US President-elect Donald Trump today threatened to put an end to the thaw in ties with Cuba unless Havana makes concessions on human rights and opening up its economy.
	"If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the US as a whole, I will terminate deal," Trump said on Twitter.

Trump threatens to end US-Cuba thaw without 'better deal'

PTI Automatic

Throngs of Cubans began paying their last respects to Fidel Castro in Havana's iconic Revolution Square today, kicking off a week-long farewell to the divisive Cold War titan.
	Hundreds of people, many of them lined up since before dawn, began filling the square where "El Comandante" gave many of his most famous marathon speeches, filing past a black-and-white picture of the father of the country's 1959 revolution.

Cubans begin paying respects to Fidel Castro

Trump threatens to 'terminate' US-Cuba rapprochement

Kuwait will buy 28 Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets to replace a fleet of earlier versions of the US fighter jets, a top official said today.
	The value of the deal is not expected to exceed USD 5 billion, the KUNA state news agency reported the head of armament and procurement at Kuwait's defence ministry as saying.
	Major General Lafi al-Azemi said the deal stipulates the supplier will re-purchase the old Hornet fighter jets from Kuwait.
	The US State Department this month said it has authorised the deal, as well as the sale of 72 F-15 Strike Eagle jets to Kuwait's Gulf neighbour Qatar at an estimated value of USD 21 billion.
	In April, Kuwait signed a contract with Italy's Finmeccanica for the purchase of 28 Eurofighter Typhoon warplanes for under eight billion euros (USD 8.5 billion).
	Kuwait's parliament in March approved spending an additional USD 500 million as an advance payment for the jets.
	That funding came on top of USD 10 billion additional defence spending already approved ..

Kuwait to buy 28 F-18 warplanes: official

First memorial to Fidel Castro begins in Havana. (AFP)

A 43-year-old Nepali guide died and a British climber was injured today when an earthquake triggered an avalanche on the Himalayan peak they were climbing, an expedition operator said.
	They were part of a 13-member team climbing the 6,812-metre Ama Dablam peak in the Everest region when the 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck early today.
	"The avalanche occurred after the quake hit," Iswari Paudel, managing director of Himalayan Guides, told AFP.
	"The two were airlifted but the guide died on the way. The British climber suffered minor injuries and is undergoing treatment in Kathmandu."
	Paudel said all other team members are safe.
	Nepal is recovering from a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake last year that killed 9,000 people, including 18 who died when an avalanche hit the Everest base camp.
	In April 2014 16 guides were killed on Mount Everest when an avalanche struck, causing a virtual shutdown of the world's highest peak for the remainder of the season.
	Mountaineering is a ...

Quake-triggered avalanche kills Nepali guide

UN envoy Espen Barth Eide held separate talks with rival Cypriot leaders today to try to revive peace negotiations after "very high hopes" of a breakthrough were dashed last week.
	"What we are working on is to see how we can re-establish the momentum we had, but this has to be a decision made by the leaders," Eide told reporters after meeting President Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader.
	"And I am trying to facilitate that, but I cannot decide it over their heads," he said.
	UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci against missing a "historic opportunity" for peace.
	The latest UN-brokered negotiations between Anastasiades and Akinci held in Switzerland earlier this month broke up with the two sides far apart on the key elements of a land-for-peace deal.
	The talks in Mont Pelerin had been aimed at sealing a breakthrough to end decades of division on the Mediterranean island.
	"Since there was some very high hopes ..

UN looks to revive Cyprus talks after 'high hopes'

Malaysian police today freed the head of a pro-democracy group which organised a mass rally calling on Prime Minister Najib Razak to resign over a massive corruption scandal.
	Maria Chin Abdullah, chair of the pro-reform NGO alliance "Bersih", was detained on November 18 on the eve of the rally and kept in solitary confinement.
	Her arrest under a law designed to combat terrorism sparked international criticism including from the US State Department.
	Despite her arrest, some 20,000 Malaysians clad in the yellow of the reformist Bersih campaign flooded Kuala Lumpur for the second time in 15 months.
	They were venting anger over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from state investment fund 1MDB, Najib's brainchild.
	"Chin has been freed. She is cheerful," her lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar told AFP.
	"The police freed her because they have no grounds for her detention."
	Chin could not be reached for comment but was expected to address her supporters at Independence Square. ..

Malaysia frees anti-PM protest leader amid condemnation

Britain's anti-EU party UKIP elected former history lecturer Paul Nuttall as its new leader today to take over from Brexit firebrand Nigel Farage, a political ally of US President-elect Donald Trump.
	Nuttall promised to unite the party -- a driving force behind Britain's vote to leave the EU -- which has been under threat from bitter infighting and a plunge in funding following Farage's departure announcement.
	In his farewell speech, Farage promised he would not be a "backseat driver" in the party but would see out his term as European Parliament lawmaker until 2020 and continue with his Brexit campaigning.
	Farage said the European project was now "fatally weakened", predicting setbacks in Austria, France, Italy and the Netherlands in the coming months.
	"Be in no doubt that it is UKIP that is seen as the leading eurosceptic group across the entire continent," Farage said at a conference in London where the result of the leadership ballot of party members was announced.
	Tensions ..

UKIP names new leader to replace Trump ally Farage

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi today postponed a visit to Indonesia after protests there over her country's bloody crackdown on Rohingya Muslims and a thwarted plot to attack its Jakarta embassy.
	Thousands of desperate Rohingya have flooded over the border from Myanmar's Rakhine state into Bangladesh in the past week, making horrifying claims of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of security forces.
	The Nobel laureate has faced a growing international backlash for what a UN official has said amounts to a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
	Suu Kyi's government has denied the allegations, saying the army is hunting "terrorists" behind deadly raids on police posts last month.
	Foreign journalists and independent investigators have been banned from verifying what is happening in the north of Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh.
	Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets last week in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, calling for the government to ...

Myanmar's Suu Kyi delays Indonesia trip amid Rohingya crisis

Pakistan resisted the temptation to change and retained the same 16-man squad which is currently on tour in New Zealand for their upcoming series in Australia, their chief selector said today.
     The two-Test series in New Zealand will be completed on Tuesday, and the Pakistan team will leave for Australia a day later where they play the first of three Tests -- a day-night affair in Brisbane -- from December 15.
     Chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said continuity is necessary.
     "We have kept the same 16-member squad for the tour of Australia because we believe in continuity and think that the same team has done well in England so it will do well in Australia as well," Inzamam told AFP.
     Pakistan drew a four-match series 2-2 in England in August this year, which briefly lifted them to number one in the Test rankings for the first time in their history.
     However, they are in danger of losing their first Test series against New Zealand in 31 years after failing the first ...

Pakistan resist change in squad for Australia

Donald Trump's team to raise millions for Jan 20 events

The US economy will grow by 2.3 per cent in 2017 and 3.0 per cent in 2018, said the OECD.

Trump election points to US growth boost: OECD

Press Trust of India

The United Nations chastised Thailand today for a series of murders of land activists which have gone unpunished, highlighting the kingdom's shockingly poor record in solving such killings.
	The UN's regional human rights office (OHCHR) said it felt compelled to speak out after an appeals court in Thailand's south upheld the acquittal of the sole suspect in the murder of an activist last year.
	Chai Bungthonglek was gunned down at his home in Surat Thani in February 2015 by a killer who sped off on a motorbike.
	He was the fourth leader of a local group which campaigns against land expropriations by palm oil companies to be murdered since 2010.
	No one has been convicted over the killings.
	"It is very worrying that after these killings, as well as a number of other attacks, investigations have failed to bring anyone to justice," OHCHR's acting regional representative Laurent Meillan said in a statement.
	He added that authorities should undertake "impartial, independent and thorough .

UN chastises Thailand over unsolved activist murders

The Kuwaiti cabinet today submitted its resignation to the emir of the oil-rich Gulf state following snap parliamentary polls, an official statement said.
	The move falls in line with the emirate's constitution which requires the cabinet to step down after polls.
	After accepting the resignation, Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah will either reappoint the outgoing premier, Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah, or name another senior member of the ruling family to form a cabinet.
	The new cabinet must be formed before parliament holds its first session within the next two weeks.
	The election on Saturday saw the Islamist-dominated opposition win nearly half of the 50-seat parliament after it ended a four-year boycott and took part in the polls.
	Analysts predict the return of political disputes in parliament unless the ruling family-led government succeeds in cooperating with the opposition.
	Around half of the opposition candidates who won seats are Islamists from a Muslim ...

Kuwait cabinet steps down after parliament polls

The pilot of an Indonesian army helicopter has been rescued alive three days after the aircraft crashed on Borneo island, an official said today, but three other crew members were found dead.
	The injured airman was discovered along with the wreckage of the Bell 412 helicopter yesterday, after the aircraft went down on Thursday as it was transporting supplies to a remote army post near the Malaysian border.
	"The pilot had to be lifted with a rope because the crash location was difficult to reach," army spokesman Sabrar Fadhilah told AFP, adding he had been taken to hospital for treatment.
	Search teams today found the bodies of three other male crew members following the discovery of the wreckage in mountainous terrain in North Kalimantan province, Fadhilah said.
	Rescuers are still searching for a fifth man who remains missing in the remote area.
	It is just the latest crash for Indonesia's accident-prone military.
	Twelve people were killed in March when a military helicopter went .

Indonesian army chopper pilot saved, three crew dead

Poland's prime minister called today for a Brexit "compromise" and said Europeans in Britain and Britons in Europe should not be "made to feel like hostages" as she kicked off a landmark trip to London.
	Britain's shock vote in June to leave the European Union sparked fear among the 800,000 Poles living in Britain, particularly following a spate of xenophobic attacks after the referendum.
	Beata Szydlo pledged Poland would be a "constructive partner" in potentially fraught negotiations to set the terms of Britain's divorce from the EU, but that London had to set out a clear vision for its post-EU future.
	"We need a good compromise which gives both our countries the best possible options for economic and security cooperation," she wrote in today's Daily Telegraph.
	"But the initiative for determining British ambitions and expectations as to the future level of cooperation with the EU has to come from London."
	Five months after the Brexit vote, Szydlo pressed London not to use ...

Polish PM calls for 'good compromise' on Brexit

A court in Kazakhstan today convicted two men of sowing unrest around a controversial land reform and sentenced each to five years in jail.
	Max Bokaev and Talgat Ayan were both arrested in April as protests against proposed land code amendments rippled across the vast Central Asian country, threatening the 27-year rule of strongman President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
	The court in the western city of Atyrau found the pair guilty on charges of inciting social tensions and spreading false information during the spring protests, Kazakhstan's supreme court said in a statement.
	Their sentences come after another court sentenced beer magnate Tokhtar Tuleshov to 21 years in prison earlier this month for his purported role in masterminding the protests in order to overthrow Nazarbayev.
	Tuleshov was already in detention at the time of the land protests, but authorities said the businessman had "inspired and financed" them before his arrest in January.
	Thousands participated in the countrywide .

Kazakh protesters sentenced to 5 yrs in jail after land unrest

China has lodged a diplomatic protest with Singapore after a shipment of Singaporean military armoured vehicles being brought back from Taiwan was seized in Hong Kong, Beijing's foreign ministry said today.
	Beijing stated its opposition to "any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, including military exchanges and cooperation", foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters, urging Singapore to "stick to the 'One China' principle".
	Taiwan is a self-ruling democracy but Beijing still sees it as part of its territory. Relations have grown increasingly tense since the island's new China-sceptic president Tsai Ing-wen took power in May.
	The shipment of Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicles and other Singaporean military equipment has been held in Hong Kong since last Wednesday due to a "request for routine inspections" by customs, Singapore's defence ministry said.
	It added that the vehicles were used in overseas training exercises by the country's military. No ammunition was on ..

China complains to Singapore over armoured vehicles

Armed men have abducted three UN refugee agency staffers, including two foreigners, from Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, a local government official said today.
	Two Nepalese and a Sudanese national working for UNHCR were abducted Sunday in Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.
	"A group of armed men kidnapped yesterday three UNHCR workers, two Nepalese and a Sudanese, from Geneina," Abdelah Mustafa, spokesman for the state government of West Darfur told AFP.
	"Police are searching for the kidnappers."
	UNHCR officials were not immediately available for comment, but its spokesman in Khartoum told AFP by text message that a meeting was underway to discuss the "urgent incident".
	Darfur has been engulfed in a deadly conflict since 2003 when ethnic minority groups took up arms against President Omar al-Bashir's Arab-dominated government, which launched a brutal counter-insurgency.
	At least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in Darfur since then, the UN ...

3 UN workers abducted in Darfur: Sudan official

The British government could face a legal challenge over whether leaving the European Union automatically would trigger a departure from the single market, according to a media report today.
	The pro-EU think tank British Influence will tell Brexit Secretary David Davis that it will seek a judicial review to give parliament a vote on the country's membership of the European Economic Area (EEA), taking the decision out of the government's hands, the BBC reported.
	All EU member states are in the EEA, which allows the tariff-free movement of goods, services, capital and labour.
	The government believes that leaving the EU automatically means leaving the EEA, but British Influence argues that it must first invoke Article 127 of the EEA agreement, which requires the approval of MPs.
	"There is a strong chance that the UK will be acting unlawfully by taking us out of the EEA with Brexit... So we are going to be petitioning for a judicial review" Jonathan Lis, deputy director of British ...

UK faces another Brexit legal fight over single market: report

The UN's expert on torture was today beginning a week-long visit to Turkey following claims prisoners have been ill-treated in the wake of the July failed coup.
	Nils Melzer, special rapporteur on torture, arrived in Turkey yesterday and will speak with alleged victims and inspect detention facilities, the United Nations in Ankara said.
	His visit, the first by a UN torture expert to Turkey since 1998, comes a month after US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Turkish police of torturing detainees.
	The government has vehemently denied the claims, saying all those held over the July 15 coup are being treated fully in line with the law.
	Since a rogue faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power on July 15, Turkey has arrested some 37,000 suspects, causing international alarm.
	It has also imposed a state of emergency which has already been extended once.
	The rapporteur will visit places of detention such as police stations, pre-trial facilities and ...

AFP

AFP

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