A technology company CEO who may have given a Chinese politician's son the Ferrari in which he crashed and died was jailed for nearly five years and fined more than USD 100 million for insider trading, court documents showed today.
	A dozen former executives of major Chinese technology conglomerate Founder Group, including CEO Li You, were convicted of insider trading and other offences, said the intermediate people's court in Dalian, in northeastern China.
	Li was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and fined 750.2 million yuan (USD 108.5 million), it said.
	The Founder Group was established in 1986 with investment from Peking University and has expanded into IT, healthcare, real estate, finance, and commodities trading.
	According to the Beijing News, Li and Wei Xin, former chairman of the company, were linked to fallen Chinese presidential aide Ling Jihua, who was jailed for life in July for corruption, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power.
	An ex-aide of ..

China's Founder Group CEO fined USD 100 mn for insider trading

PTI Automatic

Long queues snaked outside department stores and roads were blocked near malls thousands of Greeks bucked falling wages and joblessness to join the country's first-ever Black Friday shopping craze.
	In Athens, Thessaloniki and other major Greek cities, the queues formed before participating stores -- mostly tech and clothes chains -- opened at 11:30 IST.
	It was soon clear that most of the shoppers were youngsters skipping school to take advantage of up to 80-percent reductions in the sales.
	At a prominent department store, Xbox One home video game consoles priced at 199 euros (USD 210) sold out in less than two hours.
	Despite large crowds, no major disturbances or fights occasionally seen at such promotions abroad were reported.
	Greek retail groups have expressed scepticism about the promotion which further threatens to undermine struggling small business owners.
	Nikolas Kougioumtsis, head of the Athens trade association, said Black Friday was "not a positive" day for many ...

Dawn queues, traffic jams as Black Friday debuts in Greece

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani called for tougher action by the Iraqi government today after a jihadist suicide bombing killed at least 70 people, most of them Iranian pilgrims.
	Yesterday's huge truck bomb blast, claimed by the Islamic State group, ripped through a petrol station south of Baghdad where buses packed with pilgrims returning from the Shiite shrine city of Karbala were parked.
	"I strongly request the Iraqi government to deal more resolutely with the perpetrators of such inhumane acts," Rouhani said in a message published by the official IRNA news agency.
	"The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to wage an all-out fight against terrorists and extremists, and is confident that with unity and solidarity from the people of Iraq, we shall soon witness its final victory."
	Yesterday's bombing in Babylon province came as Iraqi forces mount a huge assault on IS bastion Mosul with support from Iran as well as a US-led coalition.
	Fewer than 10 of the dead were Iraqis, the ..

Iran urges tougher action after deadly Iraq bombing

Critics of the Ferdinand Marcos regime staged a naked protest today, while others marched through the streets with a mock coffin to denounce the late dictator's burial at the Philippines' cemetery for heroes.
	Some 3,000 protesters marched on a central Manila park to demand that President Rodrigo Duterte and the Supreme Court remove the body from the cemetery, a week after the long-dead former president's interment.
	Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989, three years after a bloodless "People Power" revolution ended a 20-year rule historians say was marked by massive corruption and the imprisonment, torture and murder of thousands of critics.
	"His burial there violates not only the rights of the victims but also the entire idea of justice itself," Ephraim Cortez said as he and a dozen fellow lawyers joined the protest, wearing Marcos masks daubed with red swastikas.
	Many of the protesters were students who walked out of their classrooms at universities around Manila and took to the 

Marcos critics strip, parade coffins in Philippines

As the Islamic State group loses territory in Iraq and Syria, one of its deadliest branches is struggling against Egypt's powerful army to maintain a foothold in the Sinai Peninsula.
	The affiliate, known as Sinai Province, has waged a murky war in the north of the peninsula bordering Israel that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen.
	It also claimed the bombing of a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from a south Sinai resort in October 2015 that killed all 224 people on board. Egypt's tourism has yet to recover.
	But Sinai Province has been unable to seize population centres, with one attempt to occupy a town in 2015 ending with the military unleashing F-16 jets against the jihadists.
	Instead the group has tried to keep up a steady war of attrition involving roadside bombings, sniper fire and checkpoint attacks such as the one on Thursday that killed eight soldiers.
	The jihadists are increasingly encircled in the peninsula, with the military razing sections of a town 

As 'caliphate' shrinks, IS struggles in Egypt

A group of suspected extremists arrested last weekend in France were Islamic State supporters preparing an attack in the Paris area directed from "the Iraqi-Syrian region", a prosecutor said today.
	Public prosecutor Francois Molins said police had found automatic weapons after raids in Strasbourg and Marseille and the group was planning to strike on December 1.
	Seven suspects were arrested in police raids last weekend following an eight-month investigation by security services, although two were later released.
	The other five -- four Frenchmen and a Moroccan -- appeared in court before anti-terrorism judges today, Molins said at a press conference.
	He said that "elements seized in Strasbourg" included written documents showing "clear allegiance" to IS and "glorifying death and martyrdom".
	"The Strasbourg commando unit, but also the individual arrested in Marseille, were in possession of common instructions... Sent by a co-ordinator from the Iraqi-Syrian region via encrypted ...

France foiled suspected IS plot directed from abroad

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi today stood accused of failing to protect Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims from what rights groups say is a systematic campaign of abuse by the army.
	The democracy icon, garlanded by the international community as a moral force during Myanmar's junta years, has remained near-silent despite mounting evidence of army abuses in Rakhine State.
	The United Nations has said recent security operations amount to "ethnic cleansing" of the Muslim Rohingya minority, with thousands fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh.
	Suu Kyi, Myanmar's de facto leader, has seen her halo start to slip since her party took power this year after winning the country's first free elections in a generation.
	Her failure to speak out in support of the Rohingya "is baffling to an international audience that persists in casting her as a human rights icon," said David Mathieson of Human Rights Watch.
	"One version to explain her silence is callous indifference, another is calculated ...

Critics round on Myanmar's Suu Kyi over Rohingya crisis

Flooding caused by torrential rain in northern Italy was feared to have claimed at least one victim today after a man was swept away by a swollen river near Turin.
	The elderly man was tending to horses in Perosa Argentina, a small town in the foothills of the Alps west of Turin, when the bank of the river gave way beneath his feet, causing him to fall in.
	His son, who was with him, told the civil protection agency his father had been carried away by the surging waters.
	Several hundreds of people had to be evacuated from their homes and many roads, schools and businesses were closed across the northwestern regions of Piedmont and Liguria as the River Po and its tributaries burst their banks in numerous places.
	Production of Nutella and other chocolate treats was stopped at Ferrero Rocher's factory in Alba as a precautionary measure because of the high level of the nearby Tanaro river.
	The Po was a metre (3.25 feet) above its danger level in Turin and most bridges in the city had ..

Italy floods wreak havoc, one feared dead

Conservative French presidential frontrunner Francois Fillon holds a final rally in Paris today as he seeks to clinch the nomination for the centre-right Republicans in a primary vote this weekend.
	Fillon, whose surge has taken commentators and pollsters by surprise, gave an assured performance in a televised debate last night against his centrist rival, long-time favourite Alain Juppe.
	Fifty-seven percent of viewers judged Fillon to have been the most convincing, according to an independent poll for the BFMTV television channel of 908 people who followed the nearly two-hour exchange.
	A total of 8.5 million people tuned in to hear the two ex-prime ministers stress their differences on public sectors cuts, relations between France and Russia, and their views on multiculturalism.
	Fillon will hold a rally in Paris this evening where he hopes to draw up to 10,000 people, while Juppe is campaigning in the city of Nancy in eastern France.
	Both men are already looking ahead to their ...

France's Fillon, buoyed by debate, heads for finish line

Iron-willed Usman Khawaja batted out the entire day to tilt the third day-night Test towards Australia with a masterful century against South Africa on Friday.
	   At the close on the second day in Adelaide, the Australians were 307 for six in reply to the Proteas' 259 for nine declared, with Khawaja unbeaten on 138 off 285 balls and Mitchell Starc not out 16. The home side lead by 48 runs.
	   It was Khawaja's fifth Test century and arguably his best as Australia seek to prevent the Proteas from an unprecedented series clean sweep after huge defeats in the opening two Tests.
	   Khawaja, who has performed best out of the Australian batsmen in a troubled series, led the way with his wristy shot-making to put the home side in front in the pink-ball Test.
	   It was the first century by an Australian in the series and the stylish left-hander has now scored 307 runs in the three Tests.
	   But his well-crafted ton was marred by a mix-up which left skipper Steve Smith stranded as he ...

Khawaja century powers Aussies ahead of Proteas

Angry Muslim protesters took to the streets from Jakarta to Dhaka today to denounce Myanmar over allegations of indiscriminate killing and rape in a military crackdown on the country's Rohingya Muslim minority.
	Around 5,000 Bangladeshi Muslims demonstrated in the capital Dhaka after Friday prayers, with hundreds more protesting in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok to accuse Myanmar of ethnic cleansing and genocide in its northern Rakhine state.
	Muslim-majority Malaysia's Cabinet also issued a statement condemning the violence, an unusually strong criticism against a fellow member of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
	"Malaysia... Calls on the government of Myanmar to take all necessary actions to address the alleged ethnic cleansing," the statement said.
	It said the Myanmar ambassador would be summoned over the crisis and that Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman would meet with de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top Myanmar officials "at the .

Myanmar crisis sparks Muslim protests in Asian capitals

At least 31 people were killed in Iran today when an intercity express was hit by another train while stopped at a station, the provincial governor said.
	"The bodies of 31 dead have been identified and more than 70 people hospitalised," Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, governor of Semnan province where the collision happened, told state television.

At least 31 dead in Iran train crash: governor

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today threatened to throw open Turkey's borders to illegal migrants after the European Parliament voted to back a freeze in membership talks with Ankara.
	"Listen to me. If you go any further, then the frontiers will be opened, bear that in mind," Erdogan told the European Union (EU) in a speech in Istanbul.
	On March 18, Ankara and Brussels forged a deal for Turkey to halt the flow of migrants to Europe -- an accord that has largely been successful in reducing numbers crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.
	Turkey agreed to step up maritime and land border controls in exchange for incentives on its long-stalled membership bid, including visa-free travel for its citizens and an acceleration of accession talks.
	However, with an October target passing and no apparent progress on the visa issue and accession talks stalled, Ankara has stepped up accusations that Brussels was not keeping its side of the bargain.
	The latest setback was ...

Erdogan threatens to open Turkey borders to migrants

Israel has accused France of aiding a boycott of the Jewish state, after Paris announced new guidelines for labelling goods from settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
	France published the guidelines late yesterday on enforcing European Union regulations on labelling goods from the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which the international community considers occupied Palestinian land, as well as the Golan Heights which Israel seized from Syria in 1967.
	"Under international law the Golan Heights and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are not part of Israel," it said.
	As such, it said labelling goods as just from the West Bank or Golan Heights without more details was "not acceptable."
	Goods must be labelled as coming from an "Israeli settlement" when that is the case, to avoid "the risk of misleading the consumer," it added.
	It comes a year after the European Union backed the labelling of products from Israeli settlements.
	"(Israel) regrets that France, which ...

Israel furious as France to label settlement goods

Hundreds of people were evacuated from an Israeli village near Jerusalem overnight, police said today, as firefighters battled wildfires that have forced tens of thousands to flee around the country.
	The evacuations in Beit Meir, a cooperative village of religious Jews, came after 60,000 people in Israel's third-largest city Haifa were moved to safety on Thursday because of a spate of fires.
	"All the Beit Meir area has been evacuated -- several hundred people, maybe 400," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
	Rosenfeld said that a suspect had been arrested in connection with the blaze, but did not elaborate.
	Police have arrested a number of people in connection with the fires across the country.
	Some are suspected of criminal negligence leading to accidental fires in tinder-dry woodland and undergrowth, while there are also suspicions that some may have been deliberate and related to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
	Police on Friday morning reported the outbreak of a new ...

Hundreds flee wildfires near Jerusalem

A Turkish soldier has been killed in northern Syria in clashes with Islamic State jihadists, the army said today, in the latest fatality in Ankara's three month campaign.
	The death comes after four Turkish troops died yesterday in what the army said was an air strike in northern Syria by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.
	Seventeen Turkish soldiers have been killed since the military began an unprecedented operation there on August 24 to back pro-Ankara rebels.
	Turkish planes also carried out air strikes against seven IS targets in northern Syria, the army said in a statement carried by the state-run Anadolu news agency.
	The soldier was killed in the ensuing clashes, which also wounded five others, it added.
	Yesterday's casualties died in an air strike "assessed" to have been carried out by Syrian government forces, the army said, in the first time it has blamed the Assad regime for a deadly strike on its troops.
	Three were killed at the scene, while the fourth died of his 

Turkish soldier killed in IS Syria clash: state media

Investigators probing the murder of a worker at a Christian missionary retirement home in southern France do not believe the killing was intended as a terror attack, a prosecutor said today.
	The death set nerves jangling in France late Thursday after a string of jihadist atrocities, but local prosecutor Christophe Barret said police believed it was a "local" crime, not "Islamist terrorism".

'No Islamist link seen in French missionary home murder'

At least 31 dead in Iran train crash: governor. (AFP)

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras today expressed shock and pledged to improve conditions in migrant camps after a fire killed two people and badly burned two more on the island of Lesbos.
	"I am shocked, as are all Greeks, by this tragic incident," Tsipras said during a visit to the north of the country.
	"The Greek government... Will intensify efforts for safety and quality of life at hospitality centres," Tsipras said, referring to the country's camps.
	Hours earlier, a 66-year-old Iraqi Kurd and her six-year-old grandson died from the apparent explosion of a cooking gas cannister inside their tent at the camp of Moria.
	The boy's mother and four-year-old sibling suffered life-threatening burns and were airlifted to Athens.
	In an apparent act of rage, migrants then set fire to part of the camp, causing significant damage, police said.
	Ensuing clashes between migrants and police left six migrants slightly injured, while several more were taken to Lesbos hospital with lesser ...

Greek PM 'shocked' by migrants deaths in camp

The Lebanese army today said it had detained a leading local Islamic State group commander and 10 other members in a raid near the border with Syria.
	The army said special forces and other troops carried out the dawn attack on an IS headquarters in the mountainous eastern area of Arsal.
	"They clashed with (IS) fighters with different weapons and managed to break into the headquarters where they captured 11 of them, including the dangerous terrorist and IS emir (leader) of Arsal, Ahmed Yousef Amun," it added.
	The army said Amun was seriously wounded in the operation, and a medical source told AFP he had been transferred to a hospital in Beirut for emergency treatment.
	The army said Amun was involved in preparing car bombs used in attacks in various parts of Lebanon, including the southern suburbs of Beirut.
	It also accused him of involvement in attacks on army posts during fighting in the region in August 2014 when IS and Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate briefly overran the town of ...

Lebanon army detains IS commander near Syria border

Five people linked to a collapsed Chinese peer-to-peer lender have gone on trial for gold smuggling, state media said today, the first court case in a scandal that allegedly bilked investors of USD 7.6 billion.
	The five smuggled a total of 1,239 gold bars weighing 125 kilograms from China's southwestern province of Yunnan to neighbouring Myanmar, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
	The five acted at the behest of the chairman of Yucheng Group, the parent firm of P2P lender Ezubao, it said, and organised Yucheng employees to cross the border illegally many times last year.
	At current world market prices the gold is worth around USD 4.8 million, a tiny fraction of the USD 7.6 billion Ezubao is said to have defrauded from 900,000 investors.
	Police previously told state media that Ezubao concocted fake projects to attract investment and pocketed funds instead of passing them to borrowers to generate returns.
	As part of Yucheng's overseas expansion, the firm set up a bank in Myanmar's Wa 

AFP

AFP

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