China officially established a new national steelmaking leader -- the world's second-largest manufacturer -- today by merging two giant mills, as Beijing pushes consolidation in the industry to combat overcapacity.
	Shanghai-based Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, in the central province of Hubei, were combined to create China Baowu Steel Group, second only to Paris-listed ArcelorMittal.
	Its birth was marked with a ceremony in Shanghai attended by top national government and company officials.
	The combined new entity will have total assets of 730 billion yuan (USD 105.9 billion) and 228,000 employees, a Baowu statement said.
	The two firms' combined steel topped 60 million tonnes last year, according to data from the World Steel Association, exceeding that of previous national leader Hesteel.
	Baosteel, which had been China's No. 2 steelmaker, has issued new stock to existing shareholders of Wuhan Iron and Steel to absorb the company.
	The new group's focus will be to ..

China merges steelmakers to forge new national leader

PTI Automatic

Three sculptures in a Shanghai park have been dismantled by authorities after the British creator of London's "Timepiece" blasted one as plagiarising her work, in the latest example of copying in China.
	Wendy Taylor, whose 43-year-old sundial sculpture stands on the banks of the River Thames near London's Tower Bridge, told British news outlet The Independent that a holidaying art aficionado alerted her to the apparent replica.
	"At first I thought someone had done a clever Photoshop and changed the background, but then I looked more closely and thought, 'Oh my God no, this is a complete copy'," Taylor was quoted as saying in the report published Sunday.
	The Chinese version, by an unspecified artist, has stood in a park next to the Huangpu river, which courses through the commercial hub, since 2006, Shanghai media reports said.
	It has since been removed and an AFP journalist saw park workers filling its circular base with plants and flowers today.
	At the same time AFP witnessed ...

Shanghai removes sculptures after UK artist's plagiarism claim

The man who invented the
quintessential American fast-food burger, the Big Mac, and inadvertently set off a race to create ever more expansive fast-food menus, has died.
	Michael "Jim" Delligatti passed away on Monday surrounded by family at his home in a Pittsburgh suburb, according to his family. He was 98 years old.
	Delligatti laid claim to one of the most indelible inventions in American cuisine since sliced bread -- a double hamburger with two beef patties, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, which is covered in a special sauce.
	As owner of a McDonald's restaurant in western Pennsylvania nearly half a century ago, Delligatti convinced the company to venture away from its brief menu of simple burgers, fries and drinks, according to a 1993 profile of the Big Mac in the Los Angeles Times.
	He got permission to try his new burger in 1967 and sales jumped 12 percent, the Times said. Within a few years, McDonald's was advertising the Big Mac nationwide.
	"This wasn't like ...

Big Mac inventor dies at age 98

China has imposed an extra 10 per cent tax on ultra-high-end cars costing over 1.3 million yuan (USD 190,000), the government said, the latest step in a wide crackdown on conspicuous luxury consumption.
	Under President Xi Jinping the Communist Party has overseen a sprawling campaign against graft and encouraged thrift among the country's political and economic elites, targeting showy displays of wealth.
	The new tax took effect today and was intended to "guide rational consumption" and promote energy-efficient vehicles, the finance ministry said in a statement late yesterday.
	China already taxes imported vehicles at a high rate, slapping a 25 per cent tax on all foreign cars shipped to China.
	The extra charge will likely hit brands such as Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, and Lamborghini, as well as top-end offerings of Mercedes and BMW.
	Ferrari sales in China surged 26 per cent in the second quarter of this year, with 160 units delivered.
	Luxury carmakers have seen massive growth in China, 

China slaps new 10% tax on super-luxury cars

South Korea's ruling party today urged scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye to step down in April next year, giving her a week to accept their ultimatum or risk impeachment.
	Park this week said she would be willing to step down early after coming under huge pressure to quit over an influence peddling scandal that has drawn more than a million people onto the streets in protest.
	The ruling Saenuri Party's 128 lawmakers unanimously agreed to demand Park resign in late April and called for a presidential election to be held in June, six months earlier than scheduled.
	"All the lawmakers of the party unanimously approved this timetable", parliamentary floor leader Chung Jin-Suk was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency after a crucial party meeting.
	The party considered the timetable the most appropriate to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, maintain stability and give political parties time to prepare for the presidential election, Chung said.
	Park said Tuesday she would let ...

S Korean ruling party urges Park to quit in April

Fidel Castro's ashes were taken today to a symbolic reunion with his fallen comrade-in-arms Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Santa Clara, the first stop in the late Cold War titan's last trip across Cuba.
	After two days of tributes in Havana, hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Cubans lined the streets to bid farewell as a military jeep began a four-day journey on Wednesday morning with the cedar urn in tow.
	Crowds chanted "I am Fidel!" as the convoy started retracing the victory tour that Castro's guerrilla took in 1959 to celebrate their defeat of US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.
	The flag-covered urn, which rested under a glass case on a small olive-green trailer, arrived in Santa Clara after midnight and entered a complex with a mausoleum and museum dedicated to Guevara.
	"It's a historic meeting, two comandantes who change the history of Cuba and humanity," said Agnier Sanchez, a 33-year-old medical imaging technician.
	A somber guitar, song and dance show played across a giant ..

Fidel Castro's ashes reunited with 'Che' Guevara

Japan has mobilised its military to help with a second mass cull of 230,000 chickens amid a spreading outbreak of a highly contagious strain of avian flu, officials said.
	The highly virulent H5 strain was found in chickens at a farm in Joetsu city in Niigata prefecture, the local government said in a statement yesterday.
	It said that 2,100 people, including 1,020 members of the military, were being mobilised in the effort to kill the chickens and contain the virus.
	The chicken slaughter began late Wednesday and was expected to continue until Sunday, the statement said.
	Authorities have also banned the transport of poultry and poultry products in areas close to the affected farm, while sterilising main roads leading to them.
	The case comes after a cull of nearly 320,000 chickens began at another farm in Niigata and some 16,500 ducks were also to be culled at a farm in the northern prefecture of Aomori.
	Farm minister Yuji Yamamoto urged Niigata prefecture to "enhance measures" to .

Japan culling 230,000 more birds over avian flu

Fans of Brazil's Chapecoense football club whose team was wiped out in a Colombian air crash crammed into the home stadium for tearful prayers around the empty pitch.
     The stadium in Chapeco, southern Brazil, was a solid wall of green as fans and mourners dressed in the team shirt stood shoulder to shoulder.
     They gathered at exactly the hour their team, which just a few years ago was in Brazil's gritty lower leagues, should have been kicking off in Medellin, Colombia against Atletico Nacional for the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana finals.
     Instead of participating in what would have been the biggest match in the club's history, the team, many of the chief staff, and 20 Brazilian journalists were killed when their charter plane slammed into a mountainside short of the airport late Monday.
     And instead of sitting excitedly in front of televisions to watch the action in Colombia, the people of Chapeco, a provincial city of about 200,000, trooped into their stadium to 

Fans cram into Brazil football stadium to mourn dead players

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously imposed its toughest sanctions on North Korea, placing a cap on the hermit state's key coal exports after its defiant nuclear tests.
	The new sanctions resolution - which was spearheaded by the United States and came after three months of tough negotiations with fellow veto-wielding council member China - passed by a 15-0 vote.
	The resolution demands that North Korea "abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs" and takes aim at the state's exports of coal, its top external revenue source.
	Under Resolution 2321, North Korea will be restricted from exporting more than 7.5 million tonnes of coal in 2017, a reduction of 62 per cent from 2015.
	Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the resolution would strip the regime of more than $700 million in hard currency, dramatically reducing the money it can spend on nuclear and ballistic weapons.
	Speaking to reporters with her counterparts from US allies 

UN Security Council hits N Korea with toughest-ever sanctions

The estimated cost of dealing with the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis has doubled to some USD 180 billion, a report said today, underlining the challenge Japan faces in overcoming the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
	The Japanese government now estimates that total costs - including compensation, decommissioning and decontamination - could reach 20 trillion yen (USD 178 billion) or even more, public broadcaster NHK reported today.
	The figure, which it obtained from unidentified government sources, is nearly double the previous estimate of 11 trillion yen made three years ago.
	An official at the economy, trade and industry ministry, which oversees the nuclear sector, could not confirm the report.
	But he said the government was working to finalise the latest estimate of total costs, while an expert panel is discussing how to share them with Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) and others.
	"Discussions will continue into next year," the official said.
	A ...

Fukushima costs to double to nearly USD 180 bn: report

Former World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Dick Pound has called for a tough stance on Russia's doping violations as the sports world braces for the release of a new investigation into accusations of state-run cheating.
     Pound, the International Olympic Committee's representative on the WADA Foundation Board, said firm action against Russia was necessary to deter other nations from widespread doping.
     "I think if we are sufficiently firm with Russia, there will be an enormous deterrent effect," Pound told AFP in a wide-ranging interview ahead of the December 9 release of a report by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren expected to shine more light on doping in Russia.
     The first part of the McLaren report, commissioned by WADA after revelations by the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, was published in July and detailed an elaborate state-sponsored scheme in Russia to manipulate drug tests at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
     ...

Pound calls for tough stance on Russian doping

Norwegian Magnus Carlsen extended his dominance over the chess world by winning the World Chess Championship for the third consecutive time, beating his Russian challenger Sergei Karyakin in a tiebreaker.
     The win puts Carlsen closer to the status of chess legends such as Garry Kasparov, who dominated the game for 15 years.
     Although Karyakin foiled predictions by tying Carlsen in 12 regular rounds, the Norwegian champion beat him in the final phase of four quick-fire extra games.
     The battle for the world chess crown ended up in the dramatic tiebreaker on Wednesday after a win apiece and nine draws.
     So the young stars -- both aged just 26 -- headed into the chess equivalent of extra time in soccer.
     Unlike the earlier rounds, which lasted an average of six hours, the rapid-play rules meant the players had just 25 minutes each, so each game was over in an hour.
     The accelerated games left plenty of opportunity for harried mistakes, and while predictions were ..

Norwegian Carlsen wins third World Chess Championship

Canada's Milos Raonic parted ways with coach Carloa Moya despite a season which saw him reach his first Grand Slam final and finish at three in the world.
     The 25-year-old only teamed up with former French Open champion Moya in January before adding John McEnroe briefly to his coaching set-up in the summer.
     The big-serving Canadian was runner-up to Andy Murray at Wimbledon in July.
     He also made the semi-finals of the World Tour finals in London before ending 2016 at a career-high three in the world behind top-ranked Murray and Novak Djokovic.
     "Thank you to Carlos Moya for helping me tremendously this year, alongside my team, to get the best out of me," tweeted Raonic.
     "Under Carlos' direction and tutelage I have played my best yet to date. We will no longer be continuing our coaching relationship but remain close friends. I wish him all the best.

Raonic splits with Moya despite record year

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane's son, Enzo, scored on his senior debut as the European champions brushed aside third tier Cultural Leonesa 6-1 to progress into the last 16 of the Copa del Rey 13-2 on aggregate.
     By contrast, Barcelona still have work to do to reach the next round after being held 1-1 at Hercules in the first leg of their last 32 tie.
     Enzo, the oldest of Zidane's four sons, all of whom play at different levels in Real's youth teams, was introduced by his father, a legendary former player for Real and France, at half-time.
     The 21-year-old, who was previously coached by Zinedine at Real's youth side Castilla before he took the top job at the Santiago Bernabeu in January, showed a glimpse of his father's talent with a fine low finish from the edge of the area just after the hour mark.
     "If I take off my hat as a coach then I am happy for him as a father (too)," said Zidane.
     "But, in saying that, I watch what he does on the field as a coach and I .

Zidane's son scores on debut in Real Cup rout

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Anthony Martial scored twice as Manchester United crushed West Ham United 4-1 in the League Cup quarter-finals, while Arsenal were humbled by Southampton.
     United manager Jose Mourinho served a one-game touchline ban after his dismissal for kicking a water bottle during Sunday's 1-1 Premier League draw against West Ham, but his absence had no ill-effects.
     Ibrahimovic put United ahead in the second minute and although Ashley Fletcher equalised, Martial's second-half brace restored the hosts' control before the Swede added a fourth goal in added time.
     "After the West Ham goal we had 10 minutes where we felt it deeply. West Ham's first shot, they equalise," said Mourinho, who has overseen United's worst start to a top-flight season since 1989.
     "But in the second half we got the confidence to play and play beautiful, attacking football.
     "Goals plus performance means the real happiness."
     United will play Hull City in the two-legged ...

Ibra, Martial see Man Utd through, Arsenal crash

Former Test star Jason Gillespie believes pace spearheads Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will become the greatest fast bowling combination Australia has ever produced.
     Gillespie, touted as a potential successor to current Test coach Darren Lehmann, said their performance in the recent series defeat to South Africa was a rare bright spot.
     They finished as the first and third-highest wicket takers with Hazlewood grabbing 17 at an average of 22 and Starc 14 wickets at 30.
     The duo have now played 17 Tests together since Hazlewood's debut two years ago and have taken 161 wickets alongside each other.
     "Starc and Hazlewood, without doubt, will be the best fast bowling combination Australia has ever produced," Gillespie, also seen a possible replacement for Rod Marsh as chairman of selectors, told cricket.Com.Au Thursday.
     "They'll stay fit, they'll stay healthy, they're learning their trade all the time, they complement each other very well.
     "Starc (is a) ...

Starc-Hazlewood to be Australia's best ever -- Gillespie

A French tourist has died after being stabbed in the neck during an unprovoked attack when he and his wife pulled over on a highway in remote Australia, police said today.
	The pair were about an hour north of Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway yesterday afternoon when the man, whose age was not given, was killed.
	"It is believed that two French tourists, being husband and wife, were at a rest stop 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of the Aileron Roadhouse when they were approached by an unknown man," said Detective Superintendent Travis Wurst.
	"The man has allegedly then stabbed the male tourist to the neck, in an unprovoked attack. The male passed away at the scene."
	The attacker fled in a vehicle which was stopped soon after by police with the man running off into bushland. He was arrested today morning.
	Police said the wife was being treated for shock at Alice Springs Hospital.
	The Stuart Highway, a popular tourist drive, is the principal north-south route through Australia's ..

French tourist stabbed to death in remote Australia

Bob Dylan was conspicuously absent from the Oval Office, but President Barack Obama hosted four of America's other 2016 Nobel Laureates, all of whom were migrants.
	Characteristically, Dylan left Obama -- like the Nobel Committee -- "Blowin' in the wind."
	"Unfortunately, Bob Dylan will not be at the White House today," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest yesterday.
	Dylan has also indicated he will skip the Nobel award ceremony in December.
	But the self-confessed science nerd president was not deterred.
	With just a couple of months left in office and his successor Donald Trump promising hard-line immigration policies, Obama noted America's magnetic ability to draw top talent from around the world.
	Obama was hosting Physics laureates Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz as well as fellow prize winners Oliver Hart, (Economic Sciences) and Fraser Stoddart (Chemistry).
	All four were born in Britain, but live and work in the United States.
	"We are incredibly proud of them and ...

Obama hails 'migrant' Nobel winners, Dylan a no-show

Spanish police have arrested 45 suspected members of a Georgian burglary ring that broke into more than 100 homes, a force spokeswoman has said after a coordinated nationwide sweep.
	In 26 searches carried out Tuesday, officers seized 75 watches, fake passports, "countless" items of jewellery, 14,000 euros (USD 15,000) in cash and 200 receipts for international money transfers, the spokeswoman said yesterday.
	The suspected right-hand man of the ringleader was detained in the southern city of Seville, two suspects were held in Barcelona, two more in the northern city of Barakaldo, one in the Mediterranean port of Alicante and the rest in Madrid.
	The majority of those arrested are Georgian nationals. The suspects face being charged with burglary, membership of a criminal organisation, money laundering and falsifying documents.

Spain arrests 45 over suspected Georgian burglary ring

British scientists today approved the use of so-called "three-parent baby" fertility treatments, paving the way for the country to become the first in the world to officially introduce the procedures.
	An independent panel of experts tasked with reviewing the safety of mitochondrial gene therapy said the practice should be "cautiously adopted" to prevent certain genetic diseases from being passed on to future generations.
	British MPs voted in February to allow the creation of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) babies with DNA from three people.
	However, the country's fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said it would wait for today's report before green-lighting use of the treatments in clinics.
	The technique would allow women who carry disease-causing mutations in their mitochondrial genes to give birth to genetically-related children free of mitochondrial disease.
	But opponents have questioned its ethics and say it opens the way to "designer ...

UK experts give green light to 'three-parent babies'

The US economy continues to expand nationwide with only slight upward price pressures despite reports of tightening labor markets and higher wages, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book survey said today.
	All but two of the 12 Fed districts reported at least a slight increase in economic activity, with only New York seeing no expansion at all, and six reporting "moderate" growth and four describing it as "modest." But the strong dollar is weighing on manufacturing in some districts.
	The report, which collects views of economists, business contacts and others in the 12 Federal Reserve districts in preparation for the monetary policy meeting next month, noted improved retail sales and home construction in most regions.
	However, the manufacturing situation was mixed "with the strong dollar being cited as a headwind to more robust demand in a few Districts," the report said.
	In addition, vehicle sales fell in most regions, which some said "might be attributed to uncertainty surrounding the 

AFP

AFP

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