Rebel shelling of a residential neighbourhood in Yemen's third-largest city Taiz killed four boys aged between seven and 15, a local official said today.
	The city is largely in the hands of the Saudi-backed government forces, but has been a key battlefield in the conflict that has gripped Yemen since March 2015 as the rebels hold much of the surrounding countryside.
	Last evening's shelling hit the residential neighbourhood of Al-Jamaliya, one of the oldest in the city, the official said.
	It followed a similar bombardment on Friday which killed three children, two of whom were playing football at the time.
	Those deaths drew condemnation from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch.
	"What happened on Friday is yet another stark reminder of the immense suffering that civilians across Yemen are enduring in their daily lives," said ICRC regional director for the Near and Middle East Robert Mardini.
	"We urge all warring sides to take every precaution to ...

Rebel shelling kills four children in Yemen's Taiz

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Israel's military fired a Patriot missile today to bring down what it said was an Iranian-made drone operated by Hezbollah on a reconnaissance mission in the Golan Heights.
	The drone took off from a Damascus military airport before crossing into the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights, Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said.

Israel says shot down Iranian-made, Hezbollah-operated drone

Aung San Suu Kyi said today she does not fear global scrutiny over the Rohingya crisis, pledging to hold rights violators to account but refusing to blame the military for violence that has driven some 421,000 of the Muslim minority out of her country.
	In an address timed to pre-empt likely censure of Myanmar at the UN General Assembly in New York -- delivered entirely in English and aimed squarely at an international audience -- she called for patience and understanding of the unfurling crisis in her "fragile democracy".
	She vowed to resettle some refugees but offered no solutions to stop what the UN calls army-led "ethnic cleansing" in Rakhine state, where soldiers are accused of burning Muslim Rohingya from their homes.
	Rights group Amnesty International said the Nobel peace laureate was "burying her head in the sand" over documented army abuses and claims of rape, murder and the systematic clearing of scores of villages.
	Supporters and observers say the 72-year-old lacks the ..

Suu Kyi rebuffs foreign criticism of Rohingya crisis

The well-preserved wreck of a German submarine sunk during World War I has been found in the North Sea and may have the bodies of its crew still on board, Belgian officials said today.
	   A diver who has explored the wreck, lying in 30 metres (100 feet) of water off the port of Ostend, said the good condition of the submarine suggested the remains of its 23 crew could still be inside.
	   It is the 11th German submarine from the 1914-18 war to be found in Belgian waters and the best-preserved example to date, Jan Mees, head of the Flanders Marine Institute told AFP.
	   The wreck was found in the summer by Thomas Termote, a diver and expert in marine archaeology, but its exact location is being kept secret to deter treasure-hunters.
	   "The submarine is very intact, everything is still closed -- that's what he (Termote) saw during his first visit this summer," Mees said.
	   The submarine would have had 22 crew and a commander on board, West Flanders provincial governor Carl ...

WWI German submarine wreck found off Belgium

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, today reached the value of USD 1 trillion for the first time, the Norwegian central bank, which manages the fund, said.
	   This amount equals nearly USD 189,000 (157,000 euros) for each of the 5.3 million people living in Norway.
	   Established in the 1990s to manage the Norwegian state's oil revenues, the fund set the record thanks to the appreciation of the world's major currencies against the dollar and a good stock market health.
	   The fund mainly invests in stocks (accounting for 65.1 per cent of the portfolio at the end of the second quarter), but also in bonds and real estate.
	   With stakes in nearly 9,000 companies, it owns 1.3 per cent of the world's market capitalisation, and 2.3 per cent in Europe.
	   "I don't think anyone expected the fund to ever reach USD 1 trillion when the first transfer of oil revenue was made in May 1996," Yngve Slyngstad, Chief Executive Officer in Norges Bank Investment Management, ...

Norway wealth fund hits 'milestone' USD 1 trillion value

Qatar accused Bahrain today of abusing a routine fisheries enforcement case to deepen a three-month diplomatic crisis between the emirate and its Gulf neighbours.
	   "The State of Qatar condemned the statement issued by the Bahraini interior ministry on the detention of 15 Bahraini boats carrying 20 sailors, describing it as a desperate attempt to escalate the ongoing diplomatic dispute," the official QNA news agency reported.
	   An interior ministry official said the 15 Bahraini fishing boats seized by the Qatari coastguard, most of them over the past three days, had been operating illegally in the emirate's waters and had been held under routine procedures.
	   The 20 fishermen on board would be released within the next three days while the courts would decide what happened to the boats.
	   The official told QNA the Coast and Borders Security Department had repeatedly warned the fishermen not to operate in Qatari waters and not to use harmful fishing practices.
	   Qatar had a ...

Qatar says Bahrain abusing fisheries issue to stoke Gulf row

UN human rights investigators today said they needed "full and unfettered" access to Myanmar to investigate a grave and ongoing crisis, but the government renewed its rejection of the probe.
	   "It is important for us to see with our own eyes the sites of these alleged violations", the head of UN-backed fact-finding mission, Marzuki Darusman, told the Human Rights Council, asking for "full and unfettered access to the country."
	   "There is a grave humanitarian crisis underway that requires urgent attention", he added.
	   The council set up the mission in March to investigate possible violations across Myanmar, with a particular focus on alleged crimes committed against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state.
	   Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly denounced the UN probe as unhelpful and vowed that her government would not cooperate with it.
	   Suu Kyi earlier today delivered a nationally televised address on the Rohingya crisis, appealing for outside observers to 

UN investigators demand 'full, unfettered' access to Myanmar

Cooperation with China and other key drug-producing nations will be bolstered under a new strategy unveiled today to combat a flood of crystal meth into Australia that has seen ice use triple in five years.
	With its street prices soaring, Australia has become an increasingly attractive destination for drug-smugglers, which has made it the highest per capita consumer of methamphetamine in the world.
	Justice Minister Michael Keenan said it was evident more needed to be done to halt narcotics reaching Australia and that could only be achieved by boosting ties with overseas agencies.
	"We need to not sit here in Australia waiting for these drugs to hit our shores but we need to go offshore and do what we can to disrupt supply," he said.
	"The demand remains so high in Australia that organised criminals from all over the globe are keen to get involved in the market."
	An Australian Crime Commission report in 2015 found that while US$80 bought one gram of ice in China, the estimated ...

Australia bolsters efforts to tackle spiralling meth problem

A Hamas militant died in an incident in a tunnel in Gaza, the Islamist movement which controls the territory said today, the third such death in five days.
	In a statement, Hamas hailed "Hani Shalouf from Rafah (in southern Gaza), who died during his work in a resistance tunnel," using its term for tunnels used for military purposes.
	It did not give details of the cause of his death.
	On Friday, Hamas announced that two members of its armed wing had died in separate tunnel collapses.
	Hamas has run Gaza for a decade and fought three wars with Israel, which maintains a crippling blockade of the territory.
	The Islamist movement has built a network of tunnels inside Gaza, as well as some that have crossed under the Israeli border.
	During the last round of conflict in 2014 attack tunnels were one of Hamas's most effective weapons.
	Other tunnels are used for smuggling from Egypt, although many have been destroyed by the Egyptian authorities in recent years.
	At least 27 Gazans have ...

Hamas militant dies in Gaza tunnel incident

Aung San Suu Kyi and her government are "burying their heads in the sand" over the violence in Rakhine state, Amnesty International said today, criticising Myanmar's leader for failing to condemn the army's alleged abuses in a televised speech.
	The United Nations, rights groups, and a tide of Rohingya refugees pouring into Bangladesh have accused Myanmar's military of using bullets and arson to wage an "ethnic cleansing campaign" against the Muslim minority.
	In her speech today, Suu Kyi expressed sympathy for the "suffering of all people" swept up in the violence but did not address accusations of ethnic cleansing.
	She instead said only that anyone guilty of rights abuses would be brought to justice.
	"Aung San Suu Kyi today demonstrated that she and her government are still burying their heads in the sand over the horrors unfolding in Rakhine State. At times, her speech amounted to little more than a mix of untruths and victim blaming," Amnesty said.
	The rights group blasted Suu .

Suu Kyi 'burying head in sand' over Rakhine crisis: Amnesty

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York to discuss the Middle East peace process in their first public talks, his office said today.
	Sisi emphasised the importance of "resuming negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian sides to reach a comprehensive solution," the statement said.
	The two leaders discussed "ways to resume the peace process and establish a Palestinian state," the statement said.
	Peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians have been at a standstill since US-backed talks collapsed in the spring of 2014.
	US President Donald Trump, who visited Israel and the occupied West Bank in May, has said he believes he can mediate a final peace agreement that has eluded his predecessors.
	Trump too met Netanyahu in New York on Monday ahead of the UN General Assembly and again expressed his hopes for a peaceful settlement.
	Netanyahu was the first leader to have a one-on-one with Trump as the US president ...

Egypt says Sisi met Israel PM at UN for first public talks

European companies suffer from "promise fatigue" over China's failure to follow through on pledges to open its market, the EU Chamber of Commerce in China said today.
	The chamber issued an annual 400-page report detailing the regulatory barriers that continue to hinder investment in the world's second-largest economy.
	European businesses are "suffering from accumulated 'promise fatigue', having witnessed a litany of assurances over recent years that never quite materialised," the position paper said.
	The chamber urged the ruling Communist Party to "supplant words with concrete actions and provide reciprocal access to its market".
	The restrictions imposed on foreign investments force companies from abroad to partner with local firms and often share vital technology -- if they are not barred altogether from accessing a certain market, the chamber said.
	Chinese firms face no such restrictions in EU markets, Chamber president Mats Harborn told reporters prior to the report's ...

EU firms want 'concrete action' from China on access

The Chinese and Russian foreign ministers called for a peaceful end to the "vicious cycle" on the Korean peninsula as they met in New York for the UN General Assembly, Beijing said today.
	Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov urged all parties to seek a "peaceful resolution" to the current stand-off with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons program, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
	"The Korean Peninsula nuclear problem must be solved through peaceful means," it quoted Wang as saying, adding that "the current deepening vicious cycle must be broken".
	"Restoring peace talks is also a necessary step to carrying out the UN Security Council's resolution," he said.
	Lavrov said Russia's position on the issue is "completely identical" to China's, the statement said.
	Russia has joined China's call for a "dual-track" approach in which North Korea suspends its weapons programme in return for the United States halting military drills in the .

China, Russia urge end to North Korea vicious cycle

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi reached out to the global community today in a broad appeal for support over a refugee crisis the UN has decried as "ethnic cleansing", urging outsiders to help her nation unite across religious and ethnic lines and offering a pathway back to the country for some of the Rohingya Muslims forced to flee by army operations.
	Communal violence has torn through Rakhine state since August 25, leaving hundreds dead and driving more than 410,000 of the Rohingya minority from Myanmar into Bangladesh.
	Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, has been decried for failing to speak up publicly for the stateless Rohingya or urge restraint from the military.
	But in 30-minute televised speech today she reached out to her critics, deploying the soaring rhetoric that once made her a darling of the global rights community.
	"Hate and fear are the main scourges of our world," she said.
	"We don't want Myanmar to be a nation divided by religious beliefs or ethnicity... We all have the .

Suu Kyi appeals to global community over Rohingya crisis

Former England star Rio Ferdinand is due to announce today he is going to try and become a professional boxer just two months away from his 39th birthday, according to the Daily Telegraph.
	Ferdinand, who won 81 caps and made over 300 appearances for Manchester United, is an avid boxing fan and has admitted spending time boxing in the gym has helped clear his head a bit after losing his wife and the mother of his three children Rebecca Ellison to breast cancer in 2015.
	Ferdinand, who has become a respected TV pundit since hanging up his boots in 2015, is due to make what has been termed "a major news announcement" on Tuesday but will need to convince the British Boxing Board of Control he merits a licence.
	He wouldn't be the first footballer to turn to a career in the ring as former Sheffield United striker Curtis Woodhouse won the British light-welterweight title in 2012.

Ex-England star Ferdinand to turn to boxing: report

Brazil's media dubbed the spat between Paris Saint-Germain stars Neymar and Edinson Cavani over who should take a penalty kick during their victory against Lyon "a war of egos."
     Newspapers in Brazil, always hungry for Neymar news, dived into the tussle in which the recently signed PSG superstar tried to take the ball from his Uruguayan teammate on Sunday.
	Cavani kept the ball but had his shot saved in what was ultimately a 2-0 win.
     "Neymar and Cavani argue again," O Dia's headline read, referring to another penalty incident during PSG's 6-2 win over Toulouse on August 20 -- Neymar's first home game with the French side after transferring from Barcelona.
     "The result allowed Neymar's team to remain leaders but what caught the attention was the poor understanding between the Brazilian and Cavani," O Globo daily said.
	Ledio Carmona, a commentator for Sport TV, which broadcasts Ligue 1 games, said Neymar risks estranging himself from his new teammates if he keeps "playing .

Neymar-Cavani penalty spat a 'war of egos'

Aung San Suu Kyi said today she "feels deeply" for the suffering of "all people" caught up in conflict scorching through Rakhine state, her first comments on a crisis that also mentioned Muslims displaced by violence.
	"We are concerned to hear the number of Muslims fleeing areas to Bangladesh," she added in the live TV address, condemning any "human rights violations" that may have exacerbated the crisis.

Suu Kyi expresses sadness for suffering of all groups in

Japan will today deploy an additional missile defence system on its northern island of Hokkaido, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP, days after North Korea launched a missile over the island.
	"We are deploying a PAC-3 system at about noon" to a base of the nation's Ground Self-Defence Force in the southern tip of Hokkaido, said Kensaku Mizuseki.
	According to local officials, Japan has already deployed the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile defence system to another part of Hokkaido.
	But Mizuseki declined to confirm where in Japan other PAC-3 systems were deployed, citing the sensitive nature of defence information.
	The move comes with tensions on the Korean peninsula at fever-pitch after Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test and fired two missiles over Japan in the space of less than a month, sparking emergency warnings to take cover.
	North Korea has threatened to "sink" Japan into the sea and said Saturday that it sought military "equilibrium" with arch-enemy the ...

Japan deploys missile defence to northern island: official

President Donald Trump warned today that Venezuela is "collapsing," suggesting the United States may take additional steps to restore democracy.
	Trump told Latin American allies gathered on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly that President Nicolas "Maduro defied his own people" and was guilty of "disastrous rule" that may necessitate further punitive measures.
	"The Venezuelan people are starving. Their country is collapsing," he said.
	Washington has already slapped sanctions the crisis- stricken country and Trump warned on August 11 that the United States was mulling a range of options against Venezuela, "including a possible military option if necessary."
	Trump did not repeat that warning, but said the United States was prepared to take further action, without offering details.
	"Their democratic institutions are being destroyed," he said. "Our goal must be to help them and restore their democracy."
	The meeting was attended by Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos, ...

Trump warns Venezuela is 'collapsing'

The electronic voting system due to be used in a re-run of Kenya's presidential poll will not be ready in time, the French biometrics firm behind it has said.
	OT-Morpho provided Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) with equipment to identify voters biometrically in the August 8 election.
	The result of the vote was annulled by the Supreme Court, and a re-run has been scheduled for October 17, when the system is to be deployed again.
	But in a statement yesterday, OT-Morpho cautioned that it was unable to deploy the same equipment that was used on August 8.
	It was leaving the computer system and its data untouched to enable a possible external audit, in the light of the disputed outcome, it said.
	"As a consequence, in the scope of the fresh elections, OT-Morpho has to reinstall a fresh new RTS system as well as all 45,000 KIEMS kits," it said, referring to the computer system for transmitting provisional results and to the laptops used for biometric ...

Kenya's electronic voting system won't be ready: French firm

The US government has frozen arms sales to the bodyguards of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after his aides attacked demonstrators in Washington last May, two senators said today.
	Senators Patrick Leahy and Chris Van Hollen said the move came after they proposed their own legislation to halt any sales to the Turkish Presidential Protection Directorate.
	The move would block a deal by New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer to sell USD 1.2 million worth of small arms to the bodyguard unit behind the May 16 assault on anti-Erdogan protesters during a presidential visit to Washington.
	"This sale to President Erdogan's personal security guards should never have been approved, given their history of excessive force," Leahy and Van Hollen said in a statement.
	"We should also stop selling weapons to units of the Turkish National Police that have been arbitrarily arresting and abusing Turkish citizens who peacefully criticise the government."
	Nineteen members of Erdogan's security detail ...

AFP

AFP

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