Submariners World News SitRep

Five killed, 23 injured in Sudan rebel shelling

Five people have been killed and 23 others wounded from shooting and shelling in the capital of Sudan’s South Kordofan state. One or two shells landed inside the UNICEF compound but did not explode, Reuters quoted Ray Torres, officer in charge at UNICEF, as saying. The Sudanese army has blamed rebels associated with Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) for the attack. Rebels have been fighting in South Kordofan since last year, but the capital of Kadugli has remained largely peaceful until now.

China plane lands due to ‘terrorist threat’

A Chinese plane has been forced to make an emergency landing as it received an “anonymous terrorist threat” after taking off from China's restive northwestern Xinjiang region. The CZ680 China Southern Airlines flight had originally taken off from Istanbul on a scheduled flight to Xinjiang's provincial capital, Urumqi. It was en route to Beijing when the alert happened, AFP reports. The plane landed at an airport Lanzhou in China's northwest province of Gansu, Xinhua said. It was not immediately clear who had made the “terrorist threat.” Xinjiang is home to roughly 9 million Turkic-speaking Uighurs. Bloody ethnic riots took place there two years ago.

Iran scorns Israeli air defenses over drone incursion

Iran described Israel’s air defenses as feeble on Monday, citing a drone incursion into its foe’s airspace. The incident showed that Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense system “does not work,” Jamaluddin Aberoumand, deputy coordinator for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said. The Israeli Air Force shot down a drone on Saturday, the military said. It remained unclear where the aircraft had come from. Israeli MP Miri Regev described it as “Iranian drone launched by Hezbollah,” Reuters reports. The drone was first spotted above the Mediterranean near the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to the west of Israel and shot down by a fighter plane over Israeli territory.

Bahrain court denies requests for release of rights activist Rajab

A Bahraini court on Monday denied a defense team’s request to release Shiite rights activist Nabeel Rajab. He is serving a three-year sentence for participating in anti-regime protests. The court “rejected a request to release Nabeel Rajab and suspend” his sentence, AFP said, citing lawyers. Rajab, 48, went on hunger strike on October 6. The courts have merged Rajab’s three separate cases of “incitement and illegal assembly” into one single appeal. The next hearing in the appeal is set for October 16.

Russia’s Gazprom increases supply by 60% to Turkey after pipeline blast

Gazprom has boosted gas supply to Turkey 60% on Monday after an explosion at a Turkish pipeline from Iran, the Russian company said. Turkey's Botas had asked Gazprom to increase supplies along the Blue Stream pipeline until the pipeline becomes operational again, Interfax quoted the company representatives as saying. The volume of export gas to Turkey was increased from 30 million to 48 million cubic meters per day. Gazprom has responded to similar requests from Turkey in the past, if capacity permitted.

Shooting, shelling reported in Sudan border state capital

Shooting and shelling reportedly broke out in the main city of Sudan's oil-producing South Kordofan state near the border with South Sudan on Monday. One or two shells landed inside the UNICEF compound but did not explode, Reuters quoted Ray Torres, officer in charge at UNICEF, as saying. One woman was injured by a rocket explosion outside the compound. Sudan's army has been battling rebels in the state for over a year, but the capital Kadugli has been mostly isolated from the fighting. Khartoum accuses the new nation's government of continuing to back the insurgents, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North. South Sudan denies the charge.

Somali al-Shabab rebels ban Islamic Relief aid group

Somalia's al-Shabab insurgents on Monday banned the Islamic Relief in region controlled by Al-Qaeda linked fighters. The aid agency is one of the few groups able to work in the area. The militants revoked Islamic Relief's permit because it has failed “to comply with the operational guidelines,” AFP reported. The group has lost control of several towns in recent months, but they still control large parts of rural southern and central Somalia. A coalition of Somali and African Union troops captured the central town of Wanla Weyn from the al-Shabaab on Sunday.

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi willing to be elected president

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday declared her willingness to serve as president. “As a political party leader, I also have to have the courage to be president. If that is what the people want, I will do so,” AP quoted Suu Kyi as saying. Myanmar's next election is in 2015. She added that a clause in the constitution that effectively bars her from the job is one her party, the National League for Democracy, wants to change. The constitution bars anyone from the presidency whose parent, spouse or child are citizen of another country. Suu Kyi's late husband was British, and the couple has two sons who live outside of Myanmar.

Maldives ex-president arrested for failing to show in court

Police in the Maldives detained former President Mohamed Nasheed on Monday after he twice failed to appear before a court. Nasheed, who says the military ousted him in a coup earlier this year, is facing charges that he illegally ordered the arrest of a judge while in office. The politician was arrested while campaigning for next year’s elections, AP said. He had also defied a Hulhumale magistrate court’s order not to leave the capital, Male, without permission.

19 Egyptian security officers killed as vehicle overturns in Sinai

Nineteen Egyptian Central Security Forces officers were killed and 48 others injured after a personnel carrier overturned on a mountain road in central Sinai. The driver had lost control due to the steepness of the route, Interior Ministry sources said. The vehicle was transferring troops of the paramilitary Central Security Forces to their camp early Monday, AP reported. The military is conducting a sweep against Islamic militants in a different part of the Sinai.

Pipeline blast in Turkey halts Iranian gas exports

An explosion targeting a pipeline in eastern Turkey early on Monday has halted Iranian exports of natural gas for Ankara. The blast occurred near Dogubeyazit town, in the eastern province of Agri, a Turkish Energy Ministry official told AFP. It was not immediately clear if the blast was caused by sabotage.

Britain’s John Gurdon, Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka win Nobel Prize for Medicine

The Nobel Prize for medicine has been awarded to Britain’s John Gurdon and Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka. Monday opened the season for the prestigious awards in Oslo. On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel committee will announce the most anticipated of the annual honors - the Nobel Peace Prize.

Greece to charge power workers after clashes with police

Eighteen Greek electricity workers will be charged on Monday after police broke up an anti-austerity protest ahead of a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Riot police dispersed a rally of workers who occupied a data center of utility PPC to protest against a deeply unpopular property tax collected through electricity bills, Reuters reports. Those to be charged include Nikos Fotopoulos, the leader of Greece's powerful GENOP union. It has promised rolling 48-hour power strikes when a new round of austerity measures is put before parliament. Merkel is due to visit Athens on Tuesday.

Israel strikes Gaza targets after rocket fire by Palestinian militants

Israel struck targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday after Palestinian militants fired rockets at southern Israel. The army said it had targeted “Hamas terror activity sites and terrorist squads responsible for the rocket fire,” Reuters reported. Palestinian militant groups said earlier their attack was a response to an Israel air strike on Sunday that wounded two militants and eight civilians.

Turkish jets strike Kurdish rebels in Iraq – reports

Turkish jets reportedly bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq overnight. At least 12 F-16 fighter jets took off from Diyarbakir base and targeted four camps in the Kandil Mountains and the surrounding area, military sources told AFP. The jets struck places where the leadership of the rebel organization is believed to be hiding.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad fire rockets into Israel after air strike

The armed wings of Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement and the Islamic Jihad group said on Monday they had fired rockets at Israel. A barrage of more than 20 rockets hit Israel early Monday, causing light damage and no injuries, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP. The fire came after an Israeli air strike on the Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday evening. The strike reportedly wounded two men belonging to a Salafist militant group, and also injured eight others, including children. “In response to the injury of civilians in the most recent strike on Rafah, the Qassam Brigades and the al-Quds Brigades fired a number of rockets at enemy military positions,” Hamas’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades armed wing said on Monday.

6.2 magnitude quake strikes off northwest Mexico

A 6.2 earthquake struck in the Gulf of California off the Mexican coast on Monday. The quake was centered 69 miles southwest of Los Mochis in Sinaloa, Mexico, the US Geological Survey reported. The depth was 6.2 miles, according to initial estimates. The earthquake was followed by a 6.0 magnitude aftershock.

Students protest against Afghan intelligence over detentions

More than 10,000 Afghan students protested on Monday against the detention of 10 students by Afghan intelligence in eastern Nangahar province. The protesters reportedly blocked the main highway between Kabul and Jalalabad city. The National Directorate of Security of Afghanistan has accused the detained students of having links with militants groups.

Libya’s parliament ousts PM in no-confidence vote

The parliament of Libya ousted Mustafa Abushagur, the first prime minister to be elected after the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The no-confidence vote on Sunday followed his proposal of the new Cabinet after he withdrew his first ministerial line-up. The second attempt to submit the government composition resulted in his ouster, AP reported. Abushagur represented an offshoot of the country’s oldest anti-Gaddafi opposition movement. He was also considered a compromise candidate acceptable to both liberals and Islamists. Abushagur said he respected the decision made by the General National Congress but warned of possible instability.

First commercial flight launched to ISS

The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday night taking the Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station. The unmanned space ship, launched by a private California-based company, SpaceX, will deliver some 450 kg of cargo, including food supplies and gear for scientific experiments. This is the first commercial flight to the ISS and is funded by a US$1.6 billion contract with NASA. Dragon will reach the ISS on Wednesday and will remain docked for about three weeks before returning to Earth with even more cargo.

Georgia’s oldest woman dies at 132

Antisa Khvichava was born in July 1880 and spent all her life in the village of Sachino in western Georgia. The oldest person in the country and, perhaps, the world, she died several days ago, but the news got lost in the shadow of the parliamentary election. Khvichava witnessed both the World Wars, the creation and collapse of the USSR, Georgia restoring independence and the harsh political and economic crises that followed. Thousands of people came to the farewell ceremony including her 12 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren.

Over 85,000 Syrians fled to Lebanon – UN

The number of Syrian refugees, who’ve fled to Lebanon to escape the ongoing violence at home, has surpassed 85,000, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Sunday, according to Xinhua news agency. The UN body’s findings state that the number of registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon reached 60,089, on top of 25,150 awaiting registration. This is an increase of about 39,950 refugees in more than two months. The anti-government uprising in Syria, which started in March 2011, has grown into a civil war which has claimed more than 18,000 lives.