Buckwheat Zydeco, the accordion player who found an unexpected mainstream audience with the danceable genre of Louisiana's Creole community, has died. He was 68.
	The artist, whose real name was Stanley Dural Jr, had been suffering from lung cancer. His manager, Ted Fox, wrote on his website that Buckwheat died yesterday at 1:32 am (local time), "keeping musicians' hours right to the bitter end."
	Buckwheat grew up in a musical family immersed in the sounds of zydeco, which has similarities to the blues but is defined by a faster-paced, up-tempo sound.
	"My dad played the accordion for family entertainment. He played the accordion every day, in the morning before work, when he came home for lunch and after supper," he said in a 2014 interview with the Nuvo newspaper of Indianapolis.
	Before Buckwheat, the music was seldom heard outside of the homes of Louisiana Creoles, the people of the southern US state with blended African, French and indigenous roots.
	But after winning critical ..

Buckwheat Zydeco, who took genre mainstream, dead at 68

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Reclusive, gentle and quick to roll up into a ball, pangolins keep a low profile.
	But they are also the world's most heavily trafficked mammal, and experts at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) conference this week are ringing alarm bells over their survival.
	Demand for pangolin meat and body parts has fuelled a bloodbath, and driven the scale-covered, ant-eating mammal towards extinction.
	More than a million pangolins are believed to have been poached from the wild in the past decade.
	Most are used to supply demand in China and Vietnam, where they are highly regarded as a delicacy and an ingredient in traditional medicine.
	At the CITES meeting in Johannesburg, conservationists will discuss moving pangolins into the highest protection category, which bans all international trade.
	"The pangolin today is regarded as the most heavily trafficked mammal in the world," CITES chief John Scanlon told AFP.
	"There has been a massive surge in the illegal ..

Shy pangolins need world spotlight to survive

The embattled leader of jihadist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, resurfaced in a video posted online today, rejecting assertions by the Nigerian army that he had been seriously wounded.
	"You have been spreading in the social media that you injured or killed me," Shekau said in the 40-minute video released on YouTube and dated September 25.
	"Oh tyrants, I'm in a happy state, in good health and in safety."
	The Nigerian army said on August 23 that Shekau had been seriously wounded in the shoulder in an air raid in which several commanders were killed.
	The army's claim was bolstered when Boko Haram released a video on September 13 without Shekau in it.
	That video, also posted on YouTube, shows an unidentified man who says he is representing Shekau, who had allegedly been ousted by the Islamic State group to which Boko Haram pledged allegiance in March 2015.
	Nigerian soldiers, with the support of regional troops, have recaptured swathes of territory lost to the jihadists since ...

Embattled Boko Haram leader Shekau resurfaces in video

A gunman today killed prominent Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar outside a court where he was facing charges for sharing a cartoon deemed offensive to Islam, state news agency Petra reported.
	Hattar was struck by three bullets before the assailant was arrested, said Petra. Witnesses told AFP that a man had opened fire in front of the court in Amman's Abdali district.
	The 56-year-old Christian was arrested on August 13 after posting a cartoon mocking jihadists on his Facebook account.
	He was charged with inciting sectarian strife and insulting Islam before being released on bail in early September.
	Jordan's attorney general had imposed a blackout on media coverage of the case.
	Hattar removed the cartoon from his Facebook page after it triggered outrage on social media.
	Jordan is a leading member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighbouring Iraq and Syria, and was the target of a June 21 suicide bombing that killed seven border guards.
	The kingdom has ...

Gunman kills Jordanian writer charged over anti-Islam cartoon

Pakistan today recalled dashing batsman Umar Akmal to their one-day squad for the upcoming series against West Indies after he was sidelined for 18 months over disciplinary problems.
	The 26-year-old played the last of his 111 one-day internationals in March during the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
	Negative comments about Akmal's behaviour by former head coach Waqar Younis and ex-manager Intikhab Alam almost derailed his career.
	He was recalled to the Twenty20 squad earlier this month after being passed over for five months.
	Pakistan lead the current three-match Twenty20 series against the West Indies 2-0, with the final game on Tuesday.
	The first One-Day International is in Sharjah on Friday, followed by another at the same venue on October 2 and one in Abu Dhabi on October 5.
	They will also play three Tests after the limited-over series.
	There were also ODI recalls for batsman Asad Shafiq and pacemen Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali. Shafiq and Khan have not played ...

Umar Akmal returns to Pakistan one-day squad

Thailand's first female prime minister today told the man who ousted her government two years ago to investigate his own brother over corruption allegations, in an unusually strong broadside against the junta.
	Yingluck Shinawatra was booted from office shortly before army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha seized power in May 2014, the military's second coup in less than a decade and their twelfth successful power grab since 1932.
	Since then she has been hit with a series of junta-led prosecutions including a retroactive impeachment, an ongoing criminal negligence trial that could see her jailed for up to a decade and a separate move to seize more than USD 1 billion in civil damages.
	The last two legal cases stem from a popular but financially costly rice subsidy scheme that Yingluck's government pushed.
	"The Prime Minister (Prayut) says that all the legal actions against me are based on the law and are not bullying," Yingluck wrote on her Facebook account today.
	"I would like the Prime ...

Probe your own brother, ousted Thai PM tells junta chief

Massimiliano Allegri insists focus is fully on claiming the first points of their Champions League campaign after a cagey 1-0 win at Palermo on Saturday maintained the early-season doubts hanging over Juventus.
     The Italian champions travel to Dinamno Zagreb on Tuesday looking for the win that would get their Group H campaign up and running two weeks after a scoreless draw in Turin against Sevilla.
	But, unlike Napoli, who cruised to a 2-0 win at home to Chievo and saw Marek Hamsik hit a cracking 100th goal for the club days before they welcome Benfica to the San Paolo, Juventus were put through the wringer.
	Allegri, who paired Gonzalo Higuain and Mario Mandzukic up front for the first time, saw a flawed performance.
	"In technical terms we should have done much better, but we take the three points home with us," Allegri told Sky Sport.
	Defender Leonardo Bonucci was more candid: "In technical terms, we made a lot of mistakes and when you play for Juventus that can't ...

Jittery Juve focus on Zagreb as Napoli await Benfica

A substituted Cristiano Ronaldo cut a disconsolate figure as Real Madrid conceded a late equaliser to draw 2-2 at Las Palmas.
	Earlier, Barcelona shrugged off the absence of the injured Lionel Messi to move to within a point of Madrid at the top of the table as Luis Suarez and Neymar were on target in a 5-0 thrashing of Sporting Gijon.
	Yesterday, Ronaldo was replaced moments after helping Madrid go 2-1 in front when Karim Benzema slotted home the rebound after the Portuguese's initial effort was saved.
	However, he watched on as Sergio Araujo took advantage of some soft Madrid defending to level as the European champions dropped points for the second time in four days.
	Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane insisted that, despite a sub-par display, Ronaldo had been replaced to keep him fresh for Tuesday's Champions League trip to Borussia Dortmund.
	"We have another game on Tuesday and he has to rest too now and again," Zidane told Spanish TV station Movistar.
	"It is obvious he always wants ..

Unhappy Ronaldo subbed as Madrid held by Las Palmas

Authorities have arrested the suspect behind a shooting that left five people dead at a shopping mall in the US state of Washington, about 24 hours after the killings.
	"Gunman captured tonight by authorities," Washington State Patrol spokesman Sergeant Mark Francis said on Twitter yesterday. There were no other suspects.
	The gunman opened fire with a rifle in the makeup section of a Macy's department store late Friday, killing four women and a man, according to police.
	The FBI office in Seattle said it had no evidence the shooting was terror-related.
	The shooter - described as a Hispanic man in his late teens or early 20s - later left the store on foot, triggering an intense manhunt.
	A weapon was recovered at Cascade Mall in Burlington, a town of about 8,000 people some 110 kilometres north of Seattle.
	"I don't know what his motivation was to do this," Chris Cammock, police chief in the larger nearby town of Mount Vernon, told a news conference. "But I certainly plan to find out 

Police capture gunman in US mall shooting that killed 5

The attacks on civilians in the Syrian city of Aleppo amount to a "breach of international humanitarian law," top EU officials have said, urging the international community to intensify peace efforts.
	"The indiscriminate suffering being caused among innocent civilians... Is an unacceptable breach of international humanitarian law," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and humanitarian commissioner Christos Stylianides said in a statement yesterday.
	They denounced the "fire-bombing and shelling" as well as the "deliberate targeting" of a humanitarian convoy last week and the "cutting off of water supplies to the majority of civilians still in the city."
	The aid convoy was hit by an airstrike that US officials have said was carried out by Russian planes backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
	UN officials say nearly two million civilians were left without water in the devastated northern city after regime bombardment damaged a pumping station and rebels shut down another ..

Attacks on civilians in Aleppo 'breach' humanitarian law: EU

Charlotte police have released footage of the shooting death of a black man during an encounter with officers in the state of North Carolina, after days of protests demanding the videos be made public.
	The Tuesday shooting of Keith Lamont Scott has caused several nights of unrest in the southern US city where various residents have called for the police to hand over the footage.
	The videos were released to a number of US media and posted online. The first shows Scott getting out of a vehicle and walking backwards as police fire four rounds at him, but it is unclear whether he has a gun in hand. A second clip reveals Scott on the ground in the moments after he was shot as officers surround him.
	Police had previously refused to release the dash-cam and body-cam footage, which they said showed that the 43-year-old African American had posed a threat to officers.
	But Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney change his tune yesterday, telling reporters that people "want to see ...

Charlotte police release video of black man's fatal shooting

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in support of Yemen's government has killed a senior Yemeni rebel leader on the border, a source close to the coalition has said.
	Hassan Almalsi, head of Huthi rebel "special forces", was killed two days earlier "during an infiltration attempt along with his squad at Najran", which borders Yemen, said the source yesterday who asked for anonymity.
	He said Almalsi held the rank of rebel "major general".
	The Huthis are allied with soldiers loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
	In late 2014 they seized Yemen's capital Sanaa before moving into other parts of the country.
	Saudi Arabia in March 2015 formed an Arab coalition to begin air strikes and ground support for forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who fled to Riyadh.
	More than 30 civilians have been killed in rebel bombardments of the Najran area since the coalition intervention began.
	Riyadh faces mounting international scrutiny over civilian casualties in its Yemen air ...

Senior Yemeni rebel killed on border: coalition source

Britain, France and the United States have requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting on the escalating campaign in Syria's second city of Aleppo, diplomats have said.
	The meeting was likely to be held at 10 am (local time) today, the diplomats said yesterday.
	Intense air strikes toppled buildings and killed at least 45 civilians in Aleppo yesterday, two days after the Syrian army announced an offencive to retake the rebel-held east of the city.
	UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier said he was appalled by the "chilling" upsurge in fighting in Aleppo and warned that the use of advanced weaponry in the battleground city could amount to war crimes.
	Ban cited reports of air strikes involving the use of incendiary weapons, bunker buster bombs and other powerful munitions in the offencive launched by the Syrian army two days ago to recapture the city.
	He warned that "the apparent systematic use of these types of indiscriminate weapons in densely populated areas may amount to ..

Britain, France, US seek urgent Security Council meet on Syria

Thirteen people died when a panic-stricken crowd stampeded in a troubled town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials have said.
	"The incident happened when a drunken soldier in civilian clothes fired four shots from his gun, causing panic," the mayor of Beni, Jean Edmond Nyonyi, said yesterday.
	"Eight people drowned when they threw themselves in the river, four were killed in accidents and one person died of a heart attack," he said.
	Fears of gun violence run deep in Beni, which lies in a strife-torn, unstable region of the DRC.
	More than 700 people have died since October 2014 in massacres blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a partly Islamist armed group of Ugandan origin.
	Fifty-one people were killed in Beni on August 13, a gruesome slaying that touched off mass protests against the central government in Kinshasa.

13 dead in stampede in eastern DR Congo

A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake has struck off Fiji but there was no threat of a tsunami, US seismologists said.
	The offshore quake hit at 9:28 am (local time) and was centred around 100 km northeast of Ndoi Island, Fiji, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said on its website. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat.

Strong 6.8 earthquake strikes off Fiji: USGS quake monitor

President Francois Hollande, under pressure from the right wing, has stepped up his pledge to combat illegal migration, vowing to dismantle a squalid settlement near Calais and prevent similar camps from becoming established in France.
	"There will be no camps in France," said Hollande on yesterday, two days ahead of a maiden visit to the notorious "Jungle" settlement near Calais, where between 7,000 and 10,000 desperate migrants live.
	The Socialist leader spelt out promises to "completely dismantle" the Jungle and set up "reception and orientation centres around the country" to accommodate asylum-seekers.
	Hollande's government has vowed to scrap the Jungle "before winter" and a flurry of preparations underway there suggest the operation may begin shortly.
	Migration has been a low-key issue under Hollande's four-year-old presidency.
	But he has been forced to take a visible stance on the issue, under pressure from his conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy -- who is hoping to ...

'No camps in France,' vows Hollande, under right wing pressure

A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck off Tonga early today but there was no threat of a tsunami, US seismologists said.
	The offshore quake hit at 7:07 am (local time) and was centred around 124 kilometres northwest of Tonga, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said on its website.
	The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat.
	In its preliminary impact assessment, the USGS said there was a low likelihood of casualties and damage.

Strong 6.3 earthquake hits off Tonga: USGS quake monitor

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has said it was time for a new direction in relations with Cuba, during a landmark visit to the Americas' lone communist-ruled state.
	It marks the first visit by a Chinese premier since the two countries established diplomatic relations 56 years ago.
	After a welcome from first vice president Miguel Diaz-Canel, Li pledged to "inject a new dynamic in (bilateral) relations," Cuban state media reported yesterday.
	Though the Cold War ended years ago, Cuba remains isolated after having lost the Soviet Union, and then Venezuela, as its key political and economic allies.
	Cuba has restored full diplomatic relations with its longtime nemesis, the United States.
	Havana is cash-strapped and does not have access to commercial credit.
	China is Cuba's top creditor -- and its number two trade partner after Venezuela. Their total bilateral trade was worth USD 1.6 billion in 2015, Chinese sources said.
	Li called for deepening cooperation on biotechnology, renewable ...

China's Li seeks new tack in ties with Cuba

Skipper Sarfraz Ahmed hit a rapid 32-ball 46 not out to lead Pakistan to a challenging 160-4 in the second Twenty20 international against the West Indies in Dubai today.
	Ahmed added 69 runs for the third wicket with Shoaib Malik (37 off 28 balls) to lift Pakistan after West Indies won the toss and decided to bowl on a slow Dubai stadium pitch.
	Ahmed's knock featured five boundaries while Malik smashed a six and three fours.
	Both teams kept the same eleven from Friday's first match which Pakistan won by nine wickets.
	Opener Khalid Latif made a 36-ball 40 with three boundaries and a towering six. Babar Azam made 19 and Sharjeel Khan two.
	The third and final match will be played in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Cricket: Pakistan score 160-4 in second Twenty20

The New York Times endorsed Hillary Clinton for president today, saying her intelligence, record of public service and other strengths qualify her for the White House.
	In an editorial, the influential Times as expected threw its weight behind Clinton and dismissed Donald Trump as "the worst nominee put forward by a major party in modern American history."
	But Americans should not vote for the Democrat Clinton simply because the alternative is Trump, the paper argued.
	Trump "discloses nothing concrete about himself or his plans while promising the moon and offering the stars on layaway," it said.
	Rather, the Times said, the best case for voting for Clinton is to consider the challenges the United States face at home and abroad and what it called Clinton's capacity to rise to them.
	The editorial was published two days before a critical moment in the campaign - the first TV debate pitting Clinton against Trump.
	The Times said it also wanted to persuade people reluctant of voting ...

New York Times endorses Clinton for president

President Barack Obama heralded today the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, an institution dedicated to the many threads of black suffering and triumph.
	The first black president of the United States cut the ribbon to inaugurate the striking 37,000-square-meter bronze-clad edifice before thousands of spectators gathered in the nation's capital to witness the historic opening.
	"Beyond the majesty of the building, what makes this occasion so special is the larger story it contains," said Obama - just a few months before he leaves office - at the star-studded public ceremony that included the likes of Stevie Wonder and Oprah Winfrey.
	"African-American history is not somehow separate from our larger American story. It's not the underside of the American story," he said. "It is central to the American story."
	The Smithsonian's 19th and latest addition to its sprawling museum and research complex is the first national museum tasked with documenting .

AFP

AFP

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