Zambian police said today they had arrested 150 opposition activists over protests that erupted after President Edgar Lungu was declared the winner of a highly-contested vote.
	Supporters of opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema took to the streets in Southern Province after the election results were released yesterday, blockading roads with logs and burning tyres.
	"The people of Southern Province were very sure that Hichilema was going to win... And this sparked riots... resulting in the arrest of 150 people," the province's police commissioner Godwin Phiri in a statement.
	Hichilema, who heads the United Party for National Development (UPND), has rejected Thursday's poll as rigged and the party said it would formally challenge the result.
	The 54-year-old self-made businessman hails from the south and enjoys widespread support in the region.
	Hichilema, who was making his fifth bid for the presidency, claimed there were clear signs of fraud and vote rigging over the four days it ...

Zambia arrests 150 opposition activists over poll protest

PTI Automatic

A Venezuelan court sentenced three soldiers and seven civilians to two decades in prison for shipping more than a ton of cocaine to France, officials said today.
	The three airport customs officers were arrested after 1.3 tons of the drug were seized in Paris in September 2013, smuggled aboard an Air France flight from Caracas.
	The trio, who worked at the Maiquetia international airport, and their seven conspirators were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 22 and a half years each by a court in the northern state of Vargas, the state prosecutor's office said in a statement.
	One of the men's wives was sentenced to 10 years for money laundering, it said.
	Seventeen other defendants were acquitted, but prosecutors have appealed.
	The alleged money man behind the plot, Harry Augusto Romero, is the next up for trial, after being arrested in Colombia last year and extradited to Venezuela earlier this month.

Venezuela jails soldiers for smuggling drugs to France

Russian authorities notified the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria shortly before launching a bombing mission from Iran, a US military official today.
	The coalition has since last year operated a "memorandum of understanding" with Russia, whereby the two military forces notify each other of flights during their separate bombing campaigns to avoid accidents in the skies over Syria.
	"The Russians did notify the coalition as per the memorandum of understanding for safety of flight," US military spokesman Colonel Chris Garver said.
	"They informed us they were coming through and we ensured safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area and toward their target and then when they passed out again. They did not impact coalition operations in either Iraq or Syria during the time."
	Russia's defense ministry today said long-range bombers and fighter jets took off from the Hamedan base in western Iran and "conducted a group air strike against ...

Russia warned US ahead of bombing run from Iran: official

The British government gave the green light today for what it called the world's biggest offshore wind farm to be built off the English coast.
	The Hornsea Project Two farm should have up to 300 turbines and a capacity of up to 1.8 gigawatts. It could produce enough energy to power 1.6 million homes.
	It is an extension of the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One which was in itself being trumpeted as the world's biggest offshore wind farm.
	Both projects are being developed by Danish group DONG Energy, the world's largest operator of offshore wind farms.
	London decided Tuesday to grant development consent for Hornsea Project Two, located 90 kilometres east of the English coast.
	DONG Energy made the final investment decision earlier this year on Hornsea Project One, but is yet to commit formally to funding the second wave.
	British business minister Greg Clark said: "Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we're determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in ...

UK approves 'world's biggest offshore wind farm' project

The European Union will in September propose subjecting internet services like WhatsApp and Skype to similar rules as traditional telecommunications companies, a spokesman said.
	The European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation bloc, is set to recommend tighter privacy and security for services like Facebook-owned message service WhatsApp and Microsoft's video phone portal Skype.
	Spokesman Christian Wigand said that "we can confirm that the commission is working on an update of EU telecoms rules" next month to "ensure a high level of protection for people and a level playing field for all market players".
	"The commission is analysing to what extent so-called over-the-top service providers (OTT) like WhatsApp and Skype are providing services that are equivalent to those provided by traditional telecoms operators," Wigand said.
	"The commission is considering whether the scope of the current EU rules needs to be adapted, to maintain consistently high levels of consumer ...

EU mulls stricter controls on WhatsApp, Skype

Libyan pro-government forces said they seized control today of a central district of Sirte as they advanced against the last pockets of Islamic State group resistance in the coastal city.
	Backed by tanks and mortar fire, forces loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) retook "District Two" of central Sirte, military officials said.
	The advance came a day after the loyalists cleared and demined areas of the city captured in earlier clashes.
	An AFP photographer said the assault on District Two was mounted in a west-to-east direction and led by tanks opening the way for infantry.
	"District Two has been liberated," Reda Issa, a spokesman for the pro-government forces, told AFP.
	A commander of the pro-GNA forces said loyalists had also taken up positions south of District Two to cut off escape routes.
	Loyalist forces have been pushing to clear Sirte of the jihadists since expelling them from key positions including their headquarters at the Ouagadougou conference centre ..

Anti-IS forces retake central area in Libya's Sirte

Two Singaporean men have been arrested after getting into a fight triggered by the hugely popular mobile phone game Pokemon Go, local police said today.
	The fight broke out between a motorist and a pedestrian on Sunday at the carpark entrance of a mall in Singapore's popular Orchard Road shopping district.
	According to a police statement, the pedestrian was playing the augmented reality game on his phone while crossing the road.
	The motorist honked his horn at the player, setting off an argument which led to the fight.
	Both men were arrested for affray, an offence which carries a jail term of up to a year, a Sg USD 5,000 fine or both.
	They were the first people to be arrested in the city-state -- where fights in public are rare -- in connection with the game.
	Pokemon Go enables users hunt fictional digitised animal characters like the furry yellow Pikachu, which have been scattered around the world, often in unlikely locations.
	The game has become a global craze, with crowds of 

Singapore arrests two over Pokemon Go fight

The Saudi-led coalition bombing rebels in Yemen launched an investigation today after international condemnation of an air raid that Doctors Without Borders said killed 11 people at a hospital it supports.
	More than 19 people were also wounded in the strike that hit the hospital yesterday in Abs in the rebel-held northern province of Hajja, the Paris-based aid agency said.
	A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staffer was among the dead, it said.
	The hospital strike was the latest in a series of coalition raids that allegedly hit civilian facilities -- including a school on Saturday where 10 children were killed.
	The coalition began the bombing campaign in March last year after Shiite Huthi rebels seized large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
	It increased air strikes this month after UN-mediated peace talks between the rebels and Yemen's internationally backed government were suspended.
	The coalition's spokesman Tuesday accused the Huthis of using the three months of ...

Saudi-led coalition probes deadly strike on Yemen hospital

A Palestinian teenager was shot dead today during clashes with Israeli forces at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said.
	"Mohammed Abu Hashash, 17, died after he was shot in the chest during clashes with (Israeli forces) in the Fawwar camp," a statement from the Palestinian health ministry said.
	At least 25 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, Red Crescent medics said earlier.
	The violence erupted when a large convoy of Israeli military vehicles entered the camp, near the flashpoint city of Hebron, witnesses said.
	The Israeli military did not confirm or deny casualties during the operation, which a spokeswoman said aimed to "uncover weaponry" in the camp.
	The army closed off the Fawwar camp for 26 days last month after a gunman fired on an Israeli car on a nearby road, causing a crash that killed the driver.
	A wave of violence since October has killed 220 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP .

Palestinian killed in clashes with Israeli forces: ministry

An Austrian court remanded nine Iraqi migrants in custody today for their alleged involvement in the gang rape of a German tourist on New Year's Eve in Vienna.
	The men, aged between 21 and 47, were arrested over the weekend at raids across Austria after months-long police investigations.
	They were put in detention at a jail in Vienna pending trial, a court spokeswoman said.
	The suspects are accused of bringing the 28-year-old victim, who was under the influence of alcohol, to one of the suspects' flats and taking turns in raping her on the night of December 31, 2015.
	The men have rejected the allegations, but investigators found DNA traces of four of the accused at the alleged scene of the crime.
	It is not clear yet how long the Iraqis have been in Austria, but one applied for asylum after the incident took place, police said.
	Allegations of sexual assault involving migrants have been on the rise in Austria since the start of the European Union's worst refugee crisis since World 

Nine Iraqis held over gang rape of tourist in Vienna

South Korea said today that its intelligence service had finished investigating 13 North Korean restaurant workers whose joint defection triggered accusations from Pyongyang that they were kidnapped.
	A Unification Ministry official said the dozen waitresses and their manager had been "released into society" last week.
	They had all been working at a North Korea-themed restaurant in China. Their arrival in the South in April made headlines as the largest group defection for years.
	While Seoul said they fled voluntarily, Pyongyang claimed they were kidnapped by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) and waged a vocal campaign through its state media for their immediate return.
	For all North Korean defectors, life in the South begins with intensive NIS interrogation that can last for months and is aimed at weeding out possible spies.
	They are then sent to a resettlement centre for three months' training, after which they are free to start new lives in South Korean ...

S. Korea releases N. Korean restaurant defectors

A Turkish court has ordered the temporary closure of a newspaper accusing it of links with Kurdish militants and spreading terrorist propaganda, state media said today.
	The court in Istanbul accused the pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem of "acting as the de facto news outlet" for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), state-run news agency Anadolu said. A Turkish official confirmed the court order.
	The PKK -- considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States -- has waged a separatist insurgency in the southeast since 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed since it first took up arms.
	The official, who did not wish to be named, said the decision had no relation to the state of emergency declared after last month's failed coup in Turkey.
	"The defendants can appeal this decision," the official added.
	Launched in 1992, leftist daily Ozgur Gundem has been the subject of court closures and raids in the past and its journalists have been arrested. It was ...

Turkey court shuts down pro-Kurdish newspaper: state media

A Bulgarian court ordered today that the brother-in-law of one of the men who attacked French magazine Charlie Hebdo be extradited to France after he was caught allegedly trying to join Islamic State fighters in Syria.
	Mourad Hamyd, 20, whose sister was married to Charlie Hebdo gunman Cherif Kouachi, was barred from entering Turkey late last month and handed over to Bulgaria's border authorities.
	On January 7 2015, the Al-Qaeda-linked Kouachi brothers killed 12 people at the headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris.
	France requested Hamyd's extradition on July 29, accusing him of "conspiring to prepare of acts of terrorism".
	The route taken by Hamyd -- by train through Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria -- "corresponds to the one traditionally taken by jihadist fighters wanting to join the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq," French prosecutors said.
	Hamyd denied the accusations on Monday, saying he never wanted to go to Syria, denying any links to the Islamic ..

Bulgaria approves extradition of Charlie Hebdo killer relative

The city of New York has agreed to pay more than USD 4 million to the family of an unarmed black father of one, who was shot dead by a police officer.
	Akai Gurley, 28, was shot in a darkened stairwell of a public housing building in November 2014 after taking the stairs when the elevator took too long to arrive in the poorly maintained apartment block.
	He was killed by a police bullet that ricocheted off the wall.
	Gurley's death, as with those of other unarmed black men at the hands of police, sparked nationwide protests and debate about police tactics and allegations of institutional racism.
	The total settlement comes to more than USD 4.5 million, with USD 4.1 million payable by the city, USD 400,000 by the housing authority and USD 25,000 by the officer who shot Gurley, a lawyer for the family told AFP.
	Peter Liang, who had been on the force just months, was found guilty of manslaughter by jury in February and sacked from the police.
	In April, a judge downgraded his conviction 

New York settles more than USD 4mn in death of black man

England fast bowler Steven Finn is set to be out of action for at least a month after suffering a hamstring injury, it was announced today.
     The Middlesex quick suffered the left hamstring tear just two balls into his second-innings spell against Pakistan in the fourth Test at The Oval on Sunday and has been let out of England's squad for the upcoming five-match one-day international series.
     Finn, 27, is not expected to play international cricket again this season.
     But the 6ft 7in veteran of 35 Tests and 65 ODIs, is aiming to be involved in County Championship action in September.
     "Middlesex and England bowler Steven Finn has sustained a left hamstring tear," said an England and Wales Cricket Board statement issued Tuesday.
     "He is anticipated to be available in approximately four weeks.
     "The 27-year-old will start a rehabilitation programme with Middlesex and England, and is aiming to play a part in Middlesex's Championship campaign in September.

England's Finn out for a month

A gritty century from Kaushal Silva gave Sri Lanka a commanding 288-run second innings lead today, dimming Australia's hopes of a consolation win in the third and final Test in Colombo.
     Sri Lanka, who are pushing for a rare series whitewash after winning the first two Tests, were 312 for eight at stumps on the fourth day at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
     First innings centurion Dhananjaya de Silva was unbeaten on 44 with Suranga Lakmal yet to get off the mark at close of play.
     But the day belonged to Silva, who batted with six stitches on the webbing of his little finger after injuring himself while fielding on Monday to make a composed 115.
     The 30-year-old, mixing dogged defence and controlled aggression, put together a crucial 90-run partnership with first innings centurion Dinesh Chandimal to thwart the Australian attack.
     Silva, who regularly received treatment for his injured left finger during breaks, reached his century with a boundary off Adam Voges as he ..

Silva ton dims Aussie hopes of win in Colombo

Two workers were killed and three injured by an ammonia leak today at a Malaysian chemical plant, the company said.
	"Five contractors were affected. The company however regrets to inform that two fatalities have been reported," Petronas Chemicals Group said in a statement.
	The firm is a unit of state energy group Petronas. The leak happened at its plant in the eastern state of Sabah.
	Petronas Chemicals produces a range of petrochemical products including olefins, polymers and fertilisers.
	The company said the leak had been contained and authorities are investigating the cause.
	Petronas is Malaysia's only Fortune 500 firm and the single largest source of government revenue and of national export earnings.

Two killed by ammonia leak at Malaysian chemical plant

Scoreboard at stumps on the fourth
day of the third and final Test between Sri Lanka and Australia in Colombo today:
     Sri Lanka 1st innings 355 (D. Chandimal 132, D. De Silva 129; M. Starc 5-63, N. Lyon 3-110)
     Australia 1st innings 379 (S. Marsh 130, S. Smith 119; R. Herath 6-81)
     Sri Lanka 2nd innings
     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                    44
     R. Herath c Smith b Lyon                5
     S. Lakmal not out                       0
     Extras (B-4, LB-3)                      7
     Total (For 8 wickets in 95 overs)      312
     Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-44, 3-69, 4-98, 5-156, 6-246, 7-276, 8-297.
     Bowling: Starc 17-4-58-2, Lyon ...

Colombo, Aug 16 (AFP) Scoreboard at stumps on the fourth

China's central government has approved plans to link trading between the Shenzhen stock exchange and the Hong Kong market, it said today, paving the way for the long-awaited reform.
	China launched a landmark "stock connect" between the bourses of Shanghai and its special administrative region of Hong Kong in late 2014, opening up its closeted share market to the outside world and giving foreign investors access to Chinese companies not quoted elsewhere.
	Mainland China's second stock exchange, in the southern city of Shenzhen, was due to follow last year, but the launch was delayed by a market rout.
	The powerful State Council -- or cabinet -- has given its high-level blessing to the scheme, it said in a statement on its website today.
	"The State Council has approved the implementation proposal for the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Connect," Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as telling a meeting of the body.
	He added preparation work was "basically completed" but gave no date for the ...

China approves trading link for Shenzhen, HK stocks

Air raids on two rebel-held districts of Syria's battleground second city Aleppo today killed 19 civilians, including three children, a monitoring group said.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes were carried out by either Russian or regime aircraft and that dozens of people were also wounded, some of them critically, in Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur neighbourhoods.
	An AFP correspondent in eastern districts of Aleppo said there were heavy air strikes throughout Monday night and into the day today on both those districts.
	The Britain-based Observatory also said that 12 rebels were killed in Russian air strikes Tuesday targeting a convoy of anti-regime fighters on the city's southern outskirts.
	The monitoring group's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the convoy was travelling into Aleppo via the Ramussa road, the access route rebels opened in early August into parts of the city they control.
	That road has been used to bring in vegetables, gasoline and other goods into .

Raids on Syria's rebel east Aleppo kill 19 civilians: monitor

A safari park employee in Japan died today after being attacked by a bear which had somehow climbed into her car, local officials and police said.
	An Asian black bear was seen climbing into a small vehicle at the Gunma Safari Park, northwest of Tokyo, and attacking park employee Kiyomi Saito inside the car, a local police spokesman said.
	Saito, 46, suffered injuries to the left side of her chest and stomach and was rushed to hospital where she was later confirmed dead, the spokesman said.
	"The details are not yet known, including how the bear got inside the car," he told AFP, adding the animal was a five-year-old male and weighing 160 kilogrammes.
	The safari park was "under police investigation and no details can be confirmed at this point," said Yusuke Yamazaki, a park employee.
	A series of wild bear attacks terrified Japan earlier this year, with four people being killed in the northern part of the country in separate incidents in the wild in May and June.
	In 2012, an unknown .

AFP

AFP

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