Iran Nuclear Talks Stretch Into Third Day

Talks between the world's leading foreign ministers on Iran's nuclear programme are to stretch into an unscheduled third day after they ended on Friday with major "unresolved" issues remaining.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who cut short a Middle East tour to attend the talks in Geneva, Switzerland, struck a note of caution after a five-hour meeting drew to a close last night.

"There is not an agreement at this point," Mr Kerry told reporters. "There are still some very important issues on the table that are unresolved."

A senior State Department official said: "Over the course of the evening, we continued to make progress as we worked to the narrow the gaps. There is more work to do."

Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi added: "It was productive but still we have lots of work to do."

Six world powers - the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - are working on a deal to cap some of Iran's atomic programme in exchange for limited relief from economic sanctions.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the six countries and Iran could agree a "road map" to end the differences over the programme at the talks.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (centre) is at the talks

Mr Lavrov is expected to join the discussions today, diplomatic sources said.

He told reporters he did not wish to prejudge the outcome but said Iran should be allowed to have a peaceful nuclear programme under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Unlike previous encounters between Iran and Western powers in the past decade, all sides have remained quiet about details of the negotiations, without the criticism and mutual allegations of a lack of seriousness that have been typical of such meetings in the past.

Diplomats involved in the talks say this is a sign of how serious all sides are.

If some sort of agreement is reached, it would be a breakthrough after a decade of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers.

A potential deal could see Tehran freeze its nuclear efforts for as long as six months in exchange for some relief from the sanctions that have battered its economy.

But Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that his country "utterly rejects" a deal being forged, adding that "Israel will do everything it needs to do to defend itself and defend the security of its people".

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Lampedusa Boat Victims 'Raped And Tortured'

Italian police have arrested a Somali man accused of raping and torturing asylum seekers fleeing Libya on a boat which sank off the island of Lampedusa last month killing more than 365 migrants.

Mouhamud Elmi Muhidin, 34, faces charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, people trafficking and criminal association with the goal of aiding illegal immigration after he was identified by survivors.

Some 130 Eritreans were assaulted in Libay according to police

Some 130 migrants from Eritrea told police they were held for ransom at a detention centre in the Libyan desert by people traffickers from Somalia, Libya and Sudan.

A 17-year-old Eritrean girl interviewed by police said: "They forced us to watch our men being tortured with various methods including batons, electric shocks to the feet; whoever rebelled was tied up."

The migrants were forced to pay up to $3,500 (£2,180) for their freedom and their onward journey to the Libyan coast and a boat that due to take them to Italy.

Those who survived the crossing are held at detention centres in Italy

"The women who could not pay were assaulted," the girl said.                 

She also described in her own sexual assault, claiming Muhidin was one of three men who raped her.

"They threw me on the ground, held me down and poured fuel on my head. It burnt my hair, then my face, then my eyes.

"Then the three of them raped me without protection. After a quarter of an hour I was beaten and taken back to the house."

Muhidin was arrested on Lampedusa after he was spotted by some of the survivors on the island. He has now been flown to Sicily where he faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Police also held this Tunisian man suspected of driving one of the boats

Investigators say he arrived on the island last week and had been staying in the local migrant centre, pretending to be one of the refugees.

"He was one of the leaders of the trafficking organisation," a police spokeswoman said, adding that he may have come to Italy to look for criminal contacts.

Italian authorities have vowed to crack down on the people trafficking rings that have been behind the influx of more than 35,000 asylum seekers so far this year to the country's coasts.

Most of them come from Eritrea, Somalia and Syria and Italy has asked for the European Union to step up assistance in dealing with the arrivals and countering the criminal networks behind them.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan: 'At Least 100 Dead'

At least 100 people may have died in the Philippines from the impact of super typhoon Haiyan, according to government officials.

An aviation officer in the central city of Tacloban reported bodies lying in the streets, said Captain John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.

Captain Andrews said the Tacloban airport manager had radioed the head office in Manila to report "100-plus dead, lying on the streets, with 100 plus injured".

The death toll is expected to rise (pic: Lowell Estepa Coron)

"This report was relayed to us by our station manager so it is considered very reliable information," he told ABS-CBN television.

"According to the station manager the airport is completely ruined."

Tacloban is the capital of Leyte, a large island of about two million people that was hit by Haiyan on Friday morning when the storm was at its strongest, knocking out all its communication facilities.

Families who survived the onslaught wait for relief supplies from the army

Local television GMA network reported that storm surges had hit Tacloban and nearby Palo town on its east coast.

Its reporter said he counted at least 31 bodies, including 20 at the Palo church. Philippine authorities are now rushing rescuers and communication equipment to the island.

Volunteers in Manila pack relief goods for devastated provinces

Five other people have been confirmed killed elsewhere in the central Philippines and as emergency workers reach the worst affected areas, many which remain cut off, the death toll is expected to rise.

Minnie Portales, a spokesman for the aid agency World Vision, said: "As we wait for early reports from some of the hardest-hit provinces, we fear for the worst. This could be very bad."

The typhoon is believed to be the strongest ever to have made landfall

Anna Lindenfors, Save the Children's director for the Philippines, added: "We expect the level of destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan to be extensive and devastating, and sadly we fear that many lives will be lost."

Haiyan, now thought to be the strongest storm ever to hit land, was barrelling out of the Philippines after having flattened houses, triggered landslides and floods and knocked out power and communications across a number of islands.

The category five storm whipped-up winds of 195mph and waves as high as 5 metres as well as brought down power lines, knocked out communications, caused landslides and left streets flooded.

Haiyan could now pick up speed again as it sweeps towards Vietnam

Hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated and thousands more fled their homes as Haiyan tore apart buildings.

The previous strongest tropical cylcone, Hurricane Camille, brought 190mph winds to the Gulf of Mexico in 1969.

Meteorologists say Haiyan could pick up strength again as it sweeps across the South China Sea toward Vietnam.

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Kerry Heads To Geneva For Iran Nuclear Talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry will fly to Geneva to participate in nuclear programme negotiations with Iran.

Six world powers - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - are working on a deal to cap some of Iran's atomic programmes in exchange for limited relief from sanctions stifling Iran's economy.

A senior US State Department official travelling with Mr Kerry in Amman, Jordan, said the secretary would come to Geneva "to help narrow differences in negotiations".

The last-minute decision by Mr Kerry has led to suggestions that a deal is imminent.

However, even if an agreement is reached, it would only be the start of a long process to reduce Iran's potential nuclear threat, with no guarantee of ultimate success.

Even a limited accord would mark a breakthrough after nearly a decade of mostly inconclusive talks focused on limiting, if not eliminating, Iranian atomic programmes that could be turned from producing energy into making weapons.

The talks are primarily focused on the size and output of Iran's enrichment programme, which can create both reactor fuel and weapons-grade material suitable for a nuclear bomb.

Iran insists it is pursuing only nuclear energy, medical treatments and research, but the US and its allies fear that Iran could turn this material into the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, has indicated he could cut back on the nuclear programme in exchange for an easing of sanctions.

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Syrian Refugees 'Could Spread Polio To Europe'

Refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria could cause an outbreak of polio in Europe, two German infection experts have warned.

Writing in The Lancet medical journal they say the polio vaccine used in Europe is not effective enough to withstand transmission of the virus, amid fears it may have been carried to neighbouring countries by refugees living in unsanitary conditions ideal for the transmission of disease.

The inactivated polio vaccine (IPC), which is injected, usually forms part of a combined diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio jab.

IPC provides protection from infection but it does not prevent the spread of the virus.

Syrian refugees cross the border into northern Iraq

Professor Martin Eichner from the University of Tubingen, and Dr Stefan Brockmann from the Department of Infection Control in Reutlingen point out that because only one in 200 polio infections cause symptoms, the virus could be circulating for nearly a year before a single case occurs. By this time, hundreds of individuals may be carrying the virus.

Prof Eichner and Dr Brockmann wrote: "Routine screening of sewage for polio virus has not been done in most European countries. But this intensified surveillance measure should be considered for settlements with large numbers of Syrian refugees.

"Vaccinating only Syrian refugees - as has been recommended by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control - must be judged as insufficient; more comprehensive measures should be taken into consideration," they wrote.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed an outbreak of at least 10 cases of polio in Syria, where vaccination coverage has dramatically decreased because of the civil war.

On Wednesday, the WHO increased the number of people it said must be vaccinated to 20 million as part of a vaccination campaign that will target children in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan Hits The Philippines

Three people have been killed after Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded in the world, hit the Philippines.

The victims are reported to be a mother and child who drowned in South Cotabato, and a boy who was struck by lightning in Zamboanga City.

Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes in villages in Haiyan's path amid fears the storm damage could be the worst in the Philippines' history.

Communications have been cut and roads blocked by fallen trees

President Benigno Aquino III assured those living in high-risk areas, including 100 coastal communities, of war-like preparations with three C-130 air force cargo planes and 32 military helicopters and planes on standby, along with 20 navy ships.

People were warned they would be made to abandon their homes at gunpoint if necessary.

"No typhoon can bring Filipinos to their knees if we'll be united," Mr Aquino said in a televised address.

Those who did not leave have begun the clear-up operation

The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre in Hawaii said Haiyan's maximum sustained winds were 195mph (314kmph), with gusts up to 235mph (379kmph).

Local journalist Mike Cohen told Sky News: "We're seeing a lot of strong winds but not a lot of rain.

Residents of Legazpi city in Albay province, south of Manila

"There are already reports of some landslides and very strong storm surge entering towns and villages in the path of the storm.

"Trees are falling and there is lots of damage reported across the region."

Nearly 200 flights have been suspended at Ninoy Aquino airport

According to Mr Cohen, power has been cut to the worst-affected areas, mainly as a preventative measure to avoid electrocution, but this was making communications difficult.

Jeff Masters, a former hurricane meteorologist who is a director at the private firm Weather Underground, warned residents to prepare for "catastrophic damage".

Philippine Coast Guards beside newly acquired rubber boats in Manila

He said: "195mph winds; there aren't too many buildings constructed that can withstand that kind of wind. The wind damage should be the most extreme in Philippines' history."

The strength of the wind made it one of the four most powerful typhoons ever recorded in the world, and the most powerful to have made landfall, he added.

The calm before the storm: Fisherman's outrigger anchored off Manila bay

But other meteorologists forecast lower readings, saying the storm's speed at landfall had sustained winds at 145mph (234kmph) with gusts of 170mph ( 275kmph).

Haiyan is expected to sweep through the Philippines' central region before moving toward the South China Sea over the weekend, heading towards Vietnam.

A closer look reveals the eye of the storm over the Philippines

The head of the government's main disaster response agency in the capital Manila said people are still being moved from communities prone to landslides and flooding.

These include residents of Bohol, many of whom are still living in tents after being made homeless following an earthquake last month.

But there is hope that, as Haiyan is a fast-moving storm, flooding from heavy rain - which usually causes the most deaths from typhoons in the Philippines - may not be as bad.

Haiyan is the 24th tropical storm to hit the Philippines this year.

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Yasser Arafat: Tests 'Support' Polonium Claims

Timeline: Yasser Arafat

Updated: 9:52am UK, Tuesday 27 November 2012

Here are some of the key dates in Mr Arafat's life.

:: February 4, 1969 Mr Arafat, the fifth child of a Palestinian merchant, takes over the PLO chairmanship. He transforms it into a force that makes the Palestinian cause known worldwide.

:: June 6, 1982 Israel invades Lebanon to crush the PLO, forcing Mr Arafat and loyalists to flee Beirut.

:: October 1, 1985 Mr Arafat narrowly escapes death in an Israeli air raid on the PLO's Tunisian headquarters.

:: April 16, 1988 Khalil al Wazir, Mr Arafat's military commander, is assassinated in Tunis. Israel is blamed.

:: December 12, 1988 Mr Arafat accepts Israel's right to exist and renounces terrorism. Nearly two years later, Iraq invades Kuwait, Mr Arafat supports Saddam Hussein and the PLO is isolated.

:: November 1991 Mr Arafat marries his 28-year-old secretary, Suha Tawil. Their daughter Zahwa is born in 1995.

:: April 7, 1992 Mr Arafat is rescued after a plane crash lands in the Libyan desert during a sandstorm.

:: September 13, 1993 Israel and the PLO sign an accord on Palestinian autonomy in Oslo, Norway, giving Mr Arafat control of most of the Gaza Strip and about a quarter of the West Bank. He shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn. The two later share the Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres.

:: July 1, 1994 Returning from exile, Mr Arafat sets foot on Palestinian soil for the first time in 26 years.

:: September 28, 2000 Israel's then opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits a Jerusalem shrine holy to Jews and Muslims, leading to clashes that escalate into a Palestinian uprising.

:: December 3, 2001 After three suicide bombings, Israel destroys Mr Arafat's helicopters in Gaza City, confining him to the West Bank town of Ramallah.

:: March 2002 Israel declares Mr Arafat an "enemy" two days after a Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people at a Passover holiday meal, prompting an Israeli incursion into the West Bank.

:: June 24, 2002 President George W Bush calls on Palestinians to replace Mr Arafat as leader. A year later, his deputy Mahmoud Abbas becomes the first Palestinian prime minister in a move pushed for by the US and Israel to sideline Mr Arafat.

:: June 4, 2003 At the first major Israeli-Palestinian summit without Mr Arafat, Mr Sharon and Mr Bush launch "road map" peace plan, which aims to end fighting and create Palestinian state by 2005.

:: October 21, 2003 Mr Arafat is diagnosed with gallstones. Nearly a year to the day later, he collapses and is flown to hospital in France with a serious, undisclosed illness.

:: November 9, 2004 A French medical team acknowledges that Mr Arafat has been in a coma for a week. He dies two days later at the age of 75.

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Kerry's $75m Bid To Boost Middle East Talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry has pledged an extra $75m ($46m) in aid to help Palestinians, as he arrived in the Middle East to join peace talks.

Designed to boost Palestinian public support for the faltering negotiations, the additional cash is intended to create jobs and improve roads, schools and other infrastructure.

The announcement came as Mr Kerry met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of attempts to overcome the host of problems hindering the talks.

"I am very confident of our ability to work through them," he told reporters as he opened the meeting in a Jerusalem hotel.

Palestinian protesters during a demonstration as Kerry visited Bethlehem

"That is why I am here. This can be achieved with good faith and a serious effort on both sides."

He also urged both Mr Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who he met later in the day, to make "real compromises and hard decisions."

Senior Palestinians say an Israeli plan announced last week for 3,500 more settler homes in the occupied West Bank represents a major obstacle in the negotiations.

But Mr Netanyahu claimed the Palestinians' behaviour posed a greater threat to the discussions.

"I am concerned about the progress because I see the Palestinians continuing with incitement, continuing to create artificial crises, continuing to avoid, run away from the historic decisions that are needed to make a genuine peace," he said.

Mr Kerry also met Mahmoud Abbas

He said he hoped Mr Kerry's discussions in Jerusalem and with Mr Abbas "will help steer (the negotiations) back to a place where we could achieve the historical peace that we seek."

Speaking after meeting Mr Abbas, Mr Kerry reaffirmed the US' view of the settlements as "illegitimate".

Meanwhile, Palestinians held demonstrations in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, holding banners demanding an end to the settlements and criticising 'Israeli occupation and apartheid'.

On the sidelines of the peace talks, Israel has released half of the 104 Palestinian prisoners it pledged to free under a US-brokered deal to draw Mr Abbas back to negotiations that Palestinians abandoned in 2010 over settlement building.

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Twitter IPO: Shares Hit Stock Exchange At $26

Twitter has set a price of $26 (£16) for its public stock offering and can begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The price values the San Francisco-based micro blogging site at $14.1bn (£8.8bn), based on its outstanding stock and options, Reuters reported.

It is offering 70 million shares in the Initial Public Offering (IPO), with an option to buy another 10.5 million.

Twitter had originally set a price range of $17 (£10.57) to $20 (£12.44), but raised the range on Monday signalling an enthusiastic response from prospective investors.

A statement from the company read: "We've priced our initial public offering of 70,000,000 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $26 (£16) per share.

"In addition we've guaranteed the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 10,500,000 additional shares of common stock.

"Our shares are expected to begin trading on the NYSE on November 7 under the symbol TWTR."

Analysts said they expected shares in the company to experience a small rise during the first day of trading.

Investor enthusiasm for Twitter, which boasts 230 million users, is strong even though the micro blogging site has never turned a profit.

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Ariel Castro Victim Strung Up 'Like A Fish'

One of the three women held captive in a Cleveland man's home for nearly a decade has described being strung up "like a fish" in a TV interview.

Michelle Knight told the Dr Phil talk show she was punished after picking a lock in an attempt to escape and had her mouth taped up to prevent her from shouting for help.

She told TV host Phil McGraw: "I was tied up like a fish, an ornament on the wall. That's the only way I can describe it."

Ms Knight described how her kidnapper, Ariel Castro, used an orange extension cord to tie her neck, hands and feet before she was hung up.

During the show, she discussed the physical, mental and sexual abuse and torture she endured while in captivity, including spending weeks in chains.

She was kidnapped in August 2002 when she was 20 years old.

The three women managed to escape from the Cleveland house in May

Ms Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus escaped from Castro's house on May 6, 2012, when Ms Berry managed to get through a door and call for help.

Two of the women are planning to collaborate with a Pulitzer Prize-winning team of reporters for a book about their ordeal.

Castro, 53, pleaded guilty to kidnapping the three women, imprisoning them in his Cleveland home and repeatedly raping and beating them. He was sentenced to life in prison.

A month into his sentence, Castro was found dead in his cell. His death was initially ruled a suicide, but a prison report indicated he may have died accidentally as a result of auto-erotic asphyxiation.

Ms Knight was the only victim to appear at Castro's sentencing.

She told him: "You took 11 years of my life away, but I've got my life back. I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning."

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Norway Bus Stabbings Leave Three Dead

A man has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing three people to death and hijacking a bus in Norway.

The suspect - thought to have been a passenger on the vehicle - is said to have attacked two passengers and the bus driver on Monday, just after 5.30pm.

Two men and a woman are understood to have died in the incident on Route 53, between Lake Tyin and the village of Ovre Ardal in Sogn and Fjordane county, western Norway.

Motorists who saw what was happening and attempted to help were threatened, local media reported.

One witness told Norway's TV2 that a man was walking around the inside of the bus with a knife.

Police said the suspect was not an ethnic Norwegian but could not give details on where he was from. The motive was not immediately clear, he said.

A map showing the location of Tyin, near where the attack happened

Emergency services were originally told a bus accident had occurred and rescuers from the fire department were the first to arrive on the scene.

Police were called soon after and ordered people nearby to stay inside their cars and lock their doors.

Until they declared the scene safe, they were unsure whether the man was acting alone.

The suspect, described as a man in his 50s, was at first held by firefighters but later arrested when officers arrived at the scene.

Oslo police had feared it was a terrorist incident and prepared to send an anti-terror unit to the scene aboard army helicopters.

They called off the deployment after receiving reports that the suspect had been arrested.

Local mayor Arild Ingar Lægreid told Bergensavisen website: "It is cruel that such things can happen. I'm shocked.

"The most important thing now is to take care of the families, and we do the best we can."

The bus, operated by Jotunheimen and Valdres, was heading east at the time of the attacks.

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India Space Mission Set To Make Mars Milestone

India is to launch its first mission to Mars later as it bids to become the only Asian nation to reach the Red Planet.

The rocket carrying the unmanned probe is expected to take off at 9.08am GMT from the Sriharikota spaceport off the southeast coast.

"The countdown is progressing well, as scheduled," said Deviprasad Karnik, spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

"The weather is normal. Slightly cloudy but no problem."

The Mars Orbiter Mission, known as Mangalyaan, was announced 15 months ago by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, shortly after a Chinese probe flopped when it failed to leave Earth's atmosphere.

The timing led to speculation that India was seeking to make a point to its militarily and economically superior neighbour, despite denials from ISRO.

"We are in competition with ourselves in the areas that we have charted for ourselves," ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said last week.

"Each country has its own priorities."

The probe is about the size of a small car and will be carried by a rocket much smaller than American or Russian equivalents.

It will orbit Earth for nearly a month, building up the necessary velocity to break free from its gravitational pull.

Only then will it begin the second stage of its nine month journey which will test India's scientists to the full.

More than half of all Mars projects have failed, including China's in 2011 and Japan's in 2003. Only the US, Russia and the European Union have successfully reached there.

The total cost of the project is just 4.5bn rupees (£45.5m).

Nasa, which will launch its own probe to study Mars on November 18, is helping ISRO with communications. Two ships stationed in the Pacific will also assist with monitoring.

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EBay: Nazi Holocaust Memorabilia Removed

Auction site eBay has apologised after Nazi Holocaust memorabilia, including clothes worn by concentration camp victims, were traded online.

Journalists claim to have found several items for sale, including a complete Auschwitz uniform worn by a Polish baker who died in the camp.

The Auschwitz uniform had reportedly been priced at £11,300 by the seller, a Ukrainian man in Canada, named as Viktor Kempf.

Survivors liberated from Auschwitz in 1945

He had apparently sold similar clothing for $18,000 (£11,491) last year.

It was claimed Mr Kempf had been criticised in the past for selling such items, but did so to "document" them and to fund history book projects.

Mr Kempf was quoted as saying: "I don't want people to think I'm just doing it for the money. These periods in history are horrific, nobody should ever forget them."

How Mr Kempf described the items on eBay

EBay has offered to donate £25,000 to charity after the items were discovered and admitted they breached the terms of use.

The online retailer said: "We are very sorry these items have been listed on eBay and we are removing them.

"We don't allow listings of this nature, and dedicate thousands of staff to policing our site and use the latest technology to detect items that shouldn't be for sale.

Schindler's list failed to sell on eBay when offered for sale for £3m

"We very much regret that we didn't live up to our own standards. We have made a donation to charity to reflect our concern."

Other items found on eBay, by journalists at the Mail On Sunday, included shoes and a toothbrush said to have belonged to concentration camp victims.

There were also yellow Star of David armbands used by the Nazis to identify Jews for persecution.

An original copy of Schindler's list of Jews saved from the Holocaust by Oskar Schindler went unsold on eBay in July.

The 14-page typewritten list - bearing the names of 801 men - originated from the German industrialist's right-hand man Itzhak Stern, and had a steep opening bid of $3m (£1.96m).

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New Pakistan Taliban Leader After Drone Strike

The Pakistani Taliban's number two commander has been promoted to leader after its previous chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike.

Khan Said, also known as Sajna, now heads the militant group following a meeting of the supreme ruling council, according to security officials.

However, some commanders were reportedly unhappy with the choice and wanted more talks.

The move comes as the fallout from the strike continues to grow, with Pakistan summoning the American ambassador to register a protest.

Pakistan's interior minister Chaudhry Nisar accused the US of "scuttling" attempts to get the Taliban to take part in peace talks.

He said "every aspect" of co-operation with Washington would be reviewed in the wake of the attack.

"The murder of Hakimullah is the murder of all efforts at peace," said interior minister Chaudhry Nisar. "Americans said they support our efforts at peace. Is this support?"

Hakimullah Mehsud (c) seen with other Taliban militants in a video in 2009

Khan Said is believed to have masterminded an attack on a jail in northwest Pakistan in 2012 that freed nearly 400 prisoners, as well as an assault on a Pakistani air force base in the same year.

Previous leader Mehsud had a $5m (£3.1m) US government bounty on his head and was one of Pakistan's most wanted men.

He has been buried after being killed on Friday along with four associates when a drone targeted his car in a compound in the country's North Waziristan tribal district.

The Pakistani Taliban has vowed revenge for the killing, with spokesman Azam Tariq saying: "Every drop of Hakimullah's blood will turn into a suicide bomber.

"America and their friends shouldn't be happy because we will take revenge for our martyr's blood."

The death comes at a politically sensitive time and follows months of debate over potential peace talks between the Taliban and the new government of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who swept to a landslide victory in May elections.

Pakistan's government has been trying to cut a peace deal with the militants to end years of fighting that has killed thousands of Pakistani civilians and security forces.

The government reacted angrily to Mehsud's killing, with information minister Pervez Rashid saying: "The US has tried to attack the peace talks with this drone but we will not let them fail."

A Pakistani Taliban fighter said Mehsud's body was "damaged but recognisable". His bodyguard and driver were also killed.

The US offered the $5m bounty after he appeared in a video with a Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees at a base in Afghanistan in 2009.

Mehsud, said to be aged in his mid-30s, was also believed to be behind a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square in 2010, as well as brazen attacks inside Pakistan.

His killing is the latest in a series of setbacks for the militant group.

A drone strike in May killed Mehsud's number two, Waliur Rehman, and one of his most trusted lieutenants was captured in Afghanistan last month.

The group, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is an umbrella organisation founded in December 2007 following a deadly military raid on the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad.

The TTP officially swears allegiance to Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, who ruled Kabul from 1996-2001, but the two groups are separate, with independent command structures.

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LA Airport Gunman May Face Death Penalty

The suspected gunman in the deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport has been charged with murder - and could face the death penalty.

Authorities arrested Paul Ciancia, 23, after Friday's attack, which left security officer Gerardo Hernandez dead and five others wounded.

As well as murder, Ciancia was also charged with commission of violence at an international airport.

Suspected gunman Paul Ciancia

A note allegedly found in the suspect's bag said that he wanted to kill at least one transport officer with his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and didn't care which one. 

"Black, white, yellow, brown, I don't discriminate," the note read, according to a paraphrase by a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. 

The suspect's screed also mentioned "fiat currency" and "NWO," possible references to the New World Order, a conspiracy theory that foresees a one-world government.

Terminal 3, the area where the shooting happened, reopened on Saturday.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) planned to review its security policies in the wake of the shooting.

The attack caused major disruption to travellers

Administrator John Pistole did not say if that meant arming officers.

A few more details emerged about Ciancia, who was described as reserved and solitary.

Former classmates barely remember him, and could say little about the young man who moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles less than two years ago.

"He kept to himself and ate lunch alone a lot," a former classmate, David Hamilton, told the Los Angeles Times.

"I really don't remember any one person who was close to him .... In four years, I never heard a word out of his mouth."

A police officer at Los Angeles airport

Ciancia, who was shot four times by airport police, remained in hospital on Saturday, but there was no word on his condition.

He was wounded in the mouth and the leg, authorities said.

On Friday, Ciancia's father called police in New Jersey, worried about his son after the young man sent texts to his family that suggested he might be in trouble.

Ten minutes earlier, police said a suspect walked into the airport, pulled a rifle from a bag and began firing.

When searched by police, the attacker had five 30-round magazines, and the bag contained "hundreds of rounds in 20-round boxes," a law enforcement official said.

Mr Hernandez, 39, was the first TSA official in the agency's 12-year history to be killed in the line of duty.

Allen Cummings, the police chief in the small town where Ciancia grew up, said the texts the suspect's family had received did not mention suicide or hurting others.

The attack at the nation's third-busiest airport caused hundreds flights to be delayed and cancellations nationwide.

Leon Saryan had just passed through security when he gunfire. He fled and as he was cowering in a corner, the shooter approached.

"He looked at me and asked 'TSA?'. I shook my head no, and he continued on down toward the gate. He had his gun at the ready and, but for the grace of God, I am here to tell about it," said Mr Saryan.

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