23 October 2014 Last updated at 07:24
As the Ukrainian election approaches, citizens are both hopeful and skeptical about their country's future. But their biggest concern isn't the war in the east or Russian interference -- it's the country's need for a working state.
There are exactly 34,915 seats in the Lviv Arena, the football stadium in the Western Ukrainian city of Lviv. On the last evening of September, it was filled to capacity. The guest team that night was FC Porto, from Portugal. But they weren't here to play the local club, Karpaty Lviv -- their opponents, instead, were Shakhtar Donetsk, the black-and-orange-clad team from the eastern Ukrainian separatist-held city.
Since hostilities erupted, Donetskian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov has had his squad play in Lviv -- a city that many in the east see as a nest of fascists. On that night in September, the Shakhtar fans sat in the northern stands and waved their team's flag, having traveled 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) by bus to attend the game. The fans from Lviv were waving Ukrainian flags, but had also brought along a large banner that read: "Donetsk - we're with you."
Ottawa shootings: Canada not intimidated - PM Harper
Canada's prime minister has insisted his country will not be intimidated, after a gunman rampaged through parliament before being shot dead.
Stephen Harper described the attacker as a terrorist and promised to "redouble" anti-terror efforts.
The gunman, named as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, shot and killed a soldier at an Ottawa war memorial before entering parliament.
On Monday, a Muslim convert killed a soldier in Quebec.
Mr Harper described that earlier attack as a plot inspired by the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
Earlier this month, Canada announced plans to join the US-led campaign of air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq.
Mexican mayor and wife wanted over disappearance of 43 students
Students went missing from Iguala in the south-western state of Guerrero after clashing with police in September
A Mexican mayor and his wife were the “probable masterminds” behind the disappearance of 43 student teachers last month, the country’s attorney general has said as he issued arrest warrants for the pair.
The students went missing on 26 September from Iguala in the south-western state of Guerrero after they clashed with police. The incident sent shockwaves across Mexico and undermined President Enrique Peña Nieto’s claims that Mexico is getting safer under his watch.
So far, federal authorities have arrested 52 people in connection with the incident, including dozens of police with links to a gang called Guerreros Unidos, or United Warriors. The gang’s leader, Sidronio Casarrubias, was caught last week.
China executed 2,400 people in 2013, says rights group
Dui Hua believes China will execute a similar number in the current year
Clifford Coonan in Shanghai
China executed about 2,400 people in 2013 and will execute the same number this year, as the use of capital punishment to combat separatist attacks in Xinjiang bucks a trend of declining execution numbers, the San Francisco-based rights group Dui Hua said in a report.
China executes more people every year than the rest of the world combined, but since the Supreme People’s Court regained the power of final review of death sentences in 2007, it has executed fewer people, up to 50 per cent less in some parts of the country.
The Beijing government does not release the number of executions it carries out each year and the information is a state secret, but Dui Hua executive director John Kammsaid he was told by a judicial official early this year that the number of executions dropped by some 20 per cent in 2013 compared to the previous year. Dui Hua previously estimated that China executed 3,000 people in 2012.
Eve of Election: A Fractured Ukraine, United in Uncertainty
By Christian NeefAs the Ukrainian election approaches, citizens are both hopeful and skeptical about their country's future. But their biggest concern isn't the war in the east or Russian interference -- it's the country's need for a working state.
There are exactly 34,915 seats in the Lviv Arena, the football stadium in the Western Ukrainian city of Lviv. On the last evening of September, it was filled to capacity. The guest team that night was FC Porto, from Portugal. But they weren't here to play the local club, Karpaty Lviv -- their opponents, instead, were Shakhtar Donetsk, the black-and-orange-clad team from the eastern Ukrainian separatist-held city.
Since hostilities erupted, Donetskian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov has had his squad play in Lviv -- a city that many in the east see as a nest of fascists. On that night in September, the Shakhtar fans sat in the northern stands and waved their team's flag, having traveled 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) by bus to attend the game. The fans from Lviv were waving Ukrainian flags, but had also brought along a large banner that read: "Donetsk - we're with you."
Fighting ISIL: the dentist, the cleric and the wanted terrorist
Paul McGeough
Chief foreign correspondent
Baghdad: The Shiite militias defending Baghdad are overseen by a man who was sentenced to death in absentia for his part in bombings of the US and French embassies in Kuwait in 1983.
The Shiite militias are backed in Iraq's parliament by a bloc called al-Wafa lil-Muqawama (Loyalty to the Resistance). The bloc's activities are coordinated by Jamal Jaafar Mohammed, a former Iraqi MP with close ties to Iran.
The battle against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq has already seen US and Australian air strikes in support of Kurdish fighters linked to a listed terrorist organisation, the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK.
UN rejects North Korea's 'honeyed words,' moves forward with human rights case
North Korean officials made a rare appearance to defend the country's human rights record at a UN event featuring the testimonies of North Korean refugees. The UN Security Council is considering referring North Korea's alleged violations to the International Criminal Court.
UNITED NATIONS — "A few honeyed words" by North Korea as it tries to avoid a referral to the International Criminal Court has not changed the human rights situation on the ground there, the head of a U.N. commission of inquiry on the North told reporters Wednesday.
Michael Kirby then had a rare exchange with North Korean officials, who showed up and challenged the commission's work during a U.N. human rights event featuring testimonies from North Korean refugees.
"We can't let lies pass at the United Nations," Kim Ju Song, an adviser with the North's foreign ministry, said before the meeting began.
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