Details of Arnold Palmer's public memorial service next week were unveiled as grieving golfers at the Ryder Cup continued to share stories and sadness with one another.
     The iconic figure died of heart issues last Sunday at age 87 and will have a public ceremony Tuesday in his hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
     "A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Arnold Palmer" will be staged at 11 a.M. (1500 GMT) at the Saint Vincent College Basilica. Seating will be limited with indoor overflow seating locations on campus with feeds of the ceremony, to be shown live on the Golf Channel, a network Palmer co-founded to boost the sport's profile.
     Palmer's family asked that in lieu of sending flowers, people should visit the website iam.Arniesarmy.Org to share stories about Palmer.
     Sharing stories has been a way for golfers at the Ryder Cup, many of whom were inspired by Palmer personally, to cope with the sorrow felt at his passing.
     "We all talked about it when we got ...

Palmer memorial details set as Ryder Cup players cope with

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Australia's fast bowling reserves will be put to the test during a five-match one-day international series against South Africa starting at Centurion on Friday.
     The world's leading one-day team will be without an entire battery of top-class pace bowlers when they take on their fourth-ranked challengers.
     Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have been rested, while Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, Pat Cummins, James Faulkner and Peter Siddle were ruled out by injury.
     The touring squad includes three new fast bowlers in Daniel Worrall, who earned his first cap in Australia's nine-wicket win against Ireland in Benoni on Tuesday, Chris Tremain and Joe Mennie.
     The only experienced seamers in the squad are John Hastings, Scott Boland and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who between them have only 73 caps and 80 wickets in one-day internationals.
     A key bowler for Australia could be leg-spinner Adam Zampa, 24, who made his debut in February and has taken 25 wickets in 13 .

Australia's rookie fast bowlers face South Africa test

The United States said that it conducted drone strikes against Al-Qaeda in Yemen last week, killing four members of the terror group.
	The first attack occurred on September 20 in Marib province and left two Al-Qaeda operatives dead, the military's central command for the Middle East said in a statement yesterday.
	The second attack, on September 22 in central Baida province, killed two Al-Qaeda members, it said.
	The two drone strikes had been reported by Yemeni security officials but this was the first time the United States claimed them.
	Washington has been involved in a years-long unmanned drone campaign in Yemen and considers Al-Qaeda's Yemen-based franchise -- Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) -- to be its most dangerous.
	"These were Al-Qaeda operatives who continue to support their organization's destabilizing effects in Yemen," said Army Major Josh Jacques, US Central Command spokesman, in the statement.
	"US Central Command continues to protect the US, its allies and 

US says drone strikes in Yemen killed 4 Al-Qaeda members

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has agreed to cut production by 750,000 barrels a day, citing a delegation member.
	The surprise news triggered an immediate spike of more than 5 per cent in crude prices, as markets had expected the Algiers meeting to end without agreement.
	In London benchmark Brent North Sea crude for November delivery rose USD 2.72 to USD 48.69, while in New York a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up USD 2.38 to USD 47.05.
	OPEC members, whose countries produce 40 per cent of the world's crude oil, agreed to cut their output to 32.5 million barrels per day, Bloomberg said citing a delegation source who requested anonymity.
	An informal OPEC meeting opened in Algiers earlier today to discuss a possible freeze in output by the cartel, with the aim of raising prices which have fallen by more than half since mid-2014.

OPEC to cut output by 750,000 barrels per day

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate dusted off an old telegraph at a Yukon museum to send the first royal Twitter message in Morse code today.
	The couple are on a tour of Canada's Northwest with their two young children.
	In Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon territory, they dictated a message transcribed by a 90-year-old former telegraph operator that read simply: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, September 2016, Whitehorse Yukon."
	It was reportedly the first message sent from the century-old log Telegraph House at the MacBride Museum in more than 80 years.
	"Their royal highnesses have connected Yukon's communications past with today's modern global digital technology," Yukon Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor said in a statement.
	A local software developer rigged the telegraph key to convert strokes into a digital signal that would allow messages to be posted on Twitter.
	Now, visitors to the museum will be able to use the telegraph to send their own Twitter ..

William and Kate dust off old Yukon telegraph to send tweet

Three injured in US school shooting, suspect in custody:

The missile that downed flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine was transported from Russia, a criminal inquiry revealed today, as it announced that about 100 people were being investigated for playing "an active role" in the disaster.
	Saying they had "irrefutable evidence" that the BUK missile system was used to blow the Malaysia Airlines plane out of the sky, investigators also for the first time pinpointed that the device was fired from a field in a part of eastern Ukraine then controlled by pro-Russia separatists.
	The findings of the Dutch-led probe stopped short of directly accusing Moscow of involvement in the tragedy in July 2014, and both the rebels and Russia issued fresh statements denying any responsibility.
	But the new details appeared to back up accusations from Ukraine and the West that pro-Russian rebels were to blame using a missile which may have been provided by Moscow.
	The Boeing 777 was ripped apart mid-air during a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukraine, .

'MH17 shot down by missile brought into Ukraine from Russia'

Protesters gathered today in a California town following the police shooting of an unarmed black man who was reportedly mentally ill.
	The man, identified by a relative as Ugandan native Alfred Olango, 30, was shot yesterday in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon after police received a call about a man behaving erratically and walking in traffic.
	El Cajon police chief Jeff Davis said Olango had ignored repeated calls by officers to remove his hand from his pocket and one officer used a Taser against him while another fired his weapon as they felt threatened.
	"At one point, the subject rapidly drew an object from his front pants pocket, placed both hands together and extended them rapidly toward the officer taking up what appeared to be a shooting stance," Davis said in a statement. "At this time, the officer with the electronic control device discharged his weapon.
	"Simultaneously, the officer with the firearm discharged his weapon several times, striking the subject."
	The shooting .

Protests after unarmed black man shot dead by US police

Israeli archeologists have discovered a stone toilet while excavating a Jewish shrine at an ancient city gate, they said today, in evidence a biblical king tried to stamp out worship there.
	King Hezekiah deliberately defiled the eighth centry BC shrine at the door to the ancient city of Lachish, as part of a campaign to centralise Jewish ritual in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority said.
	"A toilet was installed in the holy of holies as the ultimate desecration of that place," the IAA said in a statement.
	"A stone fashioned in the shape of a chair with a hole in its centre was found in the corner of the room."
	The authority said it was the first time an archeological find confirmed the practice of installing a toilet to discourage worship, which is referred to in the biblical Book of Kings in an account of King Jehu's fight against worshippers of the pagan deity Baal.
	"And they demolished the pillar of Baal, and demolished the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this .

Israel archeologists find taboo toilet at Jewish shrine

Dutch prosecutors, for the first time in their long inquiry, today released the names of two Russian-speaking men in connection with the MH17 disaster after investigators found the missile to down the plane had been transported from Russia.
	The inquiry is "especially looking for more information" on two people, Dutch investigators said hours after releasing a report into their initial criminal findings.
	The men used the pseudonyms of "Orion" and "Delfin" but have been respectively identified as Andrey Ivanovich and Nikolay Fiodorovich, according to a statement published on the Dutch police's website.
	It is the first time that the probe, which also includes investigators from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine, has named individuals in relation to the attack.
	The inquiry team released five wiretapped conversations in Russian "in which these people participate," the statement said.
	But, it stressed, "there is no evidence that these calls are directly related to the shooting ..

Dutch name two Russian speakers in MH17 probe

The US Senate voted overwhelmingly today to override Barack Obama's veto of a bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, the first such rebuke of his eight-year presidency.
	In a landmark 97-1 vote backing the override, only outgoing Obama ally, Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, voted against it, teeing up a similar vote in the House of Representatives later today.
	The rare act of bipartisanship is a severe blow to Obama, who lobbied hard against the bill, known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).
	The rebuke marks Obama's last months in office and shows the White House to be much weakened.
	Obama has issued 12 vetoes during his presidency. Until now none have been overridden, a rare feat given Republicans' longstanding control of Congress.
	His Republican predecessor George W Bush also issued 12 vetoes and four were overriden. The last president to avoid an override was legendary Democratic congressional dealmaker -- and former senator and congressman -- Lyndon .

US Senate votes to override Obama's 9/11 bill veto

Close to half of the leadership of Spain's Socialist party quit today, a spokesman said, in a bid to oust leader Pedro Sanchez that deepens the crisis in the 137-year-old grouping.
	The Socialists (PSOE) have for months been wracked by internal dissent that has now burst firmly into the open after the party took a drubbing in two weekend regional polls.
	This was the breaking point for many high-ranking party officials, as it followed historically low results in December general elections and in a repeat vote in June.
	"Seventeen resignations...Were handed in today," a party spokesman told AFP.
	A Socialist lawmaker who opposes Sanchez, and refused to be named, told AFP that with two separate, former resignations, this takes the number of party executives that have quit to 19.
	As such, under party rules, the 35-member executive now "must be dissolved and its powers passed on to a caretaker administration," he added.
	Sanchez had yet to comment early Wednesday evening.
	As Spain's ...

Mass resignation among Spain Socialists to oust leader

A top pro-Russian separatist commander in eastern Ukraine today denied Dutch findings blaming the downing of Flight MH17 on a Russian missile fired from rebel-held territory.
	"The forces of the People's Republic of Donetsk could not have fired at the plane from a BUK system because we have no such sort of weapons," general Eduard Basurin of the self-proclaimed republic told AFP.
	A criminal inquiry in the Netherlands found today that the missile that shot the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 out of the sky was snuck out of and back into Russia.
	The investigators also confirmed that the missile that slammed into the plane was fired from a field in a part of eastern Ukraine under the control of the separatists at the time.
	But the Dutch-led investigation did not directly accuse Moscow of supplying the BUK missile and its transporter system -- and the Russian government has repeatedly denied any involvement.
	The passenger jet was shot down in July 2014 on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala .

Ukraine rebels deny downing Flight MH17, reject probe findings

Former US president Bill Clinton will travel to Israel to attend the funeral of Shimon Peres, but will not be joined by Hillary Clinton as she campaigns in the final stretch of the White House race, her team said today.
	Clinton, who oversaw the signing of the Oslo Accords that envisioned an independent Palestinian state, paid tribute upon news of Peres' death to "a fervent advocate for peace and reconciliation and for a future where all the children of Abraham build a better tomorrow."
	An advisor to Hillary Clinton said she would not join world leaders in Jerusalem Friday as they pay their respects to the Nobel peace prize winner who died Wednesday at 93.
	The Democrat was taken off the campaign trail for several days earlier this month by a bout of pneumonia, and spent part of last week hunkered down with advisors prepping for her high-stakes debate against Donald Trump.
	On Friday she has a slew of campaign events planned in swing state Florida.

Bill Clinton to attend Peres funeral

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Wednesday it had handed "severe reprimands" to three boxers for betting on fights at the Rio Games, two of them Irish.
     Michael Conlan, Steven Donnelly and Britain's Anthony Fowler -- cousin of the former Liverpool and England footballer Robbie Fowler -- breached rules introduced for the Games in August.
     Donnelly was found to have made two bets on himself to lose one of his bouts -- which he later won so did not win any money.
     "Participants at the Olympic Games are not permitted to bet on Olympic events and are obliged to report any approach or suspicion of manipulation," the IOC said in a statement.
     Bantamweight Conlan, 24, welterweight Donnelly, 28, and middleweight Fowler, 25, must now all prove they have successfully followed the IOC's educational programme if they want to fight at Tokyo 2020.
     The punishments were not harsher because "there was no intent to manipulate any event", the IOC said.
     The IOC also 

IOC reprimands three boxers for Rio betting

The United States is ready to send around 600 troops to Iraq to train local forces for an upcoming offensive on the Islamic State group stronghold of Mosul, US officials said today.
	IS seized Mosul along with other areas in June 2014, but the country's forces have since regained significant ground from the jihadists and are readying for a drive to retake Iraq's second city.
	Speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement, the officials said the troops would mainly be deployed to Qayyarah, a strategically vital air base south of Mosul that will help funnel supplies and troops toward the city.
	US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was due to make an announcement later today while on a work trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
	"In consultation with the government of Iraq, the United States is prepared to provide additional US military personnel to train and advise the Iraqis as the planning for the Mosul campaign intensifies," another US official said, again speaking on ...

US to send 'around 600' more troops to Iraq: US officials

US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Russian counterpart today and warned him that Washington will end talks on the Syrian conflict unless Moscow halts the assault on Aleppo.
	A State Department spokesman said Kerry told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that plans to set up a joint US-Russia military cell to target jihadist groups in Syria would also be put on hold.
	"He informed the foreign minister that the US is making preparations to suspend US-Russia bilateral engagement on Syria...Unless Russia takes immediate steps to end the assault on Aleppo and restore the cessation of hostilities," spokesman John Kirby said.
	Kerry and Lavrov have been leading international efforts to bring Syria's five-year-old civil war to an end, and on September 9 agreed to demand a ceasefire.
	Moscow was to order its ally Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to rein in his military and end the bombardment of civilian communities, and Washington was to persuade rebel forces to separate themselves from the 

US threatens to end negotiations with Russia on Syria

Woes deepened today for employees of troubled conglomerate Saudi Oger which laid off more than 1,300 staff at a printing plant for the Koran, a newspaper reported.
	The once-mighty firm led by Lebanon's billionaire former prime minister Saad Hariri has been hit by a drop in income from its core construction business after Saudi Arabia delayed or cancelled projects in the face of plummeting oil revenues.
	Other construction companies, which are dependent on state contracts, have also suffered because of delayed government receipts.
	But sources earlier told AFP that the broader economic context is compounded at Saudi Oger by deeper problems including poor management.
	The Saudi Gazette said the contract staff at the King Fahad Koran Printing Complex in the Muslim holy city of Medina received termination notices yesterday.
	It said it obtained a copy of the notice ordering workers "to complete the end of service procedures" as their contracts had been terminated on September 3.
	They ...

Troubled Saudi firm lays off Koran printers

A Swiss army helicopter crashed in a high alpine pass today, killing two aviators and leaving a third person injured, the Swiss army said.
	No cause for the crash was provided by army spokesman Aldo Schellenberg, who described it as an "accident" that occurred shortly after takeoff.
	Four visiting French military officers had disembarked just before the incident and were unharmed, Schellenberg said.
	The accident happened around midday (1000 GMT) in the remote Gotthard Pass in the Ticino canton near a hospice that stands at an altitude of 2,100 metres (6,900 feet).
	"The two pilots did not survive the accident," the army spokesman said, identifying the injured person as a "flight assistant", who was taken to a hospital.
	The helicopter involved was an Airbus-made Super Puma.
	The Swiss army has grounded all Super Pumas until the causes of the accident have been identified, Schellenberg said.
	At the end of August, a Swiss pilot died after crashing his F/A-18 in the Hinter-Tierberg ...

Swiss army helicopter crash kills 2

US threatens to end negotiations with Russia on Syria.

German carrier Lufthansa today said it would buy the 55 per cent of Brussels Airlines it does not already own, completing a long-mooted takeover and stepping up its battle against low-cost rivals.
	Shareholders in Brussels Airlines must still agree to the deal, the statement said, adding that managers expect to complete the transaction by early 2017.
	Lufthansa has owned 45 per cent of Brussels Airlines owner SN Airholding since 2009 and kept an option to buy the rest from around 30 remaining shareholders.
	The companies did not reveal the price Lufthansa would pay for the remaining stake.
	The Belgian carrier returned to profitability for the first time in years in 2015.
	Lufthansa has previously said that it would add Brussels' 49-strong fleet to its own Eurowings low-cost offering, as chief executive Carsten Spohr builds the brand up for a Europe-wide battle with rivals Ryanair and Easyjet.
	A deadline for the German giant's final decision, originally set for June this year at the .

AFP

AFP

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