US oil prices surged more than 10 per cent today, climbing back above USD 40 a barrel after strong American economic growth data lifted confidence about the world's biggest economy and petroleum user.
	US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in October jumped USD 3.96 to USD 42.56 a barrel, up 10.3 per cent from yesterday's close.
	US prices have been at or near six-and-a-half year lows all week, with WTI closing below USD 40 on Monday for the first time since 2009 and staying there through yesterday.
	The rally came after the Commerce Department reported the US economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.7 per cent in the second quarter, much above the initial appraisal of a 2.3 per cent gain.
	The more robust April-June growth mainly reflected higher investment, state and local government spending, and consumer spending than was reported in the initial estimate.
	The data is "really waking people up over the fact that we're a growing country and demand is going to get better ..

US oil jumps more than 10% to USD 42.56 a barrel

PTI Automatic

Saudi King Salman will meet with President Barack Obama early next month during his first visit to the United States since acceding the throne, the White House said today.
	"The president will host the king of Saudi Arabia at the White House on Friday, September 4th," Obama's spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One.
	"The president and the king will discuss a range of issues and focus on ways to further strengthen the bilateral relationship, including counter-terrorism efforts," Earnest said, adding that regional matters such as the conflicts in Yemen and Syria were also on the agenda.
	"This visit underscores the importance of the strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia," Earnest said.
	The monarch, who acceded to the throne following the death of his half-brother Abdullah in January, pulled out of a Gulf leaders' summit with Obama in May that had been intended to reassure countries concerned by Iran's growing influence in the region.
	His .

Saudi king to visit White House in September

The United States will be isolated on the world stage and its influence diminished if Congress rejects the Iran nuclear deal, the US ambassador to the United Nations has warned.
	In an editorial published by Politico, Samantha Power argued that a "no" vote from Congress would make it more difficult for the United States to drum up support for sanctions and partner with like-minded countries to confront crises.
	"If the United States rejects this deal, we would instantly isolate ourselves from countries that spent nearly two years working with American negotiators to hammer out its toughest provisions," Power wrote in a piece posted late Wednesday.
	"We would go from a situation in which Iran is isolated to one in which the United States is isolated."
	The US Congress is due to vote next month on whether to endorse the deal reached in July between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
	The agreement would lift crippling UN sanctions 

US will be isolated if it rejects Iran deal: UN envoy

The Palestinians today asked the United Nations to allow their flag to be raised at the world body ahead of next month's meeting of heads of state.
	The move comes as the Palestinians seek to bolster their bid for statehood despite fierce opposition from Israel.
	A draft resolution was presented to the General Assembly requesting that the flags of the state of Palestine and the Holy See be hoisted alongside those of the 193 member states.
	The Vatican and the Palestinians both have non-member observer status at the United Nations.
	The resolution, co-sponsored by 21 countries including Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, could come up for a vote before September 15.
	The Israeli mission to the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment.
	The General Assembly upgraded the status of the Palestinians to that of non-member observer state in 2012.
	Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are among the world leaders who will travel ..

Palestinians want their flag raised at UN

Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels today reported the death of eight people in fresh clashes that endanger nascent talks on a new truce agreement for the war-torn separatist east.
	Government spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said seven Ukrainian servicemen had been killed and 13 injured in fighting that centred mostly around the pro-Russian republic of Donetsk.
	"For the first time in several days, the enemy has resumed using artillery rockets," Motuzyanyk told reporters in Kiev.
	The military command of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said a Ukrainian sniper had killed one woman and shelling injured another 12 people overnight.
	An upsurge in violence that broke out in mid-August and killed at least 20 people has renewed fears of full-scale warfare returning to the edge of the European Union's unstable eastern front.
	German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande -- co-sponsors of increasingly-ineffective six-month-old armistice -- reaffirmed support .

Ukraine clashes kill 8, hurting push for new truce

Syria has agreed to grant visas to 47 UN staff members following months of haggling that have undermined UN relief efforts in the war-torn country, the UN aid chief said today.
	Stephen O'Brien, the under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told the Security Council today that the Syrian mission to the United Nations had informed him of the decision to allow the UN staff in the country.
	"I have just this minute received news from the Syrian mission that the 47 pending visas for the United Nations are going to be granted," O'Brien said.
	He had asked the Syrian government to approve the visa requests during his visit to Damascus earlier this month.
	O'Brien also said Damascus was taking less time to approve deliveries of humanitarian supplies after repeated complaints from the United Nations over the lack of cooperation.
	The visa decision stood out as a positive development in an otherwise grim humanitarian crisis in Syria.
	O'Brien said violence has escalated in Syria over ..

Syria approves visas for UN staff

Nikolaus Lehnhoff, one of Germany's leading opera directors, has died at the age of 76, the German news agency DPA reported today.
	Lehnhoff died on Saturday after a long illness, DPA said, quoting his family.
	The Hanover-born theatre director's most recent stagings were Puccini's "Turandot" at the world-famous La Scala in Milan in May and Francis Poulenc's "Dialogues des Carmelites" in Hamburg.
	He made his directing debut with Richard Strauss's "Die Frau ohne Schatten" in Paris in 1972 and has worked at all of the world's leading opera houses, including Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Munich, New York and Zurich.
	A former assistant to Richard Wagner's grandson, Wieland Wagner, at the legendary Bayreuth Festival in Germany, Lehnhoff also worked at the prestigious Salzburg Festival in Austria and at the Glyndebourne opera festival in Britain.
	Lehnhoff was known and respected for swish, elegant, but always thought-provoking stagings that avoided some of the provocative excesses of some ..

German opera director Nikolaus Lehnhoff dead at 76: report

Australia openers David Warner (84) and Joe Burns (69) both made runs in a total before Ireland fought back in the lone one-day international here today to hold the world champions to 222 for six in 40.2 overs.
     Rain brought Australia's innings to a premature close in what was their first match at this level since beating New Zealand in the World Cup final in Melbourne in March.
     There was, as yet no decision on the length of the Ireland innings, with an inspection due at 5:00pm local time (1600 GMT), but it promised to be an even contest after a superb comeback by the leading non-Test nation who were forced to go into the game without big-hitting Kevin O'Brien, because of a hamstring injury.
	Australia, with Steven Smith leading the team for the first time in his new role as captain, following the retirement of Michael Clarke, chose to bat on a good pitch and Burns, on his ODI debut, and Warner justified his decision.
	They put on 139 for the first wicket, with both batsman ..

Burns and Warner in the runs before rain halts

Deaths from the MERS coronavirus have surged in Saudi Arabia ahead of the hajj pilgrimage, with 19 fatalities recorded in a week, according to health ministry statistics.
	A total of 502 people have died in the kingdom since the virus first appeared in 2012, according to updated figures posted on the ministry's website, including 19, all Saudis, since last Thursday.
	The number of MERS infections has also surged to 1,171 cases, the website said.
	A surge in infections forced health authorities to shut the emergency  ward at a main hospital in Riyadh last week, after at least 46 people, including medical staff, contracted the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
	Saudi Arabia, preparing to host more than two million Muslims from all over the world next month for the annual hajj to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, is the country worst hit by the coronavirus.
	MERS is considered a deadlier but less infectious cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus that ...

MERS virus kills 19 in week in Saudi: ministry

Saudi Arabia today executed a Pakistani man convicted of smuggling drugs into the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry said.
	It brought to 128 the number of executions so far this year in Saudi Arabia, compared with 87 for the whole of 2014, according to AFP tallies compiled from interior ministry statements.
	Zulfiqar Ali Mohammed was caught while attempting to smuggle heroin found hidden in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.
	Most people sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded, but sometimes firing squads are used.
	Amnesty International on Tuesday appealed for a moratorium on executions in Saudi Arabia, criticising the kingdom's "deeply flawed judicial system".
	Under Saudi Arabia's strict legal practices, murder, armed robbery, rape, drug trafficking and apostasy are all punishable by death.
	Amnesty says Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most prolific executioners, along with China, Iran, Iraq and the United ...

Saudi executes Pakistani for drug trafficking

Iran's most expensive ever movie, "Muhammad", which chronicles the childhood of the Muslim prophet, opened nationwide today, winning praise from early audiences.
	Directed by Majid Majidi, the 171-minute, visually stunning film cost around USD 40 million, partly funded by the state, and took more than seven years to complete.
	The crew of "Muhammad" included three-time Oscar-winning Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, with the score devised by India's Allah Rakha Rahman, a double Academy Award winner for the Danny Boyle-directed blockbuster "Slumdog Millionaire."
	Majidi has said the aim of his work, the first part of a trilogy, is to reclaim the rightful image of Islam, which he said extremists have wrongly made violent.
	"Muhammad," which captures Saudi Arabia more than 1,400 years ago, offers much more than stereotypical trains of Arabs on camels riding across yellow sand dunes.
	It takes us from the miraculous birth of the future prophet up to his teenage years, and is ...

Iran premieres top-budget epic film 'Muhammad'

An Australian surfer has died after being smashed onto rocks by heavy waves off Indonesia's Sumatra island, police said today.
	Ronald Stephen Schneider was surfing with friends Tuesday at the Mentawai islands, a world famous surf spot off Sumatra's west coast, when he fell from his board onto a shallow reef. He was 54, local media reported.
	Mentawai police chief Reko Indro Sasongko said Schneider's friends became worried when he did not return to their boat, and they went searching for him in a rubber dinghy.
	"They found his board no longer attached to his leg, and not too far from there they found his body," Sasongko told AFP.
	He said Schneider had been smashed by heavy surf onto rocks and was bleeding from his head and torso.
	His body was taken back to the city of Padang on the Sumatran mainland where preparations were being made for a return to Australia, he added.
	The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it was providing consular assistance to the family of an ..

Australian man dies surfing in Indonesia: police

Facebook today accepted an invitation from Germany's justice minister to discuss doing more to purge the social network of racist posts after widespread complaints from users.
	In a letter to Facebook's European subsidiaries, Justice Minister Heiko Maas suggested a meeting with company executives on September 14 to talk about "improving the effectiveness and transparency of your community standards".
	Facebook's German unit agreed to meet Maas, saying in an email sent to AFP it "takes his concerns very seriously".
	"We are very interested in an exchange of views with Minister Maas about what society, companies and politicians can do together against xenophobia spreading in Germany," the email said.
	The Internet giant "works hard every day to protect people on Facebook against abuse, hate speech and bullying", the company spokesman said.
	"Racism has no place on Facebook."
	As Germany faces a record influx of refugees and a backlash from the far right, social media like Facebook have .

Facebook to meet German government on Internet hate-mongering

Greece today named its top judge as caretaker prime minister to organise early elections expected next month, the fifth in the crisis-hit country in six years.
	President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said he had chosen Vassiliki Thanou, the head of Greece's Supreme Court and the first woman to assume the post.
	Mother-of-three Thanou, 65, is known for firing off an emotional letter to European Commission chairman Jean-Claude Juncker in February, protesting that austerity cuts were "annihilating" the Greek people.
	"The people are not responsible for the waste of public money by past governments and for mistakes in tax policy," she wrote, adding that the austerity measures "have failed as the recession continues as the rich continue to evade taxes".
	Thanou, who holds a degree in European law from France's Sorbonne university, will take her oath of office later Thursday and her administration will be sworn in tomorrow, the president's office said.
	The date for Greece's general election is to .

Greece names top judge as caretaker PM ahead of snap vote

Billionaire Donald Trump extended his lead yet again atop the Republican presidential field, with front-running Democrat Hillary Clinton slipping and Vice President Joe Biden faring better than her against Republicans, poll results revealed today.
	Trump, the combative real estate mogul, leads the 16 other Republican candidates with 28 per cent support among registered voters nationwide, up from 20 per cent in a similar July 30 survey by Quinnipiac University.
	Today's lead marks the widest margin for any Republican so far in the election cycle, the survey said.
	Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson placed a distant second with 12 percent, followed by former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Marco Rubio, each with seven percent.
	Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was next with six per cent, and Ohio Governor John Kasich and businesswoman Carly Fiorina each registered five per cent.
	"Other GOP hopefuls seem to disappear. Trump proves you don't have to be loved to be the 

Trump lead grows, Clinton slips: poll

Authorities in Nigeria's financial capital Lagos have shut down churches across the city after a glut of complaints over noisy worship.
	The chaotic megacity's environmental protection department said it had sealed off 22 premises yesterday after receiving dozens of calls a day, according to local newspaper reports.
	Neighbours of one church - Jesus Our Lord Divine Catholic Prayer Ministry - said they were constantly disturbed by a congregation of mainly pregnant women, young mothers and their children.
	"On my phone alone, I get 20 SMS on a daily basis," said Adebola Shabi, head of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, according to the national daily New Telegraph.
	"In the next five years, if there is no stringent policy on the siting of religious houses, there will be problem."
	Constant noise - from the the thumping beats of loud music, the beep of car horns and the noise of generator engines - is the soundtrack to Lagos life and is seen by many as part of its ...

Nigeria shuts down churches over noisy worship

The Philippines has asked the US to provide military "assistance" in resupplying and rotating Manila's forces in the South China Sea because they face harassment from regional power China, a military spokesman said today.
	The request was made the previous day by Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in a meeting with Admiral Harry Harris, head of US Pacific Command, according to Colonel Restituto Padilla.
	"It was a specific request on the part of the secretary of national defence to Admiral Harris to get their assistance in... Resupplying and rotating troops," Padilla told AFP.
	"They just took our requests and the details still have to be discussed," Padilla said, adding that the American officer made no commitment.
	Padilla said the request pertained in particular to the "West Philippine Sea", Manila's term for the South China Sea.
	Harris, who oversees American forces across Asia, met yesterday with Philippine President Benigno Aquino. Today, he visited the Philippine ...

Philippines seeks US 'assistance' in South China Sea

Wall Street stocks rose early today as strong US growth data helped to extend a global rally led by big gains in Chinese markets.
	About 40 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 176.91 points (1.09 per cent) at 16,462.42.
	The broad-based S&P 500 gained 23.76 (1.22 per cent) at 1,964.27, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 61.83 (1.32 per cent) to 4,759.37.
	The gains in the US extended yesterday's big rally, which snapped a six-day losing streak.
	Earlier today, the Shanghai market, whose plummet unleashed the global sell-off of the last 10 days, soared 5.34 per cent. Exchanges in London, Frankfurt and Paris were up around three per cent.
	The rally was given further support by US data showing the economy grew at an annual rate of 3.7 per cent in the second quarter, much higher than the 2.3 per cent initially estimated.
	All 30 members of the Dow rose, with oil producers Chevron (+2.9 per cent) and ExxonMobil (+2.2 per cent) among the bigger ...

US stocks jump on US growth data, extending global rally

The former television reporter who shot dead two journalists during a live US broadcast before killing himself warned he had been a "human powder keg... Just waiting to go BOOM."
	The gunman -- Vester Lee Flanagan, 41, also known as Bryce Williams -- posted chilling footage of yesterday's shocking double murder online.
	Reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were shot and killed at close range while conducting an on-air interview for WDBJ, a CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia, about 385 kilometres southwest of Washington.
	Friends, family and the community at large mourned the tragedy, which renewed calls for tougher gun laws in the United States. Flanagan was said to have bought his gun legally.
	The killing also raised questions about how the Internet provided a brief but unfiltered window on a horrific crime.
	WDBJ's morning newscast today held a moment of silence 24 hours to the minute after Parker and Ward were killed.
	"We will, over time, heal from this," said 

US TV gunman warned he was 'human powder keg'

The final report into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over war-torn eastern Ukraine last year will be released in October 13, Dutch investigators said today.
	"The Dutch Safety Board (OVV) informed relatives and the accredited representatives to the investigation that the board will publish the final report on the investigation into flight MH17 on 13 October 2015," the board said in a statement.
	"Prior to the official publication of the report, the relatives will be informed about the conclusions of the investigation during a closed information meeting," the OVV added.
	The passenger jet was shot down over Ukraine on July 17 last year, during heavy fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists. All 298 people onboard -- mainly Dutch -- were killed.
	The Netherlands has been leading teams of international investigators to retrieve body parts, probe the cause of the incident and eventually prosecute those responsible.
	The OVV is charged with looking into .

Final MH17 report due October 13: Dutch investigators

The US economy grew much stronger than first estimated in the second quarter, at an annual rate of 3.7 per cent, the Commerce Department reported today.
	The number for gross domestic product was initially reported at 2.3 per cent on July 30.
	The sharp upward revision was mainly due to higher investment, state and local government spending, and consumer spending than was reported in the first estimate, the department said.
	The GDP report widely topped analysts' consensus estimate of a pick-up in the world's largest economy to a 3.1 percent pace following a tepid first three months of 2015.
	In the first quarter, the economy grew only 0.6 percent under pressure from severe winter weather and West Coast port strikes.

AFP

AFP

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