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 ...

Syria border region must be 'cleansed' of IS jihadists: Turkey

PTI Automatic

A Russian man who was repeatedly arrested for donning masks of President Vladimir Putin in anti-Kremlin pickets has crossed into Ukraine and is seeking political asylum.
	Roman Roslovtsev has spent weeks in detention for putting on an unflattering rubber caricature of the Russian leader's face during protests against what critics call Putin's suppression of free speech and basic human rights.
	The Ukrainian border guard service said the 36-year-old entered Ukraine on Sunday and will formally seek political asylum today.
	Roslovtsev has reportedly been arrested on 11 occasions and has claimed that he was being hounded by Russia's FSB security service that Putin headed between 1998 and 1999.
	He told Kiev's Hromadske.Ua news site on Sunday that he would like to join the Ukrainian army and fight pro-Kremlin rebels in the separatist east that Putin has denied backing during a 28-month conflict which has claimed more than 9,500 lives.
	"I would like to join the army, the National Guard or .

'Putin-mask' protester seeks asylum in Ukraine

Pfizer will purchase biotech firm Medivation, which specializes in cancer treatments, for some USD 14 billion, the US pharma giant said in a statement today.
	Pfizer's offer for the San Francisco-based Medivation goes far beyond the company's market value of USD 11.1 billion.
	The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the merger, the statement said.
	"The proposed acquisition of Medivation is expected to immediately accelerate revenue growth and drive overall earnings growth potential for Pfizer," said Ian Read, Pfizer chairman and chief executive officer.
	The transaction is a snub to the French pharmaceutical group Sanofi, which earlier offered USD 58 a share, which Medivation rejected in last month.
	Medivation turned down an uninvited offer worth about USD 10 billion from Sanofi as "not in the best interests" of its shareholders.
	The company's founder said Pfizer, by contrast, was the ideal marriage partner.
	"We believe the combination with Pfizer is ...

Pfizer says acquiring Medivation for $14 billion

Taiwanese shouting anti-communist slogans staged protests at an airport and a school today against a visit by a top Shanghai official which they see as intended to promote China's unification with Taiwan.
	Sha Hailin, a standing committee member of the Communist Party in the city and head of the United Front Work Department there, is the highest-level mainlander to visit since cross-strait ties worsened under Taiwan's new government.
	He arrived in Taipei for an annual forum on municipal exchanges as protesters shouted "Sha Hailin, go back to China!" at the capital's Songshan airport.
	Dozens of demonstrators waved placards reading "Expel propaganda communist, defend Taiwan's sovereignty" and "(Taipei mayor) Ko Wen-je sells out Taiwan". Some supporters also rallied outside the airport with welcome signs.
	While most demonstrators were cordoned off, one man holding a poster got into the airport arrivals hall and shouted "Sha Hailin, get out!" as Sha walked by.
	The protester scuffled ..

Protests as China official visits Taiwan

The death toll from a boat accident off western Indonesia rose to 15 today after rescuers found five more bodies, an official said.
	The small wooden boat was carrying 17 passengers and crew from Bintan Island to nearby Penyengat Island, in Riau province, on Sunday when it sank in rough seas.
	Two passengers survived the accident and were taken to hospital in critical condition.
	Rescuers retrieved 10 bodies at the weekend and found the final five today, transport ministry spokesman Hemi Pramuraharjo said.
	The journey on the small craft fitted with an outboard was supposed to take around an hour.
	Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands which is heavily dependent on boat transport, but fatal accidents are common.
	More than 60 people died in December when huge waves capsized a ferry near Sulawesi island in central Indonesia.

Death toll from Indonesia boat accident rises to 15

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon will attend a landmark peace conference in Myanmar this month, an official and a rebel group said today, bolstering Aung San Suu Kyi's drive to end decades of fighting.
	Several complex ethnic conflicts are rumbling across Myanmar's borderlands, hampering efforts to expand the economy after the end of junta rule.
	Suu Kyi has made peace a flagship policy of her newly installed civilian-led government.
	It is a tall order in a country where the military, which is loathed by many ethnic rebel groups, still retains significant control.
	Five-day talks are slated to kick off on August 31.
	The gathering is dubbed the 21st Century Panglong Conference, a nod to a historic agreement signed by Suu Kyi's independence hero father -- Aung San -- in 1947 that saw major ethnic groups commit to joining what was then Burma after independence.
	Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the president's office, said the UN's Secretary General would be present.
	"He will ...

Myanmar says UN's Ban will attend peace talks

The hunters have become the hunted.
	Police in Bangkok announced a crackdown today against Thai drivers playing Pokemon Go following complaints that the craze was bringing further gridlock to an already notoriously congested metropolis.
	The mobile app -- which encourages users to hit the pavements in search of digital monsters -- was made available in Thailand earlier this month delighting many in a country where Japanese subcultures have a significant following.
	But the game has since sparked a flurry of headlines in the local press as well as unease among the kingdom's military leaders.
	"The police chief has asked all policemen to detain any Pokemon players who play while using the roads," deputy national police spokesman Colonel Krissana Pattanacharoen told reporters.
	"People have a right to play the game but it must not affect other people's rights," he added.
	Colonel Veeravit Vatchanapukka, from the city's traffic police, said teams of officers on motorbikes would stake out .

Pokemon's a no-go on Bangkok's roads

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his Russian counterpart and close ally Vladimir Putin wants to host an Israeli-Palestinian summit to revive peace talks, in an interview published today.
	Sisi told state newspaper editors that he believed Israel was increasingly convinced of the need for a peace deal, saying it was a "positive sign."
	But Palestinian infighting between the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gaza and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah in the West Bank remained an obstacle, he said in the interview.
	Talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas have been suspended since 2014, despite a push by Washington and France to resume the peace process.
	Sisi, who is seen as having good ties with both Israel and Abbas's Palestinian Authority, has also been pushing for a resumption of negotiations.
	"Putin has told me that he is ready to receive both (Abbas) and Netanyahu in Moscow to carry out direct talks to find a solution and solve the issue," ...

Egypt's Sisi says Putin ready to host Mideast peace talks

A Belgian expatriate was sentenced to five years' jail in Singapore today for killing his five-year-old son last year while suffering from severe depression during a child custody battle.
	Philippe Graffart, 42, was sentenced on a reduced charge of culpable homicide instead of murder, after psychiatric findings showed he had "diminished responsibility" for suffocating his son Keryan with a pillow in their apartment.
	Murder is punishable by hanging in Singapore.
	Judicial Commissioner Hoo Sheau Peng said she took into consideration the grievous nature of the offence, the fact that it had been committed against a vulnerable child, and the fact that the offender was the child's own parent.
	"This sentence is necessary to show that the accused's actions are not to be condoned," Hoo said.
	For culpable homicide without the intention of causing death, Graffart could have been jailed up to 10 years, caned and fined -- or any combination of the three penalties.
	Graffart looked impassive ...

Belgian jailed for 5 years for killing son in Singapore

An Indonesian radio station today denied airing extremist sermons after Singapore linked it to the radicalisation of two men detained in the city-state who allegedly planned to join the Islamic State group.
	Singapore announced last week that Rosli bin Hamzah, 50, and Mohamed Omar bin Mahadi, 33, were being held under a tough internal security law after authorities discovered they intended to travel to Syria to fight for IS.
	Several years ago the Singaporean men started listening to Radio Hang, based on the Indonesian island of Batam just south of Singapore, according to the city-state's Ministry of Home Affairs.
	The station "sometimes features speakers who preach extreme religious views", the ministry said, and the pair went on to read more radical material about IS which fuelled their desire to join the jihadists.
	Radio Hang station manager Abu Yusuf said the station broadcast religious sermons but never spread "IS teachings".
	"On the contrary, we have been preaching against ...

Indonesia radio denies Singapore's radical preaching claim

A Malian jihadist today confessed to ordering the 2012 attacks on the fabled city of Timbuktu, becoming the first person to plead guilty at the world's only permanent war crimes court.
	"Your honour, regrettably I have to say that what I heard so far is accurate and reflects the events. I plead guilty," Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi told the International Criminal Court after the solo war crimes charge of cultural destruction was read to him.
	Mahdi, aged about 40, is also the first Islamic extremist charged by the ICC and the first person to face a solo allegation of cultural destruction.
	The attacks on the ancient shrines by jihadists in 2012 triggered global outcry, and archaeologists hope the trial will send a stern warning that such plundering of our common heritage will not go unpunished.
	Plucked from the edges of the Sahara to a courtroom in The Hague, the bespectacled Mahdi is accused of "intentionally directing attacks" against nine of Timbuktu's famous mausoleums as well as the ..

Malian jihadist pleads guilty at ICC to Timbuktu attacks

Taiwanese shouting anti-communist slogans staged an airport protest today against a visit by a top Shanghai official which they see as intended to promote China's unification with Taiwan.
	Sha Hailin, a standing committee member of the Communist Party in the city and head of the United Front Work Department there, is the highest-level mainlander to visit since cross-strait ties worsened under Taiwan's new government.
	He arrived in Taipei for an annual forum on municipal exchanges as protesters shouted "Sha, go back to China!" at the capital's Songshan airport.
	Dozens of demonstrators waved placards reading "Expel propaganda communist, defend Taiwan's sovereignty" and "(Taipei mayor) Ko Wen-je sells out Taiwan". Some supporters also rallied outside the airport with welcome signs.
	While most demonstrators were cordoned off, one man holding a poster got into the airport arrivals hall and shouted "Sha Hailin, get out!" as Sha walked by. The protester scuffled briefly with policemen ...

Airport protest as China official visits Taiwan

Most of those behind a string of bombings in Thai tourist towns are Muslims from the kingdom's insurgency-plagued southern provinces, the country's police chief said today.
	It was the first clear indication that police believe a group of southern Muslims played some sort of role in the attacks which killed four and wounded dozens, including European visitors, this month.
	Police chief Chakthip Chaijinda told reporters investigators believe a group of "more than 20 people" were behind the coordinated attacks.
	"Most of them are from the area of the southern border provinces police operation centre," he said, referencing a policing area that encompasses the Muslim-majority southernmost region.
	Asked whether the suspects were Thai nationals he replied: "They are not Buddhists."
	He added that investigators had recently searched an Islamic school where he believed some of the suspects had studied or graduated from.
	More than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in 12 years .

Thai tourist attacks probe points to Muslim south: police

The wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has visited Pearl Harbor, bombed by Japanese planes nearly 75 years ago in an attack that brought the United States into World War II.
	It was not clear exactly when Akie Abe made the visit. But she posted 11 pictures on her official Facebook page, apparently early today.
	"I offered flowers and my prayers at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor," she wrote.
	Her visit to the Hawaii memorial came just months after President Barack Obama journeyed to Hiroshima, the Japanese city where a US plane dropped the world's first atom bomb in the closing days of World War II.
	Obama's trip to Hiroshima sparked speculation that Shinzo Abe could visit Pearl Harbor in response.
	But top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga today denied that, while confirming the first lady was in Hawaii for a "private trip".
	"There is no such plan for the prime minister to visit Hawaii," Suga said.
	On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes swept low over the US naval base, ...

Japan's first lady visits Pearl Harbor

South Korea and the United States kicked off large-scale military exercises today, triggering condemnation and threats of a pre-emptive nuclear strike from North Korea.
	The two-week annual Ulchi Freedom drill, which plays out a full-scale invasion scenario by the nuclear-armed North, is largely computer-simulated but still involves around 50,000 Korean and 25,000 US soldiers.
	The exercise always triggers a spike in tensions on the divided Korean peninsula, and this year it coincides with particularly volatile cross-border relations following a series of high-profile defections.
	Seoul and Washington insist the joint military drills are purely defensive in nature, but Pyongyang views them as wilfully provocative.
	The North Korean Foreign Ministry today condemned Ulchi Freedom as an "unpardonable criminal act" that could bring the peninsula to "the brink of war".
	The Korean People's Army (KPA), meanwhile, threatened a military response to what it described as a rehearsal for a ...

S Korea-US military drill shadowed by N Korea threats

A pregnant woman, her husband and infant daughter were among six Filipinos killed in a weekend fire at their Saudi Arabian residence, the Philippines embassy said today.
	The blaze, blamed on an electrical overload, broke out just after 6:00 am (0300 GMT) Saturday at the apartment where three families lived in central Riyadh, Philippines charge d'affaires Iric Arribas told AFP.
	All three family members, including the 18-month-old daughter, died from smoke inhalation, he said.
	The father of a second family had just left for work when the building caretaker called to alert him to the blaze. He rushed home to find that his wife, son and daughter were all dead, Arribas said.
	Filipinos are one of the major expatriate communities in Saudi Arabia, working in a range of jobs from hospitality to nursing, labour, and management.

6 Filipinos dead in Saudi house fire

Japan today lodged a diplomatic protest with Russia over the detention of a Japanese citizen visiting an island disputed by the two countries.
	Tokyo and Moscow are working to resolve decades of tensions over four islands occupied by the Soviet Union in the closing days of World War II and now controlled by Russia.
	The man, who has not been identified, was detained following baggage checks conducted ahead of his scheduled departure, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
	Tokyo "strongly protested through diplomatic channels" and demanded he be allowed to return home, said Suga, who is the government's chief spokesman.
	He did not speculate as to why the man had been detained.
	Ties have been strained for decades over the islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as part of the Kuril Islands.
	The dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty to formally end wartime hostilities.
	The detained man was a member of a ...

Japan protests to Russia over man detained on disputed island

As doping-tainted athletics emerges from its darkest hour fighting to restore its credibility, the reality for track and field is that it will have to cross that rocky road without Usain Bolt.
     The Jamaican, who sealed an amazing third haul of three Olympic sprint gold medals in Rio, has consistently been a beacon for clean athletes amid doping and corruption scandals that mired Sebastian Coe's first year in office as IAAF president.
     Bolt will compete at next year's world championships in London as his swansong, meaning the next Olympics in Tokyo will not feature one of sport's most recognisable figures.
     Coe insists, however, that athletics will endure, telling AFP that Bolt had transcended his sport in a way that was comparable to boxing icon Muhammad Ali.
     "The man is a genius," Coe said. "There's been nobody since Muhammad Ali who's got remotely near to what this guy has done in terms of grabbing the public imagination."
     However, Coe argued that just as a new 

Athletics nervously enters post-Bolt world

The Olympics ended with Brazil having shown twice in two years that it is capable of hosting the world's biggest sporting events. But was the effort worth the trouble?
     The initial excitement of knowing Brazil would host both the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics turned bittersweet, at best.
     There were mass protests in 2013 against corruption and white elephant stadiums for the football. Then this year Brazil hit a perfect storm of political crisis, historic recession, runaway unemployment and a huge corruption scandal in the flagship national company Petrobras.
     How did Rio de Janeiro and the country as a whole come out in the end?
     "The main legacy of the Games was the party for Rio's people, who will never forget these days," said leading Brazilian sports analyst Juca Kfouri. "But the bill to pay will be very high."
     "Hopefully the Games have also provided a bit of a lesson for Brazilian fans, although I doubt it," Kfouri added, referring to the loud .

The Olympics are over for Brazil -- was it worth it?

Badminton powerhouse China has long dominated the sport, but its poor return of just two gold medals at the Rio Olympics marks a sea change as its stranglehold loosens.
     China collected a clean sweep of five gold medals at London 2012, however it was a different story in Brazil as its women shuttlers and superstar Lin Dan left empty-handed.
     That poor return played a major role in China slipping behind Great Britain to finish third in the medals table - the first time they have finished outside the top two since the Sydney Games in 2000.
     The women's singles had its first non-Chinese winner since the Atlanta Games 20 years ago after Li Xuerui failed to defend her title won in London, losing in the semi-final.
     After falling to Spanish gold medallist Carolina Marin, Li said it was becoming harder for China to continue its dominance of the sport, which has been an Olympic event since Barcelona 1992.
     "Our team is strong and we've tried our best to perform well but ...

China's badminton stranglehold loosens

China put a brave face on their worst Olympics for 20 years but they will work hard to make sure they aren't embarrassed again in 2020 -- when the Games are hosted by arch-rivals Japan.
     A third-placed finish on the medals table below the United States and Britain, made for a sobering Games after China triumphantly topped the standings at Beijing 2008 and finished second in 2012.
     "You kidding me? The country which has never finished above China is about to," spluttered the official Xinhua news agency, in a tweet that was later removed.
     As well as their lowest gold medals tally (26) since Atlanta in 1996, when Jiang Zemin was president, China were also left smarting on a couple of occasions.
     Australia rebuffed China's demand for an apology after Mack Horton called swimming rival Sun Yang a "drugs cheat", an incident which prompted a furious response from Chinese media and web-users.
     Later, China complained, but again to no avail, after the United States were ...

AFP

AFP

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