Former Australia medium-pace bowler and colourful television commentator Max Walker has died aged 68 after a long battle with skin cancer.
     Cricket Australia said Walker played 34 Tests between 1972-73 and 1977. He took 138 wickets at 27.47 and played 17 one-day internationals.
     Sporting a handlebar moustache, the Tasmanian was a fan favourite nicknamed "Tangles" for his unusual bowling action.
     A key figure into the launch of World Series Cricket in the late 1970s, Walker backed up quick legends Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson.
     Former Test opener and coach Dean Jones tweeted: "So sad to hear of the passing of Max Walker.
     "What a great cricketer, author and story teller. Ripper bloke whose smile lit up a room!"
     Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland paid tribute to "an outstanding cricketer who played an important role in the emergence of successful Australian cricket teams in the 1970s.
     "With ball or bat in hand, Max was always fiercely ...

Australia's raconteur bowler Max Walker dead at 68

PTI Automatic

Oil prices posted marginal gains in Asia today as an industry report showing a decline in US stockpiles was offset by worries about the chances of this week's key producers meeting ending with a deal to limit output.
	The American Petroleum Institute (API) said yesterday that US supplies fell by 752,000 barrels last week, fuelling hopes official figures Wednesday will also show lower inventories in the world's top economy and oil consumer.
	However, there are fears a deal between Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia this week will not be struck when they meet in Algeria to discuss a global supply glut and overproduction that has hammered prices for two years.
	On the eve of the gathering Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told reporters: "It's not in our agenda to reach an agreement in two days. We need time for more consultation."
	Tehran's position means other participants -- particularly regional rival and OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia -- are unlikely to ...

Oil stages weak rebound as hopes ease for output deal

Ashton Carter

He said, the ability to strike first has been our policy for a long time, and is part of our plans going forward

No plans to change US nuke strike rules: Ashton Carter

Israeli ex-president and Nobel laureate Shimon Peres dies:

With the Syrian city of Aleppo facing a new regime onslaught and Washington's diplomacy under criticism for failing to halt the carnage, the United States announced a new aid package.
	The State Department said it would release a further USD 364 million to UN aid agencies and NGOs working to help vulnerable Syrian civilians inside and outside the war-torn country.
	The latest slice of funding brings the total amount that the United States -- the effort's biggest single donor -- has spent since the war started more than five years ago to USD 5.9 billion.
	But the assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration Anne Richard confirmed it would come from funds already allocated by Congress and does not represent new US spending.
	"And this is probably... Our last announcement of the fiscal year," she told reporters at a briefing to announce the measure three days before the end of the 2016 government spending period.
	The civil war in Syria erupted in early 2011, when .

As Aleppo burns, US announces new slice of Syria aid

A hundred prominent women from 38 countries have directed a petition to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urging him to fulfill his promise to achieve a permanent peace to end the Korean War.
	In a letter made public yesterday, a diverse group of scholars, journalists, activists and writers pressed him to use his remaining time as UN chief to "initiate a peace process, together with the UN Security Council president, to replace the 1953 armistice agreement with a binding peace treaty to end the Korean War."
	Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, is set to step down in January.
	The signatories urged him to "conclude this peace process by 2018, the 70th anniversary of Korea's division into two separate states" and "ensure that women are significantly represented in the peace process."
	"On both sides of the DMZ (demilitarised zone separating the two sides), the absence of a binding peace accord fuels fear, violations of human rights and economic deprivation caused by diverting ...

Women petition UN chief to pursue Korea peace treaty

Lester Holt, who moderated the first US presidential debate, gave a restrained performance that earned him both critics for his hands-off style, and praise for letting the candidates battle it out.
	NBC's widely respected evening news anchor earned a "C, C+" grade from the Republican candidate Donald Trump, who judged he had been asked "unfair" questions.
	"I thought he was fine," Trump told on Fox News yesterday. "I mean nothing outstanding. He gave me very unfair questions at the end."
	The billionaire real estate mogul went on to complain bitterly that Holt had been too easy on his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
	"He didn't ask her about the emails, he didn't ask her about the scandals, he didn't ask her about the Benghazi deal."
	Holt's role had been the subject of widespread debate ahead of the event following an avalanche of criticism that fell on fellow NBC anchor Matt Lauer, whose job moderating a forum with both candidates earlier this month was lambasted for being unfair .

US debate moderator Lester Holt gets grilling of his own

The United States has tapped Jeffrey DeLaurentis, America's top diplomat in Havana, to become the first official ambassador to Cuba in five decades.
	"The appointment of an ambassador is a common sense step forward toward a more normal and productive relationship between our two countries," Obama said in a statement.
	Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced a thaw in relations in December 2014.
	Since then, Washington and Havana have taken once-unthinkable steps to mend ties after more than half a century of enmity.
	President Obama has visit Cuba and relaxed portions of the US embargo imposed since 1962.
	Flights have resumed and cruise ships can now sail from Miami to Havana.
	US companies like Airbnb and Netflix now operate in Cuba and American hotel group Starwood recently opened a Sheraton in Havana.
	DeLaurentis is already in Havana and previously worked in Bogota and at the United Nations.
	But his nomination, which requires Senate confirmation, is likely to face stiff .

Obama names first ambassador to Cuba in five decades

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk today unveiled his plans for establishing a human colony on Mars, using a massive rocket and a fleet of spaceships to achieve a self-sustaining population on the Red Planet this century.
	Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara, Musk showed a futuristic video depicting his ideas for an interplanetary transport system based on re-usable rockets, a propellant farm on Mars and 1,000 spaceships on orbit, carrying about 100 people each.
	The spacecraft would have a restaurant, cabins, zero-gravity games and movies.
	"It has to be fun or exciting. It can't feel cramped or boring," he said.
	The first flight would be expensive but the aim is "making this affordable to almost anyone who wants to go," by dropping the price of a ticket over time to USD 100,000, Musk said.
	Millions of tons of cargo would also need to blast off aboard a powerful rocket, which he described as a "scaled-up version of the Falcon 9 ...

Elon Musk promises 'fun' trip to Mars colony

The board of the World Bank has unanimously agreed to name Jim Yong Kim to a second term as president, the global lender announced today.
	Kim had been the only candidate in a process criticised by World Bank staff and campaigners as lacking in transparency and dominated by the United States.
	In a statement announcing the decision, the Bank's board offered a strong endorsement of Kim's record, including setting the goal of eliminating extreme global poverty by 2030 and an internal reorganisation to promote better coordination which provoked staff dissent.
	The board also said an effort under Kim to cut bank spending had reduced administrative costs by $400 million, money then reinvested to support the bank's goals.
	"Chairs expressed satisfaction that this Expenditure Review is on track, allowing the organisation to increase its support for countries and focus on delivering results more quickly," the statement said.
	Following an unwritten rule, the United States, the Bank's largest .

World Bank unanimously reappoints President Jim Yong Kim

Donald Trump's case of the sniffles during presidential debate with Hillary Clinton yesterday night has gone viral on social media, spawning jokes and ironic asides about a candidate who has made his opponent's health an issue.
	Hashtags like #Sniffles, #TrumpSniffles and #Trumpsniffing proliferated after the Republican sniffled repeatedly in the opening minutes of the widely watched matchup.
	Comedian Stephen Colbert joked that Trump "sounded like he was fighting off a cold with cocaine."
	Clinton's debate comment about her opponent's "Trumped-up trickle down" positions was immediately linked to his runny nose.
	Others asked about Trump's health. "Sounds like pneumonia to me," tweeted former Democratic congressman John Dingell.
	Pneumonia knocked Clinton off the campaign for a few days trail earlier this month, after Trump had repeatedly raised questions about her health and stamina.
	"Geezus, Trump is going to make HRC sick again!" tweeted Carla Ingraham, paying on his "Make America 

Trump debate sniffles go viral

Scoreboard of the third and final Twenty20 international between Pakistan and West Indies played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium:
	   West Indies
	   J. Charles b Wasim                     5
	   A. Fletcher run out                    9
	   C. Walton b Wasim                      0
	   M. Samuels not out                    42
	   D. Bravo b Wasim                      11
	   N. Pooran c Malik b Nawaz             16
	   K. Pollard not out                    16
	   Extras: (lb 3, w 1)                    4
	   Total: (for five wkts; 20 overs)     103
	   Did not bat: C. Brathwaite, S. Narine, J. Taylor, K. Williams
	   Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Charles), 2-12 (Walton), 3-17 (Fletcher), 4-31 (Bravo), 5-66 (Pooran)
	   Bowling: Wasim 4-1-21-3, Tanvir 4-0-22-0, Nawaz 3-0-16-1 (1w), Amir 4-0-20-0, Malik 2-0-11-0, Raees 3-0-10-0
	   Pakistan
	   Sharjeel Khan c Fletcher b Williams 11
	   Khalid Latif b Williams             21
	   Babar Azam not out                  27
	   Shoaib Malik not out               

Pakistan vs West Indies Twenty20 scoreboard

The suspect in the bombing this month in New York's Chelsea neighborhood appears to have acted on his own, with no connection to an extremist movement, the FBI said Tuesday.
	"We see so far no indication of a larger cell or the threat of related attacks," FBI director James Comey testified at a Senate committee hearing.
	The suspect in the September 17 bombing that left 31 people wounded, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was arrested two days after the attack.
	US prosecutors, in a 13-page indictment on September 20, slapped him with four charges, including use of weapons of mass destruction.
	In addition to the New York attack, he is charged with a pipe bombing, also on September 17, in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and planting several other bombs.
	A naturalised US citizen born in Afghanistan, Rahami made several trips in recent years to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
	The terror charges came after the Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted it had investigated Rahami for terrorism in 2014 following a ..

New York bomb suspect apparently acted alone: FBI

Six people were killed when a helicopter chartered by US oil giant Chevron crashed off the coast of Angola, security forces confirmed today.
	The accident happened late yesterday near the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda, Captain Armando Nzawisa of the Angolan armed forces, who is heading emergency operations, told AFP.
	Four Angolans and two expatriates were killed.
	"The helicopter crashed in bad weather en route to a Chevron platform," Nzawisa said.
	The bodies of the four Angolans have been recovered but search operations for the two foreigners was still underway, with 19 vessels and three helicopters deployed.
	Five of the people killed were Chevron employees. The sixth was the pilot, employed by Angolan company Heli Malongo, whose nationality has not been disclosed.
	"We have opened an internal enquiry into the causes of the accident," John Baltz, head of Chevron's Angolan subsidiary, told a press conference.
	The helicopter was used as a shuttle between oil platforms and Chevron's ..

Six killed in Angola helicopter crash

Seychelles President James Michel announced his resignation today, saying he will stand down on October 16 after his party lost legislative elections.
	The surprise announcement came after an opposition coalition in the former British colony broke the ruling party's four-decade grip on power earlier this month.
	The 72-year-old, who was elected for a third five-year term last December but by a wafer-thin margin, is expected to be replaced by his vice-president Danny Faure.
	"After 12 years as president, the time has come to hand over the reins of power to a new leader.
	A new leader who will take Seychelles to the next frontier of its development," Michel said in a nationally televised address.
	In polls earlier this month the opposition coalition of the Seychellois Democratic Alliance won 15 parliament seats against 10 for the ruling Parti Lepep, known as the People's Party locally.
	Parti Lepep has been in power since a coup in 1977, a year after independence, and it had won a ...

Seychelles president announces resignation after poll loss

Climate change could transform East Africa's Lake Victoria into a dangerous thunderstorm hotspot, threatening some 200,000 fishermen who ply its waters at night, according to a study released today.
	Already some 3,000 to 5,000 fishermen lose their lives in violent storms on the lake every year, according to the International Red Cross.
	Superstorms that only occur once every 15 years today would, if global warming continues apace, happen annually by century's end, said the study published in Nature Communications.
	The basic weather pattern that causes night-time storms over Victoria exists already, but would be amplified, explained lead author Wim Thiery, a researcher at the University of Leuven in Belgium.
	"During the day, a breeze develops that flows from the cool water towards the warm land," he said in a statement.
	"At night, we see the opposite: the land breeze flows away from the cooling land," converging over the warmer, oval lake.
	"Add evaporation to this cocktail, and ...

Lake Victoria a 'thunderstorm hotspot' with climate change

Russian investigative journalist Grigory Pasko, who was jailed for espionage for exposing radioactive pollution by the navy, said today he was hit on the head by unidentified attackers in Siberia.
	Pasko told Echo of Moscow radio station that two burly men approached him outside his hotel in the city of Barnaul where he was holding a seminar and one "hit me very hard on the temple."
	The attackers shouted at him- "Get out of our city - we'll get you!" said Pasko, who is the director of Foundation 19/29 that supports investigative journalists.
	The Russian Union of Journalists said in a statement it was "concerned by what happened to Grigory Pasko and will follow how the situation develops."
	Pasko was convicted of treason in 2001 after filming the Russian navy dumping radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan while working for its in-house newspaper and sharing the footage with Japanese television.
	He was sentenced to four years in prison for espionage and high treason and was released ..

Russian investigative journalist says attacked in Siberia

Left-arm spinner Imad Wasim continued his wicket-taking form to help Pakistan restrict the West Indies to 103-5 in the third and final Twenty20 international in Abu Dhabi today.
	Wasim finished with 3-21 as West Indies - sent in to bat - were left struggling at 31-4 before they added 72 more runs on a slow bounce pitch at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
	Marlon Samuels, who top-scored with a 59-ball 42 not out, added 37 for the unbroken sixth-wicket stand with Kieron Pollard, who made an unbeaten 16.
	Pakistan had already sealed the series after winning the first two matches by nine wickets and 16 runs respectively, both in Dubai.

Wasim restricts West Indies to 103-5 in final T20

Egypt raised the wreck of a migrant boat today and recovered at least 33 bodies, taking to 202 the death toll from last week's sinking off the country's Mediterranean coast.
	Survivors said up to 450 migrants had been crowded aboard the fishing trawler when it keeled over off the port city of Rosetta on September 14, including an estimated 100 in its hold.
	The Egyptian military said 163 people had been rescued, meaning the boat would have had at least 365 people on board when it went down en route to Italy, according to official figures.
	Today, divers and a salvage vessel belonging to a petroleum company pulled the trawler to the surface some 12 kilometres (eight miles) offshore.
	"The boat is being dragged to shore" after bodies trapped in the hold were recovered, Wahdan al-Sayed, spokesman for Beheira province in northern Egypt, told AFP.
	Sixteen of the 33 bodies retrieved on today had been handed over to their relatives, while the rest were still being identified, said the ...

Egypt recovers sunken migrant boat and 33 more bodies

A professor at Italy's venerable University of Bologna has sparked a storm by inviting students to cheat by copying - saying they will just be following the example of some of their teachers accused of plagiarism.
	Luccio Piccio, a professor of economics and politics at the university - the western world's oldest - said he could no longer tolerate the impunity with which some of his fellow academics are treated.
	"I want to announce that I will not check whether you have copied, because in all conscience I can't ask you to respect rules which (Bologna) allows its teaching staff to violate," he wrote in an online message.
	"In effect, a system is in place which guarantees teachers' impunity in case of plagiarism," he added on website of the Alma Mater Studiorum university, founded in 1088.
	In his message, Piccio refers to several proven cases of plagiarism implicating some of his colleagues who have gone unpunished due to what he says is an omerta, or vow of silence, at the ...

Plagiarism flap at top Italian university

The world's first baby has been born thanks to a controversial new technique employed by US scientists to include DNA from three parents in the embryo, said a report today.
	The baby boy was born five months ago in Mexico to Jordanian parents, and is healthy and doing well, said the report in New Scientist magazine, described as an "exclusive."
	The boy's mother carried genes for a disorder known as Leigh Syndrome, a fatal nervous system disorder which she had passed on to her two previous children who both died of the disease.
	She had also suffered four miscarriages.
	The woman, whose identity was withheld by New Scientist, and her husband sought the help of John Zhang, a doctor from the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City to have a baby that would be genetically related to them but would not carry the inherited disease.
	The United States has not approved any three-parent method for fertility purposes, so Zhang went to Mexico where he was quoted by New Scientist as saying ...

AFP

AFP

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