Powerful 6.3 quake rattles Pakistan: US monitors (AFP)

PTI Automatic

A strong 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the coast of Pakistan early today, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
	The shallow quake struck at 3:03 am (2203 GMT), with an epicentre just 23 kilometres (14 miles) southwest of Pakistan's coastal city of Pasni, the USGS said.

Strong 6.3 quake strikes off coast of Pakistan: US monitors

The Turkish authorities have ordered the dismissal of nearly 4,500 civil servants in the latest wave of a purge after last July's attempted coup, according to a decree published on Thursday.
	The Official Gazette said 4,464 people had been fired, including 2,585 employees of the education ministry, 893 members of the gendarmerie and 88 workers at the public television channel TRT.
	The sackings included 330 academics who were members of the Higher Council for Teaching (YOK), including a leading specialist on constitutional law, Ibrahim Kaboglu.
	The authorities had already arrested more than 41,000 people, and fired or suspended 100,000, after the July 15 attempted coup. Many are teachers, police, magistrates or journalists.
	On January 7, the government announced the dismissal of nearly 8,400 civil servants and the closure of 80 associations, including sports clubs.
	The dismissals are authorised by the cabinet and require no parliamentary approval under the state of emergency, which 

Turkey sacks another 4,500 civil servants after coup bid

France and Britain said the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group must press on and re-take Raqa as President Donald Trump mulled a new strategy to defeat the radical militants.
	France, the second largest contributor to the 68-country coalition fighting in Syria and Iraq, considers the fight against IS the "number one priority," said Ambassador Francois Delattre yesterday.
	"We helped the Iraqi forces to retake Mosul. The battle to retake Raqa in Syria is also critical," Delattre told reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting on the threat posed by IS.
	Britain also said the coalition, set up by former president Barack Obama in 2014, must stay the course.
	"The next step for us is to attack Daesh in Raqa and in Mosul, and to keep up the momentum that we have managed to maintain," said British Deputy Ambassador Peter Wilson, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
	Trump on Monday visited US Central Command and vowed to defeat "radical Islamic terrorism," but he did not offer 

France, Britain push US to keep pressure on Islamic State

Three federal judges set to hear arguments in the challenge to Donald Trump's travel ban likely won't hand down their decision the same day, a court official said.
	"We don't expect a ruling today; we expect it this week," said David Madden, spokesman for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

No ruling expected today in Trump travel ban case

The US Army Corps of Engineers have said it will approve a permit to allow for the completion of the controversial Dakota Access pipeline.
	After months of protests by Native Americans and their supporters, the US Army Corps of Engineers -- which has approval authority -- had under the Obama administration nixed the plans to build the pipeline close to native grounds.
	But President Donald Trump has supported the 1,172-mile (1,886-kilometer) oil pipeline, which would snake through four US states, and ordered officials to reconsider.
	"The Department of the Army announced today that it has completed a presidential-directed review of the remaining easement request for the Dakota Access pipeline, and has notified Congress that it intends to grant an easement for a right-of-way across government land at Lake Oahe Dam and Reservoir, North Dakota," the Army said yesterday in a statement.
	An easement is a special permit that allows an entity or person to cross someone else's land.
	The Army 

US authorities clear pathway for Dakota pipeline

Tests have confirmed that the Islamic State group was making rudimentary chemical weapons at the University of Mosul, the Pentagon said today.
	Coalition-backed Iraqi forces in mid-January took control of the sprawling campus of the university, which IS had used as a headquarters during its two-and-a-half-year rule of the city.
	Among the many booby-trapped buildings, Iraqi forces found chemicals inside the university, which was heavily damaged in the fighting.
	The Iraqis have now run tests on the chemicals and these proved positive for sulphur mustard, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said.
	Mosul university was "central to the ISIS chemical weapons program," Davis said, using an IS acronym.
	"They have received positive samples; that is indeed what was going on there."
	Davis said he was not aware of anyone having been killed by the chemicals.
	"It was used primarily as an irritant and something to scare people," he said.
	Iraqi forces began the offensive to retake Mosul .

IS made sulphur weapons in Mosul university: Pentagon

The United States was conspicuously tight-lipped today amid a world outcry over a new Israeli law allowing the appropriation of private Palestinian land for Jewish settler outposts.
	The United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League were just some of those coming out against the legislation passed in parliament late yesterday.
	"This bill is in contravention of international law and will have far reaching legal consequences for Israel," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
	"The European Union condemns the recent adoption of the 'Regularisation Law'," foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said, arguing it "crosses a new and dangerous threshold by legalising under Israeli law the seizure of Palestinian property rights".
	The law legalises dozens of wildcat outposts and thousands of settler homes in the occupied West Bank, and prompted a Palestinian call for the international community to punish Israel.
	Pro-Palestinian Israeli NGOs said they would ask ..

US tight-lipped as Israel settler law sparks world outrage

A career-best innings by Faf du Plessis trumped a thrilling century by Upul Tharanga as South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 40 runs in the fourth one-day international against South Africa at Newlands today.
	Du Plessis hit 185, only three short of the South African ODI record, as South Africa piled up 367 for five.
	It seemed as though Sri Lanka, who had been outplayed in the first three matches, would be on the end of another crushing defeat.
	But Sri Lankan captain Tharanga hit a magnificent 119 off 90 balls and led his team's most spirited showing of the series. They were in with a chance of winning until a late slide in which they lost their last six wickets for 20 runs in 4.3 overs to be bowled out for 327.
	"Faf played an exceptional knock," said South African captain AB de Villiers. "Tharanga also played a fantastic knock but there wasn't a lot of panic. I felt comfortable with the variety we had in our bowling."
	Tharanga and fellow left-hander Niroshan Dickwella thrashed 100 runs 

Dazzling Du Plessis trumps spirited Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Theresa May's government agreed today to give lawmakers a vote on the final Brexit deal before it is concluded with Brussels - but warned they could not stop Britain leaving the EU.
	The concession avoided a rebellion in May's ruling Conservative party over a bill empowering the prime minister to start formal exit negotiations, a move she has promised to make by the end of March.
	The government warned however that if parliament rejected the terms of the final deal, including any agreement on a new trading relationship with the EU, Britain would still leave the bloc.
	"This will be a meaningful vote. It will be a choice between leaving the European Union with a negotiated deal or not," Brexit minister David Jones told the House of Commons.
	May had previously promised a vote in parliament before the deal comes into force, but conceded this would now take place before it was concluded - a key demand from many pro-European lawmakers.
	However, she refused to accept an ...

British PM offers MPs 'deal or no deal' vote on Brexit

The European Union today said it "condemns" a new Israeli law legalising dozens of Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank and urged the country not to implement it.
	"The European Union condemns the recent adoption of the 'Regularisation Law'", foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said, arguing it "crosses a new and dangerous threshold by legalising under Israeli law the seizure of Palestinian property rights".
	The 28-nation EU "urges the Israeli leadership to refrain from implementing the law and to avoid measures that further raise tensions and endanger the prospects for a peaceful solution to the conflict", she said in a statement.
	The Israeli law passed yesterday allows for the appropriation of private Palestinian land for Jewish settler outposts, meaning legalisation for dozens of wildcat outposts and thousands of settler homes.
	Settlements in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem are viewed as illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace ..

EU attacks new Israeli settlement law

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation would immediately revoke its recognition of the state of Israel if the US moved its embassy in the country to Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian official said today.
	"If the Americans or anybody else move the embassy, it is a fait accompli, a recognition of the annexation of East Jerusalem. Period," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said during a visit to Paris.
	"For us Palestinians, it's meaningless to have a Palestinian state without East-Jerusalem as a capital.
	"If we wake up one morning, turn on Fox News or CNN and find that somebody signed the decision to move the embassy, the same day the PLO recognition of Israel will be revoked," he warned.
	The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the seven-decade conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
	The Palestinians regard Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel proclaims the entire city as its capital.
	Palestinian president ..

PLO would revoke Israel recognition if US embassy moved:Erakat

US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly today said that judges who blocked the White House's immigration ban were living in an academic "vacuum" and did not see the real threat to the country.
	"In their world it is very academic, almost in a vacuum. In their courtrooms, they are protected by people like me," Kelly told a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee.
	"If something happens bad from letting people in, they don't come and ask the judge about his ruling, they come to me."
	Kelly was speaking after a federal judge in Seattle ordered the Homeland Security Department to halt enforcement of the ban on immigration by refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.
	The judge found for two states - Washington and Minnesota - which contended that the ban would cause "irreparable injury," and granted a nationwide temporary restraining order suspending it.
	A US appeals court will hold a hearing today on the order, which President Donald Trump's government is 

Judges in immigration ban case in a 'vacuum':US security chief

A New Israeli law legalising dozens of Jewish settler outposts in the Palestinian West Bank is in violation of international law, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said today.
	"This bill is in contravention of international law and will have far reaching legal consequences for Israel," Guterres said in a statement.

New Israeli settlement legislation violates international law:

The US Senate confirmed billionaire heiress Betsy DeVos as the next secretary of education today, after Vice President Mike Pence was forced to break a tie on the deeply controversial nomination.
	The chamber deadlocked at 50-50, with two Republican senators breaking ranks to oppose DeVos, a champion of using taxpayer monies to help fund privately run schools.
	"The Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative, and the nomination is confirmed," Pence said.

Pence breaks US Senate tie to confirm DeVos as secretary of

Prime Minister Theresa May will visit China later this year, with talks likely to include closer trade ties for when Britain leaves the European Union, her Downing Street office said today.
	"The invitation was extended at the G20" meeting in Hangzhou in September, when May met Chinese President Xi Jinping, a spokesman said.
	Chinese state councillor Yang Jiechi visited London in December for talks with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, where they discussed working together on global challenges such as North Korea and Syria.
	Johnson also expressed the hope of closer trade ties as Britain eyes its future outside the EU -- an issue that has seen May meet several world leaders in recent months, most recently US President Donald Trump.
	Ties with China were strained last summer when May, shortly after taking office following the EU referendum, ordered a review of an 18-billion pound (USD 22-billion, 21-billion-euro) deal to build a Chinese-backed nuclear power point in England.
	She ...

British PM, eyeing post-Brexit, to visit China this year

Under-age Kenyans are being "lured" without their consent or knowledge to compete for other countries, a top official said today, welcoming a move to stop athletes switching allegiances.
     The International Association of Athletics Federations on Monday said it was freezing all new transfers of allegiance, with IAAF president Sebastian Coe saying that the "present rules are no longer fit for purpose".
     Kenya has suffered particularly badly: since 2003 more than 60 Kenyan-born athletes have given up their nationality to run for another country, most notably for Bahrain and Qatar.
     During the Rio Olympics, 20 former Kenyans competed for adopted countries, including Ruth Jebet, who upset her former compatriots to win the first Olympic gold medal for Bahrain in the 3,000m steeplechase.
     "We fully support the move to put to an end the transfer of innocent young talented Kenyans without justification and due process as the law provides," a top sports official at the education 

Stop to allegiance changes will protect children - Kenya

French umpire Arnaud Gabas says he was lucky to avoid serious injury after being hit in the face by a ball smashed by Canada's Denis Shapovalov.
     Shapovalov, 17, handed Britain the Davis Cup tie when he was disqualified against Kyle Edmund on Sunday for bashing the ball in frustration and inadvertently catching Gabas in the eye.
     Gabas was taken to hospital in Ottawa as a precaution after being left with bruising and swelling around his left eye.
     No serious damage was found, but Gabas insisted the incident could have been a lot worse.
     "I came off the court looking like Rocky Balboa," Gabas was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
     "The video is quite shocking to look at. We have to avoid some balls during the season but this one I had no chance.
     "I feel quite lucky it wasn't worse. Players can be a bit crazy these days.
     "I could see he was angry and that something was coming but I never thought he would hit me."
     The International Tennis Federation fined 

Umpire smacked by ball 'left looking like Rocky'

Russian athletics coaches "don't understand how to work without doping", Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko said today, after the IAAF extended a ban on the country's team to the world championships.
     Russia has been barred from international track and field competition -- including the Rio Olympics -- since November 2015 following a damning report alleging state-sponsored doping in the country in Olympic sports over several years.
     Moscow denies any state role in doping but Mutko, who was promoted from sports minister to deputy prime minister despite the doping controversy, pointed the finger at Russia's athletics coaches.
     Russia's tainted athletics federation ARAF "had a lot of (doping) violations", he told the R-Sport agency.
     "Athletes broke rules and many coaches don't understand how to work without doping -- it's time for them to retire."
     On Monday world athletics boss Sebastian Coe said that Russia could not be reintegrated into the sport before November, .

Russian coaches can't work without doping - Mutko

Scores in the fourth one-day
international between South Africa and Sri Lanka at Newlands today:
     South Africa
     H Amla c Gunaratne b Kumara               1
     Q de Kock c Tharanga b Pathirana         55
     F du Plessis c Gunaratne b Madushanka   185
     A de Villiers b Pathirana                64
     J Duminy c Mendis b Kumara               20
     F Behardien not out                      36
     W Parnell not out                         1
     Extras (nb1, w4)                          5
     Total (5 wkts, 50 overs)                 367
     Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-103, 3-240, 4-287, 5-361
     Bowling: Kulasekera 10-0-74-0, Kumara 7-0-73-2, Madushanka 10-0-69-1, De Silva 3-0-18-0, Sandakan 8-0-62-0, Pathirana 10-0-55-2, Gunaratne 2-0-16-0.

Cape Town, Feb 7 (AFP) Scores in the fourth one-day

Alastair Cook said he could no longer give the "100 percent" required as he explained in detail Tuesday why he had resigned as England's Test captain.
     The 32-year-old opening batsman, who wants to continue his England career, announced Monday he was resigning after a national record 59 Tests in charge.
     Cook looked emotionally drained after England's 4-0 series loss in India in December, with the tourists suffering innings defeats in the last two matches.
     That followed a maiden Test defeat by Bangladesh earlier in the tour and Cook said now was the time for him to end a career as full-time England captain that started in 2012.
     "It was an incredibly tough decision to make," Cook told Sky Sports at Lord's in his first interview since resigning.
     "I've loved every minute as England captain, but it's a job you have to commit 100 percent to, and there have been certain times throughout my four or five years in the job when I've been to the well and dug pretty deep.
  

AFP

AFP

Page 1190 - Afp