Soccer shooting in Honduras leaves 14 people dead

(CNN) -- Fourteen people were shot and killed at a soccer field in northern Honduras, a police spokesman said Saturday.

Juan Lopez, a police spokesman in the industrial city of San Pedro Sula, said 10 people died on the scene, while four more were transported to an area medical center for treatment. They died of their wounds, he added.

"We're investigating to see what sort of organization could be behind this. The most likely (scenario) is that the attack was directed at one or some of the men on the field and that the others were caught in the crossfire," Lopez said.

He declined to identify the victims.

CNN

'Sopranos' actress dies at 46

(CNN) -- Denise Borino-Quinn, who played the wife of a mob boss in the award-winning HBO series "The Sopranos," has died of cancer at 46.

Borino-Quinn died Wednesday at Morristown (New Jersey) Memorial Hospital, according to Farmer Funeral Home. A funeral Mass was held Saturday.

"The Sopranos," which ran from 1999 to 2007, told the story of mobster Tony Soprano and a colorful cast of bumbling criminals.

Borino-Quinn, who said in an interview that she got the part in a 2000 open casting call, played Ginny Sacramoni, married to Johnny Sacramoni. An HBO character bio described Ginny as "Rubenesque".

According to IMDB.com, the internet movie database, Borino-Quinn was a legal secretary and part-time manicurist in Roseland, New Jersey, when she got "The Sopranos" role. She was selected from 14,000 actresses.

The actress married her late husband, Luke Quinn, in 2005. She has two younger brothers, Vincent Borino and Chris Borino.

CNN

Honduras football match shooting leaves 14 dead

At least 14 people have been shot dead on a football pitch in the city of San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras.

Reports said gunmen approached the group as they gathered to play football and opened fire.

The motive for the attack is not clear, but one official suggested it may have been a settling of accounts between criminal gangs.

Last month 18 people were killed in a similar attack on a shoe factory in San Pedro Sula.

Seriously injured

Armando Calidonio, vice-minister of security, was quoted by Associated Press news agency as saying the gunmen had fired from point-blank range with assault rifles.

Ten people died at the scene, in the Colonia Felipe Zelaya district, and a further four on the way to hospital.

A number of others were injured, some seriously.

Honduras has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with much of the killing blamed on violent gangs known as Maras.

The biggest gangs have thousands of members and a presence throughout Central America as well as in the US.

Police blamed the attack on the shoe factory on street gangs with links to Mexican drugs cartels.

BBC News

Tanzania's President Kikwete tipped for election win

Voters in Tanzania are due to go to the polls to elect the East African country's president and parliament.

President Jakaya Kikwete, who has been credited with boosting the nation's economy, is seen by many as a favourite to secure his second and final term.

His main opponents are Willibrod Slaa, a former priest, and university professor Ibrahim Lipumba, who say the government has failed to tackle widespread poverty.

Voters are also electing 239 lawmakers.

Zanzibar deal

More than 19 million people are eligible to cast their ballots when the polls open at 0700 local time (0400 GMT).

A total of 18 political parties are competing, with seven candidates vying for the presidency.

President Kikweke, of the governing CCM party, was elected with more than 80% of the vote in 2005 and is now expecting to win again.

On Saturday, thousands of his supporters danced and cheered during a rally in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

BBC News

Brazil set to elect new president

Brazilians will vote on Sunday to choose a new president to succeed Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Opinion polls suggest the governing Workers Party candidate Dilma Rousseff has a clear lead over Jose Serra of the opposition Social Democratic Party.

Ms Rousseff has enjoyed the full support of President Lula, who is leaving office after two terms with record popularity ratings.

If she wins she will become Brazil's first woman president.

Polls open at 1000GMT and close at 2000GMT.

Brazil uses an electronic voting system, and final results are expected within hours of the polls closing.

This second round of voting was forced after Ms Rousseff fell short of the 50% needed in the 3 October first round. She won 47% to Mr Serra's 33%.

BBC News

A 'tea party' predecessor

By Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Flushing Township, Mich. — 

Before there was a " tea party," there was the crew of arch-conservative budget hawks that took over this staid Midwestern suburb — the group that critics call the Gang of Four.

It's a nickname that the core members — a contractor, a former hog farmer, a sheriff's deputy and a libertarian economist — have adopted with good humor as they've carried out their own revolution in this one-restaurant hamlet of 10,200 people, deposing what they considered to be a profligate Republican regime and dramatically scaling back government.

Since forming a majority on the Board of Trustees in November 2008, the Gang has shrunk the Police Department from 13 officers to six, eliminated the building inspector and park staff positions, and cut board members' dental, vision and guaranteed pension benefits.

The Gang has discussed pulling out of the maintenance contract for the local cemetery. There was some talk of eliminating the gas money for the van at the senior center.

This month, some locals were dismayed when the Gang canceled "Nature Halloween," a pumpkin-painting and educational event that typically drew 1,000 costumed kids. It cost the township about $1,000.

"Why can't the government do something nice for the people once in a while?" said Ida Reed, 82, a former board member and one of numerous residents who don't understand why the township — which balances its budget every year, in accordance with state law — should be considered in crisis. "If nobody came, I could understand it. But they had droves of people come in. They took them on hayrides".

The Gang has been motivated by questions at the heart of the nation's rowdy, recession-era shout-fest. "It's one thing we've been saying in unison that's similar to the tea party mantra," said Trustee Mike Gardner, the economist. "What is the proper role of government? What expenditures are truly necessary?"

The austere answers offered by the tea party have been limited largely to slogans on placards. In Flushing Township, the Gang of Four has turned the placards into policy. The reaction has been fierce.

For decades, board meetings were sleepy affairs. These days, the modest council chamber — with its folding chairs and "In God We Trust" poster — tends to be packed. Gang critics alight on the left of the aisle, supporters on the right.

"It's been a zoo. It's been an absolute zoo," left-side local Sandy Lanxton, 69, whispered to a visitor just before the board's October meeting. "They're getting rid of our police. They don't support what this town should build up.... You know, they're tea baggers".

Right-sider Gordon "Mike" Cookingham, 74, said the recession awakened residents to the realization that their government had grown arrogant and bloated.

"This group," he said nodding to the Gang, "has saved us a ton of money".

The Gang — Gardner; Mark Purkey, 56, the contractor; Scott Minaudo, 39, the deputy; and Bill Noecker, 59, the farmer — narrowly survived a bitter recall campaign last year.

They inherited a Police Department whose budget swelled from $660,000 per year to $1.2 million between 2001 and 2009, even though the township, with its modest homes on generous, woodsy lots, has not had any serious crime waves. The Gang preferred to cut cops rather than raise taxes.

Los Angeles Times

Housing benefit cut would make London 'unaffordable'

Large swaths of London will become "largely unaffordable" to housing benefit recipients from next year, says an authoritative new study from Cambridge University.

Stung by widespread criticism of proposed caps to housing benefit, the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, accused opponents of "hysteria and scaremongering" over the changes.

But the Cambridge study, commissioned by the housing charity Shelter, found that rents on most two-bedroom properties in London would be more expensive than the new caps. It also claimed that people would be forced to move out of their homes, not only in parts of central London but in many of the capital's suburbs.

The analysis follows revelations in last week's Observer that inner London councils were block-booking bed and breakfasts outside the capital to house the tens of thousands of poor families that would be forced to move.

Councils on the edge of the capital and beyond have reacted with alarm to the news. Now many are planning to write to the government demanding more money to deal with what some have called the "benefit influx".

Liam Smith, the council leader in Barking and Dagenham, said: "We will need money that we currently don't have to deal with that situation. We simply haven't budgeted for this additional pressure on our finances".

Barnet, Brent and Newham councils have already sent letters, while a group of councils to the west of the city, including Hounslow, are preparing a joint demand.

Inner-city areas are also worried about the impact. In a letter to the government, seen by the Observer, Westminster council is asking ministers to reduce its duty to support families who are made homeless as a result of the cap. Tory councillor Philippa Roe, the cabinet member for housing, wants the duty to be removed for families who have lived in the area for less than two years in order to give long-term residents priority. She said that demand for housing outstripped supply in the borough more acutely than elsewhere.

Karen Buck, the local Labour MP, described the move as "truly shocking". She added: "Westminster council's pitch to the government is that housing benefit cuts can only work by removing homelessness protection built up over decades".

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said the latest study showed how the reforms would "change the makeup of London" with no-go areas for those on local housing allowance. "We are concerned this could mean tens of thousands of households forced from the centre, creating concentrations of poverty and inequality and adding to the already significant levels of homelessness and overcrowding in the city".

The concerns come as the National Housing Federation, the body that represents housing associations in England, claims that around 200,000 people will be forced to live below a minimum income standard that has been endorsed by the prime minister, David Cameron.

The federation added that the £26,000 maximum limit on the amount of housing benefit and other entitlements a family can claim could leave thousands of larger households without enough money to cover food, transport costs and energy bills.

While the problems are most acute in London, figures published on the blog Left Foot Forward reveal how the cap, as well as a series of other housing benefit reforms, will also hit families across the country.

Areas worst hit include Leeds, with 15,610 losers; Bradford, with 10,470; Liverpool, with 12,620; Manchester, with 10,210; and Brighton and Hove, with 12,550.

Many outside the capital will be hit by the decision to reduce the rate at which the local housing allowance is set from the median of local rents to the 30th percentile.

The Observer

Quebecers celebrate St. Brother Andre

MONTREAL - For one Quebec politician, the most moving moment in Saturday's celebration of St. Brother Andre's recent canonization came when four members of the late cleric's family carried in a small shrine containing a sliver of the saint's heart.

“That was it for me, and when they brought in the crutches,” said Bernard Blanchet after the ceremony.

The city councillor for Lachine, Que., and his mother, Denise, were among a crowd of 30,000 people who flocked to Montreal's Olympic Stadium on Saturday to remember and celebrate Quebec's Brother Andre, who was elevated to sainthood on Oct. 17 in Rome.

Vendors hawked $10 T-shirts with his image, while people stood in long lines in the souvenir shop where wooden crucifixes, key chains, statues of St. Joseph and candles were flying off shelves, with special St. Joseph's Oratory carryalls to hold all the goods.

The crowd spanned all age levels - from toddlers in strollers to seniors using walkers.

Performers from 3 Petits Chanteurs sang as the processional moved toward the makeshift altar, watched by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Premier Jean Charest and Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay.

Quebec singer Chantal Pary took the microphone for a rendition of Miracle de la Montagne by Lucie Bernier as 180 young adults from different cultural communities joined the processional, which also included 60 bishops and almost as many priests and other clergy.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte presided over the two-hour mass and spoke at length about the man born Alfred Bessette on Aug. 9, 1845 in St. Gregoire, Que., south of Montreal.

GlobalNews

Yemen arrests suspect, parcels confirmed as bombs

SANAA - Yemeni forces on Saturday arrested a woman believed to be involved in sending explosive packages bound for the United States that triggered a global security alert, Yemeni security officials said.

The arrest was the first in the case, in which two air freight packages containing bombs - both sent from Yemen and addressed to synagogues in Chicago - were intercepted in Britain and Dubai.

The officials said the woman had been traced through a telephone number she had left with a cargo company.

They told Reuters she was a medical student at Sanaa University and believed to be in her 20s. She was arrested in a poor neighbourhood in the west of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

The women's lawyer said her mother had also been detained, but was not a prime suspect.

Britain said the device found on a cargo plane at its East Midlands airport was big enough to down an aircraft.

"We believe the device was designed to go off on the aeroplane. We cannot be sure about the timing when that was meant to take place," Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters at Chequers, his country residence outside London.

"In the end these terrorists think that our interconnectedness, our openness as modern countries is what makes us weak," he said. "They are wrong - it is a source of our strength, and we will use that strength, that determination, that power and that solidarity to defeat them".

GlobalNews

Official: Haiti cholera deaths rise above 330 as hurricane approaches

(CNN) -- The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Haiti has risen to more than 330, and officials believe Hurricane Tomas may worsen the situation as it approaches, a U.N. spokeswoman said Saturday.

The number of confirmed cholera cases has climbed to 4,764, with 337 deaths, said Imogen Wall, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Haiti, citing information provided by the Haitian government. Those numbers represent the people that were able to make it to the hospital, she said.

Another 200 cases are suspected in the nation's West Department, or province, she said.

Tracking maps show Hurricane Tomas nearing Haiti on Thursday as a Category 3 hurricane.

CNN

Boccieri's wife goes into labor at rally

CANTON, Ohio, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Former President Bill Clinton was upstaged at a campaign rally in Canton, Ohio, Saturday when U.S. Rep. John Boccieri's wife went into labor.

Clinton was about 8 minutes into his 47-minute speech when the Boccieris' baby decided it couldn't wait and the congressman left the stage to accompany his wife Stacey to the hospital, The (Canton) Repository reported.

"The baby's now being born," Clinton told the audience, triggering a round of applause. "You'd be amazed how many times I take a picture with a very pregnant woman and she immediately gives birth".

Clinton quipped to the Boccieris' parents, who were on hand, that he'd like "some credit for your fifth grandchild being born into the world".

"We've got another Democrat. I wish we could register that baby," the former president added.

The baby, expected to be a girl, wasn't due until Election Day on Tuesday.

UPI

80 insurgents killed in Afghan attack

SHARAN, Afghanistan, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- NATO and Afghan forces repelled insurgents who attacked their base Paktika province, leaving 80 of the attackers dead, officials said Saturday.

Farid Mukhlis, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told CNN no NATO or Afghan troops were killed in the firefight that started about midnight Friday and raged into Saturday morning.

The U.S. news network said NATO's International Security Assistance Force only counted at least 30 insurgents dead with five coalition troops wounded. The reason for the discrepancy in the reported death toll unclear.

"Insurgents attacked from all directions with rocket-propelled grenades, small arms and mortar fire," the coalition statement said.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Zabihullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, said by telephone from an undisclosed location that 10 insurgents had died. He also claimed the fighters had destroyed four checkpoints and inflicted a large number of casualties to the coalition troops.

UPI

Woman detained in Yemen in bomb plot

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Yemeni authorities detained a woman Saturday suspected of having a role in sending two bombs to the United States on Chicago-bound cargo planes.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the United States and United Arab Emirates gave him information that identified the woman as a suspect, Sky News reported.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron said it appeared one bomb discovered in England was meant to detonate aboard the aircraft, possibly over British soil, The Daily Telegraph reported.

"We believe that the device was designed to go off on the airplane," Cameron said. "There is no early evidence that it was designed to go off over British soil, but, of course, we cannot rule that out".

The second device was found on a plane in the United Arab Emirates.

The British newspaper said U.S. and British security officials suspect American-born Anwar al-Awlaki of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula had a hand in the plot.

Yemeni security officials said the woman in custody was a medical student at Sana'a University and believed to be in her 20s, the Telegraph said. Her lawyer said the woman's mother also was detained, though she wasn't a prime suspect.

UPI

2 teen girls die in Canada house fire

TORONTO, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A house fire in Toronto Saturday killed two teenage girls and left a young man hospitalized for smoke inhalation, police said.

The fire was reported shortly after noon in Toronto's Scarborough neighborhood, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office was investigating the cause of the blaze, and the victim's names and other details were being withheld, the CBC said.

UPI

Jon Stewart rally fills National Mall

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A huge crowd showed up for a rally in Washington Saturday where comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert attempted to restore their "sanity and/or fear".

Organizers said the "Rally to Restore Sanity, and/or Fear" was meant to counter a religious-themed event held two months ago by Fox network commentator Glenn Beck called "Restoring Honor," The Washington Post reported.

"The truth is, we work together to get things done, every damn day. The only place we don't is here or on cable TV. But Americans don't live here, or on cable TV," Stewart said.

A huge stage and a half-dozen 9-foot-by-15-foot video monitors were installed so those at the back of the action could hear speakers and musical performers, the report said.

The comedians brought out Tony Bennett to sing "America the Beautiful," and the crowd periodically erupted with chants of "U-S-A".

"I find it incredibly ironic that I had to come to a rally sponsored by a comedian to get at the truth," Jim Neimeier, who drove to Washington from Wisconsin for the event, told the Post.

UPI

Russia, Vietnam to sign nuclear power plant construction deal

A deal on the construction of Vietnam's first nuclear power plant will be signed during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Hanoi, an aide to the Russian leader said.

Medvedev arrived to Hanoi on Saturday to attend the Russia-ASEAN summit in Vietnam.

"Among the most important documents [to be signed] is an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in building a nuclear power plant in Vietnam," Sergei Prikhodko said ahead of the visit.

Vietnam plans to build eight nuclear power plants in five provinces by 2030, with a total capacity of 15 GW, or 10% of all electricity produced in the country. Each NPP would have from four to six generating units.

In December 2009, the heads of Russia's state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom and Vietnam's electricity corporation EVN, Sergei Kiriyenko and Pham Le Thanh, signed a memo of understanding to assist Vietnam in building its first nuclear power plant, with a capacity of 1GW.

Moscow pledged to provide Vietam with a loan for the construction.

During the Russian leader's visit, a memorandum of understanding between Russian energy ministry and Vietnam's industry ministry will also be signed. The document says that Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP will buy BP's assets in Vietnam. The deal is estimated at $1.8 billion.

RIA Novosti

UEFA files legal action over Euro 2012 rigged vote allegations

The Union of European Football Associations confirmed on Saturday that it had filed legal action in Switzerland and Cyprus following allegations made surrounding the voting in 2007 for hosting UEFA Euro 2012.

UEFA lodged a legal complaint against Spyros Marangos, treasurer of the Cyprus Football Association, who claims that five UEFA top officials received 11 million euros for voting for the right of Ukraine and Poland to host Euro 2012.

"UEFA has been obliged to take legal action firstly in order to establish whether any of the claims made by Mr Marangos have any substance to them, and therefore to make available any tangible elements in order to substantiate these claims. And secondly, to protect the integrity and the good name of UEFA and European football in general, which have been seriously damaged by these allegations," UEFA said in a statement.

The joint bid by Poland and Ukraine was chosen by the UEFA's Executive Committee on April 18, 2007 in Cardiff, Wales, defeating the other shortlisted bids from Italy and Croatia/Hungary. The Poland/Ukraine bid received a total of eight votes and Italy received the remaining four while the Croatia/Hungary bid failed to win a single vote.

RIA Novosti

Russian airborne troops commander injured in traffic accident

Russian Airborne Troops Commander Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov was injured in a car accident, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

Shamanov was on his way to the Tula paratroopers division on Saturday morning when his BMW crashed with a MAZ truck, which veered into the oncoming lane, 500 meters away from the entrance to Tula.

Three Tajik nationals, who were riding in the truck, attempted to escape but were detained by paratroopers, who followed the general's car.

The BMW driver was killed on the spot while Shamanov and Col. Alexei Naumets, the acting commander of the Tula division, were hospitalized. The latter was taken to intensive care.

The ministry's spokesman said Shamanov was conscious and his life was out of danger.

The general will be moved from a Tula hospital to the Burdenko hospital in Moscow, one of Russia's best medical centers.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who appointed Shamanov Airborne Troops commander in May 2009, said, "Shamanov is a strong man. He will recover and continue commanding the Airborne Troops".

RIA Novosti

Hurricane Tomas lashes Caribbean islands

Hurricane Tomas has lashed islands in the eastern Caribbean, bringing down electricity poles and ripping roofs off houses.

Heavy rain and sustained winds of 75mph (120km/h) have struck St Lucia and St Vincent in the Windward Isles.

Barbados had also earlier suffered damage from the Category 1 storm, though no deaths have been reported.

There are fears the westward track of Tomas could take it near earthquake-ravaged Haiti later in the week.

Festival cancelled

The US National Hurricane Centre said that at 1800 GMT, Tomas was located about 10 miles north-east of St Lucia, heading westwards out to sea.

By the middle of the week it could strengthen to a Category 3 or 4 hurricane, south of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Barbados, Tobago, Grenada and Dominica have had storm warnings, while a hurricane warning was posted for St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia and Martinique.

Winds ripped off roofs of a hospital and a school in the eastern village of Dennery in St Lucia.

The island's largest Creole festival was cancelled.

The biggest fear is that Tomas could affect Haiti, where around 1.5 million survivors of January's earthquake are living in tented camps vulnerable to high winds and heavy rain.

Haiti has already been stricken recently by a cholera outbreak that has left more than 300 people dead.

Imogen Wall, UN humanitarian spokeswoman in Haiti, told Reuters news agency: "A hurricane is one of the things we've been preparing for... but we're stretched to capacity handling the cholera epidemic.

"It's obviously the last thing Haiti needs".

BBC News