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 

France 'worried' after nearly 800 IS relatives escape Syrian camp

PTI Automatic

France host Turkey in a crunch Euro 2020 qualifier on Monday with the teams vying for top spot in Group H and diplomatic tension simmering between the two nations after Turkey's bombardment of Syrian Kurds this week.
With three games to go in the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign the sides have 18 points each ahead of Monday's showdown at the Stade de France but Turkey top the group on the head-to-head rule after their 2-0 defeat of Les Blues in Konya in June.
French striker Olivier Giroud says the 2018 world champions "want to put that right (the defeat), as a matter of pride because of what happened over there".
France will be missing two key players in Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba, who are both injured, and will be hoping Barcelona recruit Antoine Griezmann can refind his sharpest form.
Looming large over the game, however, will be security issues and international diplomatic relations as France decried Turkish military interventions in Syria this week and blocked arms sales to ...

Tension ahead of France-Turkey Euro showdown

Valtteri Bottas jumped from third to first with an electric start to win the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
With only Bottas now able to overtake Hamilton in the standings, Mercedes clinched an unprecedented sixth successive drivers'-constructors' world championship double.
"I'm happy, very happy," said flying Finn Bottas, who ended a six-month wait for his third victory of 2019 after winning the season-opener in Australia and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April.
"Starting third isn't easy. I had a really nice start, managed to get the lead and then the pace was super good, I could really control the race," he added.
"I'm really proud to be part of the team. A sixth title is really impressive."
"Firstly congratulations to the team," said Hamilton, who now leads the drivers' standings by 64 points from Bottas.
"That's the main point. I just wanted to bring home good points for the team."
Emotional Mercedes team ...

Bottas Japan win seals sixth world title double for Mercedes

Doctors will use a second Ebola vaccine from November in three eastern provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo to fight the deadly virus, medical officials said Sunday.
"It's time to use the new Ad26-ZEBOV-GP vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson's Belgian subsidiary," said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, who leads the national anti-Ebola operation in the DRC.
It will arrive in the eastern city of Goma, in North Kivu province, on October 18 and be used from the beginning of next month, he added.
DRC's latest Ebola epidemic, which began in August 2018, has killed 2,144 people, making it the second deadliest outbreak of the virus, after the West Africa pandemic of 2014-2016.
Muyembe said the communes of Majingo and Kahembe had been selected to receive the vaccine as they were considered the epicentres of the epidemic.
"We will extend this vaccination to our small traders who often go to Rwanda to protect our neighbours," he added.
"If it works well, we will expand vaccination ...

Second Ebola vaccine to be used in DR Congo next month

The Lebanese army on Sunday accused Israel of sending a reconnaissance drone at the weekend over Beirut's southern suburbs, a bastion of the Shiite militant Hezbollah group.
On August 25, two explosives-laden drones were sent to the same area. One of them exploded, sparking a dangerous escalation between Hezbollah and Israel.
On Saturday night, "one of the Israel enemy's reconnaissance drones violated Lebanese air space... overflew the southern suburbs and left," the army said in a statement.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah is represented in Lebanon's government and parliament but is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel and Washington, which has stepped up the financial pressure on the organisation.
The August incident heightened regional tensions, which culminated in a cross-border exchange of fire in early September.
Hezbollah vowed then that it would shoot down any Israeli drones violating Lebanon's air space.

Lebanon says Israel sent drone over Hezbollah area

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Iran on Sunday on a mission to act as a "facilitator" between Tehran and Riyadh and try to defuse rising tensions in the Gulf.
Khan landed in Tehran around midday and met with President Hassan Rouhani at the presidential palace. He was also scheduled to hold talks with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before travelling to Riyadh on Tuesday.
"The reason for this trip is that we do not want a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran," Khan told reporters as he stood alongside Rouhani.
"Whatever it takes we must never allow this conflict to take place, because we know, Mr President, that there is a vested interest that wants this to take place," he told Rouhani.
Noting that it was a "complex" issue that can be resolved through talks, Khan warned that any conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia would "cause poverty in the world".
Pakistan has strong relations with Saudi Arabia, with more than 2.5 million of its nationals living and ...

Pakistan PM in Tehran on mission to 'facilitate' Iran-Saudi talks

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday appealed to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to pardon an Israeli-American jailed for smuggling cannabis who is reportedly caught up in a prisoner exchange request.
Naama Issachar was caught with nine grammes of the drug in her checked luggage while transiting from India to Israel at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport in April.
The 26-year-old was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail by a Russian court on Friday, with Moscow reportedly seeking an exchange of a prisoner set to be extradited by Israel to the United States for her release.
"Naama made a grave mistake and has admitted her crime, but in the case of a young woman with no criminal record, the severe sentence handed down will have a deeply destructive impact on her life," Rivlin wrote in a letter to Putin distributed by his office.
"I am appealing to your mercy and compassion with a request for your personal intervention to grant her an extraordinary pardon."
Russian and ...

Israel president asks Putin to pardon woman jailed for cannabis

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that threats of sanctions and arms embargoes by Western powers would not stop Turkey's military offensive against Kurdish militants in Syria.
"After we launched our operation, we have faced threats like economic sanctions and embargoes on weapons sales. Those who think they can make Turkey turn back with these threats are gravely mistaken," Erdogan said in a televised speech.
France and Germany said Saturday that they were suspending arms exports to Turkey over its offensive in Syria against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
Turkey sees the YPG as a terrorist off-shoot of Kurdish rebels in its own territory, but Western powers used the Kurdish forces as the main ground force against the Islamic State group.
Erdogan said the Turkish military and its Syrian proxies now controlled the border town of Ras al-Ain while Tal Abyad was being besieged from two directions.

Arms embargoes won't stop Turkey's Syria operation: Erdogan

Egypt has detained two prominent activists who played key roles in the 2011 revolution, activists and a rights group said, the latest in a wave of arrests in recent weeks.
Blogger and journalist Esraa Abdel Fattah, 41, was detained on Saturday evening, a fellow activist said.
Mohamed Salah wrote on his Facebook page that shortly after meeting Abdel Fattah "two cars full of plainclothes police officers took her in one car and me in another."
He added: "They left me after an hour on the highway after they blindfolded and beat me." Abdel Fattah is best known for co-founding the 6th of April movement in 2008.
The youth movement was instrumental in mobilising millions of Egyptians in the uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Abdel Fattah's whereabouts is currently unknown, according to local watchdog group, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedom.
Abdallah Said, another political activist and official with the opposition Bread and Freedom party, was also ...

Egypt arrests two more prominent activists in ongoing sweep

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to brief his ministers Sunday on progress in Britain's last-ditch efforts to strike a new Brexit agreement with the EU.
Negotiators went behind closed doors for intensive talks in Brussels after Johnson outlined a new set of divorce terms to Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Thursday.
But they have very little time to left succeed.
EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for a summit held under the pressures of the October 31 Brexit deadline just two weeks away.
They 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 and Johnson is to brief his cabinet at lunchtime.
European officials said the bloc's Brexit negotiator Michel ...

Britain's Johnson pushes for last-ditch Brexit deal

Poles were voting on Sunday in a an election the governing populists look set to win after a flurry of generous welfare measures coupled with attacks on LGBT rights and western values but their majority could be at risk.
Author Olga Tokarczuk, a known government critic who won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday, gave the opposition an unexpected last-minute boost, urging Poles to choose wisely "between democracy and authoritarianism," calling the vote the "most important" since Poland threw off communism in 1989.
In office since 2015 and led by ex-premier Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party has focused on poorer rural voters by coupling family values with a popular new child allowance, tax breaks for low-income earners and hikes to pensions and the minimum wage.
Widely regarded as Poland's de facto leader, Kaczynski has stoked deep social division by attacking sexual minorities and rejecting Western liberal values, all with the tacit blessing of ...

Populists eye victory in Poland on promises of prosperity

Hundreds of relatives of foreign jihadists escaped from a displacement camp in northern Syria, Kurdish authorities said Sunday, as the number of people fleeing a Turkish assault soared to 130,000.
Fighting raged along the border on the fifth day of an offensive that has provoked an international outcry and left dozens of civilians and fighters dead.
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.
The Kurdish administration in northern Syria said that Turkish bombardment near a camp for the displaced led to nearly 800 relatives of IS members fleeing.
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.
US President Donald Trump has been accused of abandoning a loyal ally in the ...

IS families escape Syria camp as Turkey battles Kurds

At least 26 people were killed by powerful Typhoon Hagibis, local media reported Sunday, a day after the ferocious storm slammed into Japan, unleashing unprecedented rain and catastrophic flooding.
More than 100,000 rescuers, including 31,000 troops, were working into the night to reach people trapped after torrential rain caused landslides and filled rivers until they burst their banks.
The destruction forced the Rugby World Cup to cancel a third tournament match, though a key Japan-Scotland fixture was ruled safe to play.
The storm moved off land on Sunday morning, and while it largely spared the capital, it left a trail of destruction in surrounding regions.
The government put the death toll at 14, with 11 people missing, but local media said at least 26 people had been killed, and at least 15 were still unaccounted for.
Rivers overspilled their banks at nearly a dozen locations, including in central Japan's Nagano, where a levee breach sent water from the Chikuma river gushing ...

At least 26 dead after Typhoon Hagibis slams Japan

Judy Murray has expressed further confidence in the comeback status of son Andy as the former number one enters a fourth straight week of play on the ATP.
Judy Murray, in Linz at the WTA event to put on coaching clinics, said her 32-year-old son is on track for next season.
"It seems really good," the former British Fed Cup captain told AFP. "But it's still early days."
Three-time Grand Slam winner Murray, coming back from his January hip surgery,  played for three straight weeks in Asia.
He reached a Beijing quarter-final and achieved second rounds in Zhuhai and Shanghai, where he lost this week to Fabio Fognini where he accused the Italian of distracting him during play.
Judy said her son "is getting better and better with each match." "Remember, he only started playing singles again in August (first-round exits in Cincinnati and Winston Salem).
"A lot of this is about starting to build up match fitness and to be able to recover if you want to play the next match.
"The only way to ..

Judy Murray optimistic on Andy's 2020 fitness dream

Four civilians have been killed in the latest attack in the volatile northern region of Burkina Faso, security sources told AFP on Sunday.
Saturday's attack in Samboulga, in the northern province of Lorum, comes after armed men stormed a mosque in the town of Salmossi killing 16 on Friday, underscoring the difficulties faced by the country in its battle against jihadists.
"Four people were killed Saturday night by armed individuals in Samboulga," one security source told AFP.
"According to residents, the attackers broke into the village and shot people indiscriminately," the source added.
There was no immediate information about who the attackers might have been but since the beginning of 2015, jihadist attacks have become more frequent and deadly in the country, especially in the north and east.
Burkina Faso has been caught in a spiral of violence attributed to jihadist armed groups, some affiliated with Al Qaeda and others affiliated with the Islamic State group.
On Monday, eight ...

Four killed in fresh Burkina Faso attack

Hong Kong riot police spent much of Sunday afternoon skirmishing with groups of masked pro-democracy protesters who held flashmob gatherings in multiple locations -- although crowds were smaller and less violent than recent weekends.
Rallies erupted in multiple neighbourhoods with some protesters blocking roads, throwing objects onto train tracks as well as spraying graffiti and smashing the windows of some pro-China businesses.
Police made dozens of arrests as they rushed to intercept activists but the clashes were less sustained than earlier this month when the city was virtually shut down by the most intense unrest of the four month protest movement.
In the district of Mongkok, riot police burst from an unmarked van that had screeched up to a blockade made of bamboo scaffolding poles and quickly chased down multiple protesters who were pinned to the ground and detained.
Later an AFP reporter in the same neighbourhood saw crowds of protesters beat a middle aged woman because she had 

Hong Kong police make arrests as flashmob protests and clashes erupt

Daniil Medvedev 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.
"I think the stadium was full today and you guys are amazing support, starting from my first match," Medvedev told the crowd.
"You gave me good energy to win this tournament. Thank you very much, Shanghai will always be a special place in my heart." Zverev, long touted as the best of the new generation of men's tennis stars, was error-prone, but had no complaints.
"As I said yesterday, you are probably .

Medvedev thumps Zverev to win Shanghai Masters title

Families of Islamic State (IS) group members escaped a displacement camp in northern Syria where a Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces has sparked fierce fighting, Kurdish authorities said Sunday.
"The brutal military assault led by Turkey and its mercenaries is now taking place near a camp in Ain Issa, where there are thousands (of people) from families of IS," the Kurdish administration said in a statement.
"Some were able to escape after bombardments that targeted" the camp, the statement added.
"More than 100 people, women and children," fled the camp in Ain Issa, a camp official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor confirmed that "around 100" foreign women and children from families of IS members escaped, without specifying their nationalities.
Turkey launched its offensive on Wednesday to push Kurdish-led forces away from the northeastern border area of war-torn Syria.
Kurdish authorities have repeated warnings that the ...

IS families escape Syria displacement camp: Kurds

Motorsport's governing body, the FIA, are to launch an investigation after the chequered flag was shown a lap early at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.
The blunder means that under Formula One rules the finishing positions and points will be calculated at the end of lap 52, and not the full race distance of 53 laps.
It was good news for Racing Point's Sergio Perez who crashed at the start of lap 53 in ninth position. As a result of the error he is now classified as finishing and scores two championship points.
Renault's Nico Hulkenberg had inherited ninth on what he thought was the final lap but now is relegated to 10th while Racing Point's Lance Stroll crossed the line 10th at the end of lap 53 but drops to 11th and scores no points.

Japan GP probe after chequered flag shown lap early

An emotional Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff Sunday dedicated his team's historic sixth consecutive world championship double to Formula One legend Niki Lauda, who died earlier this year.
Valtteri Bottas won the typhoon-affected Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka with Lewis Hamilton third, meaning that Mercedes sealed a sixth constructors title in a row.
And with only championship leader Hamilton or teammate Bottas able to lift the 2019 drivers title, Mercedes are guaranteed to make Formula One history as the first team to lift six straight constructors-drivers world title doubles.
"We want to dedicate this to Niki because he's just been such an important part from the beginning of the journey," said Wolff.
"His sheer presence was always so important and the mixture between support and pressure, he was just a very special person," added Wolff of the three-time world champion and non-executive chairman of Mercedes, who died in May.
"When we embarked on the journey six or seven years ago .

Emotional Mercedes boss dedicates record title to Niki Lauda

Turkey's deadly assault on Kurdish positions in northeastern Syria has forced 130,000 people to flee their homes, the UN said Sunday, adding it was preparing for that figure to more than triple.
"We have moved into a planning scenario where up to 400,000 people could be displaced within and across the affected areas," Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA told AFP in an email, adding that these people would be "in need of assistance and protection."
The UN had said Friday that some 100,000 people had been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of Turkey's military incursion on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump ordered American troops to pull back from the border.
But by Sunday it warned of further displacements from rural areas around Tell Abiad and Ras al-Ain with latest estimates "surpassing 130,000 people".
"Exact numbers cannot yet be ascertained," the agency said in a updated assessment document.
Most of the displaced had reached relatives .

AFP

AFP

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