Police blasted stores for bringing "Black Friday" to Britain, with the US sales event descending into chaotic fist fights as frenzied consumers battled to grab discounted goods.
	In scenes of pandemonium around the country, common civility went out the window as yelling customers punched it out in a bid to secure reduced-price televisions and coffee makers.
	Police in Manchester said three people had been arrested as the sales spiraled "out of control" after stores in the city in northwest England opened at midnight.
	"The events of last night were totally predictable and I am disappointed that stores did not have sufficient security staff on duty," said Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Peter Fahy.
	"This created situations where we had to deal with crushing, disorder and disputes between customers," he said.
	His deputy Ian Hopkins said they had to close several outlets of Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer.
	"People have been trampling on each other and it's been akin to a ..

Mayhem as US 'Black Friday' hits Britain

PTI Automatic

Brazil football legend Pele's health is improving but he is still receiving an intensive treatment known as hemodialysis for a urinary infection, the hospital treating him said today.
     Pele, 74, "is in better clinical condition," said the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, adding that he was "lucid" and breathing on his own but still receiving hemodialysis, which involves filtering a patient's blood through an artificial kidney that cleans it before returning it to the body.
     The hospital said the measure was a "temporary kidney support" and that no other treatment was currently required.
     Pele, whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time.
     He was admitted to hospital Monday and diagnosed with a urinary infection.
     After the hospital said Thursday that he had been placed in intensive care, he took to Facebook and Twitter to insist that he was fine and had simply been moved to another room for more ...

Pele improving but still on dialysis - hospital

A flotilla of Russian warships led by a large submarine hunting ship entered the English Channel today in what naval officials said were preparations for a regular series of exercises.
	Russia's Northern Fleet said in a statement released to the RIA Novosti government news agency that its four vessels were led by the Severomorsk destroyer and the Alexander Otrakovsky amphibious landing ship.
	It said the detachment had passed through the narrowest part of the channel between England and France at Pas-de-Calais and would begin a series of planned manoeuvres shortly.
	The quoted statement said a storm had forced the detachment to take temporary shelter at the Bay of the River Seine off the northwestern coast of France.
	"During its stay, the ships' crew will perform a series of manoeuvres aimed at combating underwater vessels and technology," the news agency quoted the Russian statement as saying.
	Both British and French officials told AFP that such Russian naval detachments visit the .

Russian warships enter English Channel

The Missouri police officer who killed an unarmed black teen sparking months of protests in the city of Ferguson will never return to policing, his lawyer said.
	Darren Wilson is currently in discussions with the Ferguson, Missouri police department on the terms and conditions of his departure, attorney Neil Bruntrager said this week.
	"There's no way in the world he can go back to being a police officer," the lawyer said.
	"It's not a question of if, it's a question of when," Bruntrager said of Wilson's departure.
	Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in August claiming he acted in self-defense.
	The shooting set off days of racially-charged protests that erupted again this week after a grand jury on Monday announced that Wilson would not be charged over the fatal shooting.
	Bruntrager told CNN that Wilson, who has said his conscience is clear, could simply not go back to work given the outrage over the case.
	"The first day he would be back on the street something ...

Cop at center of Ferguson case to leave force: attorney

Opener Brendon McCullum smashed the fastest century by a New Zealand batsman to give his team an upper hand in the third and final Test against Pakistan in Sharjah, here today.
     The Kiwi skipper completed his tenth hundred off 78 balls and went on to reach 145-ball 153 when bad light ended play seven overs earlier with New Zealand 249-1, a strong position with just 102 runs away from Pakistan's first innings total of 351.
     Kane Williamson matched his skipper's aggression and was unbeaten on 76, putting an impressive 198 for the unfinished second wicket stand which gave New Zealand a strong position to level the series which they trail 1-0.
     Pakistan won the first Test while the second ended in a draw.
     But McCullum's rapidfire knock was overshadowed by the gloomy atmosphere as Pakistan and New Zealand observed a minute's silence before the start and wore black armbands to join in the mourning for young Australian batsman Phillip Hughes who died Thursday from serious ...

McCullum mauls Pakistan after Craig's best

Namibians voted today in a general election billed as Africa's first e-vote using voting machines made in India, with the ruling party expected to retain power in the country it has run since independence.
	Polling nationwide began at 0500 GMT across the country, with voters standing in long lines before daybreak including some first-time "born free" voters -- those born after Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990.
	"It's a rich country with poor people, so I hope there is more balance," said 43-year-old Elias while waiting to cast his vote.
	The ruling South West Africa People's Organisation - better known as SWAPO - was forged from the embers of the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle and has won every election in the 24 years since Namibia's independence.
	Ahead of election day, foreign minister and senior SWAPO party official Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told AFP victory was inevitable this time around as well.
	"SWAPO is going to win. There is no 'if', SWAPO is ...

Namibians cast ballots in Africa's first e-vote

Six more coffins holding remains of the victims from downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was today flown out of east Ukraine for The Netherlands, officials said.
	Dutch and Ukrainian officials held a memorial ceremony at the airport in the city of Kharkiv for the last batch of human remains due to be transported this year.
	"It was a very important ceremony, very important for the relatives, families and friends of the victims of this enormous tragedy," said Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten.
	The Boeing 777 was blown out of the sky on July 17 over rebel-held territory, killing all 298 people on board, including 193 citizens of The Netherlands.
	Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of supplying pro-Kremlin insurgents with the missile that shot down the jet but Moscow and the separatists deny they were responsible and have instead pointed the finger at Kiev.
	The Dutch-led probe team has so far identified 289 of the victims and is set to transport the wreckage of the plane by road to 

Six coffins of MH17 remains flown out of Ukraine

Taliban insurgents have launched a prolonged attack on a major Afghan army base that was handed over by NATO forces last month, officials said today, in another sign the militants are on the offensive as foreign troops leave.
	Camp Bastion, now know as Shorabak, was Britain's biggest military base in Helmand province and was a key airfield for US-led NATO operations in the Taliban heartlands of southern Afghanistan.
	The attack started yesterday evening and continued on Friday, the Afghan military said.
	The Taliban attacked a foreign guesthouse in Kabul and a suicide bomber target a British embassy vehicle in a blast that killed six people.
	"Last night a group of enemy fighters tried to storm Shorabak camp. One detonated a suicide car bomb at the gate and others tried to enter," Ghulam Farooq Parwani, a senior Afghan army commander at the camp, told AFP.
	"In the fighting overnight, there were more suicide attacks and 20 other militants were killed.
	"Two injured militants have been 

Taliban attack former NATO base in south Afghanistan

Up to 50 people were killed in an attack carried out by suspected Boko Haram Islamists in a northeast Nigeria border town this week, the UN said today.
	The attack on Damasak "killed up to 50 people and forced at least 3,000 to flee for their lives to Diffa region in neighbouring Niger," said Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN refugee agency.
	Boko Haram, which wants to carve out a strict Islamic state in northern Nigeria, took over the town in the far north of Borno state on Monday, starting their assault with an attack on a crowded market there.
	"Our teams in Diffa say that people are still arriving in Niger from Nigeria as a result of the attack," Edwards told reporters in Geneva.
	He said many were crossing in boats, but also said locals had described heartbreaking scenes of people drowning as they tried to swim for safety.
	"Others were reportedly shot by Boko Haram who chased them as far as the river banks," he said.
	People arriving in Niger were telling UNHCR workers there .

Up to 50 killed in Monday's Boko Haram attack on Nigeria: UN

Skipper Brendon McCullum hit a robust 78-ball century to lead a strong New Zealand reply after spinner Mark Craig took seven wickets to outshine Pakistan in the third and final Test in Sharjah today.
     McCullum was unbeaten on 100 -- his tenth century -- as New Zealand reached 164-1 at tea on the second day, 187 behind Pakistan's first-innings total of 351.
     Kane Williamson was equally aggressive with 45-ball 44 not out as the duo punished a sloppy Pakistan attack during their 98-ball, 113 run, unbroken stand for the second wicket, lifting their efforts for a series-levelling win.
     Pakistan lead the series 1-0 after winning the first Test and drawing the second.
     McCullum was severe against left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar, hitting four of his five sixes off him and hitting four boundaries in one paceman Mohammad Talha over before two quick singles completed his hundred.
     This was the fastest hundred ever by a New Zealand batsman, beating the 81-ball hundred Ross ...

McCullum's fiery century punishes Pakistan

Prime Minister David Cameron today promised tough curbs on welfare for EU migrants to counter a surge in arrivals and warned failure to get his way could be a deal-breaker for Britain staying in Europe.
	He said the package of reforms would require changes to European Union treaties, but said he was "confident" that he could reach agreement with fellow EU leaders.
	In a long-awaited speech on the issue, Cameron stopped short of calling for a cap on new arrivals or a mooted "emergency brake", which had caused consternation in EU capitals.
	But he announced plans to make EU workers wait four years to receive in-work benefits such as tax credits and social housing, and vowed to stop migrants claiming benefits for children who were living elsewhere in Europe.
	Cameron is under intense pressure to tackle rising immigration, which has become a major issue of voter concern ahead of the May 2015 general election.
	His Conservative party is facing an electoral challenge from the UK ...

Cameron urges migrant curbs, warns on British EU exit

A popular former minister in Israel has announced a comeback at the head of a new party amid speculation Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about to call early elections.
	Moshe Kahlon, who resigned as communications minister in October 2012, three months before the last general election, held a founding meeting attended by 350 supporters at a seaside hotel on Thursday night, media reported today.
	"There is not one person here who does not want reform of the diplomatic situation and our relations with the world," Kahlon, formerly of Netanyahu's Likud party, said in remarks broadcast by public radio.
	"There is no one here who does not want social reform," he added.
	Neither the party's name, nor details of its likely candidates, were given.
	Haaretz newspaper reported in August that Kahlon intended to present his team two months before the next general election, theoretically due by January 2016.
	The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday that Netanyahu had reached the ...

New Israeli party born amid talk of early election

Protesters smashed through the doors of a Paris theatre in a bid to block an exhibition on the horrors of colonialism using live black actors, which has attracted increasing opposition from critics who say it is racist.
	South African director Brett Bailey, who has been travelling with Exhibit B for four years with little trouble, told AFP recently the sudden anger over the installation was a grave misunderstanding from people who had not actually seen the "deeply emotional" work.
	"Protesters at the premiere of Exhibit B in St Denis, Paris, smashed through the theatre doors tonight. Set off fire alarms. Trying to stop us," he wrote on his Facebook page last night.
	A police source said more than 100 protesters tried to block people from entering, and later tried to overrun the theatre to stop the show.
	The director of the Gerard Philippe de Saint-Denis theatre Jean Bellorini said only two performances could take place before the protest put an end to the evening's shows.
	Every 20 ..

Protesters interrupt controversial Paris 'human zoo' exhibit

Tongans dumped half their members of parliament in a general election this week as the tiny Pacific island kingdom faces up to a grim economic outlook.
	Official results released by the Tongan Electoral Commission today show 12 of 17 people's representatives and one of nine nobles -- members of the extended royal family -- were voted out of office in the 26-seat parliament.
	"I did not think there would be so many," deputy prime minister Saimiu Vaipulu admitted to AFP.
	New Zealand-based Tongan political scientist Malakai Koloamatangi had said ahead of the poll that Tonga "continues to suffer" from an ailing economy and that this would have an impact on the vote.
	The Asian Development Bank said the Tongan economy is estimated to have expanded by 1.5 percent in the year to June -- an improvement from 0.3 percent in 2013, as agriculture, tourism and trade lifted growth after Cyclone Ian devastated the country in January.
	But the nation's official unemployment rate still stands at more 

Tongans dump half their MPs in general election

Thailand's parliament has voted to ban commercial surrogacy after outrage erupted over the largely unregulated industry following allegations an Australian couple abandoned a baby with Down's syndrome, a legislator said today.
	A draft bill -- which would see anyone profiting off surrogacy given a maximum ten year prison sentence -- passed its first reading in the country's military-stacked parliament yesterday, legislator Wallop Tungkananurak said.
	"We want to put an end to this idea in foreigners' minds that Thailand is a baby factory," he told AFP.
	"The bill was adopted with overwhelming support."
	Commercial surrogacy was technically banned by Thailand's Medical Council, but until recently even top fertility clinics were believed to offer the service.
	The murky industry came under intense scrutiny this summer after a series of surrogacy scandals broke involving foreigners.
	In August, a Thai mother who carried twin babies for an Australian couple accused them of abandoning a ...

Thai parliament votes to ban commercial surrogacy

Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific states are to send up to 1,000 athletes to the next Asian Indoor Games in 2017 following an accord with the Olympic Council of Asia sealed today.
     The accord, hailed as "historic" by OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, is the first step toward Australia and the Pacific nations taking part in the full Asian Games within a decade.
     The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games are to be held in the Turkmenistan capital, Ashgabat.
     The Central Asian state is spending USD 5 billion on an "Olympic Village" for all the venues. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, head of the organising committee, pressed for the Games to be expanded to increase the international exposure, according to officials.
     Sheikh Ahmad predicted there would about 1,000 Pacific athletes among up to 6,000 competitors at the Ashgabat games.
     "This will be historic," said the sheikh, one of the leading figures in world sport at the ceremony. "This ...

Australia, Pacific states get foothold in Asiad

Namibia's ruling party has predicted an easy victory in today's presidential and legislative elections, billed as the first e-vote in Africa.
	The South West Africa People's Organisation - better known as SWAPO - was forged from the embers of the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle and has won every election since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990.
	Ahead of election day, foreign minister and senior SWAPO party official Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told AFP victory was inevitable this time too.
	"SWAPO is going to win. There is no 'if', SWAPO is going to win," she said.
	Polls will open at 07:00 local time (1030 IST) and close around 14 hours later in the latest closing stations.
	Around 1.2 million Namibians are eligible to cast their ballots at nearly 4,000 electronic voting places across the vast desert nation.
	Other African nations such as Kenya have run pilot or limited e-voting, but none have done so on this scale.
	Opposition parties had launched an 11th-hour ...

Namibia government confident of victory in first e-vote

Off-spinner Mark Craig took seven wickets to derail Pakistan on the second day of the third and final Test in Sharjah today after Mohammad Hafeez fell three short of his double hundred.
     Craig ended the day with best figures of 7-94 -- his first five-wicket haul -- which sparked a collapse as Pakistan lost seven wickets for 70 runs after resuming at 281-3.
     At lunch New Zealand had made seven without loss with Brendon McCullum on six and Tom Latham yet to score.
     Opener Mohammad Hafeez hit a career best 197 before he miscued a pull off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and was caught at deep square-leg.
     He hit 25 boundaries and three sixes during a dominating seven hour ten minute stay at the crease to better his previous highest of 196 made against Sri Lanka in Colombo two years ago.
     But it was skipper Misbah-ul Haq who sparked a collapse, edging seamer Tim Southee to wicket-keeper BJ Watling in the fourth over of the day, without adding to his Wednesday's score of 38.
     

Craig derails Pakistan after Hafeez's best

Bad weather will delay the launch of a Japanese space probe on a six-year mission to mine a distant asteroid, just weeks after a European spacecraft's historic landing on a comet captivated the world.
	Hayabusa2 had been set to blast off aboard Japan's main H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on Sunday.
	But thick cloud expected over the weekend means scientists need to postpone the launch, a statement by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.
	"The new launch day will be announced as soon as it is determined," it added.
	The USD 260 million project is sending a probe towards the unpoetically-named 1999 JU3 asteroid in deep space.
	It will blast a crater in the asteroid to collect virgin materials unexposed to millennia of solar wind and radiation, in the hope of answering some fundamental questions about life and the universe.
	"The asteroid is carbonaceous and we may find organic matter and water, the stuff of life," Hitoshi Kuninaka, project ...

Bad weather delays Japan asteroid probe lift off

An Australian family today spoke of their shock after a man jumped out of bushes and drove off in a hearse carrying the body of a relative just before his funeral.
	Hayley West and husband Tobias Richardson were preparing for the funeral service of her brother-in-law Seth at a school building in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney yesterday morning when the alleged carjacker made his move.
	"Just as we were talking in the foyer and one of the funeral directors was getting the trolley to put the coffin on, a guy jumped out of the bushes and jumped into the hearse and started it up," West told ABC radio.
	"The funeral home guy was banging on the window, saying 'What are you doing? You can't drive away in a hearse'.
	"We are all standing around, going 'Oh my God, the hearse has been stolen'."
	Richardson jumped into his own car to pursue the thief as West called police and an aghast crowd watched the chase unfold.
	The hearse drove into the grounds of a school, with Richardson using his ...

Hearse carrying body 'stolen' at Australian funeral

Politically sidelined since a 2009 UN summit almost ended in a bustup, climate change has resurfaced as a priority but faces a brutal test at talks opening in Lima on Monday.
	The 12-day haggle will show what happens when high-minded global vows enter an arena where national interest rules the roost.
	"Things are still fragile, but there's been good news," said French climate negotiator Laurence Tubiana -- pointing to recent political noises, and pledges of money, to protect Earth's climate system.
	The meeting in the Peruvian capital is tasked with steering 196 parties toward the most ambitious climate pact in history  "the matrix for managing climate issues for the next 30 years," according to Tubiana.
	Due to be signed in Paris in December 2015 and take effect from 2020, the accord would roll back carbon emissions and ease the threat of misery, ecosystem damage and species loss for future generations.
	Given the UN's shaky record on climate change, the challenge is vast.
	The last .

AFP

AFP

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