A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocked New Zealand today, the US Geological Survey said.
	The tremor was estimated at a depth of around 30 kilometres some 167 kilometres from Gisborne -- off the coast of the country's north island -- according to the agency.

Powerful 7.1 magnitude quake jolts New Zealand: USGS

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The head of the International Monetary Fund today called on global leaders to take "forceful" action to revive the world economy, sounding a stark warning ahead of this weekend's G20 summit.
	Christine Lagarde, the IMF managing director, said that as of 2016, global economic growth had stagnated for five years below the 3.7 per cent average that prevailed between 1990 and 2007.
	"Not since the early 1990s...Has the world economy been so weak for such a long time," Lagarde said in a statement issued to coincide with the start of the summit.
	With member states representing 85 per cent of the world's GDP, the Group of 20 summit is due to convene in Hangzhou, China beginning Sunday amid a climate of sluggish growth and uncertainty.
	Lagarde warned of a "low-growth trap" - high debt, weak demand, eroding work forces and labour skills, weakening incentives for investment and slowing productivity.
	She said the world's economies faced a potentially toxic mix of low long-term growth and ...

IMF's Lagarde warns G20 to avoid 'low-growth trap'

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali led from the front with 80 but his side were still held to 247 for eight by England in the fourth one-day international here today.
     When Azhar was out, Pakistan -- already 3-0 down in the five-match series -- were 169 for six off 38 overs and in danger of failing to bat out their full 50 in this day/night fixture.
	But the fit-again Imad Wasim's unbeaten 57 and his eighth-wicket stand of 56 with Hasan Ali took Pakistan past 200.
	England slow bowlers Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali shared five wickets between them, with leg-spinner Rashid -- one of five Yorkshire players in the side -- taking three for 47 on his home ground.
	Both teams made changes from Tuesday's match at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, where England piled up 444 for three -- the highest total in any one-day international -- as they won by 169 runs.
	England left out pace bowlers Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, with their places taken by left-arm quick David Willey and all-rounder Chris ...

Azhar stars as Pakistan held to 247-8 by England

Powerful 7.2 magnitude quake jolts New Zealand: USGS.

The UN Syria envoy today criticised Damascus' "strategy" of forced evacuation from Daraya following a brutal four-year government siege, warning that other besieged towns could follow.
	Staffan de Mistura told reporters in Geneva that there were "indications that after Daraya we may have other Darayas," adding that "there is clearly a strategy at the moment to move from Daraya" to other besieged areas "in a similar pattern".
	Long held by opposition forces, Daraya near Damascus was ravaged by constant army bombardment, and just one aid convoy reached the town since it came under siege in late 2012 - arriving in June this year.
	Rebels said last week they were forced to agree to evacuate the town because of deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
	Hundreds of fighters and their families were bused north into rebel-held territory in Idlib province, with other civilians transferred to government territory near Damascus for resettlement.
	The Syrian army has said it is in complete control .

UN slams Syria 'strategy' of forced evacuation of besieged

First innings scoreboard in the fourth one-day international between England and Pakistan at Headingley today:
     Pakistan
	Sami Aslam c Stokes b Plunkett        24
	Sharjeel Khan c Stokes b Jordan       16
	Azhar Ali c Willey b Rashid           80
	Babar Azam c Plunkett b Ali           12
	Sarfraz Ahmed c Plunkett b Rashid     12
	Mohammad Rizwan lbw b Rashid           6
	Mohammad Nawaz st Bairstow b Ali      13
	Imad Wasim not out                    57
	Hasan Ali c Root b Jordan              9
	Umar Gul not out                       6
	Extras: (LB-3, W-6, NB-3)              12
     Total: (8 wkts, 50 overs)             247
     Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-61, 3-110, 4-136, 5-152, 6-169, 7-180, 8-236
     Bowling: Willey 8-2-40-0, Jordan 9-1-42-2, Stokes 4-0-15-0, Plunkett 9-0-61-1, Rashid 10-0-47-3, Ali 10-0-39-2.

Leeds, Sep 1 (AFP) First innings scoreboard in the fourth one-day international between England and Pakistan at Headingley today:

G20 states must work harder to ensure a swifter transition to a low carbon economy, NGOs urged, notably deploring continued EU finance for fossil fuel-powered projects.
	Major powers should revise upwards by a factor of six greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2030 to meet their commitments of limiting temperature rises to two Celsius under last year's Paris Accord on climate change, Climate Transparency said yesterday.
	"Our report shows that while global emissions growth may be coming to an end, there is not yet the necessary dynamic to transform the 'brown' fossil-fuel based economy and into the 'green', said Climate Transparency, a grouping of international research centres, in a report released ahead of a weekend G20 summit in China.
	"The G20 is responsible for 75 percent of global emissions, and its energy-related greenhouse gas emissions increased by 56 percent from 1990-2013," the report said.
	"While the positive news is that this growth has now stalled, the negative is that .

G20 states must take harder carbon line: NGOs

Malaysia today reported its first suspected case of Zika, a 58-year-old woman believed to have contracted it in neighbouring Singapore where more than 100 cases have been confirmed.
	The Malaysian woman had made a brief trip in late August to visit her daughter, who has already been confirmed as having the Zika virus, Malaysia's health ministry said in a statement.
	After returning to her home near Kuala Lumpur, the woman fell ill and was diagnosed with "suspected" Zika, based on a urine test. Full confirmation via blood tests is pending.
	"The source of infection is suspected to have occurred in Singapore," the statement said.
	The Aedes mosquito-borne Zika has been detected in 67 countries and territories, with Brazil the hardest hit.
	It causes only mild symptoms for most people such as fever and a rash, but pregnant women who catch it can give birth to babies with microcephaly, a deformation marked by abnormally small brains and heads.
	Singapore is one of Asia's cleanest cities ..

Malaysia reports first suspected Zika case

Police arrested 1,000 people as security forces fanned out across Gabon's capital today after a night of riots and looting that erupted when President Ali Bongo was declared winner of disputed polls.
	Thousands of angry protesters poured onto the streets of Libreville late yesterday, accusing the government of stealing the election after Bongo won a second term by a razor-thin margin over rival Jean Ping.
	His victory is set to extend the Bongo family's almost 50-year rule over the small oil-rich nation.
	Gunfire crackled across the city and plumes of smoke billowed from the torched parliament building as protesters clashed with heavily armed security forces.
	Ping said two people were killed and 19 hurt in a raid against his headquarters early today, and the national police chief told AFP that more than 200 people had been arrested across the city for looting.
	Police reported continued pillaging in outlying districts at midday today.
	But by mid-morning, security forces had sealed ..

1,000 arrests in Gabon post-vote violence

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim today insisted his country would not relax its contested anti-terror laws, a key condition laid down by the European Union for giving Turks visa-free access to the bloc.
	Yildirim pointed to the series of terror attacks that have rocked Turkey in the past year in telling visiting EU Parliament chief Martin Schulz the government would maintain its hardline stance.
	"We have made it clear to the European Union and Mr Schulz that we cannot amend our anti-terror laws under the current circumstances. It is a matter of life or death for us," Yildirim told a joint news conference with Schulz.
	The EU in March reached a deal with Turkey to halt the mass flow of migrants across the Mediterranean in return for a set of incentives, including billions of euros in aid for refugees on Turkish soil and visa-free travel for Turkish citizens.
	But before scrapping the visa requirement, the EU says Ankara must amend its draconian security laws, which have been ...

Turkey PM tells EU will not soften anti-terror law

Taiwan's already frosty relations with Beijing are set to cool further after the appointment of a controversial diplomat to handle cross-strait ties sparked a backlash.
	Beijing still sees self-ruling Taiwan as part of its territory and has been piling pressure on new president Tsai Ing-wen to acknowledge that there is only "one China".
	It deeply mistrusts Tsai, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is traditionally pro-independence.
	Beijing has cut official communications with Tsai, who took office in May and has not backed the "one China" concept - unlike her Beijing-friendly predecessor Ma Ying-Jeou.
	In an act seen by critics as further agitating Beijing, Tsai's office announced late yesterday that Tien Hung-mao, who is known for his pro-independence stance, will head the key Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).
	SEF and its Chinese counterpart The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits are semi-official bodies set up to deal with issues too legally or politically .

Taiwan faces new rout of China ties over controversial

The German government has accused Fiat-Chrysler of incorporating emissions cheating technology into some vehicles, in a letter to the European Commission seen by AFP today.
	"From our point of view, evidence has been provided of the use of an illegal defeat device" in some diesel-powered Fiat-Chrysler vehicles, the letter from the German transport ministry reads.
	Germany launched an investigation into emissions cheating earlier this year after Volkswagen's September 2015 admission that it had built so-called "defeat devices" into 11 million vehicles, designed to make them appear less polluting under regulatory tests.
	German government sources have now told AFP that the affected Fiat-Chrysler vehicles include two Fiat 500x models, a Jeep Renegade and a Fiat Doblo.
	"Step-by-step reduction of the exhaust treatment and a related step-by-step increase in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions" was found in testing by both German and Italian authorities, the letter continues.
	Affected vehicles .

Germany accuses Fiat of car emissions cheating

Cloud-based data storage company Dropbox said today that user IDs and passwords of some 68 million clients were stolen four years ago and recently leaked onto the internet.
	The company said it had no indication that any of its user accounts were improperly entered, and that it had notified the users and made them reset their passwords on the accounts.
	The company learned of the theft of the data only two weeks ago after the 68 million user credentials were posted online, but indicated it still does not know how or by whom.
	"The list of email addresses with hashed and salted passwords is real, however we have no indication that Dropbox user accounts have been improperly accessed. We're very sorry this happened and would like to clear up what's going on," the company said in an emailed statement.
	Dropbox believes the credentials were taken in 2012. After learning of the problem, it said, "we then emailed all users we believed were affected and completed a password reset for anyone ..

Dropbox says 68 million user IDs stolen

Clashes erupted in the Afghan capital today as supporters of an ancient monarch derided as a "bandit king" sought to rebury his remains, laying bare the country's deep-rooted ethnic divisions.
	Hundreds of people from King Habibullah Kalakani's ethnic Tajik minority faced off with loyalists of former warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum's Uzbek community, some of them armed, who are demanding a change of his reburial site.
	Gunshots were fired as pallbearers carrying the remains of Kalakani and his comrades approached the site, leaving at least three people wounded, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
	In 1929, Kalakani toppled Amanullah Khan, a reformist king credited for a successful war against Britain and his efforts to modernise Afghanistan, but he was executed less than a year later by a Pashtun king.
	For almost nine decades his remains were kept in an unmarked spot below a hilltop mausoleum of the country's ethnic Pashtun dynasty.
	His Tajik supporters, who lionise him as a .

Tensions flare as Afghans seek to rebury 'bandit king'

Georgetown University today announced measures to atone for having profited from the sale of nearly 300 slaves in the 19th century, giving an edge in admissions for their descendants.
	The US university's president, John DeGioia, will discuss the steps in a speech later today, and is to offer a formal apology.
	The measures planned also include the renaming of school buildings to Honor those enslaved, the creation of a new institute for the study of slavery and the construction of a public memorial honouring slaves whose work benefited the university.
	Georgetown, a Jesuit school founded in 1789 in the US capital Washington, is one of the oldest universities in the United States.
	It profited from the 1838 sale of 272 slaves who worked on Jesuit plantations in nearby Maryland. It used the proceeds to pay off debts.
	The reconciliatory moves are the outcome of a year-long, 16-member working group at Georgetown including students, faculty, staff and alumni.
	"The most appropriate ways ..

US university to give admissions boost to slave descendants

Health authorities in Spain have begun screening around 200 people after a rare, deadly virus known as Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever killed a man and infected a nurse who treated him, officials said today.
	A 62-year-old man died from the disease, also known as "Congo fever", at a Madrid hospital on August 25, the regional Madrid government said in a statement.
	He is believed to have become infected with the virus after he was bitten by a tick while walking in the countryside in the northwestern region of Castile and Leon.
	A nurse who treated the man while he was in intensive care in hospital is infected and is being treated in isolation.
	Health authorities have identified around 200 people who were in contact with the man and the nurse and they are being monitored for symptoms of the deadly disease.
	Public health workers are taking their temperature twice a day. Those who greater exposure to bodily fluids from the two infected patients have been ordered to remain at ...

Spain screens 200 people after man dies of Congo fever

Brazil's ex-president Dilma Rousseff today filed a Supreme Court challenge asking for the overturning of a Senate impeachment vote that removed her from office.
	The appeal, filed by Rousseff's lawyer Jose Eduardo Cardozo and seen by AFP, demands "the immediate suspension of the effects of the Senate decision."
	The Senate voted yesterday to convict Rousseff on charges of having illegally manipulated government accounts, stripping her of her office and replacing her with her bitter enemy and former vice president Michel Temer.
	Cardozo's appeal asks for "a new trial" during which Temer -- who was sworn in as president up until the end of 2018 -- would be downgraded to interim president again.
	Temer is now in China, attending a G20 summit, while Rousseff remains in the Alvorada presidential palace in Brasilia. She is expected to leave shortly for her personal apartment in the southern city of Porto Alegre.
	Rousseff was convicted by a two-thirds majority of taking illegal state loans .

Brazil's Rousseff lodges impeachment appeal: lawyer

EU President Donald Tusk insisted today there would be no talks with Britain before London triggers the divorce process, saying he wants to "protect the interests" of the bloc's remaining members.
	Tusk added that in the wake of the Brexit vote, the 27 EU leaders who are meeting without Britain in Slovakia on September 16 must focus on "security" at a time of other problems including the migration crisis.
	Speaking after talks with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, Tusk said the Bratislava summit would study life after Brexit but would not discuss a negotiating strategy for a future relationship with Britain.
	"Our position is crystal clear: there will be no negotiations without notification," Tusk told reporters.
	"This principle is enshrined in our treaties. And it is there for a reason: to protect the interests of the members of the union that want to stay together, not the one which decides to leave," the former Polish premier added.
	"Therefore, we shall not give up on ...

EU must protect own interests in Brexit talks: Tusk

The leak of secret technical data on French submarines designed for the Indian navy was a "malicious act", Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said today.
	"We will use every means at our disposal to learn the truth" in the affair, which came to light last week, Le Drian told reporters.
	"Obviously, it was a malicious act," he added.
	The Sydney-based newspaper The Australian said last week it had seen the leaked papers detailing the combat capability of the Scorpene-class subs made by French defence contractor DCNS for the Indian navy.
	Variants of the submarine are used by Malaysia and Chile, with Brazil due to deploy the vessels from 2018.
	Australia has also tapped DCNS, inking a deal in April worth 50 billion dollars (USD 38 billion) for the design and construction of its next generation of submarines.
	The Australian said the leaked documents totalled 22,400 pages and were marked "Restricted Scorpene India".
	They included thousands of pages on the submarine sensors and ...

France condemns submarine secrets leak

Delegates from one of Myanmar's most heavily armed ethnic groups stormed out of peace talks today in an early blow to a landmark gathering aimed at ushering in a new era of peace.
	The five-day conference in the capital Naypyidaw has been hailed as the best chance in a generation for Myanmar to end wars that have raged for up to 70-years, claiming thousands of lives and keeping the country mired in poverty.
	Among the militias attending is the powerful 20,000-strong United Wa State Army.
	They stopped fighting the government years back in exchange for control of a remote portion of territory bordering China which is now a notorious drug manufacturing hub.
	They had originally refused to make this week's talks, arguing they signed their own ceasefire with the previous military government back in 1989.
	But they eventually agreed to attend following discussions last month with de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and after pressure was applied by China, which retains significant influence ..

Powerful militia storms out of Myanmar peace talks

Swiss federal prosecutors today announced that they had opened criminal proceedings against German football legend Franz Beckenbauer over allegations of corruption in the awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany.
	Beckenbauer, 70, is under investigation with three other members of the 2006 World Cup organising committee -- Hans-Rudolf Schmidt, Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach -- said the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland.
	"The proceedings relate in particular to allegations of fraud, criminal mismanagement, money laundering and misappropriation," the office said in a statement.
    	"The suspects were members of the executive board of the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup in Germany."
	Niersbach and Zwanziger are both former German Football Association presidents and Schmidt a former general secretary.
	All four were members of Germany's World Cup organising committee, with Beckenbauer its president.
	Beckenbauer captained Germany to the 1974 World Cup and 

AFP

AFP

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