1. FBI: No charges for Clinton

    FBI Director James Comey informed key lawmakers on Sunday that he still does not believe that U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton should face criminal prosecution* over her use of private email servers during her time as secretary of state.

    Comey said his conclusion came after FBI agents reviewed all of the newly discovered messages to or from Clinton found on electronic devices that belonged to her top aide’s estranged* husband, disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner.

    A top aide to Clinton, communications director Jennifer Palmieri, told reporters that their team welcomed the news.

    2. Duterte cancels police rifle deal with US

    Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered the cancelation of his country’s purchase of police rifles* from the United States, after U.S. senatorial* aides said last month that Washington was halting the sale due to concerns about human rights violations.

    “We will not insist on buying expensive arms from the United States. We can always get them somewhere else. I am ordering the police to cancel it. We don’t need them,” Duterte said in a televised speech at an event attended by Muslim rebel leaders.

    3. German sailors abducted

    Islamic militants who specialize in kidnappings-for-ransom* have reported killing a German sailor and abducting her elderly male companion from their yacht in waters off the southern Philippines, the military said on Monday.

    A commander from the Abu Sayyaf group, which has earned many millions of dollars by kidnapping foreigners and beheaded* others after ransom demands were not met, claimed responsibility for the latest incidents, regional military spokesman Filemon Tan said.

    4. India’s New Delhi shuts schools in smog

    Indian authorities in New Delhi on Monday closed schools, halted construction work and shut down a major power plant after days of choking* smog led to warnings of a health “emergency” in the world’s most polluted capital.

    Pollution levels have spiked* in recent days as farmers in neighboring Indian states burn crop stubble* after the harvest and temperatures cool, trapping pollutants in a smoggy haze over the city.

    Delhi’s air quality generally worsens with the onset of autumn, particularly after the Diwali festival when millions of revelers let off heavily polluting firecrackers.

    5. S. Korea arrests two ex-presidential aides

    A South Korean court said on Sunday it had issued arrest warrants for two former presidential aides under investigation in an influence peddling* scandal that has sent President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating to a record low.

    Tens of thousands of South Koreans demonstrated at a rally on Saturday evening in central Seoul, demanding that Park resign over the scandal involving an old friend, Choi Soon-sil, who is alleged to have used her closeness to the president to meddle* in state affairs.

    Park’s approval rating has fallen to just 5 percent, the lowest since such polling began in 1988, according to a Gallup Korea survey released on Friday.

    6. First 13 cases of fungal infection emerge

    Thirteen cases of a sometimes deadly and often drug-resistant* fungal* infection, Candida auris, have been reported in the United States for the first time, health officials said on Friday.

    The infection, which often spreads in hospitals and other health-care settings, can invade the ear canal*, urine* and bloodstream*.

    Four of the U.S. patients diagnosed with the infection have died, although the precise causes remain unclear, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. (SD-Agencies)