Turkish shelling and air strikes killed at least 40 Syrians today, a monitor said, in the first significant civilian casualties in Turkey's intensifying campaign in northern Syria.
	Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said the army had killed 25 Kurdish "terrorists" in air strikes as part of its unprecedented operation inside Syria.
	The bombardments came after Ankara suffered its first military fatality since it launched the two-pronged offensive against the Islamic State group and Syrian Kurdish militia inside Syria on Wednesday.
	At least 20 civilians were killed and 50 wounded in Turkish artillery fire and air strikes on the village of Jeb el-Kussa early today, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
	Another 20 were killed and 25 wounded, many seriously, in Turkish air strikes near the town of Al-Amarneh, it said.
	The monitor also said at least four Kurdish fighters had been killed and 15 injured in Turkish bombardment of the two areas.
	A spokesman for 

40 dead as Turkish shelling, raids hit Syrian civilians

PTI Automatic

Scoreboard at lunch on the second day of the second and final Test between South Africa and New Zealand at Centurion's SuperSport Park today.
     South Africa 1st innings (overnight 283 for 3)
     S Cook c Williamson b Bracewell    56
     Q de Kock c Boult b Wagner         82
     H Amla c Watling b Wagner          58
     J Duminy c Watling b Southee       88
     F du Plessis not out               57
     T Bavuma c Bracewell b Wagner       8
     S van Zyl not out                   0
     Extras: (B-5, LB-4)                 9
     Total: (For 5 wkts; 115 overs)    358
     Fall of wickets: 1-133, 2-151, 3-246, 4-342, 5-342.
     Bowling: Southee 29-4-88-1, Boult 26.4-5-80-0, Bracewell 22.2-6-83-1, Santner 8-1-33-0, Wagner 29-6-65-3.

Centurion, Aug 28 (AFP) Scoreboard at lunch on the second day of the second and final Test between South Africa and New Zealand at Centurion's SuperSport Park today.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in an interview published today that he will make less than two million Swiss francs a year, well below the salary of his disgraced predecessor, Sepp Blatter.
     Infantino has not yet agreed to terms with FIFA but speaking to Switzerland's Blick newspaper, he said his salary "will be less than the two million francs (USD2 million, 1.8 million euros) people have speculated about."
     Blatter, who was mired in scandal before being banned from FIFA, made USD 3.6 million in 2015.
     Infantino described past dealings with FIFA's compensation committee as "insulting" and "completely arbitrary."
     During the first two months of Infantino's tenure, which began in February, the compensation committee included former FIFA audit and compliance chief Domenico Scala, who has emerged as a fierce critic of world football's new president.
    	Scala dramatically quit FIFA in May, accusing Infantino of trying to compromise the organisation's independent ...

Infantino says FIFA salary less than USD 2m

South Africa remained in a strong position but failed to take full command in their first innings on the second day of the second Test against New Zealand today.
     South Africa were 358 for five at lunch, adding only 75 runs in 27 overs during the morning for the loss of two wickets.
     JP Duminy made 88 off 158 balls, with 13 fours, before he was caught behind off Tim Southee, getting a faint edge to an attempted pull against a bouncer.
     Temba Bavuma also fell to a short ball, top-edging a pull against Neil Wagner to be well caught by Doug Bracewell, running in from fine leg, for eight.
     South African captain Faf du Plessis batted cautiously for 57 not out at lunch off 138 balls. A largely defensive innings included one extravagant shot which almost cost him his wicket. After laboring to 18 off 86 balls, he pulled a short ball from Trent Boult and the ball went for six through the hands of Henry Nicholls, running along the midwicket boundary.
     He reached his fifty ...

South Africa lose momentum on 2nd day

Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed unity government pushed today into the last areas of Sirte held by the Islamic State group in what was the jihadists' coastal stronghold, a spokesman said.
	"Our forces entered the last areas held by Daesh in Sirte: district number one and district number three," said Rida Issa, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
	"The final battle for Sirte has started," said the spokesman for forces backing the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.
	About 1,000 pro-GNA fighters were taking part in the offensive, he said, adding a tank had destroyed a bomb-rigged car before IS jihadists could use it to target the forces at the start of the assault.
	An AFP photographer saw several tanks and armed vehicles move towards district number one and heard gunfire and rocket explosions as they entered the northern neighbourhood.
	The pro-GNA forces said on their Facebook page that the offensive came "after air strikes overnight by the warplanes of international ...

Libya forces push into last IS-held areas of Sirte

Germany expects up to 300,000 asylum seekers to arrive this year, less than one-third of the total during 2015's record influx, the Federal Office for Migrants and Refugees (BAMF) said today.
	BAMF chief Frank-Juergen Weise told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that Germany's healthy economy and improvements to refugee services over the last year meant that the country was well-placed to absorb new arrivals, particularly as their numbers have dropped off.
	"We are preparing for between 250,000 and 300,000 refugees this year," he said.
	"We can ensure optimal services for up to 300,000. Should more people arrive, it would put us under pressure, then we would go into so-called crisis mode. But even then we would not have conditions like last year."
	Nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived in Germany, Europe's top economic power, last year, putting enormous strain on the country's bureaucracy to process claims and testing confidence in Chancellor Angela Merkel's right-left coalition ...

Germany expects 300,000 asylum seekers this year: official

Turkish shelling and air strikes killed at least 35 civilians in Syria today, the fifth day of an incursion against Islamic State group jihadists and Kurdish militia, a monitor said.
	"At least 20 civilians were killed and 50 others wounded by Turkish artillery fire and air strikes on Sunday morning at Jeb el-Kussa," a village south of Jarabulus, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	The Britain-based group said four local fighters were also killed in the bombardment.
	It also reported another 15 civilians killed and 25 wounded, many seriously, in Turkish air strikes near the town of Al-Amarneh, also south of Jarabulus.
	The deaths come after Turkey yesterday suffered its first fatality since launching operation "Euphrates Shield" in Syria, blaming Kurdish militia in a fight for control of the border region.
	The Observatory said the bombardment targeted an area south of the former Islamic State group stronghold of Jarabulus, which Turkish-led forces ...

Turkish bombardment kills 35 civilians in Syria: monitor

Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck a rebel convoy near a taxi stand in central Yemen, killing seven civilians and nine insurgents, officials said today.
	The air strikes hit three vehicles belonging to the Huthi rebels late yesterday near the Mafraq Sharab junction outside the southwestern city of Taez, a military official said.
	Medical sources said hospitals in Taez received the bodies of seven civilians, while military sources said nine rebels were killed and 14 people were wounded.
	The raid came during sporadic clashes in the city between the Iran-backed rebels and forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who are supported by a Saudi-led coalition.
	The Arab coalition launched a military campaign against the Huthis and their allies in March 2015, after the Shiite rebels closed in on Hadi in his southern refuge in Aden forcing him into exile.
	The coalition has stepped up its air raids since three months of peace talks in Kuwait collapsed earlier this ...

Coalition strikes kill 7 Yemeni civilians: sources

French Environment Minister Segolene Royal met with her Iranian counterpart in Tehran today to announce plans for a number of joint projects addressing energy, water shortages and pollution.
	Royal held talks with the head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organisation, Massoumeh Ebtekar, and said they would build several key partnerships by February.
	"Several highly operational subjects were discussed," Royal told reporters.
	The French minister is travelling for three days with senior business figures from environmental and renewable energy firms specialising in water, pollution and energy efficiency - including the boss of multinational Engie.
	"They were chosen by Iran on the basis of the challenges they face," said Royal.
	"Since we face the same type of challenges in France, this is a terrific opportunity for cooperation."
	Royal said she would return in February to discuss progress on the partnerships.
	Ebtekar, who is also a vice-president of Iran, said the visit "shows the .

French environment minister announces partnerships in Iran

A knife-wielding man stabbed a Catholic priest and tried to set off an explosive device at a church in Indonesia today, police said, the latest attack on religious minorities in the mainly Muslim country.
	Priest Albert Pandiangan was holding a mass in the city of Medan on the western island of Sumatra when a young man approached him and stabbed him in his left arm, said local chief detective Nur Fallah.
	The attacker was carrying a homemade explosive device, said Fallah.
	"Somebody tried to kill the priest by pretending to attend the church service and at that time tried to explode something, like a firecracker, but the firecracker didn't explode, it only fumed," Fallah told reporters.
	The priest suffered slight injuries and has been taken to hospital for treatment.
	A picture of the attacker's ID card circulating online said he was Muslim.
	In recent years there have been a number of attacks on religious minorities and others in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority .

Indonesian priest injured in church attack

Turkish shelling and air strikes killed at least 20 civilians in Syria today, the fifth day of an incursion against Islamic State group jihadists and Kurdish militia, a monitor said.
	"At least 20 civilians were killed and 50 others wounded by Turkish artillery fire and air strikes on Sunday morning at Jeb el-Kussa," a village south of Jarabulus, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	It comes after Turkey suffered its first fatality on Saturday, blaming Kurdish militia in a fight for control of the border region.

Turkish bombardment kills 20 civilians in Syria: monitor

Muslim extremists carrying Islamic State group insignia have staged a daring jailbreak in the southern Philippines, freeing 28 detainees in the latest in a series of mass escapes, officials said today.
	About 50 heavily armed members of the Maute group raided the local jail in the southern city of Marawi on Saturday, freeing eight comrades who had been arrested barely a week ago, police said.
	Twenty other detainees, held for other offences, also escaped in the raid, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Agustine Tello said.
	The freed members of the Maute group were arrested on August 22 after soldiers manning an army checkpoint found improvised bombs and pistols in the van they were driving.
	The Maute group is one of several Muslim gangs in the southern region of Mindanao, the ancestral homeland of the Muslim minority in the largely Catholic Philippines.
	The group has carried out kidnappings and bombings and is believed to have led an attack on an army outpost in the ...

Philippine Muslim extremists stage mass jailbreak

Andy Murray admits he's playing his best ever tennis as he looks to capitalise on the growing frailties of his rivals and capture a second US Open title.
     Ahead of tomorrow's start to the season's final Grand Slam, the 29-year-old is the sport's man of the moment.
     Since losing the French Open final to Novak Djokovic in June, Murray has won Queen's Club, a second Wimbledon title and successfully defended his Olympic crown in Rio.
     His career-best 22-match win streak came to a halt at the hands of Marin Cilic in the Cincinnati final last weekend when he simply ran out of gas.
     But that hasn't dented his confidence that he can claim a second US Open, four years after his breakthrough in New York saw him become the first British man in 76 years to win a Grand Slam title.
     At 29, three-time major winner Murray admits he is taking positives from being in the twilight of his career.
     "You have to make the most of every opportunity. It's a slightly different mentality 

'Best yet' Murray poised to pounce at US Open

Real Madrid shrugged off the absence of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo to extend their perfect start to the season with a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo thanks to Toni Kroos's late winner.
     The European champions now lead their opponents in May's Champions League final by four points after just two games as Atletico Madrid were held 0-0 at newly promoted Leganes.
     Alvaro Morata looked to have Real on their way to another three points when he eventually broke Celta's resistence by smashing home on the hour mark.
     Fabian Orellana curled home a spectacular equaliser 24 minutes from time, but Kroos's sublime low strike in off the inside of the post secured all three points for the hosts 10 minutes from time.
     "We played so-so today," said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.
     "I am left with the fact the players believed until the end and we achieved what we wanted."
     Ronaldo was still sidelined by the knee ligament injury that forced him off during Portugal's Euro 2016 final ...

Kroos winner rescues Real, Atletico lose more ground

The brother-in-law of one of the jihadists who attacked French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last year faced terrorism charges today for allegedly trying to join Islamic State fighters in Syria, a judicial source said.
	Twenty-year-old French student Mourad Hamyd was charged by an anti-terrorism judge in Paris with "associating with terrorists" and held in custody.
	Hamyd, whose sister Izzana was married to Charlie Hebdo gunman Cherif Kouachi, had been sent back to France yesterday from Bulgaria where he had tried to cross the border into Turkey in late July. But Turkish officials handed him over to Bulgarian border authorities.
	France requested Hamyd's extradition on July 29, accusing him of "conspiring to prepare acts of terrorism".
	French prosecutors said that the route taken by Hamyd -- by train through Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria -- corresponded to the one traditionally taken by jihadist fighters wanting to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria or Iraq.
	Hamyd told .

Relative of Charlie Hebdo killer held on terror-linked charges

Government forces today retook control of Daraya near the Syrian capital after rebels and civilians were evacuated following a four-year siege by regime forces, a military source said.
	"The Syrian army completely controls Daraya and has entered all of the town. There isn't a single armed man there," the source said of the insurgents, speaking on condition of anonymity.
	State television said: "The Daraya file is now closed after the evacuation of all the civilians, armed men and their families under the agreement" reached on Thursday between the regime and rebels.
	It broadcast footage of army vehicles combing the streets of the town, which was one of the first to rise up against the regime in Syria's five-year-old revolt.
	"The second and final convoy of rebels and civilians came out of Daraya today," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
	The total number of evacuees was not yet clear.

Daraya under govt control after last rebels evacuated: army

Singapore today reported the first locally-transmitted case of the Zika virus, with three other suspect infections pending confirmation.
	Authorities identified the confirmed patient as a 47-year-old Malaysian woman residing in the city-state.
	"As she had not travelled to Zika-affected areas recently, she was likely to have been infected in Singapore," the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Environment Agency said in a joint statement late today.
	The woman developed fever, rash and conjunctivitis on Thursday and tested positive for the virus two days later at a local hospital, where she has since been under observation, the statement said.
	"The patient is currently well and recovering," it added.
	The health ministry is screening the woman's close contacts and is carrying out tests on other people living and working in the area exhibiting symptoms of fever and rash.
	The statement said three other suspect cases -- two from a family who live in the area and another individual 

Singapore reports first locally transmitted Zika case

South Africa's wealthy Gupta family with influential ties to President Jacob Zuma said today they plan to sell all their business interests in the country by the end of the year.
	The family, who had immigrated from India in the 1990s and owns a business empire with interests ranging from media to mining, said it was already in talks with "several international prospective buyers."
	"As a family, we now believe that the time is right for us to exit our shareholding of the South African businesses which we believe will benefit our existing employees, and lead to further growth in the businesses," said a statement issued by their holding company Oakbay Investments.
	The Gupta family companies led by brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh, have over the years been embroiled in scandals, including accusations of having undue influence over Zuma.
	Some members of Zuma's family were once employed in Gupta companies, including his son Duduzane who used to be their business partner.
	In April the ...

Politically connected Gupta family to sell S.Africa companies

A rocket fired from Yemen killed a three-year-old boy today in the Saudi border region of Najran, a civil defence official said, in the latest cross-border attack by Iran-backed Yemeni rebels.
	Major Ali al-Shahrani, civil defence spokesman in southwest Saudi Arabia, told reporters a nine-year-old brother of the boy was also wounded when a Katyusha rocket hit their family's home.
	The attack came a day after rockets fired from Yemen struck a power station in Najran, marking a rare hit on Saudi Arabia's infrastructure after months of periodic bombardment of the area.
	Attacks 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.
	Ten people have been killed in Najran since August 16, when a single strike claimed seven lives.
	The Arab coalition has also stepped up its air raids in Yemen since the ...

Yemen cross-border shelling kills Saudi child: civil defence

Hundreds of people turned out today to pay their respects at the funeral of Belgian jazz legend "Toots" Thielemans, who died last week after a glittering career spanning seven decades.
	Jean-Baptiste Frederic Isidore Thielemans, known affectionately as "Toots" and widely acknowledged as the king of jazz harmonica, died in Brussels on Monday aged 94.
	Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel was among the mourners at the church in La Hulpe, near Brussels, where Thielemans lived. A giant screen was set up to relay the service to the crowds outside.
	American pianist Kenny Werner read a short message from President Barack Obama addressed to Thielemans's widow.
	Over the years, Thielemans performed with some of the greatest names in jazz, including Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans, Ray Charles as well as legendary singer Frank Sinatra. He played the closing theme on the much-loved kids' TV show "Sesame Street".
	Musician and producer Quincy Jones, who famously took Michael Jackson's career to new 

Hundreds bid farewell to Belgian jazz legend Thielemans

Suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff's former economy minster testified today that Rousseff did not break any laws justifying impeachment, as her trial closed in on next week's climax.
	Rousseff, 68, is accused of taking illegal state loans to help bridge budget shortfalls and mask the true state of the economy during her 2014 reelection campaign.
	The one-time Marxist guerrilla, who was imprisoned and tortured under Brazil's military dictatorship in the 1970s, says the charges are trumped up and amount to a rightwing coup.
	Former economy minister Nelson Barbosa and Rio State University law professor Ricardo Lodi were the final defense witnesses brought to testify that Rousseff did not break the law or harm the economy, which is now in deep recession.
	"There is nothing remotely illegal," Barbosa said. "You cannot act retroactively with a new interpretation of the law."
	The same argument was delivered yesterday by a first batch of Rousseff witnesses who said that such ...

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