A 17-year-old boy has been charged and held in connection with an attack on police by youths who threw molotov cocktails at officers, leaving two with severe burns, prosecutors said today.
	The boy, who was arrested on Thursday, has been charged with "complicity in the attempted murder of persons of public authority," said Eric Lallement, the prosecutor from Evry, south of Paris.
	The unnamed youth is the first to be charged over the October incident that led to angry wildcat protests by police over mounting attacks on officers.
	On October 8, four officers were injured when a group of around 15 youths from a housing estate in the Paris suburb of Viry-Chatillon swarmed their cars and threw Molotov cocktails at them.
	A 28-year-old male officer suffered very serious burns on his hands and body and is still in hospital, while his 39-year-old female partner was badly burned on the hands and face, police said.
	Two other officers who were deployed as backup suffered minor injuries.
	A ...

Teenager charged over fire bomb attack on police: prosecutor

PTI Automatic

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party today held a vote for members of its ruling bodies that could give clues to a possible successor to the ageing leader.
	Fatah, the oldest Palestinian party, is holding its first congress in seven years at a time when Abbas is seeking to quell dissent in the face of internal rivalries.
	The 81-year-old has not publicly designated a successor, and the vote will be an indicator of the strengths and weaknesses of the various factions in Fatah.
	Casting his ballot this afternoon, Abbas called the polling "democratic and transparent".
	According to a recent poll, two-thirds of Palestinians are dissatisfied with Abbas and want him to resign.
	The congress comes with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.
	The 1,400 delegates voted at Abbas's Ramallah headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and also in the Gaza Strip where several dozen were stranded after Israel refused ..

Fatah picks party officials amid talk of Abbas succession

The convoy carrying the ashes of Cuba's late communist leader Fidel Castro ends an island-wide journey today in the cradle of his revolution for a big ceremony before his burial.
	After the flag-draped cedar urn spent the night in a military barracks in the city of Bayamo, a jeep pulled the ashes toward their final destination in Santiago de Cuba.
	Crowds lined the roads for a fourth day to bid farewell to the former president who ruled with an iron fist for almost half a century.
	President Raul Castro, who took over when his brother fell ill in 2006, will deliver a much-awaited speech during a massive tribute with foreign dignitaries in the eastern city this evening.
	Capping a nine-day mourning period, the remains will be interred in a private ceremony tomorrow at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, where 19th century independence hero Jose Marti is buried.
	Fidel Castro's death on November 25 at age 90 has fuelled discussions about his divisive legacy and the direction that the country ..

Castro's ashes return to cradle of revolution

At least nine people were killed and about 15 are unaccounted for following a massive fire at a rave party in Oakland, California, media reports said, citing fire officials.
	The San Jose Mercury News quoted fire officials as saying they were told up to 70 people were at the Golden Donna's 100% Silk West Coast tour event.
	The fire broke out around 11:30 PM (1300 IST) and was brought under control by early morning, with crews sifting through the rubble searching for victims, fire officials said.
	"We still have to do a more thorough search of the building and we don't know the potential number of other victims," the East Bay Times newspaper quoted Fire Chief Teresa Deloach-Reed as saying.
	The two-story structure was a live-work space for 50 people, the paper said.
	Friends and family of partygoers went to social media to try and find news about their loved ones, with some posting information on the event's Facebook page.

Nine dead, 15 missing after fire at California rave party

At least nine people were killed and about 15 are unaccounted for following a massive fire at a rave party in Oakland, California, media reports said, citing fire officials.
	The San Jose Mercury News quoted fire officials as saying that they were told up to 70 people were at the Golden Donna's 100 per cent Silk West Coast tour event.

9 dead, 15 missing after fire at California rave party

Diego Costa starred as Premier League leaders Chelsea roared back to win 3-1 today in an ill-tempered game at Manchester City, who had Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho dismissed.
     Gary Cahill's own goal gifted City the lead, but Costa equalised and teed up substitute Willian before Eden Hazard struck to send Antonio Conte's men four points clear of City at the summit.
     City's frustration boiled over in stoppage time with Aguero and Fernandinho red-carded, the former for a disgraceful lunge on David Luiz, the latter for pushing Cesc Fabregas over an advertising board.
     It was the second time in succession that Chelsea had come from behind to win, having done so against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, as they recorded their eighth successive victory.
     Pep Guardiola tasted defeat at the Etihad Stadium for the first time as City manager and has now seen his side go four home games without a win.
     They were left to rue some profligate finishing, but it was referee Anthony .

Costa keeps Chelsea flying as Man City lose their cool

Spanish tax authorities are investigating reports that Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo hid 150 million euros (USD 160 million) from image rights in tax havens.
     A group of 12 European newspapers made the allegations based on leaked documents obtained by German weekly Der Spiegel.
     Other high profile clients of Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes were also implicated, including Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.
     Both Ronaldo and Mourinho say that they have fully complied with British and Spanish fiscal requirements.
     "The information in the hands of the tax office correspond to what we have learned in the media," Jose Enrique Fernandez de Moya, secretary for Spain's tax office, told radio station COPE.
     "What I can say is that the tax agency is an extraordinarily professional agency and, as it has to, will carry out the inspections it sees fit."
     Lawyers for Ronaldo told the newspapers at the heart of the investigation that a Spanish tax audit aimed at the ...

Spanish taxman investigates Ronaldo revelations

Nine dead, 15 missing in massive fire at California rave:

Austria's long and ugly presidential campaign drew to a close today, with the far-right aiming to emulate Donald Trump and Brexit campaigners by dealing a hammer-blow to Vienna's centrist establishment.
	A victory tomorrow for Norbert Hofer from the anti-immigration and EU-critical Freedom Party (FPOe) would make him Europe's first far-right elected president since World War II.
	The presidency is largely ceremonial but it would be another triumph for populist politics a month after Donald Trump's US election victory and barely five months since the British chose to leave the European Union.
	The election comes on the same day as a high-stakes referendum in Italy and ahead of elections next year in France, Germany and the Netherlands where anti-mainstream forces are forecast to do well too.
	"That a far-right candidate for a party founded partly by Nazis and with a history of anti-Semitism could be so close to power at the heart of Europe is self-evidently troubling," a Financial ...

Ugly Austrian 'election of hate' draws to a close

Top EU and UN diplomats warned today that there could be no victory in the battle for the Syrian city of Aleppo without negotiations aimed at ensuring a viable future for the war-torn country.
	"You can win a war but you can lose the peace," said Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, at a conference on the Mediterranean region in Rome.
	"Who is interested in winning a war in Syria and getting at a price a country that is divided, armed, full of terrorists... Isolated in the international community?" Mogherini asked, adding that she did not consider President Bashar al-Assad's regime as having already won the Aleppo battle.
	As of today the Syrian army controlled more than half the rebel part of Aleppo after seizing overnight another sector in an offensive that has claimed more than 300 civilian lives and forced tens of thousands to flee the fighting.
	UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, who was also at the Rome conference, voiced concern about the Assad ...

No solution for Aleppo without negotiations: EU, UN

The White House has reaffirmed its backing for the policy that recognises Beijing as the sole government of "One China" after President-elect Donald Trump risked Chinese ire by calling the leader of Taiwan, in a break with US norms.
	"There is no change to our longstanding policy on cross-Strait issues," National Security spokeswoman Emily Horne told AFP.
	"We remain firmly committed to our 'one China' policy based on the three Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act. Our fundamental interest is in peaceful and stable cross-Strait relations.

WH reaffirms One China policy after Trump calls Taiwan leader

Taliban militants publicly hanged a university student after accusing him of killing a senior intelligence officer, Afghan officials said today.
	The militants took Faizul Rehman, a fourth-year student at Kabul Polytechnic university, from his car as he was travelling home to visit his family in the Chak district of Maidan Wardak province, around 60 kilometres west of Kabul on Thursday.
	"They hanged him on Friday in front of (the) public. Local elders tried to mediate to release him, but they failed," Abdul Rehman Mangal, a spokesman for the governor of Maidan Wardak, told AFP.
	"They accused him of killing Mullah Mirwais the head of their intelligence in the area," he said.
	The Afghan interior ministry confirmed the execution and said they had launched an investigation "to arrest and punish the perpetrators of this criminal act".
	Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said they were investigating the case.
	Since their ouster in 2001, hardline Taliban insurgents have executed ...

Afghan Taliban hang university student in public: officials

The bodies of 50 players, coaches and staff from a Brazilian football team tragically wiped out in a plane crash in Colombia arrived home today for a massive funeral.
	Fireworks lit up the sky over the stadium in Chapeco, in southern Brazil, as the Hercules cargo planes touched down at the city's airport in pouring rain.
	The small city is holding a huge funeral to honour its team, Chapecoense Real -- an unsung club having a fairytale season until the plane flying it to the biggest match in its history ran out of fuel and smashed into the mountains outside Medellin on Monday night.
	The city is expecting some 100,000 people -- half its population -- to descend on Conda Arena, the stadium where just 10 days ago Chapecoense were lighting up the pitch.
	"I came to pay a final tribute from the fans to our team," said architect Alexandre Bledin, 34, wearing the club's green and white jersey.
	"I still can't believe what happened."
	The arrival was delayed by an outpouring of emotion along .

Bodies of Brazil football team killed in crash arrive home

Representatives of around 40 countries today approved plans to establish a fund to protect heritage sites in war zones and a network of safe havens for endangered artworks.
	A closing statement issued after two days of talks in Abu Dhabi did not specify the total amount pledged for the fund but French President Francois Hollande said a target of USD 100 million remained achievable.
	The meeting, co-sponsored by France and the United Arab Emirates, was spurred by the systematic destruction and looting of archaeological treasures in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State group.
	The world watched in dismay as the jihadists systematically destroyed temples and tower tombs in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra last year.
	In Iraq, videos showed IS using bulldozers and explosives to destroy Nimrud, a jewel of the Assyrian empire, and ransacking pre-Islamic treasures in the Mosul Museum.
	But proposals for ancient artefacts to be taken abroad for safekeeping met with reservations from some ...

Fund set up to protect endangered heritage sites

Gabon's parliamentary elections, which had been due to take place this month, have been postponed for up to seven months, the interior ministry said, citing a lack of funds.
	The decision to delay the vote, which must now take place no later than July 29, 2017, was taken by Gabon's constitutional court after the electoral commission told Prime Minister Emmanuel Ngondet it would be impossible to organise such an election this month.
	In his statement, Interior Minister Lambert Matha referred to a "shortage of funds" to organise the ballot in time, with the court taking into account the "unforseen costs" resulting from clashes which erupted following Gabon's divisive August presidential race.
	The vote was won by incumbent Ali Bongo by a razor-thin margin of some 6,000 votes, sparking two days of rioting and protests that left three dead and saw more than 800 people arrested in this oil-rich central African nation.
	Bongo's reelection, which was roundly rejected by his rival Jean Ping, .

Gabon delays parliamentary poll, citing 'force majeur'

A Malaysian footballer has beaten the likes of Neymar and Messi to score a place in FIFA's shortlist for top three goals of the year.
     Midfielder Mohamad Faiz Subri's cracker of a free kick for Penang state in the Malaysian Super League in February was reminiscent of the swerving thunderbolt by Brazil legend Roberto Carlos against France in 1997.
     Footage of the 29-year-old scoring a viciously swerving goal from 35 metres (115 feet) out has gone viral, making him a sensation in football-crazy Malaysia.
     "This is something I will never forget and it motivates me to improve my game further," Faiz told AFP on Thursday.
     "Football brings people together and football supporters here are of many races, Chinese, Indians and Malays, and they voted for my goal," he added.
     Ten FIFA Puskas Award 2016 finalists, chosen from thousands of goals scored around the world between September 2015 and September 2016, were revealed last month.
     FIFA announced that Brazil's Marlone .

Malaysia player beats Messi, Neymar to FIFA shortlist

The IAAF today unanimously adopted a reform package drawn up by president Sebastian Coe in a bid to end "grotesque" corruption that has rocked track and field's governing body.
     In a Special Congress in Monaco, 182 member federations voted for the reforms, with 10 against and five invalid votes. Some 197 of the IAAF's 213 member federations were present.
     "Let me thank you for the confidence that you have shown the Council today in the reform proposals that you have agreed to. This is a very important moment in the history of our sport," said Coe.
     Coe's reforms, with a nod to disgraced predecessor Lamine Diack's abuse of the presidency, include stripping himself of some powers, with the president and IAAF Council not allowed to serve more than 12 years and with more checks put in place.
     They also push for gender balance, handing athletes a greater voice and crucially establishing an independent integrity unit that would manage all anti-doping matters and be ...

Corruption-hit IAAF adopts Coe's reforms

Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in Seoul for the sixth-straight week today to demand the ouster and arrest of scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye ahead of an impeachment vote in parliament.
	Organisers claimed a turnout of 1.5 million for the candlelight rally in the South Korean capital, while police put the number at 220,000.
	It was the latest in a series of massive anti-Park demonstrations and came just hours after opposition parties filed an impeachment motion that will be put to a vote by lawmakers yesterday.
	Whether the motion is adopted or not, Park is firmly on course to become the first democratically-elected South Korean president not to complete a full, five-year term.
	The 64-year-old stands accused of colluding with an old friend who has been formally indicted for attempted fraud and abuse of power.
	Along with the now-normal slogans for Park to step down, there were growing calls at today's rally for her to face criminal charges, arrest and ...

Mass protest demands ouster, arrest of S Korea president

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today said ahead of a visit to Japan by President Vladimir Putin that the countries' leaders are pushing to end a territorial row dating back to World War II.
	Relations between Moscow and Tokyo have been strained for decades over of the status of four Pacific islands near Japan's north coast, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.
	"The main area where our positions concur is the clear-cut political striving of our leaders for a mutually acceptable resolution," Lavrov said after talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Moscow.
	Japanese President Shinzo Abe is due to meet Putin on December 15 in the city of Yamaguchi in western Japan with the aim of making progress on the territorial dispute. It will be Putin's first such visit since 2005.
	"We have an interest in resolving this protracted problem," Lavrov said, while admitting: "it's clear that it's not simple to bring the two sides' positions .

Russia and Japan 'striving to resolve' island dispute: Lavrov

Egypt's top court has struck down part of a law that allowed authorities to ban all but officially sanctioned protests, a court official said today.
	The 2013 law, which has been used to jail activists for up to two years, required demonstrators to inform the interior ministry that they were planning a protest.
	The ministry could then refuse permission.
	The Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the article was unconstitutional, said barrister Tareq Shibel.
	The court said in a statement that the constitution guaranteed freedom of association and the right to peaceful protest.
	The ruling does not however mean the law would be scrapped in its entirety, said two court officials who did not be wish to be named.
	The law was passed months after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was army chief at the time, overthrew his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi.
	A crackdown on Islamist supporters of Morsi after his ouster saw hundreds of demonstrators killed and thousands jailed, .

Egypt's court rules part of protest law unconstitutional

The first of two Brazilian air force planes carrying the remains of a football team killed in a plane crash arrived today in the city of Chapeco in southern Brazil.
	Fireworks lit up the sky as the plane touched down in pouring rain after a flight from Medellin, where Cinderella- story club Chapecoense Real had been travelling for a big match when their plane ran out of fuel and crashed Monday night, killing 71 people including 51 players, coaches and staff.

AFP

AFP

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