News Headlines - 16 November 2014

▽Obama confirms death of US hostage Peter Kassig after Isis releases video | The Guardian

A statement from US president Barack Obama on Sunday night confirmed that Kassig had been killed after Isis released the video showing the black-clad British executioner thought to have murdered four other western hostages standing over a severed head. Obama offered prayers and condolences to Kassig’s family and said their son “was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity.”

▽Russia Tightens Control Over Foreign Ownership of Print Media | The Moscow Times

Foreign companies will soon have to seek government permission before buying a more than 25 percent stake in newspapers or magazines in Russia, extending state control in an industry still reeling from legal changes earlier this year, business daily Vedomosti reported late last week.
The new amendments, which will go into force on Dec. 6, could appear extraneous. With Russia caught up in an information war with the West over Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin just last month signed a law that bans foreign companies from owning more than 20 percent in Russian media assets.

▽Operation begins to recover wreckage of MH17 | Daily Mail Online

Recovery work has begun at the wreckage site of Malaysian Airways flight MH17 - four months after it was downed over Ukraine.
The Dutch Safety Board (DSB), which is leading the investigation into the tragedy - which cost the lives of 298 people including 10 Britons - has up to now had limited access to the crash site.

▽BBC News - Comet lander: First pictures of Philae 'bounce' released

A camera on the Rosetta "mothership", which dropped Philae on to the surface, caught the robot mid-bounce.
The Navcam's photographs were unveiled on the Rosetta Blog, showing a few pale pixels - thought to be Philae - accompanied by a dark patch, which experts conclude is its shadow.

▽BBC Sport - Roger Federer out of ATP World Tour final v Novak Djokovic

Roger Federer has withdrawn from the ATP World Tour final against Novak Djokovic because of a back injury... It is Djokovic's fourth victory at the season-ending event and he also becomes the first man to win three titles on the trot since Ivan Lendl in the 1980s.