Seven construction workers from Tajikistan died in western Siberia today when the shipping container they used as a home at a building site caught fire, officials said.
	"Seven people died, while three were poisoned by the fumes and hospitalised," the emergencies ministry's branch in the oil-rich Tyumen region said.
	The suspected cause was a short-circuit in an electric heater, used to warm the container which was lined with wood and insulation to keep out the cold, Russia's Investigative Committee said.
	Regional prosecutors said all victims were citizens of Tajikistan, an impoverished ex-Soviet Central Asian country from which many people seek low-paid labour jobs in Russia.
	The container was located at a construction site for a poultry farm.
	In January at least 12 migrants from Central Asia, including three children, were killed when a fire at a sewing workship in Moscow caused its roof to collapse.
	In August, 16 people, mostly women from Kyrgyzstan, were killed in a fire at a .

Seven migrant workers dead in Russian blaze

PTI Automatic

Police today detained two Swedish TV journalists in the sensitive Kurdish-majority province of Diyarkabir in southeastern Turkey after they filmed near a military zone, a local news agency reported.
	The pair, identified only by their initials as L.N.B. And R.A.S, were arrested after they filmed in an area near where a military headquarters is located, the private Dogan news agency reported.
	After questioning, the two were transferred to the foreigners department, a section of the police service that deals with deportations, according to Dogan.
	There were no immediate other details.
	Turkish authorities this month expelled a French reporter after being detained near the Syrian border in the southeast.
	Olivier Bertrand from online news media Les Jours was detained in Gaziantep province, where he was working on planned stories on post-coup Turkey.
	French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called his detention "deeply shocking, unacceptable".

Two Swedish journalists detained in southeast Turkey: report

A Saudi policeman was shot dead today in the kingdom's Shiite-populated east, the interior ministry said.
	The officer was hit by gunfire from "an unknown source" as he got out of his car in a neighbourhood northwest of the city of Dammam, said a ministry spokesman quoted by the official SPA news agency.
	He was part of a unit assigned with guarding public installations.
	Authorities have launched an investigation into the attack, the latest in a series against officers in Shiite areas of the oil-rich east of the kingdom, the spokesman added.
	It is the third attack of its kind in Dammam during the past two months.
	The Shiite minority in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia has long complained of discrimination.
	There has been sporadic unrest since the suppression of a Shiite-led uprising in neighbouring Bahrain sparked a wave of protests in 2011.
	Saudi security forces have also come under attack by Sunni extremists linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group.

Saudi policeman shot dead

Up to half-a-million protesters were expected to take to the streets of Seoul today for the fourth week in a row, demanding President Park Geun-Hye resign over a corruption scandal.
	The weekly mass demonstrations -- among the largest seen in South Korea since the pro-democracy protests of the 1980s -- have provided a stark challenge to Park's authority, but the president has defied calls to step down.
	After claiming a turnout of around one million for last Saturday's protest, organisers said they expected around 500,000 people to march in Seoul, with a similar number demonstrating in other cities across the country.
	So far the candlelight protests have been largely peaceful, with many families participating, but there was still a heavy police presence on Saturday, with buses and trucks blocking access roads to the presidential Blue House.
	"We want to have a peaceful protest as in the three previous rallies", Nam Jeong-Su, spokesman for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, ...

Fresh protest pushes defiant S Korea president to resign

Scoreboard at stumps on the
third day of the first Test between New Zealand and Pakistan at Hagley Oval in Christchurch today:
     Pakistan first innings 133 (Misbah-ul-Haq 31; C de Grandhomme 6-41, T Southee 2-20)
     New Zealand first innings (overnight 104-3)
     T Latham lbw Amir 1
     J Raval c Aslam b Amir 55
     K Williamson c Aslam b Sohail 4
     R Taylor c Ahmed b Rahat 11
     H Nicholls lbw Sohail 30
     C de Grandhomme c Rahat b Sohail 29
     B Watling c Younis b Rahat 18
     T Astle c Shafiq b Rahat 0
     T Southee c Ahmed b Amir 22
     N Wagner c Shafiq by Rahat 21
     T Boult not out 3
     Extras: (lb1, w1, nb4) 6
     Total: (all out; 59.5 overs) 200
     Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-15, 3-40, 4-105, 5-109, 6-146, 7-146, 8-171, 9-177, 10-200
     Bowling: Amir 18-4-43-3, Sohail 22-5-78-3, Rahat 15.5-2-62-4, Shah 4-0-16-0
     Pakistan second innings
     Sami Aslam  c Watling b de Grandhomme 7
     Azhar Ali b Boult 31
     Babar Azam c Watling b Wagner 29
     

Christchurch, Nov 19 (AFP) Scoreboard at stumps on the

Neil Wagner and Trent Boult left Pakistan's second innings in tatters today to put New Zealand in sight of a comprehensive first Test victory at the end of the third day in Christchurch.
     The tourists lost six wickets in the final session at Hagley Oval to be 129-7 at stumps, ahead by only 62 runs with two days remaining.
     Boult had three for 18 off 15 overs while Wagner, who started the wicket spree, had two for 21.
     Not out for Pakistan were Sohail Khan on 22 and Asad Shafiq on six with the Test likely to be all over in three playing days after the scheduled first day was washed out.
     Until Wagner struck, Pakistan were clawing their way back into the Test having started the day on the back foot.
     They ripped out the last seven New Zealand wickets for only 96 runs and Azhar Ali and Babar Azam were painstakingly building their second innings -- accumulating 37 runs in 23 overs.
     But, in the sixth over after tea Azam on 29 attempted to fend away a Wagner ball ...

New Zealand in charge as Wagner, Boult shatter Pakistan

Two original Tintin comic strips are expected to break records today when they go under the hammer in Paris.
	The first from "Explorers on the Moon", widely regarded as one of the two best Tintin adventures, could fetch up to USD 1 million.
	The page, entitled "We walk on the moon", has the boy reporter, his dog Snowy and blundering sidekick Captain Haddock making their first moon walk from their red and white rocket.
	With the 1954 book viewed as one of the artist Herge's masterpieces, the Paris auction house Artcurial values it at least 900,000 euros (USD 950,000).
	The late Belgian artist already holds the world record for the sale of a comic strip.
	A double-page ink drawing that served as the inside cover for all the Tintin adventures published between 1937 and 1958, sold for USD 3.7 million to an American fan two years ago.
	Today's sales are expected to break records for single strips.
	Rival auction house Christie's is putting drawings from another rare Herge strip up for sale 

Sale of Tintin drawings set to break records

A Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government against Iran-backed rebels declared a 48-hour ceasefire to begin in Yemen today, it said in a statement on the kingdom's SPA news agency website.
	"It has been decided to begin a 48-hour ceasefire from 12:00 noon in Yemen's timing (0900 GMT) today," the coalition statement said, adding that the truce could be renewed if the Huthi rebels and their allies abide by the deal and allow aid deliveries to besieged cities.
	The coalition announcement followed a request for a ceasefire by Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi -- himself based in Riyadh -- to Saudi King Salman, the statement said.
	"Coalition forces will abide by the ceasefire", it said, but warned that should the rebels or troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh make any military moves in the area the coalition would respond.
	The naval and air "blockade" will also remain in place and surveillance jets will continue to fly over Yemen, it added.
	The coalition ..

Arab coalition declares 48-hour Yemen truce

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho issued thinly veiled criticism of England's Football Association over the Wayne Rooney drinking controversy on Friday, likening them to careless schoolchildren.
     Rooney, 31, apologised this week after being pictured looking the worse for wear as he mingled with guests during a late-night wedding party at the England team hotel last weekend.
     British press reports claim Mourinho was angry with the FA for not supervising Rooney more closely and he appeared to suggest the striker could have been looked after more carefully.
     "The only thing I say is that (when) the player goes to the national team, he belongs to the national team," Mourinho said.
     "I learnt since I was a kid, since school, if someone lends me something, I have to take care even better than if it was mine.
     "You know? Your friend lent you a pencil. You have to take care of the pencil better than if it was your pencil.
     "So I think when one day if I become a ..

Mourinho sharpens pencil for FA Rooney rebuke

The British parliament this week gave the green light to new bulk surveillance powers for police and intelligence services that critics have denounced as the most far-reaching of any western democracy.
	The Investigatory Powers Bill would, among other measures, require websites to keep customers' browsing history for up to a year and allow law enforcement agencies to access them to help with investigations.
	Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency contractor turned whistleblower, said the powers "went further than many autocracies".
	"The UK has just legalised the most extreme surveillance in the history of western democracy," he tweeted.
	The bill, the first major update of British surveillance laws for 15 years, was passed by the House of Lords and now only needs rubber-stamping by Queen Elizabeth II.
	Prime Minister Theresa May introduced the bill in March when she was still interior minister, describing it as "world-leading" legislation intended to reflect the ...

UK lawmakers approve 'most sweeping' surveillance powers

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will make an official visit to Argentina on Monday hoping to boost investment in the Latin American nation, officials said.
	It is the first visit to Argentina by a Japanese prime minister in 57 years - the last was by Abe's grandfather Nobusuke Kishi in 1959.
	Abe's one-day visit provides the latest big international encounter for Argentina's conservative president Mauricio Macri.
	He has been working to boost Argentina's trade ties since he took office a year ago after 12 years of protectionist policies under his leftist predecessors.
	Heading to Argentina after the APEC trade summit in Peru, Abe will meet businesspeople and members of Argentina's 65,000-strong Japanese community.
	The Japanese embassy in Buenos Aires said in a statement it is "a historic visit that will seek to further strengthen bilateral relations."
	The Argentine foreign ministry said the visit aims to reinforce ties "in the political and economic spheres and in trade, ...

Japan's Abe to visit Argentina to boost trade

The World Health Organisation today announced in an online press conference that the Zika virus outbreak no longer poses a world public health emergency.
	"The Zika virus remains a highly significant and long term problem, but it is not any more a public heath emergency of international concern," the world health body's emergency committee chair Dr David Heymann said.

Zika no longer a world public health emergency: WHO

More than 30 people have been killed in intense fighting between rebels and loyalists on the outskirts of Yemen's third city Taez, military and medical sources said today.
	The clashes have eliminated hope of the warring parties abiding by a truce announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry that was to have taken effect yesterday.
	Loyalist military sources told AFP that 24 rebels and 14 pro-government forces were killed over the past 24 hours, while the rebels reported dozens of casualties in shelling of a local market.
	Two civilians were also killed and 16 wounded when rebels fired Katyusha rockets into a residential area of Taez, they said.
	A photographer identified as Awab al-Zubairi with the pro-government Taiz News Network, which posts on Facebook and Twitter, was also killed when a landmine planted by the rebels exploded in Taez, a government official said.
	For its part, rebel-controlled sabanews.Net website reported that pro-government forces fired artillery rounds into ..

More than 30 dead in heavy clashes in Yemen

French investigators announced today the discovery of a weapons cache in a Paris suburb, including grenade launchers, a rocket launcher, bulletproof vests, guns and ammunition.
	The arsenal was discovered early today in Evry, in an unlocked private parking garage inside a shopping centre near a commuter rail station, a source at the public prosecutor's office said.
	"Nothing in this discovery leads us to believe there is a link to terrorism," the source added.
	Last year's terrorist attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed, were carried out with weapons manufactured in Serbia.
	France and Serbia last month launched a joint effort to crack down on arms smuggling from the Balkans region, which is still awash in weapons from its wars in the 1990s.
	The prosecutors' office described the seized items as: one rocket launcher, bulletproof vests, Mauser (pistols), Kalashnikov cartridges and two grenade launchers".
	An inquiry has been opened involving the judicial police as well as a 

New weapons cache uncovered outside Paris

There's no doubt which side the fashion world supported during the US presidential campaign.
	For years, First Lady Michelle Obama and Democrats' vanquished presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have been favorites with fashion designers who dressed them in clothes aimed at evoking their values.
	But New York-based French designer Sophie Theallet has gone a step further, throwing down the gauntlet by refusing to dress future first lady Melania Trump because of the political views of her husband, President-elect Donald Trump.
	Theallet is urging other designers to follow her lead.
	"As one who celebrates and strives for diversity, individual freedom and respect for all lifestyles, I will not participate in dressing or associating in any way with the next first lady," she wrote in an open letter published yesterday.
	"The rhetoric of racism, sexism and xenophobia unleashed by her husband's presidential campaign are incompatible with the shared values   we live by."
	"I am well aware it 

French fashion designer refuses to dress Melania Trump

Fiji urged the United States today to "save" the world from climate change as it had helped to win World War II.
	"We in the Pacific, in common with the whole world, look to America for its leadership and for its engagement and assistance on climate change," Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama told a UN conference in Marrakesh overshadowed by president-elect Donald Trump's threats to withdraw the US from a climate rescue pact.
	"Just as we looked at America during the dark days of World War II... I say to the American people 'you came to save us then, it is time for you to help to save us now'," he said.
	Bainimarama invited Trump to Fiji "to see the effects of climate change for himself and to meet Pacific island leaders face to face in Fiji to discuss the crisis we are all facing along with other low-lying areas of the world, including parts of America."
	The United States had a responsibility, he argued, to contribute to the global response to climate change.
	The first gathering of ..

Fiji to US on climate: 'Save us' as you did in WWII

Iraqi forces have found another suspected mass grave containing the remains of victims of the Islamic State group in territory recaptured from the jihadists near Mosul, journalists reported today.
	An AFP team visited the isolated site that was recaptured recently by elite interior ministry forces down a dirt track outside the village of Tall Adh-Dhahab, some 10 kilometres (6 miles) south of Mosul.
	Bone fragments were scattered around the location along with scraps of clothing -- including a man's headdress, ripped trousers and a flip-flop.
	The stench was overpowering and several bullet casings could be seen.
	Earth was piled in metre-high mounds at the entrance to the shallow pit, located behind a small sand-covered hill.
	An officer from the interior ministry forces said local residents reported an estimated 40 people could be buried at the site, which IS allegedly used as an execution ground.
	"The majority of them were members of the security forces, army and police," Lieutenant 

New suspected IS mass grave found near Mosul

Brazil said today that it will continue to treat the Zika outbreak as an emergency, even as the World Health Organization considers whether to downgrade it from crisis status.
	Brazil has been the epicenter of a Zika epidemic since the mosquito-carried virus, which is blamed for causing severe birth defects, caused a global alarm last year.
	The WHO was meeting later today in Geneva to discuss whether it would still classify the Zika outbreak as a "public health emergency of international concern."
	However in the Brazilian capital Brasilia, officials said they are not yet ready to lower their guard.
	"We will maintain the emergency (status) in Brazil until we are completely tranquil about the situation," Health Minister Ricardo Barros told journalists.
	Officials say that Zika appears to be on the wane in Brazil, but that data is not sure enough to be certain.
	"Last year we didn't have enough tests (to detect Zika), so we can't specify how the virus circulated last year," said ...

Brazil maintains Zika emergency status

The United States today proposed that South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar as well as the army chief and information minister face UN sanctions for their role in fueling violence in the war-torn country.
	The names of Machar, President Salva Kiir's army chief Paul Malong and his information minister Michael Makuei were on a sanctions blacklist circulated to the Security Council, diplomats said.
	Under the proposed measure, Machar, who is receiving medical treatment in South Africa, and the two other officials would face a global travel ban and an assets freeze.
	The sanctions list was presented after the United States late Thursday put forward a draft resolution on imposing an arms embargo on South Sudan, where a civil war has raged since December 2013.
	Russia however made clear it opposed the measure, arguing that it would further sour relations between South Sudan's leadership and the international community.
	Deputy Ambassador Petr Iliichev declined to specify today whether ...

US seeks sanctions against South Sudan rebel leader,army chief

Ford confirmed today that it will keep production of one SUV model in Kentucky, rather than relocating as planned, a decision US President-elect Donald Trump claimed as a personal victory.
	"Just hung up on the phone with my friend Bill Ford, the chairman of Ford's board, who let me know he was going to keep the Lincoln site in Kentucky - No Mexico," Trump wrote on Twitter yesterday night.
	Trump's declaration was met with some derision since Ford had not publicly announced plans to move the Lincoln MKC production. And just this week Ford confirmed it will proceed with plans to move production of the Focus to Mexico from Michigan, a state Trump narrowly won in last week's election.
	But under the last year's contract agreement with the powerful United Automobile Workers union, Ford had made plans to move the smaller Lincoln MKC production line to make room for the Escape. Ford's Louisville plant produces the Lincoln MKC as well as the Ford Escape, both small SUVs.
	"Cuautilan plant in 

Trump says he kept Ford from relocating plant to Mexico

President-elect Donald Trump will meet with Mitt Romney, one of his top Republican critics, tomorrow raising speculation that the incoming commander in chief could tap the 2012 presidential nominee for a key cabinet post.
	Trump will hold a series of meetings with fellow Republican officials during his weekend getaway to Bedminster, New Jersey, the presidential transition team said today.
	Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who is considered a Republican Party elder, was mentioned first on the list of guests who will sit down with the president-elect tomorrow.
	The meeting could signal a reconciliation of sorts between the two.
	Romney, 69, helped lead the charge against Trump's nomination earlier this year by branding the provocative billionaire a "fraud" who was "playing the American public for suckers."
	Rumors have swirled that Romney was under consideration to be nominated as Trump's secretary of state, a move that would put an experienced politician and trouble-shooter with 

AFP

AFP

Page 1315 - Afp