and conditions.
Despite the tragedy, people in the villages of Khumbu region say they have no choice but to go back to the mountain this autumn.
"I saw my brother killed by the avalanche almost in front of my eyes, I am still shaken," says Pema Chhepal Sherpa, whose brother Tenzin's body is one of three still missing.
Pema was in camp two, ahead of his brother, when disaster struck in the dangerous Khumbu Icefall area near Everest base camp.
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