Voting starts in US polls expected to deal rebuke to Obama

WASHINGTON: Americans began voting Tuesday in key legislative elections expected to deal a stinging defeat to President Barack Obama, with Republicans poised to take full control of Congress by wresting the Senate from his Democrats.

The party of an incumbent US president historically fares badly in elections in the middle of his second term, and this time is expected to be no different for Obama.

Many Republicans have essentially based their campaigns on attacks against the president and his policies, particularly his health care plan. Many Democrats even avoided including the president in their campaign rallies and photo ops.

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Gunmen kill five in Saudi village

RIYADH: Masked gunmen killed five people in area of eastern Saudi Arabia late on Monday, police said.

Nine people were also wounded in the shooting, the latest in a spate of sporadic unrest in the oil-rich east of the kingdom.

The three assailants fired machineguns and pistols on a

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Clinton: Women´s rights ´under assault´ by Republicans

DENVER: Hillary Clinton urged Americans not to vote for Republicans who dwell on the past, warning at a Democratic campaign rally Tuesday that conservatives seek to keep women´s rights "under assault" nationwide.

Applauded by hundreds of supporters in suburban Denver, the former secretary of state lent her political celebrity to Colorado´s embattled Senate incumbent Mark Udall, who trails in the polls and has made securing constituent´s rights to abortion and contraception the central theme of his campaign.

"Don´t vote for people who proudly tell you they will never compromise, don´t vote for people whose image of the future sounds awfully like the past," Clinton said in a 25-minute address.

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Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee dies at 93

WASHINGTON: Ben Bradlee, the hard-driving editor who reigned over the Washington Post newsroom with the style of a well-dressed swashbuckler and the profane vocabulary of dockworker as the newspaper helped topple President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, died on Tuesday at age 93.

Bradlee´s death at his Washington home of natural causes was announced by the Post, which reported late last month that its former editor had begun hospice care after suffering from Alzheimer´s disease for the past several years.

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Taliban blast in Kabul kills four Afghan soldiers

KABUL: At least four Afghan soldiers were killed and around a dozen people including six civilians wounded when a roadside bomb planted by the Taliban exploded in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, officials said.

The blast, caused by a remote-controlled bomb, targeted an Afghan army bus in the western part of Kabul, the Ministry of Defence said.

"In a remote-controlled bomb attack against an army bus at 6:45 am (0215 GMT) in Aqa Ali Shams in Kabul, four army personnel were killed and 12 wounded, including six civilians," the ministry said in a statement.

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Fire at Indian fire-cracker market, hundreds of shops gutted

WEBDESK: A massive fire broke out in Faridabad, India at the city’s largest fire-cracker market on Tuesday.

According to initial details as reported by Indian media, a shop keeper at the NIT Dussehra Ground was sampling fire crackers on display for a customer when the fire broke out. According to Indian media,

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Bodies of four babies found in Canada storage locker

OTTAWA: The bodies of four babies have been discovered in a storage locker in the western Canadian city of Winnipeg, police said Tuesday.

Police said they are "speaking with a number of individuals" as part of their investigation into the gruesome discovery, while an autopsy was underway.

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Japan to unveil first passenger jet in four decades

NAGOYA: The first made-in-Japan passenger aircraft in nearly four decades is being unveiled Saturday as its maker pushes into the booming regional jet sector with an eye to taking on industry giants Embraer and Bombardier.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a military contractor best known for its "Zero" World War II fighter, is set to pull back the curtain on its new Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), a fuel-efficient, next-generation aircraft that claims to offer more passenger comfort with lower operating costs.

The jet, which will be delivered to customers from 2017 and was built with assistance from aviation giant Boeing, is being unveiled at a ceremony in the central city of Nagoya on Saturday.

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S Korean official in apparent suicide after concert tragedy

SEOUL: An official dealing with safety measures at a concert in South Korea where 16 people died when the grate they were standing on collapsed apparently committed suicide hours after the tragedy, authorities said Saturday.

The death of the 37-year-old local government official, surnamed Oh, was announced as South Korean police launched an investigation into the Friday incident at an outdoor pop concert in the city of Seongnam.

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Tens of thousands march on London over low wages

LONDON: At least 80,000 people marched through central London on Saturday to protest against low wages and public spending cuts introduced to reduce Britain´s deficit, organisers said.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), a federation of the country´s main trade unions, said thousands more gathered in Glasgow and Belfast as part of the "Britain Needs A Pay Rise" event.

The demonstration capped a week of industrial action over low wages, that saw workers in the state-run National Health Service (NHS), courts, job centres and museums stage strikes.

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New Afghan president Ghani hosts Turkey´s Erdogan in Kabul

KABUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Afghanistan Saturday, the latest world leader to visit the war-ravaged country since President Ashraf Ghani took power after a prolonged political standoff.

Erdogan met Ghani, his first vice president Abdul Rashid Dostum, and his former poll rival Abdullah Abdullah, who took the new role of "chief executive".

The two leaders later appeared in a joint press conference after signing an agreement on closer bilateral relationship between the two countries.

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Britain threatens Internet ´trolls´ with two years in jail

LONDON: People found guilty of Internet "trolling" in Britain could be jailed for up to two years under government proposals outlined on Sunday, following a number of high-profile case of abuse on Twitter.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: "This is a law to combat cruelty -- and marks our determination to take a stand against a baying cyber-mob."

There has been increasing concern in Britain about the growing scourge of Internet "trolls" who post hate-filled messages on social media, often threatening their targets.

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Suicide bomber kills 18 at Baghdad mosque

BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a mosque in western Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 18 people, security and medical officials said.

The blast in the Harthiyah area, which also wounded at least 30 people, is the latest in a string of bombings in the Iraqi capital that have killed dozens of people in recent days.

Accounts differed as to whether the bomber struck at the gate or inside the mosque, where some of the sources said mourners were gathered at the time of the explosion.

There was no immediate claim for the attack, but suicide bombings are almost exclusively

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US military airdrops weapons, ammunition to Kurds near Kobane

WASHINGTON: The American military for the first time airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Syrian Kurds in the battleground city of Kobane, US Central Command said Sunday, in a move likely to anger key ally Turkey.

A C-130 cargo aircraft conducted "multiple" airdrops of the supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq.

The supplies were "intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL´s attempts to overtake Kobane," CENTCOM said in a statement referring to Islamic State fighters.

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Tajikistan to pardon 10,000 prisoners

DUSHANBE: Tajikistan will pardon 10,000 prisoners as the ex-Soviet state marks two decades of its constitution, the presidency said Monday.

President Emomali Rakhmon has submitted to parliament a draft law on the amnesty plan, proposing to release women, minors and foreigners, as well as those who have served at least three quarters of their jail terms.

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Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam dead at 98

SYDNEY: Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam, one of the nation´s most admired figures who led the country through a period of massive change, died Tuesday aged 98, his family said.

"Our father, Gough Whitlam, has died this morning at the age of 98," his children Antony, Nicholas, Stephen and Catherine said in a statement.

"A loving and generous father, he was a source of inspiration to us and our families and for millions of Australians."

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Flights cancelled at Britain´s Heathrow due to storm

LONDON: Around one in 10 flights may be cancelled at Britain´s biggest airport Heathrow on Tuesday due to stormy weather, an airport spokesman said.

The tail end of Hurricane Gonzalo, which caused damage in Bermuda this week, is set to arrive in Britain on Tuesday bringing gusts of up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) an hour in coastal areas.

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Taliban blast in Kabul kills four Afghan soldiers

KABUL: At least four Afghan soldiers were killed and around a dozen people including six civilians wounded when a roadside bomb planted by the Taliban exploded in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, officials said.

The blast, caused by a remote-controlled bomb, targeted an Afghan army bus in the western part of Kabul, the Ministry of Defence said.

"In a remote-controlled bomb attack against an army bus at 6:45 am (0215 GMT) in Aqa Ali Shams in Kabul, four army personnel were killed and 12 wounded, including six civilians," the ministry said in a statement.

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CEO of French oil giant Total killed in Moscow plane crash

MOSCOW: The CEO of French oil company Total, Christophe de Margerie died in a plane crash at a Moscow airport after his private jet struck a snow plough on takeoff.

Total confirmed the death of the 63-year-old early on Tuesday. "The Total Group confirms with great and profound sadness that its CEO Christophe de Margerie died last night shortly after 10pm (Paris time) in an air crash at Vnukovo airport in Moscow following a collision with a snow removing machine," Total said in a statement.

Just hours earlier De Margerie had met Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at his country residence outside Moscow to discuss foreign investment in Russia, Vedomosti business daily reported.

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Monica Lewinsky says she was cyber-bullying Patient Zero

NEW YORK: Monica Lewinsky said she was one of the first victims of cyber-bullying, becoming "Patient Zero" after falling in love with Bill Clinton, as the former White House intern gave her first speech in 13 years on Monday.

In an emotional address at Forbes´ inaugural Under 30 summit in Philadelphia that recalled the 1998 sex scandal with Clinton, the 41-year-old brunette announced a campaign to end online bullying.

Lewinsky told a packed auditorium that she was "the first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet."

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