Iran Hangs 16 'Rebels' To Avenge Deadly Ambush

Iran has hanged 16 "rebels" of an unspecified armed group in retaliation for the death of 14 border guards in clashes near the frontier with Pakistan.

Authorities are investigating whether the attackers were drug smugglers or armed opposition groups, according to state news agency IRNA.

In response to the killings, an Iranian prosecutor announced that 16 people linked to "terrorist" groups had been executed.

"These individuals were executed this Saturday morning in response to the terrorist action of last evening at Saravan and the martyrdom of the border guards," Mohammad Marzieh, was quoted as saying by IRNA.

He did not give any details of any trial proceedings.

The clashes erupted by the Iranian town of Sarwan near the Pakistan border

The attackers ambushed security forces on Friday night in a mountainous region outside Saravan, a town in Sistan-Baluchistan province, in south-east Iran.

Some news reports said up to 20 Iranian border guards had been killed.

There were also reports of several others injured - and being captured by the attackers.

The Mehr news agency said "bandits" attacked an official post.

Rajab-Ali Sheikhzadeh, a provincial official, told the ISNA news agency: "The attackers, who saw that conditions were unsafe for their actions, retreated to the country opposite (the border) after the clash."

Security forces have fought drug traffickers before in the border region with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The area also has a history of unrest, with the mainly Sunni Muslim population complaining of discrimination at the hands of Iran's Shi'ite Muslim authorities.

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Doner Kebab Inventor Kadir Nurman Dies

Tributes have poured in for the "inventor" of the doner kebab, Kadir Nurman, who has died in Berlin at the age of 80.

The Turkish immigrant created the popular fast food after he established a market stall in Berlin in 1972.

The donor kebab is a staple among late-night revellers

Having noticed the fast pace of city life, Mr Nurman thought people might enjoy a meal they could eat on the move.

The doner kebab was his solution. The meal has since become a staple among late-night revellers, students, and diners generally.

Mr Nurman was widely credited as being the inventor of the popular meal. In 2011 he was recognised as the creator by the Association of Turkish Doner Manufacturers.

Hundreds of kebab-lovers around the world took to Twitter to express their sadness at Mr Nurman's passing.

"R.I.P. to Kadir Nurman the inventor of Doner Kebab," Twitter user Halil1905 wrote on the social network.

"Let us mourn the loss of this absolute legend. I shall feast on kebabs in his honor," user Cameron Nations added.

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Al Qaeda-Linked Syrian Rebel Leader 'Killed'

The leader of the powerful Syrian rebel group the al Nusra Front has been killed, according to Syrian state-run TV.

According to the one-line report, Abu Mohammad al Golani was killed in the coastal province of Latakia.

It did not say when or give further details.

However the rebel group said in a statement on Saturday that its leader was in good health.

"What was claimed by one channel alone, regarding what it claimed was the killing of the emir of al Nusra Front, was a lie," said the group.

The extremist front has become one of the most effective among the rebel groups fighting President Bashar Assad's forces.

The al Nusra Front played a key part in the Battle of Aleppo

However, it has links to al Qaeda and is classed by the US, the UK and the UN as a terrorist organisation.

If al Golani's death is confirmed it will be a significant blow to rebels, who consider the group to be the "special forces" of the battle against the regime.

The group, whose goal is to overthrow Mr Assad and establish an Islamist state under Sharia law, announced its creation in January 2012 and were key players in the Battle of Aleppo.

But they have an uneasy alliance with the National Coalition for Opposition Forces and many rebel groups consider them to be too extreme.

Al Nusra is opposed to western intervention in the nearly three-year-long Syrian civil war and many members consider the US to be an enemy of Islam.

The news of al Golani's death came as a car bomb outside a mosque in Damascus killed at least 40, including seven children.

Dozens of people were wounded in the car bombing in the rebel-controlled town of Suq Wadi Barada, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Anti-regime activists blamed the attack on government forces, while state news agency SANA said "the car exploded while the terrorists were packing it with explosives".

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US Spy Agency Site Crashes Amid Attack Claims

The website for America's National Security Agency is back up after going down on Friday, fuelling speculation it might have been attacked by hackers.

The public-facing site for the intelligence agency, which has been under fire after whistleblower Edward Snowden released secret documents about it, suddenly went down in the afternoon.

Several Twitter accounts that purportedly belong to people loosely associated with the hacking movement Anonymous have suggested they were responsible.

An NSA spokesperson denied the claims, saying they were "not true."

"NSA.gov was not accessible for several hours tonight because of an internal error that occurred during a scheduled update. The issue will be resolved this evening," the spokesperson said.

"Claims that the outage was caused by a distributed denial of service attack are not true."

Twitter users @AnonymousOwn3r and @TruthIzSexy implied that a DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack - a method of over-loading a website with too much traffic - may have been waged as an act of protest against the NSA.

Other Anonymous-affiliated accounts referred to the website crash.

Tweets from AnonyOps read: "Aww don't panic about http://nsa.gov being down. They have a backup copy of the internet.

"The #NSA is lawless and believes rules don't apply to them. Time for a total reboot."

An0nPun1shm3nt wrote: "Dear National Security Agency #NSA, Lesson #1 : If you spy on us, we are coming for you!"

The outage came a day after former NSA director Michael Hayden was allegedly overheard criticising the Obama administration over claims the FSA had monitored the phone calls of at least 35 world leaders.

Mr Hayden later told the Washington Post he had not been disparaging about Mr Obama or his administration.

He said: "I didn't criticise the President. I actually said these are very difficult issues. I said I had political guidance, too, that limited the things that I did when I was director of the NSA. Now that political guidance (for current officials) is going to be more robust. It wasn't a criticism."

A rally to protest against the NSA's surveillance programmes was due to take place in Washington DC later today.

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Saudi Women Protest Against Driving Ban

By Zein Ja'Far, Sky News Producer in Abu Dhabi

Women in Saudi Arabia have reportedly taken to the wheel to demand the right to drive - despite threats of immediate arrest.

Saudi authorities have warned they face arrest, possible legal action and could be stopped by force if they are caught behind the wheel.

But the threats have failed to put off many, including Bareah Albuzeedy, who says she will fight for her rights regardless of what authorities say.

Protesters were expected to drive their cars in cities across the country. 

Ms Albuzeedy said: "What we're asking for is a very simple right. It's only to let women drive and that's it."

Saudi professor and campaigner Aziza Youssef said the group had received 13 videos and another 50 phone messages from women showing or claiming they had driven, adding that it had no way to verify the messages.

Campaigners Bareah Zubeedy (L) and Dr Mahida Al Ajroush

If the numbers are accurate, this year's campaign will be the most successful effort yet.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that imposes a state ban on women drivers.

Although there is nothing which legally states women cannot drive, only men are granted licences and influential clerics have repeatedly called on the police to stop demonstrations from taking place.

Dr Mahida Al Ajroush, a prominent Saudi campaigner and psychotherapist, told Sky News she first drove in the country over 20 years ago and will do so again on Saturday.

She said: "The law says women can drive but the system does not give you a licence ... when a woman cannot drive it means she can't go to work on her own, she can't pick up her children, she can't run her errands nor take her children to emergency."

Despite thousands signing a petition supporting the October 26 campaign and expressing solidarity on social media, the group's website has been hacked and an Interior Ministry spokesperson warned that even those campaigning online could be punished.

Last month a conservative cleric drew widespread criticism after suggesting women could damage their ovaries by driving.

The country's ruling establishment fear that demonstrations could lead to bigger and more challenging protests in the future.

The Kingdom is currently pushing for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) and the way in which police deal with the planned action will be closely scrutinised. 

The country's first driving protest took place in 1995 with 50 women arrested for breaking the law and made to sign a declaration promising not to do so again.

In 2011 another 40 women got behind the wheel  in several cities after journalist Eman al-Nafjan was arrested for posting a video of herself driving online.

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Merkel's Phone 'Bugged For Decade By US'

The United States may have bugged Angela Merkel's phone for more than 10 years, it has been claimed.

Der Spiegel magazine said the German chancellor's mobile telephone had been listed by the National Security Agency's (NSA) Special Collection Service (SCS) since 2002 and was still on the list weeks before Barack Obama visited Berlin in June.

Germany's outrage over reports of bugging of Ms Merkel's phone by the NSA prompted it to summon the US ambassador for the first time in living memory.

In an SCS document cited by Der Spiegel, the agency said it had a "not legally registered spying branch" in the US embassy in Berlin, the exposure of which would lead to "grave damage for the relations of the United States to another government".

Mr Obama met with Ms Merkel in Berlin earlier this year

From there, NSA and CIA staff were tapping communication in Berlin's government district with high-tech surveillance.

The military-led NSA is America's biggest and most secret spy agency, which specialises in hi-tech eavesdropping of satellite, cell and fibre-optic communications globally.

It has huge 'data warehouses' in the US where it stores voice, fax, data, emails and internet traffic indefinitely.

Communications of all non-Americans are considered to be legitimate targets of the NSA, however it tries to stress its important role in thwarting terror attacks.

Quoting a secret document from 2010, Der Spiegel said such branches existed in about 80 locations around the world, including Paris, Madrid, Rome, Prague, Geneva and Frankfurt.

The magazine said it was not clear whether the SCS had recorded conversations or just connection data.

Mr Obama apologised to Merkel when she called him on Wednesday to seek clarification on the issue, Der Spiegel wrote, citing a source in Ms Merkel's office.

The NSA is commissioning a new 1 million square foot Utah 'data warehouse'

Ms Merkel's spokesman and the White House declined comment.

The rift over US surveillance activities first emerged earlier this year after reports that Washington had bugged European Union offices and had tapped half a billion phone calls, emails and text messages in Germany in a typical month.

But it appeared close to resolution after Ms Merkel's government said in August - just weeks before a parliamentary election - the United States had given sufficient assurances they were upholding German law.

Mr Obama ordered a review of US surveillance programmes after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents that raised alarm in America and abroad.

:: On Sunday, Swiss President Ueli Maurer confirmed his government would role out new technology designed to better shield state communications from eavesdroppers.

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Ten Cars Explode In Baghdad, Killing Dozens

Ten cars rigged with explosives have blown up in Baghdad killing more than 38 people.

The bombs were hidden in parked cars and detonated over a 30-minute period in busy streets, mainly in Shia areas.

In a separate incident, at least 12 soldiers were killed in the northern city of Mosul, when a man driving a car blew himself up outside a government bank.

The soldiers were waiting to collect their salaries, police said. 

One of the wrecked cars is lifted away

At least 100 people were injured in the Baghdad attacks, many hurt as they attended markets.

Hundreds have been killed in Iraq this month, with the often sectarian-fuelled violence reaching its highest level since 2008.

Around 1,000 people were killed and more than 2,000 hurt in September alone, according to the UN.

And unofficial counts for October suggest more than 600 have been killed.

Sunni militants, including the local offshoot of al-Qaeda, are believed to be responsible for the attacks, which usually target Shia areas.

The Shia-led government has been accused of failing to address grievances among the Sunni Arab minority, including allegations of abuses by security forces.

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Brooklyn Stabbings: Five Dead Including A Baby

Police have named a woman and four young children who were stabbed to death in New York City.

Officers arrived at an apartment on 57th Street, near Ninth Avenue, in Brooklyn, at 11pm on Saturday and found all five victims unconscious and unresponsive.

They were named as Qiao Zhen Li, 37, Linda Zhuo, nine, Amy Zhuo, seven, Kevin Zhuo, five, and one-year-old William Zhuo.

William and the two girls were pronounced dead at the scene by emergency crews.

The woman and five-year-old boy were taken to separate Brooklyn hospitals where they were later pronounced dead.

A police officer seals off the street near the attack

Police did not give the relationships of the victims but said they all lived in the home.

Sources said a 25-year-old suspect, believed to be a relative, was arrested at the scene.

Police handcuffed the man inside the apartment. He was wearing jeans and had blood on his bare feet.

The children's distraught father reportedly arrived home from work to find the area sealed off by police.

One report said a machete and scissors were taken from the building as evidence.

Fire Department spokesman Jim Long said emergency workers received a 911 call from a person stabbed at the residence in the Sunset Park neighbourhood.

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Syria Submits Chemical Weapon Stockpile Plan

Syria has filed details of its poison gas and nerve agent programme and an initial plan to destroy it to the world's chemical weapons watchdog, it has been confirmed.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in a statement that Syria completed its declaration on October 24, as part of a strict and ambitious timeline that aims to destroy the lethal stockpile by mid-2014.

The Hague-based group said such declarations by member states "provide the basis on which plans are devised for a systematic, total and verified destruction of declared chemical weapons and production facilities".

Some of Syria's gas stockpile is designed for loading into artillery shells

The OPCW has been working in conjunction with the United Nations after a resolution was passed for the stockpile destruction.

Such declarations made to the organisation remain confidential and no details of Syria's programme were released.

Syria already had given preliminary details to the OPCW when it said it was joining the organisation in September in a move that warded off possible United States-led military strikes.

It came after widespread condemnation of an August 21 chemical weapon attack on a Damascus suburb. Syria denies responsibility for the deadly attack.

Dutch OPCW special coordinator Sigrid Kaag in Damascus

OPCW inspectors were hastily dispatched to Syria this month and have visited most of the 23 sites Damascus declared and begun overseeing destruction work to ensure that machines used to mix chemicals and fill munitions with poison gas are no longer functioning.

Syria is believed to possess around 1,000 tons of chemical weapons, including mustard gas and nerve agent sarin.

It has not yet been decided how or where destruction of Syria's chemical weapons will happen.

Syria's declaration includes a general plan for destruction that will be considered by the OPCW's 41-nation executive council on November 15.

Norway's foreign minister announced Friday that the country had turned down a US request to receive the bulk of Syria's chemical weapons for destruction because it does not have the capabilities to complete the task by the deadlines given.

The US army has chemical destruction units which could be utilised in Syria

The US and Russia have extensive experience in destruction of chemical stockpiles, after they significantly reduced their own stockpiles following the end of the Cold War.

The Pentagon has released details of mobile chemical weapon destruction units it says could be deployed to the region.

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Chris Brown Arrested 'For Assaulting Man'

Chris Brown has been arrested for allegedly attacking a man outside a hotel in Washington DC.

The singer and his bodyguard were both charged with felony assault over the incident, a spokesman for the Washington Metropolitan Police Department told Sky News.

The alleged attack took place outside the W Hotel on K Street at around 4.30am on Sunday morning.

Brown got into an argument with a man and punched him in the face, according to police sources quoted by TMZ.

Brown is on probation for assaulting ex-partner Rihanna

The 24-year-old Grammy Award-winning performer and his bodyguard are being held in custody.

In August, Brown was ordered to do 1,000 hours of community service after his probation stemming from a 2009 assault on his ex-girlfriend Rihanna was restored.

Any arrest could be considered a violation of that probation, which could see him spending time behind bars.

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