Turkey warned today it would carry out more strikes on a Syrian Kurdish militia if it failed to retreat beyond the Euphrates River, as Washington condemned their weekend clashes as "unacceptable".
	Turkish forces pressed on with a two-pronged operation inside Syria against Islamic State (IS) jihadists and the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), shelling over a dozen targets.
	But strikes against the YPG are hugely sensitive as the Kurdish group - seen as a terror group by Ankara - is allied with Turkey's NATO partner, the United States, in the fight against IS in Syria.
	Ankara said it had killed 25 Kurdish "terrorists" in strikes on YPG positions yesterday, a day after a Turkish soldier died in a rocket attack allegedly by the militia.
	The Pentagon called the clashes "unacceptable" and urged an immediate de-escalation.
	Turkey's operation aims to push the YPG back across the Euphrates River to prevent it joining up the region east of the river already under its control ..

US alarm as Turkey warns Syrian Kurd militia of more strikes

PTI Automatic

The new Tunisian unity government took office in the birthplace of the Arab Spring today, with Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, the country's youngest-ever leader, facing major economic and security challenges.
	At 40, Chahed is Tunisia's youngest premier since independence from France in 1956, and the seventh in less than six years since the 2011 uprising that ousted strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
	His new cabinet of 26 ministers and 14 ministers of state includes women, "young" and independent ministers, three members of the Islamist Ennahda party and two former members of the powerful UGTT union.
	It formally took office on Monday at a ceremony in Carthage just outside Tunis during which outgoing premier Habib Essid, 67, handed over power.
	"I hope this government will last," Essid said. "The worst thing for this country is the government changing ever year or year and a half."
	Chahed said: "The situation is complicated, but we're optimistic. We will shoulder our ...

Tunisia's new unity government takes office

Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff today urged the Senate to vote against impeaching her, denying charges that she fiddled government accounts.
	"Vote against impeachment, vote for democracy... Do not accept a coup," the 68-year-old leftist leader said as she defended herself before senators who are widely expected to remove her from office.
	Rousseff - Brazil's first female president - was testifying for the first time at her trial, hours before senators were to start voting on her fate.
	All indications point to her being removed from office, ending 13 years of rule by the leftist Workers' Party in Latin America's biggest country.
	Branding accusations against her "a pretext for a constitutional coup," Rousseff called herself a fighter for democracy.
	"I've come to look your excellencies in the eye and to say that I did not commit a crime," Rousseff, 68, said in a calm, firm voice from the Senate chamber podium.
	"I did not commit the crimes for which I have been accused ...

Brazil's Rousseff urges Senate vote against impeachment

A South African school was today accused of racism for allegedly telling black girls to straighten their hair and not wear 'afro' hairstyles.
	Pupils at Pretoria High School for Girls have said they were forced to chemically straighten their hair and not have afros that were deemed untidy.
	Over the weekend, students donning afro hairstyles and braids held a protest at the school to voice anger against the long-standing rule.
	Politicians quickly weighed in on the row, with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party accusing the school of seeking "to directly suppress blackness in its aesthetics and culture".
	Mmusi Maimane, leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party, tweeted: "My daughter has an Afro... Would she not be allowed at (Pretoria) girls?"
	Today, Panyaza Lesufi, the minister of education department in Gauteng province, visited the government-run school for talks with senior staff and students.
	"I really want to arrest the situation before it gets out of ...

Racism row over S Africa school's hair policy

A South African hotelier today said he had picked up a piece of aircraft wreckage off the Mozambican coast in the latest possible find of debris from the missing MH370 flight.
	Mozambique's aviation authorities in Maputo said they had been informed of the discovery, but were yet to receive the item.
	Australia, which is leading the search for the aircraft which vanished in 2014 with 239 people onboard, has determined that five pieces of debris found in Mozambique, South Africa and Mauritius almost certainly came from the plane.
	"I found this piece on the beach in front of a lodge called Linga Linga Lodge on Thursday last week," Jean Viljoen, a hotel manager in Mozambique's southern province of Inhambane, told AFP.
	"It is kind of triangular in shape, it's 1.2-metres by-1.2 metres across, and it looks like it's been in the ocean for a while."
	He said it was red and white, with stickers that had some readable numbers. The piece has been handed to local police.
	The latest debris was ..

New suspected MH370 debris found in Mozambique

Clashes between Turkish forces and units affiliated with a US-backed Kurdish-led alliance in Syria are "unacceptable", the Pentagon said today, calling on all sides to "stand down".
	In a statement sent to AFP, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook condemned the fighting south of the Syrian town of Jarabulus.
	"We are closely monitoring reports of clashes south of Jarabulus - where ISIL is no longer located - between the Turkish armed forces, some opposition groups, and units that are affiliated with the SDF (Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces)," he said.
	ISIL is an acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group.
	"We want to make clear that we find these clashes unacceptable and they are a source of deep concern."
	The United States "was not involved in these activities, they were not coordinated with US forces, and we do not support them," he said.
	"This is an already crowded battle space. Accordingly, we are calling on all armed actors to stand down immediately and take appropriate measures .

Clashes between Turkey, Kurds in Syria 'unacceptable':Pentagon

Police believe they have captured a serial killer dubbed China's "Jack the Ripper" for the way he mutilated several of his 11 female victims, state-run media reported today, nearly three decades after the first murder.
	Gao Chengyong, 52, was detained at the grocery store he runs with his wife in Baiyin, in the northwest province of Gansu, the China Daily said.
	The newspaper said he had confessed to 11 murders in Gansu and the neighbouring region of Inner Mongolia between 1988 and 2002, citing the ministry of public security.
	Gao allegedly targeted young women wearing red and followed them home to rape and kill them, often cutting their throat and mutilating their bodies, according to reports. The youngest victim was eight years old.
	Some victims also had their reproductive organs removed, the Beijing Youth Daily added.
	"The suspect has a sexual perversion and hates women," police said in 2004, when they linked the crimes for the first time and offered a reward of 200,000 yuan ...

Police snare 'China's Jack the Ripper': reports

Chinese authorities have shut down scores of factories and ordered a mandatory holiday for workers ahead of a summit of leaders of the Group of 20 economic powers, authorities said.
	The Hangzhou city government ordered a holiday for businesses in the downtown area from September 1 to 7, according to an official social media account. The G20 meeting will be held on September 4 and 5.
	City officials have also encouraged citizens to take their holiday out of town, in the hopes of reducing congestion. The city has already spent months preparing for the meeting and has undergone a major overhaul in an attempt to make traffic more efficient.
	Along with the mandatory vacation, certain types of factories within a 300-kilometre radius of Hangzhou have been forced to shut down for 12 days in order to ensure blue skies for the visiting dignitaries, according to government websites.
	The order affects chemical producers, construction material factories and textile manufacturers stretching ...

Chinese cities shut down factories ahead of G20 summit

South Africa's three-pronged pace attack put their team in a strong position with a first innings lead of 267 runs on the third day of the second Test against New Zealand on Monday.
     New Zealand were bowled out for 214 shortly before tea. South Africa decided not to enforce the follow on. Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada took three wickets each and Vernon Philander claimed two.
     Only captain Kane Williamson was able to provide sustained resistance for New Zealand. He was last man out for 77. With Steyn and Philander both returning from long-term injuries, it was the first time they had played in the same Test match as Rabada, South Africa's 21-year-old cricketer of the year.
     The combination proved relentless, although it took South Africa more than an hour to take the first wicket of the day, when Rabada trapped Henry Nicholls leg before wicket for 36.
     Williamson and Nicholls put on 60 for the fourth wicket and enabled New Zealand to make an encouraging start to the day .

South Africa take 267-run lead

- Scoreboard at tea on the third day of the second and final Test between South Africa and New Zealand at SuperSport Park here on Monday:
	   South Africa, first innings, 481-8 dec
	   New Zealand, first innings
        M Guptill c Van Zyl b Philander 8
	   T Latham c De Kock b Steyn 4
	   K Williamson c De Kock b Rabada 77
	   R Taylor run out (Bavuma) 1
	   H Nicholls lbw b Rabada 36
	   B Watling c De Kock b Steyn 8
	   M Santner b Philander 0
	   D Bracewell lbw b Rabada 18
	   T Southee c De Kock b Piedt 8
	   N Wagner c De Kock b Steyn 31
	   T Boult not out 0
	   Extras (b-5, lb-2, nb-1, w-15) 23
	   Total (All out in 58.3 overs) 214
	   Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-13, 3-26, 4-86, 5-106, 6-111, 7-144, 8-169, 9-214
	   Bowling: Steyn 20-3-66-3, Philander 15-1-43-2, Rabada 16.3-4-62-3 (2w), Piedt 7-0-36-1.

Centurion, Aug 29 (AFP) - Scoreboard at tea on the third day of the second and final Test between South Africa and New Zealand at SuperSport Park here on Monday:

Two suspects in a spate of bomb attacks on Thailand's tourist towns have links to southern Muslim rebels, police said today, the first time a clear link has been made to the insurgency.
	No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing and arson spree which hit popular resorts across the south this month, killing four and wounding dozens including European visitors.
	But the attacks have heightened concerns the ethnic Malay insurgency may have spread north after years of stalled peace talks -- a theory the country's junta has played down given the importance of tourism to the economy.
	Three arrest warrants have now been issued by a military court -- all for Muslim men from the south.
	Usmeen Katemmadee, a 29-year-old from Pattani province named in the latest warrant issued today, is wanted for bomb possession and arson over an attack against Hua Hin, where a double blast killed two people.
	Two earlier warrants were for a man called Ahama Lengha from Narathiwat province and for a ...

Thai tourist town attackers linked to Muslim insurgency:police

Pakistani police raided a madrassa in the restive southwestern city of Quetta and detained 106 illegal Afghan students, officials said today, as the government stepped up a campaign to rein in rogue religious schools.
	The detentions were made Saturday, and the students, aged between 14 to 18 years -- who had no documents giving them permission to be in the country-- will eventually be deported to Afghanistan, senior police official Nadeem Hussain told AFP.
	"We have sealed the madrassa as it did not have any registration documents," he said.
	Akbar Harifal, the Home Secretary for Balochistan province, of which Quetta is the capital, confirmed the raid and detentions.
	Pakistan had vowed to keep a closer eye on its 13,000 Islamic seminaries, or madrassas, as part of a "National Action Plan" after the country's deadliest extremist attack, a Taliban assault on a school that left more than 150 people dead in December 2014.
	With little oversight of what was being taught to the hundreds ..

106 Afghan students detained in Pakistan madrassa raid

US Secretary of State John Kerry called for improved worker rights in Bangladesh following the collapse of a garment factory complex and other disasters that have claimed more than 1,200 lives.
	During his first official visit to Bangladesh, Kerry met with labour and union leaders to discuss the impoverished nation's USD 28 billion garment industry, the world's second largest after China's.
	Kerry said the United States supported Bangladesh's efforts to increase safety inspections of garment factories and close down substandard buildings following the disasters.
	"But these steps are only part of the story. Enhancing worker safety must be paired with strengthening workers' rights," Kerry said in a speech in Dhaka.
	The top US diplomat said this included allowing workers to form unions and affording them full collective bargaining rights.
	"Bangladesh cannot truly meet the aspirations of its people and share prosperity if its workers are not safe and their rights are not ensured," he ..

Kerry urges improved worker rights in Bangladesh

The European Commission today insisted talks on a huge US free trade deal were on track, rejecting German claims that irreconcilable differences had left the deal dead in the water.
	"The ball is rolling right now. The Commission is making steady progress," Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said when asked about comments by German vice chancellor and economy minister Sigmar Gabriel that the talks had "failed."
	"Talks are now indeed entering a crucial stage but ... provided the conditions are right, the Commission stands ready to close this deal by the end of the year," Schinas told a regular press briefing.
	The EU and US began work on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in 2013, aiming to create the world's largest free trade area by the time President Barack Obama leaves office in January next year.
	But the talks have got bogged down amid widespread suspicion in the 28-nation EU that a deal would undercut bloc standards in key areas such as health and ..

EU insists 'ball still rolling' on US trade deal

New Zealand were plunged into deep trouble when they lost three wickets before lunch on the third day of the second Test against South Africa on Monday.
     New Zealand were 118 for six at lunch, 363 runs behind South Africa's first innings total of 481 for eight declared at Centurion's SuperSport Park.
     Fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander picked up a wicket apiece. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was the only batsman to look comfortable against the South African attack. He was on 40 not out at lunch.
     Left-hander Henry Nicholls survived a chance to South African captain Faf du Plessis off Steyn in the third over of the day and went on to play a plucky innings of 36.
     Williamson and Nicholls saw out the first hour and took the score from the overnight 38 for three to 86 before Rabada made the breakthrough, trapping Nicholls leg before wicket with a full delivery with the batsman back on his stumps.
     Nicholls was given not out by umpire Paul 

New Zealand lose three before lunch

Scoreboard at lunch on the third day of the second and final Test between South Africa and New Zealand at SuperSport Park here on Monday.
	   South Africa
	   First innings 481-8 dec
	   New Zealand
	   First innings(overnight 38/3)
	   M Guptill c Van Zyl b Philander   8
	   T Latham c De Kock b Steyn        4
	   K Williamson not out             40
	   R Taylor run out (Bavuma)         1
	   H Nicholls lbw b Rabada          36
	   B Watling c De Kock b Steyn       8
	   M Santner b Philander             0
	   D Bracewell not out               1
	   Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-15)          20
	   Total (For 6 wkts, 40 overs)     118
	   Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-13, 3-26, 4-86, 5-106, 6-111
	   Bowling: Steyn 16-3-42-2, Philander 12-1-29-2, Rabada 10-2-30-1 (2w), Piedt 2-0-12-0.

Centurion, Aug 29 (AFP) Scoreboard at lunch on the third day of the second and final Test between South Africa and New Zealand at SuperSport Park here on Monday.

Libya's pro-government forces today cornered Islamic State group jihadists in their last holdouts in the city of Sirte, after heavy fighting that left dozens dead and wounded.
	The battle for IS's North African stronghold was launched more than three months ago by forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.
	Those forces have been backed by US air raids for almost a month, amid international concern over the group's growing influence in one of IS's few centres of operation outside Syria and Iraq.
	IS overran the Mediterranean hometown of Libya's slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi in mid-2015, sparking fears the jihadists would use it as a springboard for attacks on Europe.
	Pro-GNA forces today said they had encircled the jihadists in less than two square kilometres (0.7 square mile) in Sirte, after staging an assault the previous day on its last two IS-held districts.
	The anti-IS fighters "seized a little more than half of district number three and 70 per cent of ...

Libyan forces corner IS fighters in Sirte

Afghan special forces have rescued a kidnapped Australian aid worker, officials said today, four months after she was taken at gunpoint in the country's volatile east.
	Katherine Jane Wilson, said to be aged around 60, is "safe and well", Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said, without disclosing when she was released or who was behind her abduction.
	Unidentified masked gunmen kidnapped Wilson from Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan, in late April when she was visiting the city for a women's embroidery project.
	"I confirm that Kerry Jane Wilson, who was abducted in Afghanistan in April this year, has been released, and she is now safe and well," Bishop said in a statement, without saying whether she is still in Afghanistan.
	The minister, who has previously said Australia does not pay ransom for kidnappers, voiced relief for Wilson and her family but would not provide details of how she was freed.
	Afghanistan's main intelligence agency, the National Directorate of ...

Abducted Australian aid worker freed in Afghanistan

Cross-border shelling from Yemen has killed three children in Saudi Arabia and wounded nine other people, local media reported today.
	In one of the attacks, two Saudi girls were killed and five of their family members wounded when a rocket hit their home in the border region of Najran, the kingdom's SPA news agency said.
	In the same region, an 11-year-old boy was killed and his mother wounded in similar shelling, SPA cited civil defence authorities as saying in a separate statement.
	A third attack in the region of Jazan wounded a Saudi child and two women, one of them Ethiopian, another statement said.
	All the attacks took place yesterday.
	Cross-border attacks from Yemen have intensified since the suspension in early August of UN-brokered peace talks between the Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies, and Yemen's internationally-recognised government, which has the military support of a Saudi-led Arab coalition.
	On Saturday, a rocket fired from Yemen killed a three-year-old boy in 

Yemen cross-border shelling kills 3 Saudi children

A Thai military court today issued an arrest warrant for a third suspect in a spate of bomb attacks on tourist towns, all three of them Muslims from the insurgency-plagued south.
	No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing and arson spree, which hit popular resorts across the south this month, killing four and wounding dozens including European visitors.
	Usmeen Katemmadee, a 29-year-old from Pattani province who was named today, is wanted for bomb possession and arson over an attack against Hua Hin, where a double blast killed two people.
	Two earlier warrants were for a man called Ahama Lengha from Narathiwat province and for a man named Russalan Baima from neighbouring Songkhla. All three names are Muslim.
	The attacks were highly unusual in a nation where western visitors are rarely caught up in bouts of political violence.
	Thailand's military leaders have been keen to play down suggestions that the perpetrators could be Muslim Malay militants from the three southernmost ..

Third warrant issued over Thai tourist town attacks

Bangladesh will host their first One-day International series against Afghanistan in late September in preparation for the arrival of the England team, according to the president of their cricket board.
     Nazmul Hassan said that the Afghan team, who are based in India, had agreed to play three ODIs at Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on September 25, 28 and 30.
     "Our senior players recommended the series. So we invited Afghanistan to play against us," Hassan told reporters late Sunday.
     The matches will be the first ODIs hosted by Bangladesh since last year when they won series against Pakistan, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
     Bangladesh and Afghanistan have never played a bilateral series in any format but they have played each other in tournaments, including last year's World Cup when Bangladesh cruised to a 105-run victory in Canberra.
     England are due to arrive in Bangladesh on September 30 for three ODIs and two Test matches despite concerns over ...

AFP

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