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 ...

British Airways owner cuts profit forecast on pound slump

PTI Automatic

Azerbaijani security services have killed two men suspected of plotting "terrorist attacks" in the secular ex-Soviet country with a mainly Muslim population, authorities said today.
	The two Azerbaijani nationals were shot dead during a special operation on Wednesday night, the oil-rich Caucasus nation's State Security Service said in a statement, adding that another suspected "terrorist" had been arrested.
	The three suspects had been mandated by "foreign radical religious terrorist groups" to create an armed group known as the Caucasus Jamaat to carry out attacks in the country of 9.5 million, authorities said.
	"The armed group, the Caucasus Jamaat, has been planning terrorist attacks in Azerbaijan and had links with terrorist organisations involved in armed conflicts abroad," the statement said without giving further details.
	One of the two suspects killed in the operation had allegedly attempted to detonate a hand grenade as security officers tried to apprehend him.
	In ...

Azerbaijan kills two suspected 'terrorists'

A spectacular cargo train derailment in Malaysia today left cars piled up like toys, blocking two busy tracks and stranding thousands of travellers on the country's busy rail network.
	The train's two engines and 25 empty cement cars were thrown from the tracks along a heavily travelled north-south rail corridor in the northern state of Perak, according to a statement by rail operator KTM Berhad.
	Remarkably, the only casualties in the accident were the train's conductor and his assistant, who were slightly injured, local media quoted police as saying.
	KTM Berhad said two rail lines were blocked by the resulting pile-up of train cars.
	"Work to clear the train tracks is going on," it said, giving no timetable.
	However, a KTM spokesman quoted by the New Straits Times said about 12,000 commuters were affected and that some services would be halted for 48 hours.
	KTM's statement said buses were sent to transport affected travellers.
	No cause has yet been given for the ...

Malaysia cargo train derailment strands thousands

US oil and gas group ExxonMobil says it has discovered up to one billion barrels of oil in an offshore field in Nigeria, signalling a boost to the country's crude reserves.
	The company said in a statement on its website yesterday that the Owowo field had "a potential recoverable resource of between 500 million and one billion barrels of oil."
	Stephen Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company, welcomed the development, saying the company "will work with our partners and the government on future development plans."
	The Owowo field, which lies about 100 kilometres southeast of Bonny oil terminal in the Niger Delta, is expected to boost Nigeria's efforts to raise oil reserves from 36 billion barrels to 40 billion barrels in the coming years.
	The original target of hitting 40 billion barrels in 2010 could not be met due to a lack of new investment in exploration.
	The delay in the passage of a key Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) eight years after it was sent to parliament has 

ExxonMobil strikes huge oil reserves in offshore Nigeria

A teacher was killed in a drive-by shooting today in Thailand's far south, police said, the latest attack on civilians in the insurgency-plagued region.
	The kingdom's southern tip has been a hotbed of violence for the past 12 years as shadowy Muslim rebels fight for greater autonomy from the Buddhist-majority state.
	More than 6,600 people -- mostly civilians -- have died in the conflict.
	Today suspected militants opened fire on two civil servants who teach state-funded education programmes for adults in Pattani province, a local police officer said.
	"One victim died instantly at the attack site," said Noppasit Temongla, an officer from Mayo district.
	The 49-year-old teacher, a Buddhist woman identified as Sunisa Boonyen, was driving to an educational event when two men on a motorcycle fired on her car, said Noppasit.
	Her colleague, Chadaporn Sriseng, 52, was injured in the attack and hospitalised.
	The ethnic Malay insurgents, who rarely claim attacks, have for years targeted ...

Teacher shot dead in restive Thai south

Syrian rebels fired dozens of rockets at government forces in Aleppo and Latakia province on Friday, in preparation for a bid to break the siege of Aleppo city, a monitor said.
	The rocket fire was accompanied by fierce clashes on the outskirts of the government-controlled west of Aleppo, with two suicide car bombings targeting a checkpoint in the Dahiyet al-Assad neighbourhood, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	"The rebels have begun a prelude to their operation to break the siege of Aleppo," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
	The Britain-based monitor also reported rebels had fired dozens of rockets at the Nairab military airport and Aleppo international airport, both east of Aleppo city and under government control.
	And, simultaneously, rebels fired rockets from Idlib province into the government stronghold of Latakia, killing one person and wounding six.
	The rocket fire hit near the Hmeimim military airport, which is used by government ally Russia, as ...

Rebels pound regime in Aleppo battle prelude: monitor

Scores after Bangladesh's first
innings on the first day of the second Test against England at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Friday:
	   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 (b-1 lb-9) 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
	   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.

Dhaka, Oct 28 (AFP) Scores after Bangladesh's first

Tea scores on the first day of the
second Test between Bangladesh and England at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Friday:
	   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 not out 5
	   Mushfiqur Rahim c Cook b Ali 4
	   Sabbir Rahman c Bairstow b Stokes 0
	   Shuvagata Hom not out 2
	   Extras (b1 lb9) 10
	   Total (6 wickets, 56 overs) 205
	   Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-171, 3-190, 4-196, 5-201, 6-202
	   Bowling: Woakes 5-2-25-1, Finn 8-1-30-0, Ali 16-3-47-3, Ansari 6-0-36-0, Stokes 11-5-13-2, Rashid 10-0-44-0.

Dhaka, Oct 28 (AFP) Tea scores on the first day of the

Islamic State group fighters killed at least 232 people in and around Mosul last 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.

IS slaughtered at least 232 people near Mosul last week: UN

A man looks with interest at the child sitting in front of him in the metro, as a voice asks off-screen: "Do you like children in ways that you shouldn't?"
	"Help is available," adds the advertisement broadcast on German television and over the internet, urging people who feel sexually attracted to children to join a unique therapy programme called "Don't offend" (Kein Taeter werden).
	Launched some 11 years ago, the largely publicly funded project by Berlin's top university hospital Charite calls on paedophiles to undertake a treatment that helps them control their urges.
	More than 7,000 people have sought information on the programme which is offered in 11 centres across Germany.
	Of these, 659 people have undertaken the therapy, with 251 completing the entire programme. Another 265 are currently being given treatment either in group or individual sessions.
	The German initiative is unique because it deals with potential sex criminals, or those who have already committed abuses but 

German hospital uses therapy to 'treat' paedophiles

A UN General Assembly committee has voted to launch negotiations on a new treaty banning nuclear weapons despite fierce opposition from the world's nuclear powers.
	A resolution presented by Austria, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and Brazil was yesterday adopted by a vote of 123 to 38, with 16 abstentions, following weeks of lobbying by the nuclear powers for 'no' votes.
	The non-binding resolution provides for negotiations to begin in March next year on the new treaty, citing deep concern over the "catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons."
	Four of the five UN Security Council nuclear powers -- Britain, France, Russia and the United States -- voted against the resolution while China abstained, as did India and Pakistan.
	Japan, which has long campaigned against the use of nuclear weapons, voted against it, as did South Korea, which is facing a nuclear threat from North Korea.
	Opponents argued that nuclear disarmament should be addressed within ..

UN votes to launch talks on nuclear weapons ban

Magna International, Canada's giant auto parts supplier, expects to open 29 new plants in several countries including in India by 2019 as it races to meet the demand for new high-tech driver assistance technologies.
	Jim Tobin, Magna's chief marketing officer, said yesterday that Magna plans to build nine new plants in China. Four of them will open this year and five more are scheduled over the next two years.
	"We've got the engineering and technical depth so we're able to offer competitive solutions to our customers," noted Tobin during a briefing at Magna's offices near Detroit, Michigan.
	"China is our biggest area of growth, but we're also expanding in India, North America and Europe," he said.
	With automotive production worldwide expected to climb to 100 million units annually, Magna, the largest automotive supplier in North America and the third largest in the world, is expanding to address demand despite the current global economic slump.
	It is building three new plants in ..

Canada auto parts giant Magna expanding in China, India

A Philippine mayor accused of drug trafficking was killed along with nine bodyguards in a shoot-out with police today, authorities said, hours after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to intensify his crackdown on crime.
	Samsudin Dimaukom, the mayor of the southern town of Saudi Ampatuan, was one of more than 150 local government officials, judges and police identified by Duterte earlier this year as being involved in the illegal drug trade.
	The deadly crime war has claimed more than 3,800 lives and drawn criticism from the United States, the United Nations and international rights groups who have accused police of summarily executing suspects.
	Police spokesman Superintendent Romeo Galgo said that Dimaukom and his security personnel opened fire after anti-narcotics police stopped their vehicles at a checkpoint on suspicion they were transporting illegal drugs.
	Officers returned fire, killing the men in the town of Makilala, about 950 kilometres south of the capital ...

Philippine mayor, nine bodyguards killed in police shoot-out

Lunch scores on the first day of the
second Test between Bangladesh and England at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Friday:
	   Bangladesh first innings
	   Tamim Iqbal not out 68
	   Imrul Kayes c Duckett b Woakes 1
	   Mominul Haque not out 44
	   Extras (lb5) 5
	   Total (1 wickets, 28 overs) 118
	   Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Kayes)
        Bowling: Woakes 5-2-25-1, Finn 4-1-12-0, Ali 6-0-23-0, Ansari 6-0-36-0, Stokes 5-3-6-0, Rashid 2-0-11-0.

Dhaka, Oct 28 (AFP) Lunch scores on the first day of the

Retired pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson has slammed the Australian team culture under former captain Michael Clarke and coach Mickey Arthur as fractured and "toxic", saying the dynamics changed when Ricky Ponting retired.
     In his newly-released autobiography 'Resilient', Johnson suggested things were so bad that some teammates did not want to play, with cracks emerging after veteran Ponting called it quits in late 2012.
     "The dynamics definitely changed. It became more groups in the team. It wasn't a team. There was different little factions going on and it was very toxic," Johnson told Fox Sports News late Thursday.
     "It just built very slowly but everyone could see it, everyone could feel it and nothing was being done at that time."
     The left-arm paceman, who took the fourth-most wickets (313 at 28.40) of any Test bowler in Australian history, was one of four players suspended by Arthur and Clarke for not completing a feedback task during Australia's shambolic tour ..

Johnson takes aim at 'toxic' culture under Clarke

Tamim Iqbal scored an unbeaten half-century as Bangladesh made a brisk start in the second Test against England in Dhaka on Friday.
     The hosts reached 118-1 at lunch on the opening day after skipper Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and elected to bat at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium. Tamim was on 68 at the break and Mominul Haque was 44 not out as the pair shared 117 runs in their unbroken second-wicket stand.
     Chris Woakes provided the only breakthrough for England when he removed opener Imrul Kayes for one off his second over. Ben Duckett jumped high to take the catch above his head at point, as Kayes attempted a cut.
     Bangladesh fell agonisingly short of an historic victory over England in the first Test, losing by 22 runs. England held their nerve in the Chittagong Test which ended on Monday and lead the two-Test series 1-0.
     Opener Tamim made a cautious start, taking 20 balls to get off the mark, before he gained some confidence from one-down Mominul. Mominul ...

Tamim makes confident start for Bangladesh

Colombia's ELN rebels have killed two civilian truck drivers in the country's northeast in a "terrorist act", the military said hours after the government suspended peace talks over an ELN kidnapping.
	"It is simply an act of terrorism against two civilian trucks traveling on the roads of Arauca, which were set on fire and the drivers killed by members of the ELN," Colonel Miguel Angel Rodriguez - commander of a task force that operates on the border with Venezuela - told AFP, speaking about the region where the incident took place.
	The ELN fighters ambushed the empty trucks yesterday, Rodriguez said.
	Troops later moved into area, one of Colombia's biggest oil producing regions, where the ELN has long maintained a presence, military sources said.
	Earlier yesterday, the government said it was postponing peace talks with the ELN rebels until they release an ex-lawmaker held hostage, just hours from the scheduled start of negotiations.
	The rebels later began the process of releasing .

Colombia's ELN rebels kill 2 in 'terrorist act': military

Russia dismissed as "unconvincing" the findings of a UN-led investigation showing that Syrian forces had carried out three chemical attacks, and said no sanctions should be imposed.
	"We believe that the proof is not there for any punitive action to be taken. It's simply not there," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters following a closed-door Security Council meeting yesterday.
	A joint United Nations-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) panel concluded that government forces carried out three chlorine gas attacks on villages in 2014 and 2015.
	It was the first time an international probe blamed President Bashar al-Assad's forces after years of denial from Damascus.
	But Churkin told the council that the findings were not strong enough to trigger sanctions.
	The conclusions "in most cases... Are not substantiated by sufficient testimonial basis, first of all material proof, they are full of contradictions and therefore unconvincing," he said, ...

Russia opposes Syria sanctions after UN gas attacks probe

Germany's Angelique Kerber continued her unbeaten run at the WTA Finals on Thursday, steamrolling rising American Madison Keys 6-3 6-3 to charge into the semi-finals of the season-ending championship .
     Still on a high after winning the US Open last month, the newly crowned world number one made it three wins on the trot at Singapore's Indoor Stadium to finish at the top of the Red Group standings after the round-robin phase.
     "It's a great feeling because it's the first time I'm in the semis at the WTA Finals. That was my first goal," Kerber said.
     "It was important to go out there to win the match and win all three matches, that gives me a lot more confidence."
     Kerber was joined in the semis by Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova, who claimed her first victory of the tournament by defeating Simona Halep of Romania 6-3 7-6 (7-5), to finish as the group runner-up.
     Beaten in her first two matches, the 27-year-old Cibulkova needed to see off Halep in straight sets then ..

Kerber, Cibulkova reach semi-finals

Barcelona reported La Liga president Javier Tebas to Spain's highest sports court on Thursday after he questioned the Barca players' conduct during a heated 3-2 win at Valencia last weekend.
     Luis Suarez and Neymar were hit by a plastic bottle thrown by Valencia fans as Barca celebrated Lionel Messi's 94th-minute winner on Saturday.
     A disciplinary committee of the Spanish Football Federation fined Valencia 1,500 euros ($1,600) on Wednesday and said a repeat could result in a stadium closure.
     However, the committee also criticised the "reproachable behaviour" of the Barca players as Neymar and Messi were recorded shouting obscenities towards the Valencia fans.
     "The most serious thing is the thrown bottle, but some players acted in a way we don't like," Tebas said of the incident earlier this week. However, those comments have been branded "irresponsible and unbecoming of a sports official" by Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
     Moreover, in a statement the ...

Barca report 'irresponsible' La Liga chief Tebas

West Ham United said Thursday that up to 200 people faced banning orders after violence marred their English League Cup tie at home to London rivals Chelsea.
     Skirmishes broke out towards the end of the Hammers' 2-1 win on Wednesday, with police and stewards battling to keep supporters apart as coins, bottles and plastic seats were thrown.
     There was a heavy police presence in place at the London Stadium, formerly the Olympic Stadium, which has seen repeated violence involving West Ham fans since they moved into their new home at the start of the season.
     Both clubs condemned the violence soon after the match and on Thursday a joint statement issued by West Ham and the London Stadium revealed the number of spectators at risk of a stadium ban after officials had studied closed circuit television footage of the disorder.
     "West Ham United and London Stadium are finalising the identification of 200 individuals who will receive stadium bans having been involved in ...

AFP

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