The Moon is bombarded by so much space rock that its surface gets a complete facelift every 81,000 years, according to a study released today based on NASA data.
	This churn -- affecting the top two centimetres (nearly an inch) of mostly loose moon dust -- happens 100 times more frequently than previously thought, scientists reported.
	The study also estimates that asteroids and comets crashing into Earth's only natural satellite create, on average, 180 new craters at least 10 metres (33 feet) in diameter every year.
	The findings, published in Nature, come from "before and after" pictures taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, which has been mapping the Moon since 2009.
	By comparing images of the same area at regular intervals, a team of scientists led by Emerson Speyerer from Arizona State University in Tempe were able to tally the number of new craters and extrapolate to the entire surface of the Moon.
	"We detected 222 new impact craters and found 33 percent ...

A facelift for the Moon every 81,000 years

PTI Automatic

Israel shut down today for the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday, with roads, shops, airports and even radio and TV stations all closed, while Israeli authorities sealed off mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem.
	The solemn holiday of Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, began yesterday evening and ends today at sunset.
	Many Jews fast during that time. Families and young people also walk and cycle through empty streets, while Orthodox Jews with prayer shawls can be seen making their way to synagogues.
	Security was tight for this year's holiday with fears of a new surge in violence, particularly following a Palestinian gun attack in Jerusalem on Sunday that killed two people.
	Overnight, clashes erupted during an Israeli raid in the Silwan area of east Jerusalem, where the gunman lived, residents and local activists said.
	Israeli security forces shot dead a 20-year-old Palestinian man, Ali Shiouki, Palestinian officials said.
	Later, Israeli police said "masked Palestinians threw stones and ...

Israel shuts down for Yom Kippur

The leader of Colombia's FARC said today it may have been for the best that the peace accord negotiated with the government was rejected in a national referendum.
	The victory for the "No" vote in the October 2 referendum was a stunning setback to a nearly four year effort to end Latin Americas last major guerrilla war.
	Polls had predicted that the peace agreement would easily pass but turnout was low and many voters were troubled by its lenient treatment of war crimes by FARC leaders.
	Londono, known as Timochenko, said the FARC was responding to the loss with a massive effort to educate voters about the agreement and lay their doubts to rest.
	"It was almost good that it happened, because it is enabling many doubts to be cleared up, and especially in getting that important sector of the Colombian people that did not vote -- more than 63 per cent -- interested in this historic event," he said in an interview with Radio Caracol.
	"It is permitting us to correct what we didn't do in ..

Colombia peace accord's defeat may be for best: rebel leader

Hillary Clinton's campaign aides last year used the Keystone oil pipeline project to try to divert attention away from her use of private email while serving as secretary of state, according to emails released by WikiLeaks.
	The Canada-US pipeline project, finally rejected by President Barack Obama's administration in November 2015, had crystallized the debate over energy and the environment in the United States.
	It was fiercely opposed by Bernie Sanders, Clinton's rival in the Democratic primary elections to pick the party's presidential nominee.
	In August 2015, several months before the Obama administration announced its decision, Clinton's advisers wondered how to reveal her opposition to the Keystone project, the emails show. Until then she had made no public stance.
	"We are trying to find a good way to leak her opposition to the pipeline without her having to actually say it and give up her principled stand about not second-guessing the president in public," wrote speechwriter 

WikiLeaks emails: Clinton aides used Keystone distraction

Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, will be lit up in pink this week to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer, its developers said today.
	The lights will be turned on tomorrow and for the next two days, and then on the same days in the following weeks, to mark Pink October, an annual breast cancer awareness month, Emaar Properties said.
	Visitors to Burj Khalifa, which stands 828 metres (2,700 feet) high, "are invited to wear pink, to show their support to the cause", it said in a statement.
	One Emirati dirham (USD 0.27) of all October sales in the shops of the tower, which has become a tourist attraction since opening in 2010, will go towards the Al-Jalila Foundation.
	The charity founded by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum supports an initiative to promote the early detection of breast cancer, facilitate medical treatment and fund local research on the disease.
	Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women worldwide. It is also .

Dubai's Burj Khalifa to glow pink for cancer awareness

Russia's military conducted a series of intercontinental ballistic missile tests today, the latest flexing of its muscles as tensions with the US spike over Syria.
	Russian forces fired a nuclear-capable rocket from a Pacific Fleet submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan, state-run RIA Novosti reported.
	A Topol missile was shot off from a submarine in the Barents Sea, and a third was launched from an inland site in the north-west of the vast country, Russian agencies reported.
	The latest display of might by Moscow -- which has been conducting regular military drills since ties with the West slumped in 2014 over Ukraine -- comes as tensions have shot up in recent days.
	Russia has pulled the plug on a series of deals with the US -- including a symbolic disarmament pact between the two nuclear powers to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium -- as Washington has halted talks on Syria.
	The Kremlin has also moved an air defence missile system and missile cruisers to the war-ravaged .

Russia tests ballistic missiles amid tensions with West

Rilee Rossouw hit a century as South Africa went in search of a series whitewash in the fifth and final one-day international against Australia at Newlands today.
     Rossouw made 122 in a South African total of 327 for eight. He and fellow left-hander JP Duminy (73) transformed the South African innings with a fourth wicket partnership of 178 after the hosts lost their first three wickets for 52 runs.
     South Africa went into the contest seeking to become the first team to defeat Australia in every game of a five-match one-day series.
     Australia's bowlers made a good start after South Africa won the toss, with Scott Boland having Quinton de Kock caught at cover and Joe Mennie bowling both Hashim Amla and South African captain Faf du Plessis.
     Mennie, who conceded 82 runs without taking a wicket in his only previous international in Johannesburg, also ended the Rossouw-Duminy stand when Duminy was caught at backward point. He was the best of the Australian bowlers, taking .

Rossouw century keeps South Africa on track

Scores in the fifth and final
one-day international between South Africa and Australia at Newlands today:
     South Africa
     Q de Kock c Marsh b Boland 12
     H Amla b Mennie 25
     R Rossouw c Marsh b Tremain 122
     F du Plessis b Mennie 11
     J Duminy c Bailey b Mennie 73
     D Miller c Smith b Tremain 39
     A Phehlukwayo b Boland 11
     K Rabada not out 9
     K Abbott c Wade b Tremain 0
     D Steyn not out 6
     Extras (b6, lb5, w8) 19
     Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) 327
     Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-37, 3-52, 4-230, 5-281, 6-306, 7-308, 8-309
     Bowling: Tremain 10-0-64-3, Boland 10-0-68-2, Mennie 10-2-49-3, Marsh 7-0-53-0, Head 8-0-49-0, Zampa 5-0-33-0.

Cape Town, Oct 12 (AFP) Scores in the fifth and final

Eight people were killed today in northeast Nigeria when a suspected female suicide bomber detonated her explosives near a camp housing displaced people, officials said.
	Police said the body of the suspected woman bomber was believed to have been among others found on the roadside in Maiduguri, the capital of northeast Borno state.
	It was not immediately clear if she was counted in the official death toll.
	"About eight persons lost their lives, 15 injured persons were evacuated to specialist and teaching hospitals," the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said in a statement.
	A small crowd gathered following the explosion to see the charred wreckage of the yellow and green taxi cab as emergency workers moved human remains into black body bags nearby.
	The early morning blast happened close to a camp that is home to thousands of people who have fled attacks by Boko Haram jihadists since they began their bloody quest to establish an Islamist state in northeast Nigeria.
	"I ..

Eight killed by suspected female suicide bomber in NE Nigeria

The Philippine government has formally invited a United Nations rights rapporteur to investigate the thousands of killings during President Rodrigo Duterte's war on crime, a presidential spokesman said today.
	"The (presidential) palace has sent the invitation to UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard and is awaiting her response," spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters.
	Since July Duterte has overseen a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that has left more than 3,300 people dead, both at the hands of police as well as in unexplained circumstances, according to official data.
	The United Nations, the European Union, the United States and international human rights groups have all raised concern over alleged extrajudicial killings.
	The acid-tongued Duterte has rejected the allegations and called the campaign an internal affair of the Philippines.
	He has also used offensive terms to describe US President Barack Obama besides calling UN chief Ban Ki-moon a "fool" over their ...

Philippines invites UN rights expert to probe killings

Huge crowds of black-clad Shiite Muslim pilgrims thronged the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala today, weeping and beating their chests in mourning for the seventh-century killing of the prophet's grandson.
	Shiites around the world mark Ashura, but attacks on those commemorating bloodshed 1,300 years ago often result in more mourning and loss, including in Afghanistan, where more than 30 people were killed in attacks on Shiites in less than 24 hours.
	Up to 18 were killed in Kabul yesterday in two attacks claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, while a bomb hit a mosque in northern Afghanistan today, killing at least 14 more, officials said.
	Shiites in Iraq too have come under frequent attack by Sunni extremist group IS, which considers them heretics.
	Some 30,000 security personnel were deployed in and around Karbala to protect pilgrims, although attacks inside the city are rare.
	The annual Ashura commemorations mark the killing of Imam Hussein by the forces of the Caliph Yazid in 

Huge crowds of pilgrims pack Iraq's Karbala for Ashura

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party will meet to discuss the future of Indian-origin Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan after he was summoned to court on fraud charges, a party spokesman said today.
	The announcement was made yesterday that Gordhan would be prosecuted sparked investor fears that he would also be sacked -- a move likely to spell further trouble for South Africa's dire economic health.
	Gordhan has alleged that the case against him is politically motivated, while many analysts say he has been targeted by loyalists of President Jacob Zuma.
	The finance minister has been a vocal opponent of corruption and excessive spending by Zuma's government, which has been hit by a series of graft scandals and slowing economic growth.
	"The ANC, given the seriousness of the accusations against him, will be meeting urgently to discuss the way forward," ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa told the Sowetan newspaper.
	Gordhan, who also served as finance minister from 2009 to ...

S Africa ruling party to consider finance minister's fate

Russia today said it will hold Syria talks with the United States and key regional powers this weekend, the first meeting on the conflict since Washington froze bilateral ceasefire negotiations.
	Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed to hold talks aimed at "creating the conditions for the resolution of the Syrian crisis" in Lausanne on Saturday, alongside top diplomats from "key countries in the region", Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russia announces Syria talks with US, regional powers Saturday

France's top administrative court today approved the authorities' plans to shut down unlicensed cafes and stalls in the Calais "Jungle" migrant camp, which is set to be razed within weeks.
	Overturning a lower court decision in favour of the shopowners, the Council of State ruled their premises were "unhygienic" and a "serious fire hazard".
	In its ruling it backed the authorities' claim that the shops and cafes were being used for smuggling activities that had "caused tension and violence."
	The decision comes as the state prepares to dismantle the camp in northern France where between 7,000 and 10,000 migrants live crammed in tents in squalid conditions.
	Many shops and cafes in the camp had already closed.
	In August, a court in the city of Lille had ruled they should be allowed to remain open, saying they fulfilled an important social role for the migrants.
	Calais is a magnet for migrants trying to reach Britain by stowing away on trucks heading across the Channel from ...

Top French court approves closure of Calais Jungle cafes

The creepy clown phenomenon, which has been spooking the United States, appears to have arrived in the Netherlands after sightings of two people dressed in masks and bearing weapons, Dutch police said.
	One person was seen overnight today armed with a knife and a hammer, dressed in a costume and a scary clown mask near a park in the southern town of Oss.
	And another was seen on yesterday, after being spotted earlier in the week by residents in Almere, close to Amsterdam, further north in the country.
	"Dear killer clown from Oss, clearly you find it either pleasant or fun to give people the fright of their lives," police in Oss wrote today on their Facebook page.
	"You probably don't know, but to play clown in this way is punishable," they warned, adding they were taking the matter very seriously.
	Almere police added these "possible pranks seem to have become a trend in the Netherlands now."
	Creepy clown sightings in more than a dozen US states in past weeks have caused a wave of ..

Creepy clowns spotted in Netherlands

Calls grew today for Germany to honour and reward three Syrian "heroes" who captured a compatriot suspected of plotting to bomb a Berlin airport in the name of the Islamic State group.
	"The young men deserve the Federal Cross of Merit," Social Democrat defence expert Johannes Kahrs told Bild daily, referring to Germany's highest honour for civilians.
	"What they've done is proof of their deep respect for their host country, Germany... It's hard to imagine greater integration (in the country). This is exemplary."
	The top-selling daily Bild described the trio as "the Syrian heroes from Leipzig."
	"Will they be fast-tracked to become German citizens?" it asked.
	The three Syrians had unwittingly invited the 22-year-old fugitive Jaber Albakr to stay at their apartment in the eastern city of Leipzig.
	They only realised later that Albakr was being sought by police, who on Saturday raided his apartment and found 1.5 kilos (over 3 pounds) of TATP, the homemade explosive used by Islamic ...

Honour Syrian 'heroes', German govt urged

EU officials today urged nearly a dozen laggard member states to accelerate their preparations to join by 2018 a bloc-wide system to share passenger information to help detect terrorists.
	Spurred by a wave of jihadist attacks in France and Belgium, the European Parliament in April adopted the Passenger Name Record (PNR) system after resolving privacy concerns that had prevented agreement for some five years.
	Europe's new security commissioner Julian King and home affairs commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos on Thursday underscored the need for the 28 EU member states to step up efforts to fight terrorism, including preparations for the PNR.
	"Everybody has accepted that by spring of 2018 we need to have this system operational and that means we have built the IT and other infrastructure that is necessary to make PNR effective," King told a press conference in Brussels, flanked by Avramopoulos.
	He said it was unfortunate that only a few member states are now ready with the information 

EU laggards urged to accelerate anti-terror preparations

Grieving worshippers today described desperately trying to shelter their children against a hail of gunfire in Kabul that killed at least 18 people gathering to mark Ashura, one of the most important festivals of the Shiite calendar.
	According to witnesses, gunmen entered the Karte Sakhi shrine near Kabul University late yesterday, firing "indiscriminately" on men, women and children as they tried to flee.
	The UN in Afghanistan called the attack an "atrocity" and put the toll at 18 today.
	But the interior ministry later said in a statement that 16 people including three women and two children were killed and 54 wounded in two separate attacks in Kabul yesterday night.
	The statement said the shrine was attacked by an armed suicide bomber wearing a military uniform and apparently acting alone, who started spraying bullets at worshippers.
	At the same time, another attacker entered a nearby mosque and took an unspecified number of people hostage as they were commemorating ...

Mourning Afghans mark Ashura hours after shrine attack

President Francois Hollande speaks of "a problem with Islam" in French society, in excerpts published today of a book in which he also suggests that immigration needs to be curbed.
	"There is a problem with Islam because Islam requires (holy) sites and recognition," Hollande told two journalists from Le Monde newspaper for the book which will be published tomorrow.
	"It's not Islam that poses a problem in the sense of its being a religion that is dangerous in itself, but because it wants to assert itself as a religion in the (French) republic," he is quoted as saying in "Un president ne devrait pas dire ca", which translates as "A president shouldn't say this".
	Elsewhere in the book, Hollande says he thinks "there are too many arrivals, immigration that should not take place."
	Immigration and national identity are key themes in campaigning for next year's presidential election, which has echoes of the US race for the White House, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen riding high in ...

France's Hollande admits 'problem with Islam'

A French mayor sparked outrage among rights groups today after putting up anti- migrant posters and calling for a local referendum ahead of the arrival of asylum seekers in his town.
	Under the headline "That's It, They're Coming", is an image of a crowd of migrants, all of them men, outside the cathedral of the southern town of Beziers.
	"The state is imposing them on us," the poster reads. "Migrants in our town centre."
	The poster put out by Mayor Robert Menard, an ally of the far-right National Front, is a reaction to government plans to relocate thousands of migrants from the north coast to dozens of sites around France.
	It is reminiscent of a controversial poster created by leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, former head of Britain's anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP), showing a vast queue of migrants under the slogan "Breaking Point".
	Emmaus, a French group that works with migrants and other homeless people, denounced Menard's poster as "nauseating" in a post ..

French mayor sparks row with anti-migrant posters

At least 14 Shiites were killed today in a powerful blast at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, the second deadly attack on the minority in as many days during the major festival of Ashura.
	"The explosion happened at the gate of the Shiite mosque in the centre of Balkh district (in Balkh province)," said the provincial governor's spokesman Munir Ahmad Farhad, adding that 14 people were killed and 28 injured.
	His account was confirmed by the provincial deputy police chief.
	The blast came as the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for twin attacks in Kabul yesterday that also targeted Shiites, killing up to 18 people and wounding dozens.
	Witnesses said gunmen entered the Karte Sakhi shrine near Kabul University late yesterday, firing indiscriminately on men, women and children as they tried to flee. The interior ministry said one was wearing a suicide vest.
	At the same time, another attacker entered a nearby mosque and took an unspecified number of people hostage as they were 

AFP

AFP

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