Guatemalan President Otto Perez has refused to resign, after he was accused of being a leader of the corruption scandal that has rocked his country, his spokesman said.
	With just over two weeks to go to general elections, prosecutors and officials from a UN investigative commission said yesterday that they had uncovered extensive evidence implicating Perez and ex-vice president Roxana Baldetti in a massive, highly organised scheme to reduce importers' customs duties in exchange for bribes.
	She has resigned, and was arrested Friday. Business leaders issued a call for Perez to stand down immediately.
	Presidential spokesman Jorge Ortega told AFP that Perez had not resigned.
	But several of his cabinet members - on the heels of Friday's information - gave their vote of no confidence by standing down themselves yesterday.
	Economy Minister Sergio de la Torre; Education Minister Cynthia Del Aguila; and Competitiveness Commissioner Juan Carlos Paiz, all stepped down voicing disappointment 

Guatemala's embattled president has not resigned: spokesman

PTI Automatic

Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko has released from jail six opposition leaders - considered the last political prisoners in the ex-Soviet state - less than two months before presidential polls, the presidency has announced.
	A pardon for the six was revealed in a brief statement yesterday. Among the freed opponents was Mikola Statkevich, a former presidential candidate imprisoned since 2010.
	A smiling Statkevich was given a hero's welcome by around 200 supporters at Minsk station upon his release late yesterday.
	"I will continue to do what I have always done, work for a free Belarus," he told the crowd.
	The surprise move to release the six detainees comes as Lukashenko, in power since 1994, seeks a fifth term in the October 11 election.
	"Considering humane principles, President Lukashenko has decided to pardon and allow to go free" the six opposition figures, the presidency said.
	Once dubbed by Washington as "Europe's last dictator" for his authoritarian rule, Lukashenko ...

Belarus president frees six jailed opponents before election

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has urged Venezuela to reconsider its decision to close its border in response to an attack by unidentified assailants on a military patrol.
	"If it's for security reasons, the response should not be to close the border. It rather should be to cooperate more effectively with Colombian authorities," Santos said yesterday.
	Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro however said it was good news that a meeting of the neighbors' foreign ministers had been set for Wednesday to address the row.
	The border stretch will not reopen, Maduro said, "until the attack on Venezuela's economy from inside Colombia stops."
	Maduro ordered the border closure after Wednesday's attack in the restive western state of Tachira, which borders Colombia.
	Maduro had initially closed the border for 72 hours, but on Friday he extended it indefinitely and declared a state of emergency in Tachira, a hotbed of opposition to his leftist government.
	Authorities said two assailants .

Colombia urges Venezuela to reopen border

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas resigned today as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Executive Committee in a bid to force new elections for the top body, an official said.
	Wassel Abu Yussef said that more than half of the 18-member committee had also stepped down.
	"The resignation of the president of the executive committee Mahmud Abbas and more than half of its members has created a legal vacuum, and therefore the Palestine National Council has been asked to meet in one month to elect a new executive committee," Yussef told AFP.
	Yussef added, however, that the resignations will take effect only when the PNC meets.
	The PNC, or Palestinian parliament, has 740 members who live in the Palestinian territories and in the diaspora. It has not met in nearly 20 years.
	The executive committee is the PLO's highest decision-making body and acts on behalf of Palestinians in the occupied territories and the diaspora, namely in the peace process with Israel.
	In 1993, Abbas, ..

Abbas quits PLO leadership ahead of internal election:official

Israel's former defence minister Ehud Barak has said in an interview that three Iran attack plans backed by both himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were blocked by the military.
	Barak, defence minister from 2009 to 2013 told the privately run television station Channel 2 overnight Friday that the plans were drawn up between 2009 and 2010.
	They were approved both by him and Netanyahu, but the response of the then chief of staff, General Gaby Ashkenazi, "was not positive".
	Ashkenazi's successor Benny Gantz told the country's political leadership that "the possibilities (for an attack on Iran) exist, but you know its limitations and risks", Barak said.
	He said the military's reservations convinced two members of the eight-member security cabinet -- Moshe Yaalon and Yuval Steinitz -- not to back such a plan, depriving the premier of the necessary majority to proceed.
	Yaalon, the current defence minister, had the strategic affairs portfolio at the time, while Steinitz who ..

Israel's Barak says army blocked three Iran attack plans

French President Francois Hollande on Saturday offered his "heartfelt thanks" to his US counterpart Barack Obama for the "exemplary conduct" shown by three US citizens who overpowered a gunman on a packed Amsterdam-Paris train, the Elysee said.
	Their actions helped prevent "an extremely serious" incident, Hollande's office said in a statement.
	The two presidents, speaking by phone late Saturday afternoon, "renewed their determination to work together to fight against violence and terrorism on all fronts," it added.
	Hollande will greet the train heroes at the Elysee Palace on Monday morning, a source close to his office told AFP.
	Armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter, the attacker opened fire on board a high-speed Thalys train just after it crossed from Belgium into northern France on Friday evening.
	But the attack was quickly stopped when two off-duty US servicemen and their friend charged the gunman and restrained him. 

Hollande offers 'heartfelt thanks' to Obama over train heroes

Dozens of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in fighting and air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen's rebel-held third city Taez, seen as the gateway to recapturing the capital.
	Backed by the coalition, loyalists of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have recently made sweeping advances against the Iran-backed Shiite rebels known as Huthis.
	They retook the southern port and second city Aden last month, and have seized four additional southern provinces in their advance towards Taez, some 330 kilometres (205 miles) south of Sanaa.
	But as combat raged in Taez, the loyalists were hit by a different foe in Aden. Al-Qaeda fighters suspected of having entered the city several weeks ago were blamed for blowing up a building used by the secret police.
	They were also said to have taken up positions in several strategic parts of the Tawahi district, where the bombing took place.
	Rima Kamal, spokeswoman in Yemen for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said ...

Fighting, air raids kill dozens in Yemen's Taez: Red Cross

Scoreboard at stumps on the third day of the fifth Ashes Test between England and Australia at The Oval:
	   Australia 1st Innings 481 (S Smith 143, D Warner 85, A Voges 76, M Starc 58; S Finn 3-90, M Ali 3-102, B Stokes 3-133)
	   England 1st Innings (overnight: 107-8)
	   A Lyth c Starc b Siddle                 19
	   A Cook b Lyon                           22
	   I Bell b Siddle                         10
	   J Root c Nevill b Marsh                  6
	   J Bairstow c Lyon b Johnson             13
	   B Stokes c Nevill b Marsh               15
	   J Buttler b Lyon                         1
	   M Ali c Nevill b Johnson                30
	   S Broad c Voges b Marsh                  0
	   M Wood c Starc b Johnson                24
	   S Finn not out                           0
	   Extras (b1, lb7, nb1)                     9
	   Total (all out, 48.4 overs, 221 mins)   149
	   Fall of wickets: 1-30 (Cook), 2-46 (Lyth), 3-60 (Bell), 4-64 (Root), 5-83 (Bairstow), 6-84 (Buttler), 7-92 ...

England v Australia fifth Test scoreboard - 3rd update

Australia captain-elect Steven Smith ended England skipper Alastair Cook's marathon resistance as the tourists eyed a consolation win in the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval today.
	At stumps on the third day, England, following-on, were 203 for six -- still 129 runs behind Australia's first innings 481, which featured Smith's 143.
	It looked as if left-handed opener Cook would bat until the close.
	But outgoing Australia captain Michael Clarke's typically inventive decision to bring on Smith in the 77th over yielded a quick dividend when the part-time leg-spinner struck with just his sixth ball as Cook was caught off bat and pad by Adam Voges at short leg.
	Cook, who has never scored an Ashes hundred in England, was out for 85 having batted for more than five-and-a-half hours while facing 234 balls including 11 fours.
	At the close, wicket-keeper Jos Buttler was 33 not out, with nightwatchman Mark Wood unbeaten on nought.
	England, however, at least had the consolation of ...

Australia end Cook's lengthy vigil

Ten people were killed while thousands fled to higher ground as powerful typhoon Goni brought torrential rains to the northern Philippines, triggering landslides and floods, officials said today.
	Nine people died in Mountain Province and Benguet in the northern highlands after their houses were buried in rocks and mud. A man was killed in nearby Ilocos Norte province after he was hit by a falling tree, the national disaster council said in a report.
	Three people were reported missing in flooded areas while seven others were injured. Close to 13,000 people had been evacuated by nightfall, the report said.
	Typhoon Goni was 130 kilometres northeast of the Batanes island chain this evening, with winds of up to 185kph, according to the state weather bureau.
	In the northern province of Abra, two straight days of heavy rains caused a major river to overflow, governor Eustaquio Bersamin said.
	"The Abra river has turned into an ocean," Bersamin told DZMM radio.
	"The rains were much ...

Ten killed, thousands flee as typhoon lashes Philippines

Mo Farah made history defending his 10,000m title at the world championships today as sprint arch-rivals Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin flexed their muscles to advance easily to semi-finals of the 100m.
     Farah's victory was his sixth consecutive global track distance title, an unprecedented feat that saw him better the likes of Ethiopian legends Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie.
     "It's nice to be known as someone who has won the most medals for my country," Farah said.
     "It's great to make history."
     The 32-year-old, who clocked 27min 01.13sec for gold ahead of Kenyans Geoffrey Kamworor (27:01.76) and Paul Tanui (27.02.83), will have a chance to make it seven global titles in the 5,000m, scheduled for next Saturday.
     Farah, known for his blistering last-lap pace, made his move with 500m to go, moving slickly to the front and peeling away.
     Although tracked by the fast-finishing Kamworor and Tanui, the Londoner held on for victory that made up for his Bird's 

Farah makes history as Bolt and Gatlin coast

At least 12 people including three NATO contractors were killed today when a suicide car bomber struck a foreign forces convoy, officials said, underlining the precarious security situation in the Afghan capital.
	No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which struck outside a civilian hospital in Kabul following a wave of fatal bombings earlier this month that rattled the city.
	The piercing explosion in a residential Kabul neighbourhood reverberated around the city and left a trail of devastation, with an AFP photographer seeing the mangled wreckage of a burning vehicle at the scene of the attack.
	A foreigner was among 12 people killed in the blast, with 66 others -- including women and children -- wounded, health ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar said on Twitter.
	He did not give the nationality of the foreigner.
	Senior health official Sayed Kabir Amiri confirmed that toll from the attack, which comes as Taliban insurgents escalate their annual summer ...

Kabul car bomb kills 12 including NATO contractors

Two United Nations peacekeepers were seriously injured today when their vehicle triggered a landmine in northern Mali.
	MINUSMA, the UN's peacekeeping mission in the volatile west African nation, said the vehicle, part of a logistics convoy, hit the explosive device some 70 kilometres (40 miles) east of the small town of Ansongo.
	"The explosion destroyed the vehicle and seriously injured two MINUSMA soldiers who are being medically evacuated," MINUSMA said in a statement.
	The UN says 56 peacekeepers have been killed in combat since MINUSMA's inception in 2013, making northern Mali the deadliest theatre on earth for its personnel.
	The vast desert region has been a cauldron of unrest since an uprising by the nomadic Tuareg people in 2012 allowed Al-Qaeda-linked militants to seize Mali's vast desert north.
	The extremists spread a brutal version of sharia law and terrorised the region for nearly 10 months, until they were ousted in a French-led military offensive in 2013.
	Small ...

Two UN peacekeepers seriously injured in Mali mine blast

England captain Alastair Cook led his side's resistance as they battled to avoid an innings defeat by Australia in the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval here today.
     At tea on the third day, England, following-on, were 123 for three in their second innings -- still 209 runs behind Australia's first innings 481, which featured captain-elect Steven Smith's 143.
     Left-handed opener Cook was 54 not out and Jonny Bairstow 20 not out.
     England at least had the consolation of having won the Ashes at 3-1 up in the five-match series.
     Opener Adam Lyth, desperate for a big score to cement his England place, saw his miserable Ashes continue when, on 10, he edged a good length ball from Peter Siddle that cut away off the pitch to Australia captain Michael Clarke at second slip.
     Lyth's dismissal meant he had scored just 115 runs in nine innings this series at an average of 12.77.
     His slow trudge off the ground suggested Lyth knew his Test future was hanging by a ...

Cook stands firm against Australia

Belgium decided today to step up security measures across its national railway network the day after a thwarted attack aboard an Amsterdam-Paris train by a suspected jihadist gunman.
	Starting this weekend, Belgian authorities said, patrols of the high-speed Thalys rail line as well as checks and patrols at international train stations would be intensified. Baggage checks were also set to be reinforced.
	Armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter, an attacker opened fire on board a Thalys train just after it crossed from Belgium into France last evening.
	He was overpowered by a group of passengers, including two American servicemen, but not before he wounded two people who authorities said were expected to survive.
	The bolstered security measures decided at a meeting of Belgium's national security council, which included top ministers and officials, were accompanied by a warning to police to employ "increased vigilance against .

Belgium steps up security measures after train attack

A Syrian-based journalist who has trained citizen reporters in the war-ravaged country has been named the recipient of the 2015 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism, organisers said today.
	The prize from Reporters Without Borders and Agence France-Presse was awarded to Zaina Erhaim, who lives and works in Aleppo, Syria.
	Over the last two years, Erhaim has trained about 100 citizen reporters from inside Syria, approximately a third of them women, in print and TV journalism, and helped establish new, independent newspapers and magazines in the country.
	The 30-year-old Erhaim is also the Syria project coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), an international organisation that supports journalists in countries undergoing conflict, crisis or transition.
	The work of some of her students has been published in major international news outlets.
	"Zaina Erhaim is a force multiplier of journalistic values in a country torn by violence and ...

Syrian woman gets Mackler 'courageous journalism' award

Shelling and air raids by Syrian government forces killed at least 20 civilians and wounded or trapped 200 today in rebel-held Douma east of Damascus, a monitoring group said.
	"At least 20 civilians were killed in the heavy shelling and air attacks since this morning on Douma," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	He said around 200 more were either wounded or still trapped under rubble, and that the death toll was expected to rise.
	On Sunday, regime attacks on Douma killed more than 100 people and sparked international condemnation of one of the bloodiest government attacks in Syria's war.
	According to the Local Coordination Committees activist network, today's bombardment struck four adjacent buildings in the town.
	Photographs published by a local activist group depicted a young, bloodied child being carried across a field of concrete rubble.
	Volunteers searched through crumbling buildings, some of which were missing entire walls, to find ...

'20 civilians dead in Syria regime bombardment near Damascus'

Italy's coastguard said today it was coordinating the rescue of up to 3,000 migrants from waters off Libya after receiving SOS calls from 18 different crowded vessels.
	At least seven boats - six Italian and one from Norway - were involved in an operation to get the migrants safely off 14 rubber dinghies and four other vessels carrying an estimated total of between 2,000 and 3,000 people.
	More than 104,000 migrants from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia have landed at Italy's southern ports so far this year after being rescued in the Mediterranean.
	A further 135,000-plus have landed in Greece and more than 2,300 people have died at sea while trying to make it to Europe with the help of people smugglers.
	Police in Palermo, on the Italian island of Sicily, announced today that they had arrested six Egyptian nationals on suspicion of people smuggling following the rescue of a stricken boat on August 19.
	Testimony from the 432 migrants on board suggest the vessel had been packed .

Italy rescuing 3,000 migrants, 18 boats in trouble

The suspected gunman who wounded two during an attack aboard an Amsterdam-Paris train travelled from France to Syria, a Spanish anti-terror source said today.
	"He lived in (southern) Spain in Algeciras for a year, until 2014, then he decided to move to France," the source said. "Once in France he went to Syria, then returned to France."
	French investigators were on Saturday questioning the suspect who was overpowered by a group of passengers, including two US servicemen.
	Armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter, the man opened fire on board the high-speed train just after it crossed from Belgium into France on Friday evening.
	French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said the suspect was believed to be a 26-year-old Moroccan national.
	He was "signalled by the Spanish authorities to French intelligence services due to his membership of the radical Islamist movement," Cazeneuve told reporters, saying he was living in ...

Train gunman went from France to Syria: Spanish intelligence

Adam Lyth's miserable Ashes series continued as England were made to follow-on by Australia in the fifth and final Test at The Oval here today.
     England, at lunch on the third day, were 31 for one in their second innings -- still a huge 301 runs behind Australia's first innings 481 which featured captain in waiting Steven Smith's 143.
     Alastair Cook, the England captain, was 12 not out and Ian Bell unbeaten on nought.
     England at least had the consolation of having won the Ashes at 3-1 up in the five-match series.
     Lyth, desperate for a big score to cement his England place, fell for 10 when the left-hander edged a good length ball from Peter Siddle that cut away off the pitch to Australia captain Michael Clarke at second slip.
     England were then 19 for one, with Lyth having managed just 115 runs in nine innings this series at an average of under 13.
     Fast-medium bowler Siddle, whose recall to the side for this match -- his first of this Ashes -- was slammed as 

Lyth fails again as England follow-on

A powerful explosion jolted downtown Kabul today, underlining the precarious security situation in the Afghan capital following a recent wave of devastating bombings.
	There were no immediate reports of casualties but an AFP photographer saw the mangled wreckage of a burning vehicle at the scene of the blast.

AFP

AFP

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