UN climate talks resume next week in Germany
PARIS, Nov 03: Nations that adopted the Paris Agreement with champagne two years ago, regroup next week amid grim omens of climate peril and with an anxious eye on Donald Trump's America. The November 6-17 meeting in Bonn, Germany, is the first for UN climate envoys since the US president announced he will extricate Washington from the deal, carefully crafted over many years and helped over the finish line by Trump's predecessor Barack Obama. In a year marked by severe flooding in Asia, drought in Africa and an exceptional North American hurricane season, Washington's position "remains unchanged", a state department official said. — AFP
Iran denounces CIA 'fake news' in Bin Laden files
TEHRAN, Nov 03: Iran has accused the CIA of spreading "fake news" about the Islamic republic with newly declassified files seized in the 2011 raid in Pakistan in which Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed. The CIA on Wednesday released 470,000 additional files found in May 2011 when US Navy SEALs burst into Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad and shot him dead. According to scholars from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), who were allowed to see the trove before it was made public, the files shed new light on the murky relationship between the Sunni extremist group and Shiite Iran. — AFP
Charles views Islamic art on first visit to Malaysia
SELANGOR, Nov 03: Prince Charles began his first visit to Malaysia on Friday by touring a museum of Islamic art and meeting with students from Commonwealth nations. In a speech at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, the Prince of Wales said he has "always been fascinated by Malaysia's rich cultural and racial diversity which . is something to be both cherished and celebrated." Charles also visited the University of Nottingham Malaysia campus in Selangor, where he officiated at a Commonwealth Youth Summit and met with students from across the region. — AP
Gun battle leaves eight militants dead in N Afghanistan
KUNDUZ, Nov 03: Eight militants have been killed as a clash flared up between security forces and Taliban in Chardara district of the northern Afghanistan's Kunduz province on Friday, a police spokesman in the province Inamudin Rahmani said. According to Rahmani, two more militants sustained injury and three others were arrested in the clash which erupted early morning and has been continuing. However, the official didn't say if there were casualties on security forces.—Xinhua