A powerful typhoon slammed into Japan today, leaving at least three dozen people injured and one missing, as torrential rains caused serious flooding that washed away a bridge and inundated homes and cars.
	Transportation across southern Kyushu - hit by deadly quakes earlier this year - and parts of western Japan came to a standstill as Typhoon Malakas ripped across the country, packing winds of up to 180 kilometres per hour.
	Television footage from public broadcaster NHK showed houses, cars and fields partly submerged in muddy brown water in Miyazaki prefecture, where a record 578 millimetres of rain fell on one city in just 24 hours.
	Cars and pedestrians sloshed through waterlogged streets while a wall of water washed away a bridge in Kagoshima city.
	NHK said at least 36 people were injured, and officials issued evacuation advisories that affected about 620,000 people.
	A 66-year-old climber was missing after he reportedly fell into a swollen river that had breached its banks, ...

Typhoon Malakas slams Japan, heading toward Tokyo

PTI Automatic

Myanmar is scrapping part of a hated law that forced people to report overnight guests and was used by authorities to barge into houses late at night, often targeting activists.
	The country's parliament, now filled with former political prisoners after landmark polls in November, voted to remove the controversial clause yesterday despite opposition from the military, which still controls a quarter of seats.
	Under the former junta it became known as the "midnight inspections" law because police would often turn up at people's houses unannounced, demanding to know who was staying there.
	Activists said officials were still using the legislation to harass people and extort money even after the military handed power to a semi-civilian government in 2011.
	More than 50 civil society groups last month called for an end to the law, which they described as an "oppressive tool seriously threatening the human security and dignity of the people".
	U Win Htein, an aide to veteran activist Aung .

Myanmar scraps loathed 'midnight inspections' law

Russia said today its military was looking into "information" about an air strike on a UN aid convoy in Syria after the regime announced an end to a week-long ceasefire.
	"I don't think it is possible or correct to make any unsubstantiated conclusions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
	"Our military is currently verifying information about this strike and I hope they will receive concrete information from the ground and can then release a statement."
	The UN said at least 18 trucks in a 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed late Monday as they were en route to deliver humanitarian assistance to the hard-to-reach town of Orum al-Kubra, killing a Red Crescent staff member and civilians.
	Russia is flying a bombing campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad, and there are suspicions that either Moscow or the Syrian forces it supports were responsible for the strike.
	Washington expressed outrage over the attack, stressing that the convoy's destination was known to both ...

Russia military probing Syria aid convoy strike: Kremlin

More than 300,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year -- far fewer than the 520,000 who arrived during the first nine months of 2015, the UN said today.
	"The number of refugees and migrants reaching European shores this year passed the 300,000 mark today," William Spindler, spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), told reporters.
	Despite the lower numbers attempting the dangerous sea crossing, fatality were rates had risen, with 2016 on track to be "the deadliest year on record in the Mediterranean Sea," the agency added.
	So far, 3,211 migrants have been reported dead or missing on the Mediterranean in 2016, just 15 percent lower than the total number of fatalities for all of last year (3,771), a UNHCR statement said.
	Different patterns have emerged in the two European countries, Greece and Italy, which receive the vast majority migrants.
	Arrivals in Italy this year stood at 130,411, on par with the 132,000 people who landed over the same period 

Number of migrants crossing Med to Europe passes 300,000: UN

Iraqi forces launched an operation today to retake the town of Sherqat from the Islamic State group which has controlled it for more than two years, military sources said.
	The town lies on the west bank of the Tigris river 260 kilometres northwest of Baghdad and around 80 kilometres south of Mosul, the jihadists' last major bastion in Iraq.
	Iraqi forces have already reconquered other towns north of Sherqat on the way to Mosul but the question of Shiite militia involvement in military operations there had held up the push.
	"The operation to liberate Sherqat started at 5:30 am from several directions... With the support of coalition forces," Joint Operations Command spokesman Yahya Rasool said.
	"We are making good progress," he told AFP. "Sherqat is important, we can't move on Mosul and have terrorists control Sherqat."
	Sherqat lies in the far north of Salaheddin province, which includes the cities of Samarra and Tikrit, and close to the border with Nineveh province of which Mosul .

Iraq forces launch push on IS-held town

A Chinese aquarium holding a forlorn-looking polar bear named Pizza said today it has "no need" for foreign interference, after activists offered to move the animal to a British zoo.
	Animals Asia, a Hong Kong-based organisation, created a petition calling for the closure of the Grandview aquarium in the Chinese city of Guangzhou that attracted half a million signatures.
	Photos of Pizza shared widely on social media show the bear lying listlessly on the ground in a gloomy, windowless room while visitors crowd around taking photos on their cell phones.
	Activists said the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in England had offered to adopt Pizza on condition that he was not replaced by another polar bear, adding the zoo would not pay for the animal due to "fear that any funds could be used to buy more animals".
	But the zoo declined to comment or confirm the offer while the aquarium operator said no one had contacted him about taking the bear, adding they "have no need for foreign organisations to 

China aquarium refuses to deliver sad bear Pizza to UK

A Turkish court has remanded in custody a man who kicked a young woman in the face because she was wearing shorts, after his initial release sparked a furore among activists, reports said today.
	In a case which galvanised public opinion, Abdullah Cakiroglu was first detained but then freed at the weekend despite confessing to kicking nurse Aysegul Terzi in the face on a public bus on September 12.
	After protests, an Istanbul court on Monday placed Cakiroglu, 35, under arrest ahead of trial on charges of "inciting hatred and hostility" and "preventing a person's right to exercise their freedom of belief, thought and opinion".
	Terzi, 23, said that during the attack, Cakiroglu told her "because she was wearing shorts, she had no right to live" as she showed the bruises on her chin.
	"I am often crying, I often find myself angry, I am often feeling like someone is about to attack me," she told Show TV channel on Friday.
	Cakiroglu was quoted by Dogan news agency as saying "Aysegul's ...

Turkey arrests man who kicked woman 'for wearing shorts'

A convoy delivering aid to Syrians in Aleppo province was hit by a deadly air strike killing 12 people hours after the Syrian military declared an end to a week-long ceasefire, with an outraged UN warning it could amount to a war crime.
	The UN said at least 18 trucks in the 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed late yesterday en route to deliver humanitarian assistance to the hard-to-reach town of Orum al-Kubra.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 Red Crescent volunteers and drivers had died in the strike while UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien said initial reports indicated "many people" were killed or seriously wounded.
	"Let me be clear: if this callous attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of humanitarians, it would amount to a war crime," O'Brien said.
	The Observatory was unable to confirm if the planes responsible were Syrian or Russian.
	The UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian mission had sought to take advantage of the ceasefire, which collapsed last night 

Aid convoy attacked as Syria ceasefire collapses

The captain of a boat that sunk on a swollen river in central Thailand did not have a valid licence, an official said today, as the death toll rose to twenty-six including several children.
	The accident happened on the Chao Phraya river on Sunday afternoon near the ancient city of Ayutthaya, when a boat packed with Muslim pilgrims returning from a mosque hit a concrete bank in strong currents.
	The boat, which was carrying double its 50 passenger capacity, sunk in seconds.
	Ayutthaya deputy governor Rewat Prasong said the captain faces charges including having an expired licence, allowing too many passengers on board and negligence that led to death.
	The toll rose overnight to 26 with eight children confirmed among the dead.
	"We are still looking for three people -- two women and a girl -- who have been reported missing by relatives," he said.
	Safety regulations are poorly enforced in Thailand, including on boats, with overcrowding, sinkings and crashes common -- particularly in ..

Captain of doomed Thai pilgrim boat had 'expired licence'

A top police official in Mexico's southern Guerrero state and his female companion were found stabbed to death in their home in the Pacific resort of Acapulco, authorities said.
	The death of Tomas Hernandez Martinez, the state police's director general and operations coordinator, is a "huge loss" for the force, the Guerrero public security department said in a statement.
	The state's deputy attorney general, Jose Antonio Bonilla, later confirmed to reporters that a woman was also killed. He didn't specify whether the couple was married or not.
	An agent from the state prosecutor's office, who was at the crime scene, told AFP on condition of anonymity that the couple had stab wounds in their faces and other parts of their bodies, and their throats were cut in their home in the populous neighborhood of Progreso.
	Acapulco, a once glittering resort, is now considered Mexico's murder capital, with 111 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants last year.
	The violence is linked to turf battles ...

Police director, woman stabbed to death in Acapulco

A British activist was found guilty of criminal defamation today and given a suspended jail sentence over a report alleging abuses in Thailand's lucrative fruit industry -- a verdict the UN described as "very disturbing".
	Andy Hall, who lives in Thailand, has seen a series of legal actions for contributing to a 2013 report on a Natural Fruit factory in the south of the country, alleging poor working conditions, low wages and child labour.
	Today he was found guilty of defamation and breaching computer crime laws in a private prosecution filed by Natural Fruit.
	Hall was given a three-year suspended sentence and fined 150,000 baht (USD 4,300), his lawyer Nakhon Chomphuchat told AFP.
	Rights groups say criminal defamation and computer misuse laws are routinely used to stifle investigative work in Thailand.
	The country's reputation as a major supplier to global food chains has been tarnished by persistent allegations of labour abuses, especially against cheap and vulnerable migrant ...

British activist convicted in Thai defamation trial

Donald Trump's eldest son triggered an online storm with a tweet comparing Syrian refugees to a bowl containing an assortment of tainted and untainted candies.
	"This image says it all," Donald Trump Jr, 38, wrote yesterday, in a tweet showing a picture of a white bowl filled with the popular, rainbow-colored Skittles candies.
	Written above the image is: "If I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful? That's our Syria refugee problem."
	The Twitter post - showing the familiar Trump-Pence 2016 logo with the presidential campaign slogan Make America Great Again! - was met with immediate scorn from users of the popular micro-blogging site.
	"I'm not even big on Skittles but now I will buy up every single packet," wrote @SarahSahim.
	"Is Donald Trump's new campaign slogan 'Fear The Rainbow'"? wrote Twitter user @AngrySalmond.
	Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate, has sparked waves of criticism with comments on race, ...

Trump son compares Syrian refugees to poisoned candies

A Vietnamese court sentenced a land activist to 20 months in prison today for public disorder, her lawyer said, the second time she has been jailed for accusing authorities of snatching farmland for developers.
	Land is wholly owned by the state in Vietnam and is a flashpoint issue. Regular protests are held in Hanoi by residents who accuse the government of snatching valuable plots.
	Can Thi Theu, 54, was arrested in June after protesting in the capital, accusing the government of unfairly compensating residents for land in the Duong Noi area on the outskirts of Hanoi.
	She was charged with public disorder and today "the court sentenced her to 20 months in jail," her lawyer Ha Huy Son told AFP, calling the penalty unjust.
	A handful of supporters gathered outside the Hanoi court ahead of the verdict, while uniformed and plainclothes police lingered nearby, according to an AFP reporter.
	This is Theu's second conviction for her activism.
	In 2014 she was sentenced to 15 months in jail 

Vietnam land rights activist jailed again

The pilot of a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight accidentally pressed an emergency alarm, creating a hijack scare and triggering a major security response at Manila airport today, authorities said.
	Police and security personnel surrounded the Saudia flight from Jeddah after it landed this afternoon following a report to the control tower that the plane was "under threat", a Philippine aviation authority spokesman told AFP.
	Passengers were forced to remain on the plane for about two hours, but were let off about 5:00 pm (1430 IST) after it was confirmed there was no threat.
	"Situation is normal. It was alleged that the pilot pressed the emergency light of the aircraft unintentionally," Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde told reporters.
	In Saudi Arabia, an airline spokesman also told AFP that there was no security threat.
	"False alarm for hijack for Flight 872," the spokesman said.
	Manila airport spokesman Connie Bungag earlier released a statement saying the control tower received ..

Saudia pilot triggers false alarm in Philippines: authorities

An Emirati woman has sought leave to have a sex change operation in what would be a first for the United Arab Emirates, newspapers reported today.
	The application to the court in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi comes after a change in the law took effect earlier this month legalising gender reassignment surgery.
	Lawyer Ali al-Mansouri told Gulf News the 29-year-old woman always felt strongly that she was not the gender she physically appeared to be.
	"Ever since she was three, the woman felt instead that she is actually a male. She would have an intense desire to have a male body and to be accepted by others as a male and would feel her true identity is male," he told the paper.
	He said his client's feeling that her body does not reflect her true gender caused her severe distress, anxiety and depression.
	"She has been undergoing physical and psychological care since 2012 and a medical commission had recommended that she undergo a sex-change surgery."
	The court said it would hear the ...

Woman seeks sex change in first for UAE

'False alarm' over #Saudiflight in Philippines: airline.

Police surrounded a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight at Manila airport today after reports it was "under threat", with passengers not allowed to disembark, the aviation authority spokesman said.
	"A Saudi plane has been isolated at the airport runway," Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesman Eric Apolonio said.

Police surround Saudi flight at Manila airport: authorities

Police surround #Saudiflight at Manila airport: aviation

A Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli soldier near the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron today before being shot dead, the army said, the latest death in a flare-up of violence.
	"An assailant armed with a knife attempted to stab an IDF (Israel Defence Force) soldier at a checkpoint at the entrance to (the village of) Bani Naim," a statement said.
	"Responding to the immediate threat, forces fired at the assailant, resulting in his death."
	Tuesday's attack was the ninth since Friday, coming after Palestinians wrapped up the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha and as Israel tightened security ahead of major Jewish holidays in October.
	The upsurge has shattered several weeks of relative calm.
	Since October, 230 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to an AFP count.
	Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during .

Palestinian tries to stab Israel soldier, shot dead: army

Rafael Nadal and British Olympic great Mo Farah said they have nothing to hide after their medical records were the latest to be leaked by a cyber-hacking group.
     They are among more than 60 international athletes, including 17 from the British team at the Rio Olympics, who have had their medical files -- mostly therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) -- published online by the so-called Fancy Bears, who have hacked into World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) records.
	There is no suggestion that any of the named athletes -- among them some of the biggest names in sport -- have done anything wrong.
	Spanish tennis ace Nadal and four-time Olympic champion distance runner Farah were shown to have used TUEs in the past to gain permission to take substances that figure on WADA's banned list.
	TUEs can be issued to athletes who have an illness or condition that requires the use of normally prohibited medication.
	"When you ask permission to take something for therapeutic reasons and they give it to 

Nadal, Farah defend medical records after new hack

Oil prices eased in Asia today with analysts expecting volatility in the run up to a producers' meeting next week, while traders are also awaiting the release of US stockpiles data.
	The commodity plunged last week on supply glut worries but bounced slightly yesterday after OPEC member Venezuela said a deal to limit output was close. Unrest in key producers Libya and Nigeria also raised the prospect their exports would be hit.
	Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro said Sunday that participants in producer talks by the 14-nation OPEC cartel and Russia in Algeria from September 26-28 are working on a deal.
	But some analysts said that in the absence of any firm agreement, prices will continue to swing.
	At around 0855 IST, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 22 cents to USD 43.08 and Brent dipped 14 cents to USD 45.81.
	"A big part of the rally (yesterday) was the hope that a deal could be getting closer with agreement at the Algiers meeting potentially leading to another ...

AFP

AFP

Page 1447 - Afp