South Korea warned today of possible assassination attempts and other provocations from North Korea in response to recent high-profile defections.
	"It is highly likely that North Korea will make various attempts to prevent further defections and unrest among its people," an official at Seoul's unification ministry said, citing possible attempts to assassinate human rights activists and defectors in the South.

S Korea warns of possible N Korean assassination squads

PTI Automatic

Ten people died today when a boat sank in rough seas off western Indonesia, a navy official said, with a search underway for five others still missing.
	The small boat was carrying 17 passengers from the port city of Tanjung Pinang in Riau Islands province east of Sumatra when it encountered bad weather, navy spokesman Edi Sucipto told AFP.
	"Twelve people have been found, but ten had already passed away," he said, adding the two injured were in critical condition.
	A navy speedboat was still searching for the five still missing, Sucipto added.
	The stricken vessel was only a small craft equipped with an outboard motor, he said. The journey was supposed to take around an hour.
	The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on boat transport, but fatal accidents are common.
	More than 60 people died in December when huge waves capsized a ferry charting a course through Sulawesi province.

10 dead, 5 missing in Indonesian boat accident: navy

Death toll rises to 50 in Turkey wedding attack: Gaziantep

North Korea today demanded the repatriation of a dozen restaurant workers who jointly fled to South Korea, a day after blasting Seoul over a separate high-profile defection.
	Today's statement was Pyongyang's first reaction to Seoul's announcement last week that the 12 restaurant staff and their manager had been released from government custody.
	The group had been "released into society", the South's unification ministry said, after the intelligence service had completed investigations into their case.
	North Korea claims the group was kidnapped.
	A spokesman for its emergency committee set up for "rescuing" abductees described the ministry's announcement as a "mean plot" aimed at "covering up the truth behind the group abduction".
	"Keeping them hidden from the public... Citing 'safety reasons' shows that the puppet government's announcement is a complete fabrication," he said.
	"We will continue fighting until we can rescue and bring back our female citizens," the spokesman added ..

N Korea demands repatriation of restaurant defectors

President Rodrigo Duterte threatened today to withdraw the Philippines from the United Nations, as he launched another profanity-laced tirade against the organisation for criticising his bloody war on crime.
	More than 1,500 people have been killed since Duterte took office and immediately began his law-and-order crackdown, according to police statistics, triggering fierce criticism from the UN and rights groups.
	Duterte, a lawyer famous for an acid tongue who has repeatedly told the UN not to interfere, today stepped up his rhetoric.
	"Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you," Duterte said in a press conference in his home city of Davao that started about 1:00 AM.
	Duterte said he may even look to set up another international organisation.
	"I would invite everybody. I would invite maybe China, the African (nations)," he said.
	The UN's special rapporteur on summary executions, ...

Duterte threatens to pull Philippines out of UN

Britain's Mo Farah warned he aims to keep winning after becoming the first man in 40 years to retain the two Olympic distance crowns.
     "It never gets old," beamed the 33-year-old after capturing his second successive 5,000m title on Saturday, winning the Rio final in 13min 3.30sec to emulate Finland's Lasse Viren, who did the double at the 1972 and 1976 Games.
     "Mentally I had to be on the top of my game. The guys were out there to get me. I had to be alert.
     "It shows I didn't just fluke it in London," added Farah, Britain's most successful Olympic track and field athlete of all time.
     "To do it again is incredible. I can't believe I did it, it means so much to me."
     Farah's medal was Britain 27th gold of the Rio Games and their 65th medal, matching their haul in London four years ago.
     "We've achieved a lot as a nation," said the Somali-born superstar, whose heroics in 2012 won the hearts of a nation.
     "To be able to carry on from 2012 four years later, ..

Winning never gets old, says fab Farah

Japan was on alert today for high winds, heavy rain and landslides as the country braces for two typhoons on course to make landfall.
	Typhoon Kompasu was expected to hit northern Hokkaido island Sunday evening, packing gusts up to 126 kilometres (80 miles) per hour, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
	The storm, located in the Pacific some 100 kilometres southeast of Kamaishi city at 9:00 local time today, was already dumping heavy rain that has flooded rivers in Hokkaido.
	The agency issued warnings for heavy rain, landslides and high waves in and around Hokkaido from Kompasu.
	Typhoon Mindulle, located in the Pacific 170 kilometres west northwest of Chichijima island at 9:00 local time today, was heading north toward the Japanese main island of Honshu with gusts up to 126 kilometres per hour, the agency said.
	Mindulle was expected to landfall in central Japan tomorrow morning, possibly close to Tokyo, the agency said.
	Meanwhile, Typhoon Lionrock was in the Pacific ...

Japan braces for two approaching typhoons

Media giant Viacom announced a formal agreement in its nasty corporate power struggle, under which mogul Sumner Redstone will remain atop his empire and chief executive Philippe Dauman leaves the company.
	Under terms of the deal, Dauman will also end his legal battles against Redstone and his daughter, Shari.
	The agreement, which was presented Friday in an internal memo, settles all disputes between parties and "all lawsuits among them will be terminated," a statement by Viacom said.
	Dauman will "resign immediately as president and chief executive officer" and be replaced by chief operating officer Tom Dooley until September 30, with the board to decide his permanent successor.
	Viacom's management, led by Dauman and board member George Abrams, had alleged in court that Shari Sumner effectively controls her ailing father and was making a power grab for his USD 40 billion media empire.
	Under the agreement Dauman will remain as non-executive chairman of the board through September ..

End to Viacom power struggle officially formalised

Britain's Mo Farah completed a historic Olympic distance double double with victory in the 5,000m Saturday as American runner Matt Centrowitz scored an upset win to claim the 1,500m gold.
     Farah became the first man since Finnish great Lasse Viren in 1976 to retain two Olympic distance titles after storming to victory, a week after defending his 10,000m crown at Rio's Olympic Stadium.
     The 33-year-old Somali-born Londoner  again produced a superb tactical race on Saturday to outfox his rivals and take gold in 13min 3.30sec.
     "Oh my God I can't believe it!" said Farah. "My legs were tired after the 10,000m and people had to bring me food in my room.
     "This is the most satisfying win of the four, it is incredible. If you have dreams they can come true and I always wanted to achieve these for my kids because for so much of the year you don't see them. You want to show them something or rather the reason for the absences."
     Centrowitz produced the biggest upset on the .

Mighty Mo seals distance double, Centrowitz claims 1,500 shock

Rio Olympics medals table
after Saturday's events competition (gold, silver, bronze, total):
     United States       43 37 36 116
     Great Britain       27 22 17 66
     China               26 18 26 70
     Russia              17 17 19 53
     Germany             17 10 14 41
     Japan               12  8 21 41
     France               9 17 14 40
     South Korea          9  3  9 21
     Australia            8 11 10 29
     Italy                8 11  7 26
     Netherlands          8  6  4 18
     Hungary              8  3  4 15
     Spain                7  3  4 14
     Brazil               6  6  6 18
     Jamaica              6  3  2 11
     Kenya                5  6  1 12
     Croatia              5  3  2 10
     Cuba                 5  2  4 11
     New Zealand          4  9  5 18
     Canada               4  3 15 22
     Kazakhstan           3  5  9 17
     Colombia             3  2  3  8
     Iran                 3  1  4  8
     Greece               3  1  2  6
     Argentina    

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 21 (AFP) Rio Olympics medals table

China blamed fierce competition for their Rio flop and promised to examine their "shortcomings" after slumping to their worst Olympic performance in 20 years.
     China sent 410 athletes, their biggest team at a foreign Olympics, but by the penultimate day they had won just 24 gold medals, their fewest since Atlanta 1996.
     Worse, China trailed not only the United States but also Britain on the medals table, a fact that has prompted splutterings of indignation in Chinese media.
     China topped the table in 2008 and were second in 2004 and 2012, but Chinese Olympic committee chief Liu Peng said rising standards had taken them by surprise.
     "There are a few problems we cannot overlook. In the Rio Games we didn't win so many medals... We didn't assess objectively the challenges we might face at these Games," said Liu.
     "In recent years more countries have attached importance to the Olympic Games, so the level of play internationally has come up and the competition has ...

China blame 'fierce' competition after Rio flop

Matthew Centrowitz produced a stunning gun-to-tape 1500m run on Saturday to claim the United States' first gold in the event since 1908.
     Centrowitz, fourth in the London Games four years ago and twice a world championship medallist, timed 3min 50.00sec.
     Algerian defending champion Taoufik Makhloufi added silver to second place in the 800m, in 3:50.11, while New Zealand's Nicholas Willis claimed bronze (3:50.24).
     "There's nothing like it. It doesn't compare to anything else I've won in my life," said Centrowitz.
     The last American to win the 1500m in the Olympics was Mel Sheppard in the 1908 London Games, and Centrowitz was left shell-shocked by his performance.
     "It hasn't sunk in yet. I had an email from Jim Ryan before the race, Seb Coe gave me the medal and Hicham El Guerrouj is back there," he said in reference to the US 1968 1500m silver medallist, IAAF president and two-time Olympic gold medallist in the event and the Moroccan world record holder ...

Centrowitz stuns favourites for 'surreal' 1500m gold

Taekwondo bosses have extended a hand of Olympic welcome to their karate counterparts ahead of the sport's entry in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
     Taekwondo long opposed karate's adoption by the Olympics as it was viewed as competition.
     But Yang Jin Bang, the director general of the World Taekwondo Federation, says things have changed and they no longer see karate as a threat.
     "They have been trying for so long and now they happen to have the Olympics in 2020 in the home of karate," said Yang.
     "They're lucky to have the chance, so we should congratulate them and we will compete together for a better Games."
     Apart from viewing karate's Games debut as deflecting from their own status, Yang believes the two sports can benefit from each other.
     "I think there is a good chance that both of us will make improvements," he said, although he stopped short of claiming karate's inclusion was good for taekwondo.
     "It's not positive, not negative, it's just one more ...

Taekwondo not threatened by karate in Tokyo

His legs were tired, but Britain's Mo Farah produced blistering pace in the final straight to become the first man in 40 years to retain the two Olympic distance titles.
     The 33-year-old, who fought back from a stumble to claim the 10,000m last week, said his victory in the 5,000m on Saturday night had been the most satisfying of the four golds.
     Farah won his second straight 5,000m in 13min 3.30sec to match the feat of Finland's Lasse Viren who retained the same Olympic titles in 1976.
     "Oh my God I can't believe it," said Farah. "It's every athlete's dream but I can't believe it. "My legs were tired after the 10,000m and people had to bring me food in my room.
     "This is the most satisfying win of the four, it is incredible."
     Farah, who trains in Oregon under ex-marathon great Alberto Salazar, said watching Ethiopian distance legend Kenenisa Bekele medalling had been an inspiration.
     "When Bekele won all those medals I said I just want one.
     "If you have .

Farah seals first distance double-double in 40 years

Twin titans Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps have mined a trove of Olympic gold, changed the sporting landscape and left a huge hole that starts in Rio and goes around the world.
     International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach hailed the two superstars as "icons". But he will leave the 31st Olympic Games wondering how to fill their places.
     There is noone in sight with the sporting power nor the charisma to take the place of Phelps and Bolt -- who have 32 gold medals between them -- in the swimming pool or on the running track.
     "The Greatest" maybe just Muhammad Ali-style hyperbole that Bolt likes to throw about but his nine golds over three Olympics cannot be countered.
     Phelps won five golds in Rio at the age of 31 having retired once and come back -- and crashed a car under the influence along the way.
     "We have seen athletes who were icons even before they arrived here, they have strengthened their position as icons, like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt," ...

Bolt, Phelps exit leaves Olympic void

At least 30 people were killed and dozens more wounded in an attack possibly carried out by a suicide bomber on a wedding party in the Turkish city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border, officials have said.
	The explosion is the latest attack to have rocked the key NATO member in a horrific year that has seen a string of strikes blamed on Kurdish and Islamist militants as well as a bloody July 15 botched coup.
	Gaziantep governor Ali Yerlikaya yesterday said in a statement that 30 people had been killed and 94 wounded in "an abhorrent terror bomb attack on a wedding".
	A previous toll had put the number of dead at 22.
	"We condemn the traitors who organised and carried out this attack," he said, vowing that those responsible would be "brought to account".
	Mehmet Erdogan, a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker for Gaziantep said it was not clear who was responsible for the explosion but there was a "high possibility" it was a suicide attack.
	The lawmaker added that it ..

At least 30 killed in Turkey wedding attack near Syria border

The son of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been released following his abduction earlier this week from a Mexico bar, a member of the Sinaloa cartel leader's family said.
	Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, 29, was freed along with the five other men with whom he was kidnapped, a relative who requested anonymity for security reasons told AFP.
	"They were negotiating all this time, but now are free and well," the source said, adding that some of the captured men were already back in Sinaloa state.
	Guzman Salazar -- one of Guzman's sons from his first marriage -- was attending a celebration early Monday at a restaurant and bar in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta when gunmen in pick-up trucks swooped in and kidnapped five of his six companions.
	The younger Guzman -- himself a key operator in the Sinaloa cartel who is wanted for arrest under a 2009 warrant -- was identified by the Jalisco state prosecutor's office based on security camera footage.
	Notified by AFP about the ...

Guzman relative says 'El Chapo' son released in Mexico

Detained European Olympic chief Patrick Hickey has not been heard by a Brazilian judge over a Rio Games ticket scandal despite being held for four days, IOC chief Thomas Bach said.
     Bach told a press conference that the International Olympic Committee's ethics committee would not decide whether to take action until the criminal procedure against the 71-year-old Hickey is completed.
     Hickey, the head of the Olympic Council of Ireland and the European Olympic Committees, was detained Wednesday and is accused of involvement in a ticket scam, ambush marketing and conspiracy over the sale of Rio Olympics tickets at inflated prices.
     He is now in the Bangu maximum security prison in Rio.
     "What we know is that he has not yet been heard by a judge," Bach told a press conference on the sidelines of the Rio Olympics.
     He said the IOC ethics commission "is in contact ... With the  authorities here in Brazil."
     But as Hickey has voluntarily stood down "temporarily" from ..

Detained IOC member not yet heard by judge

Staking its claim to rank among the greatest women's basketball teams ever assembled, the United States captured a sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal and eighth in nine tries today.
     An overwhelming 101-72 victory over Spain in the final stretched the US Olympic win streak to 49 games since a 1992 semi-final loss.
     The Americans improved to 89-1 over the past 20 years in global tournaments.
     "I'm pretty sure we demonstrated we are one of the best teams ever," US guard Sue Bird said.
     Diana Taurasi and Lindsay Whalen led the US squad with 17 points each in the final while Maya Moore added 14.
     "It's pretty incredible," Taurasi said. "We had a goal to win the gold medal but there's something more to it than that.
     "It's not about one person, one coach -- it's about, 'How can we make this the best basketball team ever?'"
     US stars Taurasi, Bird and Tamika Catchings matched an Olympic basketball record with their fourth gold medals each, tying ex-US standouts 

USA rout Spain for sixth women's hoops gold in a row

Lionel Messi and hat-trick hero Luis Suarez were in sensational form as they helped Barcelona start their title defence with a crushing 6-2 win over Real Betis at the Camp Nou.
     Messi scored twice and set up another goal, dominating proceedings, while Suarez added three of his own after Arda Turan's opener.
     Ruben Castro struck a brace for Betis but at no stage of the game did it seem like the visitors had enough to prevent Luis Enrique's team from running amok on the opening day of the new Spanish season.
     New signings Samuel Umtiti and Denis Suarez started for Barcelona, standing in for Javier Mascherano and Andres Iniesta respectively, as Barcelona battled with a long list of absences.
     Regardless, it took just five minutes for the hosts to open the scoring, with Turan putting the finishing touch on a fine move. Messi scooped the ball diagonally into the area, finding the marauding Jordi Alba, who cut it back for Turan to prod home.
     Along with his two strikes ..

Suarez hits hat-trick as Barcelona thump Betis

Neymar struck the winning penalty as Brazil claimed a first ever Olympic football gold medal with victory over Germany on penalties at Rio's Maracana.
     The 5-4 shoot-out win exacted revenge for a humiliating 7-1 World Cup semi-final defeat to Germany two years ago.
     Olympic gold was the only major title to have escaped five-time world champions Brazil in their history.
     But Barcelona star Neymar righted that historical wrong as he fired the winning penalty into the top corner before breaking into tears.
     In front of the biggest crowd of Rio's Games, including nine-time Jamaican gold medallist Usain Bolt, Neymar's brilliant free-kick handed Brazil a first-half lead.
     In honour of the retiring sprinting great, Neymar even adopted the "lightning bolt" celebration, whilst chants of "ole, ole, ole, Neymar" rang around Rio's most iconic arena.
     However, Germany captain Max Meyer enjoyed a special celebration of his own as he taunted the raucous 78,000 crowd at the ...

AFP

AFP

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