Bob Dylan

Dylan, whose lyrics have influenced generations of fans, is the first songwriter to win the literature prize.

Dylan accepts Nobel prize for literature, says it left him 'speechless'

Press Trust of India

Teenage off-spinner Mehedi Hasan completed his second five-wicket haul in as many matches as Bangladesh kept England on their toes in the second Test in Dhaka today.
     Resuming on 50-3, the visitors lost five wickets in an extended morning session on the second day to reach 163-8, still trailing Bangladesh's first innings total of 220 by 57 runs.
     Joe Root, unbeaten on 15, offered the lone resistance for England with a fighting half-century as he made 56 off 122 balls before he was out leg before by left-arm spinner Taijul Islam.
     Jonny Barstow, who made 24, gave him some support in their 45-run sixth wicket stand but that could not deny Bangladesh from gaining an upper hand after play resumed half-an-hour early.
     Mehedi, who celebrated his 19th birthday this week, claimed 5-65, leading the hosts' attack once again after he impressed in his debut in the first Test in Chittagong.
     Bangladesh lost that match by 22 runs despite Mehedi's heroics. He claimed seven ...

Mehedi claims five wickets to leave England struggling

PTI Automatic

Lunch scores on the second day of the
second Test between Bangladesh and England at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka today:
     Bangladesh first innings (Tamim Iqbal 104, Mominul Haque 66, M Ali 5-57, C Woakes 3-30)
     England first innings (overnight 50-3)
     A Cook lbw b Mehedi 14
     B Duckett c Rahim b Shakib 7
     J Root lbw b Taijul 56
     G Ballance c Rahim b Mehedi 9
     M Ali b Mehedi 10
     B Stokes c Mominul b Taijul 0
     J Bairstow lbw b Mehedi 24
     Z Ansari c Shuvagata b Mehedi 13
     C Woakes batting 12
     A Rashid batting 7
     Extras (b5 lb6) 11
     Total (eight wickets; 52 overs) 163
     Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-24, 3-42, 4-64, 5-69, 6-114, 7-140, 8-144
     Bowling: Mehedi 20-2-65-5, Shakib 12-4-35-1, Taijul 20-3-52-2.

Dhaka, Oct 29 (AFP) Lunch scores on the second day of the

The US Supreme Court has said that it will decide which bathrooms should be used by transgender people, a highly sensitive question with national political resonance.
	The case involves 17-year-old Gavin Grimm, who was born a female but identifies as a male. Grimm filed suit to be allowed to use the boys' bathroom at his high school in Gloucester County, Virginia.
	Arguments in the politically charged question will be heard between now and late June, making it easily one of the highest-profile cases set for the court's current term.
	The Obama administration has said public schools should grant access to toilets and locker rooms based on the gender with which a student identifies, not the birth gender.
	Federal authorities, seeking to fight discrimination, have threatened school systems with a loss of federal funds if they fail to comply.
	But more than a dozen Republican-controlled states, bitterly opposed to that approach, are challenging the federal government in court.
	Some ...

US Supreme Court to decide 'battle of the toilets'

Pakistan are determined to complete an historic 9-0 rout of the West Indies when the two teams meet in the third and final Test in Sharjah from tomorrow.
     Having blanked their opponents 3-0 in both the Twenty20 and one-day internationals, Pakistan also claimed the first two Tests -- by 56 runs in the day-nighter in Dubai and by 133 runs in the second match in Abu Dhabi.
     No team has ever won all nine matches of a tour in cricket history.
     Pakistan's strong batting line-up, coupled with the leg-spin of Yasir Shah, proved too good for the inexperienced West Indies who started the tour on a sour note when head coach Phil Simmons was sacked.
     They looked rudderless in the limited-overs series and despite fighting gallantly in both Tests by extending the matches to the fifth and final days with stubborn batting, they need a huge lift to avoid another whitewash in Tests.
     "Yes, we want to be ruthless, definitely," said Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur.
     "We set the ...

Pakistan target historic 9-0 rout of West Indies

The US has accused the Syrian regime of using "starvation as a weapon of war" -- a war crime under the Geneva Conventions -- stepping up the rhetoric against Bashar al-Assad and his Russian backers.
	Rejecting the Kremlin claims that attacks on Aleppo have stopped, a US official yesterday said, "the regime has rejected UN requests to deliver aid to Eastern Aleppo -- using starvation as a weapon of war."
	The language mirrors the Geneva Conventions' prohibition against starving civilians "as a method of warfare."
	Aleppo's quarter of a million residents have been besieged and bombarded for months, prompting international outcry.
	Washington is currently weighing further sanctions against Syria and a push for justice at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
	Officials hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin may rethink his country's participation in a war that has seen chemical weapons and barrel bombs used against civilians, if Russia is seen as an international ...

US says Syrian regime using starvation as 'weapon of war'

EU nations have approved a landmark free-trade deal with Canada, clearing the way for its signing after a drama that saw Belgian regions threaten to torpedo years of negotiations.
	"Mission accomplished!" European Union president Donald Tusk yesterday tweeted, announcing that the deal would be signed at a summit in Brussels tomorrow with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
	The Canadian premier wrote back on Twitter: "Great news and I'm looking forward to being there".
	Trudeau also tweeted applause for Chrystia Freeland, Canada's trade minister.
	"My thanks to @cafreeland for her skill & dedication in negotiating a deal to grow Canada's middle class & strengthen our economy. #CETA".
	Just days ago the CETA deal -- the most ambitious negotiated by the EU -- had been hanging by a thread due to protests from Belgium's Wallonia region and other French-speaking communities over its potential damage to local interests.
	The trade agreement requires all 28 EU member states to ...

Belgium drama over, EU and Canada to sign trade deal

Hillary Clinton has said she was "confident" that the FBI's review of newly discovered emails related to her use of a private server will not change the bureau's original conclusion that she should not face charges.
	"The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately," Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, said yesterday in her first comments since the bombshell announcement that the FBI would revisit the matter.
	"It's imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay," she added at a quickly arranged yet brief press conference.
	FBI director James Comey "has said he doesn't know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not," she said.
	"I'm confident (that) whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July.

Clinton 'confident' new emails will not change initial FBI

Syrian rebels launched a major assault today aimed at breaking a months-long siege of opposition-held districts of Aleppo, as regime ally Russia held off on renewed air strikes.
	The European Union said late today its top diplomat Federica Mogherini was heading to Iran and Saudi Arabia for talks on Syria's five-year conflict.
	Rebel groups including the Ahrar al-Sham faction and former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front fired rockets into government-held western Aleppo, killing at least 15 civilians, a monitor said.
	The rebels also targeted government positions east of Aleppo city and in the coastal province of Latakia, including the Hmeimim military base used by Russian forces allied with the regime.
	Moscow says it has not bombed Aleppo since October 18, but senior Russian military official Sergei Rudskoi said today the military had asked President Vladimir Putin for authorisation to resume air strikes.
	But the Kremlin said Putin did not agree to the request.
	"The Russian ...

Rebels in Aleppo attack, Putin cautious on new Russian raids

Wall Street stocks took a sudden turn lower today on news that the FBI had reopened a probe into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's emails.
	US stocks had been comfortably in positive territory prior to news that Federal Bureau of Investigation head James Comey informed lawmakers that he was restarting the probe.
	Comey in June sharply criticised Clinton's handling of classified information as Secretary of State on a private email server, but did not recommend charges be brought against her.
	Near 17.30 GMT, the S&P 500 was down 0.3 per cent at 2,127.70 after hitting a session high of 2,140.72 shortly before the news broke.

US stocks sink as FBI reopens Clinton email probe

A Russian court today ordered a blogger to be held behind bars for three months pending trial for hunting Pokemon in church, after he broke rules of his house arrest.
	And Ruslan Sokolovsky, a 22-year-old from the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, risks a five-year jail term after being charged with offending religious believers and inciting hatred.
	Sokolovsky, a militant atheist, was detained in August after posting a YouTube video that has been viewed more than one million times showing him entering a church and playing Pokemon Go on his iPhone.
	He was charged under a controversial law passed in response to the Pussy Riot punk performance in a Moscow church
 In 2012 for which two members received two-year jail sentences for hooliganism.
	The case has highlighted the growing influence in secular life of the Russian Orthodox Church despite its nominal separation from the state and has sparked condemnation from rights groups including Amnesty International.
	The Orthodox Church has also ..

Russia imprisons blogger who hunted Pokemon in church

The European Union's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini is heading to Iran and Saudi Arabia for talks on the Syrian conflict, an EU statement said today.
	Mogherini will visit Tehran tomorrow and Riyadh on Monday for "senior level talks", continuing the EU's "outreach to key actors in the region on the Syrian crisis", the statement said.

EU's Mogherini to visit Tehran, Riyadh for Syria talks

There is no fixed date for the NATO migrant mission in the Aegean Sea to end, an Alliance official said today, after Turkey called for the mission's completion "by the end of the year" because it had "reached its goal".
	"There is no end date for NATO's activity in the Aegean sea... (but) NATO will continue to keep this mission under regular review," the official, who did not wish to be named, told AFP in Brussels.
	The mission referred to was launched in February to tackle the huge flow of refugees and migrants to Greece on board rickety boats from Turkey.
	Several warships were involved in the mission launched after Turkey, Greece and Germany requested it.
	Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik called yesterday for the mission's end because "there is no need for NATO forces in the Aegean".
	He was speaking to reporters after a meeting in Brussels with defence ministers from NATO member states.
	"This was a temporary mission, and the goal has been reached... There is no reason to ...

NATO says no Aegean mission end date

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned an attack on a school in government-held west Aleppo that killed a number of Syrian children.
	"Such attacks, if deliberate, may amount to war crimes," Ban said in a statement.
	Syrian state media reported that rebel rocket fire had hit a school in west Aleppo. The city has been divided since mid-2012, when rebels seized its eastern half.
	"Three children were killed and 14 students were injured in a terrorist rocket attack on the national school in the Shahba neighbourhood of Aleppo," state news agency SANA reported from Damascus.
	The UN chief renewed his call to the Security Council to ask the International Criminal Court to investigate allegations of war crimes in Syria.
	"Those responsible for these acts must be brought to justice," he said.
	Regime forces backed by ally Russia have waged an aerial and ground assault since late September to recapture eastern Aleppo, killing hundreds of civilians and destroying ...

UN chief condemns attack on Aleppo school

The FBI told US lawmakers today it has reopened its inquiry into emails sent by White House frontrunner Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state, after discovering new emails "that appear to be pertinent."
	FBI director James Comey said his agency would take "appropriate investigative steps" to decide whether a new batch of mails contained classified information, "as well as to assess their importance to the investigation.

FBI reopens probe into Clinton emails

The European Commission today opened an in-depth investigation into state-owned ChemChina's 40-billion-euro takeover of Swiss seeds giant Syngenta to see if it would hurt competition.
	"We need to carefully assess whether the proposed merger would lead to higher prices or a reduced choice for farmers," EU Competition Commissioner Magrethe Vestager said in a statement.
	The deal -- the biggest in a series of Chinese overseas acquisitions -- would combine Syngenta, a global leader in seeds and crop protection with ChemChina which controls Adama, the largest supplier of generic crop protection products in Europe.
	"The transaction would take place in an industry that is already relatively concentrated," the Commission noted.
	In a joint statement, ChemChina and Syngenta said they would "continue constructive discussions with the EU authorities in order to conclude the review as early as possible."
	The Commission probe will run to March 15.
	Syngenta said this week it was confident the ..

EU probes 40-bn-euro ChemChina acquisition of Syngenta

Amnesty International warned today of the danger posed by white phosphorus munitions, saying they should not be used during the operation to retake Mosul in areas where civilians are present.
	Iraq launched the drive to recapture the city from the Islamic State group last week, and the country's forces are closing in on Mosul from the north, east and west.
	Amnesty said it had received credible photographic evidence and witness testimony pointing to the employment of white phosphorus, which is generally used to create smoke screens, north of a village east of Mosul.
	"White phosphorus can cause horrific injuries, burning deep into the muscle and bone," Donatella Rovera, Amnesty's Senior Crisis Response Adviser, said in a statement.
	"It is possible that some of it will only partially burn and could then reignite weeks after being deployed," Rovera said.
	Amnesty called on Iraqi as well US-led coalition forces, which are also firing artillery in support of the Mosul operation, not to ..

Amnesty warns against white phosphorus use in Mosul op

The Russian defence ministry said today it had asked President Vladimir Putin for permission to resume strikes on the Syrian city of Aleppo after a 10-day moratorium.
	The announcement came as Syrian rebels launched an assault on government forces to break a months-long siege of rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
	"We have appealed to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with a request to resume air strikes," senior military official Sergei Rudskoi told a briefing.
	The Kremlin did not immediately comment on the ministry's request.
	At least 15 civilians were killed and more than 100 wounded today by rebel rocket fire on government-held western Aleppo neighbourhoods, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	Russia's defence ministry has said that Syrian and Russian warplanes had not bombed Aleppo in the past 10 days and that civilians and rebels wishing to leave the city can do so via humanitarian corridors.
	The halt in bombing was initially ...

Russian army asks Putin to allow Aleppo strikes

Yemeni rebels have launched one of their longest-range strikes against Saudi Arabia, firing a ballistic missile that was shot down near the holy city of Mecca, the Saudi-led coalition fighting them said today.
	But the rebels insisted that the missile had targeted Jeddah, the Red Sea city in the sprawling Mecca region, and not the holy Muslim city.
	The coalition has been carrying out a bombing campaign against the rebels since March last year and there have been rebel strikes towards the bases from which the coalition mounts air raids.
	Saudi Arabia has deployed Patriot missiles to intercept the rebel fire.
	Huthi rebels launched the missile "toward the Mecca area" yesterday evening from their Saada province stronghold just across the border, a coalition statement said.
	"The air defence was able to intercept and destroyed it about 65 kilometres from Mecca without any damage."
	The rebels' sabanews website said their ballistic missile targeted the international airport in ...

Yemen rebel missile shot down near Mecca: coalition

A roadside bombing in the Egyptian capital targeting policemen killed a civilian today, the interior ministry said.
	The bomb planted on the side of a road exploded as a police convoy was passing through the Ain Shams district in east Cairo, the ministry said in a statement.
	It wounded two passersby. One of them later died in hospital, it said.
	The attack came days after a suspected Islamist group shot dead a senior army officer in a Cairo suburb.
	Islamist militants have waged an insurgency that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
	Morsi's overthrow unleashed a crackdown on Islamists that killed hundreds of protesters.
	Most of the militant attacks are conducted by the Islamic State group's Egypt branch in the Sinai Peninsula although they have spread elsewhere in the country.
	A group that calls itself Liwaa al-Thawra -- The Revolution Brigade -- claimed responsibility for assassinating the army ...

Passerby killed in Cairo bombing

Bangladesh has arrested more than 900 fishermen and deployed the army to patrol its waterways after introducing a temporary ban on catching hilsa in an effort to save the hugely popular fish.
	Some 60 per cent of the world's hilsa are caught in Bangladesh, but indiscriminate fishing has depleted much of the stock, driving up prices and putting the fish beyond the reach of the poor.
	Anyone caught catching hilsa faces at least a year in jail under a 22-day ban that began on October 12, the start of the breeding season.
	Armed forces have been deployed to patrol 7,000 square kilometres of rivers, estuaries and sea declared a breeding sanctuary.
	"We are patrolling the rivers day and night. It's like a curfew," fisheries department official Iqbal Hossain said from the coastal river district of Patuakhali.
	"One mother (hilsa) can lay two million eggs per year. So one can easily understand how big the production will be if the protection drive is successful," said Hossain.
	Hilsa is the ..

AFP

AFP

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