In Spain, the Spanish police have caught a French fugitive, Algerian hitman. On Halloween, Hamid Hakkar, 47, was caught wearing a devil’s costume. He is on France’s most wanted list for murder, money laundering, and drug trafficking. Escaping for the first time in 1998, he was found and arrested again in 2003. In November 2013, he escaped once more.
On Sunday Arwa Damon, CNN senior international correspondent, and photojournalist Brice Laine have been with the Iraqi special forces for over 28 hours, while they pushed into Mosul, one of the ISIS-held cities. Damon’s notes during this time include phrases such as “The gunfire is all over the place. It’s nonstop. Our MRAP armored vehicle is filled with the smell of gunfire from all the shooting outside,” “Do not allow the civilians to leave,” comes the radio call, “It’s too dangerous for them,” “They need to evacuate the wounded, but they can’t,” and “I have blood on me, but it’s not mine.” Her last notes were, “We are out. We are so fortunate. All we can think of are the families, those kids, the fear on their faces. The soldiers who are still fighting, the knowledge that it will only get worse.”
The ISIS leader has given a rare audio message to the public. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi tells the ISIS soldiers in Mosul that “holding your ground in honor is a thousand times better than retreating in disgrace.”
South Korea is calling for President Park Geun-Hye to step down. After being accused of letting a close friend who did not hold an official government position see confidential documents, not even her two apologies stopped 100,000 protesters from marching into the streets of Seoul. The protesters, many bringing their families and friends, blocked off a 16-lane highway that leads to the capital.
The country currently taking in more Afghan refugees than all other countries combined is Afghanistan. At the end of the year, an expected 1.5 million refugees will most likely be forcibly returned to their home country.
In Nicaragua, the current president is running again for his fourth term, third consecutive, and is expected, by many, to win it. Daniel Ortega has announced his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his VP, saying she was the best running mate he could choose. The Nicaraguan Constitution bans candidates who are related to the president from running but none for spouses. As Eliseo Nunez puts it “It makes no sense, It’s like saying: My brother-in-law can’t run because he is related to my wife, but my wife can run.” The Supreme Court of Nicaragua, however, has said that there was no legal impediment for the Ortega-Murillo ticket.
An Italian priest posted several views that had the Vatican church announce that it was “offensive to believers and disgraceful for non-believers.” Fr Giovanni Cavalcoli has said that the earthquakes that hit Italy last week were “divine punishment” for “the offense to the family and the dignity of marriage, in particular through civil unions.” Another Italian priest was forced to resign in 2012 after posting a leaflet on his church’s message board; Fr Piero Corsi’s announced that the 118 women murdered had themselves to blame and no one else. “Is it possible that men have turned crazy all of a sudden? We don’t believe so. The point is that more and more women provoke, fall into arrogance, believe [themselves] to be independent and exacerbate tensions… They [women] trigger the worst instincts leading to violence and sexual abuse. They should do a self-examination and think: did we ask for it?”
Current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, announced that she wanted to start the formal break off from the European union by March. She tells her critics not to mess with her timetable for the withdraw even though in parliament Brexit has a minority.
U.K. papers have been writing their hatred on the landmark Brexit court ruling. The ruling stating that parliament has a say in the process of Brexit is widely unpopular for the pro-Brexit, anti-European papers.
Paris in the meantime is one of the many cities trying to win the fleeing businesses from England, mostly London, in the wake of the Brexit chaos.
A reminder for everyone over 18, please don’t forget to vote on Tuesday.
Sources: CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph, Independent