Tanzania president wins election as hundreds feared dead in unrest

Wycliffe Muia

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of Tanzania's presidential election, securing another term amid days of unrest across the country.

Samia won 98% of the votes in Wednesday's poll, the electoral commission said. In her Saturday victory speech she said the election was "free and democratic", accusing protesters of being "unpatriotic".

Opposition parties rejected the results, calling the vote a mockery of the democratic process as Samia's main challengers had been either imprisoned or barred from running.

International observers have expressed concern over the lack of transparency and widespread turmoil that has reportedly left hundreds of people dead and injured.

The nationwide internet shutdown is making it difficult to verify the death toll.

The government has sought to play down the scale of the violence - and authorities have extended a curfew in a bid to quell the unrest

Israel says the latest remains returned from Gaza are not bodies of hostages

By RENATA BRITO

JERUSALEM (AP) — The remains of three people Hamas handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza do not belong to any hostages, Israel said Saturday, in the latest setback to the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

The handover followed Israel’s return on Friday of the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza, which completed an exchange after militants turned over remains of two hostages earlier in the week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Saturday confirmed that the remains of the three people did not belong to any hostages. It was unclear who the remains belonged to.

Hamas’ armed wing said it had offered to hand over samples on Friday of unidentified bodies but Israel refused and asked for thhttp://wsx5customurl.come remains for examination.

“We handed the bodies over to stop the claims of Israel,” the statement said. Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits.

Ceasefire under strain

Since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 17 hostages. Eleven remain in Gaza. Militants have released one or two bodies every few days. Israel has urged faster progress. Hamas has said the work is complicated by widespread devastation and Israeli military presence in some areas.

Israel has been releasing the unidentified remains of 15 Palestinians for the remains of each Israeli hostage. The number of Palestinian bodies returned by Israel since the ceasefire began now stands at 225. Only 75 have been identified by families, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

South Korean president Lee asks China's Xi for help engaging North Korea

By Reuters

GYEONGJU, South Korea, Nov 1 (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung sought Chinese President Xi Jinping's help in efforts to resume talks with nuclear-armed neighbour North Korea on Saturday, while Xi told Lee he was willing to widen cooperation and jointly tackle the challenges they face.

Lee hosted Xi at a state summit and dinner after an Asia-Pacific leaders' forum in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, marking Xi's first visit to the U.S. ally in 11 years.

Woman charged over Louvre jewellery heist

Jaroslav Lukiv

A woman has been charged over a theft at the Louvre Museum in Paris last month, French media report.

The 38-year-old, who has not been named, was charged with complicity in organised theft and criminal conspiracy with a view to committing a crime. She appeared before a magistrate, who ruled that she should stay in custody.

The woman was arrested earlier this week with four others. Two men who had previously been arrested were already charged with theft and criminal conspiracy after officials said they had "partially recognised" their involvement in the heist.

Jewels worth €88m (£76m; $102m) were taken from the world's most-visited museum on 19 October.

A senior Russian lawmaker says Moscow just delivered new air defense systems to Venezuela

Story by mloh@businessinsider.com (Matthew Loh)

A senior-ranking lawmaker in Russia's lower parliament defense committee said the Kremlin has sent new air defense systems to Venezuela as the latter comes under heightened military pressure from the US.

While speaking to Russian news outlet Gazeta, Alexei Zhuravlev, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, listed several weapons that Moscow previously supplied to Caracas, including Su-30MK2 fighters and S-300VMs.

He also mentioned the recent arrival of a system not publicly known to be in Venezuela's arsenal: the Pantsir-S1.

"According to the latest information, Russian Pantsir-S1 and Buk-M2E systems were just recently delivered to Caracas by Il-76 transport aircraft," Zhuravlev told Gazeta, which published his comments on Saturday.

If true, his remarks indicate further rapprochement between Russia and Venezuela amid Caracas' escalating tensions with the US. While it's unclear where the new air defenses were sourced, such deliveries also stand to affect Russia's military inventory amid its ongoing war of attrition against Ukraine.

Ukraine's 'monster missile' ignites Russian thermal plant in devastating attack

Story by John Varga, Gavin Quinn

Ukraine's military launched an attack on a thermal power plant in southwest Russia late Wednesday night, reportedly using a FP-5 "Flamingo" cruise missile.

This colossal weapon can carry a payload of up to 1,150 kilograms and has a range of 3,000 kilometers. Residents in the city of Orel - situated about 368 kilometers southwest of Moscow - reported hearing explosions near the thermal power plant.

Video footage seemed to depict multiple fires raging at the plant after the aerial assault. The regional governor asserted that the city was attacked by drones, all of which were intercepted and destroyed by air defense systems. He dismissed allegations that they had targeted the power station. It comes as Russia is 'starting preparations for full scale nuclear tests for first time in 35 years'.