Kenya's Supreme Court judges completed today their hearing of an opposition challenge to the August 8 poll and said a ruling will be delivered on Friday.
	Opposition leader Raila Odinga argued the presidential poll was rigged and took his case to the court, challenging the election commission's declaration of President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election with 54 percent of the vote.
	After hearing closing arguments from lawyers representing the National Super Alliance (NASA) opposition coalition, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Kenyatta, Chief Justice David Maraga said, "That brings us to the end of the hearing. We will deliver judgement on Friday."
	Odinga alleges that hacking and fraud delivered victory to Kenyatta and believes it is the third time in a row that he has been cheated of a rightful win.
	The disputed election in 2007 led to politically- motivated ethnic violence in which over 1,100 people died. In 2013 Odinga took his dispute to the courts, and .

Kenya's Supreme Court ends election challenge hearing

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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir today pardoned a leading human rights activist who was facing trial on charges of spying for foreign embassies, state media reported.
	Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, an engineering professor at the University of Khartoum, was arrested by security forces in December as part of a crackdown against opposition leaders and activists.
	Under Sudanese law, the charges against him were punishable by death.
	Prosecutors had accused Ibrahim Adam of being among activists who were running a criminal organisation and engaged in spying and intelligence activities for foreign embassies.
	Ibrahim Adam and others were also accused of "publishing lies about (government forces) using chemical weapons" during fighting with rebels in the country's conflict zones.
	But today, Bashir issued a presidential decree pardoning Ibrahim Adam and five other activists.
	"I am issuing a decision to pardon... Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam," Bashir said in a decree signed today and quoted by the ...

Sudan's Bashir pardons top activist accused of spying

Completed scoreboard on the fifth day of the second Test between England and West Indies at Headingley today:
	   England 1st Innings 258 (B Stokes 100, J Root 59; S Gabriel 4-51, K Roach 4-71)
	   West Indies 1st Innings 427 (S Hope 147, K Brathwaite 134; J Anderson 5-76)
	   England 2nd Innings 490-8 dec (M Ali 84, J Root 72, C Woakes 61 no, D Malan 61, B Stokes 58, M Stoneman 52; R Chase 3-86)
	   West Indies 2nd Innings (overnight 5-0, target 322)
	   K. Brathwaite c Stokes b Ali                95
	   K. Powell c Stokes b Broad                  23
	   K. Hope run out (Broad)                      0
	   S. Hope not out                            118
	   R. Chase c sub (Crane) b Woakes             30
	   J. Blackwood st Bairstow b Ali              41
	   S. Dowrich not out                           0
	   Extras (b4, lb9, w1, nb1)                   15
	   Total (5 wkts, 91.2 overs, 393 mins)       322
	   Did not bat: J Holder, K Roach, D Bishoo, S Gabriel
	   Fall of wickets: 1-46 ...

England v West Indies 2nd Test scoreboard

Shai Hope led the West Indies to a remarkable five-wicket victory over England in the second Test today as he became the first batsman to score two hundreds in a first-class match at Headingley.
	The West Indies, set a seemingly imposing 322 for victory, finished on 322 for five with 28 balls to spare.
	Hope, elegant through the offside and assured off his legs, was 118 not out following his first-innings 147.
	Having not scored a hundred in any of his previous 11 Tests, the 23-year-old Barbados batsman had two in the one game.
	Victory saw West Indies level the three-match series at 1-1 as they recorded their first Test win in England since 2000.
	It was all the more impressive given that just over a week earlier they'd suffered an innings and 209-run defeat inside three days in the first Test at Edgbaston.
	This was also, excluding fixtures against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, just the West Indies' fourth Test win away from home in 88 matches spanning 20 years.
	Together with opener ...

Cricket: Hope and glory as West Indies stun England

The Saudi authorities said today that they were ready to welcome more than two million Muslims from around the globe for this week's hajj pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites.
	"Our plans have been drawn up on the basis of more than two million pilgrims, including 1.73 million from abroad," interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki told a news conference.
	That would mark an increase compared with last year when 1.86 million pilgrims joined the hajj, which Muslims are required to perform at least once in their life if able to do so.
	A security perimeter has been established around Mecca and its surroundings for the event.
	Turki said that 4,00,000 people from inside Saudi Arabia had been refused access to the holy sites for the hajj because they did not have the necessary permits.
	Representatives of the hajj and health ministries, the Saudi Red Crescent and the civil defence laid out their plans at the news conference to ensure a smooth pilgrimage.
	According to Turki, ...

Saudi Arabia says ready to welcome over two million pilgrims

Authorities in Bulgaria have seized a tonne of powdered eggs contaminated with the same chemical that has led to millions of poultry products being recalled across Europe, the country's food safety agency said today.
	The agency said it was informed by German officials earlier this month that a 500-kilogramme (1,100 pounds) batch of powdered eggs originating in Germany and used to make mayonnaise and ice cream was contaminated with the insecticide fipronil.
	A second batch, also from Germany, was discovered today.
	Millions of eggs have been pulled from supermarket shelves and destroyed across Europe and dozens of poultry farms closed since the fipronil contamination was made public on August 1.
	Commonly used to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks from animals, fipronil is banned by the European Union from use in the food industry.
	The issue has sparked a row between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, the three countries at the centre of the crisis, about how long officials knew ...

Bulgaria seizes contaminated eggs from Germany

Spain's Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido, visiting his Moroccan counterpart today, said Rabat had arrested two men linked to deadly twin attacks in Catalonia.
     "Thanks to permanent contact and collaboration between the two countries, Moroccan security services have carried out two arrests here in Morocco linked to the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils," he said.
     He declined to give further details because the men were still under investigation.
     Zoido was in Rabat to meet Moroccan Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit for talks on the investigation into the attacks on August 17 and 18 which left 16 people dead.
     The main suspects in the attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group, were of Moroccan origin, but most had lived in Spain for several years.
     The two ministers said Morocco was working closely with Spanish security forces.
     Laftit warned of the potential influence of "uncontrolled mosques" and "extremist imams" on members of Europe's Moroccan ...

Morocco arrests two over Catalonia attacks

Sri Lanka will appeal for global assistance in cracking down on drug cartels increasingly using the island as a transit hub for smuggling cocaine and heroin, a minister said today.
	Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka said an unprecedented spike in cocaine seizures, a drug relatively uncommon to Sri Lanka, suggested it was emerging as a key transit point for smugglers.
	"Sri Lanka is a transit point for mass scale drug dealers," he told reporters in Colombo.
	"We have a responsibility to prevent and stop this."
	Sri Lanka's strategic position between Europe and Southeast Asia had made it an attractive location to offload drugs, Ratnayaka said, adding that he would ask foreign delegates at an upcoming India Ocean summit in Colombo for assistance in smashing the trade.
	Sri Lankan authorities found more than 200 kilogrammes of cocaine in a consignment of sugar that came through Colombo's main port last month in just the latest high-value seizure in recent times.
	Police found ...

Sri Lanka seeks aid to curb drug trafficking

Early results for Pakistan's long-awaited census show explosive growth in its major cities, though the data sparked a political row today as it appeared to show the population of eastern Lahore had more than doubled.
	Pakistan had not held a census for nearly two decades due to years of bickering by politicians concerned it could redraw the political map and potentially weaken their power base and access to federal funding.
	The previous census in 1998 put the population of Lahore at roughly 5.1 million people. Preliminary results of the 2017 census released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) late yesterday showed it had surged by a whopping 116 percent to 11,126,285 people, making it larger than Portugal, according to figures provided by the CIA World Factbook.
	The results, which officials said could have a margin of error of up to two percent, mark a remarkable shift for Lahore, capital of Punjab province, the wealthiest in the country and a power base for the ruling ...

Pak census sparks political row over growth in major cities

Washington's UN ambassador Nikki Haley said today that "something serious has to happen" following North Korea's missile test over Japan.
	"It's unacceptable," Haley said. "They have violated every single UN Security Council resolution that we've had, and so I think something serious has to happen," she added, giving no specifics.
	The UN Security Council is set to meet at 2100 GMT to discuss the crisis.

'Something serious has to happen' following NKorea missile

Afghan authorities said today the country's air force had killed up to 13 civilians including women and children in airstrikes targeting a Taliban base in the western province of Herat.
	The strikes, targeting a prison and command base run by the insurgents in volatile Shindand district, also hit nearby houses late yesterday evening, Herat provincial spokesman Jilani Farhad told AFP.
	"Unfortunately 13 civilians including women and children were killed in the airstrikes, and seven more injured," he said.
	At least 16 Taliban fighters were also killed, he added.
	A provincial police statement also confirmed the airstrike and civilian casualties. The area is remote and inaccessible, and AFP was unable to independently verify the claims.
	The defence ministry confirmed the Afghan Air Force had carried out strikes.
	"As per our information, 18 Taliban fighters were killed in the airstrikes, but we have heard about the reports of possible civilian casualties, and we will investigate it," ..

Afghan airstrikes 'kill 13 civilians', officials say

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday a two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict remained the only viable option as he made his first visit to the West Bank since taking office.
	   Guterres spoke after meeting Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah in Ramallah following talks with Israeli leaders the previous day.
	   "I want to express very strongly the total commitment of the United Nations but my personal total commitment to do everything for a two-state solution to materialise," he said.
	   "I have said several times there is no Plan B to a two-state solution."
	   A two-state solution to the conflict has been the basis of international diplomacy since at least the early 1990s, but it has recently come under threat.
	   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads what is seen as the most right-wing government in his country's history, and has signalled he has no intention of evacuating settlements in the occupied West Bank.
	   Israeli ...

UN chief in Ramallah says two-state solution cannot be

The British government announced today reforms that could see companies that award generous pay packages despite shareholder opposition shamed in a public register, although the package was less ambitious than the original proposals.
	The government of Prime Minister Theresa May has been considering reforms since last year following growing public anger over outsize executive pay.
	One of the key proposals, which must be approved by parliament to become law, would require listed companies to reveal the pay ratio between bosses and workers.
	Another would create a public register in which publicly traded companies would be listed if they went forward with executive pay policies despite the opposition of more than one-fifth of shareholders.
	It is hoped the negative publicity over being listed in the register would encourage firms to better take into account the views of shareholders.
	But dropped from the initial proposals floated in November was giving shareholders a veto over ...

Britain may shame companies over boss pay

The UN rights chief today said decades of "systematic" abuses against Rohingya Muslims were largely to blame for spiralling violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state, insisting authorities could have prevented the bloodshed.
	Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein expressed alarm at the upsurge in fighting in Rakhine, an impoverished state neighbouring Bangladesh, which has been raging since Friday when Rohingya militants staged coordinated ambushes against Myanmar's security forces.
	More than 100 people, including around 80 militants, have been confirmed killed in the fightback, which has seen at least 8,700 Rohingya villagers fleeing for Bangladesh.
	"I utterly condemn the violent attacks on security personnel, which have led to the loss of many lives and the displacement of thousands of people," Zeid said in a statement.
	But the rights chief stressed that the turn of events was not only "deplorable. It was predicted and could have been prevented."
	"Decades of persistent and systematic human rights ...

'Systematic' Myanmar abuses fuelling Rakhine violence: UN

Scoreboard at stumps on the third day
of the first Test between Bangladesh and Australia at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here:
     Bangladesh first innings 260  (Shakib Al Hasan 84, Tamim Iqbal 71;  A. Agar 3-46, P. Cummins 3-63, N. Lyon 3-79)
	Australia first innings 217 ( M. Renshaw 45, A. Agar 41 not out; Shakib Al Hasan 5-68, Mehedi Hasan 3-62)
	Bangladesh 2nd innings (overnight 45-1)
	Tamim Iqbal c Wade b Cummins       78
	Soumya Sarkar c Khawaja b Agar     15
	Taijul Islam lbw b Lyon             4
	Imrul Kayes c Warner b Lyon         2
	Mushfiqur Rahim run out            41
	Shakib Al Hasan c Cummins b Lyon    5
	Sabbir Rahman c Handscomb b Lyon   22
	Nasir Hossain c Wade b Agar         0
	Mehedi Hasan c Khawaja b Lyon      26
	Shafiul Islam c Handscomb b Lyon    9
	Mustafizur Rahman not out           0
	Extras: (b-15, lb-3, w-1)           19
     Total: (all out in 79.3 overs)     221
     Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-61, 3-67, 4-135, 5-143, 6-186, 7-186, 8-186, 9-214,
     .

Dhaka, Aug 29 (AFP) Scoreboard at stumps on the third day

Fighting "Islamist terrorism" is France's top foreign policy priority, President Emmanuel Macron said today, vowing to make his country a leading power in an unstable, increasingly polarised world.
	"Providing security for our citizens means that the fight against Islamist terrorism is our first priority," Macron told some 200 French diplomats gathered in Paris.
	"There's no place for naivete, nor for fear of Islam that confuses Islamism and Islamic," he said, adding that assuring the security of the French was the "raison d'etre" of the country's diplomacy.
	Since early 2015, France has suffered a series of terror attacks that have claimed more than 230 lives, making it the country worst affected in western Europe.
	Macron, who took power in May on a promise to boost France's international standing, said he would work with the various powerbrokers in the Middle East -- including arch- rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia -- to try eradicate the jihadist threat.
	"Some have chosen (their ...

Macron says fighting 'Islamist terror' top foreign priority

Scoreboard at lunch on the fifth
day of the second Test between England and West Indies at Headingley on Tuesday.
     England 1st Innings 258
     West Indies 1st Innings 427
     England 2nd Innings 490-8 dec
     West Indies 2nd Innings (overnight 5-0, target 322)
     K. Brathwaite not out                       49
     K. Powell c Stokes b Broad                  23
     K. Hope run out (Broad)                      0
     S. Hope not out                             11
     Extras (lb3)                                 3
     Total (2 wkts, 29 overs, 126 mins)          86
     Fall of wickets: 1-46 (Powell), 2-53 (K Hope)
     Bowling: Anderson 9-4-18-0; Broad 10-1-46-1; Ali 7-1-14- 0; Woakes 3-1-5-0.

Leeds (UK), Aug 29 (AFP) Scoreboard at lunch on the fifth

First-innings century heroes Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope kept England at bay as the West Indies remained in with a chance of an improbable win in the second Test at Headingley on Tuesday.
     The West Indies were 86 for two at lunch on the fifth day, still needing a further 236 runs in a minimum of 67 overs to reach an imposing victory target of 322.
     Braithwaite, dropped on four, was 49 not out and Shai Hope 11 not out.
     Stuart Broad may have been unfortunate in having Brathwaite dropped in the slips but, after removing Kieran Powell, his luck evened out with the paceman's freak run out of Kyle Hope, Shai's older brother.
     At lunch, the odds were still against the West Indies levelling this three-match series at 1-1 given only Australia, with 404 for three back in 1948, have made more in the fourth innings to win a Test at Headingley than 322.
     But the first innings of this match saw Shai Hope, whose 147 was his maiden Test century, and Brathwaite (134) put on ...

Brathwaite and Hope hold firm against England

David Warner scored an unbeaten half-century to steady  Australia as they chased a challenging victory target in the first Test against Bangladesh here today.
     Warner, who remained unbeaten on 75, scored the bulk of the runs as the visitors advanced to 109-2 at stumps on the third day, still needing another 156 for victory.
	Nathan Lyon earlier claimed 6-82 to dismiss Bangladesh for a modest 221 in their second innings and give Australia a scent of victory.
	Bangladesh looked confident when spinner Mehedi Hasan trapped Matt Renshaw leg-before for five and Usman Khawaja hoisted a catch to Taijul Islam at square leg off Shakib al Hasan in the next over.
	Australia, teetering on 28-2, nearly lost another wicket when skipper Steve Smith appeared to have been stumped off Mehedi and walked.
	But he was called back after replays showed his feet had dragged slightly behind the crease as wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim broke the stumps.
	Smith was dropped again by Imrul Kayes off Mehedi on ...

Warner, Lyon put Australia back on track

China will halt iron, iron ore and seafood imports from North Korea starting today, following through on new UN sanctions after US pressure for Beijing to strong arm Pyongyang over its ally's nuclear programme.
	The decision was announced today after days of increasingly bellicose rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un's regime, which has raised international alarm about where the crisis is headed.
	Beijing had pledged to fully enforce the latest sanctions after the United States accused China of not doing enough to rein in its neighbour, which relies heavily on the Asian giant for its economic survival.
	The Chinese commerce ministry said on its website that all imports of coal, iron, iron ore and seafood will be "completely prohibited" from tomorrow. Beijing had already announced a suspension of coal imports in February.
	The United Nations Security Council, including permanent member Beijing, approved tough sanctions against Pyongyang on August 6 that could cost 

China bans North Korean iron, seafood imports

German prosecutors have opened a probe against three Swiss intelligence agents on suspicion of spying on German authorities hunting tax cheats in a case that has strained cross-border relations, local media reported today.
	The new investigation by federal prosecutors is related to the arrest in April of a Swiss man, identified as Daniel M, 54, who is accused of carrying out espionage activities against German finance inspectors since 2012, German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported in cooperation with public broadcasters NDR and WDR.
	The federal prosecutor's office declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
	According to the report, the probe launched in early August is highly unusual between western allies and underlines how seriously Germany is taking the case of Daniel M, who has been charged with spying for Switzerland's NDB intelligence service on German authorities hunting tax cheats.
	The three new suspects, who also work for the NDB, have not been named.
	The case has ...

AFP

AFP

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