More than 10,000 Iraqis have fled their homes since the October 17 start of an offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group, the United Nations said today.
	That figure is just a fraction of the displacement that aid groups expect to see when Iraqi forces reach the city limits and some of the million-plus people thought to be inside attempt to flee.
	"Over 10,500 people are currently displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
	While numbers have increased rapidly over the past two days, there was no sign an exodus of larger proportions was beginning.
	"Population movements are fluctuating as the front lines move, including people returning to their homes following improved security conditions in the immediate area," it said.
	The aid community has been scrambling to build camps and bring equipment to areas on the edges of the Mosul battlefield, a vast area where Iraqi forces ...

Number of Iraqis displaced in Mosul op reaches 10,000

PTI Automatic

The Rome that was: Caesar and son

Italy's national geophysics institute registered a 5.4 magnitude quake at a depth of nine kilometres in the Macerata area

Strong quake hits central Italy

Press Trust of India

Microsoft launched a consumer offensive today, unveiling new high-performance computers and an updated Windows operating system that showcases three-dimensional content and "mixed reality."
	The US tech giant announced its first desktop computer, called Surface Studio, a USD 3,000 high-end "all-in-one" device that aims at Apple's Mac.
	"We're creating a new category that transforms your desk into a creative studio," Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said at the unveiling in New York.
	With a large, 71-centimeter hinged touchscreen display touted as "the thinnest desktop monitor ever created," Surface Studio adds to the Microsoft lineup of tablet and laptop devices for the premium segment, in a challenge to Apple.
	The new PC has an ultra-HD 4.5K display, offering more pixels than most new high-definition televisions which effectively create a "digital canvas" for creating content, the company said.
	The new PC will be available in "limited quantities" for the upcoming holiday ...

Microsoft aims to wow with high-end PCs, 3D software

A man defaced Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, hacking out the gold lettering displaying his name and the television logo.
	A man who identified himself to a local news agency as James Lambert Otis, said he vandalised the tribute with a sledgehammer and pickaxe, originally intended to remove the entire star from the sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard.
	He said was going to auction it and donate the proceeds to the women who allege they were groped or sexually mistreated by Trump -- charges the real estate tycoon denies -- but was unable to lift the paving slab.
	"It was very difficult. The stone was like marble -- hard to get through," he said about an hour after the 5.45 AM attack on the star.
	Dressed in construction overalls, Otis said he used the hammer and pick to hack away Trump's name and the logo indicating the star had been awarded in the category of television -- for Trump's work on his reality show, "The ...

Trump's Hollywood star vandalised

The offensive to drive the Islamic State group from its Raqa stronghold in Syria will begin in the next few weeks, top US and British defence officials said today.
	US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and his British counterpart Michael Fallon made the predictions nearly 10 days into a US-backed Iraqi offensive on Mosul, the last major Iraqi city under IS control.
	"It will be within weeks, not many weeks," Carter told reporters at a two-day NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels.
	During a visit on Sunday to Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan to review the Mosul offensive, Carter said an operation to isolate IS in Raqa should begin in conjunction with the assault on its Iraqi bastion.
	Arriving for the defence ministers meeting, Fallon said: "We hope a similar operation will begin towards Raqa in the next few weeks."
	The United States leads a 60-nation anti-IS coalition that has provided key support for the Iraqi army offensive launched last week.
	It comes in the form of ...

US, UK expect Raqa offensive in next few weeks

Several dozen armed men belonging to an Islamic State-linked group today seized control of a small port in Somalia's Puntland region, local residents said.
	"We are getting information that Qandala has fallen this morning," said Mohamed Muse, an elder in the town of Bossaso, which lies about 70 kilometres from Qandala.
	"Armed Islamist militiamen who we believe are connected with the Islamic State organisation stormed the town and told people they are in control," he said.
	Amaq, the IS news agency, reported that Qandala, located on the Gulf of Aden opposite Yemen, had been taken by "Islamic State fighters".
	Several local officials said it had fallen to armed Islamists and that part of the population had fled.
	"Fishermen near Qandala are reporting the town is being taken and they are not fishing today," said Abdiweli Adan, a resident of the nearby village of Karin.
	"The Islamist fighters have taken position alongside the coast and several locations inside town but we don't know who 

IS-linked fighters seize small Somalia port

French authorities were wrapping up today a dramatic operation to clear thousands of migrants from the notorious "Jungle" camp as fires engulfed the sprawling slum.
	"It's really the end of the Jungle today," said top regional official Fabienne Buccio. "A page has been turned."
	Riot police were massed outside the main entrance to the camp near the port of Calais, barring migrants who had fled the blazes from going back in to retrieve their belongings.
	Around 100 people could still be seen inside the Jungle late today afternoon as volunteers tried to persuade the migrants to leave.
	"We're telling them it's the last day, that if they don't leave the police will arrest them and send them back to their countries," said Enrika, who works for the Lithuanian charity Care for Calais.
	Risking their lives to reach Calais with the hope of sneaking across the Channel to Britain, most of the migrants had fled conflict or persecution in countries such as Eritrea, Sudan and Afghanistan.
	"We ...

'Page turned' as thousands leave Calais 'Jungle' in flames

The United States today abstained for the first time from a vote at the United Nations calling for an end to the US embargo against Cuba, more than a year after Washington restored ties with Havana.
	The UN General Assembly adopted the annual resolution for the 25th time by an overwhelming vote of 191 votes in favor -- with only the United States and Israel abstaining in the 193-nation forum.
	"The United States has always voted against this resolution. Today the United States will abstain," US Ambassador Samantha Power told the assembly, drawing loud applause.
	Washington's abstention was in line with calls from President Barack Obama for the opposition-controlled Congress to lift the decades-old embargo as part of a historic normalization of relations.
	The United States restored diplomatic ties with Cuba in July last year and Obama made a landmark visit to the communist-ruled island in March.
	But restoring full trade and financial ties with Cuba would require legislative action by 

US abstains for first time in UN vote against Cuba embargo

US authorities are investigating whether companies tied to a Chinese billionaire evaded punitive tariffs on aluminum imports, according to a media report today.
	Agents from the Department of Homeland Security recently questioned US companies and former employees tied to Liu Zhongtian, founder of China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing knowledgeable sources.
	Zhongwang aluminum products made in China are subject to import tariffs of as much as 374 per cent because the US has found they are heavily subsidised.
	The Commerce Department meanwhile is also investigating whether the New Jersey-based company Aluminum Shapes LLC had imported aluminum pallets -- which are subject to far lower tariffs -- to be melted down for raw material, according to the Journal. Aluminum Shapes has denied wrongdoing.
	The DHS investigation is examining possible criminal and civil violations that may include smuggling, conspiracy and wire fraud. China Zhongwang, which describes .

US probes China-tied aluminum firms: report

The Pentagon is halting efforts to claw back recruitment bonuses paid out a decade ago to enlist troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced today, responding to public outrage.
	Nearly 10,000 California National Guard members were being ordered to pay back at least USD 15,000 each in bonuses used as inducements during recruitment drives to overcome a troop shortage.
	The national guard members would have faced interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens if they refuse to comply.
	The Pentagon sought repayments after audits found the California National Guard had overpaid troops in an effort to meet enlistment targets
	The plight of the guard members, revealed over the weekend by the Los Angeles Times, ignited a firestorm of criticism by members of Congress and others.
	"I have ordered the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to suspend all efforts to collect reimbursement from affected California National Guard members, effective as ..

Pentagon suspends claw-back of decade-old enlistment bonuses

Russia scrapped plans today to refuel Syria-bound warships in a Spanish port after Madrid came under pressure to refuse access to a flotilla that may be used to help attacks on Aleppo.
	The Spanish foreign ministry said that three Russian ships  -- part of a wider flotilla led by aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov -- had been due to take on fuel and supplies from Friday at the port of Ceuta, a Spanish territory on the north coast of Africa.
	There has been concern that the ships could take part in air strikes in Syria, where Russia has been staging a bombing campaign for the past year in support of President Bashar al-Assad and has deployed a naval contingent to back up its operation.
	"The Russian embassy in Madrid has just told us that it is withdrawing its demand for permission to stop over for the boats, which means that the stop-overs have been cancelled," the Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement.
	Moscow's decision comes against a backdrop of increasing tensions between .

Russia scraps Spain fuel stop for Syria-bound warships

An email released by WikiLeaks shows that a top Hillary Clinton adviser was dumbfounded that aides to the White House hopeful failed to disclose her use of a private email server, suggesting "they wanted to get away with it."
	The email from Neera Tanden, who currently helps run Clinton's transition team, is dated March 2, 2015, the day The New York Times revealed that Clinton had used a homebrew email server while serving as secretary of state rather than her secured government account.
	While the FBI concluded earlier this year that federal charges against Clinton were not justified in the case, the issue has dogged her campaign to become America's first woman president.
	Tanden, the president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, was trading messages with John Podesta, who was at the time preparing to chair Clinton's campaign.
	"Why didn't they get this stuff out like 18 months ago? So crazy," Tanden wrote.
	Podesta responded, "Unbelievable."
	Tanden later wrote, .

Clinton ally on emails: 'They wanted to get away with it'

A German court today gave a woman a year's suspended jail sentence for posing as the cousin of a victim in last year's Germanwings plane crash and obtaining compensation offered by the airline.
	Pretending to be a relative of a teacher who was killed in the March 24 disaster in the French Alps, the woman travelled to France on two occasions -- including once with her two children and a friend -- at the expense of Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings.
	The trips, which included several nights' stay at a luxury hotel in Marseille, were worth more than USD 16,000.
	But investigators later found she had no links to the teacher at a high school in the western town of Haltern am See, which lost some 16 students and two teachers in the crash.
	The court in Cologne had issued its ruling today after hearing from the prosecutors, but it can still be overturned because the accused did not appear on medical grounds.
	If she rejects the verdict, she can request a new hearing, the court ...

Fake Germanwings victim relative convicted in Germany

Israeli prosecutors today charged 13 Jewish men with inciting violence and terror for celebrating the murder of a Palestinian toddler and his parents in a firebombing that sparked international condemnation.
	The suspects, five of them minors, were among gun-waving extremists filmed at a wedding in December celebrating the death of 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha, whose house was attacked in July 2015 in the West Bank village of Duma.
	Ali's parents later died from severe burns. His brother was the sole survivor from the immediate family.
	One Israeli suspect in the firebombing was charged in January with murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a hate crime. A second was charged with being an accessory to committing a racially motivated murder.
	Some of the 13 men charged today, who are not accused of involvement in the attack, wore shirts with anti-Arab slogans and sang songs praising torching mosques and revenge against Palestinians at the wedding.
	Some also waved ..

Israel charges 13 Jews for praising Palestinians' murder

Britain's media regulator today said it had fined telecoms giant Vodafone USD 4.6 million for breaching rules designed to protect customers.
	Ofcom revealed in a statement that it had uncovered evidence of "mis-selling, inaccurate billing and poor complaints handling processes" for British customers of Vodafone, the world's second-largest mobile operator.
	Ofcom said it had conducted two investigations which found Vodafone had failed to credit the accounts of 10,452 pay-as-you-go mobile customers in Britain -- and then mishandled their complaints.
	The breaches took place over a 17-month period up to April 2015. During that time, the affected customers lost a combined USD 150,000.
	"Vodafone's failings were serious and unacceptable, and these fines send a clear warning to all telecoms companies," said Ofcom consumer group director Lindsey Fussell.
	The London-listed mobile phone company expressed "profound apologies" over the matter.
	"We deeply regret these system and process ...

UK fines Vodafone USD 4.6mn for breaching consumer rules

US billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates urged Britain today to step up investment in science and research as it prepares to leave the EU.
	Speaking at a conference in London attended by more than 1,000 scientists from around the world, Gates pledged to continue his own investment in British research and innovation, despite economic uncertainties surrounding Brexit.
	"The world needs innovative leadership now more than ever," the Microsoft co-founder said.
	"The complexity of our most urgent global problems -- extreme poverty, the persistence and spread of disease, feeding a growing world -- requires that we invest in science and put our best minds to work on finding solutions.
	"As the UK seeks to negotiate its exit from the EU, it is critical that the government steps up its investments in science and innovation if we are to meet the challenges of tomorrow -- and grow the UK's economy."
	His comments come amid fears that British science may suffer if projects lose European funding ..

Bill Gates urges UK to invest in science as Brexit looms

A major Pakistani militant group worked with the Islamic State to carry out a huge raid on a police academy in the country's southwest this week that left more than 60 dead, a spokesman said today.
	The claim appears to confirm analysts' predictions that the Middle East based group, which had previously struggled to gain traction in Pakistan, is now building links with local outfits as its key rival Al Qaeda loses ground.
	Pakistani authorities said the attack on the Balochistan Police College, the deadliest assault on a security installation in the country's history, was carried out by the Al-Alami faction of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) group, an anti-Shiite outfit that has turned its guns on the government in recent years.
	It was also claimed by the Islamic State group, which released photographs of the attackers -- one of whom bore a strong resemblance to a fighter who was killed by security forces in the attack.
	Asked whether the two had worked together, Ali bin Sufyan, a ...

Pakistani group worked with IS on police attack: spokesman

The French aid group Doctors without Borders (MSF) said today that 25 migrants had been found dead aboard an inflatable dinghy in the southern Mediterranean.
	MSF said its chartered rescue ship, the Bourbon Argos, picked up 107 people aboard the boat 26 nautical miles off Libya yesterday.
	Its crew initially counted 11 corpses on the dinghy's floor, which was flooded with a mixture of fuel and seawater.
	The Bourbon Argos was then called away to another rescue operation nearby, saving 139 people aboard another vessel.
	The crew returned to the first vessel and found on closer examination that in fact 25 people had died, probably from suffocation, burns or drowning.
	The bodies were retrieved from the toxic mixture over a period of hours, with the help of a team from the German NGO Sea-Watch.
	"The mixture of water and fuel was so foul that we could not stay on the boat for long periods. It was horrible," MSF project leader Michele Telaro said in a statement.

25 people found dead in Mediterranean migrant boat: MSF

At least seven children were among 22 civilians killed in air strikes today that hit a school and the surrounding area in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, a monitor said.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "warplanes - either Russia or Syrian - carried out six strikes" in the village of Hass, including on a school complex.
	The raids hit the village around 11:30 am (0830 GMT), an activist with the opposition Idlib Media Centre told AFP.
	"One rocket hit the entrance of the school as students were leaving to go home, after the school administration decided to end classes for the day because of the raids," the activist said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
	Other activists from the province circulated a gruesome photograph on social media of a child's arm, seared off above the elbow, still clutching the strap of a dusty black rucksack.
	The authenticity of the picture could not be independently verified.
	The Observatory, a Britain-based monitor of Syria's five-year ..

Students among 22 dead as raids hit Syria school: monitor

Fresh fires broke out today in the "Jungle" camp on the second day of operations to tear down the squalid settlement in northern France, sending migrants fleeing with their meagre belongings.
	Huge clouds of black smoke billowed over the sprawling camp near Calais where up to 4,000 migrants remain as authorities continue to evacuate residents and dismantle their makeshift dwellings.
	"You have to leave," an aid worker shouted. "You have these gas canisters in your caravan, get them out!"
	A volunteer's SUV could be seen leaving the camp with more than 10 gas cylinders loaded onto a trailer.
	Meanwhile, a van belonging to a charity caught fire.
	Around half of the camp's estimated population of 6,000 to 8,000 migrants have been transferred out since Monday, boarding buses to centres around France.
	Nearly 800 unaccompanied minors have been moved to shipping containers converted into temporary shelters in the Jungle, according to the interior ministry.

Fresh fires break out at Calais 'Jungle' camp

An Israeli Bedouin teenager shot dead while working along the Egyptian border appears to have been killed by Egyptian forces in error, an Israeli source said today.
	Nimr Abu Ammar from the southern town of Laqiya was shot yesterday as the 15-year-old took part in maintenance work on the border fence.
	The Israeli army had initially said that the "shooting does not appear to be connected to terror activities," without providing further details.
	An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue told AFP the shooter was a member of the Egyptian security forces, who apparently mistook the youth for a militant.
	According to the official, initial findings showed that the work was taking place in a "no-man's land" where there are "quiet understandings with the Egyptians regarding the Israeli presence there."
	The official said the initial findings showed that an Egyptian officer at the site "mistakenly thought the boy was planting a mine" - while ..

AFP

AFP

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