International News In Brief…

 

LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
Nicaragua: Twenty-two people have died during several days of heavy rain, nine of them in the capital Managua when a wall collapsed, the BBC reported.

Mexico: Authorities say they have captured the suspected leader of a criminal gang allegedly involved in the disappear- ance of 43 students.

Venezuela: Last week the UN elected Venezuela to a two-year term on the UN Security Council, overcoming long-standing US opposition to its membership on the world body’s premier security panel.

 

USA & CANADA
US: Virginia state police say they have found a body which could be that of Hannah Graham, a British-born student missing since September 13.

US: President Barack Obama rules out imposing a travel ban on Ebola-affected regions of West Africa, and urges citizens not to give in to “hysteria” over the disease.

Canada: A Russian container ship drifting powerless with hundreds of tons of fuel on board is being pulled away from the Canadian coast after fears of an oil spill, officials in the country report.

 

EUROPE
Spain: The nurse who became the first person to contract Ebola outside West Africa tests negative for the virus, the government says.

Vatican: Catholic gay rights groups express dismay at the rejection by bishops of proposals for wider acceptance of gay people, backed by Pope Francis.

Russia: The Kremlin denies that one of its submarines got into trouble off Sweden, after reports of suspicious activity in the Baltic.

 

ASIA
Koreas: North and South Korea briefly exchange gunfire over their heavily fortified border, in the second such incident in just over a week, officials say.

Nepal: Rescue teams in Nepal say there are no trekkers left stranded, after completing their search for survivors of a devastating Himalayan storm that killed dozens.

Hong Kong: The territory’s leader, CY Leung, says “external forces” are involved in the pro-democracy protests, a claim that is strongly denied by protesters.

 

AFRICA
Liberia: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says all nations have a stake in the fight against Ebola, which “respects no borders.”

Nigeria: The country’s military says it has agreed to a truce with Islamic militants Boko Haram, and the hundreds of schoolgirls abducted by the group will be released.

DR Congo: Militants kill at least 20 people, said to be mostly women and children, in the second massacre in two days near the town of Beni, officials report.

 

MIDDLE EAST
Iraq: A suicide attacker kills at least 18 people at a Shia mosque in the capital Baghdad, the latest in a spate of insurgent attacks.

Syria: Iraqi pilots who joined Islamic State are training its members in Syria to fly three captured fighter jets, a UK-based activist group says.

Egypt: A rights group founded by former US President Jimmy Carter has closed its office in Egypt, citing restrictions on democratic freedoms.

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