1 November 2014 Last updated at 06:17
Virgin Galactic crash: Branson vows to continue space project
Sir Richard Branson has vowed to continue his space tourism venture despite the fatal crash of one of his craft in the California desert.
One pilot died and the other was badly injured when Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo craft exploded on Friday.
The founder of the Virgin Group said he was "shocked and saddened" but insisted he would "persevere" with space travel.
The craft was flying a manned test when it experienced what the company described as "a serious anomaly".
Sir Richard said Virgin Galactic would co-operate fully with the authorities involved in the investigation.
Officials with the US National Transportation Safety Board will begin their investigation on Saturday morning, which will probably take several days.
Hong Kong politician likens protesters to American slaves
November 1, 2014 - 11:42AM
Ishaan Tharoor
Hong Kong: A leading Hong Kong businesswoman and member of the city's Executive Council, which deliberates policy, compared the struggle of pro-democracy protesters to that of slaves in the American South in the 19th century. The remarks, which ran in a local English-language daily, have triggered an angry response from many in the Chinese territory.
Laura Cha, who is also a board member at the prominent bank HSBC, urged that protesters seeking further democratic reforms be more patient. "American slaves were liberated in 1861 but did not get voting rights until 107 years later," she was quoted as saying by the Standardnewspaper. "So why can't Hong Kong wait for a while?"
She was speaking at a Hong Kong trade roadshow in Paris.
New purge in Turkey? Government's former ally branded a security threat.
By labeling the rival Gulen Movement a 'threat to national security,' Turkey has armed itself with the tools necessary to eradicate the group's extensive business, education, and media empire.
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s top security council has declared the Gulen Movement, once the government’s most powerful political ally, a “threat to national security,” raising concerns of a wide-ranging “witch hunt” against the religious group, whose leader resides in the United States.
After cooperating closely for a decade to break the power of Turkey’s old secularist elite, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the movement inspired by Fethullah Gulen fell out dramatically last December when an open power struggle erupted between them.
The former allies, who espouse different strains of political Islam, had grown increasingly suspicious of each other as both jockeyed for control of Turkey’s state apparatus.
Europe won't recognize vote in eastern Ukraine, Merkel tells Putin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone that Sunday's planned elections in eastern Ukraine were illegitimate and would not be recognized by European leaders, a Berlin government spokesman said on Friday.
Merkel and Putin held a joint telephone conversation with French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Merkel's spokesman Georg Streiter said at a government news conference.
He said in the call there were diverging opinions on Sunday's "so-called elections" in the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Naming The Dead: One Group's Struggle To Record Deaths From U.S. Drone Strikes In Pakistan
Last year, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London embarked upon an ambitious effort to record the names of people reportedly killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan. The project, called Naming the Dead, aims to acknowledge those who have lost their lives in the strikes and to create more transparency about a counterterrorism program shrouded in secrecy.
The CIA has conducted hundreds of drone strikes targeting militants in Pakistan's tribal regions since June 2004. U.S. officials have lauded the program for its effectiveness and precision, and it has become an essential pillar of the administration's counterterrorism policy. Yet despite promises by President Barack Obama to make the program more transparent and apply the highest possible standards to avoid civilian casualties, the administration has, so far, continued its secretive practices.
With Naming The Dead over a year into its investigation, The WorldPost sat down with Jack Serle of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism to discuss the progress of the project.
Rival officers claim power in Burkina Faso |
Colonel says he is in charge hours after nation's top general, an ally of the ousted president, did the same.
Last updated: 01 Nov 2014 07:09
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An army general and a colonel have both announced they will lead a transition to democracy after Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore was pushed out by street protests, ending a 27-year reign.
Colonel Yacouba Zida said in a recorded address posted early on Saturday on the website of a national television station that he was filling the vacuum.
"While we wait to define in a consensual manner, with all of the political parties and civil society organisations, the contours and composition of this peaceful democratic transition," Zida said. "I will henceforth assume, from today, the responsibilities of the head of this transition and the head of state."
The announcement came just hours after General Honore Traore, the joint chief of staff, and Compaore loyalist, made the same declaration.
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