Nigerian troops have thwarted an attempted hijack of a vessel in the restive Niger Delta and separately arrested five pipeline vandals, a spokesman said today.
	"Troops of Operation Base 2 repelled a hijack of a vessel (MT VAJARA) by heavily armed bandits in Ramos River, around Agge area of Delta state," Lieutenant Commander Thomas Otuji said in a statement.
	He said the pirates were repelled last week after a fierce exchange of fire with government troops.
	Ship hijackings have become more frequent since President Muhammadu Buhari last year announced he was winding down an amnesty to former militants in the oil-rich Niger delta region.
	Otuji also said five people were arrested on October 17 and 18 near oil wellheads around the port city of Warri.
	"Five suspected vandals were arrested and they confessed to their plan to vandalise the wellheads," he said, adding that two boats were recovered during the operation.
	He said the military was committed to making the entire Niger Delta ...

Nigerian troops thwart ship hijacking, arrest vandals

PTI Automatic

Thirteen people were killed and 31 injured today when their tour bus collided with a truck on a major highway in southern California, media reports said.
	The front of the bus was a mangled mass of metal after apparently plowing into the back of the large truck, according to news photographs.
	The bus belonged to USA Holiday, a Los Angeles area-based tour company that ferries customers to area casinos, The Desert Sun newspaper reported.
	The crash happened at about 5:00 am (1200 GMT) in Palm Springs, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.
	NBC and Fox News cited local authorities as saying that 13 people had died. California Highway Patrol officer Stephanie Hamilton was quoted as saying that 31 people were taken to hospitals with injuries.

13 dead in California tour bus, truck crash: reports

Basic leadership failures in many Afghan police and military units are helping drive casualty rates to ever-higher levels, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned today.
	Afghan forces are nearing the end of their second year providing security across their war-torn country, after NATO moved into an advisory and training role, and the toll on the local forces has been devastating.
	An estimated 5,000 were killed in 2015, primarily in fights with a resurgent Taliban, and another 15,000 were injured.
	US Army General John Nicholson said this year promises to be worse still.
	"We are very concerned about the casualty rate ... This year has been the same, or slightly higher, depending on the unit and region," he told reporters.
	"One of the principal factors for the high casualties has been the leadership, the failures of leadership at certain levels. Primarily this has been in the police and to a lesser extent the army."
	Speaking from the NATO mission's Kabul headquarters, ..

'Shoddy leaders contribute to rising Afghan military deaths'

Russia's foreign ministry today said an old version of its website had been attacked after a US hacker claimed he broke in and posted a mocking message.
	Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook that the hacker targeted "an old site that has not been used for a long time," adding that "specialists are working out what happened."
	The attack came after Washington earlier this week formally accused the Russian government of trying to "interfere" in the 2016 White House race by hacking, charges the Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed.
	"If they establish there was hacking by Americans, even of a resource that wasn't working, this is far from pleasant," Zakharova wrote.
	She said that this could be an indication that a "cyber machine of destruction has started acting" after US Vice President Joe Biden told NBC television that President Vladimir Putin would get a "message" from Washington in response to the hacking blamed on Russia.
	Alternatively, the latest hack simply 

Moscow confirms ministry website attack after US hacker claim

At least 100 inmates, some of them armed, escaped a Haitian prison near the capital Port-au-Prince during a mutiny, killing at least one guard, a source close to the investigation said today.
	Local media, citing police, said 172 prisoners had fled the Arcahaie facility, located on the coast northwest of the capital Port-au-Prince.
	A preliminary investigation indicates a guard forgot to lock a door yesterday as the inmates were eating. The prisoners left the cafeteria and armed themselves with police weapons, the source said on condition of anonymity.
	During the ensuing firefight, the head prison guard was killed and two others were wounded.
	Le Nouvelliste newspaper quoted Arcahaie prison manager Heurtelou Paul Colson as saying one prisoner climbed a wall and fell to his death, while two other detainees were wounded and in hospital.
	Authorities refused to officially confirm the number of inmates involved or the death toll.
	"Special police units are on site to secure the area and .

Over 100 inmates escape Haiti prison, one guard dead: Official

Spain's Socialists today voted to allow the conservatives to take power, likely ending a protracted political deadlock and avoiding a third election for poll weary Spaniards.
	The decision paves the way for acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy -- whose conservative Popular Party (PP) won two elections in December 2015 and June this year but without an absolute majority -- to form a government by November.
	But while this eases uncertainty in a country that has been without a fully-functioning executive for ten months, Rajoy's government will be extremely weak, backed by just 137 lawmakers in a 350-strong parliament and with strong opposition led by the Socialists and far-left Unidos Podemos.
	Both the Socialists and Unidos Podemos had categorically refused to back Rajoy, fed up with corruption scandals and rising inequalities that marked his first four-year term, paralysing his attempts to form a government.
	But as the prospect of a third election grew nearer, bitter divisions emerged 

Spain heads for minority government as Socialists lift veto

Turkish artillery has hit jihadist positions in the northern Iraqi town of Bashiqa near Mosul after Kurdish Peshmerga forces asked for support, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in televised comments today.
	"They (Peshmerga) asked for help from our soldiers at Bashiqa base. We are providing support with artillery, tanks and howitzers," Yildirim told reporters in western Turkey.
	At the base, Ankara says some 700 Turkish soldiers are training Iraqi fighters to help remove the Islamic State group from the country.
	It has been a week since Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga supported by the US-led coalition began a major offensive to recapture Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city, from IS.
	Meanwhile, Turkey's presence in the country has caused a war of words between Ankara and Baghdad. Earlier this month President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to "know your place".
	Tensions heightened after the Iraqi government referred to the Turkish soldiers as an ...

Turkey PM says its artillery hits IS positions in Bashiqa

The pro-government Arab coalition today stepped up air strikes on Iran-backed rebels in Yemen and clashes raged on the ground as warring parties ignored a UN call to renew a fragile ceasefire.
	The 72-hour ceasefire took effect just before midnight Wednesday to allow aid deliveries in Yemen, whose war has killed thousands of people and left millions homeless and hungry. It officially ended at midnight yesterday.
	UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, had appealed for a renewal of the ceasefire, saying humanitarian aid had during the truce reached areas that were earlier inaccessible.
	But Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mekhlafi shrugged off the call as "useless", accusing the rebels of ignoring the ceasefire.
	The truce was the sixth attempt since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in March last year to support the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after Huthi rebels and their allies overran much of the impoverished country.
	Ahmed urged "all parties 

Yemen raids intensify as UN call to extend truce ignored

US defence chief Ashton Carter said today that an operation to isolate the Islamic State group in Syria's Raqa should begin in conjunction with the assault on the jihadists' Iraqi bastion Mosul.
	"We want to see an isolation operation begin around Raqa as soon as possible," Carter said during a visit to Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan to review an ongoing offensive to retake Mosul from IS.
	"We are working with our partners there (in Syria) to do that," the US secretary of defence said, adding: "There will be some simultaneity to these two operations."
	Iraqi forces launched a huge operation last week to retake Mosul, the last major city in Iraq under IS control.
	The United States leads a 60-nation coalition that has provided key support in the form of thousands of air strikes, training to Iraqi forces and advisers on the ground.
	The loss of Mosul would leave Raqa -- the de facto capital of the jihadists' self-declared "caliphate" -- the only major city still under IS ...

Pentagon chief urges 'isolation operation' for IS-held Raqa

Yemen's government today announced that nine people had died of cholera in second city Aden as the infectious disease spread across the war-torn country.
	Ten other people in the southern port city have been diagnosed with the potentially fatal disease which is transmitted through contaminated drinking water and causes acute diarrhoea, the health ministry said.
	A ministry statement said 190 cases of severe diarrhoea had been admitted to hospitals in Aden, which hosts the government's temporary headquarters.
	The ministry said that around 200 cases of cholera had been reported nationwide.
	The United Nations this month announced an outbreak of cholera in Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country even before the war broke out.
	A Saudi-led coalition began a bombing campaign in March 2015 against pro-Iran rebels who seized the capital Sanaa and large parts of Yemen in a war the United Nations says has killed nearly 6,900 people.
	This month, the World Health Organization said it ...

Cholera kills 9 in Yemen's Aden

The first group of children from the French "Jungle" migrant camp with no connection to Britain have arrived in the country, the Home Office said today, ahead of the camp's planned demolition.
	They were among around 70 young people who were taken to London from the camp in the northeastern French port town of Calais, the closest point to Britain on continental Europe.
	The "Jungle" is home to around 5,700 people, according to official figures. Its demolition is set to begin on Monday.
	Last week Britain began taking in children from the "Jungle" who had a family connection in Britain -- though some newspapers with photographs of the immigrants questioned whether they were actually minors at all.
	They were brought in under the Dublin rules, which require the children to have family resident in Britain.
	Under a new legal amendment, a limited number of vulnerable child refugees can also enter Britain, even if they do not have family ties.
	"We initially prioritised the transfer of ...

'Jungle' children arrive in UK before migrant camp demolition

The US-led coalition today denied carrying out an air strike that killed 15 women at a Shiite place of worship in northern Iraq this week.
	Russia pointed an accusatory finger at the coalition a day after Friday's incident, in which local officials said women at a shrine in the town of Daquq were killed by an air strike.
	The coalition "has determined definitively that we did not conduct the airstrike w/reported civilian casualties in Daquq," spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said on social media.
	The local council chief and medics in Daquq, which lies south of Kirkuk and about 200 kilometres north of Baghdad, said the deadly incident was caused by an air raid.
	If the coalition did not carry it out, the other aircraft most likely to have operated in the area are from the Iraqi air force or army aviation.
	Neither have made any comment yet but the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said it ordered an investigation into the incident.
	"The results will be announced as soon as 

US-led coalition denies carrying out deadly Iraq raid

Russian security forces have shot dead two people suspected of "terrorism" carrying explosives in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russian news agencies reported today, citing law enforcement sources.
	An explosion during the operation injured two special police officers, while a third suspect was detained alive, reports said.
	"Law enforcement officers stopped a car, two suspects resisted arrest and were liquidated on the spot. Explosives were found in the car," TASS state news agency quoted a source as saying.
	The special operation is reportedly taking place in a residential area of Nizhny Novgorod, an industrial city of more than 1 million on the banks of the Volga River, around 400 kilometres east of Moscow.
	A law enforcement source told RIA Novosti: "They have shot dead two (people) suspected of terrorism. They were driving in a Daewoo Nexia car. Now FSB (security force) officers are working at the scene."
	There was no immediate official confirmation of the reports. Such special ..

Two suspected 'terrorists' killed in Russian city: reports

Openers Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam hit half-centuries to help Pakistan strengthen their grip on the third day of the second Test against West Indies in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
     Ali was unbeaten on 52 and Asad Shafiq five not out as Pakistan reached 114-1 at stumps, increasing their lead to 342 after dismissing West Indies for 224 in their first innings.
     That had given Pakistan a first innings lead of 228 and left them firmly in control as they look to claim an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
     Pakistan won the first Test -- a day-night affair played with a pink ball -- by 56 runs to take a 1-0 advantage.
     But despite the West Indies falling 29 runs short of avoiding the follow-on, Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq decided not to enforce it and batted again. Both Ali and Aslam survived leg-before decisions through referrals after on-field umpire Michael Gough had raised his finger on both occasions.
     Gough has now seen four of his decisions overturned in ...

Pakistan build commanding lead over Windies

The largest delegation of Chinese Olympians ever to visit Taiwan kicked off their trip today as officials voiced hopes that sports exchanges between the two sides would continue despite worsening relations.
	The group of 15 Rio Olympics gold medallists in cycling, weight-lifting, taekwondo, shooting, women's volley ball, and athletics will share their experiences with their Taiwanese counterparts and students during the five-day visit, organisers said.
	The visiting Olympians include Zhang Mengxue, who won China's first gold medal at the Rio Games in women's 10m air pistol, and three players from the women's volleyball team that claimed gold after a 12-year wait.
	The trip comes as relations with China have grown increasing frosty since Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency in January.
	Beijing has suspended official contacts with Taipei after Tsai's government took office in May, as it fails to publicly accept the "one China" principle which governed ...

China's Rio Olympic gold medallists visit Taiwan

Israel has arrested 19 people and temporarily closed the Palestinian territories as it prepares for the last of a month of Jewish holiday commemorations, authorities said today.
	Palestinians will be barred from entering from the West Bank and Gaza Strip as the Sukkot festival wraps up with the Simchat Torah holiday, which begins at sundown today and ends the next evening.
	The closure, a frequent measure for major Jewish holidays, will remain in place throughout Sunday and Monday, with only emergency cases allowed through, the Israeli army said.
	Israeli police also announced they had arrested 19 Palestinians in various areas of annexed east Jerusalem in connection with recent clashes with security forces.
	Police said the clashes took place over the Yom Kippur holiday earlier in October and the arrests were "based on intelligence and operations".
	The week-long Sukkot festival is the last of three successive Jewish holidays that have led to tensions with the Palestinians in the ...

Israel makes arrests,shuts Palestinian territories for holiday

Bangladesh battled to 253-8 at stumps on the fourth day of a thrilling Test here today, needing 33 for their first-ever win against England.
     Hopes of an historic Test victory rested with debutant Sabbir Rahman who was unbeaten on 59, after England set the hosts a target of 286 on a crumbling wicket.
     Sabbir shared an 87-run stand with skipper Mushfiqur Rahim before England regained the initiative with three quick wickets in the final session.
     Off-spinner Gareth Batty broke the late resistance with an awkwardly bouncing delivery that prompted skipper Mushfiqur (39) to give a catch to Gary Ballance at short leg.
     Pace bowler Stuart Broad then found some reverse swing to remove Mehedi Hasan (one) and Kamrul Islam (0), putting England back in charge.
     Batty finished the day with 3-65 while Broad claimed 2-26, but Sabbir kept Bangladesh in contention with a gritty innings that included three fours and two sixes.
     Stumps were drawn early due to bad light after ...

B'desh need 33, England two wickets, in Test thriller

Scoreboard on the third day of
the second Test between Pakistan and West Indies played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium today.
     Pakistan 1st innings: 452
     West Indies 1st innings (overnight 106 for 4)
     L Johnson lbw b Rahat                12
     D Bravo lbw b Shah                   43
     K Brathwaite run out                 21
     M Samuels c Aslam b Rahat            30
     D Bishoo b Sohail                    20
     J Blackwood c Ahmed b Rahat           8
     R Chase c Shafiq b Shah              22
     S Hope b Shah                        11
     J Holder not out                     31
     M Cummins b Sohail                    3
     S Gabriel c Sohail b Shah            13
     Extras: (B-2, LB-7, NB-1)            10
     Total: (all out; 94.4 overs)        224
     Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-65, 3-106, 4-106, 5-121, 6-144, 7-169, 8-178, 9-197.
     Bowling: Rahat 21-8-45-3, Sohail 19-8-35-2, Babar 21-6-39-0, Shafiq 1-0-2-0, Shah 28.4-6-86-4, Nawaz 4-1-8-0.

Abu Dhabi, Oct 23 (AFP) Scoreboard on the third day of

Scores at stumps on the fourth
day of the first Test between Bangladesh and England at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Sunday.
     England 1st innings 293
     Bangladesh 1st innings 248
     England 2nd innings (overnight 228-8)
	A Cook c Mahmudullah b Mehedi       12
	B Duckett c Mominul b Shakib        15
	J Root lbw b Shakib                  1
	G Ballance c Kayes b Taijul          9
	M Ali c Rahim b Shakib              14
	B Stokes lbw b Shakib               85
	J Bairstow b Kamrul                 47
	C Woakes not out                    19
	A Rashid lbw Shakib                  9
	S Broad run out                     10
	G Batty lbw b Taijul                 3
     Extras (b-3 lb-8 pen 5)             16
	Total (all out; 80.2 overs)        240
	Fall of wickets: 1- 26, 2-27, 3-28, 4-36, 5-62, 6-189, 7-197, 8-213, 9-233
     Bowling: Mehedi 20-1-58-1, Shakib 33-7-85-5, Taijul 15.2-2-41-2, Kamrul 8-0-24-1, Mahmudullah 1-0-6-0, Shafiul 3-0-10-0
     Bangladesh second ..

Chittagong, Oct 23 (AFP) Scores at stumps on the fourth

Khalid al-Falih

"Market fundamentals, in terms of supply and demand, have begun to improve," Falih said.

Oil's down cycle is coming to an end, says Saudi oil minister

Agencies

Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah took four wickets to help dismiss West Indies for 224 in their first innings on the third day of the second Test here today.
     Shah finished with 4-86 and left-arm paceman Rahat Ali took 3-45 as West Indies conceded a lead of 228 over Pakistan's first innings total of 452.
     But despite falling 29 runs short of avoiding the follow-on, Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq did not enforce it and will bat again after tea.
     West Indies added just 118 in the near two-hour session of batting on the Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch.
     Jason Holder (31) and Shannon Gabriel (13) frustrated Pakistan with a 27-run last wicket stand before Shah took the final wicket of Gabriel, caught at mid-on to end the innings.
     Shah also had Roston Chase (22) and Shai Hope (11) after lunch while fast bowler Sohail Khan had Miguel Cummins (three) to finish with 2-35.
     Resuming at 106-4, West Indies lost overnight batsman Jermaine Blackwood in the seventh over of the day 

AFP

AFP

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