One person was killed and several more wounded today in Mali during a protest over the arrest of a popular radio presenter.
	Medical sources confirmed a passerby was killed walking through the protest in the capital, Bamako, as protesters clashed with security forces who fired tear gas.
	The demonstration was sparked by the arrest on Monday of Mohamed Youssouf Bathily, a government minister's son also known as "Rasbath", whose polemical presence on local radio has raised the ire of the authorities.
	Supporters had gathered outside court to show their support where the young presenter was due to appear in connection with a police investigation into whether he broke public morality rules.
	Rasbath has accused President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of being unable to manage the Malian army and attacked the prime minister and several senior military figures on his show "Carte sur table" (Card on the table).
	He comes from establishment stock himself as the son of land affairs minister Mohamed ..

One dead in protest over detained Mali radio presenter

PTI Automatic

American fitness giant Gold's Gym says it will terminate its contract with an Egyptian partner after a Cairo gym posted a body-shaming image of a pear with the message: "This is no shape for a girl."
	The advert, which used the global gym brand's logo, provoked a backlash on social media.
	In an apology on its official Facebook page, Gold's Gym criticised the "offensive and disgusting" image, saying it went against "everything we believe in and stand for."
	"After consultation with our master franchise in Gold's Gym Egypt, we are in the process of expediting the termination of this sub-franchise's agreement," the US-based company said.
	Gold's Gym Egypt also issued an apology.
 	Gold's Gym and its Egyptian franchise have both requested Facebook to remove the page of Gold's Gym Dreamland, which is based in a Cairo suburb.
	"Gold's Gym Dreamland has by no means any right to speak for the Gold's Gym Egypt community," the Egyptian franchise said today.
	Gold's Gym said it was reviewing ...

Gold's Gym ends Egypt branch contract over body-shaming ad

A fire raging east of Los Angeles spread rapidly today, posing a threat to more than 82,000 people and prompting the governor of California to declare a state of emergency.
	More than 1,300 firefighters were battling the giant blaze and more were on the way, but as of early Wednesday they had been unable to contain the inferno. It is still unclear what caused the fire.
	"We have very, very dry brush, thick fuel, it helps move it along very quickly," Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman for state firefighting agency Cal Fire, told AFP. "It is very dangerous to the public and also to the firefighters."
	Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino County, just 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, where the so-called Bluecut Fire was quickly growing.
	It began around 10:30 am (1730 GMT) Tuesday and has already burned through 30,000 acres (more than 12,000 hectares), according to the multi-agency Inciweb information site. More than 34,500 homes were threatened .

More than 82,000 flee California wildfire

The son of Al-Qaeda's slain founder Osama bin Laden has urged Saudis to "overthrow" the kingdom's rulers in order to "free" themselves from US influence, SITE Intelligence Group reported today.
	In an undated audio message, Hamza bin Laden urged Saudi youth to join the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to "gain the necessary experience" to fight, according to SITE.
	Classified by the United States as the network's deadliest franchise, AQAP was formed in January 2009 as a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of Al-Qaeda.
	Yemen is the ancestral home of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, who was killed in Pakistan in 2011 by an elite team of US Navy SEALS after a decade on the run.
	US intelligence officials have said that 23-year-old Hamza was the favourite son of the 9/11 mastermind who had been grooming him to take over as Al-Qaeda's leader.
	On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death, experts have noted Hamza's increasing prominence among ...

Bin Laden's son urges overthrow of Saudi rulers

Malian customs officials have made one of the country's biggest ever drug seizures, impounding 2.1 tonnes of cannabis detected along a new smuggling route that stretches down the west African coast.
	The chief of Mali's mobile customs unit Ibrahim Diakite told AFP 1,254 bricks of cannabis were discovered yesterday in Zantiguila, close to the capital Bamako, in a truck refitted to transport the illicit cargo.
	The total value of the cannabis was estimated at 3.5 billion FCFA, or around USD 6.01 million.
	"The length of the vehicle inside and outside didn't match," Diakite explained. "It's the biggest drug seizure by Malian customs ever," he added.
	Four Malians were arrested, according to Diakite.
	The drugs came along a newly established route from Burkina Faso which was being used to transport drugs of the same quantity once or twice a month, the customs official said.
	Mali is becoming a hub for stocking drugs to be resold in neighbouring Guinea and Senegal, according to the ...

Mali seizes USD 6 mn of cannabis on new drug route

The United Nations said today it is facing a shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars for Sudan's 2016 humanitarian needs after it launched a global appeal last month to raise USD 950 million.
	The UN's 2016 humanitarian response plan for Sudan aims to help up to 4.6 million people, including tens of thousands of South Sudanese refugees who fled to Sudan to escape violence and food shortages.
	Of the USD 952 million needed, as of the beginning of August UN aid agencies have managed to raise only USD 242.6 million.
	"We still are very, very low in terms of the total funding requirement," Marta Ruedas, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Sudan said at a press conference marking World Humanitarian Day.
	"There is no doubt that this year we are in a worse situation with regard to the level of funding."
	The United Nations and its aid agencies had raised USD 604.3 million in 2015 for Sudan after a global appeal for USD 1.04 billion.
	While urging the international ...

UN warning over Sudan aid funding shortfall

Iran said today that Norway had offered the Islamic republic a USD 1-billion credit line following a meeting between their foreign ministers in Tehran.
	Borge Brende and Mohammad Javad Zarif signed three "export credit" deals aimed at funding "development and infrastructure projects", Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement.
	Iran has struggled to tap international finance as many banks fear US penalties if they do business with the Islamic republic.
	A landmark deal between Tehran and world powers, which was signed in July last year and came into force in January, saw many international sanctions on Iran lifted in exchange for curbs to its nuclear programme.
	European countries have been keen to do business with one of the last frontier markets, but Washington has maintained sanctions related to Iran's human rights record and missile programme.
	"After the lifting of sanctions, good opportunities have emerged for cooperation and Norway is ready to utilise the post-deal situation .

Norway opens USD one billion credit line for Iran

A regional train crashed today near Montpellier in southern France, leaving around 10 people with "serious injuries", rescue workers said.
	The train travelling between Nimes and Montpellier hit a tree that had fallen on the track at the small town of Le Cres, they said, adding that another 50 people had suffered minor injuries.

Train crashes in France, around 10 seriously injured: rescuers

North Korea said it has resumed plutonium production from spent fuel rods and has no plans to stop nuclear tests as long as the US still "threatens" Pyongyang, media reported today.
	The North's Atomic Energy Institute, which has jurisdiction over the country's main atomic complex Yongbyon, told Kyodo news agency it had been producing highly enriched uranium for nuclear arms and power "as scheduled".
	"We have reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods removed from a graphite-moderated reactor," the agency said in a written interview with the news agency.
	The agency did not disclose how much plutonium or enriched uranium the North has produced, the report said.
	The type of plutonium suitable for a nuclear bomb typically needs to be extracted from spent nuclear reactor fuel.
	In June, the UN's atomic watchdog warned that North Korea could have reactivated the Yongbyon plant for reprocessing plutonium for use in nuclear weapons, following similar warnings from a US think tank.
	The director .

N Korea says it has resumed plutonium production

Heavily-armed Russian special forces today raided an apartment building in Saint Petersburg in an operation targeting North Caucasus militants, reportedly killing two suspects.
	The FSB security service said in a statement quoted by Russian agencies that the raid was part of an operation to detain "wanted persons accused of participating in illegal armed groups in the North Caucasus".
	"Criminals were destroyed by return fire when they attempted to resist," the FSB said, without specifying how many suspects were killed.
	Local online newspaper Fontanka.Ru reported that two alleged militants were killed and three arrested.
	TV footage showed heavily-armed men in balaclavas cordoning off the multistorey apartment block on the outskirts of the northwestern city famed for its tsarist-era palaces.
	"I heard several explosions and then a series of what sounded like gunshots," a man who said he was a resident of a neighbouring apartment building told Rossiya 24 television.
	Special ...

Russian forces in 'deadly' raid against Caucasus militants

China will restrict the operations of North Korean national airline Air Koryo after one of its planes had to make an emergency landing last month because of a fire on board, it said today.
	The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) will take "relevant measures to limit operations" for the carrier, it said in a statement on its website, without giving specific details.
	Last month, a scheduled Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang to Beijing was forced to divert and land in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang "because the plane caught fire", the official Xinhua new agency said, quoting a passenger on board. There were no casualties.
	The CAAC said an investigation found the fire was caused by a call button.
	Air Koryo must improve training for similar incidents, improve communications with air traffic controllers and upgrade aircraft maintenance, the Chinese regulator said.
	Although Air Koryo is the sole airline in the bottom "one star" category in the global Skytrax rating ...

China to restrict North Korean airline operations

Brazilian police today arrested top International Olympic Committee member Patrick Hickey over illegal sales of Rio Olympics tickets.
     Police said in a statement that  Hickey, the 71-year-old head of the European Olympic Committees as well as the Irish national committee, was detained at a luxury Rio hotel.
     According to Brazilian media, Hickey tried to escape during the operation.
     The reports said he fell ill during his arrest and was taken to hospital.
     City police acted to "carry out an arrest  warrant and search warrant against Patrick Joseph Hickey, from Ireland, a member of the International Olympic Committee," police said in a statement.
     "He was arrested," a spokesman confirmed.
     Hickey has been a member of the IOC executive board since 2012. As head of the European body he has been instrumental in setting up the European Games which was first held in Baku, Azerbaijan, last year.
     The arrest -- with echoes of a police raid on a FIFA hotel in Zurich 

European IOC chief arrested in Rio over ticket scandal

A passenger train hit and killed an elephant and three calves in northern Sri Lanka today, the latest deadly accident involving the venerated animals.
	The herd was walking across a newly upgraded railway line that runs through a jungle area when the accident occurred at Cheddikulam, about 260 kilometres north of Colombo.
	"One of the baby elephants was dragged about 300 metres along the track after being hit," a local police official told AFP, adding that it was thought to be Sri Lanka's worst accident involving the animals.
	No passengers were injured in the collision.
	Although elephants are considered sacred in Sri Lanka and are legally protected, nearly 200 are killed every year, many by farmers after the animals stray onto their land.
	Marauding elephants also claim the lives of about 50 people annually, mostly by trampling through villages built near their habitats.
	In 2011, three baby elephants were killed by a passenger train along the same track in a forest area about 150 ..

Four elephants killed by Sri Lankan train

An oil tanker carrying 900,000 litres of diesel, believed hijacked in Malaysia, has been taken back to Indonesia by its crew following a commercial dispute, the Indonesian navy said today.
	"The preliminary assessment is the vessel was not hijacked but was taken by the crew back to Batam," the Indonesian navy said in a statement in reference to the island near Singapore.
	The navy said the captain had contacted its agent twice to say the vessel was returning to Batam because of an internal management problem within the company.
	The incident is "linked closely to internal problems between the (Indonesian) owner, the (Malaysian)charterer and the (Indonesian) crew," said Mohamad Taha Ibrahim of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
	Earlier Malaysian maritime authorities said the vessel had been hijacked and was heading towards Indonesian waters.
	"Initial investigations on the MT Vier Harmoni revealed that the ship was hijacked due to internal problems," Ahmad Puzi Kahar, ...

Indonesia says oil tanker 'taken by crew' not hijacked

FIFA ethics committee investigators have called for a six-year ban against the former head of the South African Football Association Kirsten Nematandani over his alleged role in 2010 match-fixing, a statement said today.
     The committee was also seeking lifetime bans over the same offence against a former official from the Zimbabwe Football Association, Jonathan Musavengana, and the ex-coach of Togo's national team, Banna Tchanile.
     The possible sanctions follow a probe led by the deputy chief of FIFA's Independent Ethics Committee, Djimbaraye Bourngar, and are subject to approval by judges at world football's governing body.
     Nematandani, the most prominent name in the group, was put on "special leave" in December 2012 following a FIFA report into match-fixing.
     He was reinstated in January 2013 but not cleared of any wrongdoing and subsequently left the SAFA.
     A 2012 FIFA investigation looked into South Africa's friendly matches before the 2010 World Cup against ..

FIFA bans ex-South Africa chief over match-fixing

South Korea said today that North Korea's deputy ambassador to Britain had defected to Seoul, in a rare and major loss of diplomatic face for Pyongyang.
	The Unification Ministry said Thae Yong-Ho - the number-two at the North's mission in London - had defected together with his family and they were now in the South Korean capital.
	"They are under government protection and are going through necessary procedures with related institutions," ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee told reporters.
	Jeong declined to reveal Thae's defection route, citing the diplomatic sensitivities involved for the concerned countries.
	"On his reasons for defection, Minister Thae cited disgust with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-Un's regime, admiration for South Korea's free, democratic system and the future of his family," Jeong said.
	Increasingly isolated internationally because of its nuclear weapons programme, North Korea maintains relatively few overseas embassies, and defections by diplomats of Thae's .

S Korea says top N Korea diplomat defected to Seoul

Chinese Internet giant Tencent said today its profits jumped by 47 percent in the second quarter, buoyed by new users of its popular messaging service WeChat, gaming and digital content.
	Net profit for the three months to June rose to 10.74 billion yuan (USD 1.62 billion) from 7.31 billion yuan in the same period last year, beating the average analyst estimate of 9.52 billion yuan according to a Bloomberg survey.
	Revenue jumped by 52 percent from 23.43 billion yuan to 35.69 billion yuan, the technology company said.
	Based in the Chinese southern export hub of Shenzhen, Tencent operates China's biggest messaging service WeChat, through which a variety of businesses including gaming, advertising and social networking have flourished in recent years.
	Monthly active users for WeChat -- known as Weixin in Chinese -- reached 806 million from 600 million in June last year.
	The company's messaging service is expanding into the corporate sector. The company said Weixin "further penetrated 

WeChat sends China's Tencent profits surging

Gunmen have shot dead a Saudi policeman in the kingdom's east where most minority Shiites live, police said today.
	The drive-by attack happened early today in Qatif, a Shiite-dominated district on the Gulf coast.
	Four masked men opened fire, wounding the officer who died on the way to hospital, provincial police said in a statement.
	"The police building and a patrol car were damaged," said the statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
	It was the fourth fatal shooting of a policeman in Qatif since January.
	Eastern Province is home to most of Saudi Arabia's Shiites, who have long complained of marginalisation in the Sunni-majority kingdom.
	Parts of the eastern area have seen repeated security incidents since 2011, when a wave of protests began among Shiites demanding reform.
	Eastern Province residents have said clashes with police are also sometimes linked to criminal activity including the drug trade.
	Sunni extremists from the Islamic State group have claimed ...

Saudi cop gunned down in Shiite district

Italy will not follow France by allowing burkini bans on public beaches but is planning tighter regulation of imams and mosques, the country's interior minister said in comments published today.
	Angelino Alfano told the Corriere della Sera daily that he regarded France's restrictions on Islamic clothing as counter- productive because of the potential backlash it could provoke.
	"The interior ministry's responsibility is to guarantee security and to decide the severity of responses which however must never become provocations that could potentially attract attacks," Alfano said.
	Asked specifically about the burkini bans recently introduced by several French seaside towns, Alfano added: "It doesn't seem to me, alas, that the French model has worked for the best".
	Alfano, who is planning to table a new security law in September, also said he wanted all imams preaching in the country's mosques to be trained in Italy, and for all mosques to be fully compliant with the law.
	"Enough ...

Italy rules out burkini ban, wants home-trained imams

China will prosecute 26 people linked to a peer-to-peer lender for fraud and illegal fundraising, state media has said, in a case labelled a Ponzi scheme for allegedly bilking investors of USD 7.6 billion.
	Police have handed over the case involving P2P lender Ezubao to prosecutors, the Xinhua news agency reported late yesterday.
	Authorities charged 11 people - including top executives of Ezubao's parent company Yucheng, chairman Ding Ning and president Zhang Min - of fraud while another 15 are accused of illegally obtaining investors' savings, the Beijing People's Procuratorate said in statement on its website.
	In a televised confession shown in February after suspects were arrested, Zhang said Ezubao was "a typical Ponzi scheme". Rights groups condemn such practices as prejudicing the right to a fair trial.
	Police previously told state media that Ezubao concocted fake projects to attract investment and pocketed funds instead of passing them to borrowers to generate returns.
	The .

China to prosecute 26 over $7.6 bn 'Ponzi scheme'

Final scoreboard on the fifth day
of the third and final Test between Sri Lanka and Australia in here today.
     Sri Lanka 1st innings: 355
     Australia 1st innings: 379
     Sri Lanka 2nd innings (overnight 312 for 8)
     D Perera lbw b Starc                   8
     D Karunaratne st Nevill b Lyon        22
     K Silva c Smith b Holland            115
     K Perera c Nevill b Holland           24
     K Mendis lbw b Starc                  18
     A Mathews c Smith b Lyon              26
     D Chandimal lbw b Lyon                43
     D de Silva not out                    65
     R Herath c Smith b Lyon                5
     S Lakmal not out                       4
     Extras: (B-8, LB-3, W-1, NB-5)        17
     Total: (For 8 wkts decl; 99.3 overs) 347
     Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-44, 3-69, 4-98, 5-156, 6-246, 7-276, 8-297.
     Bowling: Starc 19.3-4-72-2, Lyon 37-7-123-4, Holland 20-4-72-2, Hazlewood 14-2-33-0, Smith 2-0-13-0, M Marsh 3-1-3-0, M Henriques 2-0-9-0, A Voges .

AFP

AFP

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