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 .

Obama opens new African American Museum

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Residents in Syria's battleground city of Aleppo cowered indoors today as fierce air strikes toppled buildings and killed at least 52 civilians, after diplomatic efforts to revive a ceasefire failed.
	Nearly two million civilians were without water in the devastated northern city after regime bombardment damaged a pumping station and rebels shut down another in retaliation, the United Nations said.
	Rebel-held districts in east Aleppo came under intense air and artillery fire for a fifth night as the army prepared a ground offensive to recapture the whole of the divided city.
	Syria's main opposition coalition denounced the "silence of the international community", saying Damascus and its Russian allies were committing "a crime" in Aleppo.
	Today's death toll of 52 was expected to rise because people remained trapped, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.
	"We were home when a missile crashed into our road," said one resident of the Bab ...

Syria's Aleppo reels from deadly air strikes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet separately with American presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in New York tomorrow, an official in his office said.
	"The meeting was agreed to with Trump first, then we reached out immediately to the Clinton camp for balance," the official told AFP without saying who proposed the first meeting.
	Netanyahu is already in New York, where he addressed the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
	Analysts say the Israeli premier is trying to avoid any impression of interfering in the American electoral campaign.
	During the 2012 race for the White House, US officials criticised Netanyahu over his perceived support for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
	Romney visited Jerusalem during his campaign and criticised President Barack Obama's policies on the Middle East.
	Trump had planned to visit Israel last December, but postponed the trip after his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States prompted worldwide ...

Israel's Netanyahu to meet Trump, Clinton in New York

The French capital's transport authority will carry out its first test of a driverless minibus today, in the hope that regular routes for the hi-tech vehicles will be up and running within two years.
	The electric-powered driverless EZ10 minibus, able to carry up to 12 passengers, has already been tested on closed circuits in Japan, Singapore and California and in a road test in Helsinki.
	One of the self-driving shuttle buses, made by French hi-tech firm Easymile, will run along a special circuit in Paris on a pedestrianised street near the River Seine.
	The bus will travel at 25 kilometres an hour and for RATP, the transport authority for the Paris region, it is the start of a series of tests.
	The second test, to be held in the French capital before the end of the year, will see the  EZ10 running between two major transport hubs, the Lyon and Austerlitz train stations.
	"The autonomous vehicle presents an opportunity for new services notably in less densely populated areas," RATP ..

First test of driverless minibus in Paris today

Around 15,000 people marched in central Helsinki today to protest against rising racism and violent right-wing extremism, police said, following the recent death of a man allegedly attacked by a neo-Nazi leader.
	Helsinki police tweeted that around 15,000 people were taking part in the protest, while thousands attended other demonstrations around the country, including Prime Minister Juha Sipila who joined a march in the central town of Kuopio.
	"People are coming out for the right reason, because the rise of violent extremism is a concern to the large majority of Finns," Sipila told Finnish radio YLE.
	Sipila vowed the government would soon present new measures to tackle the problem.
	Several much smaller counter-demonstrations were also held in Helsinki, but police kept the groups separated and no clashes were reported.
	The main Helsinki protest - organised by a Facebook group which called the demonstration "Peli Poikki!", or "Stop This Now!" - was organised in the wake of the ...

15,000 march in Helsinki anti-racism protest

Thousands of conservationists and top government officials went into talks in Johannesburg today to thrash out international trade regulations on elephant ivory, rhino horn and hundreds of endangered wild animals and plants.
	The booming illegal trade of wildlife has put huge pressure on a treaty signed by more than 180 countries - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
	The plight of Africa's rhino and elephants, targeted for their horns and tusks, is expected to dominate much of the 12-day meeting.
	"We are now embarking on the largest meeting ever in the 43-year history of CITES," the convention's secretary general John Scanlon said at the start of the talks.
	"We are going to review trade controls of close to 500 species of wild animals and plants. High on the agenda we have the African elephants, the rhino, the pangolin... The silky shark," he said.
	Illegal trade in wildlife is valued at around USD 20 billion a year, according to CITES.
	The meeting 

Wildlife meet opens in S Africa aiming to save species

An Egyptian court today sentenced seven men to hang for killing a police general in the unrest following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
	It was the defendants' second trial, after having won an appeal against an initial sentencing. They can appeal one last time.
	General Nabil Farag was shot dead in September 2013 when police raided the village of Kerdassa near Cairo where Morsi's supporters had holed up more than two months after his overthrow.
	Farag died from a single 9mm bullet to the chest.
	The Cairo court sentenced five other defendants to 10 years in prison and acquitted another one.
	Morsi's ouster, after a year in power, unleashed a crackdown on his supporters that saw hundreds killed and thousands detained.
	On August 14, 2013, police killed hundreds of Islamists while dispersing two protest camps in Cairo.
	Mobs retaliated by attacking policemen and Christian properties. More than 10 policemen were killed in Kerdassa.
	Courts have since ...

Egypt court sentences 7 to hang for shooting officer

Manchester United dismantled Premier League champions Leicester in a ruthless 20-minute burst as Jose Mourinho's decision to drop Wayne Rooney was rewarded with a 4-1 win at Old Trafford on Saturday.
     Leicester imploded defensively as United racked up four goals between the 22nd and 42nd minutes. It was a stylish display from a United side who had entered the game under pressure after losing their last two league games, against Manchester City and Watford, with Chris Smalling opening the scoring after replacing Rooney as captain.
     Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba, with his first United goal following his world record GBP 89 million (USD 115 million, 102 million euros) arrival from Juventus, were also on target after England captain Rooney was dropped to the substitutes' bench.
     But it was a chastening afternoon for Leicester despite an improved second-half display and a brilliant consolation goal from half-time substitute Demarai Gray.
     It was the second ...

United thrash Leicester without Rooney

Pope Francis today called for a "sincere dialogue" between Christians and Muslims as he met grieving relatives and survivors of France's Bastille Day attack, in which a jihadist ploughed his truck into a crowd.
	The pope, who this week denounced violence in the name of religion - declaring "there is no God of war" - met 180 people who were wounded, or left traumatised or bereaved by the July 14 attack in Nice which claimed 86 lives.
	"We need to start a sincere dialogue and have fraternal relations between everybody, especially those who believe in a sole God who is merciful," he said, speaking in the Vatican's giant Paul VI audience hall, and calling this "an urgent priority."
	"It is with a feeling of great emotion that I am meeting you, those who are suffering in body and in spirit because an evening of festivity turned into one of violence which struck blindly at all, without taking into account their origins or religion," the pontiff said.
	"We can only respond to the Devil's ...

Pope urges 'sincere dialogue' as he meets Nice attack victims

A Turkish soldier and a village guard were killed today in separate clashes with Kurdish rebels in Turkey's restive southeast, local media reported.
	The soldier died when fighting erupted in the Lice district of Diyarbakir province between security forces and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), security sources told the official Anadolu news agency.
	Another soldier was injured while one PKK militant was killed, Dogan news agency reported, adding that operations continued in 18 villages in the province where long curfews were imposed yesterday.
	A village guard was killed in the foothills of Cudi Mountain in Sirnak province after rebels opened fire on security forces, Dogan said.
	He was part of a group of locals cooperating with Turkish security forces to fight the PKK, listed as a terror group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
	Turkish war planes destroyed PKK shelters and areas where arms were stored yesterday in the Buzul mountains in ...

Two killed in clashes with PKK in southeast Turkey: report

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, hurt by a string of dismal election results over her refugees policy, was in Vienna today for talks with leaders of countries along the Balkan migrant route.
	They included Hungary's premier Victor Orban, scornful of Merkel's "open-door" stance, Alexis Tsipras of Greece, home to 60,000 stranded migrants, and Boyko Borisov of newly under-pressure Bulgaria.
	Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said that the aim of the talks, also attended by top EU officials, was to "accelerate" momentum towards ending Europe's worst migration crisis since 1945.
	He said that this included "massively improving" the securing of the EU's outer borders, more efforts to look after refugees in the region they come from and, longer term, a "Marshall Plan" for Africa.
	"At the moment there is a range of individual measures but no common European line," Kern told the Kleine Zeitung daily.
	Last year hundreds of thousands of people, many fleeing the Syrian war, trekked up from ...

Wounded Merkel meets Balkan leaders over migrants

Militants killed 12 people in a shooting and a suicide bombing today in the northern city of Tikrit, which was recaptured from the Islamic State group last year, police said.
	Tikrit was seized by IS in June 2014, but the city has largely been spared the attacks that have plagued other parts of the country since its recapture.
	Militants shot dead four security personnel at a checkpoint on the west side of the city, then continued north and detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at another checkpoint, killing eight more people, a police colonel and lieutenant colonel said.
	The attacks also wounded a total of 23 people, according to the officers.
	There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but IS frequently carries out suicide attacks targeting both civilians and security forces in Iraq.
	Hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, Tikrit lies 60 kilometres north of Baghdad and was the second city to fall to IS in 2014 as the jihadists swept through large areas .

Gun, suicide bomb attacks kill 12 in Iraq's Tikrit

A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has authorised opening preliminary investigations into allegations that President Michel Temer sought illicit campaign donations in 2012.
	The allegations were made under a plea deal by Sergio Machado, the former president of Transpetro, a subsidiary state oil giant Petrobras, which is embroiled in a massive bribe and kickback scandal.
	According to Machado, Temer sought donations from Transpetro in 2012 to support the campaign of a Sao Paulo mayoral candidate.
	The probe, announced by Judge Teori Zavascki late Friday, also cites several prominent policitians from Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), his Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) allies and the Workers Party (PT) of deposed president Dilma Rousseff and her mentor and predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
	Based on the findings of the preliminary probe, prosecutors will decide whether to launch a formal investigation into the president.
	Under the corruption scheme, ...

Brazil Supreme Court okays Temer probe

A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern Philippines early today but there was no threat of a tsunami, US seismologists said.
	The offshore quake hit at 6:53 AM (local time) and was centred around 100 kilometres southeast of the city of Davao on the island of Mindanao, according to the US Geological Survey. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat from the strong quake.

Strong 6.3 quake rattles southern Philippines: USGS

At least 25 civilians were killed in heavy Russian and Syrian strikes across the rebel-held east of Aleppo today, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	Among the dead were seven people killed as they queued to buy yoghurt at a market in the Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, the Britain-based monitoring group said.

New strikes kill 25 civilians in Syria's Aleppo: monitor

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton postponed a visit to Charlotte, North Carolina today after the city's mayor asked both major candidates to delay visits, her campaign announced.
	Earlier in the day, the campaign said Clinton would visit the city on Sunday after the police shooting of an African-American man triggered days of unrest.
	"After further discussion with community leaders, we have decided to postpone Sunday's trip as to not impact the city's resources," the campaign said in a statement. "She will plan to visit Charlotte next Sunday, provided circumstances allow."
	Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts had earlier asked Clinton and her Republican White House rival Donald Trump to delay visits, citing "very stretched resources for security."
	Keith Lamont Scott's death on Tuesday is the latest in a string of police-involved killings of black men that have fueled outrage across America.
	Charlotte has been rocked by three nights of violence-marred protests, prompting .

Clinton delays Charlotte visit

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for strong relations with Canada as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the important trading partner.
	"We have no excuses," Li told a Canadian-Chinese business council in Montreal yesterday. "China and Canada must have win-win cooperation."
	Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Li announced Thursday an agreement to begin talks aimed at reaching a free-trade agreement. They set a target of doubling trade by 2025.
	China is Canada's second-largest trading partner after the
United States, with trade last year exceeding USD 64.5 billion.
	Li highlighted the reboot in bilateral relations after a decade of cooling under the previous Canadian administration, calling for "a new golden decade" between the two countries.
	Li's visit to Canada came a month after Trudeau made a trip to Beijing looking to "renew and deepen" Sino-Canadian relations.
	"These back-to-back visits in less than a month shows that
China-Canada relations are moving to a new ...

China's Li calls for 'win-win' cooperation with Canada

At least 23 people were killed when a minibus plunged from a mountain road into a river in a remote area of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, officials have said.
	The accident took place late yesterday at Nausehri, some 45 kilometres north of Muzaffarabad when the minibus driver lost control.
	The vehicle veered off a road, falling 100 metres into the gushing river, local government and rescue officials said.
	"More than 23 people were killed and three others wounded in the bus accident," local government official Ashfaq Gilani told AFP.
	"We have only found three bodies and three wounded people. More than 20 other passengers and the wreckage of the bus have been swept away by the river," he added.
	"We have presumed them dead as there is no chance of their survival," Gilani said.
	Rescuers said the terrain was difficult and that they would resume the search for the remainder of the passengers at dawn today.
	Pakistan has one of the world's worst records for fatal traffic accidents, blamed .

23 dead in Pakistan mountain bus accident

Former French president Jacques Chirac remains in hospital in Paris where he is being treated for a lung infection, while his wife Bernadette has been discharged after four days recovering from "exhaustion", their family said today.
	"After four days of treatment and rest, Bernadette Chirac left the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital Friday evening," their son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux told AFP.
	Jacques Chirac, 83, who was admitted to the hospital on September 18, "remains hospitalised and continues to receive treatment and care for his lung infection," said Salat-Baroux, husband of Chirac's daughter Claude.
	Chirac, who led France from 1995-2007, had just returned from a visit to Morocco with his wife when he was admitted to hospital.
	On Wednesday, Salat-Baroux said Bernadette Chirac, also 83, had been admitted to the same facility.
	He said she was "profoundly affected by the death of her eldest daughter Laurence (in April) and exhausted for several days following the lung infection of 

Chirac remains ill in hospital, wife discharged

North Korea's foreign minister has told the United Nations that "going nuclear" is his country's only way to defend itself and vowed to further bolster its nuclear military forces.
	Speaking to the General Assembly, Ri Yong-ho yesterday said his country will "continue to take measures to strengthen its national nuclear armed forces in both quantity and quality."
	He spoke just two weeks after North Korea's fifth and most powerful nuclear test provoked worldwide condemnation, prompting the UN Security Council to begin work on a new sanctions resolution.
	"Going nuclear armed is the policy of our state," Ri, who has been foreign minister since May, told the world gathering.
	"As long as there exists a nuclear weapon state in hostile relations with the DPRK (North Korea), our national security and the peace on the Korean peninsula can be defended only with reliable nuclear deterrence," he said.
	North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests and test-fired more than 20 missiles this year ...

North Korea tells UN 'going nuclear' is only option

The family of the African- American man whose death has triggered days of unrest in Charlotte, North Carolina, released a dramatic video of the police shooting yesterday, raising pressure on the authorities to make their own footage public.
	The police have refused to release body-cam and dash-cam video of the shooting Tuesday, which they say shows Keith Lamont Scott posed officers a threat.
	His death is the latest in a string of police-involved killings of black men that have fueled outrage across America.
	Charlotte has been rocked by three nights of violence-marred protests, prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency in the southern US city.
	Hundreds of protesters were out again yesterday calling for the release of the videos amid a greater presence of National Guard troops, but the atmosphere was calmer than during previous days.
	A curfew beginning at midnight is in effect for a second night after protesters defied the order on Thursday.
	Hundreds of demonstrators ..

AFP

AFP

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