Immigration To Dominate German State Election

The final throes of campaigning are under way in an election which could shake the foundations of German politics.

Voters in the state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern find themselves as the unlikely jury on what could be judgement day for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her controversial open door migration policy.

Mrs Merkel's own constituency is in this state and she has been here several times campaigning over recent weeks - perhaps a sign of her own nerves ahead of the vote.

Last year 1.3 million migrants came to Germany and Mrs Merkel was accused of encouraging Syrian refugees to make the perilous trek across Europe knowing Germany would welcome them.

Now people in the state go to the polls which new political kid on the block, the anti-immigration AFD (Alternative For Germany) party, is predicted to do well in.

Some pollsters are saying the nationalist party could even become the biggest in the regional parliament.

If that happens it would send shockwaves through a political landscape dominated for so long by two parties who've been in coalition - Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.

Schwerin is the main town in Mecklenburg Vorpommern, which is rural, sparsely populated and far from multi-cultural.

It took just a few thousand migrants from the enormous number that arrived last summer.

Leif-Erik Holm is heading the campaign for AFD, which is running locally on national issues.

I asked him why people here would be casting an anti-immigration protest vote when migration hadn't really touched them.

He said: "People here have seen the problems with migrants in other cities, especially in west Germany, and they don't want that in this state and I agree with them.

"My job as a politician is to make sure those problems don't happen here.

"Our success lies in the unsuccessful immigration policy of Angela Merkel - this much is clear.

"When we talk to people, immigration is always the main subject and people just don't understand why Angela Merkel does not finally secure the borders."

Udo Pastoers, the National Democratic Party's candidate 

Tensions have been running so high ahead of Sunday's state election that supporters of the AFD party have been sleeping by their campaign posters to prevent them being torn down.

They are determined to humiliate Mrs Merkel and her credibility in Europe.

The outcome will be a barometer of not only her immigration policy but also her popularity ahead of national elections next year.

Bishop Is First To Reveal He Is Gay And In Relationship

Grantham Nicholas Chamberlain has revealed that he is gay and in a relationship.

Mr Chamberlain is in a long-term, celibate relationship with a male partner, he told The Guardian.

His announcement came after an unnamed Sunday newspaper reportedly threatened to publish a story revealing his homosexuality.

He said it had not been his decision "to make a big thing about coming out".

He added: "People know I'm gay but it's not the first thing I'd say to anyone.

"Sexuality is part of who I am but it's my ministry that I want to focus on."

He said that those who had appointed him to his role in November "knew about my sexual identity" and that living within these guidelines had been "explored" during the process.

These guidelines say that gay clergy must be celibate and are not allowed to marry.

Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said that he had been "fully aware" of Mr Chamberlain's "long-term, committed relationship".

He added: "(Mr Chamberlain's) appointment as Bishop of Grantham was made on the basis of his skills and calling to serve the church in the diocese of Lincoln.

"He lives within the bishops' guidelines and his sexuality is completely irrelevant to his office."

The Church of England has been grappling with issues of sexuality for the past few years, with discussions surrounding its attitude to LGBT people and whether same-sex marriage is acceptable.

Mother Teresa To Become Saint After 'Miracles'

A woman who claims she was cured of stomach tumours by praying to Mother Teresa says she "shivered" when she saw light emanating from an image of the diminutive nun.

Monica Besra, a mother of five, told Sky News she approached nuns from Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity organisation in the remote rural village of Balurghat in northeast India in 1998, after medication failed to ease her pain.

She claims they took her into the church and asked her to pray in front of an image of the Albanian-born nun, who had died a year earlier.

"I was sitting in the church and then, from the picture of Mother, this strong light came to me, it knocked me back.

"I started shivering.

"I felt exhaustion.

"Then I told the sisters: 'I can't sit here anymore, please take me back to my bed, I don't feel well'."

The sisters then gave her a medallion bearing Mother Teresa's image, and placed it on her stomach.

When she awoke from sleep, she claims the lumps she had been able to feel had vanished.

The canonisation of Mother Teresa will acknowledge her second miracle

In 2003 Pope John Paul II officially recognised Moncia Besra's cure as a miracle, leading to Mother Teresa's beatification - the first step in the path to Sainthood.

On Sunday Pope Francis will oversee the final stage of that process - the canonisation of Mother Teresa, which will formally acknowledge a second miracle attributed to her since her death, in which a Brazilian man was apparently cured of a brain tumour in 2008.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the Vatican for the ceremony.

But in Kolkata, the city where the Nobel Prize winner founded her Missionaries of Charity organisation in 1950, and where she earnt international renown for decades of work for the poor, her followers see Mother Teresa's canonisation as something of a formality.

"She was already a saint for all of us," said Sunita Kumar, a long-time friend of Mother Teresa, and spokesperson for her organisation.

"I mean over the years you saw her work, and you took part in her work, and everything so, I mean it means it's finalised."

Missionaries of Charity has centres across the world, with thousands of nuns and volunteers running soup kitchens, shelters, hospices and orphanages.

But, despite her reputation as one of the twentieth century's most iconic figures, Mother Teresa also came under heavy criticism for her approach.

The most high-profile condemnation came from the late writer Christopher Hitchens, who accused her of creating "a cult of suffering" that denied people medical care, of religious fundamentalism, and of hypocrisy for the time she spent with the rich and powerful.

There has been criticism too from those who say the link made by the Vatican between her Sainthood and the performance of miracles risks discouraging already deprived people from seeking proper medical treatment.

Arindam Bhattacharya is from the Science and Rationalists' Association of India, a group who have worked to debunk the miracle claims of Monica Besra.

He said: "We would like to raise the question, if this happens and they die, and they will die, because there is nothing called a miracle in this world, who will be held responsible?

"It will be the Vatican, Pope Francis and the Missionaries of Charity."

Irish Government To Appeal EU's £11bn Apple Tax Bill

Ireland's coalition government has agreed to appeal a ruling that Apple must pay it £11bn (€13bn) in back taxes.

The country's parliament will be asked to back the decision next week.

Apple faces the record bill after the European Commission ruled that a special scheme to route profits through Ireland was illegal state aid.

It found that tax arrangements enabled the tech giant to pay a rate of as little as £50 in taxes on every £1m in European profits in 2014.

The figures have been disputed by Apple and the ruling was branded as "maddening" and "political crap" by its boss Tim Cook.

Mr Cook had warned that if the Irish government did not join it in appealing, it would send the wrong message to business in an economy partly depending on companies such as the tech giant.

Ireland's main opposition party, Fianna Fail, backs the decision to join Apple in an appeal meaning it should pass when legislators are asked to approve the move on Wednesday.

There had been misgivings among some independents in the Fine Gael-led coalition.

Some Irish voters are critical of the Government turning down a tax windfall equivalent to what it spent last year funding the struggling health service.

Finance minister Michael Noonan said when the EC ruling was announced earlier this week that he would seek cabinet approval for an appeal.

He argued that Dublin needed to act to protect a tax regime that has attracted large numbers of multinational employers to the country.

The EC probe found that Apple's profits were routed via Ireland to virtual head offices that had no employees, no premises and carried out no real activities.

These profits were not subject to tax in any country under provisions of Irish law that are no longer in force.

It meant that one subsidiary, Apple Sales International, paid a tax rate of just 1% in 2003, declining to 0.005% by 2014, the EC said.

Facebook Satellite Destroyed In SpaceX Rocket Blast

An unmanned SpaceX rocket has exploded during a routine test at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket and its $200m (£150m) satellite payload were destroyed in the blast, which happened while the rocket was being test-fired just after 1pm.

SpaceX said no-one was injured and blamed an "anomaly" on the launchpad for the explosion.

It added that the fault occurred "during propellant loading of the vehicle".

The Israeli AMOS-6 satellite destroyed in the blast was set to be part of a Facebook scheme to provide internet coverage to parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

In a statement the social network's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was "deeply disappointed".

Mr Zuckerberg added: "We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided."

Elon Musk's SpaceX had been due to launch the rocket at dawn on Saturday.

The force of the explosion shook buildings several miles away, and a thick cloud of smoke was seen rising from the launch site near NASA's Kennedy Space Centre.

Footage taken after the blast showed the rocket still standing, although the top third of the Falcon 9 appeared to be bent over.

The air is being monitored by authorities for any sign of toxic fumes.

SpaceX is one of two companies shipping supplies to the International Space Station for NASA.

The blast occurred as two astronauts carried out a spacewalk outside the ISS to fix a thermal radiator.

The astronauts were not informed of the explosion, NASA said.

The accident is expected to significantly disrupt the SpaceX's plans for six planned launches between now and January 2017.

It comes just over a year after a Falcon 9 rocket failed just after liftoff, destroying a Dragon cargo capsule bound for the ISS.

SpaceX has also lost several rockets while attempting land them upright on ocean platforms.

However it successfully landed a Falcon 9 on a floating drone ship last month, after the rocket sent a Japanese communications satellite into orbit.

Samsung Halts Galaxy Note 7 Sales After Battery Explosions

Samsung is suspending sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after some of the batteries exploded.

Some buyers reported their phones caught fire or exploded while they were charging, and Samsung said it had confirmed 35 such cases, caused by faulty batteries.

Since late last month, several users have posted photos and videos on social media showing the charred Note 7 with part of its 5.7-inch touchscreen burnt and melted, saying it suddenly caught fire.

The president of the firm's mobile business, Koh Dong-jin, said an investigation by the company found a battery cell made by one of its two battery suppliers caused the phone to catch fire.

He refused to name the battery supplier.

He said: "We have received several reports of battery explosion on the Note 7 that was officially launched on 19 August, and it has been confirmed that it was a battery cell problem.

"It will cost us so much it makes my heart ache. Nevertheless, the reason we made this decision is because what is most important is customer safety."

He added he was "deeply sorry" over the incident and customers who already bought Note 7 would be able to swap them for new smartphones, regardless of the purchase date.

The South Korean company said in a statement it would take about two weeks to prepare replacement devices.

A statement from Samsung UK said: "We are currently conducting a thorough inspection with our suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market.

"However, because our customers' safety is an absolute priority, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7.

"For UK customers who already have Galaxy Note 7 devices, we will voluntarily replace their current device with a new one over the coming weeks."

The announcement comes just two weeks after Samsung launched its latest flagship smartphone.

The firm said it had sold more than one million Note 7 smartphones in 10 countries so far including South Korea and the US.

It has manufactured about 2.5 million Note 7 phones so far, some of them still in inventory.

The planned release of the Note 7 in several European countries has now been suspended over growing safety concerns.

Samsung has said China is not affected by the sales suspension, because it used a battery made by another supplier for the Note 7 sold there.

Twin blasts in district court kill many in Pakistan

At least 12 people were killed and 40 wounded when two bomb blasts went off outside a district court in northwestern Pakistan, a rescue official said.

The attack on Friday in front of the court in the town of Mardan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province was the latest in a string of violent attacks to have hit Pakistan in recent weeks.

"So far we recovered 12 bodies of the lawyers, police personnel and civilians. Besides this, we rescued 52 injured, including lawyers, police personnel and civilians from the spot," Haris Habib, chief rescue officer in the city of Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the blasts took place, told the Reuters news agency.