Iraqi hostages freed from ISIL in US-Kurdish raid
Pentagon says about 70 hostages saved from execution during raid on ISIL prison near Hawija, which left US soldier dead.
23 Oct 2015 06:22 GMT
US special forces and Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces have carried out a raid on an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group stronghold in Iraq and freed about 70 hostages facing execution, according to US defence officials.
In a statement published on Thursday, the Pentagon said one soldier had died during the raid in Hawija, which killed "a number of ISIL terrorists".
"This operation was deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution," the statement read.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said at least 20 of those rescued were members of the Iraqi security forces and that officials were reviewing the identities of the others freed, adding civilians were among the group.
Malaysian PM Najib used state funds for 'bribery', says former leader Mahathir
Mahathir Mohamad launches fresh attack on scandal-hit former ally in interview with the GuardianMalaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has accused his protégé and current premier Najib Razak of driving a debt-ridden state fund into the ground by using it for bribery.
In an interview with the Guardian at his office in the administrative capital Putrajaya, Mahathir said Najib had confided to him months ago that “cash is king”, during a terse meeting in which Mahathir told the man he once groomed for the country’s top post that he had lost his support.
“What he is telling me is that bribery is OK. If you bribe with a few dollars, I suppose it doesn’t work, but if you give [money] to a person who has never seen a million ringgit he will turn around,” he said, referring to the local currency.
Indonesia threatens to shut down Bali's international writers festival
Jewel Topsfield
Indonesia correspondent for Fairfax
Jakarta: Indonesian officials have threatened to shut down Bali's prestigious international writers festival, compelling organisers to cancel sessions discussing the bloody massacre of alleged communists in 1965.
The political censorship of this year's Ubud Writers and Readers Festival is unprecedented in the 12-year history of the popular event.
Three panel sessions discussing the mass killings, a screening of multi-award-winning director Joshua Oppenheimer's chilling film The Look of Silence and art exhibit and book launch The Act of Living have been pulled just days before the festival is scheduled to start.Swedish police say school sword attack 'a hate crime'
Those killed or injured in stabbing all had foreign origins, leading police to investigate racist motives.
23 Oct 2015 06:43 GMT
The stabbing attack at a school in western Sweden that left three people dead, including the assailant, is being investigated as a hate crime, police said.
The student and teacher killed in Trollhattan on Thursday were both of foreign origin, as were the two injured who survived the attack.
"We are convinced that the culprit was driven by racist motives," officer Niklas Hallgren told Swedish Radio, citing the selection of victims and findings made in the attacker's apartment.
The attack, the first deadly assault on a Swedish school since 1961, has stunned the country which is currently engaged in intense debate over immigration.
Beijing says won't give up position that Taiwan's part of China
Chinese people have a "sacred mission" to ensure Taiwan is always considered part of China, a top Chinese leader said on Friday ahead of the 70th anniversary of Japan giving up control of Taiwan at the end of World War Two.
Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895-1945 and the then-Nationalist government of China took over rule of the island after Japan lost the war. Japan had gained control of the island from imperial China.
But the Nationalists had to flee to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Communists, who to this day insist the island is an integral part of China and have never renounced the use of force to bring it under Beijing's control.
Speaking at an event in Beijing to mark the anniversary, Yu Zhengsheng, the party's fourth-ranked leader, said Taiwan's "recovery" had "washed away the national shame" of repeated foreign invasions of China.Buoyed by election, Canadians roll out welcome mat to Syrian refugees
With Prime Minister-designate Trudeau promising Canada will take in tens of thousands of Syrians before January, activists – many former emigrés themselves – are eager to help.
TORONTO — Bayan Khatib’s earliest memories of Canada are mostly vague fragments of her daily struggles as a seven-year-old Syrian. There was the language she couldn’t speak and the food she couldn’t stand, namely pizza and ketchup.
Yet Ms. Khatib, who’s now in her mid-30s, also remembers the generosity of a local church in Calgary that helped her family resettle there. The church found them a place to live and even stocked their refrigerator before they arrived. It’s the kind of compassion Khatib hopes to emulate as she prepares to help welcome the latest wave of Syrians to her adopted country.
“Once upon a time it was my family,” she says. “That's why I feel so drawn to help with the refugee crisis today.”
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