1 October 2014 Last updated at 08:28
Hong Kong braced for huge National Day democracy protests
As Hong Kong braces for huge pro-democracy rallies, leader CY Leung has urged protesters to back electoral reforms set out by Beijing.
Speaking early on the National Day holiday, Mr Leung said Hong Kong should work with Beijing to achieve progress.
The protesters want Beijing to withdraw plans to vet candidates for the next Hong Kong leadership election in 2017.
Activists say they expect the biggest demonstrations yet on the streets to coincide with the holiday.
By midday, protesters were starting to fill up the main protests site in the Central business district, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. A fourth protest site has also spread to Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, several roads south of Mong Kok.
US recruits join foreign forces to find acceptance
Young Americans are opting out of the US military and joining foreign forces. The Israeli army recruited over 100 Americans during the war against Hamas, while others are being lured to join extremist groups.
As Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the UN stage to launch a blistering attack on those alleging that his forces committed war crimes during the war against Hamas, whom he compared to "Islamic State" fighters, those accusations - if proven - could also affect foreign soldiers. During the war over 100 Americans came into the country to join the Israeli army and, in a few months time, they will be officially drafted as soldiers.
Jason Kraizler, a 22-year old from New Jersey, has Jewish parents and he grew up practicing Judaism, attending synagogues and observing Jewish holidays. He doesn't consider himself religious now, but follows Jewish traditions such as wearing a Jewish Kippah and observing the Sabbath.
ICC rejects Kenyatta's request
The International Criminal Court yesterday rejected a request by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's lawyers to have him excused from a hearing next week, saying the case was at a "critical juncture".
Earlier this month, judges dropped the October 7 start date of Kenyatta's crimes against humanity trial after prosecutors asked for an indefinite delay until Nairobi had handed over documents they believed could clinch their case. Judges scheduled a status conference instead for October 8, and summoned Kenyatta to be present.
The Kenyan leader's lawyers then asked that he be excused, citing a summit in Uganda's capital Kampala on the same day, which Kenyatta had to attend.
Kenyatta, 52, faces five counts over his alleged role in masterminding post-election violence in the east African country in 2007-2008.
Germany's military doesn't just choose not to act. It can't act.
Berlin's reluctance to act militarily on moral grounds is well known. But over the past week, a series of investigations and the release of a confidential government report have shown that the German military is in a sorry state.
PARIS — Pacifist and war-wary, Germany doesn’t act militarily because it doesn’t want to. That’s the story line once again at the fore, as Germany stands back while European partners join in airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq.
But in reality, Germany also doesn’t act militarily because it can’t.
That’s the gist of a confidential report on military shortcomings, intended for German lawmakers on the defense committee, but which spurred a series of investigations by the German media last week. Worse, for the German military, those investigations came just as Army instructors were stranded in Bulgaria and Air Force planes were grounded in Spain, amid other gaffes.
Argentina slams US judge after contempt decision
By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA and DEBORA REY7 hours ago
Argentina's president on Tuesday said a U.S. judge's decision to hold the South American country in contempt for attempting illegal moves to service its debt is pure "silliness."
"All of this is not casual, and it comes from a senile judge," President Cristina Fernandez said during an event at the government house. "There are some players in the economy who want to bring down the government and they want to do it with help from abroad."
Argentina deposited a $161 million bond interest payment with a newly appointed local trustee on Tuesday in defiance of U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Griesa, who found Argentina in contempt on Monday.
Julian Assange Fires Back At Eric Schmidt And Google's 'Digital Colonialism'
ECUADORIAN SOIL -- A police officer stands just inside the lobby of 3 Hans Crescent, a nondescript apartment building just around the corner from Harrods of London and a few blocks south of Hyde Park. He's watching the door to apartment 3b, a mini-flat that has for two years been the home of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange.
On the building's stoop stands another cop. Near him is parked a festive, multicolored paddy wagon. Several other officers loiter nearby, all of them charged with making sure Assange doesn't step outside the apartment, the home of the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he has asylum.
One officer tells The Huffington Post that if Assange does step out, he and his colleagues have been instructed to pick him up and taxi him to the nearest police station. The officer notes dryly that his past assignments -- guarding visiting royalty and American presidents as far back as Jimmy Carter -- have been significantly more glamorous. "I've guarded kings and queens and presidents," he says. "Julian Assange?"
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