UNESCO chief Irina Bokova has received "death threats" after expressing reservations about Arab-backed resolutions on the holy sites in Jerusalem, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations organisation said on today.
	"The director general has received death threats and her protection has had to be reinforced," Carmel Shama Cohen said on Israeli public radio.
	"These threats were made after her criticism" of two resolutions adopted last week at committee stage ahead of a final vote, Cohen said, accusing Arab countries of "appalling conduct" over the drafts.
	Bokova distanced herself from the resolutions in a statement, saying "nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space".
	The resolutions refer to "Occupied Palestine" and the need to "safeguard the Palestinian cultural heritage and the distinctive character of east Jerusalem".
	They refer to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem's Old City -- Islam's third holiest site -- .

UNESCO head faces 'death threats' over Jerusalem vote: Israel

PTI Automatic

Participants in Democratic Republic of Vongo's "national dialogue" agreed today, in the absence of the main opposition party, to push back to April 2018 the presidential election due to take place before the end of the year, negotiators said.
	The deal, reached during talks in Kinshasa, envisages President Joseph Kabila remaining in power until that date despite the fact that his mandate is due to end in December.

'DR Congo talks agree to push back presidential vote to 2018'

A longtime Guantanamo Bay prisoner who wrote a best-selling book about his experiences in the controversial military prison has been released to his home country of Mauritania, the Pentagon said today.
	The release of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, believed to be the last inmate from Mauritania held at the facility in Cuba, brings the prison's remaining population down to 60.
	His case became a cause celebre after the publication last year of "Guantanamo Diary," in which he outlines his treatment at the notorious US naval base in Cuba and says he was subjected to torture.
	"The United States is grateful to the government of Mauritania for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the US Defense Department said in a statement.
	Slahi, 45, was detained in his home country of Mauritania following the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, on suspicion of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to bomb Los ...

Best-selling Guantanamo inmate released to Mauritania:Pentagon

The number of unaccompanied children illegally entering the United States across its southern border spiked 49 per cent over the past year, officials in Washington said today.
	The Department of Homeland Security reported that 56,692 children traveling without adults were intercepted at the US border with Mexico in the fiscal year ending in September, compared with 39,970 the previous year.
	Overall, 408,870 adults and children were intercepted at the border, an increase of 23 per cent over the previous year, according to the DHS.
	Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the number of undocumented immigrants, while on the rise, is a fraction of the number entering the United States from the 1980s through 2008.
	"The demographics of illegal migration on our southern border has changed significantly over the last 15 years," Johnson said in a statement.
	"Far fewer Mexicans and single adults are attempting to cross the border without authorisation, but more families and ...

US sees sharp rise in immigration by undocumented children

Russia today announced an eight-hour "humanitarian" ceasefire in Aleppo later this week, as the EU warned that the Syrian regime's Moscow-backed assault on the city could amount to war crimes.
	 The United Nations and European Union welcomed the announcement, but said the planned pause in fighting needed to be longer to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.
	In the latest violence, dozens of civilians including 12 members of the same family were killed in heavy bombardment of rebel-held eastern sectors of the embattled city, a monitoring group said.
	"We have taken a decision not to waste time and to introduce 'humanitarian pauses', mainly for the free passage of civilians, evacuation of the sick and wounded and withdrawal of fighters," senior Russian military officer Sergei Rudskoi told a press briefing in Moscow.
	The ceasefire would run from 0800 to 1600 local time (0500 GMT to 1300 GMT) "in the area of Aleppo", Rudskoi said.
	"During this period the Russian air force and Syrian .

Russia announces brief Aleppo truce as EU warns of war crimes

The Turkish capital Ankara today banned all public gatherings and demonstrations until the end of November after receiving information about potential terror attacks, the governor's office said.
	The Ankara governorate said in a statement that all such meetings had been prohibited until November 30, in line with the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the failed July 15 coup.
	It said that the decision was taken "to ensure people's safety and public order".
	The governorate, which is responsible for security throughout the capital and the wider province, said it had received intelligence "that banned terror organisations were preparing actions in our province".
	Without naming which organisations, it said that the groups were thought to have been planning attacks on meetings and public demonstrations.
	The capital has been hit repeatedly over the last 12 months by attacks blamed on jihadists and Kurdish militants.
	One hundred and three people were killed on October 10, 2015 ...

Ankara bans public gatherings in terror alert: governorate

Darren Bravo cracked a fighting century to lead West Indies' fight against Pakistan on the fifth and final day in the first day-night Test in Dubai on Monday.
     The left-handed genius was unbeaten on 102 for his eighth hundred -- fifth in Asia and seven away from home -- as West Indies were 232-6 at dinner on a weary final day pitch at Dubai stadium.
     Pakistan had taken the second new ball with West Indies 224-6 and Bravo needing four for hundred. Bravo smashed an uppish drive off paceman Mohammad Amir's first ball to backward point boundary to complete his magnificent hundred after 329-minutes of defiance.
     He has so far hit nine boundaries and a six to frustrate Pakistan who are looking for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Skipper Jason Holder was unbeaten on eight as West Indies till need 114 runs for an unlikely win in the remaining 38 overs.
     Bravo put up his best resistance during a 77-run stand for the fifth wicket with Roston Chase (35) and has so far added 

Ton-up Bravo thwarts Pakistan in day-night Test

Scores at dinner on the fifth and
final day of the first day-night Test between Pakistan and West Indies at Dubai stadium on Monday:
     Pakistan Ist innings 579-3
     West Indies 1st innings 357
     Pakistan 2nd innings 123
     West Indies 2nd innings (overnight 95-2)
	K Brathwaite b Amir                       6
	L Johnson lbw b Amir                     47
	D Bravo not out                         102\
     M Samuels c Ahmed b Amir                  4
	J Blackwood lbw b Nawaz                  15
	R Chase b Shah                           35
	S Dowrich b Riaz                          0
	J Holder not out                          8
	Extras: (b-1, lb-6, nb-3, w-5)           15
	Total: (for 6 wkts; 83 overs)          232
     Fall of wicket: 1-27, 2-87, 3-95, 4-116, 5-193, 6-194
     Bowling: Amir 19-5-52-3 (5w), Sohail 6-1-12-0, Shah 32-4-98-1, Nawaz 13-3-24-1, Riaz 13-1-39-1 (3nb).

Dubai, Oct 17 (AFP) Scores at dinner on the fifth and

Japanese scientists said today they had grown mouse eggs entirely in the lab, then fertilised them to yield fertile offspring, a scientific first cautiously hailed by experts in human reproduction.
	The technique -- which involved coaxing stem cells into becoming mature eggs -- was still much too risky and controversial to be reproduced in humans, commentators said.
	"This is the first report of anyone being able to develop fully mature and fertilisable eggs in a laboratory setting right through from the earliest stages of oocyte (immature egg) development," commented Richard Anderson of the University of Edinburgh's MRC Centre for Reproductive Health.
	While the technique may be useful to treat infertility "one day", the paper also showed "the complexity of the process and how it is a long way from being optimised," he said via the Science Media Centre in London.
	Only a small number of embryos which grew from the eggs developed into normal mice.
	The lab-grown eggs were more likely .

Scientists grow mouse eggs from stem cells in lab

The house in Austria where Adolf Hitler was born is to be torn down to stop it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine, authorities said today after years of bitter legal wrangling.
	"The Hitler house will be torn down. The foundations can remain but a new building will be erected. It will be used by either a charity or the local authorities," Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told Austrian newspaper Die Presse.
	He said the decision was based on the recommendations of an expert committee tasked with deciding what to do with the controversial building in the quaint northern town of Braunau am Inn.
	The huge yellow house has been empty since 2011 when the government became embroiled in a dispute with owner and local resident Gerlinde Pommer.
	For more than a century, her family has owned the large corner house where Hitler was born on April 20, 1889.
	In the early 1970s, the Austrian government signed a lease with Pommer and turned the premises into a centre for people with disabilities.
	But 

Austria to tear down Hitler birth house

Climate change could sink up to 122 million more people into extreme poverty by 2030, mostly in South Asia and Africa, where small farmers will see their output plummet, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) warned today.
	In an annual report, the FAO warned that a worst-case scenario of high-impact climate change would pound the communities that rely on agriculture for their livelihood, and food insecurity could spread to all regions.
	It called for a "broad-based transformation of food and agricultural systems" to adapt to a warmer world, with an emphasis on supporting small shareholders.
	"There is no doubt climate change affects food security," FAO chief Jose Graziano da Silva said.
	"What climate change does is to bring back uncertainties from the time we were all hunter gatherers. We cannot assure any more that we will have the harvest we have planted."
	Farming is both a driver of climate change, responsible for some 21 percent of global greenhouse gas production, ..

Climate change could push 122 mn into extreme poverty: UN

West Indies defied Pakistan's victory bid with Darren Bravo playing another resolute knock on the fifth and final day of the first day-night Test here today.
     At tea Bravo was unbeaten on 46 off a 115-minute stay and with him Roston Chase (21) having added 38 for the fifth wicket stand to thwart Pakistan's spin-cum pace attack on a weary Dubai stadium pitch.
     Bravo, who had made 87 in West Indies first innings total of 357, has so far hit three boundaries and a six and has been the main hurdle between Pakistan and a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
     West Indies still need another 192 runs for an unlikely victory.
     Chase, famous for his 137 not out at Jamaica which helped West Indies draw a Test against India in July this year, has so far batted without any problems.
     But West Indies were in trouble right from the start when they resumed at 95-2 as Mohammad Amir had Marlon Samuels caught behind for four with the first ball of the day.
     Jermaine Blackwood (15) 

Bravo keeps West Indies afloat in first Test

Several people were missing and others were injured after an explosion today at a chemical plant at BASF's headquarters in western Germany, the firm said, advising local residents to stay indoors.
	The blast, which occurred around 11:30 am (local time) and triggered a huge fire, happened during work on a pipeline, the global chemicals giant said in a statement.
	"Several people were injured. Some people are missing," BASF said.
	A large fire and a huge column of grey smoke could be seen rising from the site, a vast industrial complex with a harbour on the Rhine river.
	Firefighters were still trying to extinguish the flames by 1900 IST while police had blocked off nearby roads, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
	"Emergency services from the whole region are on the scene to prevent the fire spreading to other parts of the plant," Ludwigshafen city authorities said in a statement.
	The company said residents in Ludwigshafen and nearby Mannheim should remain inside and shut doors and ...

Several missing, injured in German chemical plant blast

Kuwait will hold snap elections on November 26, the government said today a day after the oil-rich Gulf state ruler dissolved parliament following a dispute over hiking petrol prices.
	The move to dissolve parliament, a year before its term expires, came after lawmakers filed three requests to grill ministers over a cabinet decision to raise petrol prices and alleged financial violations.
	Like other energy-rich Gulf Arab states, Kuwait adopted a number of austerity measures to face the slump in oil revenues including raising fuel and power prices.
	Registration for candidates wishing to run in election will open immediately after the publication of the decree in the official gazette, expected in the coming few days, a statement said.
	The election is expected to see heated contests, mainly as many opposition groups have decided to participate after boycotting the previous two polls in protest against changing the voting system.
	The cabinet also accepted the resignation of three ...

Kuwait sets snap polls for November 26

Iran today said its oil production capacity will hit four million barrels per day by March after it was exempted from an informal agreement among OPEC members to lower output to boost prices.
	"Our production capacity was 3.8 million (bpd) after the first half of the year. We will take it to 4.03 million by the end of the year" in March 2017, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said at a conference for local and international energy companies.
	He added that Iran was aiming to hit 4.6 million bpd within five years.
	That is up from 2.7 million bpd in January, when a nuclear deal with world powers was implemented, lifting international sanctions.
	At a meeting in Algiers last month, OPEC members agreed to the first production cut in eight years, although Iran, Libya and Nigeria were allowed to continue producing at "the maximum level that makes sense".
	Iran has been determined to return to its output to pre-sanctions levels, and previously blocked efforts by the oil cartel to cut ...

Iran oil production to hit 4m bpd by March: minister

Her eyes riveted to the canvas, Wulan meticulously applies colour to an image of the Buddha, using pigments made of crushed pearls, turquoise and agate.
	The 34-year-old is one of dozens of students at a school in Lhasa learning the medieval Tibetan art of "thangka" -- minutely detailed paintings depicting Buddhist deities or symbols, usually on cotton canvas or silk scrolls.
	But she is not Tibetan. Ethnically Mongol, she moved 2,500 kilometres to embark on seven years of studies.
	Beijing's forces took over Tibet in 1951 and the Communist government reviles the exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, but the region's traditional religious art is now increasingly being embraced by outsiders -- including from China's Han ethnic majority -- as both buyers and producers.
	"Thangkas are captivating a growing number of people," said Wulan. "Traditional cultures are more and more recognised in China, which wasn't always the case in the past, during the economic boom."
	In their heyday ...

Tibet's thangkas find new fans across China

Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters seized several villages today in their advance on jihadist-held areas east of Mosul as part of an operation to retake the city from the Islamic State group.
	"The operation in Khazir includes up to 4,000 peshmerga in three fronts to clear nearby IS-occupied villages," the general command of the peshmerga said in a statement.
	It said the operation was coordinated with Iraqi federal forces moving from the south and had received extensive air support from the US-led coalition battling IS in Iraq and Syria.
	Peshmerga commanders said the push was the third phase of an effort that started months ago to retake villages in the Nineveh plain that were captured by IS in 2014 and used to be inhabited by members of the Christian and Kakai minorities.
	They said several villages were promptly recaptured and peshmerga forces were now stationed on the edges of Qaraqosh and Bartalla, two Christian towns seized by IS in August 2014.
	An AFP correspondent embedded ...

Iraq Kurdish forces seize villages in push east of Mosul

Scoreboard at tea on the fifth and
final day of the first day-night Test between Pakistan and West Indies at Dubai stadium today.
     Pakistan Ist innings: 579 for three decl
     West Indies 1st innings: 357
     Pakistan 2nd innings: 123
     West Indies 2nd innings (overnight 95 for 2)
     K Brathwaite b Amir                       6
     L Johnson lbw b Amir                     47
     D Bravo not out                          46
     M Samuels c Ahmed b Amir                  4
     J Blackwood lbw b Nawaz                  15
     R Chase not out                          21
     Extras: (B-1, Lb-6, NB-3, W-5)           15
     Total: (For four wkts; 57 overs)        154
     Fall of wicket: 1-27, 2-87, 3-95, 4-116.
     Bowling: Amir 13-3-34-3, Sohail 5-1-10-0, Shah 21-4-58-0, Nawaz 10-3-21-1, Riaz 8-1-24-0.

Dubai, Oct 17 (AFP) Scoreboard at tea on the fifth and

Searchers have recovered 32 bodies after an overloaded ferry sank in central Myanmar and expect to find dozens more dead, officials said today, as workers began raising the boat from the riverbed.
	A total of 154 people were rescued alive after the ferry sank early Saturday on the Chindwin River, about 72 kilometres (45 miles) north of the city of Monywa.
	But rescuers have found only bloated corpses floating in the water since then, and fear the toll could reach 100 once they raise the craft.
	"So far we have recovered 32 dead bodies," said Sa Willy Frient, director of the local relief and resettlement department who is overseeing the operation.
	"We are trying to raise the boat using a crane after tying it with strong ropes. After we lift it out, the death toll will be higher."
	Sa Willy Frient estimated 240-250 people -- around 100 more than its capacity -- were on the boat, along with heavy cargo.
	Survivor Hnin Lei Yee, a 27-year-old schoolteacher, was travelling with her husband 

32 bodies found in Myanmar ferry disaster as death toll mounts

A troubled trade deal between the EU and Canada is the only model for a future pact between the bloc and post-Brexit Britain, Spain's Foreign Minister said today.
	Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the Canada agreement was a far closer fit than often-cited deals between the European Union and Norway or Switzerland.
	"The deal with Canada is the precedent of the deal between the EU and Britain," Garcia-Margallo told reporters before talks with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg.
	"The deal is important in itself and as a model" for a deal with Britain, he added.
	Seven years in negotiation, the Canada-EU trade deal has stumbled in the final stretch after the Belgian region of Wallonia blocked it just days before its planned signature on October 27.
	But the Spanish minister urged the EU to overcome the hurdle, given the Canada deal's role as a template for relations with London following Britain's shock June referendum vote to leave the bloc.
	British Prime Minister Theresa May has said .

Brexit deal to be modelled on EU-Canada pact: Spain

Police were searching at least a dozen schools across Germany after they received threats by email today, although officials said they didn't believe the messages constituted a serious danger.
	Nine schools in the eastern city of Leipzig were emailed threats, a police spokesman said, without giving details of the content of the messages.
	Investigators were searching the premises while students and teachers were told not to leave the site, he said.
	Schools in the western city of Goettingen as well as the eastern city of Magdeburg also reported receiving similar messages.
	The investigation suggests however that the "threats are not serious," the police spokesman said.

AFP

AFP

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