The United Nations has blamed all sides in Syria after it failed to secure agreement to evacuate critically injured and sick Syrians from Aleppo.
	UN aid agencies, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the Red Cross and other medical groups held days of negotiations to try to secure safe passage for the sick and wounded, but the effort came to a halt when fighting resumed.
	"It is deeply regrettable that no patients or accompanying family members could be moved," said Stephen O'Brien, the UN's humanitarian aid coordinator.
	"The evacuations were obstructed by various factors, including delays in receiving the necessary approvals from local authorities in eastern Aleppo," he said yesterday.
	Armed groups imposed conditions to guarantee the safety of the evacuation operation while the Syrian government refused to allow medical and other aid supplies into the rebel-held east of the city, O'Brien added.
	Russia, Syria's main ally in the war against opposition rebels and jihadists, last week ...

UN blames all sides after Syria evacuation plan fails

PTI Automatic

Militants raid police training centre in SW Pakistan:

More than 80 human rights and aid organizations today urged UN member states to drop Russia from the Human Rights Council over its military campaign in Syria.
	Human Rights Watch, CARE International and Refugees International were among the signatories of the appeal launched ahead of elections to fill 14 seats at the 47-nation council on Friday.
	Russia, Hungary and Croatia will be running for two seats representing the Eastern European group at the council, which is tasked with addressing rights violations worldwide.
	The organizations urged UN member states to "question seriously whether Russia's role in Syria -- which includes supporting and undertaking military actions which have routinely targeted civilians and civilian objects -- renders it fit to serve on the UN's premier inter-governmental human rights institution."
	Russia has been supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's war against opposition rebels and jihadists from the Islamic State group since September 2015.
	On ..

Drop Russia from UN rights council: NGOs

Iraqi forces advancing on Mosul today faced stiff resistance from the Islamic State jihadist group despite an unprecedented wave of air strikes by the US-led coalition in support of the week-old offensive.
	Federal forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters gained ground in several areas, AFP correspondents on various fronts said, but the jihadists were hitting back with shelling, sniper fire, suicide car bombs and booby traps.
	IS has also attempted to draw attention away from losses around Mosul with attacks on Iraqi forces elsewhere in the country, the latest coming yesterday near the Jordanian border.
	Following a weekend visit to Iraq by US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter, American officials said the coalition was providing the most air support yet to the operation.
	"One week into Mosul operation, all objectives met thus far, and more coalition air strikes than any other 7-day period of war against ISIL (IS)," Brett McGurk, the top US envoy to the 60-nation coalition, wrote on social 

Wave of strikes as IS puts up tough defence of Mosul

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta today commuted the sentences of 2,747 death row inmates, who will now serve life in prison.
	Kenyatta signed documents commuting the sentences during a ceremony at his official residence and also pardoned 102 convicts who were serving long jail terms.
	Amnesty International welcomed the move, and urged Kenya to officially abolish the death sentence. Kenya has not carried out an execution since 1987
	"The decision to commute death sentences brings Kenya closer to the growing community of nations that have abolished this cruel and inhuman form of punishment," said Muthoni Wanyeki, the rights group's regional director.
	In 2009, former president Mwai Kibaki commuted sentences of more than 4,000 prisoners on death row to life imprisonment.

Kenya commutes sentences of over 2,700 on death row

A Moscow nanny today pleaded guilty to murdering the four-year-old disabled child in her charge after brandishing the child's severed head on the street.
	"I plead guilty; that's what she said," an interpreter said as Uzbek national Gyulchekhra Bobokulova went on trial, Interfax news agency reported.
	In a chilling case, Bobokulova was arrested in February as she waved the severed head of four-year-old Anastasia outside a Moscow metro station.
	The girl's headless body was later found in the family's flat, which had been set on fire.
	The prosecutor at Moscow's Khoroshevsky district court read out the charges that 39-year-old Bobokulova had strangled Anastasia, who had cerebral palsy, and then beheaded her.
	She then overturned an oil lamp that set the apartment ablaze and went outside carrying the child's head.
	Witnesses said that the nanny paced for around 20 minutes on the street dressed in black, waving the severed head and threatening to blow herself up.
	Russia's national ...

Moscow nanny admits beheading disabled child

AT&T and Time Warner today said that their proposed mega-merger will benefit consumers  as they gird for anti-trust challenges from politicians and regulators.
	The merger, valued at USD 108.7 billion, will join one of the most dominant telecommunications company with a leading provider of entertainment video and broadcasting, allowing smoother and more innovative content delivery to consumers, the two said.
	But they will face tough questioning over whether such a combination will make the company too powerful, stifling outside video content creators while forcing consumers to their brand.
	AT&T is, after Comcast, the second largest US supplier of mobile phone, landline, internet and pay television services.
	Buying Time Warner will give it control of top brands like Warner Bros, CNN, HBO, Cartoon Network, TNT, and a host of top-rated shows that the combined company will be able to deliver over multiple platforms.
	The chief executives of both companies said today that this ...

AT&T, Time Warner defend merger as politicians challenge

The UN refugee agency is preparing to receive 150,000 Iraqis fleeing fighting around the Islamic State group-held city of Mosul within the next few days, its chief said today.
	"The preparations are proceeding well... UNHCR is going to have in two or three days 30,000 tents in Iraq, enough for 150,000 people," Filippo Grandi told reporters in Jordan after visiting Iraq.
	Iraqi forces backed by a US-led anti-IS coalition last week launched a massive offensive to push the jihadists from their last major bastion in the country.
	They are now fighting in sparsely populated areas, but when they near the limits of the city itself aid groups fear the start of a major exodus.
	A million people could be displaced, sparking an unprecedented humanitarian emergency in a country where the UNHCR says more than three million people have already been forced from their homes since the start of 2014, including a third in its autonomous Kurdish region.
	Grandi said a key issue was "to find enough sites .

UN planning for 150,000 displaced by Mosul battle

Migrants at a camp on the Greek island of Lesbos today hurled stones at police and torched temporary offices used by asylum officials in an hour-long protest over conditions.
	Jose Carreira, executive director of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), said at least four shipping containers where interviews were conducted were entirely destroyed, and three more were damaged.
	"Incidents have occurred in the past but this is the most serious one," Carreira told AFP.
	"We are looking into ways of guaranteeing that this might not happen again," said Carreira, who is in Athens for meetings with Greece's immigration ministry.
	No-one was hurt in the incident as the blaze was quickly brought under control by firefighters, but Carreira said it could be days before asylum interviews can resume.
	Around 70 migrants took part in the protest, most of them from Pakistan and Bangladesh, a local police source said. Police made a dozen arrests.
	The incident took place at the overcrowded Moria ...

Migrants clash with police, torch Greek camp offices

- Pakistan pressed West Indies hard for a series-clinching win in the second Test after setting a daunting 456-run target on the fourth day in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
     By close of play Pakistan had taken four wickets at 171 leaving the West Indies to bat out the fifth and final day on Tuesday or score a further 285 runs with six wickets intact for an unlikely win.
     No team has ever chased down more than the 418-7 West Indies managed against Australia at Antigua 13 years ago and on a weary last day pitch they will need a huge effort to stop Pakistan from taking an unassailable 2-0 lead.
     Pakistan won the first Test -- a day-night affair played with the pink ball -- by 56 runs in Dubai. Pakistan had declared their second innings on 227-2 at lunch, with Asad Shafiq on 58 not out (his 16th Test half century) and Younis Khan 29 to give their bowlers enough time to force a win.
     At close, Jermaine Blackwood was unbeaten on 41 and with him Roston Chase 17 not out as the two ...

Pakistan scent series-clinching win in Abu Dhabi

Chinese conglomerate HNA Group will acquire a 25 percent stake in international hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, the companies announced today, another move expanding HNA's presence in the sector.
	HNA, an aviation and shipping group, announced in April that it had agreed to acquire Carlson Hotels Inc, which owns the Radisson and Park Plaza brands.
	"This investment is consistent with our strategy to enhance our global tourism business, and we look forward to working together on new initiatives that leverage our respective strengths," Adam Tan, vice chairman and CEO of HNA Group, said in a statement.
	HNA is purchasing the Hilton stake from the investment firm Blackstone in a deal valued at $6.5 billion, or $26.25 a share.
	That will reduce Blackstone's share in Hilton to 21 percent. HNA also will hold a 25 percent stake in Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations after the two companies are spun off later this year.
	Hilton CEO and President Christopher ...

China's HNA Group to acquire 25 pc stake in Hilton

Belgium is unable to sign off on a landmark EU-Canada free trade deal after Wallonia and other regional administrations refused to give the federal government the go-ahead, Prime Minister Charles Michel said today.
	"We are not in a position to sign CETA," Michel said after brief talks with Belgium's regional leaders in Brussels broke up without an accord despite a looming EU deadline of late today.
	"The federal government, the German community and Flanders said 'yes.' Wallonia, the Brussels city government and the French community said 'no','" he added.
	Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is due in Brussels on Thursday to sign the trade pact, officially known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, but the European Union requires approval from all 28 member states to go ahead.
	In turn, under Belgium's devolved power structure, Michel needs clearance from all of the country's regional governments to give his assent.
	European Council president Donald Tusk on Sunday ...

Belgian PM says cannot sign off on EU-Canada trade deal

Scoreboard at close on the fourth day of the second Test between Pakistan and West Indies at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium today.
     Pakistan 1st innings: 452
     West Indies 1st innings: 224
     Pakistan 2nd innings: 227
     West Indies 2nd innings:
     K Brathwaite lbw b Nawaz             67
     L Johnson b Shah                      9
     D Bravo c Nawaz b Rahat              13
     M Samuels c and b Shah               23
     J Blackwood not out                  41
     R Chase not out                      17
     Extras: (LB-1)                        1
     Total: (For four wkts; 62 overs)    171
     Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-63, 3-112, 4-124.
     Bowling: Sohail 10-2-24-0, Rahat 14-1-40-1, Shah 18-0-60-2, Babar 15-5-32-0, Nawaz 5-0-14-1.

Abu Dhabi, Oct 24 (AFP) Scoreboard at close on the fourth day of the second Test between Pakistan and West Indies at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium today.

A reconnaissance plane working for France's defence ministry crashed in a ball of flames at Malta's international airport today, killing all five people on board, officials said.
	The plane plummeted into the ground shortly after take-off, killing the five French nationals on board.
	The Maltese government said in a statement that there was no indication of an explosion prior to the crash but did not rule out sabotage, saying an investigation was under way into possible causes.
	The French defence ministry said the plane had been working on its behalf, carrying out "reconnaissance missions in the Mediterranean".
	Three of those who died were employees of the defence ministry, the two others worked for the company which flew the plane, the ministry said.
	The Maltese government, which had described those on board as working for a French "customs" operation, said the aircraft was a Fairchild Metroliner Mark III registered in the United States and leased to a Luxembourg company, CAE ...

Five dead as French reconnaissance plane crashes in Malta

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has hired Russian doping whistleblower Vitaly Stepanov as a consultant and is helping his runner wife Yuliya in recognition of their efforts, a spokesman said Monday.
     The Stepanovs were instrumental in exposing doping in Russian sport that led to the country being banned from international athletics while dozens of competitors were banned from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics this year.
     They are now in hiding in the United States but an IOC spokesman confirmed a report by the insidethegames.Com website that IOC president Thomas Bach had met them and agreed the work.
     "The president met them some weeks ago and we are offering support to both," Mark Adams told AFP.
     The couple had complained about the IOC's attitude after Stepanova was banned from competing at the Rio Olympics this year because of a past doping sanction. Under the new deal, Stepanov, a former top official of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, will be an anti-doping ...

IOC hires Russia doping whisteblower as consultant

Security forces in the West Bank have released four Palestinian men detained last week after visiting a Jewish settlement during a religious festival, a security official said today.
	"They were released yesterday afternoon," three days after the Palestinian security forces took them into custody, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
	The men were among about 30 Palestinians who visited the West Bank settlement of Efrat on Wednesday during the annual Jewish festival of Sukkot, said Oded Revivi of the Yesha council for settlements.
	Palestinians are forbidden from "normalising" relations with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which the Jewish state seized in 1967 in a move the international community has never recognised.
	Around 80 other people attended the celebrations in Efrat, including senior Israeli military and police officers, said the security official.
	The four Palestinians had been called in for questioning on Thursday, the official added, without saying if .

Palestinians free four held after settlement visit

Iraqi security forces today ended an attack by the Islamic State group in Kirkuk city, killing at least 74 jihadists in three days of clashes, the provincial governor said.
	"The attack is over and life has returned to normal," Najmeddin Karim, the governor of Kirkuk province, told AFP.
	"The security forces have killed more than 74 Daesh (IS) terrorists and detained several others, including their leader."
	Karim said the initial confessions of the ringleader confirmed reports that around 100 fighters attacked Kirkuk early Friday, some of them sleeper cells that joined up with militants infiltrating the city.
	Some attackers are also believed to have fled the city on Saturday, later clashing with security forces in rural areas east of Kirkuk.
	The spectacular attack led to three days of clashes that left at least 46 people dead, mostly members of the security forces, and the Kurdish-controlled city under curfew.
	The brazen raid on Kirkuk, which lies in an oil-rich area around 240 ...

Attack in Iraq's Kirkuk over, 74 IS jihadists dead: governor

Opener Kraig Brathwaite defied Pakistan's bowling with a fighting half century to take West Indies to 86/2 at tea on the fourth day of the second Test in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
     Brathwaite was 55 not out and with him Marlon Samuels on nine not out as West Indies -- set a mammoth 456 to win or bat out five sessions for a draw -- fought hard on a weary Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch.
     They still need another 370 more runs with eight wickets in hand to clinch an unlikely win. Pakistan had declared their innings at 227-2 at lunch, with Asad Shafiq on 58 not out and Younis Khan 29 to give their bowlers enough time to force a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
     Pakistan won the first Test by 56 runs in Dubai, a day-night affair played with the pink ball. Brathwaite drove paceman Sohail Khan for three to complete his 11th half century but first in this series. He has so far hit five boundaries and a six to anchor the innings after two early wickets.
     West Indies' task of saving ...

Brathwaite hits fifty after West Indies set 456

Scoreboard on the fourth day of
the second Test between Pakistan and West Indies at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
     Pakistan 1st innings: 452
     West Indies 1st innings: 224
     Pakistan 2nd innings: 227 for two decl
     West Indies 2nd innings:
     K Brathwaite not out                 55
     L Johnson b Shah                      9
     D Bravo c Nawaz b Rahat              13
     M Samuels not out                     9
     Total: (For two wkts; 31 overs)      86
     Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-63, 3-112.
     Bowling: Sohail 7-2-21-0, Rahat 7-1-14-1, Shah 6-0-27-1, Babar 11-4-24-0.

Abu Dhabi, Oct 24 (AFP) Scoreboard on the fourth day of

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview with a Palestinian newspaper Monday that Israel's next war with Gaza militants would be their last "because we will completely destroy them".
	Lieberman however said he had no intention of starting a new war in Gaza, which would be the fourth since 2008.
	He urged Palestinians to pressure Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, to "stop your crazy policies".
	"As minister of defence, I would like to clarify that we have no intention of starting a new war against our neighbours in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, Lebanon or Syria," he said in the interview with Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper.
	"But in Gaza, like the Iranians, they intend to eliminate the state of Israel... If they impose the next war on Israel, it will be their last. I would like to emphasise again: It will be their last confrontation because we will completely destroy them."
	Lieberman is part of what is seen as the most right-wing government in 

Israel's next Gaza war will be 'last': minister

Scoreboard at lunch on the fourth day of the second Test between Pakistan and West Indies played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium today:
     Pakistan first innings 452 (Younis Khan 127, Misbah-ul-Haq 96; S. Gabriel 5-96)
     West Indies first innings 224 (D. Bravo 43; Yasir Shah 4-86, Rahat Ali 3-45)
     Pakistan second innings (overnight 114-1)
     Sami Aslam c Hope b Gabriel           50
     Azhar Ali c Holder b Cummins          79
     Asad Shafiq not out                   58
     Younis Khan not out                   29
     Extras: (B-4, LB-3, NB-3, W-1)        11
     Total: (for two wkts in 67 overs)    227
     Fall of wicket: 1-93, 2-164.
     Bowling: Gabriel 12-2-36-1, Cummins 7-0-26-1, Brathwaite 15-2-33-0, Bishoo 20-0-77-0, Holder 7-0-22-0, Chase 6-0-26-0.

Abu Dhabi, Oct 24 (AFP) Scoreboard at lunch on the fourth day of the second Test between Pakistan and West Indies played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium today:

AFP

AFP

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