The first Test between South Africa and New Zealand at Durban ended in a draw today after poor conditions prevented play, setting up a series-deciding final match beginning at the weekend.
     No play took place after rain fell during the lunch break on the second day on Saturday, when New Zealand were on 15 for two in reply to South Africa's first innings total of 263.
     Rain fell throughout the rest of Saturday and into early Sunday morning and further play was ruled out on days three, four and five because of a wet, soft outfield which the umpires decided would be dangerous for players.
     By Monday, the weather had cleared and there was no further rain but the outfield conditions did not improve sufficiently for play to resume.
     The series now hinges on the second and final Test starting at Centurion on Saturday.
     Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat in part blamed unseasonal rain and a re-laid outfield for the loss of play at the Kingsmead ground.
     

South Africa, New Zealand Test drawn after abandonment

PTI Automatic

Iran has "arrested or summoned" around 450 social media users over their online activities, a website linked to the powerful Revolutionary Guards said today.
	Gherdab, the cyber arm of the Guards, said the people targeted administered pages on social networks including smartphone applications such as Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp.
	"These people were carrying out immoral activities, insulted religious beliefs or had illegal activities in the field of fashion," said Gherdab.
	It said the suspects would be put on trial without specifying how many exactly have been placed under arrest.
	Isna news agency carried a similar report.
	Iranian authorities have for years tried to impose curbs on its citizens using social media.
	Facebook and Twitter are officially banned in the Islamic republic, although users can gain access with easily available and cheap software.
	But applications such as Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp are available to Iranians and very popular.
	More than half of ...

Iran rounds up 450 social network users

Japan today strongly urged North Korea to refrain from provocations following a string of missile launches and threats from Pyongyang of nuclear retaliation in response to US-South Korean military drills.
	Japanese senior official Kiyoshi Odawara told a UN Security Council debate on non-proliferation that North Korea's missiles launches, the most recent of which reached Japanese-controlled waters, were "blatant violations" of UN resolutions.
	"Japan strongly urges North Korea to refrain from further provocations and to comply faithfully and fully with the relevant Security Council resolutions," said Odawara, Japan's parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs.
	North Korea yesterday threatened a pre-emptive military strike as South Korea and the United States kicked off large-scale annual military exercises.
	Japan this month joined the United States in calling an emergency session of the council after North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile that landed off Japan's ...

Japan at UN urges NKorea to refrain from provocations

Hoping to boost recruiting of Muslim women, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is allowing its officers to wear hijabs as part of their uniforms, the government said today.
	"The commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police recently approved this addition to the uniform," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale's spokesman Scott Bardsley told AFP.
	"This is intended to better reflect the diversity in our communities and encourage more Muslim women to consider the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a career option," he said.
	The RCMP officer's uniform - a red serge tunic, leather riding boots and wide-brimmed felt campaign hat - is an iconic Canadian symbol.
	It dates back to the 1800s, when the RCMP's forerunner, the frontier North-West Mounted Police, spread law and order to the wilds of Canada's western provinces and Arctic territories.
	Inspired by British military uniforms of the period, it has since undergone only minor changes.
	The RCMP faced a public outcry in 1990 over a ...

Canada's Mounties allow women officers to wear hijab

Pakistan one-day captain Azhar Ali wants to see the team take the form that had made them the world's number one-ranked Test side into their one-day series against England.
     Azhar was a member of the Pakistan team that secured an impressive 2-2 draw in a recent four-Test series against England and is now looking for his side to hit similar heights in a five-match one-day international series starting in Southampton on Wednesday.
     Pakistan, following their results in England, and India's rain-affected fourth Test draw with the West Indies in Port-of-Spain, are now number one in the Test rankings for the first time in history.
     By contrast, they are just ninth in the ODI standings and in danger of missing out on automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup in England.
     But Azhar is confident the team's white-ball fortunes can be turned around following what was, to many observers, their surprise effort in winning two Tests in English conditions.
     "Confidence is ...

Azhar hopes Pakistan transfer Test form into England ODIs

Greece has at least 41,000 refugees and migrants who are seeking asylum, mostly Syrians eligible to relocate within the EU, the migration minister said today.
	Yiannis Mouzalas told a news conference that Greek and UN services had recorded 54,000 refugees and migrants on Greek territory between June and the end of July.
	Over 41,000 of them on the mainland have expressed interest in asylum, or have made formal requests.
	Another 2,000 have agreed to be returned home.
	At the same time, there are another 11,000 people currently being processed on Greek islands after landing there from neighbouring Turkey.
	Mouzalas said the operation was designed to "begin to rein in the chaos", which overwhelmed Greek authorities after a succession of Eastern European and Balkan countries shut their borders to migrants starting in February.
	Before the closures, and an EU-Turkey deal designed to stem the flow came into effect in March, over a million people had passed through Greece in 2015, primarily 

Greece says at least 41,000 asylum seekers on its territory

Iraqi special forces led an operation today aimed at retaking the jihadist-held town of Qayyarah, a key staging base for operations to attack Mosul, military sources said.
	Qayyarah lies on the western bank of the Tigris river, about 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Mosul, the Islamic State group's last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
	With the clock ticking down on what Iraq expects to be its biggest anti-IS operation yet, the UN warned of population displacement on a scale not seen in years.
	"The operation started at dawn with the participation of Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) and army forces," Brigadier General Firas Bashar told AFP.
	US-led coalition aircraft provided support, said Bashar, the spokesman for the operations command in Nineveh, the province in which Qayyarah and Mosul are located.
	"The operation is ongoing and currently achieving its goals," CTS spokesman Sabah al-Noman said.
	"Qayyarah will be cleared and the operation wrapped up quickly, bolstering our ...

Iraq forces launch push to retake town south of Mosul

An American soldier was killed today during an anti-Taliban operation near the capital of the southern Afghan province of Helmand, US-led NATO forces said.
	The news comes after NATO yesterday announced the deployment of around 100 US troops to Lashkar Gah to help head off a potential Taliban takeover as fighting intensifies.
	It marked the first major American deployment to the southern city since foreign forces withdrew from the opium-growing province in 2014.
	"One US service member died as a result of wounds sustained during operations near Lashkar Gah in Helmand today," the coalition said, adding that another American and six Afghan soldiers were wounded.
	"The service member was killed conducting train, advise, assist activities with Afghan counterparts under NATO authorities when their patrol triggered an Improvised Explosive Device," NATO added, without naming the soldier.
	Fighting has recently escalated in the opium-growing province of Helmand, with insurgents coming within .

US soldier killed in anti-Taliban battle in Afghanistan

Two people were killed in a machete attack in an eastern region of Democratic Republic of Congo where rebels have been blamed for a series of civilian massacres, the army said.
	The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a partly Islamist armed group of Ugandan origin, is accused of carrying out the brutal slayings, the latest of which took place overnight August 13-14 and left 51 people dead.
	Lieutenant Mak Hazukay, an army spokesman in North Kivu province, told AFP that late yesterday the ADF had entered the town of Kiteya - about 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the city of Beni.
	The rebels "killed two people with a machete, wounded six others, burned down seven houses and torched four motorcycles," he said.
	The region around Beni has been the target of a series of massacres that have claimed more than 700 lives since 2014.
	The Congolese government has blamed the mass murders on the ADF, but a report published in March by the Congo Research Group at New York University, which probed .

Two killed by machete near scene of DR Congo massacre

French President Francois Hollande voiced his "concern" over a spike in tensions in Ukraine, in a telephone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, his office said today.
	"The president ... Expressed his concern over a rise in tensions these past weeks and a growing number of ceasefire violations," it said in a statement after the call, which also included German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
	"He underlined the risk an escalation of violence posed to the (peace) process."
	Ukraine has been in the grip of a conflict between its army and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country for two years.
	Kiev and the West accuse Russia of supporting the separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine and deploying troops across the border - claims Moscow denies.
	More than 9,500 people have been killed since the conflict started in April 2014, and deadly clashes continue to occur despite several truces.
	Tensions between Russia and Ukraine soared last week after Putin accused Kiev of attempting an ..

Hollande voices 'concern' to Putin over Ukraine tension

A so-called "death squad" established within the Peruvian National Police has executed at least 20 criminals extrajudicially, amid a growing wave of insecurity in the South American country, the interior ministry found.
	Earlier this month the ministry announced a probe into the alleged abuses after they surfaced in media reports.
	"There are serious indications of the existence of an irregular group formed by officers and noncommissioned officers of the National Police of Peru," Ruben Vargas, deputy minister of internal order, said yesterday.
	Those officers "falsified intelligence information feigning confrontations in order to take out people in at least six cases," he said.
	The killings were carried out for economic gain and promotions, which are generally given for capturing gang members, the report found.
	Most of the killings were carried out between 2011 and 2016, with the squad leader receiving two promotions and six awards in recognition of fighting crime.
	The report said .

Peru report finds police 'death squad' killed 20

Russian warplanes bombed Aleppo at Iran's request to assist its military advisors on the ground in the flashpoint Syrian city, a senior Iranian official said today.
	Ali Shamkhani, the top official coordinating security and political affairs between Tehran and its allies, Moscow and Damascus, was quoted by state television saying Iran called in Russian strikes "next to the land operation" in Aleppo.
	"Iran has brought the powerful Russia along... Due to its need to cooperate with Syria" in the fight against jihadists, added Shamkhani.
	Iran and Russia are key backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but Tehran has remained relatively guarded about its precise involvement in the conflict.
	Russia surprised the international community last week when it announced that its warplanes had flown out of Iran's Hamedan base to conduct strikes against targets in Syria.
	That announcement prompted Iranian defence minister General Hossein Dehghan to criticise Russia's "showing off and ...

Iran says it requested Russian strikes on Syria's Aleppo

A Thai military tribunal today indicted eight people with sedition for running a Facebook page that mocked the kingdom's junta chief, making them the latest victims of the regime's crackdown on dissent.
	Thailand's generals have clamped down on politics and severely curbed free expression since their 2014 power grab, jailing scores of critics of the government and monarchy -- often for comments posted on social media.
	The eight Facebook users were arrested in April by military raids in Bangkok and northeast Khon Kaen province, according to Human Rights Watch.
	They now face up to seven years in prison for running a page that featured memes and doctored photos of junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha -- the former army chief who seized power two years ago.
	"The court indicts all eight and will later call them in for a plea," the group's lawyer, Winyat Chartmontree, told AFP.
	They have been charged with sedition and violating the kingdom's computer crime act, two broadly-worded laws that ...

Eight Facebook users indicted for mocking Thai junta leader

A Malian jihadist accused of attacking the fabled desert city of Timbuktu chose its most revered ancient shrines for destruction "to serve as examples", the International Criminal Court heard today.
	Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi pleaded guilty as his unprecedented warcrimes trial opened Monday before The Hague-based ICC, where he stands accused of razing some of the west African city's most historic mausoleums.
	Mahdi, aged about 40, is the first Islamic extremist charged by the tribunal and the first charged with crimes arising out of the conflict in Mali.
	The wanton destruction by jihadists triggered global outcry, and archaeologists hope the trial will send a stern warning that such plundering of the world's common heritage will not go unpunished.
	During an interview with ICC investigators in early September last year, Mahdi said he chose to destroy the mausoleums drawing the largest numbers of Muslim worshippers, a witness said today.
	The ICC has heard how jihadists including Mahdi ..

Timbuktu shrines razed as 'examples', witness tells ICC

Armenia today jailed a Russian soldier for life for killing a family of seven near his base in Armenia in a case that sparked outrage in the ex-Soviet republic.
	Conscript soldier Valery Permyakov was convicted of murdering a couple and their adult son and daughter, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren in their home in Gyumri, some 90 kilometres from the capital Yerevan in January 2015.
	Locals took to the streets to demand justice after the soldier went on a rampage, shooting six people including the couple's two-year-old granddaughter and stabbing their six-month-old grandson.
	Permyakov, who has undergone several psychiatric tests and has been ruled sane, has pleaded guilty but the reasons behind the murders remain unclear.
	It remains unclear whether he will serve his sentence in Russia or Armenia.
	The soldier, who was 18 at the time of the murders according to local media reports, was arrested after trying to flee to Turkey. His boots and Kalashnikov rifle were found at the ...

Armenia jails Russian soldier for life for slaying family of 7

A UN expert has accused China of staging a "pincer movement" to curb the influence of lawyers, activists and non-governmental organisations and limit their ability to protest against abuses.
	While China has made significant progress towards its ambitious goal of eliminating poverty by 2020, it has often ignored the harm done to individuals as it pursues greater economic development, said Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights yesterday.
	At the same time, he said, Beijing has cracked down on civil society, limiting the space for individuals and groups to influence public policy and air grievances.
	Since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012, the ruling Communist Party has arrested hundreds of activists and lawyers in a sweeping campaign that has closed avenues for the legal activism which emerged in recent years.
	Recently introduced laws have combined with police action against protesters and lawyers in "a pincer movement designed 

UN expert slams China on human rights

Indonesian police said today that a Briton flew into a rage and repeatedly hit a Bali police officer over the head with a beer bottle after accusing him of being a "fake cop".
	Traffic policeman Wayan Sudarsa was found dead last week with wounds to his head and neck on a popular beach in the south of the Indonesian resort island.
	Briton David Taylor and his Australian girlfriend Sara Connor were arrested and have been named as suspects, a step in the Indonesian legal system meaning investigators believe they have enough evidence to consider filing charges.
	Taylor, a DJ, admitted in questioning yesterday to having a fight with Sudarsa on the beach after accusing him of stealing Connor's bag. He hit the officer with bottles, binoculars and a phone after being pushed, according to his defence lawyer.
	Giving his account of how the fight began, Hadi Purnomo, police chief in the Balinese capital Denpasar, said Taylor had "searched the victim, accused him of being a thief, and called him .

Briton flew into a rage as he hit Bali cop: police

German car giant Volkswagen said today it had reached a deal with suppliers to begin deliveries again after a stoppage that forced the group to halt production at several plants.
	"The affected sites are preparing step-by-step to resume production," VW said in a statement.
	VW and suppliers Cartrim and ES Guss -- which make seat covers and  gearbox parts -- had returned to talks on Monday after negotiations into the small hours of Saturday yielded no results.
	The VW statement added that both parties had agreed to keep details of the agreement secret.
	Without a deal, VW had warned on Monday, around 28,000 workers at the six plants affected would have seen shifts cut.
	Some had already lost hours since deliveries of the vital parts had been interrupted.
	The car giant obtained court injunctions ordering the two suppliers to resume delivery in early August.
	But they refused, saying that VW had cancelled future contracts without providing adequate compensation.
	A spokesman for ...

VW reaches deal with suppliers to resume production

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has been accused of plagiarizing his law school thesis by a news website which says it detected the work of a dozen others in his writing.
	Investigative website Aristegui Noticias concluded that 197 of the 682 paragraphs in Pena Nieto's thesis from 25 years ago were plagiarized, based on analysis and speaking with professors.
	Presidential spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said the issue was a matter of "style errors such as quotations without quotation marks or a lack of reference to authors (cited) in the bibliography."
	Pena Nieto studied at Mexico's Panamerican University, which released a statement Monday afternoon that said it had not been consulted by the journalists and specified that it was "in charge of studying the question" of possible plagiarism.
	The controversy arises as Pena Nieto's popularity is at an all-time low, with only 23 percent of Mexicans holding a positive opinion of the leader, according to a recent survey published by the ...

Report accuses Mexican president of law school plagiarism

North Korea has been laying fresh landmines on its side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with South Korea, the UN Command said today, following a spate of high-profile defections.
	Military personnel were seen planting mines on the North's side of a river crossing known as the Bridge of No Return -- close to the border truce village of Panmunjom, a spokesman for the UN Command, which oversees the Korean War armistice, told AFP.
	In a statement the UN Command "strongly" condemned the Korean People's Army (KPA) activity.
	"The presence of any device or munition on or near the bridge seriously jeopardises the safety of people on both sides," it said.
	The statement added that thousands of visitors -- often school-aged children -- take part in tours to the DMZ.
	Despite its name, the DMZ separating the two Koreas is one of the world's most heavily militarised frontiers, bristling with watchtowers and landmines.
	It acts as a buffer zone, stretching two kilometres on either side of the ...

UN Command condemns N Korea mine-laying on border

A Japanese father stabbed his 12-year-old son to death after complaining the boy was failing to study for a school entrance exam, media said today.
	Kengo Satake, the boy's 48-year-old father, told police that he "argued with his son for not studying" before a test to enter a private junior high school, public broadcaster NHK reported.
	Competition for entry to the best schools in Japan is intense. Admission to a prestigious one is seen as having a decisive impact on a child's future prospects.
	The son, named Ryota, was taken to hospital Sunday after the stabbing but died from loss of blood, Aichi prefectural police in the central city of Nagoya told AFP.
	"The father stabbed his son in the chest with a kitchen knife," a police spokesman said, declining to provide details of the motive.
	The father was arrested after police got a call from hospital staff, he said.
	Satake reportedly told police he had stabbed his son "by mistake."
	The boy was aiming to enter one of the leading ...

AFP

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