W O R L D

American goes on rampage, kills 3
Washington/Houston, Oct 22
An armed man wearing body armour burst into a beauty spa where his estranged wife worked in the US state of Wisconsin and opened indiscriminate fire, killing three women on spot and wounding four others.

A police car guards the Azana Salon and Spa at Brookfield in Wisconsin, US; and (inset) the shooter, Radcliffe Franklin Haughton. — Reuters

All set for third & final Obama-Romney faceoff
Boca Raton, October 22
President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney face off in front of the cameras for a third and final time on Monday near the end of a presidential campaign season marked by a high number of memorable debates.

American goes on rampage, kills 3
45-year-old found dead
His estranged wife worked at place of shooting

Washington/Houston, Oct 22
An armed man wearing body armour burst into a beauty spa where his estranged wife worked in the US state of Wisconsin and opened indiscriminate fire, killing three women on spot and wounding four others.

The man, who was later found dead clutching a .38 calibre handgun and a bullet in his head, was identified as 45-year-old African-American Radcliffe F Haughton whose wife worked at the spa in a Milwaukee suburb shopping centre.

All three of those killed were women, Brookfield Police Chief Dan Tushaus said. The area near the spa in Brookfield was locked down after the incident yesterday.

The victims' ages and identities were not immediately provided. It was also not clear whether Haughton's wife was among those killed.

The incident was the second mass shooting in Wisconsin within three months. In August, six persons were killed after a white supremacist opened fire at a Sikh gurdwara.

Tushaus said the first officers on the scene found the building full of smoke from a fire believed to have been set by Haughton, who had been accused of slashing his wife's tyres two weeks before the shooting. A restraining order was placed against him and he was directed to surrender his firearms over a suspected domestic abuse case involving his wife.

President Barack Obama, who was informed about the incident, was told by his top national security officials that it was not an act of terrorism, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

"The President was told there was an active shooter in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He was informed that the shooting did not appear to be terrorism-related," he said in a statement.

Obama was also briefed by FBI Director Bob Mueller, his Chief of Staff Jack Lew and Adviser for Homeland Security John Brennan.

President Obama has instructed the FBI to ensure that the state and local officials have full support of the Federal government, Carney added.

Brookfield police chief Tushaus said they believe the suspect had placed an improvised explosive device inside the building where the shooting took place. — PTI

All set for third & final Obama-Romney faceoff

Boca Raton, October 22
President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney face off in front of the cameras for a third and final time on Monday near the end of a presidential campaign season marked by a high number of memorable debates.

With 15 days to go until Americans vote on November 6, the two candidates turn to foreign policy for their last encounter at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. The 90-minute event starts at 9 pm (0100 GMT on Tuesday) and is moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS.

The stakes are high as the pair run neck and neck in the polls. Presidential debates have not always been consequential, but this year they have had an impact.

Romney was reeling from a series of stumbles when he entered the first debate in Denver on October 3, and his strong performance changed the course of the race, vaulting him back into an even position in the polls with Obama.

Democrats fretted openly about their candidate's timidity at the podium. Then, Obama was ruled the narrow winner of the second encounter on October 16 when he got the better of Romney in a testy exchange over Libya.

His campaign halted the slide but it was not enough to edge ahead in the polls. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey on Sunday put the two tied at 47% among likely voters. Several times, debates marked turning points in the Republican primary race. Texas Governor Rick Perry's White House run effectively ended when he failed to remember one of three federal agencies he would scrap, in his infamous "Oops" moment in a debate. — Reuters

2 killed in overnight clashes in Lebanon

Smoke billows in Tripoli's Bab al Tabanneh neighbourhood in northern Lebanon on Monday. — AFP

Beirut, October 22
Clashes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon killed at least two persons and left more than a dozen wounded overnight as fears grow that Syria's civil war is spilling over into its smaller neighbour, security officials and state-run media said today.

The latest spasms of violence came amid rising tension between Lebanese groups that support and oppose the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and in the wake of the assassination last week of a top anti-Syrian intelligence official in Lebanon.

Most of Lebanon's Sunnis have backed Syria's mainly Sunni rebels, while Lebanese Shiites tend to back Assad. The Syrian President, like many who dominate his regime, is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Lebanese Brig Gen 
Wissam al-Hassan, who was killed in a car bomb in an east Beirut neighbourhood on Friday, was a Sunni who challenged Syria and Hezbollah.

His assassination has threatened to shatter Lebanon's fragile political balance. Many politicians have blamed Syria for the killing and angry protesters tried to storm the government palace after al-Hassan's funeral yesterday but were pushed back by troops who opened fire in the air and fired tear gas.

Overnight, Sunni and Shiite gunmen clashed in two Beirut neighbourhoods and officials also reported heavy clashes yesterday and early today in the northern city of Tripoli and towns between Beirut and the southern city of Sidon. — AP

Over 40 Indians to contest Oz local elections

Melbourne, October 22
With Indians emerging as one of the fastest growing communities in Victoria, the local and state government elections for the first time will see a big contingent of over 40 Indians entering the poll fray.

According to the Victorian Election Commission website, 41 Indians and some 10 with Indian lineage are contesting for the local government polls across the state from 77 council seats on October 26 in what is being dubbed as a positive change in Australian elections.

"The real thing is for the first time Indians are in the council polls in a big way and this shows their rising clout in Australia," said Neeraj Nanda, a Melbourne-based community leader who runs a newspaper for Indian community called 'South Asian Times'.

Such a big representation from the community is being seen as a positive step, Nanda said. — PTI

After Malala, another Swat girl claims threat from Taliban

Islamabad, October 22
Just days after a deadly attack on Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai, another schoolgirl from Swat has claimed that she is on the Taliban hit list for raising her voice against their atrocities.

Hina Khan, who was a pioneer in raising her voice publicly against Taliban atrocities in the Malakand Valley, is now claiming to be on the Taliban's hit list, Dawn News reported.

What has been further worrisome for her family is that despite repeated requests for security, they claim no steps have been taken to provide protection to them after they fled from Swat and moved to Islamabad, the report said.

The teenaged girl, a student of Class 11, had publicly denounced militants atrocities in 2009. "I had left Swat with my family because the militants had threatened girls' education there, now I feel I wouldn’t be able to go to school in Islamabad after these renewed threats," Hina was quoted as saying. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Castro dismisses rumours that he is at death’s door
Havana: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro dismissed reports that he was dead or near death in an article published on Monday in Cuba's state-run press. He accused news agencies and enemies of Cuba of spreading "stupidities" about him, particularly a report from a Spanish newspaper last week that said he had suffered a massive stroke and was in a vegetative state. — Reuters

(From left) Former US President Jimmy Carter, Israel’s President Shimon Peres and former Norwegian PM Gro Brundtland in Jerusalem. Peres met two of ‘The Elders’, a group of eminent global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela. — AP/PTI

Extradite Malala’s attacker: Pak
Islamabad: Pakistan has sought extradition of Mullah Fazlullah, a militant commander who planned the attack on teenager Malala Yousufzai and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has demanded Fazlullah's extradition during her meeting with US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Mark Grossman. — Afzal Khan

I’m alive, says Qaida’s No. 2 in Yemen
Cairo: An audio recording purported to be of Al-Qaida's No. 2 in Yemen Saeed al-Shihri has surfaced on the Internet with the militant figure denying government reports that he was killed in a US drone strike last month. In the message, a man claiming to be al-Shihri says reports of his death were a "rumour to cover up the killing of innocent Muslim civilians." The audio’s authenticity could not be confirmed. — AP