The UN rights council today called for a special investigation into violence in Aleppo in a resolution fiercely critical of Syria's government.
	The text spearheaded by Britain repeatedly condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's offensive to retake east Aleppo from rebel forces, while also admonishing "terrorist acts" by the Islamic State group and other extremists in the Syrian conflict.
	Russia, an ally in Syria's east Aleppo campaign, condemned the resolution which was approved in a majority vote.
	Moscow's envoy to the council, Aleksei Goltiaev, also described criticism of Syria and Russia as "pathetic".
	The resolution called for the UN's existing Commission of Inquiry for Syria (COI) to "conduct a comprehensive, independent special inquiry into the events in Aleppo", and to identify individuals responsible for the most serious violations.
	Assad's government has repeatedly denied COI investigators access to the country, although they have published multiple reports ...

UN rights council sets up probe into Aleppo violence

PTI Automatic

The European Commission's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said today that the official language of talks with Britain had yet to be decided, denying reports he had insisted they be in his native French.
	"Never expressed myself on negotiation language," Barnier, a former French agriculture minister and France's one-time European Commissioner, said on Twitter.
	"Work as often in EN (English) as FR (French). Linguistic regime to be set at start -- to be agreed btw (between) negotiators."
	Asked whether the negotiations would be in French, British Prime Minister Theresa May told a news conference after a summit in Brussels: "We will conduct the negotiations in the way that will ensure we get the right deal for the UK."
	A British official told AFP they were not aware of any such request by Barnier, who took up his post at the start of October.
	Barnier's appointment by Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in July was dubbed a "declaration of war" by British media while he remains ...

Language at UK talks not decided says EU's 'Monsieur Brexit'

Up to 25 people were missing, feared drowned, today after men on a Libyan coastguard speedboat attacked a packed migrant dinghy during a rescue operation off the north African state.
	German NGO Sea-Watch, which is taking part in the multinational search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean, said the tragedy happened after its boat Sea-Watch 2 and a passing oil tanker were sent to help the distressed dinghy in the early hours.
	As the rescue operation proceeded just beyond Libyan territorial waters north of the port of Sabrata, a speedboat bearing the Libyan coastguard insignia arrived and tried to steal the dinghy's outboard engine, spokesman Ruben Neugebauer told AFP.
	The men, who spoke Arabic, beat some of the migrants with sticks and some clambered onto the dinghy, causing panic which resulted in one side of the boat deflating and most of the passengers ending up in the sea.
	After the assailants left, Sea-Watch said it had rescued 120 people and recovered four corpses from .

Up to 25 feared dead in raid on migrant boat

The UN special envoy for Yemen today urged "restraint" as a shaky truce imposed under global pressure to end the war on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula takes hold.
	The cease-fire "is fragile but largely holding," envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement.
	He urged participants "to show restraint, avoid further escalation, and strictly adhere to the 72-hour ceasefire."
	The UN official is liaising with the parties in an attempt to extend the ceasefire in order "to create a conducive environment for a long-lasting peace" in Yemen.
	The envoy also "reminds all parties that the terms and conditions" of the ceasefire "include commitments for the unhindered access for humanitarian supplies and personnel to all parts of Yemen."
	The truce, for an initial period of three days, took effect just before midnight on Wednesday to allow sorely needed aid deliveries in Yemen, where the conflict has left millions homeless and hungry.
	A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in ...

UN urges 'restraint' as fragile Yemen truce holds

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said today he would not sever his nation's alliance with the United States, as he clarified his announcement that he planned to "separate".
	"It's not severance of ties. Severance is to cut diplomatic relations. I can not do that. Why? It's in the best interests of my country that I don't do that," Duterte told reporters in his hometown of Davao after returning from China.
	The firebrand leader signalled yesterday during his four-day state visit to Beijing that he intended to end the Philippines' 70-year alliance with the United States in favour of China and Russia.
	"I announce my separation from the United States," Duterte told a group of Chinese businessmen.
	"America has lost. I've realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to (President Vladimir) Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world: China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way."
	Until Duterte took office on June 30, the 

Philippines' Duterte says will not sever US ties

Several hundred Muslims staged a protest prayer outside the Colosseum in Rome today over what they see as unfair restrictions on their freedom to practise their faith in Italy.
	Organisers said they had called the demonstration following the recent closure on administrative grounds of five makeshift mosques.
	Many Italian Muslims suspect local authorities are responding to a climate of mistrust caused by recent Islamist attacks in Europe by closing down the places of worship on the grounds of easily resolved problems such as the number of toilets on a particular premises.
	"We feel people are pointing the finger at us," said Francesco Tieri, a convert to Islam who acts as a coordinator for a number of Islamic groups.
	"There is no political will to recognise that we are here and that we are a peaceful community.
	"We are forced to rent places to pray - which for us is like breathing air, if we can't do it we die."
	According to official figures there are just over 800,000 Muslims ...

Muslims in Italy protest over freedom to worship

Turkey's flagship carrier Turkish Airlines today said it has banned Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from all of its flights with immediate effect after reports of fire risk.
	"Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices can no longer be transported on person, in carry-on baggage, in checked bags or as air cargo on all Turkish Airlines flights with immediate effect," the company said in a warning note to passengers on its website.
	The airline did not detail the reasons for the ban, but it comes after reports of exploding batteries and fires, which have led to numerous injuries.
	That prompted the South Korean electronics giant to recall all Note 7 phones, including replacements. Samsung has also stopped producing the flagship handset.
	German carrier Lufthansa had announced on Tuesday its ban on Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from all of its flights.
	Japan this month said it barred all Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from airplanes, following moves by US regulators and a string of carriers that ..

Turkish Airlines bans Galaxy Note 7 from all flights

A jihadist sniper killed an Iraqi journalist in Kirkuk today during clashes between the security forces and fighters from the Islamic State group, the police and his channel said.
	Ahmed Hajr Oglo, 30, was hit by a sniper bullet to the chest and died of his wounds, a colonel in the Kirkuk police told AFP. The channel confirmed the reporter's death.
	"Journalist Ahmed Oglo, chief correspondent at Turkmeneli, was killed by a Daesh sniper as he covered the incidents in Kirkuk," the colonel said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
	Abdelkader Mohammed, a friend and colleague at Turkmeneli TV, confirmed the journalist's death.
	Before dawn today, dozens of IS fighters armed with rifles, grenades and explosive vests attacked Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city under Kurdish control.
	They used mosque loudspeakers to broadcast messages supporting the "caliphate". Suicide bombers also attacked several government buildings, including the city's main police headquarters.
	The brazen raid sparked a ...

ISIS sniper kills Iraqi journalist in Kirkuk

A US destroyer sailed close to a cluster of islands claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea today, the Pentagon said, amid continued tensions in the contested waterway.
	The USS Decatur passed close to the Paracel Islands and "conducted this transit in a routine, lawful manner without ship escorts and without incident," Pentagon spokesman Commander Gary Ross said.
	"This operation demonstrated that coastal States may not unlawfully restrict the navigation rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise under international law."
	The maneuver is the third South China Sea "freedom of navigation" operation conducted this year by the United States, which has repeatedly stressed it will ignore China's "excessive" maritime claims.
	Ross said the Decatur did not sail within 12 nautical miles of the islands, but crossed through a broader swath of ocean claimed by China.
	Today's operation was the first since a July ruling by a ...

US destroyer sails close to contested islands in SCS: Pentagon

Canadian trade minister Chrystia Freeland blasted the European Union as "incapable" of striking an international agreement after talks for an EU-Canada trade deal collapsed today over the refusal of a Belgian region to sign on.
	"It seems obvious to me, to Canada, that the European Union is incapable now of having an international agreement, even with a country with such European values as Canada, and even with a country as kind and patient as Canada," Freeland said on Belgian television.
	"Canada is disappointed, me personally, I'm very disappointed," Freeland said in unusually strong and emotional remarks.
	"I worked very, very hard, but I think it's impossible. We have decided to return home and I am very, very sad. It's really emotional for me. The only good thing for me is that tomorrow morning I will be with my three children," she added.
	Freeland was speaking after marathon talks with an EU official and a local leader in the capital of the Belgian region of Wallonia, the ...

EU incapable of having an international agreement: Canada

A Spanish video platform called Napflix, designed to put people to sleep with dull content, was launched this week and its founders are on the lookout for more "monotony and repetition."
	Napflix offers about 60 videos taken from YouTube, including footage of rain pattering on windowpanes, a documentary on pandas and quantum physics lectures, to help people doze off.
	"The idea is to make entertainment boring," Victor Gutierrez de Tena, one of Napflix's two co-founders told AFP on Friday.
	"We are looking for monotony and repetition," the 31-year-old said of the service, which was launched on Monday.
	"It could be the kind of things that remind us of our childhood, like post-lunch classes and TV serials we watched after meals which just went on and on, ones where you wouldn't lose the plot if you fell asleep," he said.
	Other offerings include clips of petanque -- a traditional French game of boules -- and excerpts from Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake.
	Although De Tena and his ...

Spain's 'Napflix' aims to bore viewers to sleep

An air strike killed 15 women today at a shrine near the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, local officials and medics said.
	"Fifteen women were killed and another 50 wounded in a raid that targeted a Shiite place of worship at Dakuk," local official Amir Huda Karam told AFP, a toll confirmed by medical officials.

Air raid near Iraq's Kirkuk kills 15 women: officials

Scoreboard at close on the
opening day of the second Test between Pakistan and West Indies played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium today.
     Pakistan 1st innings:
     Sami Aslam b Bishoo                   6
     Azhar Ali b Gabriel                   0
     Asad Shaif b Gabriel                 68
     Younis Khan c Chase b Brathwaite    127
     Misbah-ul-Haq not out                90
     Yasir Shah not out                    0
     Extras: (LB-6, NB-7)                 13
     Total: (For 4 wkts; 84 overs)       304
     Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-42, 3-129, 4-304.
     Bowling: Gabriel 14-1-43-2, Cummins 15-1-43-0, Holder 14-4-31-0, Bishoo 20-0-92-1, Chase 12-0-53-0, Brathwaite 9-0-36-1.

Abu Dhabi, Oct 21 (AFP) Scoreboard at close on the

Younis Khan showed no signs of weakness after recovering from dengue fever to score a brilliant century as Pakistan dominated the opening day of the second Test against the West Indies here today.
     The 38-year-old, who missed Pakistan's 56-run victory in the first Test in Dubai with illness, smashed 127 to carry Pakistan, who won the toss, to 304-4 at the close at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
     Younis finally holed out to deep mid-wicket off part-timer Kraigg Brathwaite after five hours at the crease, with fading light prompting the umpires to halt the day six overs before the scheduled close.
     Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq was unbeaten on 90 -- just ten runs short of his 11th hundred as Pakistan's batsmen dominated on a batting-friendly pitch.
     Younis, who hit ten boundaries and a six, added 175 for the fourth wicket with Misbah and 87 for the third with Asad Shafiq who made 68.
     It was again the two veteran batsmen -- Younis and Misbah -- who put Pakistan on track for another ...

Fit-again Younis leads Pakistan charge

Burkina Faso's government said today it has thwarted a "vast conspiracy" aiming to overthrow the president and sieze power by force.
	A group of about 30 men plotted to free prisoners involved in the country's September 2015 coupe attempt and attack the presidential palace, said Interior Minister Simon Compaore.

Burkina Faso govt says it has thwarted coup plot

Burkina Faso govt says it has thwarted attempted coup.

Terror arrest in London over suspicious package: police.

Armed men have attacked an overcrowded dinghy carrying migrants off Libya, leaving at least four dead and up to 25 missing, the German NGO Sea-Watch said today.
	The group said the Italian coastguard had sent a Seawatch rescue ship and a diverted oil tanker to help a dinghy in distress in international waters, 14 nautical miles off Libya, early today.
	As the operation was unfolding, assailants arrived aboard a vessel with Libyan coastguard insignia and tried to steal the dinghy's motor, a spokesman for Sea-Watch said.
	The men, who spoke only Arabic, beat some of the migrants with clubs, causing panic which caused most of them to fall into the sea, the spokesman said.
	Sea-Watch said it had rescued 120 out of the estimated 150 people onboard.
	Its team recovered four bodies but saw other corpses in the water that could not be retrieved. They estimate that between 15 and 25 are missing, the group said.
	The Italian coastguard confirmed that the rescue vessel SeaWatch2 rescued 120 ...

'Armed men attack migrant boat off Libya, 4 dead, 25 missing'

Sri Lanka omitted vice captain Dinesh Chandimal from a 15-member squad and brought in three uncapped players for a two-Test tour of Zimbabwe next week.
     Sri Lanka Cricket said Chandimal was yet to recover from a thumb injury he sustained during a domestic match last month.
     The three new faces in the squad are fast bowlers Kasun Madushanka and Lahiru Kumara and the allrounder Asela Gunaratne.
     The first Test begins on October 29 in Harare while the second is scheduled from November 6 at the same venue.
     The Test squad: Angelo Mathews (capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya Silva, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Suranga Lakmal, Niroshan Dikwella, Kasun Madushanka, Lahiru Kumara, Lahiru Gamage and Asela Gunaratne.

Sri Lanka omits Chandimal for Zimbabwe tour

Major internet services including Twitter and Spotify suffered outages today as a US internet provider said it had come under attack.
	The internet service company Dyn said on its website that it had suffered a denial of service attack shortly after 1100 GMT (0430 IST).

Twitter, Spotify disrupted as internet provider reports attack

Tamim Iqbal scored a half-century as Bangladesh made a solid start today against England in the first Test here before skipper Mushfiqur Rahim was bowled just before the close.
     England paceman Ben Stokes dismissed Rahim three overs before the stumps after the Bangladesh captain looked to have taken his side to a comfortable position with a solid innings of 48 runs.
     Bangladesh survived some anxious moments after Rahim's dismissal to finish the second day with 221-5, trailing England's first innings total of 293 runs by 72 with five wickets in hand.
     Shakib Al Hasan, who shared 58 runs with Rahim for the fifth wicket, remained unbeaten on 31 overnight along with nightwatchman Shafiul Islam, who was yet to open his account.
     Tamim earlier top-scored with 78 for the home side, his 19th half-century and fifth against England, before he got a top edge when he attempted a cut off off-spinner Gareth Batty.
     Tamim, who hit seven fours, added 90 runs with Mahmudullah (38) .

AFP

AFP

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