Japan hope the appliance of science can trigger an Asian Games gold rush but admit they will struggle to steal hosts South Korea's thunder, insisting that building momentum for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is their top priority.
     It would take an astonishing effort for the Japanese to finish above their fierce rivals in the medals table for the first time since staging Asia's biggest sporting event 20 years ago in Hiroshima.
     Japan's delegation boss Tsuyoshi Aoki expects South Korea to come out guns blazing when the competition begins in the western port of Incheon on September 19, but said the quadrennial event offered the perfect opportunity for potential future Olympic medallists to shine.
     "The Asian Games are the first step for Japan on the road to the Tokyo Olympics," Aoki told AFP. "Winning medals is important of course but the key factor is the platform to produce stars for the future. It's a stepping stone for them.
    	"Our coaching staff conduct hi-tech research on .

Asian Games: 2020 vision for Olympic hosts Japan

PTI Automatic

Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff has revealed that his notorious encounter with a pedalo during the 2007 World Cup was a failed attempt to enjoy a nightcap with Ian Botham.
     Flintoff was fined and banned for one match by then-England coach Duncan Fletcher after the drunken incident in the Caribbean, which saw the all-rounder rescued from the sea in the middle of the night.
     Speaking in an interview to be broadcast by ITV today, Flintoff explained that he had simply wanted a late-night drink with former England star 'Beefy' Botham.
     Recounting how he found himself on the beach after a night of heavy drinking, Flintoff said: "For some reason I had this idea these boats out to sea -- it sounds bizarre -- but I knew Ian Botham was on one (boat) and I thought, 'I'm going to have a nightcap with Beefy.'
    	"I thought, 'I can't swim. That would be dangerous.' So I was going to get a kayak. I couldn't find the oars, so I dragged this pedalo into the water."
     He ...

I took pedalo for drink with Botham: Flintoff

The White House insisted today that President Barack Obama was authorized to strike the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria under a law passed by Congress after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
	Obama believes he can act under the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), despite previously calling for the law to be revised, and ultimately repealed.
	"It is the view of this administration that the 2001 AUMF continues to apply," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, on the somber anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington.
	The AUMF was signed into law a week after the September 11 attacks and used as the legal basis for the broad US campaign against international terrorism that followed the Al-Qaeda strikes on the United States.
	It says the president has the authority to go after Al-Qaeda and states that helped or harbored them, and its mandate has been widely interpreted by both the Bush and Obama administrations to allow wide anti-terrorism operations.
	"The ...

White House insists Obama authorized to strike IS

US combat aircraft will soon start flying out of a base in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq as part of an expanded air campaign against Islamic State jihadists, the Pentagon said today.
	Press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby confirmed "armed and manned" US aircraft would fly from Arbil, capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, but declined to provide more details.
	American fighter jets and other warplanes bombing IS militants in Iraq previously have been flying out of bases and from aircraft carriers in the region outside Iraq.
	The airfield in Arbil would allow some fighter jets easier access to the battlefront, a defense official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
	Fighters have a shorter range than bombers or surveillance planes and using a nearby base allows for more time over a target while reducing the need to frequently refuel, the official said.
	The use of Arbil's air base reflects the broadening US campaign against IS militants, though attack helicopters 

US warplanes to fly from Iraqi base: Pentagon

Air strikes by Syrian warplanes killed at least 28 people today, including 11 civilians in a raid on Islamic State (IS) jihadists, a monitoring group said.
	"Warplanes carried out six raids on Thursday against Al-Bab" in the north of the country, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	"Eleven people were killed, including women and children, and 17 were wounded when fighters (jets) fired rockets into a crowded area near a market in the town," southeast of Aleppo city.
	IS has been pulling fighters out of the area, with some of its commanders saying the move was in case of Syrian army bombardment and possible American air strikes.
	US President Barack Obama said yesterday he had ordered the American military to expand its operations against IS, which has seized a swathe of Iraq and Syria and committed horrifying atrocities.
	"Our objective is clear: we will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy," ...

Syrian regime air raids kill 28: monitor

An Argentine couple has won an exemption from a strict dictatorship-era law on baby names to pay homage to the father's football hero by calling their newborn son Messi.
	Daniel Varela had been on a mission to name his firstborn son for Lionel Messi after first seeing the Barcelona striker play for Argentina's national youth team.
	After having two daughters and waiting eight years, Varela was not about to let the law stand in his way.
	He petitioned authorities in the central city of General Roca to grant them an exemption from a 1969 statute that forbids parents from giving their babies a surname as a first name.
	City officials accepted the request, and issued a birth certificate for baby Messi Daniel Varela.
	"I saw Messi play on the under-17 team and he seemed like an amazing player. Later I learned he was a humble, good person and I thought, when I have a boy I'm going to name him Messi," Varela, 35, told daily newspaper Clarin.
	"It seemed good to me because of the kind of ...

Argentine couple skirt law to name baby Messi

Catalans fired up by Scotland's independence referendum massed in Barcelona's streets in red and yellow shirts today, forming a giant "V" to demand a vote on breaking away from Spain.
	Drawn up in lines of red and yellow to form stripes with the Catalan colours, hundreds of thousands of flag-waving demonstrators of all ages massed in the sunshine to mark Catalonia's national day, the Diada.
	The commemoration, which marks the Spanish conquest of Catalonia in 1714, was more sensitive than ever this year, coming amid calls for a November 9 vote on Catalan independence.
	An official from Barcelona's nationalist-led city hall told reporters it estimated turnout for the demonstration at 1.8 million, but central government officials put the figure much lower.
	The Spanish government delegation in Catalonia calculated the figure at between 470,000 and 520,000, it said in a statement.
	Scotland's September 18 referendum has stirred up Catalans who want full sovereignty for their region in the 

Catalans form giant 'V for vote' in independence drive

An Estonian policeman detained by Russian security services has been charged with espionage in a case that has sent tensions soaring between Moscow and its small NATO-member neighbour.
	Tallinn has accused Moscow of abducting Eston Kohver at gunpoint from Estonian territory. He now faces up to two decades in jail.
	The arrest of the Estonian national came just days after US President Barack Obama visited the former Soviet state last week to calm the nerves of Washington's Baltic allies over the Ukraine crisis.
	"Eston Kohver was charged on September 8 with espionage," his lawyer Nikolai Polozov told AFP today. "He faces up to 20 years in prison."
	The controversial detention has alarmed people in the tiny country of Estonia, which was occupied by the Soviet Union for half a century before it broke free from the crumbling USSR in 1991.
	Along with fellow Baltic states the nation of 1.3 million joined the EU and NATO in 2004 as a bulwark against Russian influence.
	Polozov said that he .

Estonia fury, Russia charges 'abducted' policeman with spying

The International Criminal Court today issued an arrest warrant against Darfur rebel leader Abdallah Banda, saying it was "unlikely" that he would voluntarily attend his war crimes trial, which was postponed indefinitely.
	Banda faces three war crimes charges for his alleged role in an attack on African Union peacekeepers in September 2007 in northern Darfur.
	His trial was supposed to start on November 18.
	Judges today said they have had no cooperation from Sudan after asking Khartoum in July to send Banda to the Netherlands for trial.
	"The cooperation request had been returned to the court by the Sudanese government without being opened," The Hague-based ICC said in a statement, adding "cooperation is not forthcoming".
	"The chamber finds... That a warrant of arrest now appears necessary to ensure Mr Banda's presence at trial," it added.
	The judges pointed out even if Banda, 51, wanted to voluntarily come to The Hague "there are no guarantees that in the current circumstances, he 

ICC issues warrant for Darfur rebel leader's arrest

Washington's concerns that Russia violated a 1987 arms control treaty "were not assuaged" during a meeting between the two sides in Moscow, the State Department said today.
	US negotiators nevertheless felt they had a "useful exchange of views" with their Russian counterparts and have "agreed to continue the dialogue," it said in a statement.
	Both sides "acknowledged the importance" of the treaty "and reconfirmed their commitment to it" during Thursday's meeting, it added.
	The US and Russia have accused each other of violating the bilateral Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which first took effect on June 1, 1988, and was broadened after the Soviet Union broke apart.
	Washington has raised concerns over Moscow's development since 2008 of a new missile banned under the accord. Russia, meanwhile, wants the United States to abandon or limit its anti-missile shield plans in Europe, saying the project threatens its security.
	The treaty required the destruction of all ballistic ..

US still concerned after arms treaty talks with Russia

Iran and world powers have a "difficult road" ahead as they attempt to agree a nuclear deal by a November deadline, with major differences remaining, Tehran's lead negotiator said today.
	"We are always optimistic. But we have a difficult road to go," Abbas Araqchi told reporters after a day of talks in Vienna with officials from France, Germany and Britain.
	He added after "useful" discussions that the differences between the two sides remain "big" as they attempt to nail down what would be an historic accord before November 24.
	Britain, France and Germany form part of a six-nation group with the United States, Russia and China due to resume negotiations with Iran in New York on September 18.
	Today's closed-door discussions in the Austrian capital followed bilateral US-Iranian discussions in Geneva last week described by Washington as an "in-depth exchange on the core issues".
	The recent diplomatic flurry also saw Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif fly to Moscow, ...

Iran warns of 'difficult road' in nuclear talks

Russia's foreign ministry today accused the European Union of undermining peace efforts in Ukraine after the bloc slapped more sanctions on Moscow over its role in the crisis.
	"By taking this measure, the EU has practically decided against the process of a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis," the ministry said in a statement, which also urged Europeans to give Ukraine "a chance for peace".

Russia accuses EU of undermining Ukraine peace process

Global oil prices hit a two-year low today after the International Energy Agency cut its forecasts for world demand, with the market also weighed down by plentiful supplies, analysts said.
	In earlier London trade, Brent North Sea crude for October sank to USD 96.72 per barrel -- the lowest point since July 2, 2012.
	And US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for October delivery slid to USD 90.43 -- a level last seen on May 1, 2013.
	"Oil prices were lower again on ample supply and soft global demand," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.
	Brent oil later stood at USD 97.48, down 56 cents from Wednesday's close, while WTI rebounded slightly to USD 91.91, up 24 cents.
	The market has forged a series of multi-month lows this week on the back of abundant global crude supplies and gloomy demand growth forecasts.
	Prices plumbed the latest troughs today after the Paris-based IEA, which advises on energy policy to industrialised nations, cut its global oil demand outlook, citing ...

Oil slumps to two-year low on IEA demand downgrade

The site in eastern Ukraine where flight MH17 crashed two months ago is still too unsafe for investigators to resume the recovery of victims' remains, Dutch Defence Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said today.
	A ceasefire between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces "is being violated and its existence remains fragile," she said in a statement issued in The Hague.
	"At this moment the situation is not stable enough to resume the investigation," the minister said after meeting her Malaysian counterpart Hishammuddin Hussein.
	Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed on July 17 between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur when it was struck by what investigators determined were numerous "high-energy objects" over territory held by pro-Moscow separatists, killing all 298 on board.
	The findings released in an initial report by a Dutch-led team of air crash investigators on Tuesday appear to back up claims that the Boeing 777 was hit by an anti-aircraft missile.
	Kiev and the .

MH17 crash site still unsafe for investigators: Dutch

The European Commission today cleared the key deals in tycoon Rupert Murdoch's plan to create a pan-European pay-TV giant.
	The Commission, the European Union's executive arm, said it would allow BSkyB, which is 39 percent owned by Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, to buy Fox's total rights to Sky Italia and its 57.4-percent interest in Sky Deutschland.
	The new entity would not raise competition concerns as the three original companies were "geographically complementary," it said.
	Each operated in "national or along linguistically homogenous areas," it said, meaning there was little probability it would radically change the business in each market.
	"It was unlikely that the merged company would be able to impose a change from current licensing practices, which are focused on national territories or language areas, towards the joint purchase or simultaneous negotiations for premium content across several countries," it said.
	When the 8.8 billion euro ($11.4 billion) of deals were ...

EU clears Murdoch's Sky pay-TV deals

The world response to the deadly Ebola crisis in West Africa needs a major scale-up that should include military flights for delivering supplies, US lawmakers and leading doctors said today.
	The calls came amid new warnings from the World Health Organization that the viral outbreak is accelerating out of control, with 2,296 dead and 4,293 infected in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria since the start of this year.
	"The problem is that unless we have a massive scale-up of resources in the form of hospital beds, personnel, equipment, we are not going to be able to control this," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease.
	"We need to do something at a much higher scale that we are doing now," he said in an interview with AFP.
	"We are going to need thousands of more people, thousands of more beds," Fauci said.
	"We probably will need some sort of military presence -- not with guns -- but military that have logistic capabilities of 

In US, calls mount for major scale-up to Ebola crisis

US Secretary of State John Kerry labelled as laughable today Russian claims that a US campaign against the Islamic State is unilateral and violates international law.
	"I must say if it weren't so serious what's happening in Ukraine one might almost laugh at the idea of Russia raising the issue of international law or any question of the UN," Kerry told reporters.
	He spoke at the end of a meeting in Saudi Arabia, at which 10 Arab states committed to do their share in the fight against IS, which seized large swathes in Iraq and Syria and committed atrocities.
	"I am really rather surprised that Russia would dare to assert any notion of international law after what has happened in Crimea and eastern Ukraine," Kerry added.
	Russia said today that unilateral US airstrikes on jihadists in Syria would be a crude violation of international law, a day after President Barack Obama said such action was possible.
	"In the absence of an appropriate decision of the UN Security Council, such a ...

Kerry ridicules Russian talk of intl law in anti-IS fight

An Iraqi journalist has been kidnapped by Islamic State militants who are threatening to behead him if he refuses to work for them, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned today.
	Raad Mohammed al-Azzawi, a cameraman, was taken prisoner on September 7 in Samarra, a city around 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Baghdad, RSF said in a statement.
	"The jihadist organisation has announced that it plans to carry out its decapitation threat because the journalist refused to work for the Islamic State (IS)," it added.
	He joins a growing list of Iraqi journalists who have been captured or threatened by militants from IS, a radical Islamist group that has seized a swathe of Iraq and Syria and has committed widespread atrocities.
	Two captive US journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, were beheaded in recent weeks according to videos released by the jihadists.
	"The Islamic State since its emergence has made journalists a terror target," said Virginie Dangles, assistant ...

Islamic State threatens to behead Iraqi journalist: RSF

Thirteen years after the 9/11 attacks, New York Fashion Week has made history by presenting a catwalk show at the World Trade Center with a stunning collection for Jason Wu at Hugo Boss.
	After the romantic elegance of Michael Kors in the morning and much-talked-about group effort by pop diva Miley Cyrus and bad-boy designer Jeremy Scott, Wu unveiled his second collection for Hugo Boss womenswear.
	The show unfolded yesterday on the 54th floor of World Trade Center tower No. 4, just metres from a memorial honoring fallen firefighters and one day before New York pays tribute to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror hijackings.
	The spectacular views of New York bay reflected perfectly the refined precision of the clothes in soft yellow, turquoise, lavender, white and black.
	Earlier, Indian-American designer Bibhu Mohapatra offered a collection inspired by English heiress Nancy Cunard, a muse to Aldous Huxley and activist who fought for much of her life against racism and ...

Fashion Week wows at World Trade Center for 9/11 anniversary

China's president will kick off his first South Asia tour with a visit to Beijing's latest investment in Sri Lanka, a USD 1.4-billion port city development to include a marina and a Formula One track -- all just 250 kilometres from India's coast.
	Xi Jinping's trip to the site, next to a major Chinese-funded commercial port, will provide a vivid reminder of Beijing's growing economic clout in India's backyard ahead of his maiden visit to New Delhi next week.
	Prime Minister Narendra Modi has moved quickly to engage with traditional rival China after taking office in May, inviting Xi to India.
	But he has also sought to stop India's neighbours falling further into China's embrace, choosing Bhutan and Nepal for his first foreign trips as prime minister and extending an olive branch to arch-rival Pakistan.
	That may not worry China too much. Modi's close relationship with Tokyo, on the other hand, is likely to raise alarm bells in Beijing that analysts say he may be able to use to his ...

India and China in wary dance as Xi visits South Asia

Scotland's pro-independence leader Alex Salmond said the "eyes of the world" were on a momentous referendum next week that could break a 307-year-old union with England.
	Salmond said the September 18 vote would be "a process of national empowerment", as new figures came out showing a record 4.3 million people had registered to vote -- higher than for any previous elections in Scotland.
	"Scotland is on the cusp of making history. The eyes of the world are upon Scotland," Salmond said in Edinburgh, a day after British Prime Minister David Cameron also visited the Scottish capital to plead for the preservation of "a family of nations".
	"Scotland will vote 'Yes' next Thursday because last-minute... Promises from the 'No' campaign will not fool anyone," said First Minister Salmond, who heads up Scotland's current devolved government.
	"As a country we are rediscovering self-confidence, as a nation we are finding our voice.... On September 18, we the people hold our destiny in our own ...

AFP

AFP

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