Sister of slain ISIS leader captured by Turkey, official says - CNN

Not much is known about Baghdadi's sister, Rasmiya Awad, 65, but Ankara hopes her capture will lead to a wealth of intelligence about the militant group.

"This kind of thing is an intelligence gold mine. What she knows about ISIS can significantly expand our understanding of the group and help us catch more bad guys," the Turkish official said.

Awad was detained in a raid on a metal container housing unit in Azaz, Aleppo province, part of a region that has been administered by Turkey since it carried out an operation to clear the border of ISIS militants in 2016.

The Turkish official did not provide details about the date of the operation.

Awad was taken into custody alongside her husband and daughter-in-law, who were also being questioned by Turkish authorities. Five children were found with them during the raid, the official said.

Turkey has described the discovery of Baghdadi's relatives as a boon for its intel about ISIS, saying that it will help the country better protect itself and Europe from terrorists.

The elusive and highly secretive leader of ISIS died during a raid conducted last month by the US military in close coordination with American intelligence and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northwest Syria.

Baghdadi "blew himself up" after he was cornered by US forces in a tunnel within his compound, US President Donald Trump said during a press conference detailing the mission. His identity was later confirmed by DNA tests.

The world's most wanted man oversaw the militant group's transformation from a ragtag insurgency to a global terror network that attracted tens of thousands of fighters to its so-called "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria.

At the group's height, Baghdadi reigned over a territory the size of Britain, from which ISIS orchestrated attacks carried out in countries around the world.

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2019-11-05 09:45:00Z
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Xi Jinping demands end to violent protests in surprise meeting with Hong Kong leader - CNN

Xi and Lam were in Shanghai for the 2019 China International Import Expo, where Xi is expected to make a speech on Tuesday. Neither leader had announced the meeting was planned before it took place.

State-run news agency Xinhua said Xi had demanded "unswerving efforts" to end the violence in the Asian financial hub and punish those responsible "to safeguard the well-being of the general public in Hong Kong."

The Asian financial hub is in its fifth month of demonstrations that began in June over a controversial China extradition bill. The unrest has plunged the former British colony into a recession and damaged the tourism industry.

A total of 325 people were arrested on protest-related charges during the latest spate of violence at the weekend, Hong Kong police said.

Protesters shut down major roads and disrupted public transport. Some protesters also firebombed Xinhua's Hong Kong headquarters -- an act condemned as "barbaric" in a statement by the state-run news agency.

The Chinese government last month dismissed reports that it was planning to remove Lam from her role early in 2020 due to widespread dissatisfaction over her handling of the protests.

In a news conference after a major government meeting in late October, senior Chinese official Shen Chunyao said Beijing had plans to "improve" the system by which Hong Kong's leader is appointed or removed.

But the Chinese government denied it was looking to replace Lam and has repeatedly backed her handling of the protests.

During his meeting with Lam Monday, Xi said the Hong Kong chief executive had led her government "to fully discharge its duties, strive to stabilize the situation and improve the social atmosphere, and has done a lot of hard work," according to Xinhua.

"Xi voiced the central government's high degree of trust in Lam and full acknowledgment of the work of her and her governance team," the news agency said.

On top of a crackdown on violence, Xi also called for more effective efforts to hold "dialogue with all sectors of the society and improve people's livelihood."

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2019-11-05 04:05:00Z
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A view from the bridge: Iraq's protesters under fire - Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Ali says he has seen more than 50 people killed in front of him since anti-government protests began in Iraq last month.

Iraqi demonstrators climb Al Jumhuriya bridge during the ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq November 3, 2019. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

“The first one was shocking - he was someone I knew, and they shot him in the chest,” said Ali, in his early 20s and from Baghdad’s low-income Sadr City district.

“But you quickly get used to death ... I’ve seen people, some of them friends, choke, drown, have their skulls split open by tear gas and stun grenades,” Ali, who declined to give his last name, said as he played a mobile phone video of the shooting victim in his final moments in the capital’s Tahrir Square last month.

“We can’t even cry over their bodies any more.”

Since the start of October, more than 250 Iraqis have been killed protesting against a government they see as corrupt and beholden to foreign interests, according to eyewitnesses and medical and security sources.

There was no immediate comment from the interior ministry, which oversees many of the security forces, but a government report said nearly 150 people were killed in the first week of the unrest, 70% from bullets to the head or chest.

Recounting stories of his fallen comrades, Ali leaned against a mound of dirty blankets on the Tigris river bank under the Jumhuriya – or Republic – Bridge.

For the past 10 days, hundreds of young men and boys – some as young as 12 – have been camped out on the bridge, and under it. Wearing construction hats, gas masks, and chanting for the downfall of the government, they call themselves “the front line of the revolution”.

The bridge, which leads from the square to Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, where government buildings and foreign embassies are located, has seen fierce clashes between protesters and security forces.

Protesters, armed with slingshots, have erected barricades of iron sheets and concrete blocks. Security forces have used rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas against them, killing scores on the adjacent Jumhuriya and Sinak bridges.

Both sides have settled into an uneasy stalemate.

“We throw rocks at them, and they respond by killing us,” said Ali, as several tear gas canisters were lobbed by security forces.

BOYS UNDER THE BRIDGE

A group of medical volunteers have set up camp to help the wounded. They say the expired tear gas – Reuters saw used canisters with an expiry date of 2014 – is making people choke.

One young man, barefoot and wearing a dirty tank top and trousers, passed out after choking on the gas. A Reuters correspondent saw medics lower him off the bridge and put him in a tuk-tuk headed for a nearby hospital.

Ali is surrounded by a tight-knit group of 10, who have been camped under the Jumhuriya bridge since Oct. 24.

Reminiscent of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys, the group radiated an intensity forged by bloodshed. Many come from Baghdad’s poorest neighborhoods, where they work as tuk-tuk drivers or day laborers.

Despite Iraq’s oil wealth, many live in poverty with limited access to clean water, electricity, healthcare or education. Protesters blame corruption.

“For 16 years we’ve been told that our lives would be better,” said Abbas, who declined to give his last name.

“But I’m 19 and I’ve worked most days since I was 10 and still I don’t have more than 5,000 dinars ($4) in my pocket.”

DANGEROUS NIGHTS

Abbas was arrested in the first wave of protests, along with Ali and others in the group. They said their phones were scanned to identify fellow protesters. Released on bail, they were told to stay away from the demonstrations.

“But the very next day I went back to the protests,” said Ali. “We have to stay here to keep the revolution going.”

Nearly all those Reuters spoke to had bandages on their arms, torsos and legs. They said many of their injuries came from security forces who fire tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets, sometimes from boats on the river.

It is most dangerous at night, they said.

Slideshow (7 Images)

A few nights ago at 3 a.m., security forces threw gasoline at their camp, followed by burning rags, Ali said. The rags landed near a group of sleeping boys, according to a video seen by Reuters.

The boys now stand guard in shifts.

“The second we leave this bridge, the government will storm Tahrir Square and finish off the protests,” Ali said. “They can throw whatever they want at us. But we’re not going anywhere.”

Reporting by Raya Jalabi; Editing by Giles Elgood

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-11-05 06:04:00Z
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BTS member under investigation by Seoul police over traffic accident - Fox News

Police said Monday they're investigating a member of K-pop superstar group BTS over a traffic accident that left him and a taxi driver with minor injuries.

BTS' agency, Big Hit Entertainment, said 22-year-old Jungkook admitted that he caused the accident by violating traffic laws and reached a settlement with the driver. The agency said the singer and driver both avoided serious injury.

"We apologize again to the victim and also to fans for causing concern," the agency said in an emailed statement.

K-POP STAR SAMUEL'S FATHER BEATEN TO DEATH IN CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO

Seoul police said Jungkook was booked and an investigation of his case was underway in line with traffic law.

In this Nov. 28, 2018, photo, a member of K-pop group BTS, Jungkook, poses for the media at the Asia Artist Awards in Incheon, South Korea. Police say they are investigating Jungkook over a traffic accident on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, involving the band member and a taxi driver. (Cho Su-jeung/Newsis via AP)

A police officer in charge of traffic accidents in Seoul described the case as minor because the incident did not cause much human or property damage. The officer, who requested anonymity because the investigation was underway, also said the case didn't involve drunken driving or any other serious offenses.

South Korean media reported earlier Monday that Jungkook and the taxi driver suffered bruises in the Saturday crash. The Segye Ilbo newspaper, citing police, said Jungkook violated unspecified traffic rules while driving his Mercedes Benz and hit the taxi on a Seoul street. Yonhap news agency cited police as saying that they plan to summon Jungkook soon.

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BTS has a large international following and was the first K-pop act to debut atop the Billboard Album chart last year with "Love Yourself: Tear."

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2019-11-04 16:25:13Z
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Iran announces new nuke deal violations during commemoration of 1979 US embassy seizure - Fox News

Iran on Monday marked its defiance of the United States both new and old, as the Islamic Republic brazenly announced new violations of the 2015 nuke deal while Islamist demonstrators shouted "Death to America" and likened the U.S. to a "poisonous scorpion" during an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of revolutionaries seizing the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The rogue nation says it now operates 60 advanced centrifuges, twice as many as allowed by the 2015 accord, and is experimenting with a prototype designed to be 50 times faster than what's allowed by the nuke deal, an increasingly irrelevant agreement between Iran and numerous world powers that the U.S. has exited and Iran has repeatedly ignored. The announcement by Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, came ahead of an expected statement detailing further breaches of the accord.

Experts have previously estimated Iran could produce enough material to build a nuclear weapon in about a one-year period; however, the advanced centrifuges could speed up that assessment.

In the four years since agreeing to the nuke deal, which was brokered by the Obama administration, Iran has already flaunted its disregard of stockpile and enrichment limitations, all the while hinting to European countries that increased economic aid and additional sanctions relief could persuade leaders to agree to a new deal or come back into compliance with the current one.

Iran's latest breach of the agreement comes as anti-U.S. protesters shouted "Death to America" and gathered near the location of the former U.S. Embassy in downtown Tehran to mark four decades since the 1979 takeover of the building that resulted in a 444-day hostage crisis. State television aired footage of celebrations in other cities across the country and Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander of the Iranian Army, railed against the U.S. in a speech at the Tehran rally.

"Our fight with America is over our independence, over not submitting to bullying, over values, beliefs and our religion,” Mousavi said, according to Reuters. “[Americans] will continue their hostilities, like the proverbial poisonous scorpion whose nature it is to sting and cannot be stopped unless it is crushed."

He added: "Thanks to God, today the revolution's seedlings have evolved into a fruitful and huge tree that its shadow has covered the entire" Middle East.

However, elsewhere in the region, demonstrations were not as decidedly pro-Tehran.

Iran's regional allies in Iraq and Lebanon faced widespread protests, with the Iranian Consulate in Karbala, Iraq, a holy city for Shiites, as the site of a mob attack overnight in which three protesters were killed and 19 others wounded, along with seven policemen, Iraqi officials said.

President Trump retweeted posts by Saudi-linked media showing the chaos outside the consulate. The violence comes after the hard-line Keyhan newspaper in Iran reiterated a call for demonstrators to seize U.S. and Saudi diplomatic posts in Iraq in response to the unrest.

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The latest events in Iran follow a tense summer of mysterious attacks on oil tankers and Saudi oil facilities that U.S. authorities said bore Iranian fingerprints. Tehran denied the allegation, though it did seize oil tankers and shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-11-04 12:21:17Z
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Delhi gasps under 'eye-burning' smog amid worst pollution crisis - Al Jazeera English

Millions of people in India's capital have started their day choking through "eye-burning" smog, as the city government put restrictions on the number of private vehicles on Delhi roads amid an air pollution crisis.

Pollution levels are so high that schools have been shut, flights have been cancelled and a public emergency declared as experts say the air in New Delhi is similar to smoking up to 50 cigarettes a day.

"I have a headache every day I wake up. It's suffocating to breathe sometimes. And inflammation in the nostrils and all. And eyes also. Like it kind of burns," Ankusha Kushi, a student, told AFP news agency.

As Delhi residents woke up on Monday, levels of particulates measuring less than 2.5 microns - so tiny they enter deep into the respiratory tract - were at 613 micrograms per cubic metre of air, according to the US embassy in Delhi. The World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended safe daily maximum is a reading of 25.

Air pollution at this level can aggravate heart and lung disease and also poses serious risk to the respiratory systems of the general population.

A poisonous haze envelops New Delhi every winter, caused by vehicle fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from agricultural burning in neighbouring northern states of Punjab and Haryana.

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The current crisis - the worst in three years - prompted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to announce a range of measures to fight what he described as "unbearable pollution".

Authorities in Delhi have ordered half the city's private cars to be taken off the road, based on an odd-even registration plate system - a decision many experts said was not enough and "too little, too late".

Delhi's seven million motorbikes and scooters, public transport and cars carrying only women were exempt from the restrictions.

"There is smoke everywhere and people, including youngsters, kids, elderly are finding it difficult to breathe," Kejriwal said in a video posted on Twitter.

Analysis: New Delhi smog threatens health of Indian residents

As smog levels exceeded those of Beijing by more than three times, authorities also parked a van with an air purifier near the Taj Mahal - the iconic 17th-century marble mausoleum 250km (150 miles) south of Delhi - in a bid to clean the air in its surrounds, the Press Trust of India reported.

The air quality index, measuring levels of PM 2.5, tiny particulate matter in the air, deteriorated to above 900 on Sunday, way over the 500-level that qualifies as "severe-plus".

Aside from the harm it was doing to the lungs of some 40 million people living in the capital region, the smog was so bad more than 30 flights were diverted from Delhi airport due to poor visibility.

Schools, which were closed on Friday last week, remained shut on Monday, and city-wide construction was halted until Tuesday in Delhi and surrounding areas.

Kejriwal said authorities were also distributing about 5 million face masks to schoolchildren.

Kejriwal, who likened Delhi to a "gas chamber" on Friday, said his city had done its part to curb pollution and that the burning of wheat stubble residue on farms outside the capital was responsible for the smog.

But Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar accused Kejriwal of politicising the issue, while an MP from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dismissed the odd-even car rule as a "stunt" and said he planned to ignore it.

I agree Ashutosh. Pollution due to stubble burning is not in our hands though we r distributing masks to our Delhiites to reduce its ill-effects on the health of our people. However, lets try to reduce pollution due to local sources as much as we can. https://t.co/JWhmbXmwfo

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 4, 2019

Al Jazeera's Anchal Vohra reporting from Delhi said the conditions were really bad. "The air is unbreathable," she said.

Talking about the new measures she said they were expected to help "a little".

"A huge part of the pollution is vehicular pollution, so if you halt the number of vehicles, then yes I believe it should help."

"But the large part of this pollution is because of farmers burning the stubble in neighbouring states which are also fighting pollution, but there is no political consensus ... no clear directions as to what the government plan is.

"[So] as long as farmers keep burning the stubble, and in winter the pollution is expected to be high," Vohra  added.

 An Indian farmer burns crop stubble in a farm at a village on the outskirts of Amritsar [EPA]

India has faced a mounting pollution crisis over the past decade.

Fourteen Indian cities including the capital are among the world's top 15 most polluted cities, according to the WHO.

Experts warn that both state and national governments need to go beyond short-term remedies and tackle major pollution causes if air quality is to improve in the long term.

Amid lack of apparent inaction from the government, angry residents in Delhi protested outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence on Saturday.

On Sunday, Modi's top bureaucrat held meetings with officials from Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi to tackle the crisis.

Stop-gap solutions "can't be a substitute for addressing the major long-term chronic sources of air pollution," Daniel Cass, senior vice president for environmental health of global non-profit Vital Strategies, told AFP.

He said emissions restrictions should be imposed on motorbikes and scooters, which are heavily used in Delhi but exempted from the odd-even scheme, and called for more public transport investment.

Changing agricultural practices, switching electricity generation sources and accelerating the conversion of home-heating from charcoal to natural gas were also key measures in the pollution fight, Cass said.

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2019-11-04 08:58:00Z
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Britain's snap election is unlikely to make Brexit any clearer, analysts say - CNBC

Pro Brexit anti European Union Leave protesters demonstrating in Westminster on what, prior to another Brexit Day extension, would have been the day the UK was scheduled to leave the EU, and instead political parties commence campaigning for a General Election on 31st October 2019 in London, England, United Kingdom.

Mike Kemp | In Pictures | Getty Images

Will the upcoming U.K. election put an end to more than three years of Brexit uncertainty? Maybe not, experts say.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's deal was approved, in principle, by British lawmakers last month but political wrangling in Westminster led to the U.K. leader pausing his Brexit bill and opposition parties agreeing to an election.

Johnson said "the way to get Brexit done" was to have the national vote in December, but political analysts argue that he might be wrong.

Quentin Peel, an associate fellow at the think tank Chatham House told CNBC Friday that there is a "pretty good chance we won't" have clarity on Brexit after the election. Victoria Hewson, head of regulatory affairs at another think tank called The Institute of Economic Affairs, said this is "the most unpredictable election ever."

UK 'profoundly divided'

U.K. voters are still profoundly divided over EU membership, with the 2016 referendum itself producing a 51.89% result for leave and 48.11% for remain.

This division is now mirrored in the country's political system. The U.K. has traditionally been dominated by two main parties: the pro-business Conservative Party and the pro-social justice Labour party. However, both of them have failed to come up with a united position on Brexit. As a result, some of their party members have defected into other political groups or been expelled altogether.

Robert Colvile, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, told CNBC that there are now five parties "that matter."

Apart from the traditional two, Colvile was referring to: The Liberal Democrats — which is openly campaigning to stop Brexit altogether; the Brexit Party — whose leader, Nigel Farage, supports a no-deal breakup from the EU; and the Scottish National Party (SNP) — a pro-EU party based in Scotland.

"The Brexit vote will be split," Peel from Chatham House said. His theory is based on the fact that the Brexit Party supports what it calls a "clean" breakup from the EU and the Conservative Party is arguing that the country should leave the EU but with the deal that Johnson negotiated.

At the same time, "Labour's position is extremely obscure," Hewson from The Institute of Economic Affairs said. The party has said that it will look to negotiate another exit agreement with the EU and put it to a new referendum. Under this scenario, Brexit would likely take a lot longer to happen.

"It comes down to a numbers game," Hewson said.

In the event of a hung parliament then Colvile from the Centre for Policy Studies argued that a second referendum on the country's EU membership is the most likely option.

"If an election doesn't work (to solve the Brexit impasse), a second referendum is the last possibility," he said.

The polls have been wrong before

The U.K.'s voting system also adds another layer of complexity. The first-past-the-post electoral system tends to lend support to the bigger political parties.

The Conservative Party, under the leadership of Johnson, could get as much as 36% of the votes, according to a YouGov poll conducted in late October. It would be followed by Labour with 22% of support, the Liberal democrats with 19%, the Brexit Party with 12% and the SNP with 4% of votes.

However, these percentages would not necessarily translate to seats in the House of Commons with the electoral system the U.K. has.

Previous polls have proven to be wrong too. Ahead of the 2016 referendum, most polls expected that the U.K. would vote to stay in the European Union. In 2017, polls ahead of a snap election also forecast a large majority for the Conservative Party, which did not materialize.

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2019-11-04 07:56:30Z
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