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 ..

Bangladesh arrests 900 in bid to save favourite fish

PTI Automatic

Pakistani police clashed with opposition party supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi today, arresting dozens ahead of a planned protest by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan aimed at unseating the government.
	Police charged stone-throwing protesters with batons and fired tear gas at the supporters, who had come out on the streets of Islamabad's twin-city to demonstrate against arrests made the previous night after authorities banned all public gatherings in the capital for two months.
	Municipal workers meanwhile used shipping containers to block major roads leading from Rawalpindi to Islamabad, where Khan has vowed to lead a demonstration on November 2 to demand Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif step down over revelations made in the Panama Papers that his family have offshore bank accounts.
	The exact number of arrests could not be confirmed, but a spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (Movement for Justice) party said 43 workers arrested yesterday night were still in .

Pakistan police arrest opposition activists ahead of protest

A Russian fighter flew dangerously close to a US warplane over eastern Syria, US defence officials said today, highlighting the risks of a serious mishap in the increasingly crowded airspace.
	The near miss occurred late on October 17, when a Russian jet that was escorting a larger spy plane manoeuvred in the vicinity of an American warplane, Air Force Lieutenant General Jeff Harrigian said.
	The Russian jet came to "inside of half a mile", he added.
	Another US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity , said the American pilot could feel the turbulence produced by the Russian jet's engines.
	"It was close enough you could feel the jet wash of the plane passing by," the official said.
	It appeared the Russian pilot had simply not seen the US jet, as it was dark and the planes were flying without lights.
	"I would attribute it to not having the necessary situational awareness given all those platforms operating together," Harrigian said.
	The incident raises serious ...

Russian, US jets had near miss over Syria: US officials

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today called for cooperation to prevent Islamic State jihadists from leaving Mosul and heading to Syria during the offensive under way to recapture the Iraqi city.
	"We are interested in cooperation with our Iraqi colleagues to take measures to prevent the outflow of terrorists from Mosul with their weapons, which of course will exacerbate the situation in Syria," Lavrov said following talks in Moscow with his Iranian and Syrian counterparts Mohammad Javad Zarif and Walid Muallem.
	"We will discuss this with the United States and other members of the coalition," he said.
	The offensive to recapture Iraq's second city, launched on October 17 and backed by a US-led coalition, is seeing tens of thousands of Iraqi troops advance on Mosul in a bid to retake the last major Iraqi city under IS control.
	Russia's defence ministry last week urged the coalition not to "drive terrorists" from Iraq to Syria during the offensive, warning it of the risk of ...

Russia seeks to stop jihadists from fleeing Mosul

The launch next month of a Soyuz spacecraft carrying three astronauts to the International Space Station has been postponed by 48 hours, Russia's space agency said today, reportedly to ensure better docking conditions.
	The delay came after the previous manned launch to the ISS set for September was postponed for almost a month due to technical issues.
	The Soyuz space capsule carrying astronauts from Russia, France and the United States is set to blast off for the orbiting space lab from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 20.20 GMT on November 17, the Roscosmos agency said in a statement.
	It had initially been scheduled for 21.05 GMT on November 15.
	"The reason for the postponement has been given as better ballistic conditions for the spacecraft to draw close to the ISS and dock," a source at Baikonur told the Interfax news agency.
	The crew heading to the ISS is composed of NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson -- who became the first ever female commander of the ISS in 2007 --  as well as French .

Launch of three astronauts to ISS postponed

Four people died in clashes between government forces and pro-Russian insurgents in Ukraine's separatist east, officials said today, the highest death toll since international peace talks held 10 days ago.
	The flare-up in the two-year conflict followed German Chancelor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande's efforts to breathe fresh air in a stalled peace process during talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko in Berlin.
	"Over the past 24 hours, as a result of fighting, one Ukrainian serviceman was killed," Kiev's military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters, accusing the rebels of "a sharp intensification" of attacks.
	He said another six servicemen were wounded along the 30-kilometre-wide buffer zone separating the two sides.
	The rebels in turn reported the death of three civilians in Ukranian shelling of areas near their de facto capital city of Donetsk.
	Insurgency spokesman Eduard Basurin told AFP that two men were killed and .

Sudden spike in violence kills four in east Ukraine

At least 12 people were killed in heavy rains and flooding in parts of Egypt today, the health ministry said.
	The toll included six people who died when a bus overturned on a flooded road in the southern province of Sohag.
	Four people died in the east's Red Sea province, the ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.
	Rains in the fall and winter cause flooding in Egypt, leaving areas with poor infrastructure the worst affected, almost every year.

Rain, flooding kills 12 in Egypt

A global campaign to free the world's "saddest polar bear" from a Chinese shopping centre has gathered one million signatures, rights groups said, as a new video of the wretched-looking creature sparked fresh outrage.
	The bear named Pizza is one of 500 species kept in a zoo inside the mall in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and activists have been lobbying for the animals to be rehomed and the exhibition closed.
	Letters signed by 50 Chinese animal rights groups were sent to the governor of Guangdong province and the shopping centre this week calling for the zoo's closure on the grounds it is illegal.
	Animals, including an arctic fox, wolf and walrus, are kept in "small rooms with no window and environmental enrichment", said a copy of the letter sent to Governor Zhu Xiaodan and seen by AFP.
	"Such conditions are far from their natural habitat and would cause inevitable harm to their mental and physical health."
	Two petitions that had gathered a total of one million ...

Video of world's 'saddest polar bear' in China sparks outrage

World athletics boss Sebastian Coe admitted today that reports from the World Anti-Doping Agency alleging serious drug testing failings at the Rio Olympics made for "uncomfortable reading".
     But speaking in Qatar -- where he received backing from the heads of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) for his IAAF reform agenda, including drug testing changes -- Coe said it was right the failings were made public.
     "The only thing I would say is I welcome reports like that, sometimes they are uncomfortable reading, but I would rather have those sorts of observations," said the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
     Although Coe added that he had not seen the report himself yet, the former middle-distance runner said such "intelligence" was vital so athletics can catch drug cheats.
     The report, by independent observers sent to the Games by WADA and published on Thursday, uncovered "serious logistical failings" in Olympics' anti-doping ...

Coe admits concerns over WADA Rio findings

Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair said today there was nothing preventing a second Brexit referendum and warned that the break-up would be "very, very tough" as European leaders were in an unforgiving mood.
	He called on fellow "Remain" supporters to "mobilise and to organise" against proponents of Brexit, writing in The New European newspaper that "we're the insurgents now".
	"There is absolutely no reason why we should close off any options," he later told BBC radio.
	"We are entitled to carry on scrutinising, and, yes, if necessary, to change our minds. This is not about an elite overruling the people.
	"If it becomes clear that this is either a deal that doesn't make it worth our while leaving; or, alternatively, a deal that is going to be so serious in its implications that people decide they don't want to go, there's got to be some way, either through parliament, or through an election; possibly through another referendum," he added.
	Blair, who was prime minister from .

Britain could hold second EU vote, says ex-PM Blair

Myanmar's government said today that a pregnant foreign woman has been diagnosed with the country's first case of Zika, a mosquito-borne virus linked to birth defects.
	The World Health Organization warned earlier this month that Zika was likely to spread throughout Asia after being detected in 70 countries, including at least 19 in the Asia Pacific region.
	While the virus has been present in Southeast Asia for years, there has been an uptick in the number of recorded cases in recent months.
	"Authorities confirmed the infection in the 32-year-old foreign woman yesterday following a laboratory test," the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.
	Soe Lwin Nyein, the director of Myanmar's public health department, told reporters she was the country's "first Zika victim".
	He did not disclose the woman's nationality but said she had been living in Myanmar for several years and was currently in Yangon, the country's largest city.
	Zika causes only mild symptoms in most ...

Myanmar detects first Zika infection

There was no relief for residents in Italy's quake-centre today, where survivors with their nerves frayed by hundreds of aftershocks were packing up their few belongings and moving to the Adriatic coast.
	Following two powerful 6.1 and 5.5 magnitude quakes on Wednesday which left almost 5,000 people homeless, Italy's national geophysics institute (INGV) has recorded almost 700 tremors, with experts saying they could go on for weeks or months.
	Italy's civil protection agency has offered financial support to those whose houses were damaged, allowing them to relocate on their own, take a room in designated residences nearby, or move to hotels on the coast some 80 kilometres (50 miles) away.
	Many "have chosen the latter, using their own vehicles or buses made available to them by civil protection," the agency said.
	In the town of Ussita, one of the areas most affected by the quakes, some 260 people took refuge in the local campsite, moving into the small wooden bungalows on site.
	Lara 

Italy quake survivors head for the coast

The Swedish prosecutor's office today said it has rejected WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's request to temporarily suspend an arrest warrant so he could leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London and attend a funeral.
	"Julian Assange has requested that the Swedish prosecutor should grant him leave from the detention order and the European arrest warrant in order to go to a funeral," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
	The prosecutor dismissed Assange's request, saying that Swedish law does not allow permission or exemption to a court decision on issuing of a European arrest warrant.
	The prosecutor's office did not specify whose funeral Assange wanted to attend or where it would be held.
	The 45-year-old Australian has been holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London since June 2012, seeking refuge there after exhausting all his legal options in Britain against extradition to Sweden.
	Assange has refused to travel to Sweden for questioning over rape allegations, which he denies, .

Sweden refuses to suspend Assange's arrest warrant for funeral

Scores at stumps on the first day of
the first Test between Bangladesh and England at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka today:
     Bangladesh first innings
     Tamim Iqbal lbw b Ali 104
     Imrul Kayes c Duckett b Woakes 1
     Mominul Haque b Ali 66
     Mahmudullah c Cook b Stokes 13
     Shakib Al Hasan c Bairstow b Woakes 10
     Mushfiqur Rahim c Cook b Ali 4
     Sabbir Rahman c Bairstow b Stokes 0
     Shuvagata Hom c Bairstow b Woakes 6
     Mehedi Hasan lbw b Ali 1
     Taijul Islam not out 5
     Kamrul Islam c Root b Ali 0
     Extras (b1 lb9) 10
     Total (all out, 63.5 overs) 220
     Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-171, 3-190, 4-196, 5-201, 6-202, 7-212, 8-213, 9-215, 10-220
     Bowling: Woakes 9-3-30-3, Finn 8-1-30-0, Ali 19.5-5-57-5, Ansari 6-0-36-0, Stokes 11-5-13-2, Rashid 10-0-44-0
     England first innings
     Alastair Cook lbw b Mehedi 14
     B. Duckett c Rahim b Shakib 7
     J Root batting 15
     G Ballance c Rahim b Mehedi 9
     M Ali batting 2
     

Dhaka, Oct 28 (AFP) Scores at stumps on the first day of

Tamim Iqbal scored his eighth Test century before Moeen Ali took 5-57 to help England dismiss Bangladesh for 220 runs on the first day of the second Test today.
     In a topsy-turvy day's play in Dhaka, opener Tamim made a quickfire 104 off 147 balls while Mominul Haque scored 66 as the hosts surged to what should have been a commanding score of 171 for one.
     But Tamim's dismissal, lbw to Ali, sparked a spectacular collapse, as Bangladesh lost their last nine wickets for 49 runs with seven of their batsmen failing to make double figures.
     England then suffered their own mini-collapse as they were reduced to 50 for three before rain brought an early end to proceedings, 11.3 overs before the scheduled close of play at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
     Shakib Al Hasan removed Ben Duckett for seven before young Mehedi Hasan ended Alastair Cook's innings at 14 through lbw.
     Cook, who equalled Michael Atherton's record of 54 Tests as England captain at the start of play, 

England stutter after Bangladesh collapse

Syria's rebel groups including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham faction and former al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front fired waves of rockets into government- held western Aleppo, killing at least 15 civilians, a monitor said.
	Syrian opposition fighters launched a major assault on government forces to break a months-long siege of rebel-held neighbourhoods of the battered city of Aleppo.
	The rebels also targeted government positions east of Aleppo city and in the coastal province of Latakia, including the Hmeimim military base that is used by Russian forces allied with the regime.
	The assault comes more than three months into a government siege of eastern Aleppo, where over 250,000 people live, and several weeks after the army began an operation to retake the rebel east.
	Rebel groups "announce the start of the battle to break the siege of Aleppo," said Abu Yusef Muhajir, a military commander and spokesman for Ahrar al-Sham.
	The assault "will end the regime occupation of western ...

Syria rebels launch assault to break Aleppo siege

Pakistani security forces raided a compound in the country's troubled southwest and killed four militants linked to an attack on a police academy earlier in the week, officials said today.
	The raid in Quetta, the capital of strife-riven Balochistan province, was carried out late yesterday following an intelligence tip-off about the presence of fighters from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militant group.
	"A team of anti-terrorist force (ATF) raided the compound and killed four militants after an exchange of gunfire," a senior local police official Abdullah Afridi told AFP.
	Speaking off the record, a police official said the militants belonged to the LeJ - a faction of which claimed it had worked with the Islamic State group to carry out the Monday night raid that killed 61 people, the deadliest assault on a security installation in Pakistan's history.
	IS had previously also claimed the raid and released photos of the fighters involved, one of whom bore a strong resemblance to a ...

Pakistan forces 'kill militants linked to' police attack

Northern Ireland's High Court today rejected a legal challenge to Brexit, the first judicial ruling on the issue in the UK.
	"In respect of all issues, the court dismissed the applications," judge Paul Maguire said.
	With other legal challenges under way elsewhere in the United Kingdom, the verdict will be closely monitored by politicians and financial markets.
	A cross-party group of politicians claimed Northern Ireland should have a veto on leaving the European Union, and the Northern Irish Assembly should have a say on whether to trigger exit negotiations with Brussels.
	The claim was brought alongside a linked challenge on the impact of Brexit on the Northern Irish peace process.
	The claims rested on the 1998 Good Friday Agreement peace accords, which assumed that Northern Ireland's constitutional arrangements could only be changed with the consent of its residents.
	The verdict comes after three days of hearings earlier this month.
	"While the wind of change may be about to ...

Northern Ireland High Court rejects Brexit challenge

A Japanese comedian's nonsense tune that became an internet sensation after Justin Bieber recommended it has entered the Guinness World Records as the shortest song to break into the Billboard Hot 100.
	The video for the 45-second long "Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen" has been viewed more than 67 million times since hitting YouTube in August, going viral after pop giant Bieber tweeted it as his "favourite video on the internet".
	"I'm surprised by this sudden popularity," said the 53-year-old comedian, who goes by Pikotaro, just before receiving the award on Friday at a packed press conference.
	"Without Justin's impact, I think only four people would have showed up in this room," he joked.
	Last week, the song entered the US chart at No. 77, marking the first time in 26 years that a Japanese singer made the Billboard Hot 100.
	The video features Pikotaro, dressed in his trademark garish animal print costume, dancing to nonsensical English lyrics such as "I have a pen. I have an apple. Apple 

Viral Japanese nonsense tune cops Guinness record

Islamic State group fighters slaughtered at least 232 people in and around Mosul this week as Iraqi troops advanced on the city, the UN rights office said today.
	"Last Wednesday 232 civilians were reportedly shot to death. Of these there were 190 former Iraqi Security Forces officers," rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
	"These reports have been corroborated to the extent possible," she added, stressing that the number of people killed in recent days could be higher.
	Shamdasani said the execution-style killings came as IS was pushing forward with its strategy of forcing people living near the northern Iraqi city into Mosul, the group's last bastion in Iraq.
	The rights office has said the jihadists aim to use these people as "human shields" in the ensuing battle for Mosul against US-backed elite Iraqi troops.
	"ISIL has been forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes in some districts around Mosul," Shamdasani said.
	Those being executed .

UN says IS killed at least 232 people near Mosul this week

The parent group of British Airways today lowered its annual earnings forecast for a second time since Britain voted for Brexit, blaming the downgrade mainly on a plunging pound.
	It follows a similar profits downgrade earlier this month from Irish no-frills airline Ryanair, highlighting the impact of Britain's sliding currency on companies that report in euros.
	International Airlines Group, owner of BA and Spanish carrier Iberia, said it expects full-year operating profit of 2.5 billion euros (USD 2.7 billion), or 7.0 per cent higher compared with 2015.
	That was less than an estimate provided by IAG in July for a rise of more than 10 per cent, which had also been a downgrade.
	Britain voted June 23 in favour of exiting the European Union, triggering a plunge in the pound to 31-year lows against the dollar and 7.5-year troughs versus the euro.
	This has particularly hit IAG since tickets for its main carrier BA are mostly sold in pounds.
	"Foreign exchange is becoming a material ...

AFP

AFP

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