Venezuela today accused Donald Trump of racism and seeking a new Cold War after the US president told the United Nations he was ready to act to "restore their democracy."
	"This racist and supremacist theory which he's exposing, this return to the Cold War, for a moment we didn't know if we were listening to president Reagan in 1982 or President Trump in 2017," Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said.
	"We do not accept threats from President Trump or whoever in the world. We are people of peace -- peaceful people -- and we want relations of mutual respect," Arreaza told reporters at the United Nations.
	He called Trump's first speech at the United Nations "sad for the world," saying he "talked as a general of the army, to invade other countries."
	Venezuela has been rocked by months of economic chaos and deadly protests as President Nicolas Maduro consolidates control, including through a new Constituent Assembly that wrests power from the opposition-dominated legislature.
	In his ...

Venezuela FM rejects 'racist' Trump threats

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At least one person was killed as Hurricane Maria battered Guadeloupe, officials said today, in the first confirmed casualty from the huge storm sweeping the eastern Caribbean.
	The person was killed by a falling tree, the local administration said, while two more were reported missing after their ship sank off Desirade, the easternmost island in the French territory's archipelago.
	The dead person "did not respect orders to stay inside", authorities said in a statement, adding that "several floods have been signalled" around Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe's largest city.
	Coastal areas around the capital Basse-Terre have also been "submerged".
	"All of the archipelago's road networks have been affected by falling trees or branches," it said.
	Little damage to buildings had been reported so far, though "some roofs have been ripped off".
	Authorities said 40 percent of households in the territory of some 400,000 had no electricity, and 25 per cent of landlines had been cut.
	The US ...

Hurricane Maria leaves one dead, two missing in Guadeloupe

Protesters clashed with police on Monday night at a university in the US state of Georgia after a vigil for a student who was shot dead by campus law enforcement.
	Scout Schultz, a fourth-year computer engineering student and gay rights activist who was suffering from depression, was controversially killed by police two days before.
	After a vigil for the slain student, "a group of approximately 50 protestors marched to the Georgia Tech Police Department. One police vehicle was damaged and two officers suffered minor injuries," the university said.
	Georgia Tech instructed students to stay inside during the unrest, but later announced that "the campus has been cleared of any threats."
	Schultz left three suicide notes in his room and called the 911 emergency line, reporting a suspicious person on campus and giving his own description, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
	Police found Schultz outside a university residence, walking barefoot and apparently very ...

Clashes at US university after police kill student

The South African glamour model who accuses Zimbabwe's first lady of battering her with an electrical plug launched a legal bid today to have Grace Mugabe stripped of her immunity.
	Gabriella Engels and her lawyers sought to persuade the North Gauteng High Court to allow them to proceed with their effort to have Mugabe's diplomatic immunity lifted.
	Engels, 20, claims that Mugabe beat her repeatedly with an electrical cord in a Johannesburg hotel on August 13.
	A public spat followed in which Engels and critics of President Robert Mugabe sought to have Grace arrested, charged and brought to court.
	But South African authorities controversially granted Mugabe diplomatic immunity and she left the country.
	The legal effort to have Mugabe's immunity lifted was opposed by Zimbabwe's embassy which argued that it is not obliged to help Engels' team locate Grace, a necessary first step in challenging her immunity.
	"We know it is going to be a big fight but we are ready for the fight and we .

South Africa model seeks to strip Mrs Mugabe of immunity

Britain said today it had suspended its educational training courses for the Myanmar military due to the ethnic violence in Rakhine state.
	London said it had "deep concern" about human rights abuses and would not be resuming the military courses unless there was an "acceptable resolution" to the ongoing Rohingya crisis.
	Communal violence has torn through Myanmar's western Rakhine state since Muslim minority Rohingya militants staged deadly attacks on police posts on August 25.
	An army-led fightback has left scores dead and sent more than 420,000 Rohingya fleeing the mainly Buddhist country into neighbouring Bangladesh.
	"In light of the ongoing violence in Burma's Rakhine state, the growing humanitarian crisis it has caused, and our deep concern about the human rights abuses that are taking place, we have decided to suspend the educational courses provided to the Burmese military until there is an acceptable resolution to the current situation.
	"We call on the Burmese armed forces 

Britain suspends Myanmar military training

Twitter today touted victories in the battle against tweets promoting extremist violence, saying it has been vanquishing those kinds of accounts before governments even ask.
	Twitter highlighted progress in its latest transparency report, noting that between the start of August in 2015 and June 30 of this year it has suspended 935,897 accounts for "promotion of terrorism."
	Internal monitoring was credited with identifying the bulk of accounts shuttered for these reasons, with less than one percent of the suspensions in the first half of this year resulting from government requests.
	Twitter removed 299,649 accounts during the first half of this year for such activity, according to the report.
	The figure represented a drop from the prior six months, and three-quarters of the accounts were suspended before firing off a single tweet, according to Twitter.
	The San Francisco-based one-to-many messaging service has been under pressure to prevent itself from being used as a platform for ..

Twitter touts victories in war on extremist content

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned today that the United States would forfeit the trust of the international community if it abandons a nuclear accord with Tehran.
	"If the United States were not to adhere to the commitments and trample upon this agreement, this will mean it will carry with it the subsequent lack of trust of countries towards the United States," Rouhani, who is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, said in an interview with NBC.
	In his address to the UN on Tuesday, Trump strongly hinted that his administration was ready to abandon the agreement by calling it an "embarrassment" to the United States.

US will forfeit trust if exits nuclear deal: Rouhani

Scoreboard of the first ODI
between England and West Indies at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
	   West Indies
	   C Gayle c Root b Woakes                     37
	   E Lewis c Hales b Ali                       11
	   S Hope c Bairstow b Stokes                  35
	   M Samuels c Buttler b Stokes                17
	   J Mohammed c Hales b Rashid                 18
	   R Powell c Willey b Woakes                  23
	   J Holder not out                            41
	   A Nurse c Root b Rashid                      1
	   D Bishoo b Willey                            5
	   J Taylor c Buttler b Stokes                  2
	   K Williams not out                           0
	   Extras (lb-3, nb-2, w-9)                    14
	   Total (For 9 wkts, 42 overs)                204
	   Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-53, 3-103, 4-107, 5-149, 6- 150, 7-160, 8-187,9-202
	   Bowling: Woakes 8-0-41-2 (2w), Willey 6-0-39-1 (1w), Ali 2-0-5-1, Rashid 9-0-31-2, Plunkett 8-0-42-0, Stokes 9-0- 43-3.

Manchester, Sep 19 (AFP) Scoreboard of the first ODI

Six people have emerged from an isolated dome in Hawaii where they spent the past eight months on a mock Mars mission, living in close quarters, eating dried foods and trying to get along.
	The experiment, run by the University of Hawaii, was the fifth of its kind aimed at helping scientists iron out the fights and inter-personal conflicts that are certain to arise among astronauts embarking on any long mission to deep space.
	The four men and two women emerged from their dome on Sunday, eager for a taste of fresh fruit, home-cooked dinners and the feeling of fresh air on their faces.
	"For me one of the things I missed from home was Portuguese cooking," said crew member Brian Ramos, in a video broadcast by CBS News.
	The program is funded by NASA, which hopes to send the first astronauts to the Red Planet sometime in the 2030s.
	That eventual crew's ability to get along -- and its mix of personalities -- will be key to a fruitful mission, said Kim Binsted, who leads the research for .

Six emerge from 8-mo Mars experiment in Hawaii dome

Eighteen people drowned in boat accidents in Nigeria last weekend, the emergency services said today, nearly a week after more than 50 died when an overloaded craft capsized.
	Twelve people lost their lives on Saturday when their boat capsized during heavy rainfall on the River Kaduna, in the Shiroro district of central Niger state.
	The head of the Niger state emergency management agency, Ahmed Ibrahim Inga, said the passengers were heading to a local market in Kwata-Zuma village at the time.
	"So far, 12 bodies have been removed from the river, while 18 passengers were rescued by marine police and local divers," he told AFP.
	"The passengers were from villages in neighbouring Kaduna state."
	Six farmers drowned when their canoe turned over on the River Benue in the northeastern state of Taraba on Sunday.
	"The canoe broke into two when it hit a (tree) stump. Six farmers died while four were rescued," said Yahuza Yayau, chairman of the Gassol local government district.
	"We don't ...

18 dead in Nigeria boat accidents: emergency services

Large US companies remain upbeat on hiring and capital spending, due in part to continued confidence that Washington will enact tax reform, the Business Roundtable said today.
	But that positive sentiment is at risk if the reform fails to materialize.
	An index of business sentiment rose to 94.5, up from 93.9, according to a quarterly survey by the Washington lobby group, which represents large US companies.
	The economic outlook survey showed more chief executives expected to hire workers compared with the second quarter, but slightly fewer expect to boost capital spending.
	Fewer respondents also predicted increased sales compared with the second quarter, a decline the organization attributed to back-to-back hurricanes that have crimped spending.
	The report comes ahead of what is expected to be a major battle in Congress on tax reform, Wall Street's greatest priority for Washington.
	The Trump administration still has not outlined a full proposal, although it expected to release ...

US CEOs optimistic on economy, tax reform: survey

Former England captain Rio Ferdinand said today he is launching a new career as a professional boxer two years after retiring from football as a way of channelling his anger.
     The 38-year-old former Manchester United star, who quit football in May 2015, is taking part in online betting firm Betfair's "Defender to Contender" project.
     Ferdinand's wife Rebecca died of breast cancer shortly before his retirement and he has since lost his mother, also to cancer.
     "I've been through quite a few things in my life," Ferdinand told reporters in London. "This is a way of trying to channel that aggression, that anger sometimes, into something I can be really focused on.
     "I've probably been searching for that since I retired. I miss that competitive edge. It's something for me to focus on after the last couple of years."
     He will compete at cruiserweight and be trained by former world champion Richie Woodhall.
     The ex-West Ham, Leeds, Manchester United and QPR defender, .

Rio Ferdinand launches boxing career

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin will go on trial in April on charges of covering up for a priest accused of abusing children in his Lyon diocese over 25 years ago, a court ruled today.
	Barbarin, the most senior French Catholic leader to be tried for allegedly failing to report a predator priest, will go on trial on April 4 next year along with six co-defendants, the court in Lyon said.
	The trial is set to run for three days.
	The 66-year-old cardinal is accused of failing to report priest Bernard Preynat to authorities after a former scout in 2014 accused the cleric of abusing him in the 1980s.
	Barbarin left the priest in his post, where he had contact with children, until 2015.
	The scandal has tarnished the image of one of the French church's most media-friendly figures.
	The cardinal has denied any wrongdoing, claiming he did not know how to go about dealing with allegations dating back over two decades.
	An archbishop of a southwestern diocese and a bishop from the central ...

French cardinal to face trial for alleged church abuse cover-

President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen said today he had no ties to Russian interference in the 2016 election and saw "not a hint" that Trump himself was involved.
	In a statement before closed-door questioning by the Senate Intelligence Committee, Cohen said a British intelligence agent's dossiere that tied him to Russian election interference was "riddled with falsehoods and intentionally salacious accusations."
	"I have never engaged with, been paid by, paid for, or conversed with any member of the Russian Federation or anyone else to hack or interfere with the election," Cohen said.
	"Given my own proximity to the president of the United States as a candidate, let me also say that I never saw anything -- not a hint of anything -- that demonstrated his involvement in Russian interference in our election or any form of Russian collusion."
	Cohen also said that the Russian meddling issue has been politicized "to discredit our lawfully elected president" and shame his .

Trump lawyer denies any ties to Russian election meddling

An independent Tanzanian newspaper has been suspended for two years, a government spokesman said today, accusing the publication of sedition and endangering national security.
	The critical Mwanahalisi newspaper was shut after publishing a letter yesterday from a reader containing "insults" against President John Magufuli and his government, said spokesman Hassan Abbasi.
	Abbasi said the paper had received several warnings. The daily has been shuttered on several occasions in the past, for three months in 2008 and then three years between 2012 and 2015.
	The offending letter said that Magufuli "claims to be a patriot but questions the patriotism of anyone who opposes him. This is hypocritical."
	Mocking Magufuli's regular calls for people to pray for him, the article asks if in fact one should not rather pray for opposition lawmaker Tundu Lissu who was shot and injured earlier this month.
	His party CHADEMA has accused the government of being involved in the attack.
	Abbasi said the ..

Tanzanian newspaper suspended for 'insulting president'

A former German intelligence agent, who was also an ex-gay porn actor was today given a one-year suspended sentence for attempting to share state secrets while pretending to be a jihadist online.
	The 52-year-old, named as Roque M, made headlines when he was arrested last November in what initially appeared to be a case of an Islamist mole at work in Germany's domestic spy agency.
	But he was freed in July after prosecutors dropped most of the charges, finding no evidence of an attack plot or ties to Islamist groups.
	He told the court that he pretended to be a jihadist planning an attack in online chatrooms because he was bored.
	"I never met any Islamists. I would never do that. The whole thing was like a game," the suspect said, at the start of his trial in the western city of Duesseldorf.
	A former banker and a father-of-four, Roque M told the court that he monitored the Islamist scene as part of his job for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), a role he ...

Ex-porn actor and German spy guilty of trying to share state

Five men, accused of making explosives before a contentious vote on political reforms in 2015, appeared in a Hong Kong court today in a case that triggered concern about the radicalisation of protesters.
	The men were arrested at a time of heightened political tensions in Hong Kong, following the failure of mass 'Umbrella Movement' rallies to win democratic reform for the semi- autonomous city in protests that were an unprecedented rebuke to China.
	The five were detained as legislators prepared to vote on a Beijing-backed reform bill on how the city should choose its next leader. The legislation was eventually voted down by pro-democracy lawmakers because it stipulated that candidates must be vetted by a committee loyal to Beijing.
	The court today heard how one of the five accused had joined an anti-government group which had discussed causing "chaos" around the vote.
	Local media have previously reported that the group advocated independence for Hong Kong.
	Calls for ...

Five men in court over Hong Kong explosives plot

President Donald Trump warned today that the US is ready to "totally destroy" North Korea and vowed to confront Iran's "murderous regime" over its weapons programme.
	   In his first address to leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly, Trump warned North Korea not to pursue its nuclear missile programme in his starkest language yet, deriding its young leader Kim Jong-Un with the nickname "Rocket Man" and threatening to end his country.
	   "The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.
	   "Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime," he said. "The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary."
	   As to Iran, Trump appeared to pave the way towards tearing up the nuclear deal signed in 2015 between six world powers and Iran.
	   Trump said the accord had failed to rein in the regime's subversive role in ...

Trump issues stark threats to North Korea and Iran at UN

The bodies of 17 civilians apparently fleeing violence in the troubled North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo were found in Lake Edward, a local official said today.
	The civilians "drowned trying to flee clashes between the Mai-Mai and soldiers from the Congolese armed forces," Joy Bokele, an official in the Lubero region, said.
	The Mai-Mai are a self-described "self-defence" militia group.
	They have been engaged since Sunday in "violent clashes" against Congolese soldiers in the lakeside village of Kyavinyonge, army spokesman Jules Tshikudi said.
	At least seven people were killed, he said.
	According to Justin Kyamakya, the civilians could have been onboard a dingy that capsized on Lake Edward.
	"The dingy that capsized held between 28 and 30 passengers, most of them women and children," said 28-year-old Kyamakya, who said he got off the boat because there were too many people on it.
	Lubero, in the eastern Great Lakes region near the border with Uganda, is about 

17 bodies found in DR Congo east border lake

Two prominent Saudi human rights defenders were arrested last weekend, campaigners said today, amid an ongoing crackdown on dissenters in the kingdom.
	Abdulaziz al-Shubaily and Issa al-Hamid are both members of the local Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), which Saudi authorities banned and shut down in 2013.
	Sources quoted by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) said the arrests were linked to past convictions.
	A special court confirmed Shubaily's eight year prison term earlier this year for calling for demonstrations and what authorities described as threatening public order.
	Another court sentenced Hamid to 11 years in prison on appeal in 2016, after first being granted a nine years in jail, for "damaging the image of the state".
	It was unclear why the two were not serving the sentences for their previous convictions or why they were detained now.
	There was no immediate confirmation of the arrests from the government.
	"This is a dark time for freedom of ...

Saudi Arabia arrests two rights activists: NGOs

Banking regulators in Beijing and Shanghai have ordered local crypto-currency exchanges to shut down, state media reported today, in the latest blow to the once flourishing Chinese market for virtual money.
	A Beijing-based regulator required all exchanges in the city to submit a plan by 6pm on September 20 for winding down their operations, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
	Shanghai's exchanges were also ordered closed last week, it said, without providing more information.
	The international value of bitcoin has plunged in recent days amid speculation that the Chinese authorities would shut down the trading platforms, following a ban on initial coin offerings earlier in the month.
	It was trading at USD 3,969 today, down from highs of USD 4,359 a week ago.
	Xinhua's report follows announcements last week by China's two largest bitcoin platforms -- BTCC and OKCoin -- that they would stop all trading operations following new Chinese government regulations clamping down on 

AFP

AFP

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