Late Sahin strike puts Dortmund on top

(CNN) -- Borussia Dortmund moved to the top of the German Bundesliga table for the first time in seven years after snatching a last-gasp 2-1 victory away to struggling Cologne on Friday night.

Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin netted a 90th-minute winner to give the visitors the lead on goal difference from Mainz, who host Hamburg on Saturday seeking a record eighth consecutive win of the new season.

Dortmund started strongly despite the heavy rain in front of a capacity 50,000 crowd at the Rhein Energie Stadion.

Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios headed over the crossbar from Jakub Blazczykowski's cross when he should have scored, but Cologne went closer when Lukas Podolski smashed a right-foot volley against crossbar.

Barrios then headed against the bar from Sahin's free-kick, and the breakthrough came in the 20th minute when Blazczykowski pounced from close range after the forward's effort was only blocked.

Dortmund failed to capitalize on several chances, and it looked like Podolski had earned Cologne a point in the 82nd minute when the Germany World Cup star fired in a rising shot from the edge of the penalty area.

CNN

Yemen posts reward for al Qaeda suspects

(CNN) -- Yemen's Interior Ministry is offering a reward 20 million Yemeni Riyal (almost US$100,000) for information leading to the capture of eight al Qaeda in Yemen suspects, Yemen's official news agency, SABA, reported late Friday.

SABA identified the eight and said they were "misled by senior al Qaeda members who are obsessed with death, destruction and disturbing the pubic security".

The public is urged to "cooperate with the authorities" and warned against sheltering any of them, the agency reported.

Al Qaeda is a growing problem in the Arabian Peninsula country. While most security experts and Yemeni government officials estimate the group's numbers in Yemen to be between 200 to 300 members, the government has stepped up its fight against it.

Since Tuesday, al Qaeda in Yemen (also known as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) is suspected of being behind three separate attacks that have killed at least 2 Yemeni security officials, according to a government official.

Col. Riyadh al-Khatabi, intelligence chief in the town of Seiyun in Yemen's southeastern Hadramawt province, was shot and killed Tuesday. On Thursday, Abdullah al-Baham, security chief in the town of Mudiya in Abyan province, was also shot and killed.

CNN

Chavez heads to Belarus for economic talks with Lukashenko

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will meet with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Minks on Saturday to discuss trade and economic relations between the two countries.

Chavez will fly to the Belarusian capital from Moscow as part of his international tour, which also includes Ukraine and Iran.

Cooperation between Belarus and Venezuela has increased over the past few years. During a meeting in Caracas in March, Lukashenko and Chavez signed an agreement on the supply of up to 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Belarus.

Belarus is involved in the exploration of oil deposits in the Latin American country. Since December 2007, Belarusian companies have extracted a total of 1.5 million tonnes of oil from Venezuelan deposits, with revenues exceeding $100 million. The country is planning to increase oil extraction in Venezuela to up to 1 million tonnes per year starting 2010.

Belarus also intends to launch oil extraction in the Junin 1 block in Venezuela's vast Orinoco heavy crude belt.

Besides oil projects, the two countries cooperate in the gas, housing construction, machinery, agricultural, and scientific spheres.

RIA Novosti

Israeli drones mount assault on Russian market

Russian defense firm Oboronprom is to use Israeli components to assemble unmanned aerial vehicles, primarily intended for civilian customers, at a helicopter plant in Tatarstan.

The Russian military first showed an interest in buying Israeli-made UAVs back in 2008, after admiring their performance during the five-day war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia. In April 2009, Russia signed a $53 million contract for 12 Bird-Eye 400, I-View MK150 and Searcher Mark II UAVs.

The Russian Defense Ministry later bought another 36 Israeli UAVs for $100 million and announced the planned purchase of 15 more UAVs in April 2010.

In early 2010 it was reported that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) was also planning to buy Israeli UAVs. Unlike the Russian army, which was in talks with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the FSB was interested in UAVs made by the company Aeronautics.

The Russian law-enforcement and security agencies' explanation of their interest in Israeli UAVs as being down to the lack of competitive Russian-made equivalents provoked an outcry among Russian UAV producers. They accused the Defense Ministry of lobbying for the interests of foreign producers.

The reality is, of course, more complicated. Recently, after spending over 5 billion rubles ($165 million) on work in this area, the Defense Ministry carried out trials of Russia's best UAVs. The results were disappointing: not a single UAV satisfied the defense ministry's specifications.

RIA Novosti

Russia's Rosneft to buy 50 pct of Germany's Ruhr OEL from Venezuela's PDVSA

Russia's oil giant Rosneft will buy 50 percent of Germany's Ruhr Oel from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, an agreement signed by Rosneft and PDVSA on Friday said.

"The volume of the deal will amount to $1.6 billion, excluding PDVSA raw material reserves and accounts receivable, which will be valued when the deal is closed," Rosneft said in a statement.

PDVSA owns Ruhr Oel GmbH, which, together with BP, owns between 24 and 100 percent of the German Gelsenkirchen, Bayern-oil, Miro and Schwedt oil refineries.

The total oil processing volume of the refineries amounts to 50 million tons, or 20 percent of all German refining capacities.

The acquisition will increase Rosneft's refining capacity by 11.6 million tons per year.

"This transaction is consistent with our strategy of expanding our presence through high quality assets in key international markets," Rosneft President Eduard Khudainatov said in a statement.

RIA Novosti

Fuel supply to Paris airports cut amid pension strikes

The fuel pipeline to Paris's main airports has been shut off amid strikes over government pension reforms.

The company that operates the pipeline told French media that the capital's main airport, Charles de Gaulle, could run out of fuel as early as next week.

There are fears of fuel shortages as all of France's 12 oil refineries have been hit by strikes, and many oil depots remain blockaded.

Unions are opposed to government plans to raise the retirement age.

Trapil, the firm that operates the pipeline to Paris's airports, said supplies had been cut off on Friday.

A company spokesman told AFP news agency: "Orly airport has stocks for 17 days, and Roissy [Charles de Gaulle] for at least the weekend".

The pipeline is supplied by the Total refinery at Grandpuits, in Seine-et-Marne, which is in the process of stopping production because of the strikes.

A spokesman for Aeroports de Paris, the authority that operates both airports, told Reuters news agency it was "not at all worried about stocks" - but did not say how long these would last.

BBC News

US launches inquiry on China green technology subsidies

The US says it is investigating claims China has broken trade agreements by giving billions of dollars in subsidies to its own green energy sector.

The inquiry follows complaints by US steel workers that China had violated World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules in a bid to dominate the global market.

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the US hoped to ensure "a level playing field" for US manufacturers.

He pledged to pursue the case through the WTO if the claims are verified.

President Barack Obama has identified green technology development and production as a way to revive the moribund US manufacturing sector and create new jobs.

"Green technology will be an engine for the jobs of the future, and this administration is committed to ensuring a level playing field for American workers, businesses and green technology entrepreneurs," said Mr Kirk said in a statement announcing the investigation.

In a 5,800-page petition to the office of the trade representative, the United Steelworkers union last month accused Beijing of using subsidies, discrimination against import goods and other economic mechanisms to bolster domestic producers of advanced batteries, wind and solar energy products, clean-energy vehicles and other products.

The new trade dispute comes amid concerns in the US that China, the largest holder of US government debt, has illegally manipulated its currency to bolster exports, thereby harming US manufacturers and driving up the US trade deficit with China.

The US Treasury Department is weighing whether formally to brand China a "currency manipulator", a move that could heighten tensions between the two governments.

BBC News

U.S. pulls out of 2018 World Cup bid

(CNN) -- The United States is no longer in the running to host soccer's 2018 World Cup after its bid committee decided to withdraw from contention and focus on hosting the 2022 tournament instead.

The USA Bid Committee announced on Friday it had made the decision after "several months of careful deliberation" following meetings with the sport's world ruling body FIFA and Europe's controlling organization UEFA.

The withdrawal leaves just four candidates for the 2018 tournament -- all of them from Europe.

England and Russia face competition from dual bids comprised of Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands.

The U.S. will be up against Australia, Japan, South Korea and Qatar as it seeks to host soccer's showpiece event for the second time, having staged it in 1994.

Because the tournament cannot be held on the same continent twice in succession, that means none of the 2018 bids can now target 2022, and vice versa.

"For some time we have been in conversations with FIFA and UEFA about the possibility of focusing only on the 2022 bidding process, an option we have made reference to many times," bid chairman Sunil Gulati, also the president of U.S. Soccer, said in a statement.

"We are confident this is in the best interests of the USA Bid. We wanted to make the announcement now -- still 48 days before the final decision -- in order to make our intentions clear during the last part of our campaign".

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke welcomed the decision, saying it made sense given the location of the four other 2018 candidates.

CNN

Louvre painting calls for attack on Putin

(CNN) -- Politically controversial works of art -- one of which calls for an attack on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin -- have gone on display at France's Louvre museum amid speculation and media interest.

The "Counterpoint, Contemporary Russian Art" exhibition opened Thursday with four pieces from Russian artist Avdei Ter-Oganyan's controversial series, "Radical Abstractionism" on show.

In the lead-up to the opening, reports from news outlets including AFP and the Moscow Times stated Russia's Ministry of Culture had initially banned the works from leaving the country. Russia's deputy culture minister Andrei Busygin told the Interfax news agency that the works "could be seen as calls for a coup d'etat".

One of the works in the series, "Radical Abstractionism, No. 8" asks viewers to "commit an attack on statesman V. V. Putin in order to end his state and political activities," in an inscription at the bottom of the canvas.

For its part, the Louvre declined to comment to CNN beyond the fact that the works are now on display.

It follows further artistic controversy in Brazil in September, where portraits by Gil Vincente depicting the assassination of world leaders caused a stir at the Sao Paulo Biennial.

The country's bar association demanded the pictures -- showing statesmen including Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former U.S. president George W. Bush being assassinated -- be removed, arguing they encouraged violence. Organizers of the Biennial refused.

Provocative political statements are nothing new in the world of art: Just last year, an image of President Obama depicted as Batman's nemesis, The Joker, caused uproar in the United States, with many citing the work as racist and demeaning.

CNN

Workers scurry to reach four trapped miners in Ecuador

(CNN) -- Rescue workers searched Friday for four miners believed trapped in a collapsed mine in southern Ecuador, a government official said.

The miners have been trapped since about 3 a.m., said Jorge Espinosa, the under-secretary of mining development at Ecuador's Ministry of Nonrenewable Natural Resources. They are about 500 feet (150 meters) deep.

At least 50 rescuers were working Friday afternoon to try to free the four, Espinosa said. Authorities do not know the miners' condition because they have been unable to make contact with them, he said.

The gold mine, which officials say is owned by Minesadco, is located near the town of Portovelo, near Ecuador's southern border with Peru.

"We are working on two plans to rescue them and we are expecting to reach them in 20 to 24 hours," said Espinosa. "We estimate that there are about 30 cubic meters of air so we believe the miners would be able to breath for five or six days. The problem is that we don't know if the area of the mine where they were working was also filled with mud".

The incident comes two days after crews in Chile rescued 33 miners who were trapped underground for 69 days in a stunning rescue operation, watched by the world.

CNN

Third Nigerian fails Commonwealth Games drugs test

(CNN) -- Folashade Abugan is the third Nigerian athlete to have failed a drugs test at the Commonwealth Games in India, where she won two silver medals, it was revealed on Friday.

Abugan, who came second in the women's 400 meters last week and the 4x400m relay on Tuesday, has been stripped of both of her medals after testing positive for the banned anabolic substance testosterone prohormone.

The 20-year-old, who was world junior champion in 2008, has waived her right to have her "B" sample tested, the Commonwealth Games Federation said a day after the four-yearly event finished in New Delhi.

"Folashade Abugan returned an adverse analytical finding from a test conducted on October 8, 2010, after competing in the women's 400 meter final," the CGF said in a statement.

The news comes as a blow to the Nigeria team, who were already reeling following the failed tests of both women's 100m champion Osayemi Oludamola and Samuel Okon, who came sixth in the men's 110m hurdles.

That duo tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexanamine.

The CGF statement also said Abugan has admitted liability for the failed test, and she has been disqualified from all the events she participated in.

"Ms Abugan wrote to the CGF waiving her rights to have her "B" sample analyzed and a hearing, as provided for within the CGF Anti-Doping Standard (ADS). She also admitted liability.

CNN

Kremlin fury over 'worm salad' tweet

(CNN) -- A senior Russian official has been branded an "imbecile" after tweeting that he found a worm in his salad during a Kremlin banquet for visiting German President Christian Wulff.

Dmitry Zelenin, the governor of Tver region in central Russia, wrote: "The beef came with live worms. That's an original way to show that the lettuce leaf is fresh".

He also published a photograph of the offending invertebrate online.

Far from amused, Kremlin foreign policy advisor, Sergei Prikhodko, told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday that he regretted there was no rule on "firing governors for imbecility".

An official from the office of President Dmitry Medvedev told RIA Novosti that a preliminary study of the image showed "it represents neither the place [of the reception], nor the serving of the table layout during this protocol event in the Grand Kremlin Palace".

Ominously, he added that if the information in the message, which has since been deleted, proves incorrect "then the person who made this statement will be held accountable in line with the current law".

Kremlin officials said the kitchens would also be checked.

CNN

New report paints gloomy picture on Afghan safety

(CNN) -- The insurgency in Afghanistan is gaining strength and new recruits in areas where the Taliban has not previously been prominent, according to a new report from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (ANSO) in Kabul.

In the third quarter of this year, it says, armed attacks by insurgents were 59 percent higher than in the same period of 2009.

The gloomy assessment of the security situation says some districts in northern provinces are in danger of slipping beyond control, and it describes efforts to form local militias in opposition to the Taliban as "clumsy".

It recommends that nongovernmental organizations engage with insurgent groups rather than avoid them.

There is evidence that insurgents are ready to accommodate nongovernmental organizations, according to the report.

The ANSO director, Nic Lee, writes that counterinsurgency efforts in Kandahar and Marjah in the south "have failed to degrade [insurgents'] ability to fight, reduce the number of civilian combat fatalities or deliver boxed government".

NATO said earlier this year that as part of its plan to secure Marjah, it planned to inject government services rapidly -- a plan dubbed by then commander U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal as "government in a box".

The new report says that insurgents are now operating advanced administrations in the south and east, and field reports suggest that insurgents are attracting non-Pashtun support in the north from elements within the Turkmen, Uzbek and Tajik communities.

The Taliban is predominantly made up of Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.

CNN

Panic-buying, airport fears grow as French refineries shut

Paris, France (CNN) -- Ten of France's 12 oil refineries were stopping production Friday, an oil industry spokesman said, as the country went through a fourth straight day of strikes over pension reforms.

Unions said workers at all 12 refineries were taking part in the strike.

Yves Le Goff, a spokesman for the French Oil Industry Association, said there is currently no rupture in the fuel supply, but that did not stop consumers from lining up at gas stations across the country to stock up on fuel, just in case.

The work stoppage at the refineries was having a direct effect on the two main Paris airports, Orly and Charles de Gaulle. Both are supplied by a pipeline that comes directly from refineries that were shut down Friday, according to Trapil, the company that owns the line.

While Orly said it has enough fuel to last for 17 days, French media reported that Charles de Gaulle has enough fuel to last at least through the weekend.

A spokesman for Paris Airports would not confirm how many days the Charles de Gaulle fuel would last if the pipelines continued to be blocked, but said there was no concern.

"We are not at all worried right now," the spokesman said.

The strike is over government pension reforms, which have passed the lower house of Parliament and are now awaiting approval by the Senate.

CNN

Militants attack another convoy in Pakistan

Gunmen opened fire and threw petrol bombs, setting the truck and its container on fire, said Muhammad Arshad Khan, a senior government official in Khyber Agency. They then fatally shot the occupants of the truck, Khan said.

The torched truck was part of two-truck convoy headed toward the Torkham border crossing. The second truck was not damaged in the incident.

Pakistan had closed off the crossing after U.S. helicopter strikes across the border killed two Pakistani soldiers. But it was reopened Sunday. It is the main land route for NATO supplies crossing from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Convoys have repeatedly come under militant fire in recent days. Since October 1, at least six people have been killed in attacks on supply vehicles -- in addition to the latest casualties.

The convoys are generally operated by contracted Pakistani firms, using Pakistani trucks and drivers.

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for some of the attack, saying they were in retaliation for drone strikes.

The group said it has set up a special squad to hit U.S. interests in Pakistan, especially NATO supply efforts.

CNN