Mexico drugs cartel suspects arrested in Atlanta area

Police in the United States have arrested 45 people they accuse of belonging to the Mexican drug cartel La Familia Michoacana.

Agents also seized cash, guns and drugs as part of their operation against the cell, based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Police said the city had become a major drug distribution centre, from where drugs were being shipped to neighbouring states.

But they said the arrests would disrupt the cartel's operation in Atlanta.

Justice officials said those arrested would be charged with conspiracy to traffic drugs, money laundering and possession of firearms, among other things.

The agents said they seized 23kg (50lb) of methamphetamine, 43kg of cocaine and more than 2,000kg of marijuana, amounting to a street value of $10m (£6.14m).

Senior agent in the US Drug Enforcement Administration John Comer warned that while the operation to dismantle this particular cell had been successful, it was just one of many operating in the Atlanta area.

"Mexican cartels such as La Familia Michoacana have collectively become the most powerful drug trafficking organisations in the world, and have an impact on the United States," he said.

BBC News

China and France sign deals as Hu Jintao visits Paris

China's President Hu Jintao has signed billions of euros' worth of business deals during a state visit to France.

They included spending 10bn euros (£8.6bn; $14bn) on 102 Airbus planes, as well as telecoms and nuclear deals.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy received his guest with full military honours, and has laid on an extravagant programme of events and ceremonies.

But activists complain that China's human rights record is being ignored in the rush to sign lucrative contracts.

Unusually for a three-day state visit, there will not be a joint press conference between the presidents, so there will be no opportunity for Western journalists to question Mr Hu on issues like Tibet, press freedom and the imprisonment of dissidents.

Business deals are the firm focus of the trip.

On Thursday evening, deputy Chinese Foreign Minister Fu Ying said investment contracts signed that day had already totalled 14bn euros, and said China planned to double the value of its annual imports from France to 56bn euros over the next five years.

The deals apparently included a 2.5bn-euro agreement with French nuclear giant Areva to supply uranium, and another to build a uranium treatment plant in China.

Also, Total said it was planning to invest 2-3bn euros in a Chinese petrochemical plant.

BBC News

New deadly Mount Merapi eruption in Indonesia

At least 11 people have been killed in a fresh eruption of Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano.

About 50 others were injured when a gas cloud hit mountainside villages with even greater force than last week's eruptions.

A total of at least 55 people have now been killed. An estimated 75,000 have been evacuated from the area.

Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, is located in a densely populated area in central Java.

The fresh eruption began late on Thursday, sending residents streaming down the mountain with ash-covered faces.

The authorities have decided to widen the "danger zone" around the crater from 15 km (9 miles) to 20km (12 miles).

Earlier on Thursday eyewitnesses said the volcano had been spewing clouds of hot ash and gas some 5km (three miles) into the sky.

The energy from the latest eruption was three times greater than that of the first one on Tuesday last week, government vulcanologist Surono said.

Scientists are warning of further eruptions in the coming weeks.

BBC News

All-clear given for India-bound flight after emergency declaration

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- An all-clear was given early Friday for Delta Flight 70 from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Mumbai, India, after a "full emergency" had been declared due to an unidentified object in plane's cargo hold, according to a Mumbai airport spokesman.

"Full emergency withdrawn. ... Security agencies have cleared the on-board cargo," said Mumbai International Airport spokesman Manish Kalghatgi.

The all-clear was given at 1:50 a.m. Friday (4:20 p.m. Thursday ET), he said.

A "full emergency" had been declared Thursday on the flight "due to an unidentified object on a pallet in the cargo hold," Kalghatgi said.

After the plane landed in Mumbai the cargo was inspected by bomb squads, said Rohit Katiyar, a spokesman for India's Central Industrial Security Force.

He said everyone had been taken off the plane.

Delta said the plane is an Airbus A330 that was carrying 235 passengers and 12 crew members. The flight originated at New York's John F. Kennedy International airport before stopping in Amsterdam.

Delta Airlines said it had "requested a precautionary rescreening" of the cargo shipment.

"We are cooperating with the authorities in their assessment," Delta's Susan Elliott said.

CNN

Large rise in Northern Ireland bombings, report finds

London, England (CNN) -- Bomb attacks by dissidents in Northern Ireland nearly quadrupled over the past six months from the period before, a report from the Independent Monitoring Commission said Thursday.

Dissident republicans have steadily increased the number of improvised explosive devices they have deployed and detonated over the past two and a half years, the commission said. Since May, the number of devices deployed was roughly double that of the previous six months -- and the number detonated went up nearly fourfold, it said.

The findings by the commission, set up nearly seven years ago by the British and Irish governments, are in the latest and last of its biannual reports on the paramilitary and security situation in Northern Ireland.

While the number of bombings has gone up, there have been no deaths from bomb attacks and no one has suffered life-threatening injuries.

Still, the commission said, "the high level of dissident activity would undoubtedly have led to many more deaths, injuries, and destruction had it not been for the operations of the law enforcement and security agencies north and south (in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) and their ever closer cross-border co-operation".

It said that in both Northern Ireland and the Republic, about three times the number of dissidents have been charged with terrorist offenses in all of 2010 than in 2009, and the number of arrests has nearly doubled.

Dissident republicans are those who refused to accept the 1998 Good Friday peace settlement and power-sharing deal negotiated and signed by mainstream republican leaders such as Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

Groups like the Real IRA and Continuity IRA broke away from the Irish Republican Army, also called the IRA, which fought for decades against British rule in Northern Ireland. The IRA agreed to a process of decommissioning under the Good Friday deal, something the dissident republicans do not accept.

The report also said the two factions of the Real IRA have been the the most active and dangerous of all such groups, conducting 18 attacks on members of the security forces and those associated with them. Each faction has its own structure and "army council," the report said.

CNN

Obama vows to 'move American people's agenda forward'

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama has invited congressional leaders from both parties to join him in a meeting to discuss what to do in the waning days of the current Congress, vowing Thursday that it will "not be just a photo-op".

"I want us to talk substantively about how to move the American people's agenda forward," Obama said.

The meeting is set for November 18, Obama said, following elections Tuesday in which his Democratic Party lost control of the House of Representatives and saw its Senate majority reduced. Current members of Congress keep their jobs until the end of the year in what's known as the "lame-duck" session.

Obama said he wants the meeting to discuss the future of the Bush-era tax cuts that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Republicans and Democrats disagree about how to extend them.

The president calls for extending the lower tax rates for income up to $200,000 a year for individuals or $250,000 a year for families. Income above those levels would be taxed at rates from the 1990s, before the tax cuts were enacted in 2001 and 2003.

Most Republicans oppose letting anyone's tax rates go up, including the 2 percent of the population that earns income greater than the thresholds proposed by Obama.

CNN

Al Qaeda's No. 2 man calls for revenge over convicted scientist

(CNN) -- A new audio message purportedly from al Qaeda's second in command surfaced Thursday on radical Islamist websites, calling for revenge for a Pakistani scientist convicted of attempting to kill Americans in Afghanistan.

A U.S. court sentenced Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years in prison in September after an American jury convicted her this year on seven charges, including attempted murder and armed assault on U.S. officers.

In Thursday's audio recording, the speaker identified as Ayman al-Zawahiri says his message -- titled "who will come to the aid of scientist Aafia Siddiqui" -- is two-fold.

'In regards to my message to America, I say, go ahead and judge, because you are only judging yourselves. ... Attack others because in return, you will only be attacking yourselves," he says. "By the lord of heaven and earth, we will fight you until the hour of the judgment day comes or until you stop your crimes against us".

He goes on to address Pakistan: "I want to say these few words because now this is the time for action. Your government and the commanders of your army have transformed you into a people without a dignity, without honor and without pride and even without any value whatsoever. The Americans and their crusader allies occupy your country. They kill your people, they destroy your villages and they imprison your women. Is there any more disgrace and humiliation than this?

"The path is clear and quite obvious. Whoever wants to free Aafia Siddiqui and revenge for her honor against those who assaulted her and assaulted every other Muslim woman, let them join the ranks of the mujahedeens and let them support them and be part of them because there is neither pride nor dignity without seeking jihad".

In 2008, Siddiqui fired a rifle at two FBI agents, a U.S. Army warrant officer, an Army captain and military interpreters when they entered a room where she was being held in central Afghanistan. She did not hit anyone but was injured when the warrant officer returned fire.

Afghan police had arrested her outside the Ghazni provincial governor's compound after finding her with bomb-making instructions, excerpts from the "Anarchist's Arsenal," papers with descriptions of U.S. landmarks and substances sealed in bottles and glass jars, according to a September 2008 indictment.

CNN

At least 16 dead in Costa Rica mudslides, Red Cross says

(CNN) -- At least 16 people died and more than 15 others were missing Thursday after heavy overnight rains caused severe mudslides in parts of Costa Rica, the nation's Red Cross said.

Another 600 people have sought refuge in 14 shelters, said the Costa Rica National Commission for Emergencies.

Images on Teletica showed rescue crews digging through demolished homes. In another scene, workers at a mud-covered overturned vehicle stretched out a white sheet over a victim's body.

Other images showed roads buckled by the ferocity of the rushing water. In another area, some residents strung up a rope between two banks so people could walk across a cascade.

Mudslides and flooding were reported in many places in the Central Valley area, which is surrounded by a handful of mountains and volcanoes. It is the most populous part of the nation.

Classes were indefinitely canceled at many of Costa Rica's public schools, the education minister said on Teletica.

About 800,000 people were left without safe water supplies, and residents were told to boil any water to be used for drinking or cooking.

CNN

China's Hu tops Forbes 'most powerful' list

(CNN) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao has topped the list of Forbes magazine's list of the world's most powerful people, besting U.S. President Barack Obama who slipped to the second spot.

The magazine said it used four criteria to define power -- whether the person has influence over a lot of people; whether they have significant wealth compared to their peers; whether they are powerful in more than one sphere and whether they actively wield power.

In that respect, said the magazine, the editors picked Hu as the most powerful man in the world. The annual list was released Wednesday evening.

As the leader of China, Hu presides over 1.3 billion people -- one-fifth of the world's population, and over the world's largest army. Under him, China has become the world's second-largest economy. And, says Forbes, "Unlike Western counterparts, Hu can divert rivers, build cities, jail dissidents and censor Internet without meddling from pesky bureaucrats, courts".

Julian Assange, the editor of WikiLeaks, makes the list (No. 68), as does Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (No. 40). In addition, several accused criminals do too, including al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (No. 57).

The top 10 most powerful people, according to the magazine:

1. Hu Jintao, president of China

2. Barack Obama, president of the United States.

3. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, the king of Saudi Arabia

4. Vladimir Putin, the prime minister of Russia

5. Pope Benedict XVI

6. Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany

7. David Cameron, prime minister of the United Kingdom

8. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve

9. Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indian National Congress

10. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

CNN

What caused engine to fail on one of world's largest planes?

(CNN) -- Some of the world's largest airlines are conducting safety checks after debris fell from the engine of a Qantas Airbus A380 as it flew over Indonesia.

Australia's national airline has now grounded its Airbus A380 fleet indefinitely. How serious is the incident -- and what does it mean for the aviation industry?

What do we know about the Qantas engine incident?

One of the four engines on the Qantas A380, which was carrying 440 passengers and 26 crew Thursday, shut down shortly after it left Singapore's Changi Airport.

The most obvious sign of damage to the plane is that part of one engine cowling, or covering, had been blown away. Debris was later found on the Indonesian island of Batan.

Why is this being taken so seriously?

This type of incident is known as an "uncontained engine failure," explains Richard Quest, CNN's aviation correspondent. "Probably something happened at the front of the engine, it ingested into the engine, out the other side and that's where the explosion or non-containment happened".

Quest highlighted damage to the wing above the engine, including puncture marks.

"Whatever event took place in engine number two, the debris from that event exploded outwards, removing part of the cowling and, it seems, going upwards through the wing".

Quest said the debris hit the wing by the forward slats, several meters away from critical areas such as the fuel tanks and fuel lines.

"Any form of debris that leaves an engine and has upward momentum sufficiently that it can go through the wing in that sort of mode has to be taken very seriously indeed," Quest said. "That is why, in this case, Qantas has decided to ground the fleet".

Quest highlighted other signs of damage on the engine casing, including the presence of soot marks where the fan and combustion chambers meet the exhaust.

"That suggests there was clearly some sort of an event, some sort of fire," he explained.

Were the passengers and air crew in any danger?

While the incident was serious, the plane landed with no reported injuries.

Quest said the pilot would have faced a challenging landing: one of his four reverse thrusters would not work and he would be carrying too much fuel. 

But air crews practice for such eventualities. "This was not even a difficult landing for him".

How common is this type of incident?

An uncontained engine failure is extremely uncommon, said Quest -- but it has happened on several occasions before.

In 1985 a British Airtours Boeing 737-236 at Manchester International Airport in northern England, caught fire as it readied for take-off. Debris from the engine punctured an underwing fuel tank access panel, according to a later Air Accident Investigation Branch report into the incident. The resulting blaze engulfed the fuselage in a matter of minutes, killing 55 passengers and crew.

What do we know about the engine itself?

The engine used on the Qantas Airbus A380 is the Rolls Royce Trent 900. All A380s -- save those flown by Emirates -- are fitted with it, accounting for more than half the 37 A380s in operation before Thursday's incident.

In a statement to CNN, a Rolls-Royce spokesperson said: "Safety is always our highest priority. We are currently analyzing the available information and working with our customers to support their operations".

Shares in Rolls Royce dropped more than five percent Thursday in trading on the London Stock Exchange.

What's the safety record of the Airbus A380?

The plane involved in this incident would be about two years old, with the engine of a similar age. The Airbus A380 has a 100 percent safety record, Quest explained.

"There have been niggles with the fuel systems and engines but nothing like this, they have more been operational issues. It is an extremely complicated airplane. The plane is designed for an uncontained engine failure".

"The airlines love it," adds Quest. "Everyone who flies on the A380 says it's quiet, it's roomy, it's comfortable".

The incident happened in the same region as Indonesian volcano Mount Merapi, which is now active. Could this have been a factor?

Investigators will look at all possibilities. Earlier this year, no-fly zones were imposed across Europe due to ash clouds from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull. It was feared that dust and ash from the volcano might damage airplane engines.

However, while Mount Merapi is also in Indonesia, it is located several hundred miles from where the incident took place. IVolcanic activity has not yet been flagged as a serious possible cause of the engine failure.

What is Airbus saying about the incident?

In a statement to CNN company spokesperson Justin Dubon confirmed that "a Qantas A380 returned safely back to Singapore. The Singaporean authorities have launched an official investigation and these will be led by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

"Airbus is providing full technical assistance and is dispatching a technical team to Singapore where Airbus already has resident technical personnel".

Has there been any comment from other operators of the A380?

Singapore Airlines said in a statement on its website that it would delay all its A380 flights for the time being. "Our engine manufacturer Rolls Royce and aircraft manufacturer Airbus have advised us to conduct precautionary technical checks on our A380 aircraft, following today's incident involving another operator's A380".

Lufthansa, which operates three A380s, including to Tokyo, said: "Our operations are as normal. We are on standby to go further but no decisions have been made".

CNN