A widened Panama Canal will be open for business in 2016 after a USD 400 million cash injection to help complete the long-delayed project was received, the waterway's chief administrator has said.
	Jorge Quijano, the Panama Canal Authority's lead administrator, told reporters yesterday the USD 400 million loan to complete a USD 5.3 billion expansion was received by the consortium widening the canal in Central America.
	"This is going to help cash flow, ... Keep independent contractors paid, and get the construction completed," Quijano explained.
	The project was initially planned to have been completed this year in time for the canal's 100th anniversary.
	Now, construction is expected to be finished in 2015, and the widened canal to open in early 2016. The authority says.
	The widening will allow it to handle so-called "Post-Panamax" ships with a capacity of up to 15,000 containers, instead of the current maximum of 5,000.
	But the project has been plagued by delays, strikes and a ...

Panama Canal widening should be finished with USD 400 mn:chief

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International observers with the OSCE came under fire in restive eastern Ukraine in what the mission described as an "unacceptable" incident.
	The six monitors were unharmed despite their vehicles being hit by mortar or artillery fire in the rebel-held Donetsk area as fighting flared between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels. The incident was one of many undermining a shaky ceasefire in place since September 5.
	Alexander Hug, the deputy head of the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, said the today incident was "regrettable".
	"Putting our observers at risk is unacceptable to the mission," he told a press conference in Donetsk.
	He said one of the vehicles was so heavily damaged it had to be abandoned as the observers sought safety.
	The OSCE brokered the truce signed by Kiev, Moscow and pro-Russian separatists, but the rival sides have since accused each other of repeated violations.
	Six civilians were killed in shelling near Donetsk airport yesterday, the deadliest day since 

OSCE observers come under fire in Ukraine

Thousands today gathered in London to urge Scottish voters to reject independence and stay in the United Kingdom in a landmark referendum in three days' time.
	Demonstrators in the rally in central Trafalgar Square waved Union Jack flags and held up signs reading "Let's stay together" and "Scotland we love you, don't go."
	"I am beside myself with worry that Scotland might be separate from the rest of the UK. It will be an absolute travesty and terrible," said Shona Milne, 56, a longtime resident of England from Glasgow.
	"I am distraught and I know millions of Scots are feeling the same," added Milne, who was wearing a "Proud to be Scottish and British" t-shirt.
	The mood was nervous but determined as pop songs such as "We are Family" and "Let's Stay Together" played over loudspeakers to the crowd of over 2,000.
	Polls have shown the result could go either way when Scots cast their votes on Thursday in the historic referendum on the 307-year-old union.
	Organiser Dan Snow, a ...

'We love you, don't go', London rally tells Scotland

A warplane today carried out an air raid on a military base in western Libya held by anti-government militias, in an attack claimed by renegade former general Khalifa Haftar.
	State news agency LANA said 15 people were lightly wounded as the raid hit a munitions depot in the town of Gharyan, 120 kilometres southwest of the capital.
	The militias in Gharyan form part of Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn), an alliance including Islamists that was targeted by unidentified warplanes near Tripoli airport last month.
	Washington said at the time that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt were behind the raids, although Haftar's forces also claimed that attack.
	General Saqr Jarrushi, a close aide of Haftar, insisted today that their forces carried out the air strike in Gharyan.
	Haftar launched an assault against Islamists in the eastern city of Benghazi on May 16.
	Fajr Libya rejects the legitimacy of the elected parliament because it allegedly supported the air raids against its fighters at Tripoli ...

Renegade claims jet raid on Libya militia position

A court in Saudi Arabia today jailed 13 defendants for up to 10 years on charges including joining a radical Islamist group and fighting and supporting fighters abroad.
	The 13 were part of a larger cell of 32 and were convicted of "following the Takfiri doctrine", a term usually used to refer to Al-Qaeda, the official SPA news agency said.
	They were also convicted of charges including fighting abroad, supporting fighters financially, and helping "misled" people travel to conflict zones, SPA said.
	Scores of Saudis are believed to be in the ranks of radical Islamist groups in areas of unrest across the Middle East, including Syria.
	Some of the defendants were also convicted of possessing arms and undergoing weapons training.
	One was also found guilty of "exploiting religious seminars to spread his deviant thoughts among his pupils".
	In July 2011, a series of prosecutions began over alleged offences committed during the peak of Al-Qaeda violence in the kingdom between 2003 and ...

Saudi court jails 13 Islamists for fighting abroad

The US space agency's program to detect and protect the Earth from incoming asteroids is poorly managed and far behind schedule, said a government audit report today.
	Just one million of the program's USD 40 million annual budget is spent on strategies to deflect an incoming asteroid or evacuate areas in danger of impact, said the report by NASA inspector General Paul Martin.
	NASA was tasked by Congress in 2005 to establish a program for tracking near-Earth objects (NEO) greater than 140 meters in diameter (460 feet), to decide on their threat and to catalogue 90 per cent of these objects by 2020.
	"While the program has discovered, categorised, and plotted the orbits of more than 11,000 NEOs since 1998, NASA estimates that it has identified only 10 per cent of all asteroids 140 meters and larger and will not meet the 2020 deadline," said the audit.
	Furthermore, it described NASA's NEO Program as organised under "a single program executive who manages a loosely structured, ...

NASA asteroid defence program falls short: audit

Belgium, one of only a few countries to allow euthanasia, has accepted a serial rapist's request that he be allowed to die, his lawyer said today.
	Frank Van Den Bleeken, who has spent the past 30 years in prison for repeated rape convictions and a rape-murder, has for years requested that the state help him end his life due to "unbearable psychic suffering", lawyer Jos Vander Velpen told Belgian television.
	Van Den Bleeken is to be transferred from his prison in Bruges to a hospital within the next few days where he will be euthanised, he said.
	Belgium legalised euthanasia in 2002, the second country in the world to do so after The Netherlands, and logged a record 1,807 cases of euthanasia in 2013.
	Its strict conditions for a mercy killing include that patients must be capable, conscious and have presented a "voluntary, considered and repeated" request to die.
	Lawyer Vander Velpen said the sex offender met all legal conditions, and for the past four years had felt he "couldn't ...

Belgium agrees to sex offender's request for mercy killing

Looters took food and water from shops in Mexico's Los Cabos beach resorts today after Hurricane Odile blew away wooden homes, flooded streets and damaged hotels housing thousands of tourists.
	Dozens of people, including children, ransacked at least five small convenience stores, making off with batteries and alcoholic drinks, before troops arrived to stop the looting in poorer neighbourhoods of Baja California peninsula.
	"I'm taking water for the children and food for the baby. You never know what can happen tomorrow," Osvaldo Lopez, 41, said as he left a store.
	Odile tore down trees, power lines and tin roofs as it crashed ashore late yesterday as a category three hurricane in the five-scale Saffir-Simpson scale, packing winds of 205-kilometre per hour.
	The hurricane weakened to category two strength as it moved up the peninsula, but it was still launching winds of 155 kilometres per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Centre.
	Scores of homes were wrecked in an ...

Looting erupts after hurricane thrashes Mexico resorts

Iraq's foreign minister today voiced "regret" that Iran was not invited to an international conference in Paris to discuss the threat posed by Islamic State (IS) militants.
	"We insisted that Iran be present. However, it's not us that took the decision. We regret the absence of Iran at this conference," Ibrahim al-Jaafari told reporters.
	"All countries are affected by the Daesh (IS) problem and Iran is a neighbouring country that has several times given us its support," added the minister.
	An elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the Qods Force, and allied militias are reportedly on the ground in Iraq fighting IS. Iran, like Iraq, is majority Shiite, while IS is made up of Sunni fighters who target Shiite Muslims.
	Jaafari said nations attending the Paris conference on Iraq had not spelled out specifically what role they intended to play in the US-led fight against the militants.
	"We didn't go into details this morning. The different parties all had positive reactions ...

Iraq FM says 'regrets' Iran not invited to Paris conference

The United States stepped into Scotland's knife-edge independence debate today, indicating that it hoped its "special relationship" with ally Britain remained "united."
	White House spokesman Josh Earnest stressed that Washington respects the right of Scots to decide their future in Thursday's referendum but hoped for a "strong, robust and united" partner.
	The comments mirrored those by President Barack Obama as he stood side-by-side with British Prime Minister David Cameron in Brussels earlier this year.
	But, coming three days before Scotland votes on whether to end the 300-year-old union with England, the remarks hint at US concern at a weakening of its key NATO and United Nations Security Council ally.
	"This is a decision for the people of Scotland to make," Earnest said.
	"We certainly respect the right of individual Scots to make a decision along these lines," he added.
	"But ... We have an interest in seeing the United Kingdom remain strong, robust, united and an effective ...

US wants 'strong, robust, united' UK: White House

US Secretary of State John Kerry today ruled out military cooperation with Iran but said Washington remained open to talks with Tehran about the threat posed by Islamic State militants.
	"We will not be coordinating with Iran" on military action, "but as I said, we are open to have a conversation," Kerry told reporters in Paris after an international conference on Iraq.
	"On Syria strikes, we are not going to coordinate with the Syrians, we have made that very, very clear, but there are all kinds of ways of communicating to avoid mistakes or disaster," he added.
	US President Barack Obama has outlined a strategy to combat the Islamic State extremists, including air strikes in Syria and expanded operations in Iraq, where US aircraft have carried out more than 160 strikes since early August.
	But Washington had steadfastly ruled out tipping off the regime of President Bashar al-Assad about any potential strikes in Syria, where militants hold a quarter of the land.
	State Department ...

US rejects military cooperation with Iran in Iraq

General Motors today acknowledged that more people died in crashes linked to its faulty ignitions than the 13 it originally reported, saying 19 death claims were approved for compensation.
	In its first report on processing compensation requests for the problem, GM said it had received claims for 125 deaths, another 58 for crippling injuries and 262 for hospitalisation stemming from ignition-related accidents.
	Of those, it has so far determined 31 claims eligible for compensation, including 19 of the death claims.
	GM today said that the rest of the claims are either still awaiting review or are judged deficient and needing more documentation, with independent compensation claims expert Kenneth Feinberg in charge of deciding which claims are valid.
	In the base plan announced by Feinberg on June 30, for each eligible death claim, GM will pay a minimum USD 1 million for the victim, USD 300,000 for the surviving spouse and another USD 300,000 for each surviving dependent.
	Financial ...

GM confirms at least 19 dead in faulty-ignition crashes

Ukraine's President today offered parts of the separatist east of his country limited self-rule for three years under the terms of a peace plan reached with Russia.
	Petro Poroshenko's official website said the pro-Western leader told top lawmakers the proposal would be part of a broader deal with the pro-Moscow rebels. He intended to formally submit it to parliament tomorrow.
	The bill also extends the right of people in the rebel-held Lugansk and Donetsk regions to use Russian in state institutions and conduct local elections on November 9, according to media reports.
	The bill further permits the regions to "strengthen good neighbourly relations" between local authorities and their counterparts in Russia.
	Poroshenko had promised to offer parts of the war-torn industrial east broader autonomy under the terms of a truce signed with the Kremlin and two separatist leaders on September 5.
	He urged parliamentary faction leaders today to quickly back his efforts to end five months of ...

Ukraine offers rebel east three years of limited self-rule

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today called for an increase in defence spending, after a bloody and costly war in Gaza.
	"There is no leader who, faced with the threats that are multiplying around us, would not allow or demand a significant increase in the defence budget, to counter security challenges," he said in a statement.
	Such an increase would likely involve "several billion" Israeli shekels, Netanyahu said.
	Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon have been fighting for a big hike in defence spending against fierce resistance from Finance Minister Yair Lapid.
	Israel waged a 50-day campaign against militants in the Gaza Strip during July and August, in a conflict that cost more than 2,100 Palestinian lives and 73 on the Israeli side.
	The financial cost to Israel of its the third and longest Gaza war in six years is estimated at around three to four billion dollars, experts say.
	The defence ministry has demanded a grant for a similar sum to restock on ...

Israel PM urges defence budget hike after costly Gaza war

Congress could approve an USD 88 million request by President Barack Obama to back expanded efforts to combat Ebola as soon as this week, in a sign of rising US concern over the epidemic.
	Obama will travel to Atlanta tomorrow to meet medical authorities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and announce new aid to Ebola-affected regions in West Africa, which could include portable hospitals and US experts.
	Congress meanwhile is expected to debate and likely pass a temporary government funding bill this week, which includes a White House request for USD 88 million in funding to fight Ebola.
	Obama first said last week that he was going to step up US efforts to fight the Ebola epidemic, which has killed more than 2,400 people.
	His remarks, and a recent YouTube message from the president offering guidance to the people of Africa on halting infections, highlight increasing White House concern about the national security and humanitarian implications of the rapid ...

Obama expands US fight against Ebola

Israel today warned its citizens to be on alert for possible attacks in Europe by Islamic militants who have fought in Iraq and Syria.
	The alert comes as Israelis prepare to head overseas for a traditional holiday period starting with the Jewish New Year on September 24.
	The National Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Bureau said there was "concern over additional attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, especially in Western Europe".
	It warned Israelis to be on guard for "global jihad elements" including members of the Islamic State (IS) militant group returning home from Syria and Iraq.
	IS extremists have overrun swathes of the two Arab countries and beheaded three Western hostages.
	Israel said the heightened vigilance was needed following a gun attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May that left four people dead including an Israeli couple.
	Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman of Algerian origin who spent more than a year fighting in Syria, has been charged 

Israel warns citizens of possible attacks in Europe

Nigeria's military today appeared to rule out sabotage after an airforce jet disappeared while on operations in the insurgency-hit northeast.
	Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, Nigeria's chief of air staff, suggested enemy fire may not be to blame, telling reporters that the military was "in full control of the airspace" in the region.
	But he said they were keeping an open mind: "There are so many possibilities... We are working on it."
	The Alpha Jet, with two pilots on board, left its base in Yola, Adamawa state, at about 10:45 am on Friday and had been expected back by midday the same day.
	Amosu said the plane lost contact with the control tower as it returned, prompting an immediate search.
	The officer said they had "an idea of where the aircraft could be" but the arid terrain, weather conditions and fighting in the region were hampering the search effort.
	Amosu said he was "hopeful" of locating the jet as soon as possible and that the pilots were still alive.
	Nigeria's military is .

Nigeria keeping options open about missing plane

Western nations must take military action against Islamic State militants because they pose a global threat, not just because of the murder of Western hostages, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today.
	His comments came as the world's top diplomats pledged support to Iraq at a conference in Paris following the beheading of a third hostage, and as US Secretary of State John Kerry stepped up efforts to forge a broad anti-jihadist coalition.
	"ISIS is a group of terrorists with whom there is no chance whatsoever to negotiate," Rasmussen said in Brussels when asked why the West was acting only now and not months earlier when the group first took over swathes of Iraq.
	He said they pose a threat "not only to Iraq but to the world" and that the group's actions were "very close to a genocide".
	"We are on the frontline of a new battle - a new battle between tolerance and fanaticism, between democracy and totalitarianism, between open and closed societies."
	Rasmussen said that IS was ...

Islamic State threat requires military action: NATO chief

The European Union urged the international community today to make up for "precious time" lost in the response to the deadly Ebola outbreak in west Africa, calling for more contributions to fight the crisis.
	"We are behind the curve and for a reason," EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said at a special meeting in Brussels to devise a Europe-wide response to the outbreak ahead of UN meetings later this month.
	"When the warning signs were there, it took some time for the international community to pay attention. Precious time was lost."
	The outbreak that has killed at least 2,400 people in West Africa since it erupted earlier this year.
	European countries "can present a very strong commitment" at the UN to help the countries hardest-hit, Georgieva said.
	She urged member states to add to the USD 195 million already pledged by the EU last week.
	At the Brussels meeting, called by France, a dozen countries offered to boost aid.
	More than half of the deaths have ...

World lost 'precious time' in Ebola fight: EU

Afghanistan's disputed presidential election today inched towards a possible conclusion with a senior government official hailing a "breakthrough" in talks between the two candidates, who both claim to have won the vote.

'Breakthrough' in Afghan election dispute: president spokesman

Iran said today it rejected a US request for its cooperation against the jihadist Islamic State as part of an international coalition whose true aim Tehran sees as regime change in Syria.
	Seen from Tehran, which has helped both Damascus and Baghdad to confront IS advances, the coalition lacks credibility because some of its members had financed and armed the group as part of their campaign to bring down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
	"Right from the start, the United States asked through its ambassador in Iraq whether we could cooperate against Daesh," Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei said in a statement on his official website, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
	"I said no, because they have dirty hands," said Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state in the Islamic Republic.
	"Secretary of State (John Kerry) personally asked (Iranian counterpart) Mohammad Javad Zarif and he rejected the request," said Khamenei, who was leaving hospital after what doctors said was 

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