Turkish forces and their proxies pushed deep into Syria on Sunday, moving closer to completing their assault's initial phase, while Washington announced it was pulling out 1,000 troops from the country's north.
The Kurdish administration in northern Syria said that Turkish bombardment near a camp for the displaced led to nearly 800 relatives of Islamic State group (IS) members fleeing.
Fighting raged but Turkish-backed forces made significant progress along the border on the fifth day of an offensive that has provoked an international outcry and left dozens of civilians and fighters dead.
In the face of the Turkish advances, state media in Damascus said the Syrian army was sending troops to "confront" the offensive on the country's territory.
There were no immediate details but a Kurdish official said on condition of anonymity that negotiations were under way between the Kurds and the Damascus government.
"All options are being examined," the Kurdish official said.
Kurdish authorities 

Turkey and proxies advance deep into Syria

PTI Automatic

Indigenous leaders and Ecuador's president prepared Sunday for face-to-face talks after nearly two weeks of violent street protests over austerity measures instituted to obtain a multibillion dollar loan from the IMF.
As both sides geared up for negotiations in the afternoon, one indigenous leader said protesters who have converged from far away will stay in the capital Quito until some kind of agreement is reached on painful reforms such as a doubling of some fuel prices.
"Not just the leaders but the rank and file -- and we will stay until there is a solution," said Salvador Quishpe of an indigenous umbrella grouping called CONAIE.
The 12 days of rolling demonstrations have left six people dead and nearly 2,100 wounded or detained, according to authorities. Protesters on Saturday targeted a television station and a newspaper, and set fire to the comptroller general's office.
President Lenin Moreno declared a curfew and placed the city under military control to stop the unrest. On ...

Ecuador's president, protest leaders in talks to end deadly violence

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday the Pentagon would cooperate with the congressional impeachment inquiry -- in an apparent break with President Donald Trump's policy to thwart the probe.
Esper said his department would try to comply with a subpoena from House Democrats seeking records relating to the withholding of US military aid to Ukraine.
"We will do everything we can to cooperate with the Congress," Esper said on CBS's Face The Nation.
Esper's reassurance came days after the White House announced it would not cooperate with the Democratic-led House of Representatives, calling its impeachment push illegitimate and unconstitutional.
Trump himself has been using Twitter to bombard the public with conspiracy theories about a secret "deep state" trying to remove him from power.
Democrats slapped subpoenas Monday on the Pentagon and White House budget office, demanding documents tied to Trump's withholding of military aid to Ukraine.
The chairmen of three House panels ...

Pentagon chief vows to cooperate with impeachment probe

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson played down hopes Sunday of a breakthrough in his last-ditch bid to strike an amicable divorce deal with the European Union.
Negotiators went behind closed doors for intensive talks in Brussels after Johnson outlined a new set of proposals to Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Thursday.
They have very little time left to succeed.
EU leaders will meet on Thursday and Friday for a summit held under the pressures of the October 31 Brexit deadline just two weeks away.
The 27 would ideally like to have a full proposal to vote on by then.
But the sides are trying to achieve in a few days what they had failed to in the more than three years since Britons first voted to leave the European Union after nearly 50 years.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss the available options with French President Emmanuel Macron late Sunday.
European officials said the bloc's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will also brief EU ambassadors on the state of play on .

Britain's Johnson plays down Brexit breakthrough hopes

At least five officers were killed in a weekend attack by an armed group in Niger's western Tillaberi region, a local politician said on Sunday.
The region, which is close to Mali, has been rocked by recurrent jihadist attacks.
"On Saturday, an attack targeted a patrol of gendarmes in the town of Sanam, killing five of them," a local Tillaberi politician told AFP.
"The assailants arrived on a motorbikes and targeted the patrol near the village of Abare on its market day."
A security and government source confirmed the attack without being able to provide the death toll.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jihadists, including those from the Islamic State group, have a presence in southwestern Niger near the border with Mali -- where they have carried out bombings, shootings and kidnappings.
More than 250 civilians were killed and nearly 240 others were kidnapped between January and August this year, mainly in Niger's regions of Diffa, Tillaberi and Tahoua in the west, .

Five officers killed by armed group in Niger

At least 26 civilians were killed on Sunday in northeastern Syria as Turkey and its proxies stepped up their offensive against Kurdish forces, a war monitor said.
Among the casualties were 10 people killed in a Turkish air strike that hit a convoy of vehicles carrying civilians and journalists, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
France 2 television journalist Stephanie Perez wrote on Twitter that she was travelling in the convoy that was hit.
"Our team is safe but colleagues have died," Perez wrote.
The Britain-based Observatory said a journalist had been killed, but it could not immediately confirm the victim's nationality.
The latest toll brought up to at least 60 the number of civilians killed since Wednesday, when Turkey and its proxies -- Syrian ex-rebels -- launched a broad cross-border assault.
Another 104 fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) -- the de facto Kurdish army in the region -- have also been killed, according to the Observatory.
The UN says the 

26 civilians killed Sunday in Turkey's Syria assault: monitor

Saudi Arabia's national football team arrived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, on a groundbreaking visit to play against Palestine on Tuesday.
The game will be played in the West Bank town of Al-Ram, between Ramallah and Jerusalem, and marks a change in policy for the Gulf state, which has previously only played against Palestine in third countries.
Four years ago a similar game was ultimately played in Jordan after pressure on the Saudis not to go to Israeli-occupied territory.
Arab clubs and national teams have historically refused to play in the West Bank, where the Palestinian national team plays, as it obliged them to apply for Israeli entry permits, implying normalisation of relations.
But lately clubs or national teams from Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have all visited.
Others, including Egypt and Lebanon, still refuse.
Saudi Arabia does not have official diplomatic relations with the Jewish state but the two countries are widely believed to ...

Saudi football team makes first West Bank visit

Kenya's Brigid Kosgei shattered Paula Radcliffe's 16-year-old women's marathon world record Sunday, winning the Chicago Marathon in 2 hours, 14 minutes and 4 seconds.
Kosgei broke the mark of 2:15:25 set by Radcliffe in the London Marathon on April 13, 2003 as she won in Chicago for the second straight year.
Kosgei, the 25-year-old who won the London Marathon in April and clocked the fastest half-marathon in history this year of 1:04:28, quickly separated herself from the women's field as she ran with two male pace-setters.
She crossed the finish line alone, with Ethiopians Ababel Yeshaneh and Gelete Burka a distant second and third in 2:20:51 and 2:20:55.
Kenya's Lawrence Cherono won a men's race that came down to the wire in 2:05:45 -- barely edging Ethiopia's Dejene Debela who was second in 2:05:46 with Ethiopian Asefa Mengstu third in 2:05:48.
Last year's winner Mo Farah of Britain finished a distant eighth in 2:09:58.

Kenya's Kosgei shatters Radcliffe world record in Chicago Marathon win

Teenage prodigy Coco Gauff won her first WTA title on Sunday following a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 win over Jelena Ostapenko in the final in Linz that saw her hold her first trophy aloft aged 15.
Gauff, who only entered the field as a lucky loser after failing to qualify, completed a dream week in Linz in front of a supportive crowd to become the youngest player to win a WTA event since Czech Nicole Vaidisova, who triumphed in Vancouver and Tashkent two months apart in 2004.
"I'll remember this day for the rest of my life," the delighted Gauff said after receiving a minutes-long standing ovation from 3,000 spectators.
"I had an amazing week and I hope to be back in the future." Gauff will shoot up from 110 in the rankings into the 80s, according to WTA calculations, after becoming the youngest American to earn a WTA trophy since Jennifer Capriati at Toronto 1991, nearly three decades ago.
The hype surrounding the youngster has grown this year after solid performances this summer at both Wimbledon 

Teenage star Gauff beats Ostapenko to win first WTA title

US gymnastics star Simone Biles won her fifth gold  medal in the women's floor final Sunday to conclude her "best ever" world championships and extend her all-time record to 25 medals at the competition.
Biles, who won the beam title earlier in the day, claimed an unrivalled 19th world gold following her previous successes in the team, all-around and vault events in Stuttgart.
"This is really the best worlds performance I have ever put out," Biles said proudly after finishing her fifth world championships with five titles.
The 22-year-old Biles plans to celebrate when she gets back home to Texas, where "my mom usually likes to throw a worlds party - whether I want one or not," she joked.
Biles was crowned world floor champion for the fifth time in her career after winning the final by a full point from team-mate Sunisa Lee, who earned silver with Russia's Angelina Melnikova taking bronze.
"I just couldn't move at the end, I was so tired," Biles confessed after her sixth and final ...

'Best ever' Biles increases record to 25 world medals

Neymar's return to Champions League action may be delayed after the Paris Saint-Germain forward limped off after just 12 minutes of Brazil's friendly against Nigeria on Sunday.
The 27-year-old, who played the full 90 minutes against Senegal on Thursday, clutched his hamstring after eight minutes and was replaced by Philippe Coutinho shortly after.
Neymar, who was playing his 101st international, is now a doubt for PSG's Champions League meeting with Club Brugge on October 22. He has missed the first two rounds because of a UEFA suspension.
He was injured while on national duty back in June when he hurt an ankle in a friendly against Qatar. It ruled him out of the Copa America which Brazil went on to win.
If the injury was bad for Neymar then the result was disappointing for Brazil -- it is their fourth successive match without a win.
Their previous three outings since winning the Copa America had yielded draws against Colombia and Senegal and a defeat by Peru.
Even when Neymar was on .

Neymar limps off as Brazil draw with Nigeria

Mortar fire on the zone around Mogadishu airport wounded nine people Sunday, including staff at the African Union and UN missions located there, Somali police and UN sources said.
"Several rounds of mortar shells landed within the vicinity of the airport," police officer Mohamed Hassan told AFP.
While the police had no details on casualties, a UN source who asked not to be named said nine people had been injured but none seriously.
The injured were three soldiers from the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), one civilian AMISOM worker, a UN mission staff member and four UN contract workers, the source added.
Witnesses inside the AMISOM told AFP the attack provoked panic at the base.
One witness, Abdulahi Hassan, said: "Around three rounds of mortar shells struck close to the AMISOM hospital and the UN compound, three soldiers and several UN contractors were wounded."
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the Sunday afternoon attack, but the radical Islamist Al-Shabaab ..

Mortar fire on Somali airport zone wounds 9: police, UN

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday that President Donald Trump had ordered the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from northern Syria, as the number of people fleeing a Turkish assault soared to 130,000.
"I spoke with the president last night after discussions with the rest of the national security team and he directed that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of forces from northern Syria," Esper told CBS's Face the Nation.
Esper told Fox News that the number of troops being pulled back totaled "less than a thousand."
"I can't give a timeline because it changes hourly. We want to make sure that we do so in a very safe, deliberate manner, that we deconflict things as we go with those folks on the ground and immediate area."
Fighting has engulfed the area since Wednesday when Ankara launched a long-threatened offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who it considers "terrorists" linked to insurgents inside Turkey.
Trump has been accused of abandoning a loyal 

Pentagon says up to 1,000 US troops to withdraw from northern Syria

Iran has discovered a gas field near the Gulf with enough reserves to supply the capital for 16 years, state media reported on Sunday.
The Eram field contained 19 trillion cubic feet (538 billion cubic metres) of natural gas, the National Iranian Oil Company said, cited by official news agency IRNA.
The oil ministry's Shana website said the field was located in Fars province, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Shiraz.
"Given the volume of 19 trillion cubic feet reserves of in-situ gas and 385 million barrels of gas condensate in Eram field, the revenue from this field will be $40 billion," IRNA quoted an NIOC official as saying.
The amount of gas in the newly discovered field was enough to supply Tehran -- a city with an estimated population of around eight million -- for 16 years, the official said.
Iran is a member of OPEC which says the country has proven natural gas reserves of 1,197 trillion cubic feet (33.9 trillion cubic metres), the second highest in the world.

Iran discovers gas field near Gulf: state media

Riot police clashed with anti-government protesters across Hong Kong Sunday as masked activists vandalised businesses deemed sympathetic to Beijing in another weekend of chaos in the financial hub.
Rallies erupted in multiple neighbourhoods, with some protesters blocking roads, sabotaging train tracks, and trashing pro-China businesses.
Police said an officer was taken to hospital after his neck was slashed. Local television networks also broadcast footage of a man beaten bloody by protesters after they found a baton in his bag and suspected him of being an undercover officer.
Police have increasingly posed as protesters, scoring some tactical successes and sparking widespread paranoia among frontline demonstrators.
During cat-and-mouse encounters on Sunday officers made dozens of arrests, but there were fewer protesters than have taken to the streets more recently during the four-month long protest movement.
In Mongkok, a bustling shopping district on the Kowloon peninsula, officers .

Multiple arrests in Hong Kong as "flashmob" protests hit pro-Bejing targets

Four detained Iranian environmental activists have been cleared of a charge that could carry the death penalty, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.
"The charge of 'corruption on earth' was dropped in recent days for four detained environmentalists," said Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer who represents some of the activists.
"Of course their other charges still remain," he was quoted as saying.
The four were initially accused of "spying" on military bases but their indictments changed in October 2018 to spreading "corruption on earth" -- one of the most severe charges under Iran's Islamic law.
They still face other security-related charges.
Three other defendants are accused of espionage and another has been charged with "conspiracy against national security", according to IRNA.
Another activist arrested last year, Kavous Seyed Emami, a 63-year-old renowned university professor with dual Iranian and Canadian citizenship, allegedly committed suicide in prison in February 2018, a 

Iran drops death row charge for environmentalists

Egypt's president said Sunday he and Ethiopia's premier are to hold talks in Russia on a dam under construction on the Nile River that Cairo fears would cut its vital water share.
"I have agreed with the Ethiopian prime minister (Abiy Ahmed) to meet in Moscow and discuss the subject to move forward," said Sisi, without giving a date.
"Hopefully... the issue will be resolved," he said in a televised address tackling the impasse reached in drawn-out talks with Sudan and Ethiopia on the giant hydropower Grand Renaissance Dam.
African leaders are expected to attend a Russia-Africa summit, co-chaired by Sisi, in Sochi later in October.
Egypt has urged international mediation after saying the latest round of Nile talks which ended earlier this month hit another "deadlock".
Ethiopia, which says its project is needed to provide electricity, has rejected the call.
But Egypt is concerned the huge dam would severely reduce the flow of Nile waters and invokes its "historic rights" under ...

Egypt, Ethiopia to hold Nile dam talks in Russia: Sisi

Turkish forces have taken control of the key M4 highway in northern Syria as part of Ankara's operation against Kurdish militants, the defence ministry said Sunday.
"Following successful operations as part of Operation Peace Spring, the M4 highway has been brought under control after a 30-35 km-deep incursion," the ministry announced on Twitter.
The road, which runs east and west through northern Syria, is seen as a vital transport link for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which controls much of the region.
Losing the road is expected to hamper the YPG's resupply and reinforcement efforts as it tries to repel the Turkish offensive, now in its fifth day.
Turkey also said Sunday it had captured two towns that had been the focus of the initial phase, Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain.

Turkey says takes key M4 highway in Syria

Roberto Mancini has succeeded with stage one of his mission to bounce back from failing to qualify for the last World Cup by sealing Italy's place at Euro 2020 with Saturday's 2-0 win over Greece that pushed their perfect qualifying run to seven matches.
In November 2017, headlines spoke of an 'Apocalypse' after the four-time world champions missed out on a World Cup for the first time since 1958 following playoff defeat to Sweden.
However on Sunday the Gazzetta Dello Sport gave the national side "Green light" after they qualified for next summer's tournament in front of 60,000 fans at Rome's Stadio Olimpico, wearing green for just the second time since 1954.
"Dear Europe, here we are!" added Turin daily Tuttosport.
Previous coach Gian Piero Ventura, largely seen as an uninspiring replacement for Antonio Conte who dragged Italy to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016, took the brunt of the blame for the failure almost two years ago.
But the problems ran deeper, with the 2006 World Cup ...

Mancini's new-look Italy roar into Euro 2020 after World Cup flop

Daniil Medvedev conceded that he had been "invincible" after he won his fourth title of a spectacular year with a thumping 6-4, 6-1 victory over Alexander Zverev in the Shanghai Masters final on Sunday.
Victory for the 23-year-old Russian, contesting a sixth final in a row, was more evidence that he is the prime contender to join the "Big Three" of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
The US Open finalist is also able to say that he has finally beaten the German Zverev, another young contender at 22, at the fifth attempt.
This was an emphatic statement from the world number four, needing just 74 minutes to seal the crown and failing to drop a set all week.
"I can say that here I looked invincible this week, since I am the winner," said Medvedev, who was planning to catch a 1:00am flight to Moscow and could play there this week.
"This week, yes, I probably was invincible, but for the coming weeks I'm not sure.
"Here this week there were definitely some matches that, let's ...

Medvedev feels 'invincible' after thumping Zverev to win Shanghai

France said Sunday it was "worried" after Kurdish authorities reported that hundreds of relatives of foreign jihadists had escaped from a displacement camp in northern Syria, under Turkish assault.
"Of course we are worried about what could happen and that is why we want Turkey... to end as quickly as possible the intervention it has begun," government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye told France 3 television.
The Kurdish administration in northern Syria said Turkish bombardment near a displaced people's camp had caused nearly 800 relatives of members of the Islamic State group to flee.
Kurdish authorities and foreign powers have warned repeatedly that the hostilities could undermine the fight against the Islamic State group (IS) and allow jihadists to break out of captivity.
"I do not know, today, who exactly the people are who fled from the camp; it has been a worry for France since the beginning of this armed intervention," said Ndiaye.
She underlined France's stance that French jihadists 

AFP

AFP

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