The dissident publisher Gui  Minhai has finally spoken with his family after China said it  had released him from detention, friends said today, but it is  still unclear to what extent he is a free man.
Fears were raised for the 53-year-old Swedish citizen  when he failed to contact family members after Chinese  authorities said Tuesday that he had been released on October  17.
The Swedish foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that it  had been informed of his release but was still trying to  contact him.
Gui was one of five Hong Kong-based booksellers known for  salacious titles about the lives of China's political elite  who went missing in 2015 and resurfaced in detention on the  mainland.
Swedish journalist and author Jojje Olsson, who is  writing a book about Gui Minhai, told AFP that Gui had finally  contacted his daughter Angela Thursday in a 40-minute phone  call.
Olsson said Gui was in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo  and had been able to meet his mother and sisters, ...

Dissident bookseller 'freed' by China contacts family, friends

PTI Automatic

French President Emmanuel Macron  said today Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had his "full  support" in enforcing the law in Catalonia as Madrid readies  to take direct control of the rebellious province.
"I have one partner in Spain, that's Prime Minister  Rajoy... the rule of law prevails in Spain, with  constitutional rules. He wants to ensure they are respected  and he has my full support," Macron told reporters on the  sidelines of a visit to the overseas territory of French  Guiana.

Macron says Spanish PM has his 'full support'

Syria said today a United Nations  report accusing it of using sarin gas in an attack on the town  of Khan Sheikhun in April was a "falsification of the truth".
"Syria categorically denies the content of the joint  report between the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition  of Chemical Weapons," a foreign ministry statement said.
"This report and the one that preceded it are  falsifications of the truth and distort the exact information  on what happened at Khan Sheikhun".

Syria says UN report on chemical attack 'a falsification'

Britain "does not and will not"  recognise the unilateral declaration of independence by the  Catalan regional parliament today, a spokeswoman for Prime  Minister Theresa May said.
"It is based on a vote that was declared illegal by the  Spanish courts. We continue to want to see the rule of law  upheld, the Spanish Constitution respected, and Spanish unity  preserved," the spokeswoman said in a statement.
Catalan lawmakers sharply escalated the political crisis  in Spain by voting to declare independence, with Madrid  immediately vowing to "restore legality" and quash the  region's secessionist bid.
May's reaction mirrored those of other European leaders,  including French President Emmanuel Macron and EU President  Donald Tusk, who both voiced support for Spain's Prime  Minister Mariano Rajoy.
The European Union and its member states have stood  firmly behind Madrid in the standoff, triggered by Catalonia's  controversial October 1 referendum on separation from Spain,  deemed ...

UK says will not recognise Catalan independence

Kenya's election chief Wafula  Chebukati today said plans to restage a presidential vote in  Saturday in areas hit by polling-day protests would be  postponed "to a further date" because of fresh violence.
"The commission has deliberated on the various incidents  happening in some parts of the country and has postponed the  elections scheduled to take place tomorrow Saturday to a  further date to be announced in the coming days," said  Chebukati.

Kenya election chief delays poll again in the west

Germany does not recognise  Catalonia's unilateral declaration of independence, a  government spokesman said today, calling for dialogue between  the two sides.
"The (German) federal government does not recognise such  an independence declaration," spokesman Steffen Seibert said  in a statement posted on Twitter.
"The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Spain are  and always will be inviolable," he added.
"We hope that those involved will use all available  opportunities for dialogue and de-escalation."
The political crisis in Spain escalated sharply after  Catalan lawmakers voted to declare independence and Madrid in  turn vowed to "restore legality" and quash the region's  secessionist bid.
Seibert's comments echoed those of EU President Donald  Tusk who called for calm and said that Madrid remained the  bloc's "only interlocutor".
The European Union and its member states have stood  firmly behind Madrid in the standoff triggered by Catalonia's  hotly contested October 1 ...

Germany says doesn't recognise Catalonia independence

he European Union today spurned  Catalonia's declaration of independence, voicing staunch  support for Madrid in a crisis threatening the stability of a  key member of the bloc as Brussels grapples with Brexit.
President Donald Tusk said Madrid "remains our only  interlocutor" after Catalan lawmakers voted to secede from  Spain and appealed for a peaceful resolution to the rapidly  escalating standoff.
Brussels and EU member states have been steadfast in  their backing of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy since the  Catalan crisis erupted, fearing it could pose a fresh threat  to European unity as the bloc haggles with Britain over the  terms of Brexit.
"For the EU nothing changes. Spain remains our only  interlocutor. I hope the Spanish government favours force of  argument, not argument of force," Tusk tweeted.
Britain, France and Germany all swiftly closed ranks  behind Rajoy and European Parliament chief Antonio Tajani  tweeted that "nobody in the EU will recognise" the Catalan  ...

EU spurns Catalan independence declaration, backs Madrid

Spain's public prosecutor's office  will file rebellion charges next week against Catalan  secessionist leader Carles Puigdemont, a spokesman said today  after Catalonia's regional parliament voted to declare  independence.
A court will then decide whether to accept the charges  against Puigdemont. Under Spanish law, the crime of  "rebellion" is punishable by up to 30 years in jail.

Spain to file rebellion charges against Catalan leader

A constant beloved companion of  Paul Newman for years, the late Hollywood star's Rolex has  sold for USD 17.8 million, setting a world auction record for  a wristwatch, Phillips said today.
Given to him by his wife Joanne Woodward and lovingly  inscribed while the couple filmed and co-starred in the 1969  movie "Winning," Newman was photographed wearing the iconic  stainless steel watch on countless occasions.
Auction house Phillips said it was snapped up late  yesterday in New York by an anonymous telephone buyer for USD  17.8 million after 12 minutes of frenzied bidding in a sale  that attracted collectors from more than 40 countries.
But if it's the most expensive wristwatch sold at  auction, a handcrafted Patek Philippe pocket watch made for  New York banker Henry Graves remains the most expensive  overall, fetching more than USD 24 million at Sotheby's in  2015.
Before giving her husband the watch, Woodward had the  words "Drive Carefully Me" engraved on the back, in a nod to  ..

Paul Newman's watch auctioned for record USD 17.8 million

A French court handed down a three-  year suspended jail term today to the son of Equatorial  Guinea's leader, Teodorin Obiang, after convicting him of  using public money to fund a jet-set lifestyle in Paris.
The 48-year-old vice president of the small west African  state, who was tried in absentia, was also given a suspended  fine of USD 35 million by judges for embezzlement, money  laundering, corruption and abuse of trust.
The case, which was sparked by two anti-corruption NGOs,  is the first of three involving families of African leaders  which campaigners hope signals a new willingness of French  authorities to tackle money laundering.
Paris has long been a favoured destination for the ill-  gotten gains of wealthy figures linked to political leaders in  Africa, particularly in France's former colonies.
"Every year billions of euros are embezzled to fund the  profligate lifestyle of a few corrupt leaders abroad,  particularly in France," anti-corruption group Transparency  ...

E Guinea leader's son gets suspended jail term in Paris graft

Seven more bodies have been  found after a Boko Haram raid on a military camp in northeast  Nigeria, a security source told AFP today.
Militant fighters stormed the base at Sasawa village,  some 45 kilometres from the Yobe state capital, Damaturu, on  Tuesday, in the third such attack on the military in two  weeks.
The Nigerian Army has confirmed the attack and said only  there were "casualties on both sides".
But a military source said: "So far, 15 bodies of  soldiers killed in the attack at Sasawa have been recovered,  including that of an officer.
"Seven more bodies were found in the course of search and  rescue operations by 27 Brigade and 233 Battalion. More  (soldiers) are still missing and their fate is unknown."
The source, who asked not to be identified as he was not  authorised to talk to the media, said Boko Haram fighters took  away two pick-up trucks equipped with anti-aircraft guns.
According to the SITE Intelligence Group, the raid was  claimed by the Islamic State's ...

Death toll now 15 in Boko Haram raid on Nigeria army

Five Bahraini female political  prisoners have gone on hunger strike to protest against ill-  treatment and a glass barrier that prevents contact with  visitors, a rights group said on Friday.
Four of the detainees at Issa Town Women's Prison  required medical help on their fourth day of the strike on  Friday, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)  said in a statement.
It cited detainees and family members as saying that one  prisoner, 49-year-old Hajar Mansoor Hassan, was taken to  hospital early today and returned several hours later.
Three other detainees -- Najah al-Sheikh, Amira al-  Qashami and Medina Ali -- also needed medical treatment, it  said.
The fifth woman prisoner on hunger strike is Zainab  Marhoon.
The women are demanding an end to their humiliation and  ill-treatment by prison staff and the removal of the glass  barrier, BIRD said.
Hassan, who is the mother-in-law of a BIRD official, is  due to be sentenced on October 30 along with her son and  nephew 

Five Bahraini women detainees on hunger strike: rights group

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-  Abadi today announced "a halt to movements by the armed forces  for 24 hours" in zones disputed by Baghdad and the autonomous  Kurdish region.
Abadi, who also heads the armed forces, said the pause  aimed to "give the opportunity to a joint technical committee  of the federal authorities and those of Kurdistan to work on  deploying federal forces in all of the disputed zones" in  northern Iraq.

Iraq PM says to halt operations against Kurds for 24 hours

Several European territories have  unilaterally declared independence since the end of World War  II, mainly because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and  Yugoslavia.
But none has officially broken away from the European  Union, created in 1993, even though movements demanding more  independence exist in various countries.
Catalonia's declaration of independence is a first for  the European Union.
The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the biggest wave  of independence movements in Europe since 1945.
In March 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic  to declare independence. Soviet troops intervened in January  1991, but withdrew after a confrontation in which 13 people  were killed.
In June, Russia proclaimed its sovereignty under Boris  Yeltsin. Nine Soviet republics went on to declare their  independence in August and September.
In December the same year, Russian, Ukrainian and  Belarussian leaders signed a treaty ending the Soviet Union  and formalising the creation of 

Unilateral declarations of independence in Europe

Iraqi police have uncovered an  underground pipeline used to smuggle crude oil from the giant  Rumaila oilfield in the south of the country, a security  source said today.
"A pipeline was found tapped into the main oil pipeline  in the Rumaila region," the source said.
"The pipeline stretched across 300 metres under the  ground and was equipped with valves and used for contraband,"  the source added.
General Ali al-Mayahi, who heads the police unit tasked  with protecting the south's oil installations, said at least  11 similar pipelines have been found along a 10-kilometre  stretch of the Rumaila line.
Iraqi forces and Kurdish fighters have been in a standoff  since October 16 along the route of a strategic export  pipeline linking oilfields with the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Earlier this month, federal forces retook control from  the Kurds of large oilfields in the northern province of  Kirkuk.
The Kurds had stopped pumping oil there before  withdrawing, and production is still mostly 

Iraq finds 'contraband' oil pipeline in south

Shares in Catalan banks closed down  today, dragging the entire stock market with them, after  Catalonia's regional parliament declared independence.
CaixaBank, Spain's third largest lender, ended down 2.74  per cent at 3.84 euros while Sabadell, the country's fifth  biggest bank which earns a bigger share of its profits in  Catalonia, closed down 4.85 per cent at 1.59 euros.
Shares in the two banks have fallen since Catalonia's  separatist government went ahead with an independence  referendum in the wealthy northeastern region on October 1,  despite it having been deemed illegal by Madrid and the  courts.
Some clients withdrew their deposits from the banks,  prompting the two lenders to move their legal headquarters out  of Catalonia to other parts of Spain.
Neither CaixaBank nor Sabadell have revealed how much  money was withdrawn, but they said the flow stopped after they  moved their headquarters.
Nearly 1,700 companies have moved their headquarters  outside of Catalonia since ...

Catalan bank shares fall after regional parliament declares

As major carmakers shift towards  electric vehicles, a group of major oil and gas firms  announced today an investment into a diesel engine.
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), which includes  BP, Saudi Aramco, Royal Dutch Shell and Total and has a USD 1  -billion investment fund for low-carbon technologies, said it  was putting money into Achates Power.
The US company promotes a high-efficiency combustion  engine that it says increases fuel efficiency while reducing  greenhouse gasses emitted by vehicles at an affordable cost to  consumers.
"Pure electric vehicles and their fuel cell powered  counterparts are unaffordable to the average car buyer; as  such, they will remain a market novelty," Achates Power says  on its website.
Diesel engines have under renewed attack after Volkswagen  admitted in 2015 that millions of its diesel vehicles had been  equipped with software that helped them cheat emissions tests  and spew high levels of noxious fumes into the air.
A number of ...

Energy firms back investment into diesel engine

The US ambassador to the United  Nations, Nikki Haley, told the Democratic Republic of Congo to  hold elections next year, rather than delay them until 2019,  if it wanted to count on American backing.
"Elections must be held in 2018, (otherwise) the DRC  should not count on the support of the United States and the  international community," Haley said, after meeting Corneille  Nangaa, head of DRC's National Electoral Commission.
"We are not going to support a timetable which doesn't  clearly show that the elections will be held in 2018," she  said, according to a French translation of her remarks.
"It is possible (to do), provided all parties get  involved."
Haley arrived late Wednesday for a two-day visit to  assess the humanitarian, security and political crisis  besetting the vast, mineral-rich central African country.
Polls in DRC were scheduled to be held by the end of  2017, under a transitional deal with the opposition aimed at  avoiding fresh political bloodshed after ...

Trump envoy tells DR Congo elections must be held in 2018

Brazil's much anticipated  multibillion-dollar auction for offshore, pre-salt oil fields  went ahead today after the government successfully appealed an  11th hour injunction to stop the sale.
More than two hours after the scheduled start,  representatives from major global oil companies, including  Shell and ExxonMobil, gathered in the room for the beginning  of the auction.
Judge Ricardo Augusto de Sales had suspended the sales in  Rio de Janeiro overnight at the request of the country's main  trade union grouping and the leftist Workers' Party, which has  attacked the auction as a sell-off of the nation's wealth.
But the government successfully appealed.
The national oil agency had said the auction would start  "immediately," once an appeal succeeded.
Pedro Parente, CEO of Brazil's national oil company  Petrobras, was confident despite the hiccup, saying that in  previous auctions the government had always managed to  overcome court injunctions and "I don't see this as any  ...

Brazil's oil fields auction starts after court setback

The head of Hamas security forces  in the Gaza Strip was injured today when his car exploded in  what the Hamas interior ministry called "a failed  assassination attempt."
It did not immediately give details of the source of the  explosion, in central Gaza.
"Tawfiq Abu Naim, director general of the internal  security forces, survived a failed assassination attempt  Friday after his car was blown up in the Nusseirat refugee  camp," a ministry statement said.
"He was moderately wounded and was treated in hospital,"  it added. "The security services immediately began  investigations to discover the circumstances of the incident  and to catch the perpetrators."
The incident comes at a time of tension within Gaza as  its Hamas rulers are to start handing over power to the West  Bank-based Palestinian Authority of Fatah leader and  Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
The rival Palestinian movements signed a landmark unity  deal this month aimed at ending their decade-long split.
The PA is ..

Hamas security chief hurt in Gaza 'assassination bid'

The US considers Catalonia an  "integral part of Spain" and supports Madrid's measures to  keep Spain "strong and united," the State Department said  today after Catalan lawmakers voted to declare independence.
"The United States enjoys a great friendship and an  enduring partnership with our NATO ally Spain," State  Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
"Catalonia is an integral part of Spain, and the US  supports the Spanish government's constitutional measures to  keep Spain strong and united."
Nauert added that the US and Spain "cooperate closely to  advance our shared security and economic priorities."
Catalan lawmakers voted earlier to declare independence,  as Madrid vowed in turn to "restore legality" and quash the  region's secessionist bid.
The Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona passed a  resolution to "declare Catalonia an independent state in the  form of a republic.

AFP

AFP

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