Iraq: Explosions, gunfire rock Kirkuk
ISIL claims responsibility for deadly attacks targeting buildings and a power station in and around oil-rich city.
A curfew has been imposed in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk following armed attacks on a number of buildings and a power station, according to security sources and local media.
Fighters armed with assault rifles and explosives attacked targets in and around the city early on Friday, in an assault quickly claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.
In one of the attacks, at least three suicide bombers were killed as security forces foiled an attack on a former police complex in central Kirkuk.
At least 1,500 arrests in Ethiopian state of emergency, claims news agency
State-run media says since declaring the six-month state of emergency, authorities have made vast numbers of arrests to quell protests
Ethiopian authorities have arrested more than 1,500 people since declaring a state of emergency less than two weeks ago, according to a statement published by state-controlled news agency Fana.
The command post, a body set up by authorities to oversee the state of emergency, said 1,120 people had been arrested in the towns of Shashemene and West Arsi – south of the capital, Addis Ababa – for “violence and property damage”.
The towns are in the region of the Oromo ethnic group, who along with the Amhara have waged a nearly year-long protest against a government largely made up of minority Tigrayans.
Pakistan Supreme Court rules schizophrenia 'not a mental disorder' allowing mentally ill man to be executed
Judges say hanging Imdad Ali is legal because condition is 'a recoverable disease'
Pakistan’s highest court has ruled that schizophrenia does not qualify as a “mental disorder” under the country's legal definition, paving the way for a mentally ill man’s execution.
The United Nations warned it would be against international law to hang Imdad Ali, who was sentenced to death over the murder of a religious scholar in 2002.
In 2012, the 50-year-old was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and psychosis that doctors said impaired Mr Ali’s “rational thinking and decision-making capabilities”, and was declared clinically insane in a medical report the following year.
Tensions rise in Venezuela after government blocks referendum bid
The political opposition has been waging an ongoing campaign to try and oust the embattled President Maduro. But the president has been using the powers and influence of his office to block his political opponents.
The political crisis is escalating in Venezuela after the government blocked the opposition's ongoing efforts to hold a referendum this year to remove President Nicolas Maduro from office.
The country's electoral commission suspended a signature-collection drive, which is part of the process of organizing a referendum. The commission cited court order from four states, which halted the petition drive, noting significant cases of fraud.
The political opposition slammed the commission's ruling, calling it undemocratic and nothing more than a cover to allow the Socialist president to cling to power. Polls show Maduro would likely get thumped in an early referendum, with his support levels down around 20 percent.
Slap video shines spotlight on sexual harassment in S. Arabia
OBSERVERS
This scene, caught on camera in a video published on October 11, shows a Saudi woman defending herself after being sexually harassed. When a man won’t stop bothering her, the woman slaps him. Like her, more and more Saudi women are standing up to their harassers. However, sexual harassment remains a daily occurrence for many and there is no law aimed at punishing attackers.
The 20-second video was filmed in a parking lot. After the harasser is slapped by his victim, another man also starts hitting him, causing him to flee.
Though the footage was widely shared by Saudi media, none of the reports included the name of the town where the incident took place. In truth, it could have been almost anywhere because these kind of incidents are very common in Saudi Arabia. Women face a daily barrage of oppressive stares, out-of-line comments and even inappropriate touching, according to our Observer. She is a Saudi woman living in Riyadh and she wanted to remain anonymous.
The 20-second video was filmed in a parking lot. After the harasser is slapped by his victim, another man also starts hitting him, causing him to flee.
Though the footage was widely shared by Saudi media, none of the reports included the name of the town where the incident took place. In truth, it could have been almost anywhere because these kind of incidents are very common in Saudi Arabia. Women face a daily barrage of oppressive stares, out-of-line comments and even inappropriate touching, according to our Observer. She is a Saudi woman living in Riyadh and she wanted to remain anonymous.
U.S. has few good options for response to Philippines' Duterte
President Duterte's latest outburst casts further doubt on the seven-decade U.S.-Philippine alliance.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has few good options and limited leverage as it struggles to craft a response to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's increasingly hostile rhetoric towards the United States and his warm embrace of China.
For months, Washington has played down Duterte's anti-American insults and broadsides. But the flamboyant new leader raised the stakes to a new level on Thursday when he announced his "separation" from long-time ally the United States and realignment with Beijing and possibly even Moscow, America's two main strategic rivals.
Duterte's latest outburst, less than three weeks before the U.S. presidential election, casts further doubt on the seven-decade U.S.-Philippine alliance and threatens to further undermine President Barack Obama's faltering "pivot" to Asia as a counterbalance to China's growing assertiveness.
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