The father of a Chinese man killed while driving a Tesla sedan has sued the US electric car maker over an alleged fault with its Autopilot system, the family's attorney said today.
	Gao Yaning, the 23-year-old driver, died in January after his Tesla Model S slammed into a road-sweeping vehicle on a highway in the northern province of Hebei. His father Gao Jubin filed the case against the company in June, lawyer Cui Qiuna told AFP.
	The family believed the son was driving in Tesla's Autopilot mode and accused the firm of overstating the function's capabilities, she said.
	During the trial's opening session in Beijing yesterday, Gao applied for an investigation into whether the autopilot was activated when the accident occurred, she added.
	Gao has demanded Tesla stop using the phrase "automatic driving" in its promotion of Autopilot, publicly apologise for false advertising and pay 10,000 yuan (USD 1,500) in compensation for the family's grief caused by the son's death, Cui ...

China court hears case over Tesla fatal crash

PTI Automatic

Chemical accidents have killed nearly 200 people in China so far this year, environmental group Greenpeace said today, calling on Beijing to overhaul the "appallingly under-regulated" industry.
	Industrial accidents are common in China, where work safety regulations are often flouted.
	In the first eight months of the year, China saw 232 chemical accidents which killed 199 people and injured 400, Greenpeace said in a statement.
	"China's chemicals industry is the largest in the world, but it is appallingly under-regulated," said Cheng Qian, its East Asia toxics assistant manager.
	"Tragic accidents occur on an almost daily basis."
	The report comes a little over a year after massive explosions in the northern port city of Tianjin killed at least 165 people, sending a monumental fireball skyward and mangling structures kilometres away.
	Greenpeace said it counted this year's accidents by collecting data from government websites and media reports.
	Leaks were the cause of 43 percent of .

China chemical accidents kill almost 200 in 2016: Greenpeace

Palestinian municipal polls scheduled for October 8 were postponed today after a court delayed a ruling on whether to hold the first vote since 2006 to include both Fatah and Hamas.
	The Palestinian high court in the Fatah-led West Bank put off its ruling until October 3, only five days before the scheduled date for the elections.
	Two weeks of campaigning are usually allotted for Palestinian elections and had been set to begin on Friday.
	In response, the electoral commission confirmed that the October 8 date "is no longer applicable." It set no new date.
	On September 8, the court suspended the elections following disputes between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements over candidate lists.
	It had left open the possibility that they could be re-scheduled for the same date if the dispute was resolved, but Wednesday's announcement by the electoral commission was widely anticipated.
	Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, boycotted the last Palestinian municipal elections in 

Palestinian local polls postponed, no new date

Some 60 schools and universities in eastern Canada were evacuated today over an unspecified possible threat, police said.
	Students at all primary and secondary schools across Prince Edward Island were taken to safe locations, federal police said, while Nova Scotia police received an anonymous bomb threat against three university campuses in the province.

Some 60 Canada schools, universities evacuated over threat

The EU today scrapped a controversial plan to limit its landmark free mobile phone roaming policy to 90 days a year, after an outcry from angry consumer groups.
	While doing away with time limits for roaming across the currently 28-nation bloc, the European Commission said it will instead impose checks to curb abuse of the system.
	"We will not put any kind of limits on duration or, how many days (travellers) can enjoy no roaming surcharges, but we decided to put some clear safeguards on residency," EU Commissioner for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said at a news briefing.
	The Commission announced the original "free roaming" plans with huge fanfare in early 2015, but when it unveiled the details earlier this month consumer groups were outraged by the limit.
	They had assumed the Commission's pledge to end mobile roaming charges -- additional costs when people use their phone outside their home country -- meant exactly that, without conditions or caveats.
	As a result, they ..

EU scraps time limits on free mobile roaming plan

Some 60 Canada schools, universities evacuated over

World oil prices rose today as traders awaited the release of US energy stockpiles data and a US central bank decision on interest rates.
	At around 1230 GMT (1700 IST), the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery, a new contract, pushed 84 cents higher at USD 44.89 per barrel.
	North Sea Brent oil for November increased 73 cents at USD 46.61 a barrel.
	Two factors being closely watched this week are the Federal Reserve's decision on US interest rates and stockpile numbers to be released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), dealers said.
	A move by the Fed's policy-setting committee to raise interest rates will likely boost the dollar and make oil more expensive for holders of other currencies, denting demand and prices.
	Most commentators, however, expect the US central bank to keep borrowing costs at current levels.
	Analysts also forecast the weekly US commercial crude inventories to register a significant increase, which would further add to ...

Oil prices up ahead of US stockpiles data, Fed meeting

Protests and looting rocked a North Carolina city early today, following the fatal police shooting of a black man, with a dozen officers and several demonstrators injured in the violence.
	Media reported that several hundred people gathered to protest the shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, who was African-American, as was the officer who killed him. The shooting was the latest in a string involving black men killed at the hands of police, which has fueled outrage nationwide.
	Demonstrations began late Tuesday and grew through much of the night near an apartment complex in the city of Charlotte, where the shooting occurred.
	As news of the shooting spread, protesters gathered, carrying signs that read "Black Lives Matter" and chanting "No justice, no peace!"
	Later in the night, some protesters in Charlotte set fires blocking a major road, and others set trucks ablaze, according to news reports.
	A local television station reported that looters attempted to break into a ...

Violent protests over latest fatal US police shooting

A 16-year-old Syrian refugee has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of having ties to the Islamic State jihadist group, officials said today, describing him as a "serious threat".
	The youngster, thought to have been radicalised only recently, was detained in a special forces operation late yesterday at a shelter for asylum seekers in the western city of Cologne, police and local prosecutors said in a statement.
	Information gathered from the teenager's mobile phone indicate he was in touch with a person abroad who had ties to IS and "wanted to recruit the young Syrian for Islamist activities", the statement said.
	Germany's state security authorities believe the youngster posed a "serious threat" and have assigned a 35-strong team of investigators to the case.
	Germany is on edge after suffering two attacks claimed by IS in July -- an axe rampage on a train in Wuerzburg and a suicide bombing in Ansbach. Both were carried out by asylum seekers.
	In Wuerzburg, the 17-year-old ...

Germany arrests Syrian refugee, 16, over IS links

Death toll in #Egypt #migrant boat #capsize rises to at

Heavy fighting between Yemeni government forces and Shiite rebels for control of the heights overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait has left 17 combatants dead, the loyalist commander said today.
	The waterway connects the Suez Canal and Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean beyond and is a major shipping lane.
	"We launched an offensive which enabled us to recapture two mountains," loyalist commander General Fadhl Hassan told AFP.
	"In 18 hours of fighting, which reduced in intensity this afternoon, 13 rebels and four of our men, one of them a colonel, were killed."
	The rebels said on their sabanews.Net website that they had taken several government-held positions and inflicted losses in the fighting.
	Despite an 18-month-old military intervention by a Saudi-led coalition in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, the rebels still control nearly all of Yemen's Red Sea coast.
	The fighting came as the rebels marked the second anniversary of their seizure of .

17 dead as Yemen loyalists battle rebels for strategic heights

Austria's parliament today approved December 4 as the new date for the presidential election re-run in a scandal-ridden race that could usher in the European Union's first far-right head of state.
	Initially scheduled for October 2, the government was forced to postpone the vote after it emerged that the glue on postal vote envelopes was not sticky enough, meaning the ballots could be tampered with.
	Dubbed "gluegate", this was the latest twist in an embarrassing saga, which erupted in July when the highest court annulled the election result from May after upholding the narrowly defeated far right's claims of procedural irregularities.
	The decision has given 45-year-old Norbert Hofer of the popular anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe) another stab at winning the election, which he lost in May by just 31,000 votes to independent ecologist Alexander Van der Bellen, 72.
	If he emerges victorious this time, Hofer would become Europe's first far-right head of state since 1945. Latest ...

After 'gluegate', Austrian election set for Dec 4

10 drown, 150 rescued from capsized #migrant boat off

The 'passport' rights allowing 5,500 British-based financial firms to operate freely across the European single market are at stake, the country's financial watchdog has revealed in highlighting potential fallout from Brexit.
	Some 8,000 financial firms based elsewhere in the European Union also do business in Britain via passporting, and their rights are likewise threatened, data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulator showed.
	The passport scheme allows companies to do business across the 28-nation European Union -- and the 31-strong European Economic Area which includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
	In the run-up to Britain's EU exit referendum in June, major players in the City of London finance district warned about the impact of possible departure from the EU single market -- and the loss of passporting.
	The future of those rights is uncertain ahead of the expected start of Brexit negotiations next year to draw up a formal new trade deal with the EU.
	"These .

Almost 5,500 UK-based firms use European passporting:regulator

Egyptian state television said today it had sacked its head of news after an old interview with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was screened in error.
	Sisi, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, was interviewed by the American PBS network for a second consecutive year.
	Instead of broadcasting the new interview on Tuesday, state-run Channel 1 aired the one he gave last year.
	The transmission was cut when staff realised the error.
	State television Safaa Hegazy apologised for the "grave mistake" and said an investigation was under way to identify those responsible.
	News chief Mostafa Shehata confirmed he had been sacked.
	He told AFP it was "illogical" as others had also been involved in the broadcast but put it down to "fate".
	The gaffe drew heavy criticism from the anchors of pro- Sisi private television channels which have devoted extensive coverage to the president's visit to New York.

Egypt state TV fires news chief over Sisi interview gaffe

Intense air raids shook Syria's Aleppo today as increasing tensions between Moscow and Washington poisoned efforts to revive a failed ceasefire.
	The UN Security Council was due to meet later for talks on salvaging the truce -- which collapsed on Monday after only a week -- but the mood was likely to be tense after the United States said it held Russia responsible for a deadly air strike on an aid convoy.
	US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are both to address the council, ahead of more talks expected later this week.
	Russia and the United States co-sponsored the ceasefire plan, with Kerry warning it could be the "last chance" to try to end Syria's civil war, which has killed more than 300,000 people in five years.
	In Aleppo, a key battleground in the conflict, bombardment pummelled opposition-held districts and the city's outskirts into this morning.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said dozens of raids hit the ...

Raids shake Syria's Aleppo as peace efforts falter

Two men allegedly linked to French extremist Rachid Kassim have been charged with "associating with terrorists", Paris prosecutors said today.
	The men, aged 30 and 39, were arrested last Friday in the eastern towns of Dole and Roanne -- the hometown of Kassim, seen as one of the most dangerous French-speaking propagandists for the Islamic State group.
	They allegedly associated with Kassim before he left for Iraq or Syria in May 2015.
	Kassim, 29, is suspected of using the encrypted Telegram app to direct attacks on France from IS-controlled territory in Iraq or Syria.
	A source close to the probe said the 30-year-old who was charged is suspected of having been in touch with Kassim recently via Telegram.
	Investigators are trying to determine whether the older suspect "played a role in the radicalisation of Kassim," the source said.
	Kassim, who has appeared in several IS propaganda videos, is suspected of ordering or inciting the killing of a police couple in their home west of ...

France charges two with suspected jihadist links

Ahead of France's presidential election next year, seven candidates will contest primaries for the rightwing nomination in November.
	The list of candidates was officially confirmed today.
	With Socialist President Francois Hollande's deep unpopularity leaving the left in disarray, and the far-right National Front flagbearer Marine Le Pen riding high in the polls, the rightwing candidate is thought to stand a good chance of snatching the presidency in a runoff vote in May 2017.
	Alain Juppe, 71, the current favourite in the primary race, is a former prime minister who is seen as a moderate, notably on immigration, and is campaigning as a unifier.
	He is also a former foreign minister -- under his arch-rival Nicolas Sarkozy as well as under the Socialist president Francois Mitterrand in a right-left "co-habitation" government.
	Juppe returned from political exile after a party finance scandal that saw him convicted in 2004, winning back his long-time post as mayor of Bordeaux in ...

Eyeing French presidency, seven vie for rightwing nomination

An attacker wielding a knife tried to storm the Israeli embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara today but was shot before reaching the building, Turkish reports and Israeli officials said.
	Turkey's NTV television said the attacker tried to enter the well-defended embassy but was "neutralised" by being shot in the leg.
	Employees of the embassy took refuge in a shelter, it added.
	Israel's foreign ministry said the assailant tried to attack the Israeli embassy but was shot before reaching the building.
	"The team members are unharmed. The assailant was injured before he reached the building," a ministry statement said.
	The health condition of the attacker was not made clear. It was also not clear if the person had been shot by Turkish security forces or embassy guards.
	Large numbers of police vehicles were dispatched to the scene and the road closed on which the building is located, an AFP correspondent said. Witnesses said they heard several shots fired.
	CNN-Turk television said a ..

Knife attacker shot outside Israeli embassy in Ankara

Three young Hong Kong activists who led the city's massive "Umbrella Revolution" pro-democracy protests walked free from court today after a renewed bid by prosecutors to jail them.
	It comes as tensions remain high in the semi-autonomous city with fears growing that China is tightening its grip, sparking a growing independence movement.
	Nathan Law, 23, who was recently voted in as the city's youngest lawmaker and wants self-determination for Hong Kong, was one of the trio in court and slammed Wednesday's hearing as a political move.
	"The Department of Justice and the government are basically hunting those (who took part in) civil disobedience and those who uphold democratic values," he told reporters.
	Law, Joshua Wong and Alex Chow were all convicted in August for taking part in, or inciting others to take part in, a protest that led up to the major pro-democracy demonstrations of 2014 calling for fully free elections of the city's leader.
	They were given community service or ...

Hong Kong protest leaders avoid jail after failed court bid

Shots were fired today in front of the Israeli embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara, media reported.
	The NTV and CNN-Turk television channels said that two people tried to enter the well-defended embassy but one was "neutralised", without specifying if the person had been wounded or killed. Employees of the embassy took refuge in a shelter, it added.

AFP

AFP

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