Tens of thousands of Catalans  gathered Saturday to demand the release of regional officials  who were jailed for their push for independence from Spain,  which has left the country mired in a political crisis.
The march kicked off in Barcelona, the Catalan capital,  at 1600 GMT and come a day after the region's parliament  speaker -- one of dozens of lawmakers sacked by Madrid last  month -- was released from jail after posting 150,000 euros  bail.
Thousands gathered on an avenue next to the region's  parliament building waving Catalan independence flags and  chanting "Freedom!" while some held up banners announcing:  "SOS Democracy".
Children in riding helmets climbed castells -- the  region's traditional human towers -- as others held placards  bearing caricatures of some jailed lawmakers.
The Catalonia crisis has caused concern in the European  Union as the bloc deals with Brexit and uncertainty over the  fate of the region of 7.5 million people. More than 2,400  businesses have ..

Mass protest in Barcelona demands freedom for Catalan leaders

PTI Automatic

The Saudi-led coalition's easing of  its blockade on famine-threatened Yemen is "a step in the  right direction" but does not go far enough, the European  Union and United Nations said.
The coalition shut down Yemen's borders on Monday in  response to a missile attack by Huthi rebels that was  intercepted near Riyadh airport.
On Wednesday, it reopened the southern port of Aden,  controlled by coalition-backed government forces, and the  Wadea crossing on the Saudi-Yemeni border was reopened the  next day.
The EU's commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis  management, Christos Stylianides, said Saturday that more  steps were needed.
"Initial measures to resume operations in Aden port and  to open Wadea border crossing are a step in the right  direction," he said.
"The EU urges the coalition to ensure the immediate  resumption of the UN's flights and activities in the ports of  Hodeida and Saleef and the opening of land borders for  humanitarian relief and basic commercial ...

Saudi easing of Yemen blockade not enough: EU, UN

Mass graves containing at  least 400 suspected Islamic State group victims have been  found near the former jihadist bastion of Hawija in northern  Iraq, the regional governor said today
The string of grisly discoveries was made at a military  base around three kilometres (two miles) from the city that  the jihadists "turned into an execution ground", Kirkuk  governor Rakan Said said.
"Not less than 400 people were executed," he said, adding  that some were clad in the uniform of prisoners condemned to  death while others wore civilian clothing.
IS was forced out of Hawija -- 240 kilometres north of  Baghdad -- by Iraqi forces in October in a sweeping offensive  that has seen the group lose the vast bulk of territory it  seized in 2014.
As government troops have advanced across Iraq they have  uncovered dozens of mass graves holding hundreds of bodies in  areas that fell under the jihadists' brutal rule.
The burial pits near Hawija were discovered "thanks to  witness accounts from ...

Mass graves holding '400 IS victims' found in Iraq

The Islamic State group's  occupation of northern Iraq and the battle to defeat it has  caused more than USD 100 billion worth of damage, Prime  Minister Haider al-Abadi said today.
He was speaking during a visit to Karbala, a city holy to  Shiite Muslims, where millions of pilgrims gathered Friday to  mark the annual Arbaeen commemoration.
"The damage caused by the IS occupation of Iraqi cities  already amounts to more than USD 100 billion," Abadi said.
"That's just the damage to the economy and  infrastructure."
IS, a radical Sunni group, seized around a third of Iraq  and parts of Syria in a sweeping 2014 advance.
But its self-declared "caliphate" has since been  decimated by multiple offensives and squeezed into a pocket of  territory on the Iraqi-Syrian border.
Iraqi forces launched an operation Saturday to retake the  last IS-held towns in Iraq, including the Euphrates valley  town of Rawa and nearby villages.
The assault also aims to "clean open areas in the desert"  of western 

IS has cost Iraq 'more than USD 100 bln', says PM Abadi

Bahrain today blamed a "terrorist  act" for an oil pipeline fire near the capital Manama, later  brought under control by emergency services.
"It is an act of sabotage, a serious terrorist act aimed  at harming the interests of the nation and endangering the  population," the interior ministry said on Twitter.
Emergency services brought the blaze under control after  it was discovered early Saturday, it said, adding that  national oil company Bapco had turned off the flow of oil.
The fire service also evacuated homes in the nearby  village of Buri, 15 kilometres south of Manama, it added.
Bahrain relies on the Abu Safa field, which it shares  with neighbouring Saudi Arabia, for much of its oil, pumped in  via a 230,000-barrel-per-day pipeline.
Bahrain, a Shiite-majority kingdom ruled by a Sunni  dynasty, has seen sporadic violence since the repression in  2011 of a protest movement demanding a constitutional monarchy  and an elected prime minister.
Authorities have since tightened ...

Bahrain calls pipeline fire 'a terrorist act'

Lebanon's president urged Saudi  Arabia today to explain why Saad Hariri had not returned to  Beirut since his surprise resignation as prime minister a week  ago.
Hariri announced on November 4 in a televised statement  from Riyadh that he would be stepping down from the post,  sending shock waves through Lebanese politics.
The premier has yet to return to Lebanon and rumours have  swirled that he is being held in Saudi Arabia against his  will.
President Michel Aoun today called on the kingdom to  "clarify the reasons that have prevented the return of PM  Hariri to Lebanon to be among his people and supporters."
"The obscurity surrounding the condition of PM Saad  Hariri since his resignation a week ago means that all  positions and actions declared by him or attributed to him do  not reflect the truth," Aoun added.
"They are instead a result of the ambiguous and obscure  conditions (under which) PM Hariri is living in the Kingdom of  Saudi Arabia."
Aoun has yet to formally accept ...

Lebanon asks Saudi Arabia for explanation on PM's absence

Iraqi forces seized several villages  from the Islamic State group today in an operation to retake  the last pocket of jihadist-held territory in the country, the  operation's commander said.
The Euphrates Valley town of Rawa and nearby villages  were bypassed by government troops and allied militia when  they retook the town of Al-Qaim on the Syrian border last  week.
But today, troops backed by militia recruited among the  region's Sunni Arab tribes "launched a major offensive to  liberate Rumana and the Rawa area,", General Abdelamir  Yarallah said.
He later said they had "retaken Rumana and its bridge on  the Euphrates" along with 10 other villages.
Rumana is on the north side of the Euphrates just across  from Al-Qaim, while the small town of Rawa lies downstream.
Several officers told an AFP reporter in Rumana that  Iraqi forces had managed to foil at least two IS suicide car  bomb attacks.
"Troops are continuing their advance," Yarallah said.
Rawa is the last town still held by 

Iraq forces seize villages in last IS-held pocket

England needed just seven overs  to wrap up a comprehensive 192-run victory over the Cricket  Australia XI early on the final day of the four-day tour match  at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
James Anderson took two wickets and Craig Overton  claimed the other to mop up the remaining three to dismiss CA  XI for just 75 in the opening half-hour of play to claim  victory.
Anderson, named this week as team vice-captain for  suspended Ben Stokes, finished with three for 12 off 10.2  overs while Overton captured three for 15 off 11 overs.
Chris Woakes, who began the CA XI second innings  collapse late on Friday, did not bowl on Saturday to finish  with four for 17 off 10 overs.
There were ironic cheers from the sparse Adelaide  crowd when CA XI scored a first run of the day after 25  minutes before the end of the innings.
The tourists now head to Townsville in north  Queensland for their final Ashes warm-up game again against  the CA XI, starting on Wednesday, before the opening Test in  ...

England wrap up big tour win over CA XI

Italy coach Gian Piero Ventura  insisted Saturday that the four-time champions will still make  the 2018 World Cup finals despite a 1-0 loss to Sweden in the  first leg of their play-off.
Substitute Jakob Johansson grabbed the only goal of a  scrappy game in the 61st minute with a low strike that found  the corner with the aid of a big deflection to leave Italy in  danger of missing the World Cup for the first time in 60  years.
"I feel so strongly that we will qualify because I saw  the players in the dressing room and they were angry," said  Ventura who now must turn the tie around in the do-or-die  second leg in Milan on Monday.
"They know they can do better. It was a physical match  which surprised us but we are going to do better."
The last time Italy failed to reach the World Cup was for  the 1958 tournament in Sweden, but Ventura's side were already  under pressure going into the tie after a disappointing end to  their Group G campaign that featured a 3-0 loss in Spain and a  ..

We'll make World Cup despite setback, says Italy coach

Three Vietnamese sailors held for  eight months by Islamist gunmen have been rescued by soldiers  in the southern Philippines, the army said today, in the  latest operation against the kidnap-for-ransom militants.
The sailors were found in the southernmost island group  of Tawi-Tawi yesterday along with the body of another  Vietnamese seaman who had died in captivity from an illness,  regional military commander Lieutenant General Carlito Galvez  said.
"He was already dead when the troops found them," Galvez  told AFP, adding that he could not reveal further details  because the military operation against the kidnappers was  ongoing.
The Vietnamese sailors were among the crew of a cargo  vessel captured in February in the seas off the southern  Philippines and held by the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist  group blamed for kidnappings, piracy and bombings in the area.
Galvez said the Abu Sayyaf are still holding a number of  Filipino and foreign hostages including Ewold Horn, a Dutch  .

Philippines rescues three Vietnamese from Islamists

Russian President Vladimir  Putin today slammed Washington's demands for state channel RT  to register as a foreign agent in the US as "an attack" on its  media, while vowing a "tit-for-tat" response.
The Kremlin-backed broadcaster, formerly known as Russia  Today, said earlier this week the US Department of Justice had  given it until Monday to register its US operations as a  foreign agent or see its head arrested and its accounts  frozen.
"An attack on our media is an attack on freedom of  speech," Putin told journalists at the APEC summit in Vietnam.
"They went the route of de-facto closure (of RT)," Putin  said. "There will be a proper tit-for-tat response."
RT and state-owned news agency Sputnik have been accused  by US intelligence of spreading misinformation during the 2016  presidential campaign and election which may have influenced  the vote's outcome.
The uproar led the US Justice Department to demand RT to  register its American operations as a "foreign agent" under  the .

US pressure on RT an 'attack', will get proper response: Putin

Russian President Vladimir  Putin today said accusations that Moscow meddled in US  elections, particularly through contacts with Donald Trump's  campaign team, are "fantasies" and attempts to undermine the  US presidency.
The Trump administration has been roiled by claims that  Moscow helped the billionaire into the White House, with key  former aides under a US investigation for alleged  collaboration with the Kremlin.
"Everything about the so-called Russian dossier in the US  is a manifestation of continuing domestic political struggle,"  Putin told journalists at the Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam.
"Of course I'm aware," he said when asked if he follows  the mounting probe concerning contacts between Trump's team  members and Russians, including a woman who claimed to be  Putin's niece.
"Regarding some sort of connections of my relatives with  members of the administration or some officials, I only found  out about that yesterday from (spokesman Dmitry) Peskov," he  said.
"I don't 

Putin says claims of Russian meddling in US vote 'fantasies'

Islamic State group jihadists have  recaptured nearly all of Albu Kamal, putting up a fierce  fightback for what had been the last significant Syrian town  under their control, a monitor said today.
Syrian regime forces and allied militia overran Albu  Kamal, which lies on the border with Iraq, on Thursday but  have since faced a string of IS counter-attacks.
Today, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS  had "ambushed" the attacking forces and managed to oust them  from most of the town.
"IS has almost completely retaken control of Albu Kamal,  pushing pro-regime forces to its southern and eastern edges,"  said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based monitor.
Clashes were still raging there today, he said.
IS began counter-attacking on Thursday night, swiftly  retaking several northern districts of Albu Kamal from pro-  government fighters.
"It was Daesh's biggest ambush operation, tricking the  attacking forces into thinking they had controlled the city,"  Abdel Rahman 

IS retakes almost all of vital Syria border town: monitor

US President Donald Trump was due to  land in Hanoi today, as North Korea slammed his "warmonger"  Asia tour, saying it will only accelerate Pyongyang's push for  a full-fledged nuclear deterrent.
Trump has repeatedly railed against the North as he urges  the region to take a united front against the threat posed by  the isolated nation, which has sparked global alarm with  nuclear and missile tests in recent months.
On Friday he warned world leaders gathered in the  Vietnamese resort city of Danang that the Asia-Pacific region  "must not be held hostage to a dictator's twisted fantasies".
Pyongyang issued its retort today branding Trump's Asia  tour a "warmonger's visit for confrontation to rid the DPRK of  its self-defensive nuclear deterrence", in the first comments  on the visit by a North Korean official.
Tensions over the North's weapons programme have surged  in recent months, as Pyongyang carried out a sixth nuclear  test -- by far its largest to date -- and test fired dozens .

N Korea brands Trump a 'warmonger' as his Asia tour moves to

North Korea has slammed Britain for  accusing it of being behind a global ransomware attack that  hit the National Health Service, calling the allegation a  "wicked attempt" to further tighten international sanctions  against Pyongyang.
A third of Britain's public hospitals were affected by  the WannaCry worm in May, according to a government report.
Up to 300,000 computers in 150 countries were hit by  WannaCry, which seized systems and demanded payment in Bitcoin  to return control to users.
Some researchers have pointed the finger at Pyongyang,  saying that the code used was similar to past hacks blamed on  Kim Jong-Un's regime.
British Home Office minister Ben Wallace told the BBC  last week that London was "as sure as possible" that North  Korea was responsible.
But a spokesman for the North's Korea-Europe Association  denied the accusations and warned Britain against "groundless  speculation".
"This is an act beyond the limit of our tolerance and it  makes us question the real ..

N Korea denies involvement in WannaCry cyberattack

Thailand has revoked the passports  of ousted premier Yingluck Shinawatra, who has yet to publicly  emerge since she slipped out of the country two months ago  ahead of judgement day in her negligence trial, officials said  today.
The former prime minister, whose elected government was  toppled in a 2014 coup, was sentenced to five years in prison  in absentia last month for failing to stop graft in a rice  policy.
The verdict, which closed the curtain on her political  career, was lambasted by Yingluck's supporters as a junta-  backed effort to boot her out of Thai politics for good.
"All of Yingluck's passports have been revoked now," Thai  Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters in Bangkok  today.
"We don't know of her whereabouts, only reports that she  is in United Kingdom but not exactly which city," he added.
Yingluck had four Thai passports -- two personal and two  diplomatic, authorities said.
Thailand's deputy police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul  said authorities ..

Thailand revokes passports of exiled former PM Yingluck

Japanese police have found nine  bodies, including two with their heads severed and dumped in a  cool box, in a flat in the Tokyo suburbs, media reported  today.
Police confirmed to AFP they had arrested 27-year-old  Takahiro Shiraishi, who lives in the apartment in Zama, south  of Tokyo.
According to public broadcaster NHK, Shiraishi told  police: "I killed them and did some work on the bodies in  order to hide the evidence."
Jiji Press said Shiraishi had told police that he chopped  up the bodies in a bathroom and a saw was found in his room.
The bodies were of eight women and one man, several media  reported.
A police spokesman could not immediately confirm these  reports.
According to Jiji Press, police found the two heads  inside a cool box at the entrance of the apartment before  making the grisly discovery of the other bodies.
Police found the other bodies in a number of large boxes  in the apartment, reports said.
Authorities had been investigating the disappearance of a  ...

9 bodies, 2 severed heads, found in Tokyo flat: reports

At a time when England have been  pilloried by their own fans after a laboured World Cup  qualifying campaign, the country's promising prodigies offer  hope of a brighter future.
England's starlets enjoyed a 5-2 win over Spain in the  under-17 World Cup final in Kolkata on Saturday, capping a  remarkable period in which the country's bright young things  dominated on the global stage.
In the past five months, England's under-17 and under-20  teams have been crowned world champions, while the under-19s  won the European Championship.
A mixed-age England squad also successfully defended the  prestigious Toulon title in June and the country's youth teams  have lost only twice, both times on penalties, across 34  tournament matches.
That successful streak is a stark contrast to the drab  performances of Gareth Southgate's senior side en route to  next year's World Cup in Russia.
Bored fans even threw paper aeroplanes onto the pitch  throughout a tedious qualification-sealing win against  .

Young Lions offer hope of brighter future for England

The Solomon Islands government  appeared on the verge of collapse today following a string of  resignations by ministers amid plans for a vote of no-  confidence in Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
Nine ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Manasseh  Maelanga, have defected, and several backbenchers also  announced they were leaving.
They claim the ruling Democratic Coalition for Change has  lost faith in Sogavare's leadership.
Communications Minister Peter Shanel, a Sogavare  supporter, confirmed the resignations had put the Pacific  nation's government in a minority but he was confident of  regaining a majority before the no-confidence vote next week.
The no-confidence motion was filed by Derek Sikua, who  heads a group of independent MPs in the 50-seat parliament.
Rawcliffe Ziza, deputy private secretary to the governor  general, told the Solomon Star newspaper that the ministers  stated in their resignation letters they no longer had  confidence in Sogavare.
"Governor ...

Solomons PM faces no-confidence vote amid MP revolt

Chinese manufacturing expansion  slowed in October after two consecutive months of  acceleration, official data showed today, as weak demand  weighed on the world's second-largest economy.
The manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI), a  gauge of factory conditions, stood at 51.6 in October, the  National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, compared to 52.4 in  September, which marked a five-year high.
Anything above 50 is considered growth while a figure  below that number points to contraction. Analysts surveyed by  Bloomberg News had expected a reading of 52.
October's week-long National Day holiday slowed down  production and new orders growth, and energy and pollution-  intensive industries shifted peak load or reduced production  due to tightened environmental controls in some regions, NBS  analyst Zhao Qinghe said in a statement.
China has implemented tight controls on heavy industry in  hopes of improving the country's notoriously bad air quality,  which typically worsens ..

China factory activity slows in October

South Korean President Moon Jae-In  will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the  sidelines of next week's APEC summit, Seoul said today, with  the neighbours' relationship strained by a US missile defence  system.
Beijing has slapped a series of measures on South Korean  firms and banned tour groups going to the country in moves  seen as economic retaliation for the deployment of the US  Terminal High Altitude Defense (THAAD) system.
China sees the installation, which Seoul and Washington  say is to defend against missile threats from nuclear-armed  North Korea, as a threat to its own military capabilities.
Xi and Moon will have a summit on the sidelines of the  APEC gathering in Danang, Vietnam, Seoul's presidential office  said.
"The agreement to hold the summit is the first step... to  restore bilateral cooperation and exchanges in all areas to a  normal path," said Nam Gwan-Pyo, a director of the  presidential National Security Office.
It follows a similar ...

AFP

AFP

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