Japanese authorities today called off the search for seven hikers still missing on a volcano that unexpectedly erupted last month, as wintry conditions made the search operation increasingly difficult.
	Troops, firefighters and police have been scouring Mount Ontake in central Japan for the missing climbers since the volcano erupted without warning on September 27, killing at least 56, in Japan's deadliest eruption for almost 90 years.
	"We have decided to call off the operation for the rest of this year," said an official of the crisis-management office of Nagano prefecture, where the volcano sits.
	"Snowfalls and freezing on the slope ahead of this year's full-fledged winter were already adding to the tough conditions up there," the official said.
	"We won't carry out the large-scale operation, but we may begin a small-sized one next year when spring comes," he added.
	Rescue workers have described the slopes of the volcano as being smothered in thick, sticky ash, up to half a metre 

Search for missing on Japan volcano called off

PTI Automatic

Saudi Arabia is seeing "sporadic" cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which has killed 324 people in the country, the health ministry said today.
	The kingdom has been hardest hit by MERS, which has also appeared in about 20 other nations.
	The ministry said it has recorded "sporadic cases of MERS-CoV around the kingdom" and reiterated the need for precautions to help prevent the virus from spreading.
	From June 2012 the ministry has recorded 763 people contracting MERS, 429 of which  have recovered. Ten are listed as "active".
	Data reported on the ministry's website show only one MERS death from July 11 to September 24.
	Since then three Saudis have died, with the latest reported on October 7.
	Research by Saudi scientists indicates that camels play a role in the transmission of the virus to humans.
	In June, the World Health Organisation said a surge in MERS cases had receded but countries should remain vigilant ahead of pilgrimages to Saudi ...

'Sporadic' MERS cases in Saudi: health ministry

Car bomb blasts, including a suicide attack, in two Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghdad killed at least 16 people today, police and medical sources said.
	Two car bombs near the frequently targeted district of Kadhimiyah killed at least nine, while a suicide car bomb attack in Talbiya killed seven, a senior Baghdad police official said.
	The double car bomb attack, in a neighbourhood called Dolai, also wounded 25 people. All the victims were civilians, said a hospital source who confirmed the casualty figures.
	The bombing in Talbiya, near the sprawling northern neighbourhood of Sadr City, left at least 23 wounded.
	The United Nations said more than 1,110 people were killed in acts of violence across Iraq in September. According to an AFP count, around 400 have already been killed this month.
	While the bloodshed has been mainly on the frontlines where federal, Kurdish and allied forces are battling the Islamic State jihadist group, blasts and executions in Baghdad continue to take a ...

Three Baghdad car bombs kill at least 16: police

Graeme Swann has insisted he did the right thing quitting midway through England's 5-0 Ashes series thrashing despite Graham Gooch calling the decision "criminal".
     England great Gooch, the team's batting coach on their woeful 2013/14 tour of Australia, told Britain's Daily Telegraph on Wednesday that the former off-spinner's decision had been highly damaging to the team.
     "It made us a laughing stock," said Gooch, one of England's most successful opening batsmen. "I cannot understand why he couldn't stick it out until the end of the trip. It left a bad taste."
     Swann quit, with England 3-0 down, in December 2013 after deciding a longstanding elbow injury meant it was no longer possible for him to spin the ball properly.
     "I understand (what he is saying)," Swann told several British newspapers. "Goochy is very old school.
     "Perhaps if he had gained my perspective on it he might have seen the reasons why I did it. I think he is a bit misinformed thinking I just ...

Swann denies Gooch 'criminal' charge

A cousin of slain model Reeva Steenkamp made a tearful plea today for Oscar Pistorius to "pay for what he has done," as the prosecution sought to ensure the Paralympic athlete goes to jail.
	Battling tears and with her voice trembling, Kim Martin told a sentencing hearing that she was "very fearful" of the South African Paralympic and Olympic sprinter and did not believe his apology for killing her cherished cousin was genuine.
	"Pistorius needs to pay for what he has done, for taking Reeva's life, for what he's done to my uncle, to my aunt and the rest of my family," she said.
	"My family are not people who are seeking revenge, we just feel that to take someone's life, to shoot somebody behind a door, that is unarmed, that is harmless, needs sufficient punishment.
	"Everybody has suffered here, and I really think we need to send a message to society that you can't do this and get away with it."
	Pistorius has been found guilty of manslaughter for shooting Steenkamp dead on ...

Pistorius 'needs to pay' says Steenkamp cousin

The world's leading food industry group Nestle today posted slumping nine-month sales, blaming the strength of the Swiss franc, as its stock price plunged.
	During the first nine months of the year, the maker of Nespresso capsules and baby food, among many other products, said its sales ticked in at 66.2 billion Swiss francs (55.1 billion euros, USD 70.2 billion).
	That marked a drop of 3.1 per cent from the figure for the same period last year, and missed the expectations of analysts polled by AWP, who had anticipated sales of 66.7 billion Swiss francs.
	The company stressed though that "negative foreign exchange" had taken a heavy toll on its sales, eroding them by 7.5 per cent, while divestitures and acquisitions had further reduced its sales growth by 0.1 per cent.
	The company's organic growth, considered a key indicator of its performance, meanwhile expanded 4.5 per cent, the company said.
	That number, which was based on 2.3 per cent real internal growth, with the remaining 2.2 

Nestle's nine-month sales plunge 3.1 per cent, shares fall

Suspected Al-Qaeda militants have seized control of a town in southwest Yemen, hours after Shiite rebels overran a nearby provincial capital, a security official said today.
	Five policemen were killed in the overnight offensive by militants on the town of Udain, 20 kilometres west of the now rebel-controlled Ibb, the security official and local sources said.
	The gunmen attacked the police headquarters, which was set ablaze, and the offices of the local government, as well as the post office.
	Al-Qaeda is active in several Yemeni provinces, mainly in the south and southeast, where repeated government military campaigns drove the network's militants out of key cities they once controlled.
	The attack on Udain appeared to be in retaliation for the Shiite Huthi rebels' control of Ibb, a local official said.
	Already in control of Sanaa and the strategic port city of Hudeida, the rebels yesterday appeared to have taken control of the Dhamar and Ibb provinces, security officials ...

'Qaeda' militants seize Yemen town: security official

Globe-trotting top US diplomat John Kerry was left hoofing it back on a commercial flight from Vienna today, after his ageing Air Force plane broke down for the fourth time this year.
	After marathon talks on Iran's nuclear programme in the Austrian capital yesterday, Kerry's party of more than 40 State Department staff and journalists were checking out of their hotel rooms before dawn Thursday when the news came that his Boeing 757 needed unspecified repairs -- again.
	Since taking up his post in February 2013, Kerry has flown some 911,000 kilometres around the globe and visited 55 countries -- many of them multiple times -- spending some 249 days on the road.
	He's well on his way to overtaking his predecessor Hillary Clinton who flew just short of a million miles in her four years in office, visiting a record 112 countries.
	But despite a normally well-planned, slick logistical operation to move Kerry and his posse of staff, security agents and the travelling press as he jumps from 

Kerry's plane grounded ... Again

Six militiamen were killed in an exchange of fire with international troops in the Central African Republic after they refused to lay down their arms, the UN force MINUSCA said today.
	"We counted six victims after an exchange of fire... In Bangui between international forces and anti-balaka forces on Wednesday," a MINUSCA official told AFP.
	Anti-balaka refers to vigilante groups set up by Central Africa's majority Christian communities to seek vengeance, mainly against Muslim civilians whom they accuse of backing the Muslim rebel alliance, the Seleka, which seized power in a coup last year.

Six militiamen killed by peacekeepers in C. Africa: UN force

Topless Femen activists poured buckets of wine over their naked breasts in front of Milan's cathedral today, in the latest of the women's rights group's signature protests.
	The stunt, witnessed by a handful of bemused commuters on a chilly morning, came ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's arrival in the Italian city for an ASEM summit of European and Asian leaders.
	Femen leader Inna Shevchenko was one of the two women performing what looked like a version of the ice-bucket challenge for the benefit of a gaggle of photographers and video crews.
	With the slogan "ASEM allies of Putin" emblazoned across her naked torso, she said the wine was intended to symbolise the blood being spilled in her native Ukraine as a result of Russian meddling in the country.
	"We believe that welcoming a killer, a person who is killing a whole nation right now - and this Ukrainian blood is right here, is on us - and shaking his hand, is ignoring the big torture, the big killing and the war in ...

Putin targeted by topless protest at ASEM summit

A Kurdish official in Kobane today said that US-led airstrikes have successfully pushed back Islamic State insurgents from parts of the besieged Syrian town.
	"The international coalition has fought ISIS more effectively during the last few days," Nassen told AFP, using an alternative name for IS.
	"Before they (IS) were in control of 30 percent of Kobane and now they control less than 20 percent thanks to the international coalition," he said.
	Nassen said Kurdish forces were "flushing out" IS fighters from the eastern and southeastern parts of the town on the border with Turkey, calling for more military assistance.
	"We need more airstrikes, as well as weaponry and ammunition to fight them on the ground," he said.

IS pushed back by Kobane airstrikes: Kurdish official

Rising star and possible future prime minister of Japan, Yuko Obuchi was under fire today over reports she has spent political donations on make-up, in a blow to the most prominent of a new wave of women ministers.
	Obuchi, a mother of two, was tapped by premier Shinzo Abe in September as the country's first female minister of economy, trade and industry, a powerful portfolio that includes oversight of the energy sector.
	The centre-left Mainichi Shimbun said today that over the five years to 2012, her political funding body spent more than 10 million yen (USD 95,000) on things unconnected to politics, including cosmetics and accessories at a department store.
	The organisation also spent 3.62 million yen in a boutique run by her sister's husband, the report said, citing receipts it had obtained.
	Other newspaper reports claimed a separate Obuchi group had spent some 26 million yen on theatre tickets for supporters.
	Political funding rules in Japan do not explicitly bar much aside ...

Japan politician caught in make-up spending row

Andy Murray admitted that he is prepared for all possibilities as the race for the last handful of spots at the World Tour Finals heats up with less than three weeks left in the season.
     "It (making the eight-man championships in London) is a goal for every player at the start of the year," said the 2013 Wimbledon champion who opens play on Thursday in the second round of the Austrian Open against Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
     "There are a lot of seeding advantages with being in the top eight. I will be trying my best to make it to London over the next two or three events.
     "I hope I get there, but there are strong players competing for the same places. I've got to play well this week if I'm to try and win the title. I'm not under pressure. I'd like to get there. But if not, then it's just not to be. If I don't qualify, I don't deserve it."
     Murray stands provisional tenth in the points, one spot behind Vienna top seed and fellow year-end rival David Ferrer. Novak ...

Murray keeping emotions in check as race to London tightens

Major League Soccer president Don Garber fired back at critical comments by US national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann about the league and its impact on players.
     Klinsmann addressed the decisions by US standouts Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley to return from Europe to play in the North American league this week by saying they would have to prove the switch has not diminished their skills.
     Garber called those remarks "incredibly damaging" to MLS.
     "I'm demanding that he refrain from making comments that are critical of our players and damaging to our league," Garber said.
     "Jurgen's comments are very detrimental to the league. They are detrimental to the sport of soccer in America. Not only are they detrimental, they are wrong."
     Klinsmann noted that Bradley has returned to play for a Toronto club that will miss the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season.
     "Making that decision to go from Roma, a Champions League team, to now Toronto, a team that it seems ..

MLS boss rips Klinsmann for criticizing league

US Open champion Marin Cilic battled into the Kremlin Cup quarter-finals with a tough three-set win over Russian wild card Evgeny Donskoy, here yesterday.
     The 26-year-old Croat, a career-high eighth in the ATP rankings, beat Donskoy 6-3 3-6 6-3 to keep alive his chances of making it into the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
     Second-seed Cilic, sixth in the race to London and needs to reach the final at this combined ATP and WTA event to increase his tally, broke his rival's serve early for a one-set lead in 40 minutes.
     But in the second Donskoy also broke and kept his advantage through to level at one set all after one hour 16 minutes on court.
     The rivals traded breaks early in the deciding set before big server Cilic produced the decisive break in the sixth game to take the set and the match in one hour 52 minutes.
     "I'm pleased with today's performance as in the  opening match I always feel myself a bit rusty. Physically, I feel I'm pretty good ..

Croatia's Cilic through to Moscow last eight

World football boss Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini strongly condemned the violent scenes that forced a Serbia-Albania football international to be abandoned.
     Platini called the politically-charged violence in Belgrade "inexcusable" while Blatter said football "should never be used for political messages".
     Players from the two sides clashed on Tuesday after a drone carrying a pro-Albanian flag was flown over the Belgrade stadium where the Balkan rivals were playing a qualifier for the 2016 European Championships.
     Platini "is deeply saddened by the events in Belgrade last night," UEFA spokesman Pedro Pinto said.
     "Football is supposed to bring people together and our game should not be mixed with politics of any kind. The scenes in Belgrade last night were inexcusable," the spokesman quoted Platini as saying.
     Blatter added: "Football should never be used for political messages. I strongly condemn what happened in Belgrade last night."
     Later ..

Platini calls Serbia-Albania clash 'inexcusable'

Frank Lampard came to the defence of Raheem Sterling yesterday, saying that the Liverpool midfielder had been "brave" to admit to feeling tired.
     Sterling did not start England's Euro 2016 qualifying win in Estonia on Sunday but came off the bench to earn the free-kick from which striker Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of a 1-0 victory.
     However, both the subsequent decision of England manager Roy Hodgson to reveal the fact Sterling had told him he was tired and the player's admission of tiredness have both provoked much debate within English football.
     In particular, there have been plenty of people questioning both Sterling's fitness and indeed his commitment, but Lampard said they were wrong to turn on a 19-year-old yet to develop in full physically.
     "I think he is actually quite a brave boy to say, 'You know what I am not quite at my best here'," former England midfielder Lampard, who got to know Sterling when they were both members of Hodgson's World Cup squad .

Lampard tells critics to lay off 'brave' Sterling

A Moroccan man, with his two young French daughters in tow, was arrested in Casablanca as he sought to join up with the jihadist Islamic State fighters, authorities said .
	The man identified by his initials N.R., who was under police restrictions in France, was picked up yesterday at Casablanca airport, the Moroccan interior ministry said in a statement.
	He was detained along with his two girls, aged two and four, and a Moroccan woman with whom he had a "traditional" marriage, said the statement, cited by the local MAPP news agency.
	His legal wife, a French national, was said to have remained in France.
	The arrested couple will appear in court, while no mention was made of the way the children will be handled, or whether they will be returned to France.
	The man was said to have been on his way to Turkey when he was arrested.
	IS fighters are involved in heavy fighting just across the Turkish border in Syria.
	Over 2,000 Moroccan jihadists, including those with dual nationality, ..

Moroccan held, with young daughters, for trying to join IS

Hurricane Gonzalo churned in the Atlantic, bringing intense winds and threatening to deluge the Bahamas, US forecasters said.
	A hurricane watch went up in Bermuda, which could feel the storm's fury by tomorrow, the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said yesterday.
	"A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding in Bermuda," the NHC said in a public advisory, adding that it expected large and destructive waves.
	Gonzalo was already causing large swells in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
	The hurricane has been growing in power since skirting the Caribbean and heading into the open Atlantic on Tuesday on a track well off the North American mainland but projected to pass near Bermuda.
	The hurricane center declared the storm a Category Three on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, meaning its high winds would wreak "devastating damage" if it touches land.
	At 2100 GMT (0230 IST), the storm's top winds had reached 205 ...

Hurricane Gonzalo bears down on the Bahamas

President Vladimir Putin accused US counterpart Barack Obama of a hostile attitude towards Russia, warning against "attempts to blackmail" Moscow.
	Speaking ahead of his visit to EU aspirant Serbia today and key talks with EU leaders tomorrow, Putin minced no words, demanding that Washington take Moscow's interests into account.
	The Russian strongman took issue with Obama's speech at the United Nations General Assembly last month, when he listed "Russia's aggression" in eastern Ukraine among top global threats, along with Islamic State jihadists and the Ebola outbreak in western Africa.
	"Together with the limits introduced against entire sectors of our economy it is hard to call such approach anything but hostile," Putin told the Serbian daily Politika.
	"We are hoping that our partners will understand the recklessness of attempts to blackmail Russia, (and) remember what discord between large nuclear powers can do to strategic stability," Putin said in comments released by the ...

Putin accuses Obama of hostility, meddling

Fitch ratings agency has put the EU's 500-billion-euro bailout fund on review for a possible downgrade, triggered by concerns over France's battle to tame a ballooning budget deficit.
	The agency said in a statement that it had placed a "rating watch negative" on the "AAA" score of the European Stability Mechanism -- a USD 650-billon fund set up during the eurozone crisis to bail out troubled countries and their banks.
	The move comes a day after Fitch placed a rating watch negative on France's 'AA+' score.
	A downgrade of France, the eurozone's second-largest economy and a key contributor to the ESM, would call into question the creditworthiness of the bailout fund, Fitch said.
	France is battling through a deep economic crisis, with zero growth in the previous two quarters and sky-high unemployment.
	Paris announced last month that next year's budget deficit -- the shortfall between revenue and spending -- will hit 4.3 per cent of annual economic output, well above the 3.0-per cent .

AFP

AFP

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