21 dead in Turkey as tensions boil over Kobani crisis
Kurds rise up against government for inaction against Islamic State on southern border
Islamic State fighters launched a renewed assault on the Syrian city of Kobani last night as at least 21 people were killed in riots in neighbouring Turkey where Kurds rose up against the government for doing nothing to protect their kin.
Heavily outgunned defenders said Islamic State militants had pushed into two districts of the mainly Kurdish border city late yesterday, despite US-led air strikes that the Pentagon acknowledged would probably not be enough to safeguard the town.
In Turkey, street battles raged between Kurdish protesters and police across the mainly Kurdish southeast, in Istanbul and in Ankara, as fallout from war in Syria and Iraqthreatened to unravel the Nato member’s delicate Kurdish peace process. The street violence was the worst Turkey has seen in years.
Thousands march for missing Mexican students
Tens of thousands have marched in Mexico to join tearful families of 43 missing students amid fears a gang may have executed them. The protesters accuse the police of being complicit in the students being abducted.
More than 20,000 were said to have gathered in Wednesday in Chilpancingo, the state capital of Guerrero, to protest about the disappearance of 43 students and demand that police find them.
As part of their demonstration, the participants were able to shut down the main highway that links Mexico City with Acapulco.
Among the banners was one posing the question "Who governs Guerrero?" - apparently referencing the fact that police have been implicated with the disappearances, allegedly as part of links with organized crime.
Thailand the latest country without US ambassador
Bangkok: Thailand is about to join dozens of countries without an American ambassador at a pivotal time for the south-east Asian nation, a close US ally.
Ambassador Kristie Kenney has announced her departure from Bangkok amid growing concern over the declining health of widely revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a towering and unifying figure in the country for decades.
Western countries such as the United States and Australia have faced diplomatic dilemmas in dealing with the Thai army that seized power in a coup in May. Generals have rolled back civil liberties and are ruling the country with an iron-fist with no definitive timetable set for democratic elections.
The problem behind Africa's 2014 index of well governed countries: Few are.
Author helped create the index in 2007 but laments that Africa's two best governed countries are islands far out at sea. Most Africans today have still never known the rule of law, security, good education and free speech.
Africa’s development chances and social possibilities remain heavily hindered by its overall mediocre governance.
Despite the talk of Africa rising -- and growth rates that now exceed other parts of the globe -- too many of the continent’s peoples are subject to the kinds of governments that favor ruling elites rather than ordinary villagers and townspeople. Growth rarely trickles down.
The latest Index of African Governance, released last week by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, confirms such sorry conclusions.New star emerges in North Korea amid speculation over Kim
SEOUL
The man in the olive drabs and oversized Soviet-stylemilitary cap who strode through South Korea's main airport last week has climbed from an obscure desk job in North Korea to the most powerful position outside the ruling Kim family.
Hwang Pyong So, now a top military aide to the North's leader Kim Jong Un, has had an unprecedented rise to the top rungs of North Korea's leadership in the space of a few years. With intense speculation on the whereabouts of Kim after his disappearance from official media for over a month, Hwang is even more in focus.
9 October 2014 Last updated at 04:09Can China become a leading global innovator?
Assembled in China but designed in California, Japan, or Europe. That's been the story of China's economic rise for the past 30 years.
Few if any of China's companies are considered innovative by global standards - and Nobel prizes for science remain frustratingly elusive.
But China wants to be more than the factory of the world and its government knows it has to move on from a "beg, borrow or steal" strategy on innovation if it is to keep growing its economy. Will it be able to do this?
The Innovators
Husband and wife entrepreneurs Yang Yang and Winnie are working on a prototype for a pen that writes in plastic. Unfortunately, the pen is smoking more than it's writing and the room fills with a foul smell of burning plastic.
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