Suicide car bomb kills at least 16 at Iraq wedding:

PTI Automatic

The head of the UN watchdog chided Iran today for exceeding for the second time an agreed upper limit for nuclear material set out in last year's atomic accord.
	A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency last week showed that Iran's stock of so-called heavy water had inched above the 130-tonne level set out in the landmark deal.
	Heavy water, a modified form of normal water, is used in certain types of nuclear reactor. Plutonium for use in nuclear weapons can be extracted from fuel rods used in heavy water reactors.
	"Iran has since made preparations to transfer a quantity of heavy water out of the country," which will bring it below the ceiling, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano told the agency's board.
	"It is important that such situations should be avoided in future in order to maintain international confidence in the implementation" of the deal, he said in Vienna.
	The July 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers states that Iran's "needs" are 130 metric tonnes of ...

UN watchdog chides Iran on nuclear deal

Chinese manufacturers are driving growth in the smartphone market as sector leaders Samsung and Apple sputter, a survey showed today.
	The survey by Gartner Inc. Showed that in the third quarter, three Chinese vendors -- Huawei, Oppo and BBK Communication Equipment -- together accounted for 21 percent of the smartphones sold worldwide, and were the only vendors in the top five to increase sales.
	"Sales of smartphones in China grew by 12.4 percent, and the vendors who most successfully exploited the sales opportunities there were Oppo and BBK," said Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta.
	"In Oppo's case, 81 percent of its smartphone sales came from China, while BBK accounted for 89 percent of smartphones sales in China. These two vendors also grew strongly in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Russia."
	Gartner's survey confirmed other reports showing Samsung and Apple at the top of the global market but with slipping sales.
	The research firm said Samsung's market share dropped to 19.2 

Chinese makers lead smartphone growth: survey

Russian cyber attacks on US political and commercial targets, including hacks of internal Democratic Party emails, have been "curtailed" since Washington publicly accused Moscow, US intelligence chief James Clapper said today.
	Clapper told a congressional hearing that the formal accusation and threat of retaliation by senior US officials on October 7 appeared to have achieved the goal of cutting off the activity.
	"It may have had the desired effect, since after the issue of the statement and the communication took place between our government and the Russian government, it seemed to curtail the cyber activity that the Russians previously were engaged in," he said.
	Russian hacking came to the forefront after Wikileaks began publishing in July emails from the Democratic National Committee that embarrassed presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as she battled now President-elect Donald Trump ahead of the November 8 election.
	After more than two months of such leaks, the Department of ..

US intel chief: Russia 'curtailed' hacking of US targets

FIFA today launched a "disciplinary" case against England and Scotland for wearing poppy armbands in a tribute to British war dead.
	The world body did not say that the armbands breached its ban on wearing political symbols but the case is another step on the road to sanctions against the two countries.
	"We can confirm that disciplinary proceedings have been opened on this matter," a FIFA spokesperson told AFP when asked about action planned after the November 11 match at Wembley.
	 FIFA said it would not comment further on the case "nor speculate on any outcome".
	The players on both squads as well as England's interim manager Gareth Southgate wore the black armbands bearing the poppies at the Wembley game which England won 3-0.
	England's Football Association has said it will contest any fine and believes its "legal position is right and our moral position is right".
	November 11, Armistice Day, is the traditional day in Britain to pay tribute to all of the country's war ...

FIFA open 'disciplinary' case against England

A hundred migrants were feared drowned today after yet another migrant shipwreck off the Libyan coast, raising the number of those missing feared drowned this week to 340.
	Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said around 100 people were believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean yesterday, according to 27 migrants who had been plucked to safety and were being brought to Italy.
	The surviving group, all men, said they had set sail from a beach close to Tripoli before dawn on Monday. After several hours the traffickers travelling aboard a separate boat took their engine and left them to their fate, without a satellite phone to call for help.
	The overcrowded dinghy began rapidly taking on water and deflated. Tossed for two days and nights on rough seas, some passengers fell overboard, while others succumbed to exhaustion.
	By the time the British military ship Enterprise -- engaged in the anti-trafficking Sofia operation -- found them, they discovered just 27 people alive, clinging to what 

Another 100 migrants feared drowned in Mediterranean

Banking giant JP Morgan Chase has agreed to pay more than USD 264 million to resolve allegations it bribed officials in China by giving prized jobs and internships to friends and relatives, officials announced.
	"Awarding prestigious employment opportunities to unqualified individuals in order to influence government officials is corruption, plain and simple," Leslie Caldwell, chief of the US Justice Department's criminal division, said in a statement.
	Over a seven-year period, between 2006 and 2013, the bank hired about 200 interns and full-time employees at the request of clients in the region, including nearly 100 referred by government officials at 20 different state-owned businesses in China, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which was part of the settlement.
	The Chinese firms then entered into transactions earning the bank more than USD 100 million in revenue, according to the SEC.
	Since 1977, the United States has criminalised bribing foreign officials .

JP Morgan Chase in $264 mn US settlement over China bribes

Ban Ki-moon was bid a fond farewell today by hundreds of climate activists, who dubbed the outgoing UN chief "Super-Moon" in honour of his impassioned fight against global warming.
	"During the last 10 years, I've been criticised for not doing enough for Syria, Yemen, Iraq, the protection of women," he said, after being showered with accolades.
	Only now, he continued, "almost at the time of my departure, somebody is saying something nice to me," eliciting a round of laughter and applause.
	Ban steps down as UN Secretary General at the end of the year, to be replaced for a five-year term by Antonio Guterres, former prime minister of Portugal.
	Throughout his mandate, the South Korean career diplomat has pushed hard for action to halt the growing threat of climate change, which is already causing deadly drought, heatwaves and superstorms fuelled by rising seas.
	Ban said he would continue his efforts among the ranks of civil society.
	"I will be sitting amongst you," he said, noting ...

Climate NGOs give 'Super-Moon' UN chief warm sendoff

The UN Security Council will vote today on extending for another year the mandate of a panel tasked with investigating chemical attacks in Syria and identifying those responsible, diplomats said.
	Following negotiations with Russia, the United States presented a draft resolution that renews the mandate of the joint United Nations-Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) probe until November 2017.
	During its year-long investigation, the panel established that Syrian government forces carried out three chlorine gas attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.
	It was the first time that an international probe pointed the finger of blame at President Bashar al-Assad's forces, after years of denial from Damascus.
	Despite the findings, Russia has dismissed the conclusions as unconvincing and said no sanctions should be imposed on Syria.
	The panel, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), also found that the Islamic State group in Syria used mustard gas as a weapon ..

UN to vote on extending Syria gas attacks probe

Britain ratified the Paris agreement on climate change today, joining more than 100 other countries in a move that campaigners hope will prompt US President-elect Donald Trump to honour the deal.
	Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson signed the Paris Agreement as countries met in Morocco for the latest round of United Nations climate talks, focused on implementing the treaty by the end of the year.
	"The Paris Agreement has completed the 21 day sitting period before parliament and the Instrument of Ratification has been signed by the Foreign Secretary," the foreign ministry said in statement.
	The pact commits countries to limiting global temperature rises to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to keep increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
	The move was hailed by environmental campaigners.
	"It has never been more important for the world to stand together on climate change and the UK joining the Paris Agreement is a welcome signal," said Stephen ...

Britain ratifies global climate pact

Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen today vowed to serve out her four-year term until it expires at the end of January 2018, despite President-elect Donald Trump's criticism of her performance.
	In her first public comments since Trump's surprise election last week, Yellen said, "It is fully my intention to serve out that term."
	During the campaign, Trump criticised both the Fed and Yellen's handling of monetary policy.
	But in testimony before the Joint Economic Committee, Yellen warned that experiences in other countries show that political meddling in central bank policies can be disastrous.
	"Sometimes central banks have to do things that are not immediately popular," she said.
	"We've seen really terrible things in countries where central banks are subject to political pressure," including hyperinflation, she added.
	Responding to questions about Trump's pledge to implement spending and tax cuts to stimulate the economy, she said the new administration and Congress should weigh ..

Fed's Yellen vows to serve out term as chair

Despite voting to leave the EU, Britain is deepening defence ties with France, agreeing to pool missile development research centres in a step presented today as "historic".
	European countries have been slow to pool arms know-how, fearing an erosion of their sovereignty.
	The deal announced at a Franco-British defence council in Paris goes much further than the usual arms cooperation programmes, with Franco-British missile manufacturer MBDA setting up four joint centres for research in missile technology -- two on either side of the Channel.
	The French defence ministry said the agreement paves the way for "real interdependence in a highly strategic sector and industrial streamlining between the two countries."
	"Each country depends on the other for a part of the skill set in these areas," the ministry said.
	Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, in a tweet, called the deal, which is expected to lead to cost savings, "an historic step".
	His British counterpart Michael Fallon said ...

Britain deepens defence ties with France, despite Brexit

French authorities today said they are investigating 560 taxpayers over tax evasion based on information garnered in the leaked Panama Papers.
	Tax investigators around the world have spent months delving into the 11.5 million confidential documents leaked in April after Panamanian law office Mossack Fonseca's computers had been hacked.
	The French taxpayers are suspected of having hidden away money through shell corporations in offshore tax havens such as the Bahamas and British Virgin Islands.
	Checks have begun on 560 taxpayers, a finance ministry spokeswoman confirmed. A source said the probes could take several months to complete.
	Another 724 taxpayers had also used the Panamanian firm to avoid tax but were already known to French tax authorities, who in 2013 created a service (STDR) to give those holding undeclared offshore accounts the chance to come clean and pay their dues.
	The taxpayers who used Mossack Fonseca's services had hidden away 4 billion euros (USD 4.3 billion) ..

France probes 560 over Panama Papers tax evasion

Britain's refusal to allow exiled former residents of a remote Indian Ocean territory to resettle there "deals an outrageous blow to human rights", the government of Mauritius, which plays host to many of the exiles, said today.
	The criticism comes a day after Britain ruled out resettling the former inhabitants of the Chagos Islands, who were expelled more than 40 years ago to make way for a US military base.
	In 1965 Britain purchased the Chagos Islands, an archipelago of 55 coral keys, from Mauritius, which at the time was a semi-autonomous territory of Britain.
	A year later the islands were leased to the United States. Their roughly 2,000 inhabitants were resettled mainly in Mauritius and the Seychelles, and now their numbers including descendants number roughly 10,000.
	Yesterday Britain also announced that the lease, which expires next month, will be renewed, but offered 40 million pounds (47 million euros, USD 50 million) as a deal-sweetener to compensate the exiled ...

"Britain dealing 'blow to human rights' in Indian Ocean row"

German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted today that a trade deal between the European Union and United States would not be concluded now, after the election of Donald Trump, who opposes the planned accord.
	"I have always been strongly engaged for a conclusion of a trade deal with the United States. We have made a lot of progress on the negotiations, but it will not be concluded now," she said, following talks with US President Barack Obama on his farewell tour of Europe.

Merkel says TTIP trade deal won't be concluded

Top world leaders meet from today to try to save their cherished free trade accords from feared extinction under US President-elect Donald Trump.
	Here are three big factors looming over the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit from today to Sunday in Lima, Peru.
	Trump has cast uncertainty on the postwar world order with his vows to tear up or renegotiate international free trade agreements in order to protect US jobs.
	This particularly concerns the 21 members of APEC, which account for nearly 60 percent of the global economy and 40 percent of the world's population.
	The world will look to the summit for "a strong statement" to counter Trump's anti-trade arguments, said Eduardo Pedrosa, secretary general of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council.
	Economists expect Trump to make protectionist moves that they say may strengthen his country's economy in the near term but could threaten global growth.
	He may impose punitive tariffs on powerful trade partners such as ...

Asia-Pacific leaders talk trade in a Trump world

The British government today said it has dropped plans to curb the power of the unelected House of Lords, which it had been considering following an embarrassing policy defeat.
	In October last year, the upper chamber of parliament defeated the government's plans to cut welfare benefits, a crucial part of its austerity drive.
	Accusing peers of causing a "constitutional crisis" by exceeding their powers under Britain's unwritten constitution, the government asked Conservative lord Tom Strathclyde to review their role.
	Strathclyde's report in December recommended that the Lords lose their veto over so-called statutory instruments -- secondary laws that amend or flesh out existing Acts of Parliament.
	Responding to the report today, Commons leader David Lidington said the report was "compelling" and "we are determined that the principle of the supremacy of the elected House should be upheld".
	But he said "we have no plans for now to introduce new primary legislation" to enact ...

UK govt drops plans to curb power of Lords

European Union member states today approved visa-free travel for Ukraine citizens, long sought by Kiev to help cement ties as it combats pro-Russian rebels in the east.
	Visa-free travel was part of an EU-Ukraine partnership accord signed in 2014 as the country, a Soviet-era satellite, angered Moscow by casting its lot with the West.
	In return for closer political and economic ties, the EU has demanded civil society reforms to root out corruption and ensure Ukraine rights and democratic standards match those in the bloc.
	A statement said the 28 EU member states had agreed visa-free travel for EU and Ukraine citizens for stays of not more than 90 days in any 180-day period as all requirements had been met.
	"Credible reform is the right path and should be encouraged," Peter Javorcik, Slovak ambassador to the EU and whose country currently holds the bloc's six-month rotating presidency, said in the statement.
	"I am also delighted that our decision is able to send a positive message ..

EU approves Ukraine visa-free travel

A French court today upheld the exclusion of Jean-Marie Le Pen from the far-right National Front (FN) by his daughter Marine for repeated inflammatory remarks about the Holocaust.
	Le Pen was booted out of the party he founded last year for reiterating his view that the Nazi gas chambers were a mere "detail" of history and defending France's collaborationist wartime Vichy regime.
	FN leader Marine Le Pen, who has her eye on the French presidency in next year's elections, disavowed her 88-year-old father, accusing him of "political suicide".
	The court in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre upheld the FN's decision to strip him of his membership.
	But in a small victory for the elder Le Pen it ruled he should be allowed to remain as party honorary president. As such, the party is required to invite him to all leadership meetings, failing which it faces a fine, the judges ruled.
	The FN was also ordered to pay the party's founder 15,000 euros (USD 16,000) in damages for preventing him .

French court upholds Jean-Marie Le Pen exclusion from FN

The Jewish birthrate has drawn level with that of Arabs in Israel for the first time since the state was founded in 1948, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics says.
	The subject is closely watched in Israel, where the Jewish population is deeply concerned with maintaining a Jewish majority.
	"In 2015, for the first time, the general fertility rate of Arab and Jewish women was the same and stood at an average 3.13 children," a CBS statement said.
	The figures include Palestinians living in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as well as Arab Israelis, who account for some 17.5 percent of the country's population.
	The CBS said that at the end of 2015 there were 2.798 million children in Israel, accounting for 33 percent of the 8.6 million population.
	Of the total under-18 population, 71.3 percent were Jews and 25.7 percent were Arabs, it said.
	The remaining three percent were described as "others", including non-Arab Christians.
	Among arguments fielded by Israeli proponents of a ...

Israel says Jewish birthrate same as Arabs for first time

Turkish police today detained the pro-Kurdish co-mayor of the southeastern city of Van, expanding a crackdown on municipal chiefs throughout the region that has sparked international concern.
	Bekir Kaya was taken into custody as part of a "terror investigation", the official news agency Anadolu reported, saying he was accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
	Four other municipal officials in the city, which has a mixed Kurdish and Turkish population, were also detained, Anadolu said.
	The targeting of city heads follows the arrest of 10 MPs from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), including its co-leaders, who are being held on charges of links to the PKK.
	Kamuran Yuksek, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP), a sister party to the HDP, was detained today. Kaya is also a DBP representative.
	Yesterday, mayors in the southeastern city of Siirt and the eastern city of Tunceli were detained following similar accusations of ...

AFP

AFP

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