Two policemen have been killed in a  string of attacks on police stations in a small town in  northern Mozambique but 14 of the gunmen were slain, police  said today.
"We recorded 14 deaths and several wounded among the  bandits," police spokesman Inacio Dina told AFP of the attacks  in Mocimboa de Praia.
Two policemen were also killed during what appeared to be  coordinated attacks that occurred on Thursday and yesterday.

14 gunmen, 2 police killed in Mozambique attacks

PTI Automatic

Danish police said today that  divers had recovered the decapitated head and the legs of  Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who vanished in August while  interviewing a Danish inventor aboard his homemade submarine.
In a grisly case worthy of a Nordic noir thriller,  Copenhagen police inspector Jens Moller Jensen told reporters  that divers had found bags containing her missing clothes, her  head and legs in Koge Bay, south of the Danish capital.
"Last night our forensic dentist confirmed that it was  Kim Wall's head," he said.
Her headless torso was found floating in waters off  Copenhagen on August 21, 11 days after she went missing.
Self-taught engineer and inventor Peter Madsen, 46, has  been accused of Wall's death, with prosecutors saying he  dismembered her body before throwing it overboard.
Madsen, who is married and has been in custody since  August 11, claims Wall died when a 70-kilo (154-pound) hatch  door fell on her head, and in a panic, he threw her body  overboard.
He has ...

Danish police find decapitated head of Swedish journalist

A Bangladeshi teenager died in  hospital in Dhaka after he was hit by a ball while umpiring a  cricket match, police said today.
Rafiqul Islam, 17, was declared dead at Dhaka Medical  College Hospital yesterday after being rushed there in  critical condition following the incident at Balur Math ground  in Bangladesh's capital.
"A group of youths were playing cricket in the field and  the boy was the umpire. He collapsed on the field after a ball  hit him in the chest," local police chief Enamul Haque told  AFP.
"He is from a very poor family. His father is a rickshaw-  puller and mother works as a housemaid. They buried him last  night," he said.
The incident comes three years after the tragic death of  Australian batsman Phillip Hughes in similar circumstances.
Hughes, who played 26 Tests, died from bleeding on the  brain in November 2014 after being hit on the base of the  skull by a ball during a domestic match in Sydney.
His death stunned Australia and the world cricket  ...

Bangladeshi boy dies at 17 after being hit by cricket ball

A top UN official said today  Bangladesh's plan to build the world's biggest refugee camp  for 800,000-plus Rohingya Muslims was dangerous because  overcrowding could heighten the risks of deadly diseases  spreading quickly.
The arrival of more than half a million Rohingya refugees  who have fled an army crackdown in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine  state since August 25 has put an immense strain on already  packed camps in Bangladesh.
Hard-pressed Bangladesh authorities plan to expand a  refugee camp at Kutupalong near the border town of Cox's Bazar  to accommodate all the Rohingya.
But Robert Watkins, the UN resident coordinator in Dhaka,  told AFP the country should instead look for new sites to  build more camps.
"When you concentrate too many people into a very small  area, particularly the people who are very vulnerable to  diseases, it is dangerous," Watkins told AFP.
"There are stronger possibilities, if there are any  infectious diseases that spread, that will spread very  ...

Bangladesh's mega refugee camp plan 'dangerous': UN official

Two waves of air strikes on a  jihadist-held town in northwestern Syria have killed at least  13 civilians over the past 24 hours, a monitoring group said  today.
Four children were among the dead in the early morning  strikes on the Idlib province town of Khan Sheikhun today and  yesterday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the strikes were  probably carried out by the Syrian air force, which has been  carrying out an intensifying bombing campaign against jihadist  targets in Idlib province alongside aircraft from ally Russia.
Like most of the rest of Idlib province, Khan Sheikhun is  controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance of jihadist  factions dominated by Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate.
The town hit the headlines in April when it was the  target of a sarin gas attack that killed at least 87 people,  30 of them children.
US President Donald Trump blamed the Syrian government  for the attack and ordered cruise missile ..

Strikes kill 13 civilians in jihadist-held Syria town

Some 120 Islamic State fighters and 60  foreign mercenaries were killed in a series of Russian air  strikes in Syria over the past 24 hours, the defence ministry  in Moscow said.
"A command post of the terrorists and up to 80 fighters  including nine natives of the Northern Caucasus were destroyed  in the area of Mayadeen," the ministry said, adding some 40 IS  fighters were killed around the town of Abu Kamal.

Russia strikes kill 120 IS fighters, over 60 'foreign

US President Donald Trump's  administration annulled yesterday an Obamacare provision that  obliged employer health plans to pay for contraception,  potentially stripping free birth control from millions of  women.
The move extends to all commercial enterprises an  exemption already given to religious institutions.
Rights groups, physicians, Democrats and ordinary  citizens were outraged, and #HandsOffMyBC was a top trending  hashtag on Twitter while the American Civil Liberties Union  threatened a lawsuit.
But the White House insisted it was a matter of religious  freedom.
The ruling expands "exemptions to protect moral  convictions for certain entities and individuals whose health  plans are subject to a mandate of contraceptive coverage"  under Obamacare, a note published by the US Department of  Health and Human Services said.
Millions of American women who had the cost of  contraception reimbursed could be affected by the decision,  which conservative groups had been seeking ...

Trump rolls back Obamacare provision for free birth control

Splits have emerged among Catalan  separatist leaders over their plans to unilaterally declare  independence following a secession referendum deemed illegal  by Madrid.
Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont has threatened to  declare independence "within days", but the region's business  minister Santi Vila proposed a "ceasefire" in the row with  Spain's central government.
In an opinion article published in Catalan daily Ara he  urged the pro-secession camp to "reflect on the usefulness and  consequences" of a declaration of independence.
Puigdemont put off until Tuesday an appearance in the  regional Catalan parliament at which time some leaders have  called for the declaration to be made.
The session of parliament to analyse the results of last  Sunday's referendum was initially scheduled for Monday but  Spain's Constitutional Court ordered that it be suspended.
The Catalan government has also not yet officially  ratified the results of the vote, a move which would open a  two-day ..

Splits emerge among Catalan separatists

Russia's jailed opposition leader  Alexei Navalny has urged thousands of supporters to turn out  for nationwide rallies on President Vladimir Putin's birthday  today to protest against his nearly two-decade rule.
The charismatic anti-corruption campaigner who has  declared his intention to run in a presidential election next  March to unseat Putin, is hoping to see protests in some 80  Russian cities with the main rallies in Putin's hometown of  Saint Petersburg and the capital Moscow.
In an address dictated from his prison cell, the 41-  year-old Yale-educated lawyer, with a street-smart image and a  penchant for catchy slogans, compared life under Putin's  regime to a forced diet of "turnip."
"If we do nothing, they will be feeding us this damn  turnip for the rest of our lives. And our children too,"  Navalny said this week.
A court on Monday sentenced him to 20 days in jail on  charges of repeatedly violating a law on organising public  meetings.
Contested elections along with ...

Jailed Kremlin foe Navalny calls for rallies on Putin's

Hurricane Nate was bearing  down on popular Mexican beach resorts and headed for the US  Gulf coast early today after killing at least 28 people in  Central America.
At 0330 GMT, the US National Hurricane Center said the  storm had top winds of 121 kilometers per hour, making it just  strong enough to reach Category One strength. It was located  about 95 miles west-northwest of the western tip of Cuba.

Nate becomes Category One hurricane: US forecasters

The financial arm of Thailand's  ultra-rich monarchy has transferred bank shares worth more  than USD 500 million on behalf of King Maha Vajiralongkorn,  according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC filing said the Crown Property Bureau, which  manages the multi-billion dollar assets of the royal family,  had reduced its shares in Siam Commercial Bank by 3.33 percent  on October 2.
That stake is worth 16.9 billion baht (USD 505 million)  based on yesterday's closing share price of 151 baht.
The beneficiary of the shares was not specified but the  move was carried out on the King's behalf, the filing said.
The CPB, who now has a 18.14 per cent stake in the bank,  did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The opaque agency does not declare its wealth but  analysts estimate it manages between USD 30-60 billion in  assets, making Thai royals among the richest in the world.
The CPB's financial portfolio ranges from massive  property ownership to investments 

Over $500 mn in bank shares transferred on Thai king's behalf

Christian Pulisic ran riot in  Orlando to fire the United States to within touching distance  of Russia 2018 with a 4-0 win over Panama.
The brilliant 19-year-old scored one and made another to  cap a sensational 19-minute burst at the start of this crucial  World Cup qualifier to see off a shellshocked Panama team and  help the US take a firm step towards next year's finals.
Pulisic opened the scoring on eight minutes and  beautifully set up strike partner Jozy Altidore to make it two  and compound a nightmare start for Panama, who now look  destined to settle for a play-off match against either Syria  or Australia to land a World Cup place for the first time in  their history.
Honduras, whose match in Costa Rica was put back a day  because of adverse weather, also remain in the mix.
For the Americans, however, a win against bottom of the  hexagonal table Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday will seal their  ticket for an eighth consecutive finals and even a point  should do it.
"It was a .

US rout Panama, edge closer to World Cup

Two weeks after New Zealand's  general election the outcome remained unclear today as the  counting of postal and overseas votes failed to give any party  a clear majority, leaving maverick MP Winston Peters as  kingmaker.
Official results released after so-called special votes  were added showed no single party had the 61 seats needed to  govern in the 120-seat parliament.
The conservative National Party of Prime Minister Bill  English finished with 56 seats, down from the 58 it held after  the September 23 polling day count.
The centre-left Labour Party and the Green Party picked  up a seat each to give them 46 and eight respectively for  their combined opposition bloc to close within two of  National.
It left the power to form a government in the hands of  Peters and the nine seats held by his New Zealand First Party.
New Zealand's proportional representation electoral  system means the major parties often have to rely on the  support of smaller factions.
Peters has previously ...

New Zealand still deadlocked after postal, overseas votes

The International Olympic Committee  provisionally suspended Brazil's national Olympic chief Carlos  Nuzman following his arrest in USD 2 million vote-buying  scandal.
The IOC stripped Nuzman of his honorary membership and  removed him from the coordination committee for the 2020 Tokyo  Olympics.
It also suspended Brazil's Olympic Committee (BOC),  although it said the country's athletes were unaffected and  would be allowed to take part in next year's Winter Olympics  in Pyeongchang and will continue to receive scholarship funds.
The BOC responded by calling a general assembly on  Wednesday to "consider the decisions announced by the IOC".
Nuzman, 75, was arrested in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday as  part of a probe into allegations he helped buy votes from the  IOC to secure Rio's hosting of the 2016 Games.
The IOC said it had made its decision because Nuzman was  "responsible for the candidature of Rio de Janeiro in 2009"  when IOC members held a vote in Copenhagen to decide the 2016  

IOC suspends Brazil's Nuzman over vote-buying scandal

Heavyweights Spain qualified for the  2018 World Cup with a routine 3-0 home win over Albania, but  Serbia must wait to seal to their place following a 3-2 loss  in Austria.
Rodrigo, Isco and Thiago Alcantara all scored inside the  first 30 minutes in Alicante as the 2010 world champions  locked up top spot in Group G as Italy were surprisingly held  to a 1-1 draw by Macedonia in Turin.
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique was greeted with a  mixture of jeers and applause on his 92nd international  appearance just days after voting in a referendum on Catalan  independence deemed illegal by the Spanish government and  blighted by police violence.
"We had to concentrate solely on football," coach Julen  Lopetegui told Spanish TV station Teledeporte.
"It has been a difficult, complicated week and  fortunately we managed to do that in a very, very good first  30 minutes."
Four-time World Cup winners Italy are destined for the  November play-offs after Macedonian substitute Aleksandar  ...

Spain punch World Cup ticket, Serbia made to wait

Spain braced for more protests today  despite tentative signs that the sides may be seeking to  defuse the crisis after Madrid offered a first apology to  Catalans injured by police during their outlawed independence  vote.
Catalan leaders had threatened to declare independence  unilaterally and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy vowed to  stop them, rejecting calls for mediation in a dispute that has  drawn cries of concern even from Barcelona and Real Madrid  footballers.
Spain's deepest political crisis in decades has raised  fears of further unrest in the northeastern region, a  tourist-friendly area of 7.5 million people that accounts for  a fifth of Spain's economy.
Yesterday saw the first signs the sides may be willing to  step back from the brink in a political conflict that risks  destabilising Europe.
After days of ill-tempered rhetoric, the central  government said it regretted the injuries and suggested  Catalonia should hold a regional election to settle the  ...

Spain braces for more protests in Catalonia crisis

The United States said today it  has no intention of signing a nuclear weapons ban treaty  backed by this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, while  stressing its commitment to "creating the conditions for  nuclear disarmament."
"Today's announcement does not change the US position on  the treaty: the United States does not support and will not  sign the 'Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,'" a  State Department spokesman told AFP.
"This treaty will not make the world more peaceful, will  not result in the elimination of a single nuclear weapon, and  will not enhance any state's security," the spokesman added,  stressing that none of the world's nuclear-armed powers had  backed the text.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons  (ICAN), which the Nobel committee rewarded for its efforts to  consign the atomic bomb to history, was a key player in the  treaty's adoption by 122 countries at the UN in July.
The accord was largely symbolic because none of the nine  ...

US says no plan to sign global anti-nuclear treaty

Mexico's former first lady  Margarita Zavala announced today she will stand as an  independent in presidential elections next year, ditching the  country's main opposition party and shaking up the race.
Zavala, 50, is the wife of former president Felipe  Calderon (2006-2012) and a popular conservative in her own  right, having served as a lawmaker for the National Action  Party (PAN).
But she was unhappy with the party leadership over what  she called an opaque candidate selection process that she  concluded would hand the nomination to PAN president Ricardo  Anaya.
"I would have liked to (run) for the PAN. I did  everything in my power to make it happen," she said in a video  posted online.
But when she insisted on a transparent candidate  selection process, party leaders were "evasive," she said.
Polls indicate Zavala is more popular than Anaya, 38.
In fact, she is the second-most popular presidential  prospect, after leftist radical Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Pundits were split ..

Mexico's ex-first lady launches independent presidential run

Former US president  Barack Obama made an impassioned plea today for the world to  embrace clean energy and overcome climate change at a  gathering of experts in Argentina.
Obama told an audience of government ministers, business  leaders and young environmental activists they were part of a  generation with the scientific means and imagination to begin  to repair the planet.
"This is no longer speculation, this is no longer an  issue that we can put off, this is firmly in the present."
"If we take advantage of this critical time, we have the  chance to slow and even stop a trend that could be  disastrous," said Obama, who signed the Paris climate  agreement that President Donald Trump has controversially  signalled his intention to abandon.
"We cannot condemn our children and their children to a  future they cannot repair," said Obama.
"We are the first generation to feel the impact of  climate change but we're also the last generation that can do  something about it."
Despite ...

Obama makes impassioned plea for clean energy in Argentina

Tropical Storm Nate gained  strength today as it barrelled toward popular Mexican beach  resorts and ultimately the US Gulf coast after dumping heavy  rains on Central America that left at least 26 people dead.
Nate, which currently has 85 kilometre per hour winds, is  forecast to reach hurricane strength by the time it makes  landfall in the United States tomorrow, on the north coast of  the Gulf of Mexico.
New Orleans, where levees were breached during Hurricane  Katrina in 2005, and other cities on the US Gulf coast were  under hurricane watch.
The US National Hurricane Centre warned of possible  "hurricane conditions" by tonight on Mexico's Yucatan  Peninsula, home to Cancun and other Caribbean resorts.
By late tomorrow, those fearsome winds could drive a  "life-threatening storm surge" onto southern US states.
"Nate is expected to become a hurricane by the time it  reaches the northern Gulf of Mexico," the Centre said.
As of this afternoon, the storm was located about 125  ...

Tropical storm bears down on Mexico, US after leaving 26 dead

Sudan today welcomed the US  decision to end its 20-year trade embargo against Khartoum as  a "positive decision".
Earlier in the day, Washington announced it was ending  the embargo, citing improvements made by Sudan in its human  rights record.
"The leaders of Sudan, the government of Sudan and the  people of Sudan welcome the positive decision taken by  American President Donald Trump of removing the economic  sanctions completely," the official SUNA news agency quoted a  statement issued by the foreign ministry.
The US decision came after months of diplomatic talks  between the two countries that began during the tenure of  former US president Barack Obama.
The lifting of sanctions is "in recognition of the  Government of Sudan's sustained positive actions to maintain a  cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan," US State  Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
And she cited what she said was Khartoum's sustained  commitment to "improve humanitarian access ...

AFP

AFP

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