Saudi soldiers on the front lines of the war in Yemen are getting a month's extra salary from King Salman, official media said.
	The handout comes after an escalation of the 17-month-old war following the suspension of peace talks between Yemeni rebels and the internationally recognised government.
	King Salman "has ordered paying a month's salary to active participants at the front lines" of the Yemen operation, which began in March last year, the Saudi Press Agency reported late yesterday.
	"The order covers employees of the ministries of interior, defence, and the National Guard," it said, without giving the total cost of the bonus.
	It comes as the kingdom battles a projected USD 87-billion deficit in 2016 after oil revenues collapsed by more than half over the past two years.
	In April, Saudi Arabia announced its wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan to diversify the oil-dependent economy.
	Dozens of Saudi troops have died along the border or on the Yemeni battlefield since the kingdom ..

Saudi soldiers get Yemen war bonus from king

PTI Automatic

South Korea's president today defended the proposed deployment of a US anti-missile system as an act of self-defence against North Korea, as hundreds of residents shaved their heads in protest at the plan.
	Tensions have been running high on the divided Korean peninsula since the North carried out its fourth nuclear test in January and followed up with a series of missile tests.
	South Korea responded last month by announcing deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system - a move which sparked domestic protests as well as complaints from China.
	"I urge the North Korean government to immediately stop all provocations and threats targeting South Korea as well as the development of weapons of mass destruction," said President Park Geun-Hye in a televised Liberation Day speech.
	Her comments came as both Koreas celebrated the anniversary of the peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.
	Stressing that "true liberation" would involve ...

S Korea's Park defends missile shield as residents shave heads

Fresh explosions rocked Thailand's deep south seriously wounding one soldier today, days after a spate of bomb and arson attacks struck multiple tourist resort towns.
	Last week's attacks have heightened concerns Thailand's long-running but local southern Islamist insurgency may have spread after years of stalled peace talks - a suggestion the kingdom's junta has been keen to deny.
	A string of overnight attacks have highlighted how the insurgency continues to rage in the three Muslim majority provinces bordering Malaysia.
	"One soldier was seriously injured from a bomb buried under the road" on Monday morning, Police Captain Wiroge Boonkae, from Bacho police station in southern Narathiwat province, told AFP.
	Police said a further three blasts struck neighbouring Yala province, though no injuries were reported.
	The area, which was annexed a century ago by Thailand, has been battered by 12 years of violence between the Buddhist-majority state and shadowy Muslim rebels seeking greater 

Thailand's deep south hit by fresh blasts

The editor-in-chief of Turkey's top opposition daily Cumhuriyet announced today he was stepping down, saying he no longer had faith in the judiciary after the failed coup.
	An Istanbul court had in May sentenced Can Dundar to five years and 10 months in prison for allegedly revealing state secrets in a story that infuriated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
	Dundar was allowed to go free pending appeal after the trial and is now believed to be in Germany. But he said he would not surrender to the judiciary as the state of emergency imposed after the coup meant he would not get a fair hearing.
	He said all the signs indicated a period of "lawlessness" was under way, and that the state of emergency was being used by the government as a pretext to arbitrarily control the judiciary.
	"To trust such a judiciary would be like putting one's head under the guillotine," he wrote in a Cumhuriyet column entitled "time to say farewell".
	"From now on, what we face would not be the court but 

Convicted Turkish editor steps down after coup

Iraq's parliament today approved five new ministers after months of delay and repeated setbacks to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's efforts to replace the cabinet, the speaker's office said.
	Lawmakers signed off on Abadi's nominees to head the ministries of oil, transport, higher education, housing and construction, and water resources, but rejected the nominee for trade minister.
	Four of the five ministers were the same as had been approved by lawmakers earlier in the year at a session that was later scrapped by a court ruling that dealt a blow to Abadi.
	The premier announced his intention to introduce technocratic ministers into the cabinet in February, but faced significant opposition from powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds.
	Sessions on the cabinet issue were repeatedly overshadowed by antics in parliament, including a sit-in by MPs, verbal and physical altercations, and a vote to sack the speaker that resulted in two rival claimants to .

Iraq MPs approve five new ministers after long delay

A mayor on the French island of Corsica today became the third nationwide to announce a ban on burqinis, after the full-body Islamic swimsuit allegedly sparked violent clashes.
	The Riviera resorts of Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet have also banned the garment from their beaches in recent weeks, at a highly sensitive time for relations with France's Muslim community following a series of jihadist attacks.
	The new ban in the Corsican village of Sisco comes after a massive brawl on Saturday between locals and families of North African origin.
	It is not entirely clear how the fight broke out, but one witness said it happened after tourists took pictures of women swimming in burqinis on the Mediterranean island.
	Five people were injured and three cars were burned as the rival sides hurled stones and bottles. A hundred police officers were mobilised to break up the fight.
	Prosecutors in nearby Bastia said an inquiry had been opened to determine how the clashes broke out.
	Sisco mayor ...

Third French burqini ban after Corsica clashes

A South African court today handed down a 10-year prison term to a woman who kidnapped a newborn baby and raised her for 17 years before an astonishing coincidence reunited the girl with her biological family, media reported.
	The kidnapping victim, who named by her birth family as Zephany Nurse, was taken from her sleeping mother at a maternity ward at Groote Schuur Hospital in 1997.
	Her kidnapper, now 52, raised her as her own.
	The girl's real identity only came to light in February 2015, when her younger biological sister began attending high school and pupils pointed out her remarkable likeness to a final-year student.
	The younger girl told her parents, who met the older girl and immediately thought she could be their long-lost child.
	The Nurse family had been living within a couple of kilometres of their kidnapped daughter, while celebrating her birthday every year and never giving up hope of finding her.
	DNA tests confirmed that the girl was indeed the family's long lost ...

S African woman jailed for newborn baby kidnapping 19 yrs ago

Sri Lankan police opened an investigation today into the sudden death of a top judge who became the first supreme court justice to face prosecution for sexually assaulting several women.
	Justice Sarath de Abrew, who had resigned late last year, was found dead in front of his two-storey house in the Colombo suburb of Mount Lavinia, police said.
	"The initial report was that he had fallen from the first floor of his house and was pronounced dead on admission to hospital," a local police official told AFP.
	The officer said forensic experts were due to visit the scene, which was cordoned off.
	De Abrew had been on bail since he was arrested in July last year for allegedly trying to force a 39-year-old woman to have sex with him and beating her up when she refused.
	There had been several other allegations that he had also sexually abused minors, including one of his own relatives.
	He was forced to resign after the influential Bar Association of Sri Lanka urged the chief justice not to .

Sri Lanka probes death of disgraced top judge

Scoreboard at tea on the third day
of the third and final Test between Sri Lanka and Australia in Colombo on Monday:
     Sri Lanka 1st Innings 355
     Australia 1st Innings (overnight: 141-1)
     D. Warner c Kusal Perera b De Silva    11
     S. Marsh b Lakmal                     130
     S. Smith st Kusal Perera b Herath     119
     A. Voges not out                       22
     M. Henriques st Kusal Perera b Herath   4
     M. Marsh not out                       17
     Extras (b4, lb9)                       13
     Total (4 wickets, 103 overs)          316
     Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Warner), 2-267 (Marsh), 3-275 (Smith), 4-283 (Henriques)
     Bowling: Perera 35-4-107-0, De Silva 7-0-27-1, Herath 31-8-66-2, Sandakan 17-0-60-0, Lakmal 9-0-38-1, Mathews 4-1-5-0.

Colombo, Aug 15 (AFP) Scoreboard at tea on the third day

Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath struck twice in the afternoon session to check Australia's first innings fightback as the visitors reached 316 for four at tea on the third day of the final Test in Colombo.
     Australia had appeared on course for a big first innings lead after a 246-run partnership between centurions Steven Smith and Shaun Marsh, but the loss of both batsmen in quick succession dented their prospects.
     Adam Voges was batting on 22 while Mitchell Marsh was on 17 at the break with the visitors still trailing the hosts by 39 runs in response to Sri Lanka's 355.
     Suranga Lakmal struck with the second new ball, which was taken by Sri Lanka in the 81st over, to get the wicket of Marsh and break the dangerous partnership.
     Marsh, who had hit his 19th boundary off the previous delivery, was bowled on 130 after he chopped Lakmal's good length delivery onto his stumps.
     Smith, who hit 10 fours and a six during his 119-run knock, departed after being stumped ..

Herath dents Aussie surge with double strike

Protesters threw rocks and fired shots in a second night of violence in a tense neighborhood of Milwaukee following the deadly police shooting of an armed black man.
	Police dressed in riot gear moved in on the Sherman Park neighborhood around 11:00 PM yesterday (0930 IST today) to disperse an angry crowd and restore order.
	Several police officers have been targeted and shot dead across the nation in recent weeks - including five in Dallas - following an outcry over the deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of police.
	In Milwaukee, in the Midwest state of Wisconsin, officers at one point used an armored vehicle to rescue a shooting victim and rush the person to hospital.
	A police officer was taken to hospital to be treated for an injury after protesters threw a rock that broke the windshield of a squad car.
	An unspecified "projectile" was thrown at another officer, who was protected by a helmet.
	One squad car was damaged by thrown bricks, rocks and glass ...

2nd night of violence in Milwaukee after police shooting

Indonesian airlines have been cleared to fly to the US after regulators there scrapped a nearly decade-long ban imposed for safety reasons, an official said today.
	US transport officials said in a letter Indonesia's aviation sector had met international standards and its safety rating had accordingly been upgraded.
	"Today all Indonesian airlines can fly to the United States," director general of civil aviation, Suprasetyo, told reporters.
	"This will have a very positive impact on our aviation sector and public trust."
	Indonesian carriers were banned from flying to the US in 2007 after the Federal Aviation Administration downgraded their safety rating.
	The European Union also imposed restrictions the same year although these have since been lifted. A few airlines, including Garuda and the Indonesian branch of Malaysia-based AirAsia, now fly to Europe.
	The restrictions followed a series of accidents including fatal crashes by state-owned Garuda.
	Crashes have continued since 2007, 

Indonesia airlines cleared to fly to US

A Japanese man was arrested for allegedly stiffing a taxi driver after having promised to pay when embarking on an 850-kilometre journey, police said today.
	Takafumi Arima, 26 and jobless, climbed into the cab in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, late Saturday and told the driver to go to Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku in southwestern Japan, a Matsuyama police officer told AFP.
	Arima had allegedly said he would pay the fare upon arrival and the driver believed him, the officer added.
	But after driving overnight for more than nine hours, the fare meter came to 270,000 yen (USD 2,600) and Arima confessed that he had no money, the officer said.
	"The driver then called police, which led to Arima's arrest," the officer said, adding his motive of the road trip was unknown and was to be investigated.

Japan man arrested over unpaid taxi fare for 850km trip

A magnitude 5.6 undersea earthquake struck Japan today off the coast of Fukushima prefecture, though there were no immediate reports of damages.
	The quake struck at about 4:00 PM (1230 IST) at a depth of some 28 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.
	There was no threat of a tsunami from the quake, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
	The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, battered by a massive 2011 earthquake-generated tsunami and now undergoing decommissioning, has shown no irregularities in radiation levels, a spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power told AFP.
	Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences a number of relatively violent quakes every year, but rigid building codes and their strict enforcement mean even strong tremors often do little damage.
	But the massive undersea quake that hit in March 2011 sent a tsunami barrelling into Japan's northeast coast, leaving more than 18,000 people dead or missing, and sending three ...

Magnitude 5.6 quake hits off northern Japan

Scoreboard at lunch on the third
day of the third and final Test between Sri Lanka and Australia in Colombo on Monday:
     Sri Lanka 1st Innings 355
     Australia 1st Innings (overnight: 141-1)
     S. Marsh 64 not out, S. Smith 61 not out)
     D. Warner c Kusal Perera b De Silva   11
     S. Marsh not out                     104
     S. Smith not out                     110
     Extras (b4, lb6)                      10
     Total (1 wicket, 73 overs)           235
     Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Warner)
     Bowling: Perera 28-3-88-0, De Silva 5-0-20-1, Herath 22-3-48-0, Sandakan 10-0-43-0, Lakmal 6-0-25-0, Mathews 2-1-1-0.

Colombo, Aug 15 (AFP) Scoreboard at lunch on the third

Swimmer Joseph Schooling got a rapturous welcome, a selfie with the prime minister and a four-year exemption from military service when he came home in triumph early Monday with Singapore's first Olympic gold medal.
	   "Joseph, I love you!" a fan screamed as he emerged into the arrivals hall wearing his gold medal and a red jacket.
	   Some 500 people turned up before dawn to welcome Schooling, who set an Olympic record of 50.39sec when he beat his boyhood idol Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history, in the men's 100m butterfly final in Rio at the weekend.
	   The 21-year-old also won a four-year exemption from compulsory military service so he can prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Games where he is expected to peak.
	   Schooling already had a three-year deferment ending after Rio 2016, but his sensational performance made another extension a formality.
	   Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen announced he need not perform military service until after Tokyo 2020, wising him ...

Rousing welcome for Singapore star Schooling

Turkish police today raided three major courts in Istanbul in search of more than 170 suspects wanted over last month's attempted coup, reports said.
	Police began searches of the city's main Caglayan court and courts in the districts of Gaziosmanpasa and Bakirkoy with arrest warrants for 173 prosecutors and other judicial staff working there, the Dogan news agency said.
	The accused are suspected of links to the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen who Ankara blames for the June 15 failed putsch against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
	It was not clear how many suspects had been detained in the raids.
	According to official figures, more than 35,000 people have been detained so far in the post-coup crackdown against alleged Gulen supporters, although 11,597 of these have since been released.
	Erdogan has said the purge is needed to wipe out what he calls the "virus" of Gulen from Turkish institutions. But critics have expressed alarm that its sheer scope has turned it into a ...

Istanbul police raid courts for coup suspects: report

Usain Bolt stormed past his rivals to claim a historic third straight Olympic 100 metres title and declared himself confident of becoming an "immortal" by the end of the Rio Games.
	   Hot on the heels of a sensational 400m world record by South African Wayde van Niekerk, the Jamaican surged past American rival Justin Gatlin to take the most prized Olympic gold in 9.81sec.
	   With one title in the bag, Bolt celebrated and turned his attention to completing the 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold medal sweep at three consecutive Olympics.
	   "Somebody said I can become immortal. Two more medals to go and I can sign off. Immortal," said Bolt who has said this will be his last Olympics.
	   Bolt said he had been "shocked" at booing directed at Gatlin, who has twiced been banned for doping, but insisted he had focused on the victory that left him out alone in the 120-year history of Olympic sprinting.
	   - Track massacre -
	   ==================
	   Although way short of his 9.58sec world ...

Bolt triumphs and targets Olympic immortality

Unbeaten centuries from Shaun Marsh and skipper Steven Smith powered Australia to 235 for one at lunch against Sri Lanka on the third day of the final Test in Colombo on Monday.
	   Smith and Marsh put together an unbroken 214-run partnership for the second wicket to strengthen Australia's first innings reply against Sri Lanka's 355. The visitors still trailed the hosts by 120 runs.
	   The left-handed Marsh, whose innings was laced with 16 boundaries, was on 110 while Smith, who has hit nine boundaries and a six, was on 104 at the break.
	   Marsh, who started the day on 64, recorded his fourth Test century and second in Sri Lanka.
	   The opener, who was drafted into the Australia side because of his long experience of Asian conditions, survived a dropped catch on 67 early in the morning against Rangana Herath but soon took control.
	   He brought up his hundred with an inside edge off Dilruwan Perera that went for a boundary and he celebrated the milestone by hugging his skipper at 

Marsh, Smith hundreds power Australia to 235-1

The Israeli army today destroyed the home a Palestinian near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, after he stabbed to death a 13-year-old Israeli-American girl in a settlement, a military spokeswoman said.
	Mohammed Nasser Tarayrah, 19, broke into a house in the Kiryat Arba settlement where Hallel Yaffa Ariel was sleeping and stabbed the dual national dozens of times in her bed.
	Tarayrah was killed by settlement guards after the June 30 attack.
	Israel frequently destroys the homes of Palestinians who have carried out attacks.
	Critics of the policy denounce it as a collective punishment, which leaves the families of attackers homeless, but the Israeli government says it discourages others who might be thinking about carrying out similar acts.
	Since October, 219 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have died in violence in Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jerusalem, according to an AFP tally.
	Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out ...

Israel destroys home of Palestinian who killed girl: army

Three leaders of Hong Kong's "Umbrella Revolution" avoided jail today over 2014 pro- democracy protests as a court said political tension would not sway its judgement, in a city divided by Beijing's tightening grip.
	The young campaigners -- Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, and Alex Chow -- were charged for a protest in September 2014 which saw students climb over a fence into Hong Kong's government complex, known as Civic Square.
	They were calling for fully free leadership elections for the semi-autonomous city and their arrests at the time sparked wider rallies.
	Those exploded two days later when police fired tear gas on the crowds, triggering mass demonstrations that brought parts of Hong Kong to a standstill for more than two months.
	The umbrellas protesters used to defend themselves from pepper spray and tear gas gave the movement its name.
	Tensions have remained high since the rallies ended without concessions from Beijing on political reform, splitting society into those who want ..

AFP

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