Icetruck

Iraq 'to take control of Kurdistan border crossings'

The Iraqi military has said it is preparing to take control of the autonomous Kurdistan Region's only border crossings with Turkey and Syria.

A statement said a delegation had visited the Ibrahim al-Khalil and Fish Khabur posts to determine requirements.

Turkish media said troops had already been deployed at Ibrahim al-Khalil.

Iraq's government said it wanted control of all crossings after the Kurdistan Region held a controversial independence referendum last month.

Baghdad said the vote, in which people living in Kurdish-controlled areas overwhelmingly backed secession, was illegal.

The referendum was also opposed by Iran and Turkey, which both have sizeable Kurdish minorities, the United Nations and the US, a key Kurdish ally.

• Kirkuk: Iraq's war within a war
• Iraqi Kurds decisively back independence
• Independence: What is at stake?

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Turkish and Iraqi forces, who have been participating in joint military exercises since mid-September, moved towards the Turkish-side of Ibrahim al-Khalil crossing on Tuesday morning.

Kurdish forces were expected to hand over the control of the Iraqi side within hours, after which the Iraqi national flag would be raised above it, it added.

Skip Twitter post by @anadoluagency

Turkish, Iraqi forces reach border crossing in Iraqi sidehttps://t.co/MBPjEr6UXP

— ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) October 31, 2017

Report

End of Twitter post by @anadoluagency

Later, an Iraqi border police captain told Reuters news agency the flag was flying and the crossing was "officially under the full control of the Iraqi government".

However, an Iraqi military statement said only that a delegation led by the army's chief of staff, Lt Gen Othman al-Ghanmi, had visited Ibrahim al-Khalil and Fish Khabur to "determine the military and security requirements" for taking control.

A Kurdish official also told Reuters that the crossing had not yet been handed over, insisting that negotiations with Baghdad were "still ongoing".

Iraq's entire border with Turkey is officially located within the Kurdistan Region.

The Fish Khabur crossing with Syria is also inside the region. The Syrian side is controlled by a US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, which is led by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

But in the past two weeks, Iraqi pro-government forces have recaptured most of the disputed territory outside the region that was seized by Kurdish Peshmerga forces in 2014 after the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) swept across northern Iraq.

The operation – involving soldiers, police, special forces and the Iranian-backed paramilitary Popular Mobilisation force – sparked clashes that left dozens dead.

Last week, the Kurdistan Regional Government called for a ceasefire and offered to "freeze" the result of the referendum and start dialogue with Baghdad. But Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi demanded that the result be annulled.

Source – bbc.com

Catalan independence: Carles Puigdemont in Belgium, lawyer says

Sacked Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has gone to Belgium, a lawyer he has hired there says.

The lawyer, Paul Bekaert, said he had not gone into hiding and did not confirm whether he would seek asylum.

Spain's chief prosecutor has called for rebellion charges to be brought against him and other organisers of Catalonia's banned independence referendum.

The Spanish central government took direct control of Catalonia on Monday, replacing sacked officials.

It suspended the region's autonomy and called for fresh elections after Mr Puigdemont and his government declared independence last week.

On Tuesday, Spain's Guardia Civil – a paramilitary force charged with police duties – raided the offices of the Catalan police force.

According to media reports, they searched eight offices for communications relating to the referendum on 1 October.

• Catalonia crisis in 300 words
• Madrid's enforcer for Catalonia
• What next for Spain?

The Catalan police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, has already been accused of failing to help Guardia Civil officers tackle thousands of pro-independence protesters during the run up to the banned vote.

What is Mr Puigdemont doing in Belgium?

Mr Bekaert said Mr Puigdemont was now in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

"He has full rights to be here, there is nothing against him at this moment," he told Flemish public radio.

Asked whether the Catalan leader was planning to seek asylum in Belgium he added: "We're keeping all options open – nothing has been decided."

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Theo Francken, Belgium's immigration minister, said over the weekend that an asylum application was "not unrealistic" but Prime Minister Charles Michel later said it was "absolutely not on the agenda".

Mr Francken, a member of the separatist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party, said last week that Catalan ministers could apply for political asylum in Belgium, adding that he had doubts over whether Mr Puigdemont and others would get a fair trial in Spain.

Political commentators in Belgium have suggested that Mr Francken's earlier comments could be seen as an invitation to former Catalan members of parliament to seek asylum in the country.

On Monday Spanish media reported that Mr Puigdemont had met Flemish politicians in Brussels. The TV station La Sexta reported (in Spanish) that he was there with five of his sacked government's ministers:

• Meritxell Serret, agriculture minister
• Antoni Comín, health minister
• Dolors Bassa, labour minister
• Meritxell Borrás, governance minister
• Joaquim Forn, interior minister

Spain's Attorney General José Manuel Maza called for rebellion, sedition and misuse of funds charges to be brought against Catalan leaders.

If found guilty of rebellion, Mr Puigdemont could face a jail term of up to 30 years.

Under the Spanish legal system, Mr Maza's requests will be considered by a judge.

What is the situation in Catalonia?

The working day on Monday passed off peacefully, despite some Catalan officials defying instructions from Madrid not to turn up.

Any ministers who arrived at their offices were given hours to leave under threat of "action" by Catalonia's regional police force, Mossos.

Madrid's temporary move to impose direct control by invoking Article 155 of the constitution – a first for Spain – will see as many as 150 of the region's top officials replaced.

• Puigdemont: The man who wants to break up Spain

Mr Puigdemont and his vice-president Oriol Junqueras reject the central government's moves, arguing that they can only be removed from office by the citizens of Catalonia.

What's next for Catalan autonomy?

Madrid has called for fresh regional elections on 21 December.

A spokeswoman for Mr Puigdemont's PDeCAT party said it would field candidates "with conviction". The ex-president could run in new elections if he has not been jailed by then, according to Spain's Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis.

• What powers has Catalonia now lost?
• The case for and against independence

On Monday, Mr Dastis said he hoped the forthcoming elections would help to "restore legal governance and rule of law in Catalonia".

How did we get here?

Spain has been gripped by a constitutional crisis since a referendum, organised by Mr Puigdemont's separatist government, was held on 1 October in defiance of a constitutional court ruling that had declared it illegal.

The Catalan government said that of the 43% of potential voters who took part, 90% were in favour of independence.

On Friday the regional parliament declared independence.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy then announced the dissolution of the regional parliament and the removal of Mr Puigdemont as Catalan leader.

Mr Puigdemont has urged "democratic opposition" to direct rule from Madrid.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

• Does Catalonia want to leave Spain?
• Reality Check: Police violence in Catalonia

Before this, the region had one of the greatest levels of self-government in Spain.

It has its own parliament, police force and public broadcaster, as well as a government and president.

Catalans had a range of powers in many policy areas from culture and environment to communications, transportation, commerce and public safety.

Source – bbc.com

New fingerprint algorithm helps ID bodies found decades ago

Just after Thanksgiving Day in 1983, James Downey dropped off his older brother, John, at a Houston bus station, then quickly turned away so neither the police nor a motorcycle gang affiliated with his brother could later demand details about where the bus was headed.

For 34 years, he didn't hear a word about him. Then this spring Downey received a heart-breaking call, one that more than 200 families across the country have gotten in the last few months since the FBI began using new fingerprint technology to resolve identity cases dating back to the 1970s.

Authorities reported that the remains of a man found beaten to death decades ago along a brushy path in Des Moines, 800 miles away, had been identified as his brother.

"We always figured something had happened to him," James Downey said from his home in Houston. "We all assumed he'd got killed somewhere or died in an accident."

Since launching the new effort in February, the FBI and local medical examiner offices have identified 204 bodies found between 1975 and the late 1990s. The cases stretch across the country, with the largest number in Arizona, California, New York, Florida and Texas.

"We didn't know the actual potential success. We were hoping to identify a few cases, maybe five or 10," said Bryan Johnson, a manager in the FBI's Latent Fingerprint Support Unit who proposed the effort. "We're really proud that we found another way of doing this."

Under the new program, Johnson and eight others in the FBI unit ran fingerprints from about 1,500 bodies through a new computer algorithm that could make matches from low-quality prints or even a single finger or thumb. Previously, the standard algorithm typically needed quality prints from all 10 fingers to make a match.

The unit is now urging local authorities to search through other old case files and send in smudged or partial prints that couldn't previously be matched.

The FBI's newfound ability was key to the Des Moines case because by the time Downey's body was found in February 1984, it had been buried under snow and dirt for months and was severely decomposed. Authorities sought the public's help in identifying the body, including publishing drawings of distinctive tattoos in the local newspaper, but no one came forward.

"We know he was murdered and dumped in this area but Des Moines police never really developed any leads on it and basically forgot about the case," county Medical Examiner Greg Schmunk said.

It was one of several cases that medical examiner investigators called "shelf dwellers," referring to cremated remains that would sit for decades on storage shelves.

But the fact that this was a homicide and the unusual tattoos — including a skeleton clad in Nazi garb and a cartoon figure wearing a hat and smoking a cigarette — prompted investigators to rummage through police archives and resubmit the single available thumbprint into the Missing and Unidentified Persons System, called NamUs.

They were shocked months later when the FBI's Johnson called to confirm they had matched the thumbprint to prints of Downey taken after an earlier arrest in Texas.

About 40 percent of the identifications through the FBI's new process have been cases in Arizona. Most are people who died while attempting to make the dangerous desert crossing from Mexico.

Bruce Anderson, the forensic anthropologist for Pima County, Arizona, keeps more than 1,000 unidentified person charts filed along his office wall.

"If you can remove one of these charts, have one family reach out to you to confirm an identity, some of that weight on us is removed," Anderson said.

In nearby Yuma County, Arizona, the FBI fingerprint initiative enabled authorities to finally identify a young woman whose body was found in 1999 near the Colorado River, where she was killed with a shotgun blast to her face.

For Sgt. Ryland Croutch, the identification of the victim as 18-year-old Angel McAllister, through a match with an earlier smudged print, was a relief. He'd been assigned to the killing only a few years after starting his job with the Yuma County sheriff's office, and as the years passed had promised himself that he'd discover her identity before retiring.

"She was such a pretty young girl," said Crouch, now 58. "And it sounds like she was smart, but she had some demons, people she liked to hang out with who were dangerous." He said he's hopeful that investigators now can find leads to her killer.

Aden Naka, assistant director for forensics investigation in New York City, said many of the new identifications there were of bodies found in water, with some dating back to the early 1990s. Once they had a match, Naka said, staffers tried to find relatives or aid a criminal investigation if one is open.

"This matters tremendously," Naka said. "Everyone deserves a name."

———

Associated Press writer Margery A. Beck in Omaha contributed to this report.

———

Follow Scott McFetridge on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/smcfetridge

———

Sign up for the AP's weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv

• Star

Source – abcnews.go.com

Manus Island: Refugees refuse to leave Australian camp amid safety fears

Refugees held by Australia in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have barricaded themselves inside a detention centre and launched legal action to fight its closure.

Detainees, fearing for their safety after crowds reportedly gathered chanting "don't come out", argue that closure will breach their human rights.

Australia holds asylum seekers arriving by boat in camps on PNG's Manus Island and the small Pacific nation of Nauru.

The Manus Island centre is due to close after it was ruled unconstitutional.

However many of those in the camp argue that its closure, ordered by a PNG court and initially scheduled for Tuesday, will deny them access to water, electricity and security.

The local authorities said these provisions would cease at 17:00 local time (07:00 GMT), and that PNG defence authorities could enter the centre as early as Wednesday.

• Manus: Timeline of a controversial centre
• 'Our situation is just like hell'
• UN fears 'humanitarian emergency'
• Australia asylum: Why is it controversial?

Refugees told the BBC that detainees planned to protest peacefully, and had begun stockpiling water and dry biscuits, as well as setting up makeshift catchments for rainwater.

They claimed that local residents began looting the compound on Tuesday after security guards left.

Under a controversial policy, Australia refuses to take in anyone trying to reach its territories unofficially by boat. They are all intercepted and held in the Nauru and Manus Island detention centres.

Why don't refugees want to leave?

About 600 men have been told to leave the camp, but many have reportedly barricaded themselves inside due to fears for their safety if transferred to temporary accommodation in the Manus Island community.

The news has raised concerns of a possible siege at the facility.

"Navy and police [are] heavily armed, but we don't know who they want to go to war with, locals or refugees. So scary," tweeted Manus detainee Behrouz Boochani.

Mr Boochani added that "angry" locals were protesting in front of the camp chanting "don't come out".

Last week, Human Rights Watch warned that the group could face "unchecked violence" by local people who had attacked them in the past – sometimes with machetes and rocks.

Where would they go?

Canberra has consistently ruled out transferring the men to Australia, arguing it would encourage human trafficking and lead to deaths at sea.

However, PNG has said it is Australia's responsibility to provide ongoing support for the detainees. The Australian government says PNG is responsible for them.

The refugees can permanently resettle in PNG, apply to live in Cambodia, or request a transfer to Nauru, but advocates say few have taken up these options.

Some men already in the temporary accommodation were "comfortably accessing services and supports there", Australia's Department for Immigration and Border Protection said on Tuesday.

A separate resettlement deal struck with the Obama administration in 2016 saw the US agree to take up to 1,250 refugees from the PNG and Nauru centres.

Last month, a group of about 50 people from the detention centres became the first to be accepted by the US under the agreement.

The agreement, which is being administered under the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, is prioritising women, children and families and other refugees found to be the most vulnerable.

However, the US has not given an estimate of how long the application process will take and it is not obliged to accept all of them.

How will the closure affect detainees?

Greg Barns, a lawyer assisting with the legal action, said the closure would breach rights enshrined in PNG's constitution.

"The men are vulnerable to attacks and physical harm so we are seeking to ensure their constitutional rights are not breached and there is a resumption of the basic necessities of life," he told the BBC.

"The men have been dumped on the street, literally. What is going on is unlawful."

The application also seeks to prevent the forcible removal of the men to an alternative centre on the island, and calls for them to be transferred to Australia or a safe third country.

• Australia migrant camp in PNG 'illegal'
• First refugees leave Manus camp for US
• Australia's A$70m asylum payout approved

'Australia's Guantanamo'

Australia first opened Manus Island centre in 2001. It was closed in 2008 and re-opened in 2012.

Six asylum seekers have died since 2013, including Iranian man Reza Barati who was murdered during a riot.

Earlier this year, the government offered compensation totalling A$70m (£41m; $53m) to asylum seekers and refugees detained on Manus Island who alleged they had suffered harm while there.

The lawsuit alleged that detainees had been housed in inhumane conditions below Australian standards, given inadequate medical treatment and exposed to systemic abuse and violence.

The government called the financial settlement "prudent", but denied wrongdoing.

• Manus Island: Australia's Guantanamo?

Source – bbc.com

Source – bbc.com

Monday's announcement by the Food and Drug Administration marks the first time the agency has moved to revoke a health food claim since it began approving such statements in 1990.
Source – abcnews.go.com

Nawazuddin Siddiqui: Bollywood actor recalls 'kiss and tell' book

Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has recalled a controversial memoir which was criticised for detailing his relationships with several women without their permission.

An Ordinary Life, released on 16 October, contained vivid details of the actor's relationships, including with one of his co-stars, Niharika Singh.

In a statement Singh said, "none of what he has written has been with my knowledge, let alone my consent".

Siddiqui apologised on social media.

"I am apologising to everyone whose sentiments are hurt because of the chaos around my memoir, "An Ordinary Life". I hereby regret and decide to withdraw my book," Siddiqui wrote on his Facebook and Twitter pages late on Monday.

He did not personally apologise to any of the women he had named.

The apology came after another woman, mentioned in the book as the actor's first girlfriend, also took to Facebook to accuse him of "extraordinary lies".

Siddiqui, 43, had said she broke off the relationship because he was a "struggler" when they were together.

"I did not leave you because you were poor, but because of your poor way of thinking," she said.

Siddiqui is seen as one of Bollywood's most talented actors, starring in critically acclaimed productions like Gangs of Wasseypur and Lunchbox.

Source – bbc.com

They will only be able to sit in so-called family section.
Source – abcnews.go.com

FDA moves to ax claim for heart benefits from soy foods

WATCH FDA moves to ax claim for heart benefits from soy foods

U.S. regulators want to remove a health claim about the heart benefits of soy from cartons of soy milk, tofu and other foods, saying the latest scientific evidence no longer shows a clear connection.

Monday's announcement by the Food and Drug Administration marks the first time the agency has moved to revoke a health food claim since it began approving such statements in 1990. The claim that soy protein can reduce heart disease appears on about 200 to 300 products in the U.S., according to industry figures, including popular brands like Silk soy milk.

Calls to WhiteWave Foods Company, which markets Silk brand soy products, were not immediately returned Monday.

The FDA first approved the language about the benefits in 1999 based on studies suggesting soy protein lowered a type of heart-damaging cholesterol in the bloodstream. But some later studies have failed to show a clear link.

One 2005 study by the U.S. government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that soy products had little effect on bad cholesterol. The FDA began reevaluating the food claim in 2007 and said Monday "the totality of the evidence is inconsistent and not conclusive."

The agency will take comments on its proposal for 75 days before moving ahead. If the language is removed, companies may still be able to use a less definitive statement about soy's benefits by including a disclaimer or description of the mixed evidence.

Consumer advocates backed the proposal, arguing that earlier research misinterpreted soy's effect on cholesterol.

Bonnie Liebman, a nutrition scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, explained that a person might benefit by replacing red meat with soy, but the benefit would be from the reduction in red meat, not because of anything special in the soy protein.

The FDA estimates it will cost companies between $370,000 and $860,000 in upfront costs to re-label their products, according to a federal filing posted online.

An industry group for soy manufacturers disputed the FDA's decision and pointed to 12 other countries, including Canada, that have approved health labeling claims making the link between soy protein and heart benefits. The group, Soyfoods Association of North America, said it would make its case to the FDA during the comment period.

• Star

Source – abcnews.go.com

Samsung Electronics unveils new leadership line-up

Samsung Electronics has named its new leadership team following the resignation of CEO Kwon Oh-hyun.

Three executives have been promoted to joint chief executives of the firm as part of the management overhaul.

The shake-up came hours after the firm reported quarterly profits had nearly tripled from a year ago.

Net profit rose to 11.2 trillion won ($10bn; £7.6bn) during July to September, driven by strong memory chip and smartphone sales.

New leadership

The new appointees are all in their 50s and include Kim Ki-nam, Koh Dong-jin and Kim Hyun-suk.

They will take up their positions immediately as the heads of Samsung Electronics' three main businesses – Device Solutions, IT and Mobile Communications and Consumer Electronics.

"The next generation of leaders are well suited to accelerate the pace of innovation and address the demands of the connected world," the firm said in a statement.

The South Korean tech giant also confirmed that its chief financial officer Lee Sang-hoon had been recommended as the new chairman of the board, and that long-time co-CEOs J.K. Shin and Yoon Boo-keun would step down.

It is the first time the chairman role has not been given to one of the firm's three chief executives.

The firm is striving to regain the confidence of the government and financial markets in the aftermath of the corruption scandal in which the Samsung Group's heir apparent Lee Jae-yong was jailed for bribery and corruption.

Unprecedented crisis

The leadership shake-up began about a fortnight ago when Mr Kwon became the first of the firm's three chief executives to resign, citing an "unprecedented crisis".

At the time, he said the company's current profitability was "merely a fruit of decisions and investment made in the past".

His resignation came days after Mr Lee began an appeal against his conviction and five year jail sentence, stemming from payments to the secret confidante of South Korea's ousted president Park Geun-Hye.

Samsung Electronics is regarded as the jewel in the crown of the Samsung conglomerate, which is made up of 60 interlinked companies.

Record result

Samsung Electronics described its latest quarterly result as a "robust performance" overall.

The world's biggest memory chip and smartphone maker expects strong demand for its products to continue, putting it on track for a record annual profit.

It will also pay around $26bn in dividends to shareholders over the next three years.

While memory chips were the main driver of Samsung's earnings, its mobile phone business was given a boost by its new Note 8 smartphone which received the firm's highest number of pre-orders.

It marks a significant turnaround for the firm which was hit badly by the global recall of its flagship Note 7 smartphone in 2016, following the fiasco with its overheating and exploding batteries.

Source – bbc.com