Body found after live-streamer falls climbing Japan's Mount Fuji - CNN

The video -- taken from the hiker's point of view -- shows what appears to be a scene near the top of Japan's iconic mountain, above the clouds. The ground is covered in heavy snow, and the man tells his viewers that it is slippery and dangerous along the route.

"Am I on the right track? So much of the route is covered with snow," he says as he climbs upward.

"I'm slipping," the man shouts, as he then appears to fall.

Authorities were alerted to the incident after receiving calls from people watching the live stream of the climb up the mountain, Aiko Kishibata, a press officer with Shizuoka prefectural police, told CNN earlier Wednesday.

Rescue workers from Shizuoka and Yamanashi, the two prefectures that Mount Fuji straddles, have been searching for the climber since early Tuesday morning, she added.

Officials found a body Wednesday afternoon, and are working to identify it, said Masahiro Haruta, a spokesman for the Shizuoka Prefectural Police. The body was found at an altitude of around 3,000 meters (9,800 feet). Haruta said it was too early to say if the person who died was in fact the live-streamer.

Kishibata said earlier that the accident appeared to have taken place near the summit.

Mount Fuji has been closed for hiking since September, and local police advise people not to climb there because it is especially dangerous when covered in snow, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/asia/mount-fuji-live-stream-body-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

2019-10-30 10:37:00Z
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Boris Johnson's first election PMQs | LIVE - The Sun

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2019-10-30 10:00:41Z
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PM Johnson gambles on a snap election to break Brexit deadlock - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will hold its first December election in almost a century after Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally won parliamentary approval for a gamble on a snap ballot that he hopes will break the deadlock over Brexit.

Just two days before the third Brexit deadline of Oct. 31 will be missed despite Johnson’s “do or die” promise to deliver on the divorce on that date, his bid to hold an election before the end of this year was approved by 438 to 20 votes in the House of Commons.

The first Christmas-season election in Britain since 1923 will be hard to call.

Brexit has variously fatigued and enraged swathes of voters while eroding traditional loyalties to the two major parties, Johnson’s Conservatives and Labour.

“It’s time to unite the country and get Brexit done,” Johnson told a meeting of Conservative lawmakers late on Tuesday shortly after securing an election to cheers from a parliament he said had stopped him delivering Brexit.

Johnson, 55, hopes to win a majority to push through the last-minute Brexit deal he struck this month with the European Union while his main opponent, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is pitching a radical socialist government and another EU referendum.

The election result will be announced on Friday Dec. 13. If no party wins conclusively, the future of Brexit will be thrown up in the air again with options ranging from a tumultuous no-deal exit to another referendum that could scupper the whole divorce.

Corbyn cast the election as a chance for real change. He frames Labour as a socialist alternative to the inequality and close relations with U.S. President Donald Trump that he says characterise Johnson’s premiership.

“A Labour government will be on your side, while Boris Johnson’s Conservatives – who think they’re born to rule – will only look after the privileged few,” Corbyn, 70, said.

He promised to nationalise rail, water and energy companies while taxing high earners to fund public services.

Conservative lawmaker Robert Halfon said that beside Brexit, domestic issues would play large.

Johnson told lawmakers he was going “to take the argument to Corbyn on One nation policies - spending on schools and hospitals and police... It wasn’t just about Brexit,” Halfon said.

When Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, bet on an early election in 2017, she lost her slender majority - a failure that ultimately prevented her from ratifying her Brexit deal in parliament and sank her political career.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Johnson’s Conservatives are ahead of Labour by an average of about 10 percentage points in polls this month, though pollsters underestimated the support for Brexit in 2016 and admit that the models they use are wilting beside the Brexit furnace.

Both major parties will have to fight on at least three fronts: against each other while the Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage seeks to poach Brexit voters and the Liberal Democrats seeks to win over opponents of Brexit.

“At last the deadlock in parliament is broken. Brexit now has a chance to succeed,” Farage said.

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; ; editing by John Stonestreet

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-10-30 07:31:00Z
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Attacks and celebration as Lebanon PM resigns - BBC News

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri has announced his resignation after 13 days of protests over political corruption and economic turmoil.

His televised address came soon after violence broke out on the streets, when supporters of two Shia groups attacked protest camps and roadblocks in Beirut.

They set tents on fire and beat anti-government demonstrators. Some chanted in support of Nasrallah, the leader for Hezbollah - a powerful force in the coalition government - and the Shia political party Amal.

Riot police and troops responded with tear gas, and by the end of the day, anti-government protesters were back on the streets celebrating Mr Hariri's announcement.

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2019-10-30 07:25:55Z
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Attacks and triumph as Lebanon PM says he will quit - BBC News

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri has announced his resignation after 13 days of protests over political corruption and economic turmoil.

His televised address came soon after violence broke out on the streets, when supporters of two Shia groups attacked protest camps and roadblocks in Beirut.

They set tents on fire and beat anti-government demonstrators. Some chanted in support of Nasrallah, the leader for Hezbollah - a powerful force in the coalition government - and the Shia political party Amal.

Riot police and troops responded with tear gas, and by the end of the day, anti-government protesters were back on the streets celebrating Mr Hariri's announcement.

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2019-10-30 05:55:15Z
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Lebanon's Hariri resigns after nearly two weeks of nationwide protests - CNN

The three-time prime minister has led a national unity government, which included some of his political adversaries, for less than two years. In recent months, the country saw rapid economic deterioration, ballooning debt and rising prices.

On October 17, the government proposed imposing a tax on Whatsapp calls, along with other austerity measures, sparking nationwide protests that paralyzed the country.

Lebanon has been under lock-down since the protests began. Banks and schools have been closed for 12 days, while protesters blocked major routes throughout the tiny eastern Mediterranean nation.

"I can't hide this from you. I have reached a dead-end," Hariri said in his resignation speech.

"To all my political peers, our responsibility today is how to protect Lebanon and to uplift the economy," he added. "Today, there is a serious opportunity and we should not waste it."

Scores of protesters in downtown Beirut cheered as Hariri announced his departure. At their peak, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest government corruption on Sunday.

Over the last week, protests have dwindled in number, concentrating on road closures on the country's main routes as the economic crisis has deepened.

Chaos in downtown Beirut

Hariri's announcement came hours after chaos broke out in downtown Beirut when a mob stormed into the capital's main protest site, setting parts of it alight and tearing up tents on Tuesday afternoon.

Shouting "Shia, Shia" and singing chants in support of Hezbollah and Amal -- another Lebanese political party -- hundreds of men wielding sticks poured into the site, breaking up protest road closures and attacking demonstrators. Police fired dozens of rounds of tear gas to disperse the crowds.

The military was deployed to the streets of downtown Beirut on Tuesday, and many anti-government protesters have cleared the site. Earlier, female protesters tried to form a human chain trying to separate the demonstrators from the mobs.

Hezbollah's media office could not be reached for comment.

Calls had grown in recent days for Hariri and his government to resign. The Prime Minister's cabinet includes his political adversaries, including Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant and political group.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last week said the protests were part of an international conspiracy aimed at toppling the group.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/29/middleeast/lebanon-saad-hariri-resigns-intl/index.html

2019-10-29 15:15:21Z
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ISIS leader al-Baghdadi’s underwear stolen by Kurdish spy for DNA test before raid, official says - Fox News

Before the U.S. military positively identified the headless body of the world’s most wanted terrorist killed in a daring raid, a Kurdish spy slipped into Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s compound and stole his underwear to confirm the long-sought ISIS leader's identity through DNA, a Kurdish official said.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) senior adviser Polat Can said Monday that the Kurdish-led force’s own sources tracked al-Baghdadi to Idlib, Syria, before beginning to work with the CIA to keep tabs on the terror leader. He said al-Baghdadi was known to move often and was soon expected to change locations.

HOW ISIS LEADER AL-BAGHDADI'S HEADLESS BODY WAS ID'D MINUTES AFTER DEATH

Before al-Baghdadi could move, a Kurdish undercover operative was able to reach him and retrieve the self-styled “Caliph’s” underwear, Can said. Through a DNA test, he said they were able to confirm “100%” that the person of interest was al-Baghdadi.

“All intelligence and access to Al Baghdadi as well as the identification of his place, were the result of our own work,” Can wrote. “Our intelligence source was involved in sending coordinates, directing the airdrop, participating in and making the operation a success until the last minute.”

AL-BAGHDADI INFORMANT WAS INSIDE COMPOUND AT TIME OF RAID, KURDISH GENERAL TELLS FOX NEWS

In announcing al-Baghdadi’s death, President Trump had said the Kurds provided “helpful” information but didn’t provide “a military role at all.”

While U.S. officials have not confirmed Can’s account, Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the SDF commander, had told Fox News on Monday that the Kurdish force had an informant inside the compound at the time of the raid. The agent had told them about the tunnels under the compound, how many people were with al-Baghdadi and about his planned move.

Al-Baghdadi was killed after he fled down a dead-end tunnel with three children – where he was found "whimpering" and trapped – and detonated a suicide vest.

WHO'S LEADING ISIS NOW THAT AL-BAGHDADI IS DEAD?

Al-Baghdadi’s head remained intact following the blast, allowing commandos to use biometrics, specifically facial recognition, to immediately identify him. Trump said they had also brought along samples of al-Baghdadi’s DNA to verify his identity with an onsite test that produced positive results in only 15 minutes.

People look at destroyed houses near the village of Barisha, in Idlib province, Syria, Sunday, after an operation by the U.S. military which targeted Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, (AP)

It was unclear what kind of devices were used to positively identify al-Baghdadi, but over the past several years the military has been developing technology for portable DNA labs that process results quickly.

The technicians were able to take “substantial pieces” of al-Baghdadi’s remains from the site, Trump said.

AL-BAGHDADI KILL: HOW THE DARING MILITARY OPERATION WENT DOWN

On Monday, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that al-Baghdadi’s remains were “disposed of appropriately” in accordance with the law of armed conflict, but didn’t elaborate.

A source has told Fox News he was buried at sea, similar to Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden, who was killed in 2011.

While it remains unclear who exactly will take over the terror organization, Trump confirmed on Tuesday that al-Baghdadi's "number one replacement" was killed by American troops, without naming the target.

A senior State Department official had confirmed to Fox News on Monday the death of ISIS spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, who was considered al-Baghdadi's right-hand man.

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The void in leadership is the latest significant setback for the terror group after having already lost vast stretches of its physical caliphate that stretched across parts of Syria and Iraq.

Fox News' Benjamin Hall and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

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2019-10-29 14:50:11Z
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