News in Brief
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Three people have died at the scene of Southern California wildfires this week, authorities said Sunday, as firefighters aided by diminishing winds beat back a blaze on the edge of Los Angeles that damaged or destroyed more than 30 structures and sent a blanket of smoke across a swath of neighborhoods.
Los Angeles officials said the fire in the city’s San Fernando Valley area hadn’t grown significantly since Friday, and ground crews were tamping down lingering hotspots. Evacuation orders were lifted in all of Los Angeles County and in parts of Riverside County, where a second blaze was burning.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told residents to be cautious returning home to neighborhoods where fire crews could still be operating.
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MOGADISHU (Reuters) -- At least three mortars were fired at Mogadishu’s international airport on Sunday, injuring six people, a diplomatic source said.
The airport serves also as compound for several embassies as well as the United Nations and African Union missions.
A UN source in Mogadishu confirmed the attack but could not say how many people had been injured.
Residents living in the outskirts of the airport compound told Reuters they saw several mortars being fired.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The UN mission and the Somali government could not be reached for comment.
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MISSISSAUGA, Toronto (Reuters) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau donned a bulletproof vest for an election campaign rally on Saturday, a Reuters eyewitness said, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. cited sources saying a security threat had been received.
Pictures taken by Reuters photographer Stephane Mahe at the event in the Ontario city of Mississauga outside Toronto showed Trudeau wearing bulky protection under his shirt.
Police wearing backpacks surrounded Trudeau on stage for the first time since the start of a six-week election campaign leading up to what polls suggest will be a closely contested vote on Oct. 21.
The scenes were almost unprecedented in recent Canadian political history, which has been overwhelmingly peaceful.
CBC cited unnamed sources inside Trudeau’s Liberal Party as saying he donned the bulletproof vest after the campaign received a threat.
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SEOUL (Reuters) -- South Korea’s prime minister plans to visit Japan next week in what would be the highest-level trip since Japan imposed export curbs in a deepening trade and diplomatic row, officials said on Sunday.
Lee Nak-yon, whose trip is scheduled for Oct. 22-24, will attend Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony, Lee’s office said in a statement.
Lee is expected to take part in a banquet hosted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, and hold separate talks with him, which would mark the highest-level dialogue since tension flared up last year over the issue of Japan’s wartime use of South Korean forced labor, officials said.
Relations between the neighbors are arguably at their lowest ebb since they normalized ties in 1965, after South Korea’s Supreme Court last year ordered two Japanese companies to compensate some wartime laborers.
Japan says the issue was settled under a 1965 treaty that normalized ties.
The dispute has since spilled over into trade and security, with Japan slapping export curbs and South Korea scrapping a bilateral intelligence-sharing pact.
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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poles were voting Sunday in a parliamentary election that the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party was favored to win, buoyed by the popularity of its conservative agenda and generous social spending.
Concerns about democracy have made this one of the country’s most momentous elections since the fall of communism 30 years ago. Critics fear Poland’s illiberal turn could become irreversible if the party wins another four-year term.
More than 30 million voters were choosing lawmakers in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm, and in the 100-seat Senate.
Law and Justice is the first party since the fall of communism to break with the austerity of previous governments, whose free-market policies took a moribund communist economy and transformed it into one of Europe’s most dynamic.
However, many Poles were left out in that transformation and inequalities grew, creating grievances. Law and Justice has skillfully addressed those concerns with popular programs, including one that gives away 500 zlotys ($125) to families per month per child, taking the edge off poverty for some and giving others more disposable income.
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Support for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has dropped in an opinion poll following an anti-Semitic shooting attack near a synagogue in Halle on Wednesday, broadcaster RTL/n-tv reported.
A survey of 2,500 Germans by research institute forsa showed 11% support for AfD on Thursday, down from 13% at the beginning of the week, RTL/n-tv reported on Saturday.
Prosecutors said a man accused of killing two people in the attack in Halle, eastern Germany, had confessed to the crime and to a far-right, anti-Semitic motivation.
The man, who had published a racist and anti-Semitic manifesto and live-streamed the shooting on Wednesday, had shot the two bystanders after failing to enter the synagogue.
Los Angeles officials said the fire in the city’s San Fernando Valley area hadn’t grown significantly since Friday, and ground crews were tamping down lingering hotspots. Evacuation orders were lifted in all of Los Angeles County and in parts of Riverside County, where a second blaze was burning.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told residents to be cautious returning home to neighborhoods where fire crews could still be operating.
***
MOGADISHU (Reuters) -- At least three mortars were fired at Mogadishu’s international airport on Sunday, injuring six people, a diplomatic source said.
The airport serves also as compound for several embassies as well as the United Nations and African Union missions.
A UN source in Mogadishu confirmed the attack but could not say how many people had been injured.
Residents living in the outskirts of the airport compound told Reuters they saw several mortars being fired.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The UN mission and the Somali government could not be reached for comment.
***
MISSISSAUGA, Toronto (Reuters) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau donned a bulletproof vest for an election campaign rally on Saturday, a Reuters eyewitness said, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. cited sources saying a security threat had been received.
Pictures taken by Reuters photographer Stephane Mahe at the event in the Ontario city of Mississauga outside Toronto showed Trudeau wearing bulky protection under his shirt.
Police wearing backpacks surrounded Trudeau on stage for the first time since the start of a six-week election campaign leading up to what polls suggest will be a closely contested vote on Oct. 21.
The scenes were almost unprecedented in recent Canadian political history, which has been overwhelmingly peaceful.
CBC cited unnamed sources inside Trudeau’s Liberal Party as saying he donned the bulletproof vest after the campaign received a threat.
***
SEOUL (Reuters) -- South Korea’s prime minister plans to visit Japan next week in what would be the highest-level trip since Japan imposed export curbs in a deepening trade and diplomatic row, officials said on Sunday.
Lee Nak-yon, whose trip is scheduled for Oct. 22-24, will attend Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony, Lee’s office said in a statement.
Lee is expected to take part in a banquet hosted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, and hold separate talks with him, which would mark the highest-level dialogue since tension flared up last year over the issue of Japan’s wartime use of South Korean forced labor, officials said.
Relations between the neighbors are arguably at their lowest ebb since they normalized ties in 1965, after South Korea’s Supreme Court last year ordered two Japanese companies to compensate some wartime laborers.
Japan says the issue was settled under a 1965 treaty that normalized ties.
The dispute has since spilled over into trade and security, with Japan slapping export curbs and South Korea scrapping a bilateral intelligence-sharing pact.
***
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poles were voting Sunday in a parliamentary election that the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party was favored to win, buoyed by the popularity of its conservative agenda and generous social spending.
Concerns about democracy have made this one of the country’s most momentous elections since the fall of communism 30 years ago. Critics fear Poland’s illiberal turn could become irreversible if the party wins another four-year term.
More than 30 million voters were choosing lawmakers in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm, and in the 100-seat Senate.
Law and Justice is the first party since the fall of communism to break with the austerity of previous governments, whose free-market policies took a moribund communist economy and transformed it into one of Europe’s most dynamic.
However, many Poles were left out in that transformation and inequalities grew, creating grievances. Law and Justice has skillfully addressed those concerns with popular programs, including one that gives away 500 zlotys ($125) to families per month per child, taking the edge off poverty for some and giving others more disposable income.
***
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Support for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has dropped in an opinion poll following an anti-Semitic shooting attack near a synagogue in Halle on Wednesday, broadcaster RTL/n-tv reported.
A survey of 2,500 Germans by research institute forsa showed 11% support for AfD on Thursday, down from 13% at the beginning of the week, RTL/n-tv reported on Saturday.
Prosecutors said a man accused of killing two people in the attack in Halle, eastern Germany, had confessed to the crime and to a far-right, anti-Semitic motivation.
The man, who had published a racist and anti-Semitic manifesto and live-streamed the shooting on Wednesday, had shot the two bystanders after failing to enter the synagogue.