Remains of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi has been buried at sea

The remains of late ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been disposed of at sea as it is revealed that U.S. forces were able to confirm his identity using DNA samples taken from his underwear and blood.   Baghdadi blew himself up after being cornered by U.S forces in a dead-end underground tunnel in his Syrian compound on Saturday, October 26th. His remains were then buried at sea, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Mike Milley, revealed.

Three homes on fire as plane crashes in New Jersey

A small plane crashed into a home in Colonia Tuesday morning. At least three homes were on fire following the crash. The Colonia Fire Department said they were "trying to save the neighborhood."
As many as 200 firefighters were said to be battling the blazes after a Cessna 414 crashed into the home at 11 a.m.
The mayor of Colonial, John McCormac, said the pilot was the only person on the aircraft.
No one was in the home that was directly hit and a woman in the house next door was able to escape, McCormac said. There were no injuries on the ground, he said.

Update: Bulgaria fined £65k and ordered to play two matches behind closed doors for racist abuse at black England players

UEFA has ordered Bulgaria to play two matches behind closed doors, and fined £65,000 over the racist behaviour of fans during the Euro 2020 qualifier against England on October 14.  One Bulgarian fan was also suspended for two years for his part in the racism scandal.
 The ban comes after a section of supporters at the match in Sofia's Levski Stadium directed racial abuse at England's black players, while some were pictured making Nazi salutes.

'Mario Bros.' creator Shigeru Miyamoto to be given one of Japan's highest honors

Shigeru Miyamoto is a titan in the video game industry, having created beloved franchises such as "Mario Bros." and "The Legend of Zelda."
For his work, Japanese news outlet Nikkei reports, Miyamoto is being awarded the Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government on November 3, which is recognized nationally as Culture Day in Japan. The award is the highest honor a person in a creative field can receive in Japan, and Miyamoto is the first person in the video game industry to receive the honor.

Libya reopens airport after 2 months of closure

Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord on Tuesday reopened Mitiga Airport, Tripoli’s only functioning airport, after almost two months of closure, the transportation minister said. The Minister, Milad Matoq, announced at a news conference in Tripoli.
The airport had been shut since Sept. 1 after being struck by artillery fire. The source of the attack was not clear.
“The return of flights depends on the carriers and airport management. It needs time to re-schedule flights, possible a week to 10 days or two weeks,” Matoq said.

The Pentagon's mysterious space plane just landed in Florida after record-long 780 days in space

The Pentagon's secretive X-37B spaceplane landed in Florida on Sunday after a record-long orbital flight lasting more than two years, the US Air Force said, capping the latest test mission for an array of military technologies. The unpiloted X-37B, built by Boeing Co., touched down on an air strip at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 3:51 a.m. ET after spending 780 days orbiting Earth as the Air Force's fifth flight mission under the Orbital Test Vehicle program, the Air Force said.

Egypt's first smartphone maker to export to Germany

Egypt’s first smartphone maker, SICO, said it will begin exporting its devices to Germany in November as part of its expansion plan to sell its products in Europe and Africa, its chairman told Reuters.
Silicon Industries Corporation (SICO), which already exports to the Gulf and aims to start selling phones in other European countries, said it signed an agreement in October with a company operating in Europe to market its products.
“We will begin exporting from Upper Egypt to Germany, Holland, Austria, and then Sweden, Norway and Finland,” its chairman Mohamed Salem said.

84-year-old tries to burn French mosque, shoots two

An 84-year-old former candidate for France's ultra-right party shot and wounded two men in their seventies Monday as he attacked a mosque, prompting the government to express "solidarity" with Muslims hours after railing against Islamic "separatism".
The octogenarian attacked the mosque as two men were preparing it for afternoon prayers, Bayonne mayor Jean-Rene Etchegaray told AFP at the scene.

Teen to spend 3 months in federal prison after stealing a lemur from a zoo, stuffing him in a drawer, and abandoning him outside a hotel

A 19-year-old man was sentenced to three months in federal prison after he stole America's oldest ring-tailed lemur from a California zoo and abandoned it in plastic drawer labeled "Lemur (with tracker)," prosecutors said Monday. Aquinas Kasbar pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of illegally taking an endangered species. He's also been ordered to pay $8,486 in restitution to the zoo.
Prosecutors said Kasbar broke in to the Santa Ana Zoo in July 2018, used bolt cutters to open the lemur enclosure, and stole a 32-year-old animal named Isaac.

JustBieber said he'd release an album for Christmas if his Instagram post got 20 million likes

Justin Bieber took to Instagram earlier today to let his fans know that his next studio album could be dropping in the next two months, providing he gets enough love and hype on social media. "If this gets 20 million likes Justin Bieber will release an album before Christmas," read the post image, which sees the musician referring to himself in the third person. He then asked people to, "Share it, like it, post in your story, I gotta see the demand 😉 love you guys pumped for it! I'm almost done but your support will make me move faster."

Do You Know...

If you were to write out every number (one, two, three, etc.), you wouldn't use the letter "b" until you reached one billion.

American schools are turning to 'vape detectors' to snuff out secret smokers

With alarms bells ringing  over a sudden surge in vaping related illnesses and deaths, an increasing number of American high schools are turning to vape detectors to snuff out bathroom smokers.
As originally reported by CNN, these vape detectors, which often resemble carbon monoxide detectors, can be placed in areas where students are likely to sneak off to vape, such as bathrooms and closets. These are different from traditional cigarette smoke detectors, which often fail to detect vape smoke.

How does it work?

Catholic priest refuses to give presidential candidate Joe Biden Holy Communion because of his support for legal abortion

US presidential candidate Joe Biden was denied Holy Communion on Sunday, when he attended Mass at a South Carolina Catholic Church, because of his support for legal abortion.  Rev. Fr. Robert Morey, a priest at St. Anthony Catholic Church in the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, denied the Democratic presidential candidate Holy Communion at Sunday Mass for his support of legal abortion, the Florence Morning News reported Monday.

Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad al-Hariri resigns after week of protests

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has tendered his resignation and that of his government, after over a week of protests that paralysed the country, as the people accuse authorities of corruption and of causing an economic collapse.   Hariri, who was in the office since December 2016, announced his resignation during a televised address to the nation, the second time he would do so.  “I have reached a dead end today,” he said. 

Air Zimbabwe resumes SA flight after settling debt

South Africa has reinstated permission for Zimbabwe's national airline to fly into Johannesburg after the company was banned from using SA airports over unpaid fees. State-owned Air Zimbabwe's only serviceable plane was stopped from leaving Johannesburg last week after failing to pay for airport services. The dispute was resolved on Friday when the airline settled its debt, said South Africa's airport management company on Monday.

Vaping teens are dealing with a side effect called 'vape tongue,' and doctors still don't know the long-term consequences

As vape-related illnesses continue to mount, people are increasingly sharing the symptoms they've experienced from using the devices, including one called "vape tongue."
During a recent Colorado vaping focus groups for teens, many young vapers said they had experienced vape tongue, a condition where vape juice desensitizes a person's tongue so they can't taste flavours anymore, Thomas Ylioja, a tobacco-cessation expert at Denver's National Jewish Health, told Wall Street Journal.

Southampton players and coaching staff to donate wages to charity after suffering 9-0 defeat to Leicester

Southampton’s players and coaching staff are to donate their wages from last Friday to the Saints Foundation in a first step towards redeeming themselves following the 9-0 thrashing by Leicester City.Friday’s rout equalled Manchester United’s 9-0 demolition of Ipswich at Old Trafford in March 1995 for the biggest win in Premier League history. Saints manager Ralph Hassenhuttl, who accepted the blame for the humiliation has the daunting task of rebuilding his players morale ahead of two trips to Manchester City this week.Southampton play League Cup holders City in the fourth round of the competition on Tuesday and are back there on Saturday for a Premier League clash.

15 killed in northern Burkina Faso attack

Gunmen killed 15 civilians in northern Burkina Faso over the weekend, security and local sources said on Monday, in the latest deadly attack as the impoverished West African country battles a jihadist revolt.
"On Saturday night numerous armed individuals attacked the village of Pobe-Mengao and kidnapped several residents, ransacked shops and carried away equipment," a local source said.
A security source said "the lifeless bodies of 11 people were found on Sunday morning... probably the bodies of those abducted the day before in Pobe-Mengao by an armed terrorist group".

Chinese woman gives birth to a child at 67, 'becomes world's oldest mother' to conceive naturally (Photos)

A 67-year-old Chinese woman has become the world's oldest mother to conceive naturally after she recently gave birth to a baby girl.  The new mother named, Tian, delivered a healthy girl by Caesarean section on Friday, October 25, Zaoatzhuang city's Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital confirmed.  But the hospital said it could not confirm that Tian had conceived naturally as she was already pregnant when they took her as a patient.

Nigeria: Yellow fever kills 115 in Katsina

A Yellow Fever outbreak in Matazu Local Government Area of Katsina State has allegedly led to the death of 115 people. While members of the affected communities said they've lost 115 people, the local government authorities claimed only 18 people died in three weeks of the disease outbreak. A former councillor of Kogari ward who spoke to Daily Trust, said Kogari was first hit by the disease before spreading to Unguwar-Sarka community.