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 ...

Japanese father kills son over studies

PTI Automatic

Seven people with links to terrorist networks, at least three of whom were planning attacks, have been arrested in France this month, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said today.
	Cazeneuve said at a press conference that French police had arrested as many people for terror links in the first half of 2016 as for the whole of last year.
	However, he did not give details of the August arrests.
	On August 8, a 16-year-old girl from the Paris suburb of Melun was remanded in custody on charges of planning a jihadist attack.
	The teenager was an administrator of a group on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app that was used by two jihadists to plan the murder of a priest in Normandy in July.
	According to investigators, she "relayed numerous Islamic State group propaganda messages calling for attacks" and also expressed a personal desire to "take action".
	The arrests follow two attacks in July that shocked the country just as it was starting to rebound from the jihadist bloodshed in ...

Three held in France in August for planning attacks: minister

Nigeria's military claimed today to have seriously injured Boko Haram's elusive leader Abubakar Shekau and killed other commanders in an air strike on the Islamist group's forest stronghold.
	Nigeria has repeatedly claimed to have killed Shekau in previous raids only for him to appear shortly afterwards in videos.
	Shekau was "fatally wounded in the shoulder" during Friday's raids, said army spokesman Sani Usman in a statement, without giving further details.
	Usman also said three Boko Haram commanders -- Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman -- were confirmed dead with several others wounded.
	The claim comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry visits the country for talks likely to focus on the fight against Boko Haram, which launched an uprising in 2009.
	Nigerian forces, with the support of regional troops, have recently recaptured swathes of territory lost to the jihadists.
	The mysterious Shekau's fate has been the subject of speculation recently amid claims he had been ...

Boko Haram's Shekau 'wounded' in air strike: Nigeria

Turkey today pounded Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria with new artillery strikes as expectations grew of a major Ankara-backed offensive against the jihadists after a deadly suicide bombing on its soil.
	With tensions flaring on the Turkey-Syria  border following the bombing in the nearby city of Gaziantep that left 54 people dead, Turkish howitzers on Monday hit jihadist and Kurdish rebel targets across the frontier.
	Turkey has been shaken by one of the bloodiest years in its modern history, with a string of attacks by IS jihadists and Kurdish militants and the botched July 15 coup.
	In new fighting, two mortar rounds fired from an IS-controlled area in Syria hit the southeastern Turkish town of Karkamis, Turkish television reported.
	Turkish artillery responded by hitting four IS positions around the jihadist-controlled Syrian town of Jarablus with around 60 shells, it said.
	The shelling came after as activists said hundreds of Ankara-backed rebels were preparing an offensive 

Turkey strikes IS as Syria border tensions flare

People throughout the world are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with immigration levels which are higher than any time since the Second World War, according to a new survey published today.
	At least six out of 10 people in France and Belgium, which have recently suffered deadly jihadist attacks, believe immigration has had a "negative impact", said the Ipsos polling institute.
	Similar figures were found in Russia, Hungary and also Italy, which has had to deal with large numbers of migrants fleeing the Middle East or Africa and seeking to forge new lives in Europe.
	In all, 49 per cent of those surveyed in 22 countries said there were "too many immigrants" and 46 percent felt "immigration is causing their country to change in ways they don't like," Ipsos said in a statement.
	The Japanese were least likely to say there are too many immigrants in their country (only 12 per cent), and the Brazilians least likely to voice discomfort at how immigration is changing their country (23 ..

Worldwide concern over 'too many immigrants': study

White House hopeful Hillary Clinton suggested that rival Donald Trump could be an unpredictable adversary in upcoming presidential debates, saying she is girding for "wacky stuff."
	With the first debate scheduled to take place a month from now near New York, Clinton joked about what to expect from her unorthodox opponent.
	"You've got to be prepared for wacky stuff. I'm planning on drawing off my experiences from elementary school," she said on late-night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
	Trump has suggested he might not attend all of the three scheduled debates.
	But he is trailing badly in the polls and the highly watched events offer a much-needed chance to break through with undecided voters.
	For a first-time debater, this cauldron of presidential political theater could present a daunting challenge.
	Trump has thrown a series of barbs at Clinton, describing her as "crooked" and making opaque suggestions lately that she has unspecified health problems.
	Host Kimmel asked Clinton ..

Clinton ready for 'wacky' debate with Trump

A top Shanghai official today defended his controversial visit to Taiwan as "open and transparent" as protesters burnt his photo and accused him of promoting the island's unification with China.
	Sha Hailin, a standing committee member of the Communist Party in the city and head of the United Front Work Department there, arrived yesterday for a forum on municipal exchanges.
	He is the highest-level mainlander to visit since cross-strait ties worsened under Taiwan's new government.
	"Expel Sha Hailin!" about 100 angry protesters shouted outside a hotel in Taipei where the forum is taking place, tearing down and burning photos of Sha and Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je.
	Protesters had also rallied at an airport and other locations Sha visited Monday, shouting slogans against communism and for independence for Taiwan.
	"For my visit... There is no 'secret deal' as some people claim. Everything is open and transparent," Sha said in response to the protests.
	"The journey for peaceful development, 

Chinese official defends protest-hit visit to Taiwan

Burkini bans in France have boosted sales and interest in the full-bodied Islamic swimsuit, particularly from non-Muslim women, the Australian credited with creating the design said today.
	The burkini has sparked huge controversy in France, with bans in 15 towns in the country's southeast amid high tensions following a string of deadly jihadist attacks.
	But Australian-Lebanese Aheda Zanetti, who claims the trademark on the name burkini and burqini and created her first swimwear for Muslim women more than a decade ago, said the furore in France has attracted more publicity for her products.
	"It's just been so hectic," she told AFP.
	"I can tell you that online on Sunday, we received 60 orders -- all of them non-Muslim," the 48-year-old Sydneysider said, adding that she usually received 10 to 12 orders on Sundays.
	Zanetti did not have sales figures for the rest of the past week but said she had also received numerous messages of support -- and only one disparaging email -- since the 

'Burkini' bans good for sales: Australian designer

The trial of two Chinese Uighurs accused of planting a deadly bomb in Bangkok last year was postponed today because the defence was unable to produce a Uighur translator, the military court ruled.
	Yusufu Mieraili and Bilal Mohammed, both members of China's Turkic-speaking Muslim minority, are accused of planting a bomb at a popular Hindu shrine in the heart of the Thai capital in August 2015.
	The blast killed 20 and wounded more than 100 people, making it the worst assault on Thai soil in recent history.
	Thai authorities have been criticised for a murky investigation that appeared to wind down shortly after the arrest of the two men, leaving more than a dozen key suspects at large.
	The case was further complicated after the pair's sole translator, an Uzbeck national, was arrested on drug charges in June.
	He is on the run and the defence has been unable to secure a new translator in time, the defendant's lawyer told the military court today.
	The judge agreed to postpone the trial 

Bangkok shrine bomb trial postponed due to missing translator

Synthetic marijuana is suspected to be behind an illness that has sent dozens of homeless people from a downtown Los Angeles neighborhood to emergency rooms in recent days, authorities said.
	Eighteen people from the Skid Row homeless district were treated by firefighters yesterday and 14 were taken to hospitals, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said.
	That came after the department on Friday evaluated about 50 people in the neighborhood, transporting 38 to hospitals.
	Although the cause of the illnesses has not yet been confirmed by toxicology tests, authorities said it was likely a type of synthetic marijuana called "spice."
	Local television news showed multiple men passed out in the street, many of them being treated by firefighters or other health personnel.
	"Because it's synthetic, nobody for sure knows what active ingredients are in there, the strength is variable," Marc Eckstein, the Los Angeles Fire Department medical director, said in a ...

Illnesses among Los Angeles homeless blamed on 'spice' drug

A Chinese-born businessman has agreed to pay New Zealand authorities USD 31 million to settle their money laundering investigation into him, although he remains wanted by Beijing over the alleged multi-million-dollar fraud.
	William Yan, 45, holds New Zealand citizenship and denies any wrongdoing. Although he was never charged in New Zealand with money-laundering, China still considers him one of the country's most-wanted suspects.
	New Zealand police said Tuesday they have frozen assets worth USD 31.22 million including luxury cars, property and millions of dollars in bank funds, which will not be released until the money is paid.
	The settlement with Yan, his wife Wei You and two associates follows a complex three-year investigation into alleged laundering of money derived from a series of frauds in China between 1999-2001.
	"The outcome in this case reflects the effective working relationship between Chinese and New Zealand law enforcement agencies," said Paul Hampton, manager of ..

Fraud suspect wanted by China pays $31m to end NZ probe

A Hungarian state honour given to a prominent journalist close to Prime Minister Viktor Orban but seen by his critics as "racist" has prompted several dozen recipients of the same award to return theirs in protest.
	The journalist Zsolt Bayer was one of several Hungarian citizens handed an Order of Merit of the Knight's Cross by President Janos Ader on Thursday, to mark one of Hungary's national days.
	By late yesterday, according to Hungarian media, some 44 previous recipients of the decoration including scientists, artists and academics, had declared they were returning their own awards in protest.
	An occasional columnist for the right-wing Magyar Hirlap daily, Bayer has often been photographed in Orban's company, and co-founded a civil group that has organised massive pro-government street demonstrations.
	He has in the past compared the Roma people, Hungary's 600,000- to 700,000-strong largest minority group, to "animals", and written remarks deemed anti-Semitic in a country with 

Hungary award for 'racist' journalist sparks protests

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim today urged world powers including Iran, Russia and the United States to join together to rapidly open a "new page" in the Syria crisis.
	"It is vital that without losing more time a new page is opened in Syria, based on a model involving particularly Turkey, Iran... Russia, the United States and some Gulf states and Saudi Arabia," he told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
	Yildirim added that it was "absolutely unacceptable" for any Kurdish entity to be established in northern Syria, southern Turkey or any other region.

Turkey PM urges world powers to turn 'new page' on Syria

The United Nations' top aid official voiced anger today at world powers' inability to agree on a truce to allow aid into Aleppo, warning of an "unparalleled" humanitarian catastrophe in the battleground Syrian city.
	Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council that plans were in place to quickly send 70 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to eastern Aleppo if all sides agreed on a truce.
	"I'm not going to pretend. I'm angry, very angry," O'Brien told council members holding their third meeting on the crisis in Aleppo this month.
	"As the UN's humanitarian chief, this callous carnage that is Syria has long since moved from the cynical to the sinful."
	O'Brien renewed his call for a 48-hour pause in fighting in Aleppo, where the violence escalated sharply in July when regime forces surrounded the rebel-held east.
	Up to 275,000 people in eastern Aleppo have been almost entirely cut off from food, water, medicine and electricity for over a month, while 1.5 million people living in the ...

UN aid chief warns of 'unparalleled' catastrophe in Aleppo

Deadly clashes raged today between pro-Iran rebels and Yemeni government forces battling to secure an entrance to the besieged city of Taez, military sources said.
	Backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, Yemeni troops launched an offensive last week to break the rebel siege on Yemen's flashpoint third city, in the country's southwest.
	The heaviest fighting today was near its western entrance where air strikes by the Arab coalition and ground battles left 11 dead among Huthi rebels and their allies, loyalist military sources said.
	An air raid killed two more rebels at the northern entrance to Taez, which has been encircled for more than year, the sources said.
	AFP could not confirm the toll from independent sources and the Iran-backed rebels rarely acknowledge their losses.
	"The blockade of Taez is almost broken after the retaking of Jabal al-Dhabab mountain" by loyalist forces, Colonel Abdulaziz al-Majidi, a spokesman of pro-government forces in the area, told AFP.
	"The road is ...

Deadly battles as Yemen army seeks to break Taez siege

Embattled auto giant Volkswagen said today it would halt production at six plants in Germany for several days as a legal dispute with two key suppliers deepened.
	Around 27,700 workers would have their work hours slashed by the end of August in a new headache for the group which is struggling to move past an emissions cheating scandal that is costing billions.
	VW had been forced to take the drastic measures at the factories that produce some of its most popular models including Passat sedans and Golf compacts after the two suppliers of gearbox parts and seat covers halted deliveries.
	"Although the state court in Brunswick issued temporary injunctions requiring the suppliers to resume deliveries, they so far haven't fulfilled this obligation," the VW statement read.
	Instead, the components' manufacturers are holding out while they appeal the court decision.
	VW said it was holding talks with the suppliers today and that it "wishes to achieve a result through negotiations".
	At the ..

VW cuts 28,000 workers' hours over supply woes

Former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy announced today he will seek the nomination of his centre-right party to stand in next year's presidential election.
	"I have decided to be a candidate in the 2017 presidential election," Sarkozy, who was president between 2007 and 2012, wrote in the foreword to a new book "Tout pour la France" (All for France) due out later this week.
	"The next five years will be filled with danger but also with hope," wrote the 61-year-old conservative, who had made no secret of his ambition to reconquer the top office.
	"France demands that you give her your all.
	"I feel I have the strength to lead the fight at such a turbulent moment in our history," Sarkozy said, alluding to the string of terror attacks that have rocked the country in the past year and a half.
	His aides told AFP that he would be stepping down today as the leader of the Republicans party to focus on his campaign.
	"This book is the starting point," Sarkozy tweeted, together with a link to ...

Sarkozy announces new bid for French presidency

Libya's internationally recognised parliament today voted no confidence in a UN-backed unity government, a spokesman said, in a blow to efforts to end the country's political chaos.
	"The majority of lawmakers present at the parliament session today voted no confidence in the government," said Adam Boussakhra, a spokesman for the legislature based in the country's far east.
	Parliament speaker Aguila Saleh as well as 101 lawmakers attended today's vote, the House of Representatives said on its website.
	Sixty-one parliamentarians rejected the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, it said.
	A single parliamentarian voted confidence in the GNA, while 39 abstained from voting, it added.
	The GNA last month moved into its official Tripoli offices, more than 100 days after starting to work from a naval base in the capital.
	The unity government was the result of a UN-brokered power-sharing deal struck in December, but has ...

Libya parliament rejects UN-backed unity government

Germany's opposition Green party unveiled today a 10-point plan to end electricity generation from coal within 20 years, a key plank of its campaign heading into next year's general elections.
	"We aim to introduce the end of the coal era in Germany, irreversibly and reliably in the coming parliamentary term," running to 2021, Green lawmakers wrote in the proposal, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
	As the smallest party represented in parliament, the Greens have been mooted as a potential kingmaker to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives after the general election expected in September or October 2017.
	Coal currently accounts for 40 percent of the energy mix in Europe's top economy and has been the focus of determined protests by environmental activists in recent years.
	Keeping coal on life-support was an unexpected effect of Germany's exit from nuclear, a core demand of the Greens finally accepted by Merkel in a surprise u-turn after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in ...

German Greens call for end to coal power in 20 years

An eight-year-old boy was killed today when a grenade was thrown into the apartment in Sweden where he was sleeping, police said, adding he was likely the victim of an underworld feud.
	The child was sleeping in the living room of an apartment in the working class neighbourhood of Biskopsgarden in Gothenburg, on Sweden's west coast, when a unidentified attacker threw a hand grenade through the window, police said in a statement.
	At least five children and several adults were in the apartment at the time.
	"One of the people registered at this address is a person convicted by a district court for murder" in a settling of scores between members of the Somali community in Gothenburg, police said.
	In March 2015, armed men burst into a pub in the Biskopsgarden neighbourhood, gunning down a man known to police and an innocent bystander in a spray of bullets.
	Eight people were convicted earlier this month for the attack, and handed sentences ranging from seven years to life in ...

Boy in Sweden killed by grenade tossed into apartment

Turkey said today the Syrian border region must be "completely cleansed" from the Islamic State group, after a weekend suicide bombing in Gaziantep blamed on the jihadists left at least 54 dead.
	In a sign of a key battle to come, Syrian rebel fighters have amassed on the Turkish side of the border in preparation for an offensive on the town of Jarablus, IS's last major transit point on the Syrian side of the border.
	"Our border must be completely cleansed from Daesh," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in televised remarks, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
	"It is our most natural right to fight at home and abroad against such a terrorist organisation."
	A child suicide bomber, aged "between 12 and 14", is suspected of having carried out the attack late Saturday in the southeastern city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border on the orders of the IS jihadist group, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
	Cavusoglu said Turkey has already taken an "active" role in the fight ...

AFP

AFP

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