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South Africa’s ‘Blade Runner’ Pistorius starts community service –
South Africa’s “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius on Saturday started performing community service as part of his parole conditions after being released from prison last month, local media reported. The Paralympic gold medalist was freed on parole less than a year into a five-year sentence for the “culpable homicide” of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, who he killed on Valentine’s Day in 2013. Pistorius, dubbed “Blade Runner” because of the carbon fiber prosthetic blades he uses to compete, was freed from prison in line with sentencing guidelines that say non-dangerous prisoners should spend only a sixth of a custodial sentence behind bars. [Reuters] Pistorius was originally refused early release in August 2015
Oscar Pistorius competing

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• November 2015 Paris attacks, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
  • The death toll from the terrorist attacks in Paris stands at 129. (Reuters)
  • Michel Cadot, the head of the Paris Police Prefecture, says that all the attackers are believed to be dead. (The Guardian)
  • French President François Hollande announces the cancellation of his participation at the G-20 Antalya summit in order to focus on the attacks. (Reuters via Channel News Asia)
  • Thousands are turning to social media (#PorteOuverte/twitter) to check-in on loved ones in the area, many using Facebook’s “Safety Check” feature. (CBS News)
  • The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant releases an official statement and video, claiming responsibility for the attacks. (The Jerusalem Post)
  • A Syrian passport is found near the body of one of the gunmen who died in Friday’s attacks in Paris. The holder passed through the Greek island of Leros on October 3 as a refugee, according to Greek officials. A Greek police source said the passport’s owner was a young man who had arrived in Leros with a group of 69 refugees and had his fingerprints taken by authorities there. Police declined to give his name. (Reuters) (ABC News Australia)
  • Poland‘s recently elected government led by Law and Justice (PiS), declares it will no longer accept EU-mandate quotas for refugees following the terrorist attacks in France. (RT)
• Military intervention against ISIL, Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
  • A U.S. airstrike on a compound in the Libyan port city of Derna is said to have killed Wisam al Zubaidi, also known as Abu Nabil al-Anbari, who commands the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant‘s branch in Libya. A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation, said the airstrike involved F-15 aircraft and was believed to have killed Zubaidi. He said the attack had been planned for some time. (The Washington Post) (BBC)
• Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Persecution of Yazidis by ISIL
  • Kurdish Peshmerga forces discover a mass grave believed to contain the remains of more than 70 members of Iraq‘s Yazidi minority, mostly women, east of the recently liberated town of Sinjar. (Reuters via The Huffington Post)
• Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, Turkey–ISIL conflict
  • Turkish forces engage Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants along the Syrian border:
    • Turkish troops kill four Islamic State militants in Turkey’s southeastern Gaziantep Province when two cars with ISIS passengers advanced on a Turkish armored vehicle near a border post in Oğuzeli. (Daily Sabah)
    • During a raid on a suspected ISIL hideout in the city of Gaziantep (Antep), a suicide bomber fires on Turkish police before he explodes, wounding five police officers, one seriously. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

• The U.S. Geological Survey reports a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck off the southwest coast of Japan. The quake occurred 119 miles (191 km) west-southwest of Kagoshima. The Pacific Tsunami Center reported no major tsunami threat. A small tsunami, 30 centimeters (11.8 inches), was observed on the southern island of Nakanoshima. No reports of major damage or injuries. (Reuters) (AP via Marysville Appeal-Democrat)(AFP via Channel News Asia)
• Eckwersheim derailment
  • Ten people are dead and eleven injured after a high-speed TGV train catches fire and derails near the northeastern French city of Strasbourg. (Independent) (BBC)
• Four people are killed after a light aircraft crashes near the village of Churchstanton in Somerset. (BBC)

International relations

• China–Indonesia relations, Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
  • Indonesia announces that it is planning to take China to court over the Natuna Islands. (Forbes)

Law and crime

• Scott N. Johansen, a Utah Juvenile Court judge, reverses his original order to remove a foster child from same sex-parents. The state Division of Child and Family Services and foster parents all filed motions asking for the reconsideration and promising an appeal. The new decision eliminates the phrase, “It is not in the best interest of children to be raised by same-sex couples” and strikes an order for the child to be placed with a non-same-sex couple. (New York Times)
• Police in South Korea fire tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protesters in Seoul. Around 70,000 people took part in the protests, the largest in Seoul since the 2008 US beef protest in South Korea. (Christian Science Monitor).

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