Islamic State jihadists were barring civilians from leaving Mosul today and using them as human shields, as the battle for the Iraqi city entered its second day, a Pentagon official said.
	"We know they are being used as human shields, absolutely," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.
	"They are being held there against their will. We have not seen any change in the last day of people leaving or fleeing."
	Authorities and aid agencies are bracing for a massive flow of civilians fleeing Mosul as the fight progresses.
	Currently, the action has largely been in villages surrounding Iraq's second-largest city and the remaining IS stronghold in the country.
	President Barack Obama warned of "significant" displacement but said the United Nations and other aid groups were ready.
	"We have put together plans and infrastructure for dealing with a potential humanitarian crisis that are as extensive as the military plans," Obama told reporters earlier.
	United Nations ...

IS group holding civilians in Iraq's Mosul: Pentagon

PTI Automatic

The planet's longest hot streak in 137 years of record-keeping came to an end today, with last month registering as the second warmest September in modern times, said US government scientists.
	However, the trend of upward temperatures remains clear, with the year so far, from January to September, still the most scorching since 1880, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in its monthly climate report.
	"September 2016 was the second highest for the month of September in the NOAA global temperature dataset record," said the report.
	"This ends the longest streak in the 137-year record of 16 consecutive months to reach a new monthly high global temperature."
	September did not miss the record by much -- it was just 0.07 Fahrenheit (0.38 Celsius) cooler than the record warmth of September 2015 when the Pacific warming trend of El Nino was strengthening.
	El Nino came to an end in July, and scientists expected a minor cooldown would follow.
	Still, the pattern ..

Planet's monthly hot streak ebbs in September

The family at the centre of a graft probe into South African President Jacob Zuma today called allegations "nonsense" that nearly 450 million euros in their bank transactions were suspicious.
	The Guptas were responding to court papers filed last week by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan which claimed firms linked to the family had made suspect movements worth 6.8 billion rand (USD 490 million).
	Their business empire, led by brothers, Atul, Ajay and Rajesh, includes a string of companies, ranging from mining to media.
	A total of 72 transactions in companies owned by the family were flagged over four years.
	"It is undiluted nonsense and appears to be little more than the usual political games," the Gupta family, who are close to the president, said in a statement.
	The family described Gordhan's court affidavit as "fundamentally flawed" and said they were looking forward to clearing their names.
	The minister filed the records as part of an ongoing court battle over whether he has the 

Guptas fight back over South Africa graft allegations

President Barack Obama's administration said today it has scored another trade victory over China, after Beijing ended a disputed tax policy that favored Chinese-produced aircraft in violation of global trade rules.
	The US Trade Representative filed a dispute in December with the World Trade Organization, charging that China's 17 percent value-added tax on smaller aircraft, such as business jets, discriminated against imported aircraft.
	China's decision to end the tax exemptions for aircraft under 25 metric tons effectively ends the WTO dispute settlement process, which can take six to nine months.
	USTR Michael Froman applauded the victory but stressed that the administration will remain watchful for other practices that impede free trade of US products in China.
	"While we are happy to announce this discrimination has ended, we remain deeply concerned about China's lack of transparency on taxes affecting American products," Froman said in a statement.
	"Transparency is a core ...

US claims trade victory over China over business jet tax

The United States today demanded the release of an Iranian-American businessman and his 80-year-old father who were handed tough sentences in Tehran on espionage charges.
	"We are deeply concerned about reports that US citizens Siamak Namazi and Baquer Namazi have each been sentenced to 10 years in prison," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.
	"We join recent calls by international organizations and UN human rights experts for the immediate release of all US citizens unjustly detained in Iran, including Siamak and Baquer Namazi, so that they can return to their families."
	Siamak Namazi, a well-connected business consultant who has supported reformist politicians in Iran, was arrested as he arrived in Tehran a year ago.
	His father, Baquer, was detained in February when he came to Iran to seek his son's release.

US demands release of Iranian-American and father jailed by

President Barack Obama warned today of a tough battle ahead as Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition advance on Mosul to wrest the city from the Islamic State group.
	Obama said the push to liberate the northern city, the jihadists' last stronghold in Iraq, now in its second day, was a "major step forward."
	"I am confident that ISIL will be defeated in Mosul and that will be another step toward their ultimate destruction," he told a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, using an acronym for the jihadist group.
	But the US leader warned of a challenging road ahead.
	"Mosul will be a difficult fight. There will be advances and there will be setbacks," Obama said.
	"Perhaps one million civilians are still living there," Obama added. "In addition to rooting out ISIL, our focus is on the safety and humanitarian aid for civilians escaping the fight. That will be a top priority for both our governments.

Obama: 'Mosul will be a difficult fight'

Fighting between Somali troops and Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab fighters was ongoing today in the key town of Afgoye, some 30 kilometres northwest of the capital Mogadishu, a security source and a witness said.
	"There is heavy fighting going on at several bases in Afgoye district and one of the bases was attacked with a car loaded with explosives," Abdulakir Ahmed, a local security official, told AFP.
	A Shabaab statement said the group had recaptured the town, which it evacuated in May 2012 after coming under attack from the Somali army and African Union peacekeepers.
	"The Mujahedeen fighters have secured control of Afgoye town after heavy fighting and they put up the Islamic flag over the enemy bases," said the statement.
	"The infidel soldiers who stayed in town have fled" and "tens of the enemy forces have been killed," it said.
	There was no independent confirmation of the reported capture of the town.
	Residents said the target of the bomb attack was the local police ...

Fierce clashes in key Somali town close to Mogadishu

The Taliban and senior Afghan government officials have held two secret meetings since September in Qatar in a bid to restart long-stalled peace negotiations, sources said today.
	An official in the National Unity Government in Kabul told AFP that the two rounds of discussions took place in Doha, where the Taliban maintain a political office.
	Britain's The Guardian newspaper said the talks were attended by Mullah Abdull Manan Akhund, brother of Taliban founder and long-time leader Mullah Omar who died in 2013.
	A senior American diplomat was also present in the Qatar meetings, the newspaper said citing a Taliban official.
	The Taliban and the US government have so far not commented officially on the development.
	The outcome of the September meeting was not clear but a Taliban source told the newspaper that it "went positively and was held in a trouble-free atmosphere".
	A second dialogue was held this month despite intensified nationwide fighting between insurgents and US-backed ...

Afghanistan, Taliban hold secret talks in Qatar

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim today announced USD 2 billion in soft loans for Bangladesh to help one of the world's impoverished nations to fight climate change.
	Bangladesh has been one of the worst victims of global warming, with thousands of people being killed by cyclones in recent years that have become more frequent and deadlier.
	"Bangladesh is among the countries most at risk from the impacts of climate change. We must confront climate change now as it hits the poor the hardest," said Kim.
	"Today .... I'm announcing a USD 2 billion dollar commitment for climate-related projects in the next three years."
	Kim made the pledge after touring schools that double as cyclone shelters during major storms. He also visited rural communities, powered by solar systems.
	Bangladesh has built embankments along its coastal belts and hundreds of cyclone shelters that double as schools.
	The country of 160 million people, a fourth of whom who live below the poverty line, has improved ...

World Bank to loan Bangladesh USD 2 billion for climate fight

At least eight spectators were killed at a music festival in Angola at the weekend, police said today, with one witness saying that a stampede started at the over-crowded stadium where doors had been locked.
	Police in the western city of Benguela issued a statement "announcing the death of eight citizens for reasons that remain to be determined", adding that an investigation had been launched.
	Nelson Sul, an Angolan journalist at the Afromusic festival on Sunday evening, said the toll could be higher.
	"There are more bodies in morgues in the city. The criminal investigation service told me that the death toll was 20," he told AFP.
	"There was panic at the end of the concert because the police were looking for criminals in the stadium and exits were locked."
	The event brought together leading Angolan musicians including stars of kizomba, a popular local genre.

8 dead in Angola concert stampede: police, witness

The European Union gave Belgium until a leaders' summit on Friday to agree to a troubled trade pact with Canada which has been so far blocked by the small French-speaking region of Wallonia.
	EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said a planned visit by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sign the deal at the end of October would not go ahead unless Belgium agrees.
	"Yes there has to be an agreement. Our Canadian friends need to know whether they should book their ticket or not," Malmstroem said, when asked after EU trade ministers met in Luxembourg whether Friday's summit was the deadline.
	"There are lots of things to discuss with our Canadian friends but if we don't manage to have this trade agreement there will not be (a visit by Trudeau) at this occasion," she said.
	The parliament of the Belgian region of Wallonia last week voted to block the deal, known as CETA -- meaning that Belgium itself cannot sign up to the pact and leaving the deal in limbo after seven years of .

EU sets Belgium Friday deadline to back Canada trade deal

Bangladesh police today said they have identified three people as financial backers of a group blamed for a deadly attack on a cafe, including a doctor who joined Islamic State jihadists in Syria.
	Gunmen raided the cafe in a smart Dhaka neighbourhood on July 1 and killed 20 mostly foreign hostages, the deadliest in a series of such attacks which have blighted Bangladesh in the last three years.
	The IS group claimed responsibility for the carnage but the government blamed a new faction of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). It launched a major crackdown against the local militant group that left 40 members dead.
	Dhaka police counter-terrorism chief Monirul Islam said two suspected militants, including a retired army major, have been identified as funding the JMB. They were killed in police raids last month.
	Islam said a doctor also funded the group, donating eight million taka ($10,000). The ex-army officer gave his retirement benefits and the other militant handed over the .

Money man behind Bangladesh cafe attack 'joins IS in Syria'

A crocodile which broke into a Sri Lankan police station and stayed the night forced constables to abandon their posts until it was captured by wildlife authorities, officers said today.
	Police said the six-foot crocodile barged in through a back door of the crime branch at Nochchiyagama station, 190 kilometres north of Colombo.
	"Police men and women evacuated the building when the crocodile crashed in. It stayed put till this morning when wildlife officials showed up and took it away," a police official told AFP. "It did not hurt anyone."
	Another official said locals were accustomed to frequent elephant attacks on villages in the remote area, but a invasive crocodile was a rarity.

Sri Lankan police stage snap evacuation as croc invades

Iraqi forces were making gains as tens of thousands of fighters advanced on Mosul today in an unprecedented offensive to retake the city from the Islamic State group.
	With the crucial battle in its second day, Iraqi commanders said progress was being made as fighters pushed on two main fronts against the jihadists' last stronghold in Iraq.
	The US military, which is leading a coalition providing air and ground support, said Iraqi forces even looked "ahead of schedule" but senior Western officials warned the battle would be long and difficult.
	Advancing in armoured convoys across the dusty plains surrounding Mosul, forces moved into villages defended by pockets of IS fighters after intensive aerial bombardment.
	Massive columns of smoke rose from burning oil wells near the main staging base for government forces in Qayyarah, blotting out the horizon.
	A soldier at a checkpoint nearby said that IS lit the wells on fire to provide cover from air strikes before the town of Qayyarah was .

Iraqi forces make gains in push to retake IS-held Mosul

Belgium today charged four people with involvement in terrorism after 15 early morning raids in the northern cities of Ghent, Antwerp and Deinze, the federal prosecutor's office said.
	"Those persons have been indicted for participation in the activities of a terrorist group," a statement said.
	"Some of them are suspected of recruiting people with a view to departing to Syria and joining Islamic State there," it added.
	The prosecutor said no arms or explosives were found and the raids had no immediate connection with the deadly IS-claimed attacks on the Brussels airport and metro which left 32 people dead in March.
	In all, 15 people were taken in for questioning initially, the statement added.
	Some of them, who grew up in central Brussels and were known to the authorities, also took part in the November Paris attacks, which claimed 130 lives and left hundreds injured.
	Belgium has been on its second highest terror alert since the Paris and Brussels attacks.
	There has been a ...

Belgium charges four after terror raids

More than 350,000 Afghan refugees have returned to their war-torn homeland from Pakistan this year, UN data show, with the torrent of people crossing the border expected to continue.
	Earlier in October the UN's refugee agency UNHCR said the number of documented Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan had soared past 200,000.
	But this week the body's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan released updated figures that also include the number of undocumented refugees crossing the border.
	"So far this year, 162,186 undocumented returnees and 207,236 registered returnees (369,422) have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan," an OCHA statement said, noting that the majority, some 333,000 people, have returned since July.
	"If that sounds like a lot, it is," the statement continued.
	"Based on current trends, we expect a further 446,000 (both registered and undocumented) Afghans to arrive before year-end."
	The influx of refugees threatens to overwhelm .

More than 350,000 Afghan refugees return from Pakistan: UN

A US businessman and his 80-year-old father have each been given 10 years in prison for "collaborating with the hostile American government", the state-linked Mizan Online news agency reported today.
	Siamak Namazi, an international relations expert and business consultant, was arrested as he arrived in Tehran a year ago.
	His father, former UN Children's Fund employee Baquer Namazi, was detained in February when he came to Iran to seek his son's release.
	Video footage of Namazi's arrest was published by Mizan, which is linked to the judiciary, earlier this week.
	It was presented with dramatic music alongside images of his US passport and shots of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian who spent two years in prison on espionage charges.
	Mizan said three other people were also sentenced to 10 years for collaboration with the United States -- including Lebanese-American Nezar Zaka and two others identified only by the initials FHA and AA.
	State television reported Zaka's arrest in 

Iranian-US businessman, father given 10-year sentences in Iran

A soon-to-be out of work Barack Obama suffered the indignities of the job interview - at the hands of "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert.
	In a taped segment that aired last night, Obama got in an appeal to millennials to vote on November 8 and shamelessly plugged his accomplishments as president.
	But Colbert, in the guise of clueless office manager "Randy," was not impressed.
	"55. Tough time to start over for a man," he said, looking over Obama's resume.
	"I don't see any promotions for the last eight years. That's not always good. Can you explain that?" Colbert asks.
	"Honestly, there wasn't a lot of room for advancement in my last job," said Obama. "The only one with a more powerful position was my wife."
	Obama gave no hint about what he actually might like to do after vacating the White House in January, but he seemed in no hurry to leave the political scene.
	"You know what I really love doing? Is encouraging the youth of America to get out and vote this November so that the 

Obama bones up for post White House job interview

Paramilitary groups and government forces in Iraq have tortured, arbitrarily detained and executed thousands of civilians escaping areas controlled by the Islamic State group, Amnesty International warned today.
	The London-based rights group said the abuses, often revenge attacks directed at Sunnis suspected of being complicit with IS, must not be repeated as Iraqi forces advance on the jihadists' stronghold in Mosul.
	"After escaping the horrors of war and tyranny of IS, Sunni Arabs in Iraq are facing brutal revenge attacks at the hands of militias and government forces, and are being punished for crimes committed by the group," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East research director.
	"Iraq is currently facing very real and deadly security threats from IS, but there can be no justification for extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture or arbitrary detention.
	"As the battle to retake Mosul gets underway, it is crucial that the Iraqi authorities take steps to ...

Iraqis fleeing IS face revenge attacks: Amnesty

A car taking part in the world's first public trial of driverless taxis was slightly damaged today when it collided with a lorry in Singapore, its operator said.
	No one was hurt in the accident in One North, a suburban research campus where the vehicle has been on a limited run since August, US software firm nuTonomy said in a statement.
	"None of the people involved was injured. The nuTonomy car, which was operating with two engineers onboard, was travelling at a low speed at the time of the incident," it said.
	A company spokeswoman told AFP the damage to the car was "minimal" and the trial has not been suspended.
	The cause of the accident is not yet known. The company, police and Singapore's Land Transport Authority are investigating.
	The authority said in a statement the taxi was changing lanes when it collided with the lorry.
	NuTonomy became the world's first company to launch driverless taxi trials in public, beating rival Uber by weeks.
	During the trial period, two ...

Driverless taxi hits lorry in Singapore trial

Honda said today it will build a new factory in China, as the Japanese automaker expands its reach into the world's biggest vehicle market.
	The firm, which already has several factories in China, would build its new plant in the city of Wuhan, a Tokyo-based company spokeswoman said, without supplying further details.
	The factory will start operating in 2019, the leading Nikkei business daily said.
	The plant will be able to produce 120,000 vehicles a year in the beginning, eventually doubling to 240,000 units, according to the report.
	That would be roughly a 20 per cent boost from Honda's current China factory capacity of 1.08 million units, excluding facilities solely for exports, the Nikkei story said.
	Honda has three plants in southern Guangzhou and two in Wuhan, in addition to a factory dedicated to exports mainly to the Middle East, Russia and Africa.
	Last year, Honda said it would delay building a planned USD 822 million plant in Wuhan owing to an industry wide ...

AFP

AFP

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