United States striker Clint Dempsey will miss his country's crucial upcoming World Cup qualifiers after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, reports said Friday.
     Dempsey's club the Seattle Sounders confirmed that the 33-year-old forward would be sidelined from this weekend's Major League Soccer clash with the Portland Timbers in Oregon.
     It is not known when the former Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham player will return.
     "It's something that we've been monitoring during the season," Sounders general manager Garth Lagerwey said on the club's website.
     "We have Clint's best interest at heart first and foremost... He's been calm in our conversations with him. Anytime someone tells you something about your body then that's an issue of some concern, but he's been real mature and real professional about this."
     ESPN later confirmed Dempsey would miss the USA's 2018 World Cup qualifiers on September 2 and 6 against St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and ...

Dempsey sidelined over irregular heartbeat

PTI Automatic

Kenyan police on Friday arrested the secretary-general of the country's Olympic committee (NOCK) in the wake of a series of scandals and embarrassments at the Rio Games.
     "It's true Francis Paul has been arrested over the Olympics issues," said a police source who wished to remain anonymous.
     "It is part of investigations into the Rio scandal on the mismanagement of the whole Games for the Kenyan team and the misappropriation of kits."
     Kenya's Sport Minister Hassan Wario had on Thursday announced the disbanding of the country's Olympic committee with immediate effect.
     Wario, who was questioned on Wednesday by detectives investigating allegations of corruption and mismanagement relating to Kenya's Olympics performance, said facilities management parastatal Sports Kenya would take over responsibility and organise fresh elections to the Olympic committee.
     Wario blamed NOCK for the "troubles", "mishaps" and "mishandling of the accreditation" that -- among other ...

Top Kenyan Olympic committee official arrested

Riots erupted in Zimbabwe's capital Harare after police fired tear gas and beat protesters who responded by throwing stones in the latest of a string of highly charged demonstrations.
	The violence came yesterday as a High Court judge ordered police "not to interfere (with), obstruct or stop the march".
	Dozens of police blocked off the site of an opposition rally for electoral reforms by 2018, when 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe who has ruled the southern African country for decades will seek re-election.
	AFP correspondents saw armed police firing tear gas and water cannon at protesters gathered on the fringes of the central business district who were waiting for the march to start.
	Demonstrators began throwing stones at police while some set tyres ablaze and others pulled down the sign for a street named after Mugabe.
	Some people caught up in the melee, including children going to a nearby agricultural show, ran for shelter in the magistrate's court while riot police pursued 

Tear gas as Zimbabwe police beat anti-Mugabe marchers

The United States repatriated 161 Cubans this week after intercepting them at sea as they attempted to reach American soil, the US Coast Guard said.
	Coast Guard patrol boats shuttled the migrants to Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba on three separate trips made Monday, Thursday and yesterday, the agency said in a statement.
	"We discourage anyone from taking to the sea and attempting to reach US soil illegally - they are risking their lives with very little chance of success," Coast Guard Captain Mark Gordon said yesterday.
	"Navigating the Florida Straits can be extremely dangerous for the unprepared on illegal voyages and often leads to injury or death."
	The Coast Guard has seen a spike in the number of Cubans arriving in the United States by land and sea since Washington and Havana announced they would begin normalising relations in December 2014.
	Cuban migrants who reach the United States are put on a fast track to residency and citizenship under a Cold War-era policy that many fear will .

US repatriates 161 Cuban migrants

The UN Security Council has warmly welcomed the historic peace deal reached between Colombia's government and FARC rebels, and pledged to help ensure the agreement takes hold.
	The council met behind closed doors yesterday, two days after the Bogota government and rebel representatives announced they had reached a final peace deal to end decades of conflict.
	The United Nations intends to set up a special mission in the South American country to monitor the ceasefire, help disarm the rebels and verify compliance with the peace deal.
	The council "reiterated its commitment to supporting implementation of the ceasefire agreement, cessation of hostilities and the laying down of arms through the UN political mission in Colombia," said Malaysia's Deputy Ambassador Siti Hajjar Adnin, whose country holds the council presidency this month.
	Council members "warmly welcome" the peace deal that will be submitted to a nationwide referendum on October 2 and congratulate Colombians, she ...

UN ready to help Colombia peace deal

Canadian twin brothers who had hoped to join the Islamic State (IS) group pleaded guilty to "terrorism" offenses and were sentenced today to prison terms, prosecutors announced.
	The brothers, Ashton and Carlos Larmond, both 25, received sentences of 17 and seven years, respectively.
	A third man, Suliman Mohamed, 23, faces a seven-year term for conspiring with the twins.
	In court, prosecutor Douglas Curliss described Ashton as the "organizer and director" of an unspecified extremist plot.
	Police alleged that he had urged others to wage jihad after his mother alerted the authorities of his plan to travel to Syria to join the IS group in 2013 and the government revoked his passport.
	Later, on the day in October 2014 when a gunman shot dead a ceremonial guard and attempted to storm the parliament building in Ottawa, Ashton allegedly bragged to an undercover agent that he had "bigger plans."
	Within hours of his arrest in January 2015 after a lengthy investigation, his brother Carlos .

Canadian twins plead guilty to terrorism, face jail time

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) today claimed a suicide truck bombing on a police building in Turkey's southeast that killed 11 officers and wounded dozens more.
	The blast came two days after the Turkish army launched an offensive in Syria that the government says is targeting both Islamic State (IS) jihadists and a Syrian Kurdish militia detested by Ankara.
	The explosion tore the facade off the headquarters of the Turkish riot police in the town of Cizre, a bastion of PKK support just north of the Syrian border.
	The local governor's office said 11 officers were killed and 78 people injured, three of them civilians. Four people were said to be in critical condition.
	The state-run Anadolu news agency said the explosion took place 50 metres (yards) from the building, at a control post.
	The PKK said it carried out the assault in retaliation for the "continued isolation" of the group's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and the "lack of information" about his welfare.
	Cizre, .

11 Turkish police killed in PKK suicide bombing

Italy today declared a day of mourning for victims of a devastating earthquake as hopes of finding any more survivors dwindled and the confirmed death toll rose to 267.
	Flags will fly at half-mast across the country tomorrow to coincide with funerals for some of the victims.
	Immacolata Postiglione, head of the Civil Protection agency's emergency unit, said no new survivors had been found overnight in the remote mountain villages blitzed by Wednesday's powerful pre-dawn quake.
	At least 387 people have been hospitalised with injuries but no one has been pulled alive from the piles of collapsed masonry since Wednesday evening.
	"We will go on searching and digging until we are certain there is noone left," said Luigi D'Angelo, a local Civil Protection official.
	Valerio Checchi, an officer with a forestry police unit, said he expected rescuers to shortly start using bulldozers to clear the debris in a sign virtually all hope of survivors has gone.
	"We will still use thermal devices ..

Italy prepares to mourn earthquake dead

President Barack Obama today burnished his environmental legacy by establishing the world's largest marine reserve, home to thousands of rare sea creatures in the northwestern Hawaiian islands.
	Obama's announcement more than quadrupled the size of the existing protected area, known as the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which is now 582,578 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers) -- about four times the size of California.
	The waters are home to pristine coral reefs and hundreds of animals found nowhere else on Earth, including a new species of ghost octopus discovered only this year and the world's oldest living organism, black coral, which is estimated to be 4,265 years old.
	Some 14 million seabirds soar over the area and make their nests on the islands, including a 65-year-old albatross named Wisdom. The area is home as well to threatened green turtles and endangered Hawaiian monk seals.
	The marine monument was established in 2006 by then president George W. ...

Obama establishes world's largest marine reserve

Apple has issued a security update to fix vulnerabilities found after fierce spyware created by an Israeli firm was used to target an Emirati dissident, US media reported.
	The company released its latest iOS version, 9.3.5, yesterday, which the New York Times said was meant to fix three security vulnerabilities in Apple products.
	Those vulnerabilities had been targeted by the NSO Group, an Israeli spyware company, which has created a product that can rifle through a phone to read texts, track calls and record sounds, among other capabilities, the New York Times reported.
	Apple told various US media outlets that it fixed the vulnerabilities as soon it learned about them.
	The spyware was detected when used against Ahmed Mansoor, a human rights activist in the United Arab Emirates, who has been repeatedly targeted using spyware.
	After receiving a suspicious text with a link, he reported the matter to the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab which worked in conjunction with San ...

Apple issues update after security flaws laid bare: media

All donated blood should undergo tests for the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects, US regulators said today, amid a mounting outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus in the United States.
	"There is still much uncertainty regarding the nature and extent of Zika virus transmission," said Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
	"At this time, the recommendation for testing the entire blood supply will help ensure that safe blood is available for all individuals who might need transfusion.

US urges all donated blood undergo tests for Zika

A massive leak of secret data on French submarines is embarrassing, Australia's Defence Industry minister said today, stressing that security between Australia and the DCNS shipbuilders would be "the most stringent in the world".
	The Australian newspaper reported this week that it had seen 22,400 leaked pages detailing the combat capability of the Scorpene-class DCNS submarine designed for the Indian navy.
	Variants of the submarine are used by Malaysia and Chile, with Brazil due to deploy the vessels from 2018.
	Australia awarded French contractor DCNS a USD 38 billion contract last April to design and build its next generation of submarines.
	"Obviously it is a very serious matter for the Indian navy and for the DCNS project," Australia's Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne told Channel Nine.
	Pyne stressed that the leak had "no bearing at all on the Australian project" as Canberra has commissioned a different model to the Scorpene.
	The Australian's scoop prompted DCNS to ..

Australian minister says French submarine leak 'embarrassing'

Justifications for an interest rate increase in the United States have grown in recent months, US Fed chief Janet Yellen said today.
	In an address to an annual gathering of central bankers in Wyoming, Yellen took note of strong job growth, saying gradual increases in the Fed's benchmark rate in the coming years should be expected.
	"In light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months," Yellen said, according to her prepared remarks.
	Sure to ripple through equities and commodities markets, Yellen's words returned a measure of clarity on the intentions of US monetary policymakers, who have been publicly at odds in recent months over the need to raise rates in the near-term.
	Market watchers had complained this year that the Fed's public pronouncements had been inscrutable and sometimes contradictory, leaving investors ...

Case for rate hike strengthening, Yellen says

Canada's former prime minister Stephen Harper announced today he was quitting politics, 10 months after voters tossed his Tories out of office in a general election.
	The awkward career-politician, who was more at home plowing through economic theory than glad-handing voters on the campaign trail, said in a statement that he was stepping down as a member of parliament after nearly 18 years of public service.
	Summarizing the previous Tory government's accomplishments over nearly 10 years with him at the helm, Harper pointed to tax cuts, stiffer criminal sentences, and steering the economy "through the worst global recession since the Great Depression" in 2008.
	Of the Group of Seven industrialized nations, he noted, Canada "came out in the strongest position of them all."
	Harper's spokeswoman Anna Tomala said the former prime minister has formed a consulting group to provide advice to international clients.
	"The firm will work in tech, finance, energy, infrastructure and ...

Canada's former Tory PM Stephen Harper quits politics

France's highest administrative court today suspended a controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups.
	In a judgement expected to set a precedent, the State Council ruled that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if wearing the Islamic swimsuit was a "proven risk" to public order.
	The judges said there was no such risk in the case before the court concerning Villeneuve-Loubet, one of around 30 towns to have introduced the bans.
	The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) hailed the ruling as a "victory for common sense".
	Police have fined Muslim women for wearing burkinis on beaches in several towns, including in the popular tourist resorts of Nice and Cannes, sparking controversy in France and abroad.
	The burkini bans have triggered a fierce debate about women's rights and the French state's strictly-guarded secularism.
	Amnesty International welcomed the ruling.
	"By overturning a discriminatory ban ...

France's top court suspends burkini ban

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) today claimed a deadly suicide bomb attack on Turkish police in the southeastern town of Cizre that left 11 officers dead and wounded dozens more.
	"Our sacrifice team staged a comprehensive action action in Cizre that left dozens of police dead," said the PKK, which is known for exaggerating tolls.
	In the statement on its website it said the attack was retaliation for the "continued isolation" of its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and the "lack of information" about his welfare.
	Ocalan is held on the prison island of Imrali off Istanbul but has not been allowed visits by lawyers or supporters for over a year.
	The PKK also said it was behind an attack yesterday in the northeastern province of Artvin on a convoy carrying the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
	The PKK denied targeting the politician, saying it had "no advance information" he was in the convoy.
	One gendarme was killed in the attack.
	The 

PKK claims deadly suicide bomb attack on Turkish police:

A South African judge today rejected the state's appeal seeking a longer jail sentence for Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, who is serving a six-year term for killing his girlfriend three years ago.
	Thokozile Masipa - the same judge who imposed the sentence last month - said in the High Court in Johannesburg that she was not persuaded there was a "reasonable prospect of success on appeal".
	"The application for leave to appeal against the sentence is dismissed with costs," she said.
	The prosecution had been pushing for a longer sentence against the fallen 29-year-old sprint star over the 2013 murder of Reeva Steenkamp.
	"The sentence of six years is shockingly lenient and disturbingly inappropriate," prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued in court.
	Pistorius shot Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, saying he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet.
	At his sentencing in July, Masipa listed ...

Court rejects state appeal over 'lenient' Pistorius sentence

Indonesian authorities have seized more than 650 critically endangered pangolins found hidden in freezers and arrested a man for allegedly breaking wildlife protection laws, police said today.
	Police discovered the pangolins, known as "scaly anteaters", when they raided a house in Jombang district on the main island of Java after local residents became suspicious about the large number of freezers in the property.
	A total of 657 pangolins, which are consumed as a luxury dish in China and used in traditional medicine, were found wrapped in plastic and stored in five large freezers, East Java province police spokesman Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono told AFP.
	The house owner, a 55-year-old man whose identity was not disclosed, was arrested and has been named a suspect, a step in the Indonesian legal system meaning that authorities believe they have enough evidence to consider filing charges.
	He could face five years in prison and a fine of 100 million rupiah (USD 7,500) for breaking ...

Indonesia seizes hundreds of frozen pangolins

Acrid smog blanketed Singapore today as the city-state was hit by the year's first major outbreak of haze, an annual crisis sparked by forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia.
	Singapore's air quality index reached unhealthy levels with conditions deteriorating through the day, marking the worst return of the haze to the city since vast parts of Southeast Asia were affected in 2015.
	Last year's haze outbreak was among the worst in memory, shrouding Malaysia, Singapore, and parts of Thailand in acrid smoke.
	The blazes are started illegally to clear land, typically for palm oil and pulpwood plantations, and Indonesia has faced intense criticism from its neighbours over its failure to halt the annual smog outbreaks.
	Singapore's National Environment Agency said the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) was at 165 as of 0400 GMT on Friday. The reading for the 24-hour period, however, was on the higher band of the moderate range.
	PSI levels above 100 are deemed unhealthy and people .

Singapore shrouded in smog as haze returns to SE Asia

The Maldives' dissident former president met opposition groups in neighbouring Sri Lanka today to hatch a plan to topple strongman president Abdulla Yameen, opposition sources told AFP.
	Ex-president Mohamed Nasheed, who recently won asylum in Britain after being jailed by Yameen's government, was among several exiled opposition groups meeting in Colombo, two people in Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party said.
	"The opposition leaders are meeting in Colombo to work out strategies to legally topple Yameen," one MDP member told AFP.
	The MDP is part of a new coalition opposed to Yameen, called the Maldives United Opposition (MUO), formed in London in June where Nasheed sought asylum while on leave from prison for medical treatment.
	The Male-based news outlet Maldives Independent said Nasheed and two other seniors of the MUO arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
	"The website report is accurate," a person close to the MDP told AFP.
	There was no immediate comment from the Maldivian ...

Dissidents 'plotting to topple' Maldives president

Former France star Thierry Henry has been named as the new assistant coach of Belgium, the national coach announced Roberto Martinez announced today.
     "Thierry is an important figure. He will bring something different. He agreed right away to join us," said ex-Everton Martinez, who was appointed at the start of the month to succeed the sacked Marc Wilmots.
     "Honoured to be assistant coach @BelRedDevils. Thanks to Roberto Martinez & the Royal Belgian Football Association. Very excited.Can't wait," Henry tweeted.
     Henry, 39, finished his glittering playing career in 2014 with New York Red Bulls after previously starring for Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal and Barcelona.
     Since hanging up his boots, he has been working as a pundit for British television station Sky and as an under-18 coach at Arsenal.
     He left the latter role in July because Gunners boss Arsene Wenger did not want Henry juggling his coaching with his punditry.
     "He is someone who knows how to ...

AFP

AFP

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