Solar Eclipse: 'Hybrid' Event Best Seen In Africa

A solar eclipse has swept across the globe, plunging parts of Africa, Europe and the United States into darkness.

The rare event, known as a hybrid eclipse because the extent to which the Sun was blocked out varied around the world, was best viewed in equatorial Africa, where totality lasted for up to a minute.

Skywatchers in Lagos, Nigeria, had a cloudy view of the solar eclipse

Skywatchers in southern Europe, the Middle East, North America's east coast and the northern half of South America were able to see an "annular", or partial, eclipse, although poor weather obstructed the view for many.

Jose Afonso, director of the Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Lisbon in Portugal, said: "Throughout your lifetime, if you're living in the same place, you'll perhaps see a total solar eclipse once or maybe twice.

A partial eclipse was visible in New York shortly after sunrise

"It's a very uncommon event for any place on Earth."

Astronomers had warned people not to look directly at the Sun without taking safety precautions.

Solar eclipses can be viewed through binoculars or a telescope by projecting the Sun's disc onto a sheet of card or paper, or by using eclipse glasses which filter sunlight.

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Pakistan Reviews US Ties After Taliban Death

Pakistan is reviewing its relationship with the United States following the killing of the Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone strike.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to chair a meeting of his top security advisers on Monday to discuss the next steps.

Mehsud, who had a $5m (£3.1m) US bounty on his head, was killed on Friday in the northwestern Pakistani militant stronghold of North Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar responded to the killing by accusing the US of "scuttling" attempts to get the Taliban to take part in peace talks.

He said "every aspect" of co-operation with Washington would be reviewed in the wake of the attack.

"The murder of Hakimullah is the murder of all efforts at peace. Americans said they support our efforts at peace. Is this support?"

The US State Department has not confirmed the killing, but a spokesman said: "The United States and Pakistan continue to have a vital, shared strategic interest in ending extremist violence so as to build a more prosperous, stable and peaceful region."

Some politicians have demanded that US military supply lines into Afghanistan be blocked in response to the attack.

Pakistan is the main route for supplies for US troops in the landlocked country, for everything from food and drinking water to fuel.

Khan Said is suggested as a possible future leader of the Pakistani Taliban

The closure of the routes could be a serious disruption as US and other Western forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year.

Relations between the US and Pakistan have been seriously strained several times over recent years, including in 2011, when US forces killed Osama bin Laden in a raid that Pakistan said violated its sovereignty.

On Saturday, several militant commanders said 38-year-old Khan Said, who is also known as Sajna, had been chosen as the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban.

But Shahidullah Shahid, the main spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said a permanent replacement had not been chosen yet.

"Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, the head of the supreme shura, has has been appointed as temporary head of the TTP," Mr Shahid told the AFP news agency, adding that prayers for Mehsud were still going on.

Alongside Said and Bhittani, names suggested as a permanent leader include Mullah Fazlullah, the commander from the Swat Valley, whose men shot and wounded schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai last year.

Said is seen as a relative moderate and if he becomes leader, talks with the government might eventually get going, said Imtiaz Gul, the head of the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies think-tank.

But if Fazlullah was chosen, there would be little hope of compromise, he warned.

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Bangladesh Death Sentence For UK Muslim Leader

A Muslim leader living in London has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of war crimes in his native Bangladesh.

Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, who was involved in setting up the Muslim Council of Britain, was sentenced in his absence at a special war crimes tribunal in his home country.

Toby Cadman, Mr Mueen-Uddin's Legal Counsel, described the verdict as "farcical".

He said in a statement: "The trial process has been shown to be nothing short of a political show trial.

"What is clear from a number of damning disclosures by the international community and the media is the overwhelming evidence that reveals serious judicial and prosecutorial misconduct and the collusion of the Government with members of the judiciary and prosecution.

"I am not at all surprised by the verdict that has been passed ... by an institution that has lost all credibility.

"We reject each and every charge levelled against Mr Mueen-Uddin."

Before the sentence was handed down, Mr Mueen-Uddin said on his website that although he opposed Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan at the time, he was not involved in any crimes.

Alongside New York-based Ashrafuzzaman Khan he was found guilty of abducting and murdering 18 people in December 1971, during the country's fight for independence against Pakistan.

The dead included nine university teachers, six journalists and three physicians.

Senior judge Obaidul Hassan told the packed court in Dhaka: "Justice will not be done if they are not awarded capital punishment."

Prosecutors accused the pair, who fled Bangladesh after it gained independence from Pakistan, of being "high command" members of the notorious Al Badr militia that supported Pakistani forces during the war.

Tribunal-appointed lawyers for them denied the charges against them. No defence witnesses were called during the trial held earlier this year.

The tribunal has now convicted 10 people, mostly leaders of the country's largest Islamic party the Jamaat-e-Islami, for war crimes, with seven of them sentenced to death by hanging. At least another eight are on trial.

The trials have sparked protests throughout the Muslim-majority country, leaving at least 150 people dead since January when the court started handing down their verdicts.

Jamaat claims the trials are politically motivated and accuses the secular government of trying to execute its entire leadership.

The government says the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the conflict.

Mr Mueen-Uddin, who came to the UK in 1973, has held positions in a host of top Islamic organisations, among them the Muslim Council of Britain - the country's largest umbrella group representing Muslims.

The Home Office was unable to confirm if an extradition request had been made for Mr Mueen-Uddin who holds dual UK and Bangladesh citizenship.

A spokesman said: "As a matter of long standing policy and practice the UK will neither confirm nor deny whether an extradition request has been made or received until such time as a person is arrested in relation to that request."

It is, however, convention that the UK does not extradite to countries that have the death penalty.

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Bin Laden: US Businessman Seeks $25m Reward

A businessman who claims he tipped-off the FBI about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden's secret compound is seeking a reward of $25m (£15.6m).

Tom Lee claims he knew where bin Laden was hiding (pic: Mlive)

Gem dealer Tom Lee, 63, claims that in 2003 a Pakistani intelligence agent, from a family he had known for decades, told him bin Laden was in Peshawar in Pakistan, not Afghanistan.

The man allegedly described how he had been sent on a mission by Pakistani intelligence services to relocate bin Laden and his family to a small compound in Bilal, Abbottabad.

A letter sent by Mr Lee's lawyers to FBI director James Comey in August claims Mr Lee subsequently shared this information with FBI agents.

But despite "numerous attempts" to claim his reward after bin Laden's death in 2011 he received no response.

"Mr Lee precisely identified the whereabouts of the most notorious terrorist of our era," said the letter.

"A man responsible for the World Trade Center attacks, the most devastating act of terror committed on American soil, and numerous other assaults on Americans."

US Navy Seals during the raid on bin Laden's hideout in 2011

Mr Lee told The Grand Rapids Press in an email on Friday that he did not understand why the government waited to act for eight years.

"It disturbs me, and it should disturb every American, that I told them exactly where bin Laden was in 2003, and they let him live another eight years," he said in the email.

Mr Lee, who became Lord of Stanbury Manor in England in 1997 after purchasing the title, claims to have provided the FBI with intelligence before, and said the lack of action surprised him.

Mr Lee allegedly told the FBI about the compound in 2003

"For 20 years I was used to the government acting immediately on my intelligence," he said.

During their hunt for bin Laden, US authorities offered the reward to anyone who supplied information that led to bin Laden's capture or conviction.

The FBI has so far refused to comment.

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EBay: Nazi Holocaust Memorabilia Removed

Auction site eBay has apologised after Nazi Holocaust memorabilia, including clothes worn by concentration camp victims, were traded online.

Journalists claim to have found several items for sale, including a complete Auschwitz uniform worn by a Polish baker who died in the camp.

The Auschwitz uniform had reportedly been priced at £11,300 by the seller, a Ukrainian man in Canada, named as Viktor Kempf.

Survivors liberated from Auschwitz in 1945

He had apparently sold similar clothing for $18,000 (£11,491) last year.

It was claimed Mr Kempf had been criticised in the past for selling such items, but did so to "document" them and to fund history book projects.

Mr Kempf was quoted as saying: "I don't want people to think I'm just doing it for the money. These periods in history are horrific, nobody should ever forget them."

How Mr Kempf described the items on eBay

EBay has offered to donate £25,000 to charity after the items were discovered and admitted they breached the terms of use.

The online retailer said: "We are very sorry these items have been listed on eBay and we are removing them.

"We don't allow listings of this nature, and dedicate thousands of staff to policing our site and use the latest technology to detect items that shouldn't be for sale.

Schindler's list failed to sell on eBay when offered for sale for £3m

"We very much regret that we didn't live up to our own standards. We have made a donation to charity to reflect our concern."

Other items found on eBay, by journalists at the Mail On Sunday, included shoes and a toothbrush said to have belonged to concentration camp victims.

There were also yellow Star of David armbands used by the Nazis to identify Jews for persecution.

An original copy of Schindler's list of Jews saved from the Holocaust by Oskar Schindler went unsold on eBay in July.

The 14-page typewritten list - bearing the names of 801 men - originated from the German industrialist's right-hand man Itzhak Stern, and had a steep opening bid of $3m (£1.96m).

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LA Airport Gunman May Face Death Penalty

The suspected gunman in the deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport has been charged with murder - and could face the death penalty.

Authorities arrested Paul Ciancia, 23, after Friday's attack, which left security officer Gerardo Hernandez dead and five others hurt.

It is alleged the suspect wounded Mr Hernandez and then returned to shoot him again - the second time fatally.

Suspected gunman Paul Ciancia

As well as murder, Ciancia was also charged with commission of violence at an international airport.

A note allegedly found in the suspect's bag said that he wanted to kill at least one transport officer with his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and didn't care which one. 

"Black, white, yellow, brown, I don't discriminate," the note read, according to a paraphrase by a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. 

The suspect's screed also mentioned "fiat currency" and "NWO," possible references to the New World Order, a conspiracy theory that foresees a one-world government.

Terminal 3, the area where the shooting happened, reopened on Saturday.

The attack caused major disruption to travellers

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) planned to review its security policies in the wake of the shooting.

Administrator John Pistole did not say if that meant arming officers.

A few more details emerged about Ciancia, who was described as reserved and solitary.

Former classmates barely remember him, and could say little about the young man who moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles less than two years ago.

"He kept to himself and ate lunch alone a lot," a former classmate, David Hamilton, told the Los Angeles Times.

A police officer at Los Angeles airport

"I really don't remember any one person who was close to him .... In four years, I never heard a word out of his mouth."

Ciancia, who was shot four times by airport police, remained in hospital on Saturday, but there was no word on his condition.

He was wounded in the mouth and the leg, authorities said.

On Friday, Ciancia's father called police in New Jersey, worried about his son after the young man sent texts to his family that suggested he might be in trouble.

Ten minutes earlier, police said a suspect walked into the airport, pulled a rifle from a bag and began firing.

When searched by police, the attacker had five 30-round magazines, and the bag contained "hundreds of rounds in 20-round boxes," a law enforcement official said.

Mr Hernandez, 39, was the first TSA official in the agency's 12-year history to be killed in the line of duty.

Allen Cummings, the police chief in the small town where Ciancia grew up, said the texts the suspect's family had received did not mention suicide or hurting others.

The attack at the nation's third-busiest airport caused hundreds flights to be delayed and cancellations nationwide.

Leon Saryan had just passed through security when he gunfire. He fled and as he was cowering in a corner, the shooter approached.

"He looked at me and asked 'TSA?'. I shook my head no, and he continued on down toward the gate. He had his gun at the ready and, but for the grace of God, I am here to tell about it," said Mr Saryan.

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Man 'Eats Pet Dog' To Survive After Bear Attack

A man killed and ate his pet dog in order to stay alive after a bear attack left him with no resources, it has been claimed.

Marco Lavoie has been rescued after being stranded in remote woods in Quebec, Canada, for about three months.

The 44-year-old adventurer was suffering from hypothermia and dehydration and had lost about 90lbs in weight.

He is in a "very serious" condition in hospital.

He had left for a two-month long solo canoe trip near James Bay in mid-July.

Some time after that, a bear wandered into his campsite, ate his food, damaged his survival equipment and destroyed his canoe, leaving him alone with the dog.

A few days after the attack, Mr Lavoie used a rock to kill his German shepherd before eating the animal, a source close to the rescue told the Canadian news agency QMI.

Marco Lavoie was rescued between Matagami and Waskaganish

He was reported missing on October 21 by a friend who was concerned he had not been seen since July.

He was stranded at the Nottaway River, about 500 miles north-west of Montreal.

By the time police airlifted him out of the area between Matagami and Waskaganish on Wednesday, he was barely able to speak or eat.

Their helicopter had been unable to land on the uneven terrain, so rescuers had to walk more than a mile to reach him.

He was so weak that they had to carry him on their backs to the aircraft, Sergeant Claude Denis told the Montreal Gazette.

"He survived because he made good decisions. Eating his dog was one of them," said survival expert Andre Francois Bourbeau.

Mr Bourbeau told QMI that after 30 days in the wilderness with no food, Mr Lavoie's body would have gone into shock from starvation.

"Hunger squeezes you so much that you would accept food that's not normally possible," he said. "You can crave slugs and bugs."

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Mandela Film 'Difficult To Watch' Says Daughter

By Alex Crawford in Johannesburg

The South African movie premiere of Nelson Mandela's life story has taken place in Johannesburg.

Many of his close family were on the red carpet in honour of the man who fought for the democratic rights of black South Africans.

He went on to become the country's first black president.

Naomie Harris (L) who plays Winnie Mandela, poses with Zindzi Mandela

His daughter Zindzi told a news conference ahead of the film's launch how emotional she became when she watched Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom.

She watched it for the first time with her mother, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Mr Mandela's second wife.

"It was difficult to watch," she said. "At times I had to look away because it reminded me of the pain and loneliness of all those times when we had neither my father, nor my mother."

It is, however, a film which has been endorsed by the Mandela family and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The film's producer, South African Anant Singh, got personal approval from Nelson Mandela himself, who is now critically ill in hospital.

Mr Mandela saw excerpts and stills from the film at his home in Qunu last year.

Mr Singh recounted how, upon seeing actor Idris Elba playing his older self, Mr Mandela asked him: "Is that me?"

Elba himself missed the pre-premiere publicity the day before the launch after having an asthma attack as he was boarding the plane to South Africa.

But he was able to make the launch at the upmarket Rosebank cinema complex in Johannesburg.

The film may have a British director - Justin Chadwick - and two British actors in the leading roles (Idris Elba playing Mr Mandela and Naomie Harris playing Winnie), but the film-makers insist it is a South African story told largely by South Africans.

The director did not want to use acting extras, but chose to film many of the scenes in situ in the townships.

With a budget of just $35m (£21.9m) it is a relatively low-cost film, especially since they had to build many of the locations - such as the Robben Island jail where Mandela spent decades.

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Deadly Gun Attack On Nigeria Wedding Convoy

Gunmen have attacked a wedding convoy in Nigeria, killing more than 30 people including the groom.

Islamic militants were blamed for the ambush on the notorious Bama-Banki road in the northeastern Borno state.

The road runs alongside forests which are a known hideout for Boko Haram fighters.

The group has previously said it is fighting to create an Islamic state, although it is believed to made up of different factions with varying aims.

Witnesses said the wedding party was returning to the state capital Maiduguri after a ceremony in Michika in nearby Adamawa state when the gunmen struck.

It is not known whether the bride or her family were caught up in the attack.

One driver, who did not wish to be named, said he saw dead bodies lying on the road.

"It was a gory scene," he told the AFP news agency. "All the victims were brutally murdered by the attackers."

Violent attacks are not uncommon in Borno, where an army offensive to drive out insurgents is under way.

Last month, suspected extremists attacked a military checkpoint, reportedly killing at least four members of the security forces.

A state of emergency was declared in the state in May following an increase in violence.

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Thailand Ferry Sinks: 'Tourists Among Dead'

A tourist ferry has sunk off the Thai resort of Pattaya, killing at least six passengers, including three foreigners.

A police spokesman said the rescue effort was continuing, amid fears a number of passengers may be trapped inside the boat.

Local media reported that dozens of ambulances had been called to Pattaya beach to treat casualties pulled from the water.

About 100 people were on the ferry when it ran into engine trouble and sank near Koh Larn, a small island popular with daytrippers, the police spokesman said.

Some 22 million tourists visited Thailand last year.

Pattaya is one of the country's most popular resorts, particularly among Russians, and is renowned for its vibrant nightlife and cheap accommodation.

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