Jakarta's Christian governor was questioned by police today for the first time since being named a suspect in a blasphemy investigation seen by critics as a test of religious tolerance in Indonesia.
	Police are pursuing allegations that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known by his nickname Ahok, insulted the Koran, a criminal offence that carries a jail sentence in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.
	The allegations have sparked much anger among Muslims - both moderate and hardline - with more than 100,000 taking to the streets of Jakarta earlier this month demanding Purnama be prosecuted.
	Purnama - Jakarta's first non-Muslim leader in half a century and a member of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese minority - declined to comment as he arrived for questioning at national police headquarters.
	But his spokesman Ruhut Sitompul said Purnama would continue to cooperate with police, who have ordered the governor not to leave the country.
	"Our country is a country based on the ...

Jakarta governor faces grilling over blasphemy allegations

PTI Automatic

At least five children were killed when a US school bus carrying up to 35 students smashed into a tree, officials said.
	Children between the ages of five and 11 were aboard the bus, which flipped onto its side and slammed roof-first into the tree in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
	Five youngsters are known to have died, with 24 more rushed to hospital, city police chief Fred Fletcher said.
	"This is an absolute nightmare for this community," he said.
	Local media reported how dazed children lay on stretchers at the scene of the crash, near Woodmore Elementary School, waiting for ambulances to take them to hospital.
	Bus driver Johnthony Walker, 24, has been arrested, the police chief said. He was charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving.
	"Certainly speed is being investigated very, very strongly as a factor in this crash," Fletcher said.
	"It was clear and dry... There did not appear to be any roadway conditions. But it is a complicated ... 

At least five children killed in US school bus crash

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said it would be "inappropriate" to ask who was the more barbarous out of Israel and Hitler, in comments likely to put renewed strain on ties with the Jewish state.
	The comments come less than a week after Turkey appointed a foreign policy advisor to the prime minister as ambassador to Israel, sealing the normalisation of diplomatic relations after a six-year partial rupture.
	"I don't approve of what Hitler did, and neither do I approve of what Israel has done. When it's a question of so many people dying, it's inappropriate to ask who was the more barbarous," Erdogan said in an interview with Israeli television yesterday night.
	The relationship between the two countries plunged to an all time low after an Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound ship in 2010 that killed 10 Turks, prompting Ankara to expel the Israeli ambassador and freeze all defence ties.
	But the two sides have been working to bring cooperation back to former levels and ...

Asking if Hitler was worse than Israel 'inappropriate':Erdogan

Crisis-torn Australia will attempt to prevent rampant South Africa from an unprecedented series clean sweep in Thursday's day-night third Test in Adelaide after a team shake-up of historic proportions.
     Stung by two humiliating defeats in Perth and Hobart, the Aussies have made six changes in a bid to stop the rot and fight off the Proteas' quest to become the first touring team to sweep a series in Australia.
     It is a seismic selection switch in the wake of last week's sudden resignation of chairman of selectors Rod Marsh and intensifying pressure on the game's top officials and coach Darren Lehmann.
     Not since only two players from the fifth Test against England in August 1977 made it into the team for the first Test against India three months later, after World Series Cricket rebelled against the establishment, has there been such a clean-out of the Australian side.
     The last time there were as many as five changes mid-season -- which is likely given either pacemen .

Desperate Aussies roll the dice to stop rampant Proteas

Several children were killed in the US state of Tennessee when a school bus carrying up to 35 students plowed into a tree, officials said.
	Images broadcast on local media showed the bus flipped on its side in the eastern city of Chattanooga with a tree splicing its center.
	There were conflicting reports about the number of children killed, with multiple US media stating that six students had died, citing the Hamilton County Office of the District Attorney General. When contacted by AFP, the office said it had not released that figure.
	"There were we believe 35 children on that school bus ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade. It was a single-vehicle crash," Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher told reporters.
	Of those, 23 students were taken to area hospitals, NBC News reported, citing Fletcher.
	The city's police department posted on Twitter that "multiple fatalities" had occurred, adding that the exact number was not confirmed.
	"Certainly speed is being investigated ..

Several children killed in US school bus crash

Lewis Hamilton may face "impossible odds" but has vowed to "give everything" to stop Nico Rosberg winning the Formula One drivers' world championship at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.
     Hamilton has won the last three races to move to within 12 points of his Mercedes teammate Rosberg.
     But Rosberg only needs a top three finish this weekend to clinch his maiden title and stop Hamilton from becoming the first British driver to be crowned a four-time Formula One world champion.
     Hamilton, who drove superbly in the wet to finish first at the Brazilian Grand Prix, was in no doubt of the scale of the task he faced, telling the formula1.Com website: "It's not been a perfect season and I'm faced with pretty impossible odds no matter what I do this weekend.
     "I can't and won't give up. You never know what might happen -- however unlikely it may seem," added Hamilton, plagued by reliability issued earlier this season.
     "I'll be proud of myself and what I've 

Title-chasing Hamilton admits 'impossible odds' against him

Former Germany player and coach Jurgen Klinsmann was fired Monday as coach of the United States after losing two 2018 World Cup qualifying matches.
     The 52-year-old, who won the World Cup as a player with Germany in 1990, had been in charge of the US since 2011.
     US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati announced the "difficult decision" without naming a replacement. The United States does not face another World Cup qualifier until March.
     "While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction," Gulati said.
     "With the next qualifying match in late March, we have several months to refocus the group and determine the best way forward to ensure a successful journey to qualify for our eighth consecutive World Cup."
     Klinsmann went 55-27 with 16 drawn in a coaching tenure that began on July 29, 2011, when Gulati named him 

Klinsmann fired as US coach

The Japanese government today lifted its tsunami warning for the northeast coast of the country after a powerful earthquake shook the region earlier in the day.
	"The tsunami advisory has been lifted," the Japan Meteorological Agency said in a statement released at 12:50 pm (0350 GMT) on its website.

Japan lifts tsunami warning along northeast coast after quake

Russia is struggling to get a foothold back into sporting respectability and the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency says it is a "long way" from meeting global standards on banned drugs.
     With a world athletics championships looming in London in 2017, the disclosure Monday of another Russian gold medal doping failure from the 2012 London Olympics has again hit Russia's case for a return.
     Yuliya Zaripova, who won the 3,000 metres steeplechase in London, was revealed by the International Olympic Committee as having tested positive for the steroid turinabol. Two silver medal winning weightlifters from Russia were also caught in new analyses of their samples.
     A new report by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigator Richard McLaren to be released on December 9 could increase the problems.
     Russia's case -- tainted by an inquiry which alleged state-sponsored doping -- and how to reform the international anti-doping regime dominated a meeting of the World Anti-Doping .

Russia's redemption campaign hit by lingering doping doubts

Longstanding friends of former Senegalese world athletics boss Lamine Diack, who faces charges of corruption and taking bribes to cover up doping cases in Russia, have stumped up a bail payment of 500,000 euros ($550,000), his family said.
     A statement seen by AFP in Dakar said a joint payment had been made by family members.
     Diack is accused of allowing corruption to flourish during his 1999 to 2015 stewardship of the International Association of Athletics (IAAF) until scandal ultimately blew track and field's governing body apart. He has also been charged with money laundering and conspiracy.
     "A group of longstanding friends of president Lamine Diack ... Have got together to support this worthy son of Senegal as he undergoes this present tough ordeal. They have jointly paid the sum demanded by the French financial public prosecutor as bail, that is, 500,000 euros," the statement said, without identifying those who had come to his aid.
     The statement said only that .

Disgraced ex-IAAF chief's friends pay French bail

Malaysia will discontinue its Formula One Grand Prix race after 2018 due to falling revenues, a government minister said, waving the checkered flag on one of Asia's longest-running F1 races.
     The economic problems besetting the sport are taking too much of a toll and Malaysia will not renew after its current contract expires in two years, Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz told local media on Monday.
     The race's future had been up in the air after officials said last month they were reassessing their commitment to the event amid ebbing television viewership and anaemic ticket sales.
     "We spend 300 million ringgit ($67 million) per year but are not getting 300 million back. There are no returns on the F1 Grand Prix," Nazri told state-run Bernama news agency.
     He noted that attendance had declined despite the high cost of staging the race, which has been held at the Sepang circuit near Kuala Lumpur since 1999.
     "I think the people have lost interest," he said.
  

Malaysia to pull out of F1 after 2018

A tsunami measuring one metre hit Japan's coast at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant today following an earthquake, operator Tokyo Electric Power said.
	The tsunami struck at 6:38 am (local time), a TEPCO official told a televised news conference after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the region earlier.
	A TEPCO spokesman told AFP that there were no reports of any problems as a result of the wave.

1-metre tsunami hits coast at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant

1-metre tsunami hits coast at Japan's Fukushima nuclear

France is "ready to cooperate" with the International Criminal Court to probe Islamic State jihadists in Syria for war crimes, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has said.
	The ICC, founded in 2002, is the world's only permanent war crimes court. But moves so far to refer Syria to The Hague-based body have been unsuccessful as Russia has blocked them with its veto in the UN Security Council.
	The UN go-ahead is needed as Syria is not a member state.
	Ayrault told AFP that action "can be launched it they concern (French) nationals who are engaged in the war in Syria alongside Daesh," using another name for the Islamic State group.
	"We are ready to cooperate and give our backing if there is a track to follow," he said. "Even if the margin for manoeuvre is limited, it's a chance to recall that we do not accept impunity."
	Russia dealt the International Criminal Court a blow Wednesday saying it was formally withdrawing its signature to the tribunal's founding Rome Statute.
	"The court ...

France says ready to help ICC to prosecute IS in Syria

Lebanon is building wall near the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp to prevent jihadists from infiltrating, a military source has said.
	The overcrowded and impoverished Ain al-Hilweh camp near the southern coastal city of Sidon has gained notoriety in recent years as a refuge for Muslim extremists and fugitives.
	It also saw deadly fighting last year between the Jund al-Sham Islamist group and members of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement.
	And in September the army said security forces had arrested a Palestinian refugee suspected of links to the Islamic State group who was in the camp.
	"The construction of the wall began some time ago and the aim is to stop the infiltration of terrorists inside Ain al-Hilweh from nearby orchards," the military source told AFP.
	"It's a security measure" that was taken after the arrest of "fugitive terrorists" who had taken shelter in the camp, he said.
	Pictures were posted online showing cranes lifting huge concrete ...

Lebanon builds wall near Palestinian refugee camp

Libya's top religious authority Dar al-Ifta said today that one of its most senior members had been killed, more than a month after he was kidnapped.
	It said it had "obtained confirmation" of the death of Sheikh Nader al-Omrani, who belonged to regional and international Islamic organisations.
	His murder was "a great loss not only for Libya but for the entire Muslim community", Dar al-Iftar said in a statement, without giving other details.
	According to security sources in Tripoli, which is controlled by a loose alliance of militias of different political and religious factions, Omrani's body has not yet been found.
	Omrani, considered a moderate, was kidnapped from in front of a mosque in early October in the Libyan capital.
	Dar al-Ifta, which called for the sheikh's murder to be avenged in keeping with Islamic law, is headed by controversial Sheikh Sadek al-Ghariani, who is opposed to both of Libya's rival administrations.
	Five years after Libya's 2011 revolution that toppled ..

Senior religious figure reported killed in Libya

Panama needs to immediately boost transparency and regulation of its financial sector to shake off its reputation -- deepened by the "Panama Papers" scandal -- of being a hub for tax evasion, an experts' report released today said.
	"Decisions, investment, legislation and a high degree of commitment by the authorities and regulatory bodies of Panama" are needed to keep Panama off lists that would punish it as a designated tax or money-laundering haven, the report by the government-appointed international Committee of Independent Experts said.
	Automatic sharing of tax information and holding lawyers to higher standards were among its key recommendations.
	"The moment has come. The country can no longer postpone decision-making in this field," it said.
	The panel was established by Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela in April, days after the "Panama Papers" revelations that showed how a law firm in the Central American nation set up companies to help the world's wealthy shield ...

Experts urge Panama reforms after 'Panama Papers'

Polish President Andrzej Duda has said he fears EU-British ties will suffer after Brexit if "obstinate politicians" from the bloc continue to use hardline rhetoric against London.
	His comments came after Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem last week described the UK's approach to Brexit as "unrealistic", while Italian Economic Development Minister Carlo Calenda said its aim of retaining common market access while restricting immigration was "wishful thinking".
	"I propose a glass of cold water to cool emotions, so that in the end, it doesn't turn out that we all lose -- both the EU and the UK," Duda told Bloomberg in an interview published today.
	"It would be a great loss for the EU if it got cut off from the UK economy and the ties of good, open cooperation between the two were severed," he said in the interview conducted last week.
	Duda added that there was the danger that a "group of obstinate politicians" will "attempt to punish the British people, or the UK, for daring to ...

Poland calls for calm during EU Brexit talks

The surprise winner of the first round of France's rightwing presidential primary immediately came under attack today, with Francois Fillon's rivals slamming his radical reform agenda as "ultra-conservative" and "unworkable".
	Former prime minister Fillon, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, pulled off a stunning upset Sunday, coming from behind to knock his former boss Nicolas Sarkozy out of the race and beating the favourite, Alain Juppe, into distant second.
	Fillon will go head-to-head with fellow former premier Juppe in a run-off yesterday that is widely expected to decide France's next leader after a prospective duel next year with far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
	An Opinionway poll showed Fillon winning the primary by 56 per cent to Juppe's 44 per cent.
	His rivals today sought to halt his march, with former centre-right prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin slamming his plans to cut half a million civil service jobs and force public servants to work longer hours.
	"There is no ...

French rightwing frontrunner Fillon faces instant barrage

One of Pakistan's best-known mountaineers, Hassan Sadpara, died of cancer today aged 54, his family said, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif paid tribute and Pakistanis mourned on social media.
	Sadpara was the first Pakistani to scale all five of the country's "eight-thousanders" which tower above 8,000 metres - among the 14 highest mountains on the planet.
	That included K2, the world's second highest mountain but considered a more challenging climb than the highest, Mount Everest, in Nepal - which Sadpara had also climbed.
	Sharif spoke of the country's pride in Sadpara, who leaves three sons and a daughter, as social media was flooded with tributes.
	"Late Hasan Sadpara's dedication and self-confidence enabled him to climb highest peaks of the world. The entire nation is proud of his outstanding performance; his endeavours for winning laurels for the country will always be remembered in golden words," said Sharif in a statement.
	"The man for whom no mountain was high enough! #RIP ...

Renowed Pakistani mountaineer dies of cancer

Police broke up a terror ring plotting an attack in France after arresting seven suspects in Strasbourg and Marseille over the weekend, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said today.
	The arrests of the alleged plotters from France, Morocco and Afghanistan "enabled us to prevent a long-planned terror attack on our soil," Cazeneuve told a televised news conference.
	Investigators are trying to determine whether "the foiled attack was a coordinated attack aiming to target several sites simultaneously on our soil".
	Police raids were carried out overnight Saturday in the eastern city of Strasbourg and Marseille in the south following an investigation by security services lasting more than eight months.
	"Credible information made these arrests necessary," one security source told AFP earlier who was not authorised to comment on the case and spoke anonymously.
	The mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries, said the interior ministry had told him the targets were "in the Paris region" and not in .

AFP

AFP

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