Thomas Lubanga: ICC trial of DR Congo warlord to resume

The International Criminal Court's appeals chamber has ruled that a trial of a Congolese warlord should resume after a three-month suspension.

In July, judges halted Thomas Lubanga's trial on war crimes charges and ordered his release when prosecutors refused to hand information to the defence.

Friday's ruling reversed the decision, but also rebuked Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo for flouting court orders.

Mr Lubanga has denied using child soldiers in eastern DR Congo in 2002-3.

His is the first trial to start at the ICC at The Hague but the case has been plagued by legal challenges.

The 49 year old led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), an ethnic Hema militia - one of six groups that fought for control of the gold-rich Ituri region.

The land struggle turned into an inter-ethnic war in which an estimated 50,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were left homeless.

BBC News

China's Nobel anger as Liu Xiaobo awarded peace prize

China has angrily condemned the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

The Beijing government summoned the Norwegian ambassador in protest. It called Mr Liu a "criminal", saying the award violated Nobel principles and could damage relations with Norway.

The Norwegian Nobel committee said Mr Liu was "the foremost symbol" of the struggle for human rights in China.

US President Barack Obama called for Mr Liu's immediate release.

"We call on the Chinese government to release Mr Liu as soon as possible," Mr Obama, last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, said in a statement.

"Over the last 30 years, China has made dramatic progress in economic reform and improving the lives of its people, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty.

"But this award reminds us that political reform has not kept pace, and that the basic human rights of every man, woman and child must be respected," Mr Obama said.

Other Western countries have also urged China to release Mr Liu.

'Insult'

Mr Liu, 54, was a key leader in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Last year he received an 11-year sentence for "inciting subversion" after drafting Charter 08 - which called for multi-party democracy and respect for human rights in China.

Announcing its 2010 peace prize in Oslo, the Nobel Foundation said: "Liu has consistently maintained that the sentence violates both China's own constitution and fundamental human rights".

It praised Mr Liu for his "long and non-violent struggle" and highlighted its belief in a "close connection between human rights and peace".

The citation described him as "the foremost symbol of this wide-ranging struggle for human rights in China".

Beijing quickly condemned the award, saying it could damage China-Norway relations.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said: "Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who violated Chinese law. It's a complete violation of the principles of the prize and an insult to the peace prize itself for the Nobel committee to award the prize to such a person".

Later Norway said its ambassador in Beijing had been summoned to the Chinese foreign ministry.

"They wanted to officially share their... disagreement and their protest," a Norwegian spokeswoman said.

"We emphasised that this is an independent committee and the need to continue good bilateral relations," she added.

BBC News

Italy frustrated by Northern Ireland in Euro 2012 qualifier

(CNN) -- Italy dropped their first points of the Euro 2012 campaign after being held 0-0 by minnows Northern Ireland on Friday night, but World Cup finalists Spain and the Netherlands maintained their 100 percent records along with Germany.

Cesare Prandelli had presided over two consecutive Group C wins after taking charge of Italy following a miserable World Cup campaign, but his team could not break down a stubborn Irish side in Belfast.

It was the first match there between the two nations in 52 years, when Italy lost 2-1 and missed out on reaching the World Cup finals while their hosts went through.

Northern Ireland, who have never qualified for the European Championship, beat Slovenia 1-0 in their opening game last month and should have taken the lead in the 31st minute when all-time leading scorer David Healy headed wide from Chris Brunt's teasing cross.

Italy striker Marco Borriello was denied one on one by keeper Maik Taylor, and Antonio Cassano curled the rebound wide, before teammate Daniele De Rossi was lucky not to concede a penalty for handball.

CNN

French pension reform bill cleared by lower house

France's lower house of parliament has passed a controversial reform bill which will raise the minimum pension age from 60 to 62 by 2018.

It passed with 329 votes to 233 in the National Assembly in a stormy session and will now go before the Senate.

The government says the bill is needed to address France's deficit, but it has been fiercely opposed by the left.

Thousands have protested against the bill and union leaders have threatened to stage open-ended strikes.

Socialist members of parliament had attempted to prevent the vote from taking place by prolonging the debate past the cut-off point.

But house speaker Bernard Accoyer interrupted the process to allow the vote to proceed, prompting calls for his resignation from the Socialists.

Jean-Francois Cope, leader of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party in the lower house, said the bill was highly important and most French people believe it is necessary.

"[They] know there is no other solution than to pass this courageous reform - begun in all of Europe's big countries - and that we have to do this to revive France," he said.

BBC News

Pope aide pulls out of trip after Third World jibe

A senior Papal adviser has pulled out of the Pope's UK visit after saying arriving at Heathrow airport was like landing in a "Third World" country.

Cardinal Walter Kasper reportedly told a German magazine the UK was marked by "a new and aggressive atheism".

The Vatican said the cardinal had not intended "any kind of slight" and had pulled out because of illness.

The UK Cabinet Office said his views were personal and not representative of the Vatican or bishops in the UK.

The German-born cardinal was quoted as saying to the country's Focus magazine that "when you land at Heathrow you think at times you have landed in a Third World country".

He also criticised British Airways (BA), saying that when you wear a cross on the airline "you are discriminated against".

'Talking nonsense'

In 2006 a BA employee was told to stop wearing a cross at work. She took the case to an employment tribunal claiming religious discrimination, but lost, also losing her subsequent appeal.

BA changed its uniform rules in 2007, allowing staff to display a faith or charity symbol.

Vatican sources said Cardinal Kasper - who stepped down in July as the head of the department that deals with other Christian denominations - was suffering from gout and had been advised by his doctors not to travel to the UK.

They also said his "Third World" comment referred to the UK's multicultural society.

The Cabinet Office said the cardinal had worked hard to build ecumenical relations between the Catholic and Anglican faiths.

BBC News

China blanks Nobel Peace prize searches

Beijing, China (CNN) -- With news media across the globe reacting to this year's Nobel Peace Prize announcement, authorities in the winner's homeland are racing to delete his name from all public domains.

Type "Liu Xiaobo" -- or "Nobel Peace Prize," for that matter -- in search engines in China and hit return, you get a blaring error page.

It's the same for the country's increasingly popular micro-blogging sites. "Nobel Prize" was the top-trending topic until the authorities acted to remove all mentions of the award.

Propaganda officials have also pulled the plug on international broadcasters -- including CNN -- whenever stories about Liu air.

Text-messaging on mobile phones is not immune from censors, either. A Shanghai-based netizen, @littley, tweeted his unfortunate experience: "My SIM card just got de-activated, turning my iPhone to an iPod touch after I texted my dad about Liu Xiaobo winning the Nobel Peace Prize".

For most ordinary Chinese, the only glimpse of the story came when an anchor read a short statement from the foreign ministry on state TV, blasting the Norwegian Nobel committee's choice of an imprisoned Chinese dissident for the prize "a blasphemy".

CNN

Chile: Rescue drill should reach trapped miners within 24 hours

Copiapo, Chile (CNN) -- A rescue drill is 40 meters (about 130 feet) away from reaching 33 trapped Chilean miners and should get to them within 24 hours, the nation's mining minister said Friday afternoon.

Efforts to start pulling the miners out should begin from three to 10 days afterward, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said.

Medical and rescue personnel will be in place to start extracting and treating the miners Monday night, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

Barring any complications, it will take about 24 to 36 hours to remove all the miners, Manalich said. They will be taken by helicopter to a hospital in the town of Copiapo -- approximately a 15-minute flight.

Miners who are healthy enough will be allowed to visit briefly with family members in a reunion area before being taken to the hospital, Manalich said.

Health officials have increased the miners' physical activity in recent days to gauge how they can handle the stress of being removed, Manalich said. The overall response has been good, he said, though some miners have exhibited anxiety or have had minor cardiac issues.

Before any miners are brought to the surface, Manalich said, authorities will lower a doctor and a rescuer to the chamber where the men have been holed up since August 5.

The miners have been in contact with the outside world through a small bore hole that is being used to send them food, water, supplies and other necessities.

CNN

Voter registration to begin in November for South Sudan referendum

(CNN) -- Residents of Southern Sudan will begin registering November 14 for an historic referendum that will decide whether the region remains part of Sudan or breaks off to form a new nation.

The registration -- which will run for 30 days -- was postponed once before, because registration materials were not ready. Voting is scheduled for January 9, leaving little room for other delays.

"We are worried; the time remaining is short and many things are not in place yet," said Hamilton Lugor, the deputy liaison officer for the government of Southern Sudan in Kenya.

"But what we will not allow is the referendum to be delayed even for one minute," he added.

People from Southern Sudan who live outside of the country will also have an opportunity to vote in the referendum in selected countries in Africa and the West.

Another referendum will take place on the same day as that voting: that of Abyei, a disputed oil-rich border region between the North and the South which also wants to govern itself. Talks are being held in Ethiopia with the goal of breaking a stalemate between the two sides in regard to guidelines that will govern Abyei's referendum.

The North insists that the Missiriya, a nomadic Arabic tribe, are eligible to vote in the Abyei referendum, but the South says only the permanently based Dinka tribe should have a right to vote.

CNN

Titanic memorial cruise nearly full

SOUTHAMPTON, England, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The British charter company behind a 100-year anniversary cruise following the Titanic's path said cabins are nearly sold out for the April 2012 trip.

Miles Morgan Travel said passengers from 26 countries, including relatives of 30 victims of the Titanic sinking, will depart April 8, 2012, from Southampton, England, on the Balmoral from Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, and memorial services will be held at the site of the sinking between 11:40 p.m. April 14, the time the Titanic hit the iceberg, and 2:20 a.m. April 15, when the ship went down, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

The ship will also stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where passengers will visit the graves of 121 victims of the sinking, before completing the journey in New York.

UPI

Marriott focuses on overseas projects

BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. hotel chain Marriott International said it would continue to focus on foreign markets, where revenue per room grew 12 percent in the third quarter.

By comparison, revenue per room grew 7.5 percent for the industry overall in the quarter, The Washington Post reported Friday.

In recent initiatives, Marriott said it would double the number of hotels it operates in China and triple the number it runs in India. This week it launched AC by Marriott, a partnership with Spanish hotel group AC Hotels.

The focus for AC by Marriott will be hotels in Europe and Latin America, the company said.

At this point, 70 percent of Marriott's planned hotel projects are scheduled for overseas.

UPI

Israel to use dogs in ship interceptions

JERUSALEM, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Israeli forces will use dogs when boarding ships trying to break the Gaza blockade in the future, military sources said.

The decision is a response to the bloody confrontation on the Mavi Marmara on May 31, the Jerusalem Post reported. Nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed, Israeli commandos were attacked, and Israel faced global condemnation.

Military planners see boarding operations as the trickiest part of intercepting aid ships.

In future operations, specially trained dogs will be put on such ships first to ensure commandos can board safely, the Post reported.

Using the Oketz canine unit will require dog trainers and their animals to train together with naval commandos.

UPI

Pigeon winds up 5,200 miles away in Panama

PANAMA CITY, Panama, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A British pigeon racer said one of his birds disappeared during a 6-hour race and turned up more than five weeks later 5,200 miles off course.

Darren Cubberly, 45, said he never expected to hear of 10-month-old Houdini again when she failed to turn up in Dudley, England, in a 224-mile race from Guernsey, England, but he received a phone call this month from Gustavo Ortiz of Panama City, who said the bird recently landed on his roof, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Cubberly said he thinks the bird may have landed on a boat and hitched a ride toward Panama, winding up 5,200 miles from Guernsey. He said the bird had a tag with his contact information.

UPI

Blue Helmets in Ivory Coast ahead of vote

YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The first batch of 500 peacekeepers arrived to support a U.N. mission in the Ivory Coast as voter cards go out to rebel and government areas, an official said.

Hamadoun Toure, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Ivory Coast said the additional troops would help the 8,650 soldiers with security during preparation for elections at the end of October.

"These Blue Helmets are among the 500 additional personnel that are to beef up UNOCI's strength, in accordance with the Security Council's decision," he was quoted by the U.N.'s news agency as saying.

U.N. workers deployed across the country to deliver voter and identification cards to the rebel-held north and government-controlled south.

The U.N. Security Council voted to place as many as 500 additional peacekeepers in the country in preparation for elections Oct. 31.

Jean-Marie Kacou Gervais, the foreign affairs minister for the Ivory Coast, told delegates at the U.N. General Assembly in September that the human rights situation in his country had improved with the help of the international community.

UPI

Home prices tumble in Britain

LONDON, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Home values in Britain plummeted in September, the nation's largest lending group, Halifax, said Friday.

The value of homes fell on average by $9,561, Halifax said. The Daily Telegraph reported that the average home price fell from $267,926 in August to $258,320, the largest month-to-month drop since Halifax began tracking the data in 1983.

The price drop is expected to ripple though the economy, as home owners have considerably less collateral to bank on when applying for a home equity loan. Government fees and taxes based on property values will also decline. Refinancing also becomes more difficult when homeowners find equity in the current contract fails to match their expectations.

A spokeswoman for the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Sue Anderson, said: "The future direction of house prices remains uncertain. But house price falls exacerbate the problem that people with lower levels of equity face if they wish to move or remortgage".

Halifax economist Martin Ellis said a market imbalance brought home prices up a year ago, but continued high unemployment and a lack of consumer confidence are now eroding prices.

UPI

NATO rolls out new strategic concepts

BRUSSELS, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- NATO allies need to examine their defense budgets as they adapt to new security threats, the secretary-general of the alliance said in Brussels.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spelled out NATO's new strategic concept to delegates at a speech in Brussels, Belgium.

Rasmussen told the audience that the face of security threats was changing. While state conflict can't be ruled out, emerging threats from international terrorist groups, cyberattacks and energy security are "just as real and potentially just as deadly".

NATO allies, he said, needed to update defense capabilities while adapting to the added strain of the global economic crisis.

"We have to avoid cutting (defense budgets) so deep that we won't, in (the) future, be able to defend the security on which our economic prosperity rests," he warned.

Addressing what he considered the fundamental element of collective defense, the secretary-general said NATO was an ideal forum for U.S. and European allies to pool resources to defend their common values.

UPI

National security adviser leaving post

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Gen. James Jones, U.S. national security adviser, is leaving, to be replaced by his deputy, Thomas Donilon, administration officials said Friday.

President Barack Obama was expected to announce the shift Friday afternoon.

Jones's departure had been been expected but was hastened after he got in trouble for statements that he apparently made to Bob Woodward, the author of "Obama's Wars," a source told The New York Times.

Donilon began as a political operative for President Jimmy Carter and served as chief of staff for Secretary of State Warren Christopher in the Clinton administration. He coached Obama on foreign policy for his campaign debates.

As deputy national security adviser, Donilon has called for "rebalancing" U.S. foreign policy to rapidly disengage in Iraq and concentrate on China, Iran and other emerging challenges. He has argued that the United States cannot wage "endless war" in Afghanistan and has backed Obama's intention to withdraw troops next summer.

UPI

Jet evacuated after engine fire

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 8 (UPI) -- An engine fire forced the evacuation an Allegiant Airlines jet preparing to take off from Florida's Orlando Sanford International Airport Friday, officials said.

Flight 700 was headed to Roanoke, Va., when smoke was detected as the plane was being prepared for liftoff, The Orlando Sentinel reported.

None of the 147 passengers and crew aboard the MD-80 jet was injured in the incident, and authorities were investigating what caused the fire.

"At the moment, we don't know the extent of the damage," said Allegiant Air spokeswoman Tyri Squyres.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the incident wasn't an emergency and did not require the deployment of the plane's emergency chute.

Passengers boarded another Allegiant jet and resumed their trips about 10 a.m. Friday, the report said.

UPI

Jailed Chinese dissident wins Peace Prize

OSLO, Norway, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo Friday won the Nobel Peace Prize despite warnings from China the award would damage relations with Norway.

Liu, a leading dissident since the 1989 Tiananmen Square student movement, was arrested in December 2008 after co-authoring Charter 08, a call for democratic reforms, and is serving 11 years for incitement to subvert state power. He also served three years in a labor camp in the 1990s.

The move by the Norwegian Nobel Committee is certain to anger Beijing, which last week warned Norway that it would harm relations. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said last week honoring Liu would contradict the aims of the prize.

U.S President Barack Obama, who won the prize last year, welcomed the announcement, saying Liu has been "an eloquent and corageous spokesman for the advance of universal values through peaceful and non-violent means".

"This award reminds us that political reform (in China) has not kept pace, and that the basic human rights of every man, woman and child must be respected. We call on the Chinese government to release Mr. Liu as soon as possible," Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

Liu, 54, an author and former academic, may well not know he has won. His lawyer had told him he was nominated, but he is not allowed to talk about current affairs with visitors to his prison in Jinzhou, Liaoning province.

UPI

Norilsk Nickel shareholder opposes board candidates

Gardenstate Holdings Limited, a shareholder in Russia's mining giant Norilsk Nickel, has asked an arbitration court to declare invalid the list of potential board candidates, Norilsk said in a statement on Friday.

The candidates were put forward for election at Norilsk's extraordinary shareholder meeting.

Gardenstate Holdings says RusAl Investment Management, which owns a 25 percent stake in Norilsk Nickel, submitted two different copies of their charter with the same reference information and certified by the same public notary.

Both Norilsk Nickel and RusAl Investment Management will act as defendants in the law suit.

RusAl said the charter was in accordance with Russian law.

RusAl, and Interros, billionaire Vladimir Potanin's investment arm, which also owns a 25 percent stake in Norilsk Nickel, have been embroiled in a shareholder row since RusAl lost one seat on Norilsk's board at the company's annual general meeting in June, while Interros increased its representation.

RusAl has accused Interros of ruining the parity of the company and the board of directors of vote fraud.

Interros told RIA Novosti that Gardenstate Holdings had no connection with Interros. Norilsk Nickel declined to comment.

RIA Novosti